2026 Race Recap
It was a warm day at Summer Trail Fest Ultra 2026, but we still saw new Overall and Age Group course records and heard mention of personal bests. When we created this race, the joke was that STFU stands for Summer Trail Fest Ultra and something else. Saturday was a great reminder that sometimes, when conditions aren’t perfect, you just have to STFU and RUN.
We welcomed two new divisions this year, the 50 Mile and the 50K Ruck. Winners were:
50 Mile: Male: Alexander Giles (Wheeler) - 8:31:42.88, Female: Margaret "Joey" Retsema (Grand Haven) - 8:50:54.09
50K Ruck: Male: Jay Washington (Detroit) - 8:06:25.97, Female: Kathy Nolen (Waterford) - 8:51:20.26
But the real story this weekend was the community.
Caleb, Gabe, and Matt Maciag (sons and dad) have been racing with Trivium for over a decade. They finally swept their first podium in the 5 Mile! We love that Gabe keeps racing with us when he’s home from college and we were so honored to see them celebrate this moment as a family.
Scarlett Brink, age 14, came all the way from FL with her family and became the first person in our 14 and under category to finish the 50K. We loved seeing them come through the aid stations together, having fun, and looking awesome.
There was even a finish line proposal! Congratulations and many, many happy wishes for your future together to Elizabeth Santoli-Johnson and Tony Hill. If you can run 50K together, you've already passed the test.
The Ruck categories grew exponentially, with 34 finishers across the three distances compared to 19 last year. It was so cool talking to the Motor City Ruck Club, a new group out of Detroit focused on health and “creating an entry point for people who may never consider themselves runners.” One of their members, Chris Washington, rucked the Half as his first event ever.
It was so fun seeing so many of our Trivium community out there supporting each other. All three of the women at the top of the Running Series leaderboard were out there. Erica Aikman in the 5 Mile (after winning Huron 100 last weekend!), Sierra Rea in the Half, and Maggie Wood in the 50 Mile. Erica signed up for the 5 Mile at 4:53 am on race day to make sure she didn’t fall behind! After finishing the half, Joseph X waited around for fellow series leaderboard competitors Mikayl Losee and Justin Maura to finish the 50K. We love seeing the friendships that have formed from weekends spent together on the trails and roads.
Finally, we were SO appreciative of all of our volunteers. We loved seeing runners taking care of other runners. Filling water bottles. Helping find something in a drop bag. Running to grab a can of coke. Talking you into getting back out there for one more loop when you didn’t think you could keep going. And we were so grateful for them staying later than planned and stepping into roles they hadn’t originally signed up for.
Summer Trail Fest has always been a race where a lot of different goals can exist in the same place. A first trail race. A first ultra. A first ruck. A new course record. A family milestone. A personal best. Or simply a day spent with good people on the trails. That's what we'll remember most from Summer Trail Fest 2026. Not just the miles or the finish times, but the families, friends, volunteers, crews, clubs, and fellow runners who spent the day taking care of each other. Thanks for making it such a special weekend. We can't wait to do it again next June.
