The Canyons Endurance Runs by UTMB returns to Auburn, California from April 23 to 25, 2026. The Sierra Nevada foothills host four races on the Western States Trail: 25K, 50K, 100K, and 100M. As an Americas Major on the UTMB World Series circuit and a Golden Ticket race for Western States, the event carries outsized weight this spring.
A stacked 100K: the headline race
The 100K has absorbed most of the elite attention this year. Three automatic Western States 100 entries per gender are on offer at the finish line, turning the 100 kilometers between China Wall Trailhead and downtown Auburn into a qualifier battleground.
On the men's side, the field reads like a short list of American ultrarunning. Hayden Hawks (USA, HOKA, UTMB Index 904) headlines a group that includes Ji Duo (China, HOKA, 906), 2022 Western States champion Adam Peterman (USA, HOKA, 905), Canhua Luo (China, KAILAS FUGA, 890), Cole Watson (USA, 865), Will Murray (USA, BROOKS, 864), Canyon Woodward (USA, GREEN RACING PROJECT, 853), Eric Lipuma (USA, ADIDAS TERREX, 852), Zach Miller (USA, 887), and Cade Michael (USA, 869).
The women's race is led by Anne Flower (USA, Index 797), Riley Brady (USA, NIKE ACG, 786), and Lin Chen (China, ADIDAS TERREX, 750). Erin Clark (USA, NIKE, 747), Careth Arnold (USA, ALTRA, 734), Claudia Tremps (Spain, ON TEAM, 732), and Ellaney Matarese (USA, 710) round out a group of credible Golden Ticket contenders.
50K: a short, fast duel
The 50K starts in downtown Auburn on Saturday at 7 a.m. and rolls through 1,700 meters of vertical gain over a 10-hour cut-off. The men's race points to a Spain-USA duel between Alex Garcia Carrillo (Spain, BROOKS TRAIL RUNNERS, Index 883) and Matt Daniels (USA, CRAFT, 882), with Jupiter Carera Casas (Mexico, CRAFT, 852) in chase position.
Among the women, marathon Olympic medalist Molly Seidel (USA, Index 754) returns to the trails against Lauren Gregory (USA, NIKE ACG, 794), Julia Font Gomez (Spain, BROOKS TRAIL RUNNERS, 762), Makena Morley (USA, ASICS, 748), and Caitriona Jennings (Ireland, 748). A course record is plausible if the pace stays honest in the opening 20 kilometers.
100M: a thin men's field, a strong women's race
The 100M starts Friday at noon from China Wall and gives runners 35 hours to cover 161 kilometers with 5,500 meters of climbing.
The women's field is the story on this distance. Aroa Sio (Spain, CRAFT, Index 729), Sabrina Stanley (USA, 723), and Alyssa Clark (USA, TEAM ON, 720) form the top three by UTMB Index, with Amanda Basham (USA, ALTRA/BUFF/GARMIN, 698), Genevieve Harrison (USA, ON, 680), and Devon Yanko (USA, ARAVAIPA RACING, 684) all in range of the podium.
On the men's side, however, no elite entries appear on the official startlist. Cross-checked against the iRunFar preview and the official Canyons elite page, the 100M men's race has no UTMB-indexed elite at this writing. The likely explanation is structural: with the Golden Ticket allocation sitting on the 100K, elite American men have funneled into the shorter race. Expect the 100M men's podium to emerge from the sub-elite and community field, with age-group and regional veterans in the mix.
The hardest sections of the course
The Canyons course borrows the most rugged segments of the Western States Trail. Runners cross Mitchell Mine Road into Eldorado Canyon, climb to Deadwood, and face the infamous Swinging Bridge via the Devil's Thumb descent and the grinding climb back out. The route then drops to Eldorado Bridge, ascends to Michigan Bluff, traverses Volcano Canyon to Foresthill, and follows Cal Street along the American River to the Rucky Chucky river crossing. Only the 100M adds the notorious K2 climb after No Hands Bridge and a second loop to Cool. The gradients are steep, the trail is dusty and technical on the descents, and the canyons trap heat in the middle of the day.
Weather: a cool, spring-variable weekend
Current forecasts for Auburn on race weekend call for partly cloudy skies, highs around 17 to 18 degrees Celsius (63 to 64 Fahrenheit) and overnight lows between 4 and 8 degrees Celsius (39 to 47 Fahrenheit). Winds stay light, from the south at 6 miles per hour. Conditions should favor fast finishing times on the 50K and 100K, though runners in the 100M should plan for chilly canyon bottoms through the night and the usual spring variability at altitude.
What to watch
- Whether Hayden Hawks and Adam Peterman go head-to-head for a Golden Ticket or manage their Western States preparation.
- Anne Flower's response to a field tailored to push her pace on the rolling final third of the 100K.
- Molly Seidel's trail form on the 50K after her continued return to ultra distances.
- How the 100M unfolds without a tagged elite men's field, and who steps into the vacuum.
Live tracking opens on Friday at 12 p.m. Pacific Time on the UTMB Live portal. Full results and standings will feed into the 2026 UTMB Index and the Western States 100 start list within hours of the finish.