View to the east and the Shenandoah Mountains, taken in the early miles of the 2014 run.

Keith Knipling

2023 Report

December 30, 2023 • Luray, VA

47 starters, 43 finishers

Below are the results, splits and also the list of stellar volunteers for the 2023 Boyers Furnace Forty, held on the traditional Saturday between Christmas and New Year’s (December 30, 2023). Runners from eight states and the District of Columbia participated this year. As so often seems to happen for Boyers, the weather turned out to be pretty nice for a day-long romp in the Massanutten Mountains and around the southern portion of the Fort Valley. Starting temps in the low to mid 30’s eventually rose into the mid 40’s, with dry conditions and relatively little wind.

This appears to have been a delightfully uneventful BFF, with no reports of any serious candidates for Best Blood, or anyone getting dreadfully off course.

Major kudos to the runners for doing their due diligence pre-race: clearly studying the course and downloading the .gpx data! With a nice assist to the Pretty in Pink course markings for this year’s run, deployed at key points along the road sections, particularly from Veach Gap to Woodstock, and then again from Moreland for the final closing miles down to the Four Corners and up to the finish line at Camp Roosevelt.

Congrats to the overall winner, David Yoder, who got his BFF sticker and some finish line chili after completing this challenging but beautiful course in 6 hours and 51 minutes. First woman to the finish, only DC resident to the finish, and 6th overall to the finish was Sarah Grant, with a great time of 8 hours even, just four minutes short of the current course record (7:56, set by Kelly MacDonald in 2018).

All the runners should be equally congratulated, but a particular standout performance was put in by Melissa Mejias. Melissa finished her 40 mile run on her 40th birthday!! Happy birthday, and many happy Boyers returns, to Melissa!

And we hope all of you will experience a happy Boyers return in 2024. Pencil in next year’s date, Saturday December 28th, for what should be the 18th running of the Boyers Furnace!

Run photographs supplied by a number of the day’s participants, with some particular highlights selected for a Photo Gallery on this page and above the results. Click on the photos below to see the full-sized versions in a slide show.

Photos

Other reports

Boyers Furnace Forty-Miler Race Report, by John Calabrese

Results

43 finishers out of 47 starters, for a very strong finishing percentage of 91%

Place	Name	Sex	Age	State	Finish
1	David Yoder	M	32	VA	6:51
2	Jordan Trout	M	27	VA	7:09
3	Josh Ferguson	M	35	MD	7:15
4	Matthew Harms	M	36	CO	7:51
5	Aaron Ellison	M	47	MD	7:58
6	Sarah Grant	F	34	DC	8:00
7	David Peppelman	M	48	MD	8:00
8	Erik Price	M	40	VA	8:20
9	Dani Sevel	F	34	VA	8:27
9	Zach Weinberger	M	36	VA	8:27
11	Jeremy Holder	M	51	MD	8:29
12	David Landis	M	41	VA	8:55
13	Zachary Seidel	M	35	VA	8:56
14	Kyle Lawrence	M	39	VA	9:10
15	Ali Mohammed	M	45	MD	9:26
16	Keith Knipling	M	47	VA	9:28
17	Andrew Thomas IV	M	41	VA	9:31
18	Jack Nguyen	M	41	VA	9:34
19	Vince Ranganathan	M	25	CA	9:41
20	Casey Fisher	M	40	MD	9:45
20	Joshua Binder	M	24	WV	9:45
22	Christian Stanton	M	50	VA	9:46
23	Scott Lee	M	53	VA	9:50
23	Adam Dyas	M	47	OH	9:50
25	Jakob Deren	M	26	VA	10:13
26	Carol Cohen	F	47	VA	10:22
27	Huanyuan Sheng	M	48	VA	10:24
28	Kate Moga	F	55	VA	10:29
29	Kevin Jordan	M	46	VA	10:37
30	Tony Taylor	M	53	VA	11:15
30	John Calabrese	M	43	VA	11:15
32	Bryan Slotterbach	M	50	PA	11:22
33	Melissa Mejias	F	40	VA	11:31
33	Larry Tumblin	M	53	VA	11:31
33	Charles Salsgiver	M	47	MD	11:31
33	Drew Newton	M	37	VA	11:31
37	Tin Luu	M	43	VA	11:38
38	Angela Huang	F	38	VA	11:46
39	Bill Breidenstine	M	58	PA	11:51
40	Sam Coyner	M	56	VA	12:04
41	Edward Leno	M	56	VA	12:12
42	Tom Calla	M	49	NY	12:15
43	Quatro Hubbard	M	63	VA	12:17
A special factoid aside: the 2023 last place finisher, Quatro Hubbard, was also the very first Boyers Furnace last place finisher, back in 2006! Quatro underperformed to the tune of 11 hours and 50 minutes in 2006, and his underperformance in 2023 was only 27 minutes slower (12:17).

Splits

Splits were taken at each of the three aid stations:
Veach Gap at mile 17 (all trail)
Woodstock Tower at mile 23 (all road)
Edinburg Gap at mile 31 (all trail)
The 40 mile finish was in the horse lot parking at Camp Roosevelt (all road)

Place	Name	Sex	Age	State	Veach	Woodstock	Edinburg	Finish
1	David Yoder	M	32	VA	2:50	3:45	5:31	6:51
2	Jordan Trout	M	27	VA	2:50	3:54	5:41	7:09
3	Josh Ferguson	M	35	MD	2:50	3:50	5:40	7:15
4	Matthew Harms	M	36	CO	3:14	4:22	6:16	7:51
5	Aaron Ellison	M	47	MD	3:15	4:21	6:24	7:58
6	Sarah Grant	F	34	DC	3:17	4:21	6:32	8:00
7	David Peppelman	M	48	MD	3:33	4:34	6:32	8:00
8	Erik Price	M	40	VA	3:33	4:40	6:41	8:20
9	Dani Sevel	F	34	VA	3:33	4:47	6:49	8:27
9	Zach Weinberger	M	36	VA	3:33	4:47	6:49	8:27
11	Jeremy Holder	M	51	MD	3:21	4:37	6:40	8:29
12	David Landis	M	41	VA	3:21	4:45	7:08	8:55
13	Zachary Seidel	M	35	VA	3:41	4:53	7:00	8:56
14	Kyle Lawrence	M	39	VA	3:21	6:14	7:13	9:10
15	Ali Mohammed	M	45	MD	3:42	4:57	7:23	9:26
16	Keith Knipling	M	47	VA	3:53	5:14	7:30	9:28
17	Andrew Thomas IV	M	41	VA	3:40	5:01	7:24	9:31
18	Jack Nguyen	M	41	VA	3:41	5:09	7:37	9:34
19	Vince Ranganathan	M	25	CA	4:12	5:35	7:51	9:41
20	Casey Fisher	M	40	MD	4:12	5:35	8:06	9:45
20	Joshua Binder	M	24	WV	4:12	5:35	8:05	9:45
22	Christian Stanton	M	50	VA	4:07	5:35	7:58	9:46
23	Scott Lee	M	53	VA	4:14	5:35	7:59	9:50
23	Adam Dyas	M	47	OH	4:09	5:31	7:50	9:50
25	Jakob Deren	M	26	VA	4:14	5:45	8:05	10:13
26	Carol Cohen	F	47	VA	4:30	5:48	8:20	10:22
27	Huanyuan Sheng	M	48	VA	4:18	5:45	8:25	10:24
28	Kate Moga	F	55	VA	4:22	5:55	8:26	10:29
29	Kevin Jordan	M	46	VA	4:37	6:02	8:38	10:37
30	Tony Taylor	M	53	VA	4:30	6:06	8:51	11:15
30	John Calabrese	M	43	VA	4:30	6:06	8:52	11:15
32	Bryan Slotterbach	M	50	PA	4:50	6:23	9:05	11:22
33	Melissa Mejias	F	40	VA	4:58	6:32	9:15	11:31
33	Larry Tumblin	M	53	VA	4:35	6:15	8:57	11:31
33	Charles Salsgiver	M	47	MD	4:58	6:25	9:09	11:31
33	Drew Newton	M	37	VA	4:39	6:15	9:09	11:31
37	Tin Luu	M	43	VA	4:53	6:27	9:22	11:38
38	Angela Huang	F	38	VA	4:53	6:29	9:19	11:46
39	Bill Breidenstine	M	58	PA	4:40	6:19	9:15	11:51
40	Sam Coyner	M	56	VA	4:42	6:29	9:26	12:04
41	Edward Leno	M	56	VA	5:11	6:44	9:45	12:12
42	Tom Calla	M	49	NY	4:53	6:33	9:23	12:15
43	Quatro Hubbard	M	63	VA	5:12	7:00	9:57	12:17
Nope	Kyle Smith	M	33	VA	4:53	6:53	9:56	DNF
Nope	Andy Peterson	M	67	VA	4:33	6:15	xx	DNF
Nope	Ashley Carr	F	38	MD	5:08	7:00	xxx	DNF
Nope	Chris Pabian	M	47	PA	3:50	xxx	xxx	DNF

Volunteers

It takes a village to make these events work, and thanks to the following villagers for their great work at the 2023 Boyers Furnace Forty! Special thanks to race day Master of Ceremonies, and RD Emeritus, Tony Escobar!

Boyers Volunteer 2023	Role/Roles
Dan Aghdam	Finish Line Captain
Erin Altemos	Sweep
Keavy Baylor	Woodstock
Carol Cohen	Event RD
Tony Escobar	Race Day RD
John Hord	Edinburg Co-Captain
Charlene Howard	Edinburg Co-Captain
Josh Howe	Veach
Jon Jester	Veach Captain
Moose Larson	Woodstock Captain
Cara Mason	Veach and Finish Line
Bill Pelton	Woodstock
Andy Peterson	Firewood
Adam Rasmussen	Edinburg
Chelsea Smith	Finish Line
Elaina Stanton	Finish Line
Tonnie Warfield	Course Marking, Start
Tony Taylor	Firewood Magic

Last updated December 31, 2023