Leatherman Loop is all about mud and guts (and fun)

The Leatherman's Loop was run April 26 at Ward Pound Ridge Reservation for the 38th year. “The Loop” is the largest trail race east of the Mississippi River and has been a destination race for trail runners for the past two decades.

Jacques Desforges of Pound Ridge won with a time of 39:47. Right on his heels were Grant Sheely of Brooklyn (finish time 39:54) and Benjamin Morrow also of Brooklyn (39:56).

Jacques, a standout cross country runner at Fox Lane, is the youngest male winner ever of the Leatherman’s Loop at 17 years old. (Kelsey Crawford of Waccabuc was 14 when she won the women's overall in 2018.)

In the women’s division, Alexandra Benedict of Brooklyn won for the third year in a row with a finishing time of 47:20.

Second place this year was taken by Joelle Reeves of Brooklyn (48:34) and in third place Lindsey Felling of Fairfield, Conn., came in at 50:51.

The youngest finishers were Layla Feller from Beacon and Jojo Macgill of Bedford Hills at 8 years old each. The oldest was John Kiselak of Danbury, Conn., at 76. Oldest women finishers were Lee Ann Zarger and Bonnie Lees, both 72.

The field for 2026 was 1,160 finishers from over 200 towns and cities across the U.S. and two people from the U.K. In addition to New York, Connecticut, New Jersey and Massachusetts, runners registered from states as far away as Washington, Texas, Colorado, Virginia, Kentucky, Wisconsin, Illinois, California, Florida, South Carolina, Vermont, New Hampshire, Rhode Island, Pennsylvania, Delaware and Maryland.

Top to bottom: The race begins; 13-year-old Tibby Polk of Bedford Hills fords the final river crossing at the loop; volunteers hand out bibs at the Showmobile in the Meadow.