Under sunny skies on Saturday morning, hundreds of runners from all over New England gathered at the Steamship Authority Terminal in Vineyard Haven for the 28th annual Martha’s Vineyard Winter Classic, a 20-miler, and Amity Island Relay race.
The race, which was delayed for a month after heavy snow in February, was hosted by M.V. Running Co. owner Reaan Steenkamp and Amity Island Running Club President Megan McDonald.
A local favorite runner participated in the race, Sam Fetters, an MVRHS graduate fresh off completing the Tokyo Marathon earlier this month, where he earned his Abbot World Majors Six Star medal, a lifetime achievement given to runners who complete all six of the world’s major marathons. Before the race, McDonald introduced Fetters over a loudspeaker as a celebrity runner, noting that his accomplishment also earned him a world record. Fetters is the youngest person to complete each of the marathons (Boston, Berlin, New York, London, Chicago, Tokyo) in under three hours; he is the only person to accomplish the feat before turning 25 years old.
Fetters just started his marathoning journey in 2023, and his first race was the M.V. Winter Classic. Still recovering from Tokyo on Saturday, he ran the second leg of the Amity Island Relay with a former high school teammate, Calvin Brooks. For Fetters, competing in the local race was a full-circle moment. His love for running was born on-Island, and after getting his sixth major star, he said, he was happy to be home.
“It felt fitting to kind of return home,” said Fetters. “I did the full 20-miler in 2023, and that was at the very start of all of this marathoning, so it felt like a really nice way to come full circle and be in a place that truly feels like home to me.”
After the horn sounded in Vineyard Haven, runners followed a scenic route along Beach Road before crossing over to Edgartown–West Tisbury Road in Edgartown. The course looped back toward Barnes Road, and continued onto County Road before finishing at the Oak Bluffs School. For relay runners, racers split the distance into two 10-mile legs.
Jared Dybas, 26, from Groton, Conn., won the 20-miler in two hours, 10 minutes, 36.1 seconds. For him, the race was a chance to train for the Boston Marathon, coming up in April.
“It feels really good,” said Dybas of his win after the race. “Dealing with the wind was a challenge, so I tried to ignore my pace, and didn’t really look at that all day, just tried to give a constant effort, you know, let the wind and hills decide my pace. My goal was to average about six [minutes] 30 [seconds] per mile, and I came in right at that, so I’m very happy to see that today.”
Dybas, who runs with the Mohegan Striders in Groton, has been competing in marathons as well as 100-mile ultramarathons since 2017. He called the rolling hills of the Island tame compared with his home terrain. He noted it was his first trip to Martha’s Vineyard.
Cara Schrager, 37, from Natick, took first place in the women’s division with a time of two hours, 20 minutes, 16.1 seconds. Schrager said she was training for her eighth Boston Marathon. “I felt strong,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting the win, so I’m excited.”
Schrager has run Boston, New York, Chicago, and other major races; this was her third time competing in the M.V. Winter Classic.
Steenkamp, owner of M.V. Running Co., expressed relief at finally being able to hold the event.
“We had to cancel, because of the ice and snow on the trails a month ago. The option was not having it at all, or pushing it about a month, and I opted for a month out. So here we are on a beautiful day,” said Steenkamp.
McDonald added that all money made by the race is donated back into the Island’s youth communities, who helped man the water stations, including the high school’s girls’ lacrosse and wrestling teams, players from youth hockey and youth lacrosse, the Martha’s Vineyard Figure Skating Club, the Oak Bluffs Parent Teacher Organization, Oak Bluffs eighth graders, and the Edgartown School Parent Teacher Association.
McDonald said that because they had to reschedule, sign-up numbers were down, as expected, but last Saturday ended up being nearly perfect conditions for the race.
“I was really, really happy with how it turned out. It was stressful leading up to, because of the postponement, and we heard the winds would be bad, so we were worrying about runners getting over that morning,” said McDonald.
“Our numbers were down this year because we postponed it, and there were other big races this weekend, but the runners seemed really happy that we had the race, and didn’t flat-out cancel. There was a lot of excitement for the people who were there,” she added.
The next big race on Island is the MV Spring Classic marathon, which is scheduled to take place on April 25. Race slots are already full.