Nonbinary runner becomes fastest American ever at 100-mile race, finishes draped in Pride flag
Montgomery became the fastest American in the history of the 100-mile Western States Endurance Run during Pride Month.
Mark
Running always embodied the freeing nature of escape for Ryan Montgomery.
Whether it be a respite from the outside world for them to revel in his queer identity within the safe confines of the outdoors or an opportunity to delve inward with questions about identity and self-determination, the trail became a place of refuge and discovery for the Pacific Northwest-born athlete.
It also developed them into one of the most celebrated ultramarathon runners going today.
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Montgomery became the fastest American in the history of the famed Western States Endurance Run, a 100-mile race through the Northern California wilderness starting in the mountains of Tahoe and ending in the small town of Auburn, on June 28.
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They finished the grinding task in 13 hours and 53 minutes to claim third place in the men’s division, crossing the finish line with a Progress Pride flag draped across his shoulders.
“The word I come back to is satiated. Pure satisfaction,” Montgomery told Outsports about his accomplishment. “There has been so much sorrow and challenge in my life, especially in the context of this race.
“This race has been so annoying in the sense that it takes so much out of me and so much goes into it. I’ve poured my soul into this race that takes all year to prepare for for six years, so to finally have the day where everything just came together and I finally nailed it was so satisfying.”
Montgomery’s journey over those six years has been one of overcoming hardship after hardship that left the nonbinary runner frustrated at the ultrarunning major.
He didn’t start the race the first two years he qualified due to injury. The 2024 race saw them finish 20th while running with Covid-19. Montgomery notched seventh-place finishes in 2023 and 2025, but they weren’t without their own tribulations, ranging from ankle injuries to “literally pooping for 20 miles due to gastrointestinal distress.”
Ankle surgery, a Dartmouth MBA and training, training, training
The 2026 race presented its own obstacles as Montgomery had only returned to training six months before the competition after undergoing ankle surgery last September. They were finishing their MBA at Dartmouth University’s Tuck School of Business during that same six-month period, requiring a large amount of cross-country travel to tackle both simultaneously.
But splitting their focus and taking multiple goals head-on feels natural to Montgomery.
“I think I’m someone who wants to be an expert in everything I do,” Montgomery said. “I want to feel like I’m viewed as a master of my craft, whether that is in business, the work I do for my community and especially my running.”
Montgomery’s desire for constant movement also presented itself when broaching the topic of gender identity and their own journey to understanding themself as nonbinary in 2021.
“I didn’t feel like the label ‘male’ fully captured who I am, nor did ‘female.’ I love to operate in this fluidity,” they said. “As an athlete, I feel like I channel more of my masculine side, but in other parts of my life I’m more feminine and want to be a queen and be dainty. That’s why I love finding a gender identity that allows me to express this fluidity and I don’t have to be stuck in this label. It’s empowering.
“I think a lot of us try to appease other people and chameleon in order to feel love and validation, but I feel like there is something far more satisfying and empowering when you can let go of what other people perceive you to be and you can be radically transparent in a space. You’re going to love yourself so much more. That is something I will never sacrifice again.
That desired mastery has clearly marked accomplishments that lend credence to Montgomery’s expertise between his degree and athletic performance, but their commitment to building queer community stands as a particularly enriching dish on Montgomery’s plate.
Through Out Trails, a community that organizes trail running and hiking events for LGBTQ and BIPOC populations, Montgomery helps cultivate the same feeling of freedom and inspiration that lies at the very personal core of what drove Montgomery in their youth.
When they see the joy exude from trans and nonbinary participants who’ve had top surgery run the trail shirtless on such trips, Montgomery is taken back to the one-mile trail that ran next to a baseball field in Craig, Alaska where they first felt the ability the outdoors holds.
“I just remember feeling really free, like it was a judge-free zone. I could just be myself, be silly like a queer little baby kid at that time of my life,” Montgomery recalled. “Running felt like a safe haven where I could be in my own little ecosystem and explore thoughts and explore myself in ways that felt safe.
“I think the outdoors is a perfect avenue for that, and it hurts my soul to hear stories about people not feeling like they can do that, whether that be a quite literal barrier to entry because of where they live, they don’t feel safe or they don’t feel like they have people with whom they can go do that.
“I want them to have those same experiences.
“Queer joy in the outdoors starts the journey for people to want to run a race or do something else in this crazy world of trail running. If I can have an impact on those people, who knows where they will go.”
That same spirit is reflected in Montgomery’s advocacy for nonbinary inclusion in sports. Montgomery won the Boston Marathon’s nonbinary category in 2024, the second year the race included such a category, and has been a key voice in more major running events adding divisions and/or parameters specifically aimed at widening the lens of gender in their sport.
“Most major events do include nonbinary divisions now, but to what degree do they actually celebrate that is another question,” Montgomery said. “Sports defines culture immensely and influences a lot of other things in life. We need people who are at the forefront of performance who are queer and nonbinary that challenge the status quo.
“Nikki Hiltz is an amazing example for how they’re challenging what that looks like in track.
“I wouldn’t say I’m the face of challenging the gender binary in trail running, but finishing third at Western States is challenging that concept,” they continued. “Riley Brady, who competed in the women’s division at Western States, they are also challenging those concepts.
“I see this as just the top of the funnel where these players need to exist and operate at this top level and that will influence this whole system, but it can’t change without examples of what is possible and that nonbinary athletes are legit.”
Montgomery’s example at Western States this year brought their community and athletic tenets together in a special way: the Progress Pride flag that crossed the finish line with them. That flag carried the good luck messages of dozens of people who Montgomery spoke with at a San Francisco Running Co. event in 2023 before their first Western States.
Three years later, they made Montgomery’s sublime individual performance an accomplishment beyond just themself.
“I really love that flag. It was a nice full circle moment to bring that flag with me at the finish line,” Montgomery said. “As much as I am running for myself, I very intentionally take on this very public view of my [orientation] and gender identity. It’s an opportunity I have to be an advocate.
“As much as I talk about intrinsic motivation, I also am very motivated by the people who cannot be there with me at the starting line. I run for all of those people who look up to me, who want to have visibility in trail running. I want these people to feel like I’m running with them.
Anyone running with Montgomery will have to keep up as they are already on to their next goal, running a 24-hour race with world record aspirations. Whether they hit that mark, Montgomery will do it with the same message that carried them to Western States heights.
“Just being you is so joyful,” they said. “People really feel authenticity and I think we owe it to our community members to be our best selves.”
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