On an early morning in July 2016, two runners happened to cross paths near the top of Burma Road in Prince William Forest Park (PWF), Virginia.

They had crossed paths numerous times throughout the previous weeks, each time with a simple head nod while secretly assessing the other’s running ability, stride, cadence and footwear selection … the normal stuff we all do. But on this day information was exchanged and they soon started training together.

Pat and Justin’s weekday training runs started at 0430 from the Dairy Queen in Montclair with weekend long runs on the looping trails of PWFP. Soon, other runners joined in the fun and the group quickly expanded. One member, Wes Faulk, was immediately invited to join the group after he stole one of Justin’s Strava KOM (King of the Mountain) crowns.

The addition of Wes completed what became the Dairy Queen Track Club (DQTC) and seven years later they’re still making loops together in Prince William Forest.

Now, the DQTC founders are excited to take on the duties of race directing Devil Dog Ultras.

About Us

We’ve been involved with Devil Dog Ultras since its inception by founder Toni Becerra, both as runners and volunteers. We have a deep admiration for the exceptional event Toni and her beloved Team Gaylord created.

We’re excited to maintain the extremely professional but fun and homegrown feel of this event. We strive to provide the best race experience possible on the trails that mean so much to us. We look forward to seeing each of you on the trails the first weekend in December!

Who We Are…

Pat Early started running after college in 2003 following the normal progression of 5Ks and half marathons, eventually running his first marathon in 2009. At this point, he has run many marathons and is a four-time Boston Marathon finisher.

After meeting Justin in 2016 he was introduced to ultras, quickly caving to the peer pressure and running his first 50K the following year. He completed the Devil Dog 100K in 2017 and the 100-miler — his first — in 2018 (the rain year). He has completed a 100 mile-race each of the last six years.

Pat is program manager by day and also the race director for the Henderson Husky 5K and one-mile race in Montclair, Virginia each June and is a co-race director for the West Virginia Trail Fest (WvTF). Pat is happily married with two kids that have run a mile a day since March 2020; to date they’ve only missed one day by accident!

Justin Contois is a passionate ultrarunner with more than 10 years of experience in racing and volunteering. Devil Dogs Ultras is his first foray into the race directing world and he is excited to host an event on his home turf. His racing experience includes winning the 2023 Lynchburg Ultra Series (LUS), setting the course record at the Chompawamsic 100K and winning at the 2023 Mountain Masochist 50-miler. Justin started the 2016 Devil Dog Ultras 100K but — like many that year — was a casualty of the icy conditions on the first loop.

Justin uses his sports medicine and a nutrition education as a high school health and physical education teacher multi-sport coach. He is happily married and has four amazing children.

Blair W. Faulk (a.k.a. Wes) stumbled into running in 2009 while assigned to Ft Sill, Oklahoma as an instructor. Running became — and still is — the only place where his head was clear and he could live in the moment. He followed the natural progression of road distances from 5Ks to the marathon, then found trail and ultrarunning in 2016. Since then, he has found that the longer and tougher the race, the more he enjoys the event.

Wes won the Coastal Georgia Greenway (CGG) 155 in 2021 and finished second at the GoRuck 50-mile World Championships that fall. In 2022 he won both the Algonquin DUC100k and CGG100. Wes is a proud Devil Dog veteran, having run the inaugural 100K and finished the 100M four times — twice in person and two remotely (from Peru in 2018 and aboard MCB Quantico in 2020.

Wes is Naval Academy graduate and an active-duty Marine Corps Lieutenant Colonel currently stationed in Okinawa, Japan. Wes is also an active coach and loves helping athletes maximize their potential, whether on the roads, the trails or in their individual discipline. Wes is happily married and has an awesome son.

A Mostly True History of Devil Dog Ultras

In 2010, a chance meeting with a trail-running legend led to Team Gaylord, and if there were no Team Gaylord, there would be no Devil Dog Ultras. Here’s how it all began.

At the Virginia Happy Trails Running Club’s MGM Fatass pre-race meeting—Toni’s first introduction to true trail running—Bob Gaylord kindly (and, of course, loudly) introduced himself. The next day Toni sent him an email, a little star-struck because he’s a real Army general, she began with flattery and then begged him to allow her to tag along with his tribe of real trail runners.

Over the next several years, they spent countless miles running and even more hours tailgating, traveling, crewing, and pacing together as Team Gaylord. They spun a lot of tall tales, but also had this fabulous idea for a race—a race in which they could stir in Team Gaylord’s weird sauce. It started with talk about Hoka shoes and ended with a race they would call the Moonbounce 50 (don’t ask—they don’t remember either). Eventually they stopped joking around long enough to make real plans. As co–race director of an ultrarunning classic—the Bull Run Run 50—with Bob Gaylord, Toni learned that you are granted a lot of power when you carry a clipboard and megaphone and that it’s an amazing high watching people cross a finish line that you had a part in building. It felt like the perfect time to take the collective knowledge Team Gaylord had acquired and create a race. They had run, crewed, paced, directed, and volunteered at countless ultras; it was time to put Team Gaylord’s mark on the ultrarunning race calendar, and the Devil Dog Ultras was born with the inaugural event held December 2016.

Toni Becerra is and always will be the original Devil Dogs race commandant.  She is a veteran ultrarunner and exceptional RD. She’s been running ultras for a decade, including two 100-milers, and has crewed countless others.

Toni is a founding member of Team Gaylord, she’s probably heckled you at a race and told you to take your shirt off. “I like my runners like I like my beer: sweaty and shirtless,” she says. Team Gaylord’s collective 10,000 years of ultra experience. (Bob Gaylord, was running ultras when woolly mammoths roamed the Earth.) have been instrumental to the event’s success since the beginning.

They were on both sides of the starting line: as established ultrarunners or as friendly and helpful crew, race staff, or official volunteers. Their passion about running and willingness to help everyone get across the finishline, is the primary reason Devil Dog Ultras has been successful since 2016.

The name Devil Dog comes from our respect for the Marine Corps. It’s fitting this race takes place in Prince William Forest Park, across the street from Marine Corps Base Quantico.

In 2023, Devil Dog Ultras had its first change of command as Toni and Team Gaylord passed the bullhorn to Pat Early, Justin Contois and Wes Faulk and the Dairy Queen Track Club.

With love and gratitude,

Justin, Pat, and Wes