The race got a lot of press this year with record attempts by Jornet doing the full and Joe Gray going for the half. I had not of heard new women's record Maude Mathys before this. But this race has a big international flavor, from the mountain running circuit and we don't hear much about many of those not from the US (other than Jornet).
There was a lot of bitter back and forth on letsrun (well do you expect anything else?!) re: Jornet vs. course record holder Matt Carpenter.
I did the Ascent a few years ago and felt it was one of the hardest things I've done (Boston 2018 in the rain was on par).