Western States Endurance Run

FOR IMMEDIATE RELEASE

CONTACT: John Trent, media relations (775) 842-4871, president@wser.org

WESTERN STATES 100-MILE ENDURANCE RUN

FEATURES STELLAR FIELD FOR 40^th RUNNING

The world’s oldest and most prestigious 100-mile trail race returns defending men’s champion Olson; women’s race wide open

The top trail runners in the world, including men’s champion and course record holder Timothy Olson, will embark on the 40^th running of the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, June 29-30, 2013.

Western States is the world’s oldest and most prestigious 100-mile trail run. The race features a field of more than 360 entrants from more than 20 countries, and more than 40 states. Runners start from Squaw Valley, Calif., the site of the 1960 Winter Olympic Games. They climb and descend about 40,000 feet through the alpine beauty of the Granite Chief Wilderness and the deep, equally picturesque, yet infernal canyons of the historic California Gold Country, then cross the Middle Fork of the American River before finishing at Placer High School in Auburn, Calif. The 100.2-mile race has a 30-hour time limit.

Olson, 29, of Ashland, Ore., ran a race for the ages last year, shaving more than 20 minutes off Geoff Roes’ 2010 course record with a run of 14 hours and 46 minutes. A number of ultrarunning’s most talented and accomplished athletes will vie for the women’s title with two-time defending women’s champion and course record holder Ellie Greenwood sidelined with a stress fracture.

Top contenders in the women’s race include: Rory Bosio, 28, of Soda Springs, Calif., who finished second last year; Nikki Kimball, 42, of Bozeman, Mont., a three-time women’s champion (2004, 2006, 2007); Amy Sproston, 39, of Portland, Ore., eighth last year and the reigning World 100-Kilometer Champion; and Meghan Arbogast, 52, of Corvallis, Ore., 10^th last year and generally considered the finest veteran (over 50 years old) runner in the world. Intriguing newcomers include Emily Harrison, 27, of Front Royal, Va., a former NCAA cross country All-America who has run a 2:32 marathon and chased Greenwood to a second-place finish in the country’s largest 50-mile race, the JFK 50-Miler, in November.

On the men’s side, Olson will be challenged by: 2013 third-place finisher Nick Clark, 39, of Fort Collins, Colo., the only person in race’s modern era to run under 16 hours twice in their career; 2007 and 2009 champion Hal Koerner, 37, of Ashland, Ore.; 1997 champion and former course record holder Mike Morton, 41, of Lithia, Fla., who is making his return to Western States after a 16-year competitive absence and is coming off a superb year in 2012 that saw him set an America Record for the 24-hour run and notch a victory in the blistering conditions of the Badwater 135-mile run. A cadre of younger, rising runners will press the “old guardsmen” every step of the way.

“Last year was an amazing day for all concerned – we had record low temperatures, both the men’s and women’s course records were broken and we handed out the most silver buckles (for sub-24-hour finishes, 148) in our modern era,” said race director Craig Thornley. “Both our men’s and women’s fields this year are extremely deep. We could have champions ranging anywhere in age from their 50s to their early 20s.

“We had a relatively dry winter in the high country, so conditions are snow-free and potentially fast. Thanks again to the Montrail Ultra Cup, (which has provided an avenue for qualification for many of sport’s elite runners through a national series of qualification races), there are probably close to a dozen to 15 runners with a legitimate shot at winning either our men’s or women’s race.”

This year’s race is also notable in that it will mark the 40^th anniversary of Gordy Ainsleigh’s historic run in 1974, when Ainsleigh, of Meadow Vista, Calif., became the first person to cover on foot the entire 100 miles of the Western States Trail between Tahoe and Auburn in less than 24 hours. The 66-year-old Ainsleigh is entered in this year’s race.

WHAT: 40^th running of the Western States 100-mile Endurance Run

WHEN: Saturday, June 29, 5 a.m. start at Squaw Valley, Calif., finish at Placer High School, Auburn, Calif. More than 360 trail runners from more than 20 countries and more than 40 states to compete.

Western States Endurance Run: http://www.wser.org

Montrail Ultra Cup: http://ultracup.montrail.com/overview.aspx

We have added rule #18 to our list of Performance Rules for all runners:

18. The Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run is committed to keeping ultrarunning a clean, drug-free sport. Use of performance enhancing drugs or blood doping as defined by the USADA is forbidden. The Western States board reserves the right to disqualify a runner based on competent evidence of such use.

The 1983 Western States race still boasts the closest top two men’s finish in the 39 year history of the race. Arguably, it is one of the best races ever at WS, and lucky for us it was recorded on DVD on Desperate Dreams II.

1983 Desperate Dreams DVD

1983 was a huge snow year so the alternate snow course had to be used for the first time. Returning champion Jim King hammered through the snow early to open up a huge lead over the field at Red Star Ridge, including 36 minutes over 1981 co-champion Jim Howard. But by Duncan Canyon aid station, King had fallen back to 15th after getting lost for 45 minutes in the snow. Undaunted, King moved back up the field to join Howard again at Dusty Corners and Last Chance (in 3rd and 4th place). King then hammered the canyons, and arrived in Michigan Bluff in first place, 27 minutes ahead of Howard who was still in 4th. King’s split from Last Chance to Michigan Bluff was 2:13! For comparison, Jurek’s split on his CR run in 2004 was 2:19.

King’s lead over Howard remained around 30 minutes through ALT by which time Howard was now comfortably in 2nd place. But Howard was not running for 2nd place. Only 7 minutes behind at Hwy 49, Howard threw down the unbelievable split of 56 minutes to the finish, catching King right before the white bridge and finishing 30 seconds ahead of King. This is still the fastest split ever run for that section. 5-time champion, and 25-time finisher, Tim Twietmeyer says that even if we dropped him off at Hwy 49 fresh, he couldn’t run 56 minutes.

Jim Howard at the finish of the 1983 WSER.

We are going to show the 1983 race on Sunday evening of the Memorial Day Weekend Training Runs. We’ll follow that with a discussion with the two Jims, facilitated by 8-time finisher Andy Jones-Wilkins.

• What: 1983 WS Desperate Dreams screening, followed by a discussion with Jim Howard and Jim King, facilitated by Andy Jones-Wilkins.
• When: Sunday May 26, 2013, 6-9pm
• Where: Canyon View Community Center, 471 Maidu Dr, Auburn, CA
• Cost: Free
• Food: Firetrail Pizza will be on site selling pizzas.

Updated 12/5

As posted on the lottery applicant page, we have 2295 total lottery applicants for the 2013 race.

122 applicants with four tickets = 488 tickets
207 applicants with three tickets = 621 tickets
480 applicants with two tickets = 960 tickets
1486 applicants with one ticket = 1486 tickets

Total tickets in the hat = 3555

Here is the list of tickets (178 page pdf)

We are going to draw 270 unique names in the lottery and then an additional five from the lottery within the lottery. That is, the folks in the audience who have not been selected up to that point. Based on 3555 total tickets and 270 names drawn, the odds of getting selected have been updated as follows:

one ticket odds = 7.9%
two ticket odds = 15.2%
three ticket odds = 21.9%
four ticket odds = 28.0%

We used a Monte Carlo simulation to calculate these updated odds.

The lottery will take place at the Placer HS auditorium. We will begin introductions a little before 9am and start drawing names right at 9am. We expect to be done by 11am. Note that there is no food or drink allowed in the auditorium (water ok).

As names are pulled from the hat, they will be posted at ultralive.net as close to real-time as possible. There will also be a live video feed.

For a little historical perspective, here are the number of lottery applicants and ticket counts  in the lottery since 2000.

2000 583
2001 556
2002 529
2003 638
2004 740
2005 791
2006 841
2007 1,048
2008 1,350 Fire year
2009 337 out of 390 returned 54 two-time losers, 34 autos for a total of 425 entrants
2010 1,693 Last year for two-time losers
2011 1,786 First year for multi-tickets in the hat. One ticket: 1286, two tickets: 500
2012 1,940 One ticket: 1221, two tickets: 461, three tickets: 258
2013 2295 One ticket: 1486, two tickets: 480, three tickets: 207, four tickets: 122