Western States Endurance Run
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The Western States Endurance Run, known commonly as the Western States 100, is a 100 mile long (161 km) ultramarathon that takes place on trails in California's Sierra Nevada annually on the last weekend of June. The race starts at the base of the Squaw Valley ski resort and finishes at the Placer High School track in Auburn, California. Runners climb a cumulative total of 18000 feet (5500 meters) and descend a total of 23000 feet (7000 m) on mountain trails before reaching the finish. Because of the length of the race, the race begins at 5:00 A.M. and continues through the day and into the night. Runners finishing before the 30 hour overall time limit for the race receive a bronze belt buckle, while runners finishing in under 24 hours receive a silver belt buckle.
[edit] History
The WS Run was first completed in 1974 by Gordy Ainsleigh. Ainsleigh had finished the Trail Ride in 1971 and 1972 on horseback, but in 1973 his new horse was pulled with lameness at the 29-mile checkpoint. In 1974 his horse turned up lame and, according to legend, Ainsleigh declared that he would run the entire course on foot. An incoherent Ainsleigh finished the event 23 hours and 47 minutes later.
In 1975 Ron Kelley ran the Trail Ride course along with the horses and completed about 97 miles (157 km) of the course before dropping out. In 1976, Ken 'Cowman' Shirk became the second runner to complete the course along with the horses, with friend Ainsleigh pacing him the last 25 miles.
Fourteen runners signed up for the first official Western States Endurance Run in 1977, and started along with the horses in the Trail Ride. Eleven of the 14 had dropped out or were pulled by the midpoint that year. Of the three remaining runners, only Andy Gonzales finished in the 24 hour time limit set for the horses. The other two, Peter Mattei and Ralph Paffenbarger, finished in 28 hours and 36 minutes (unofficially), leading to the establishment of the 30-hour bronze buckle time limit for runners.
The following year 63 runners competed in the first Western States Endurance Run. The race was held on a separate date, independent of the Western States Trail Ride.
In 1984, the Granite Chief Wilderness Area was created under the provisions of the 1964 Wilderness Act, and about 4 miles (6 km) of the trail were within the new boundaries. The wilderness designation would normally mean that the Forest Service would not be able to allow organized events in the area. In 1988, the Endurance Run (and the original Trail Ride) was finally given Congressional permission to continue, but with the number of runners limited to 369, the size of the 1984 field. As the Run grew in notoriety a lottery system was created to allocate the available positions. Each year a certain number of slots go to specific people, such as winners of certain other runs or top ten finishers of the previous Western States race. Then a lottery is held to fill the field from a pool of qualified applicants. The Forest Service allows race management to use a five-year running average of 369 actual starters, and historically some 15% of lottery winners do not report to the starting line, so some 425 runners are typically notified as being eligible. For example, in 2006 there were 439 names on the entrant roster and 399 of those started; since the number of starting runners was over 369 the lottery for the 2007 running should award fewer slots to reduce the five-year average.
Today the race is one of the premier ultrarunning events in the world. As of 2006, Tim Twietmeyer has completed the race a record 25 times, all in under 24 hours. With his 2005 victory, Scott Jurek won 7 consecutive races and set a new course record of 15 hours, 36 minutes, 27 seconds in 2004.
