It’s laborious to consider that it’s been 10 years since I closing ran the Western States 100. In June of 2014, I ran the race for my tenth and ultimate time.
I wrote a race file about it and likewise did an in depth interview with Bryon Powell to record the day. Since that point, I’ve returned to the development once a year to volunteer, workforce, tempo, cheerlead, and simply usually be part of the yearly spectacle this is Western States.
As we’re at the eve of the 2024 working of the race, I believed it will be amusing to seem again on my most sensible 5 Western States recollections of those previous 10 years and rely them down from 5th to first.
5. Diana Fitzpatrick Completing in Underneath 24 Hours at Age 60 in 2018
There may be most likely no ultramarathon that maintains the meticulous information that Western States does. And, for a race that has been held for fifty years, there are lots of ancient performances that experience long past down at the path between the beginning line in Olympic Valley and the end line in Auburn, California.
In 2018, then-60-year-old Californian Diana Fitzpatrick changed into the primary lady over 60 to ever run Western States in below 24 hours. Her time of 23:52 no longer simplest earned her a coveted sterling silver belt buckle but in addition positioned her in a exceptional twenty third position total within the ladies’s race.
We additionally notice Fitzpatrick’s devoted provider to the group. She has served at the Western States 100 Board of Trustees since 2012 and has been its president since 2019.
Diana Fitzpatrick completing Western States in 2017, the 12 months earlier than her age-group record-setting run. Photograph courtesy of Diana Fitzpatrick.
4. Steven Moore Breaking the Males’s 50-And-Over Age Workforce Report in 2019
In 1988, then-50-year-old Doug Latimer changed into the primary particular person in Western States historical past to finish the race 10 instances, and he did so in below 24 hours each and every time. This earned him the now-famous 10-Day Buckle. In that 1988 race, Latimer additionally set a 50-and-over route checklist of 18:43:58 that assumed a virtually legendary Holy Grail-type standing through the years.
Entering the 2019 race, it was once the longest-standing age-group checklist on the race by way of a protracted shot. That 12 months, Texan Steven Moore set his points of interest at the checklist, and with cautious preparation and flawless race-day execution, he took down Latimer’s 41-year-old checklist with a time of 18:14:57. It was once a sight to behold as Moore turned around that observe and triumphantly crossed the end line.
Then-51-year-old Steven Moore surroundings the lads’s 50-to-59 Western States 100 age organization checklist in 2019. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
3. Kaci Lickteig and Stephanie Case’s Boat Trip in 2017
In 2017, I used to be volunteering on the Rucky Chucky River Crossing when 2016 ladies’s winner Kaci Lickteig got here into the help station and promptly slumped in a chair. From with regards to everybody’s point of view, it gave the look of she was once making plans on falling by the wayside of the race. She seemed drained, chilly, and had not one of the sparkle in her eye that we have got all come to be expecting from her.
As good fortune would have it, Lickteig’s trainer, Jason Koop, was once there and started speaking to her. Her long-time pacer Miguel Ordorica joined the dialog, and slowly, Lickteig’s smile returned. When Stephanie Case, a fellow competitor, sat down subsequent to Lickteig and started digging right into a pile of McDonald’s french fries, Lickteig was once intrigued.
As Case stood to go away, she mentioned loudly, “C’mon Kaci, come for a ship journey with me!” At that second, Lickteig stood up and stumbled all the way down to the river to move within the raft with Case. A number of hours later, in a time of 24:02, she crossed the end line.
This 12 months, Lickteig goes for her tenth end.
Stephanie Case and Kaci Lickteig after completing in 2017. Photograph: Larry Gassan
2. Clare Gallagher and Brittany Peterson’s Race for the Win in 2019
There were many dramatic showdowns through the years at Western States, however none extra dramatic than the 2019 ladies’s race between Clare Gallagher and Brittany Peterson. At mile 78 that 12 months, early chief Courtney Dauwalter was once pressured to desert the race because of harm. Gallagher and Peterson, who had been in 2nd and 3rd position on the time, had been straight away thrust into the highest two positions.
From there, they battled stride for stride for the following 15 miles, arriving on the Pointed Rocks assist station in conjunction with simply 5.5 miles to move. At the downhill path from the help station to No Fingers Bridge, Gallagher opened a small lead on Peterson that she would by no means relinquish.
After just about 5 hours of working shoulder to shoulder, Gallagher prevailed over Peterson by way of 11 mins. Her break up time from Pointed Rocks to the end of 51 mins stays the quickest time ever run by way of a lady over that reach and sits simplest 3 mins in the back of Patrick Reagan’s males’s checklist break up.
Clare Gallagher (left) and Brittany Peterson after going one-two on the 2019 Western States 100.
1. Gunhild Swanson Completing with Six Seconds To Spare At the 30-Hour Cutoff in 2015
The general hour of Western States, dubbed the Golden Hour, has been a time of top nervousness and drama through the years. In 2015, it was once off the charts. I used to be status at the observe with about quarter-hour left at the clock when a murmur rose within the crowd. Then-70-year-old Washingtonian Gunhild Swanson had arrived at Robie Level and had quarter-hour to hide 1.3 miles.
Unbeknownst to these people within the crowd, males’s race winner Rob Krar had wandered out to Robie Level and was once now working with Swanson, urging her on in turn flops. When Swanson after all entered the observe, she had simply over 70 seconds to run the overall 250 meters to the end.
With a crowd of masses urging her on, Swanson made it around the line in 29:59:54. To this present day, it’s the maximum atypical carrying second I’ve witnessed.
Gunhild Swanson after completing the 2015 Western States 100 in 29:59:54, six seconds earlier than the race cutoff at 70 years of age. Photograph: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
I ponder what recollections anticipate in 2024?
Bottoms up!
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Name for Feedback
- What’s your favourite Western States 100 reminiscence?
- Who do you suppose will installed essentially the most memorable efficiency this 12 months?