Due to HOKA for making our protection of the 2023 Western States 100 attainable.
After a troublesome 12 months for its organizers, rectifying fireplace injury on the route, the Western States 100 is ready for 2023. The long-lasting point-to-point, net-downhill course takes in 100.2 miles, 18,000 ft of climbing, and 22,000 ft of descending, because it begins on the Palisades Tahoe ski resort in Olympic Valley, California, and finishes at Placer Excessive College in Auburn.
Environmental situations will play into the race’s aggressive story this 12 months. With file snowfall all through the higher elevations of the Sierra Nevada, the mountain vary by way of which the race travels, runners will encounter loads of snow over the course’s first quarter, together with quite a few excessive water crossings decrease down as all that snow melts. Some 16 miles of the course have been burned over by final fall’s Mosquito Hearth, leaving miles of shade-less terrain. And naturally, there’ll most likely be climate at play, with the occasion’s infamous warmth prone to embody the center and decrease elevations of the course.
The boys’s race ultimately 12 months’s Western States 100 was sharp, with simply 50 minutes separating the primary and Tenth finishers. Eight of that stellar line-up are again this 12 months, in addition to some critical additions just like the U.Okay.’s Tom Evans, French-Canadian Mathieu Blanchard, and Dakota Jones.
Though there are notable absentees together with reigning champion Adam Peterman and course-record holder Jim Walmsley, the depth of this males’s subject suggests it might be an excellent tighter race this 12 months.
Adam Peterman at mile 30 of the 2022 Western States 100, on his technique to successful the lads’s race. Picture: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
As you’d guess, iRunFar might be there to report firsthand on all of the motion because it unfolds beginning at 5 a.m. U.S. PDT on Saturday, June 24. Keep tuned!
A particular because of HOKA for making our protection of the Western States 100 attainable!
You should definitely take a look at our in-depth girls’s preview to study concerning the girls’s race — which we’ll publish tomorrow — and, then, observe our dwell protection on race day!
Returning Prime 10
The highest 10 runners within the 2022 race have been invited to return for 2023. Sadly, reigning champion Adam Peterman is out with harm, and seventh-place Vincent Viet of France has opted to not return.
Hayden Hawks – 2nd, 15:47:27 (2022 post-race interview)
Hayden Hawks
Final 12 months’s second-place man, Hayden Hawks, was fairly jovial in his post-race interview about not having the ability to greatest race winner Adam Peterman. However with out the reigning champion current on the beginning line, this might be Hawks’s 12 months. Regardless of fighting the warmth final 12 months, his end time knocked two hours off his eighth-place end from 2021, and there are many indicators that he may have extra to supply on this course. A few of his earlier prime performances embrace a 5:18 win on the 2020 JFK 50 Mile and a win on the 2018 Lavaredo Extremely Path. To this point this 12 months, he’s warmed up by successful the Canyons 50k and taking second on the Tarawera Ultramarathon 100k.
Arlen Glick – third, 15:56:17 (2022 post-race interview)
Arlen Glick
Arlen Glick surpassed lots of people’s expectations when he took third at Western States final 12 months. Though he went into the race with bag of kind within the 100-mile distance — having gained the Javelina 100 Mile, the Mohican 100 Mile and the Burning River 100 Mile all in 2021 — this was his initiation into mountainous ultrarunning. He took to it very properly, working a stormer to position third, and has since logged extra mountain miles, taking second within the Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile later in 2022, earlier than returning to the 2022 Javelina 100 Mile to position third.
Tyler Inexperienced – 4th, 15:57:10
Tyler Inexperienced took fourth at Western States final 12 months, and compelled third-place Arlen Glick into an uncomfortable dash end as he closed on him within the race’s ultimate moments. By way of putting, he was again from his second-place end in 2021, however improved his end time by about 14 minutes in his third go on the race. In 2019, he positioned 14th in a time of 16:51, in what was a really quick 12 months. Following on from Western States final summer time, he had a beneath par run on the 2022 UTMB, making it simply inside the highest 50, however confirmed he’s again on kind with a third-place end on the 2023 Transgrancanaria. Final 12 months in his pre-race interview he spoke about stepping again from his day job of educating to focus extra on monitor teaching and his personal working, so which will have allowed him to come back into this 12 months’s race with higher preparation than earlier years.
Tyler Inexperienced cooling off within the American River at mile 78, on his technique to taking second on the 2021 Western States 100. Picture: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Drew Holmen – fifth, 16:09:00
Drew Holmen
Drew Holmen took fifth ultimately 12 months’s Western States, a bit of bit faster than his third-place end in 2021. He’s a very constant racer, and this fifth-place end is about way back to he’s positioned in a serious race since 2019. His different standout outcomes embrace a win on the 2020 Bandera 100k and this 12 months’s Lake Sonoma 50 Mile. Simply 15 days earlier than — and a continent away from — Western States, Holmen took fifth on the 2023 Path World Championships 80k in Austria.
Ludovic Pommeret (France) – sixth, 16:20:02
Ludovic Pommeret
Ludovic Pommeret, sixth ultimately 12 months’s Western States, went on to encourage veteran racers in every single place with a commanding win on the 2022 TDS at age 47 — virtually an hour away from second place on the demanding route. A few of his different prime performances embrace a win on the 2016 UTMB, the place he additionally took fourth in 2021, and a win on the 2021 Diagonale des Fous. He’s most likely on the different finish of the spectrum of Arlen Glick, in that his greatest performances have been on programs extra mountainous than this one, however he’s nonetheless to not be underestimated.
Alex Nichols – eighth, 16:28:34
Alex Nichols
Alex Nichols took eighth ultimately 12 months’s race in a time greater than two hours higher than his Tenth-place end from 2021. It was additionally faster than his time from 2017, when he positioned second, which is indicative of the depth of final 12 months’s males’s subject. In additional than a decade of competing on the highest degree, Nichols’s various resume consists of successful the 2016 Pikes Peak Marathon and the 2017 Black Canyons 100k, and taking second on the 2020 Bandera 100k. Final 12 months he adopted his run at Western States with a win on the Matterhorn Ultraks 50k, however doesn’t seem to have raced a lot but this 12 months.
Cody Lind – ninth, 16:29:38 (2022 post-race interview)
Cody Lind
Cody Lind took ninth ultimately 12 months’s Western States, however, just like others talked about above, in a quicker time to his fourth-place end the earlier 12 months. He then adopted Alex Nichols to the Matterhorn Ultraks 50k, the place he positioned third, and he’s had a promising begin to 2023 with a win on the Valhöll Extremely Path 80k in Argentina. Lind has a powerful household affinity with Western States, the place his grandfather, Bob Lind, was medical director and board member for twenty years and he’ll little question be aiming to do the title proud but once more.
Scott Traer – Tenth, 16:35:23
Scott Traer
Like Arlen Glick, Scott Traer is properly versed in successful flat and quick 100 milers, working as quick as 13:44 on the 2021 Umstead 100 Mile. He did, nevertheless, place fifth within the mountainous Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile again in 2019, in addition to taking sixth within the 2022 Black Canyon 100k. Since final 12 months’s Western States, he’s demonstrated his velocity once more with a win on the 2022 Javelina 100k.
Jim Walmsley celebrates after setting the Western States 100 course file in 2019. Picture: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Extra Prime Males
Mathieu Blanchard
Not many ultra-trail runners have made Kilian Jornet sweat to the diploma that French-Canadian Mathieu Blanchard did ultimately 12 months’s UTMB. The 2 battled it out all day for a detailed end, by which Blanchard took second place — beneath the prevailing course file — thus incomes his Golden Ticket into Western States. He’s been mixing it up rather a lot this 12 months, taking second within the 146-mile Coastal Problem Expedition Run stage race in Costa Rica, third within the Marathon des Sables, and working 2:22 in what regarded like a reasonably informal effort on the Paris Marathon.
The U.Okay.’s Tom Evans gained computerized entry by way of a third-place end ultimately 12 months’s UTMB. He beforehand positioned third at Western States within the record-breaking 12 months of 2019, in a time of 14:59. For context, that was 14 minutes quicker than Adam Peterman’s successful time final 12 months, and 48 minutes faster than prime returning runner Hayden Hawks’s 2022 second-place end. Thus, he’ll for a lot of be the favourite going into this 12 months’s race. To this point in 2023, he’s positioned second to Anthony Costales on the Black Canyon 100k, and sealed a snug win ultimately month’s Extremely-Path Snowdonia 50k.
Anthony Costales
Anthony Costales earned his place in Western States with a win at this 12 months’s Black Canyon 100k, the place he set a 19-minute course file, ending 4 minutes away from Tom Evans in second. His different standout performances embrace a win at Chuckanut 50k in 2019, the place he additionally took second in 2021. He has 100-mile kind too, having positioned second within the 2021 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile, and he gained the 2021 Canyons 100k — run on lots of the identical trails as this Western States course.
Going again so far as the San Juan Solstice 50 Mile in 2010, Dakota Jones has been successful prime ultramarathons since earlier than he may legally drink a beer. Extra not too long ago, he’s gained his final two main outings, the 2023 Transvulcania Ultramarathon and the 2022 Javelina 100 Mile — the latter of which is the place he earned his Golden Ticket, and ran beneath 13 hours for 100 miles. He had some nice runs earlier final 12 months too, together with a third-place end on the Hardrock 100.
Jia-Ju Zhao
Jia-Ju Zhao doesn’t seem to have raced within the U.S. earlier than, however has luggage of 100k and 100-mile wins to his title at dwelling in China. He earned his Golden Ticket with a win on the 2022 Doi Inthanon 100 Mile, which he additionally gained in 2021. He’s on kind this 12 months too, having gained Extremely-Path Mt. Fuji in late April.
Jeffrey Colt completed simply exterior of the highest 10 ultimately 12 months’s Western States, putting eleventh in 16:51, having suffered a bout of COVID-19 simply earlier than the race. It was a very good effort for a nasty day, and he seemingly has extra to supply on the course. He went on to position 14th on the 2022 Path World Championships 80k, as a part of the USA squad that took staff gold, after which earned his approach again into Western States with a win on the 2023 Bandera 100k.
Cole Watson
Cole Watson wasn’t far off the mark final 12 months both, ending 14th within the 2022 Western States. He missed out on the Golden Ticket on the 2023 Black Canyon 100k, the place he positioned fourth, however he greater than made up for it with an outstanding win on the 2023 Canyons 100k, 16 minutes away from Adam Merry in second. Different sturdy outcomes embrace third on the 2021 Javelina 100 Mile, and he may have a very good shot at breaking this 12 months’s prime 10.
The beginning of the 2022 Western States 100. Picture: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Nonetheless Extra Quick Males to Watch
- Reed Breuer — 1st 2021 Rio Del Lago 100 Mile; 1st 2021 American River 100 Mile
- Rod Farvard — 4th 2022 Canyons 100k; 4th 2022 Bandera 100k; twenty third 2022 UTMB
- JP Giblin — 2nd 2023 Bandera 100k; twelfth 2022 Canyons 100k
- Scott Hawker (New Zealand) — 2nd 2021 CCC; third 2019 UTMB
- Daniel Jones (New Zealand) — 1st 2023 Tarawera 100k; Tenth 2022 Canyons 100k
- Ryan Kaiser — 1st 2022 Mountain Lakes 100 Mile; third 2022 Leadville 100 Mile
- Janosch Kowalczyk (Germany) — third 2023 Black Canyon 100k; 1st 2022 Mozart 100k; sixth 2021 CCC
- Can-Hua Luo (China) — 2nd 2023 Canyons 100 Mile; 2nd 2022 Doi Inthanon 100 Mile; eleventh 2019 UTMB
- Adam Merry — 2nd 2023 Canyons 100k; 1st 2023 Chuckanut 50k
- Ryan Montgomery — third 2023 Tarawera 100k; 2nd 2022 Javelina 100 Mile (They’re entered within the nonbinary gender class, and might be competing within the males’s awards class per the entrants’ record and the race’s nonbinary entrant coverage.)
- Jonathan Rea — 2nd 2022 Javelina 100 Mile; 1st 2022 Bandera 100k; twenty fourth 2022 Western States 100
- Thomas Wagner (Austria) — 1st 2022 Eiger Extremely Path 150 Mile; eighth 2022 Istria 100 Mile
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