With the U.S.’s Memorial Day weekend behind us, the calendar flips to June. And with that, the eyes of the ultrarunning world — and people of this columnist! — are directed to the Western States 100.
Going down this yr on June 24, this yr’s Western States 100, like yearly, is stuffed with intriguing tales. I’d like to spotlight 5 of essentially the most compelling tales on this yr’s race and likewise current the 12 runners — let’s name them AJW’s Soiled Dozen — who I feel are more likely to be on the entrance of the pack come sunset over the end line at Placer Excessive Faculty in Auburn, California, on race day.
The Course
Every year the Western States 100 course throws one thing completely different on the runners. This yr, it’s shaping as much as be a double whammy as there’ll probably be ample snow on the course for the primary 25 miles or so after which over 18 miles of newly-exposed-by-fire path within the canyons and on Cal Road.
On account of the devastating Mosquito Hearth that impacted 16 miles of the course within the fall of 2022, key sections of the race which have been as soon as shaded at the moment are fully uncovered to the blazing late June sunshine. If I have been a betting man, I’d say will probably be years till course data are damaged on account of these newly harsh circumstances.
Snow on the course in the course of the 2023 Western States 100 Memorial Weekend Coaching Runs. Photograph: Kaci Lickteig
The Western States 100 course close to the village of Michigan Bluff, which burned within the Mosquito Hearth in fall 2022. Photograph: Alli Hartz
Pam Reed
Sixty-two-year-old extremely veteran Pam Reed isn’t any stranger to the Western States 100, having run the race seven instances over the previous 20 years. Nevertheless, this yr Pam is dealing with maybe the largest problem of her profession as that is the primary race in a unprecedented “triple.” She’s going to comply with the Western States 100 by operating the Badwater 135 Mile and Hardrock 100 all inside a 20-day interval.
Pam Reed after ending the 2015 Hardrock 100. Photograph: iRunFarr/Meghan Hicks
Dakota Jones
The primary time I met Dakota Jones was on the 2009 Western States 100. He wasn’t operating the race that yr however was there to assist different runners and take within the scene. On the time, he was an 18-year-old rookie who had simply damaged into the extremely world and all people assumed in a yr or two he can be toeing the road on the Western States 100.
Properly, everyone knows Dakota goes to the beat of his personal drum and although he earned the correct to run the race just a few instances through the years by profitable Golden Ticket Races, this yr will probably be his first go on the occasion. After an unbelievable season in 2022 with a third-place end on the Hardrock 100 and a course file on the Javelina 100 Mile, in addition to a contemporary win on the 2023 Transvulcania Ultramarathon by UTMB simply final month, it’s clear that Dakota is primed for a superb outcome.
Dakota Jones on his approach to the rostrum on the 2022 Hardrock 100. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Gene Dykes
At 75 years of age, Pennsylvania’s Gene Dykes is trying to turn out to be the oldest Western States 100 finisher of all time, a file at the moment held by Nick Bassett who completed the race in 2018 on the age of 73. Dykes, who certified for the Western States 100 on the 2022 Javelina 100 Mile, has had a formidable sequence of tune-up races together with a nine-hour 40 miler at Bare Bavarian 40 Mile in March, a 14:36 50 miler in Texas per week later, after which a formidable 62.4 miles in 12 hours on the Daybreak 2 Nightfall 2 Daybreak Extremely on Could 13.
What’s additionally cool about his story is that the model Stoked Oaks is sponsoring his race, and so the athlete and model are collectively main the way in which in setting an advanced precedent on sponsored athleticism. Quite a bit can occur on the market on the path, but it surely’s exhausting to not pull for a man like Gene.
Gene Dykes is operating the 2023 Western States 100 in an try to turn out to be the race’s oldest finisher. Photograph: Stoked Oats
The Waitlist
In 2017 the Western States 100 organizers started to implement a waitlist for the race, permitting them to register the precise variety of starters their allow permits. For the primary three years of the waitlist, runners have been pulled off the listing at house 39, 36, and 31. Nevertheless, after the 2020 COVID-19 cancellation, the 2021 race exhausted the waitlist as all 50 areas have been taken. So in 2022, the race expanded the waitlist to 75 names and the final particular person pulled off the waitlist was from the 68th place.
On this yr’s waitlist there have already been 39 names chosen on the time of this text’s writing, and that quantity will probably enhance as runners can get a partial refund on their entry charges in the event that they withdraw by June 9. So, anybody nonetheless on the waitlist, I certain hope you might be coaching!
AJW’s 2023 Western States 100 Predictions
As was the case final yr, this yr’s race is broad open. With no defending champions returning on both the lads’s or girls’s aspect, an expanded Golden Ticket Races course of together with three 100-mile races, this yr’s race is anybody’s guess. However, listed here are my picks:
Males’s Race
1. Arlen Glick
2. Dakota Jones
3. Cole Watson
4. Hayden Hawks
5. Mathieu Blanchard
6. Tom Evans
Arlen Glick runs into Michigan Bluff at mile 55 of the 2022 Western States 100. He went on to complete third. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Ladies’s Race
1. Courtney Dauwalter
2. Katie Schide
3. Devon Yanko
4. Keely Henninger
5. Leah Yingling
6. Katie Asmuth
Katie Schide, 2022 UTMB champion. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Bottoms up!
AJW’s Beer of the Week
This week’s Beer of the Week comes from Bullmastiff Brewing in Penn Valley, California. Canine Home Stout is a strong 9% stout that’s savory and barely candy. It’s extremely creamy and full of oats giving it that traditional English model oatmeal taste. For those who’re in Northern California for the Western States 100, remember to attempt a Canine Home Stout.
Name for Feedback
- What tales are you following on the 2023 Western States 100?
- Go away a remark to share a narrative you suppose a wider viewers needs to be monitoring come race weekend!
