Trail running and ultra running are part of life in the California Sierra Nevada foothills, also coincidentally the home of the world’s oldest 100-mile trail run. So when I moved to the “Gold Country,” where in fact gold was discovered in 1849, I of course became part of the ultra “tribe.” To tell the truth, it was hard to escape the ultra aficionados. So it wasn’t long before I knocked off my first 50K, was talked into a 50 miler, and then found everybody trying to convince me to enter the renowned Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run. This is more than just the granddaddy of 100 milers; in fact, it traverses the high peaks, deep valleys and rivers that American Indians called home. It follows much of the trail that pioneers in covered wagons, cowboys, and gold miners seeking riches followed westward to California. Now, it’s one thing to want to run the Western States. It’s entirely a different matter to make it into the run. First, you have to qualify, which may seem like the easy part these days. Now, with so many ultra crazy people all over the world who want in, a lottery system exists to try to make entry as fair as possible. That system has changed over the years too.
Want to run it? Chances less than 5 percent!
Your chances? For the 2016 running on June 25-26, the organization calculated one person’s chance of winning an entry was a mere 4.7 percent. There were 3,510 entries in the December 2015 lottery based on running qualifying runs between November 2014 and November 2015 or falling under a qualification of so-called “automatics,” e.g. having a top-10 Western States finish the prior year. That number alone was a 37-percent increase from a year earlier. Qualifiers take place all over the world, including one in Germany, four in England, and others in Italy, France and other European countries in 2016. Qualifying information and race specifics are here. One other point is that having 3510 “entries” in the lottery doesn’t mean 3,510 people. A few years ago, in a continued quest for fairness, a system was implemented that allows a runner who did not win an entry one year to get a second ticket in the lottery the next year. And every year a runner qualifies and does not get into the run, he or she gets additional tickets to help increase his or her chances. Read more about the lottery system here.
Oh sh--! I got in?!?
I only vaguely recall that the chances of winning a spot were about 25 percent the year I entered. I was in fact so confident I was not going to make it in that I went shopping instead of going to the lottery, which happens to take place 30 minutes from my home and is yet another gathering of the ultra tribe. On the way home, I called my husband and casually asked him to check out the entrants’ list online. I’ll never forget the surge of warmth that went from my head, washed over me down to my toes and back up to my head when he said he found my name on the list. I almost steered my car right off the freeway. My response: “Oh sh--!”
Being able to say you are a finisher is huge with a finishing rate ranging from about 47 percent to 83 percent depending on the weather. The winter and spring before my year was particularly cold and wet – I was still training in sleet and freezing rain just a month before on the Western States trails, making Gore-Tex shoes and jackets a must -- but then a heat wave moved in just about three days before the race. Temperatures in the mountain valleys reached up to 120 degrees Fahrenheit (nearly 50 degrees Celsius), with extremely low humidity. To make matters worse, there had been late snow in the high country so on top of the heat we had to traipse through sometimes very deep snow for the first 10-15 miles, of course wearing Gore-Tex trail runners for the first 30 miles. That year, only about half of the 399 starters finished and only about a third of women. As one finisher told me after I collected my medal: “Welcome to the family.”
Want to try it in 2017?
The lottery for the June 2017 running will take place Dec. 3, 2016. Qualifying races for 2017 must be run between Nov. 9, 2015 and Nov. 6, 2016, so you still have time! Click here to see how the entries have grown over the years. Want to read a detailed account of my own Western States 100-mile run experience, now a decade ago? Click here to see a story on HI Travel Tales, a travel blog run by my husband and myself.
