It's that time of the year again

What is Western States 100?

You might be curious what it is, if you haven’t heard it before.
“The Western States ® 100-Mile Endurance Run is the world’s oldest 100 mile trail race. “ ( https://www.wser.org/ )

This run starts at the Lake Tahoe basin - Olympic Valley and ends in Auburn, Ca. Where runners have to traverse different types of terrains. Climb the escarpment at Olympic Valley , then run through the high country, entering the canyons (where the temperature will bake you) before crossing the river and running the rolling hills of the final part to the finish. The run finishes at Placer High School track in Auburn.

It’s a unique race - where the number of volunteers is way bigger than the number of runners. As per regulations only about ~360 runners can toe the line of this race as it is crossing Granite Chief Wilderness (about 4 miles of the course at the beginning).

This is a net downhill race, which is a great recipe for trashed quads ;)

As a runner you have to finish in under 30 hours. If you get it done in under 24 hours , you’ll get a silver belt buckle, if it takes you in-between 24-30 hours you’ll be awarded a bronze buckle.

Is it hard to enter this race?

Well, with the growing popularity it is getting harder and harder to even get into this race. With the growing number of first year applicants the changes for the 2+ year applicants dissolve . So, Yes it is hard and it’s getting harder. But with a certain amount of luck you could get in with one ticket only.

www.wser.org -  applicants counts

How to get in?

1. Win a golden ticket race - there is a list of golden ticket races with golden ticket awards to 1st and 2nd (at times even 3rd) in each category.
2. Run a qualifying race and get selected in the lottery
3. Come to the lottery and get a playing card (bicycle card) - probably better chances than having to wait for the lottery
4. And the best chance to get in as early as possible is to buy raffle tickets - you can buy as many as you wish. If you get selected from the raffle you get to enter the subsequent year of the lottery. So let’s say in the 2024 lottery you get selected, you’d be running in 2025. These tickets are transferable, but you still need to run your qualifying race.

Why is this year special for us?

This year again we will be part of the crew for a Slovak athlete. Martin has been waiting for his appearance at the start for 9 long years (counting in the one year COVID race break, 8 years of qualifying resulting in 128 tickets in the ballot ). Every single year he had to do a qualifying race to continue accrue tickets in the lottery.

We were by the side of the first Slovak runner (Tomas) , Viktor was pacing the second Slovak runner (Marian) and this year we will be again providing crew and pacing support to Martin (who paced Tomas in 2017). 

We were spectating the race multiple times before, after we moved to the U.S.

2016 - Jim Walmsley pushing through Foresthill - youTube link (that is mee on the side of the trail)
2017 - Tomas running WS100 - 2017 WS100
2022 - Marian chasing the silver buckle - youTube

How to follow the race

The organization is doing a great job streaming the race day coverage to youtube.
Tune in on June 29 2024 and you’ll see ( https://www.youtube.com/@WesternStates ).

Ultralive.net - tracking of runners

Instagram stories 

To follow Martin on his journey, check #368 on ultralive.net .

Merry Statesmass!