Western States 100 Endurance Race – It’s a “No Go!”
by Sherri on June 27, 2008
Ann Trason (women's division record holder and winner of the WS 100 11 times) with her pacer, crossing the American River at the 78-mile checkpoint.
In case you haven't heard, California is on fire. In Northern California alone, an estimated 200,000 square miles have already burned. Most of the several hundred fires burning are due to the several thousand lightening strikes from earlier this week.
For the 1st time in 35 years, the annual
"Western States 100-mile Endurance Race" has been canceled. After hours of discussion on Wednesday between the forest service and race officials, a decision was finally made to call a halt to one of the biggest and most grueling endurance races in the country. This cancellation was due to extremely poor air quality and a couple of fires still burning in the vicinity of the race. On top of that, there is the possibility of more lightening strikes this weekend.
You may not know about the "Western States 100." It is a foot race that starts in Squaw Valley (Lake Tahoe) and winds up in Auburn ("The Endurance Capital of the World") 100-miles later. Annually, 400 race participants travel to Northern California from all over the world to run this race.
My husband, Jeff, volunteered for 6 years as a Ham Radio operator at the Rucky Chuck River Crossing checkpoint, at mile 78 of the race. As the runners were checked through the checkpoint, he would report their checkout times to the volunteers at the Command Center.
Unfortunately, the news came a little too late for some people that have already traveled here from far away. This years event will not be rescheduled, but each race participant on the final start list will be given an automatic entry to the 2009 event.
Yeah I’ve been reading about the fires, but haven’t seen any myself here in So Cal recently. I’m sure there is, but I haven’t really been out much lately.
This is a cool photo. I didn’t realize that this race involved river crossings!
wow, i’m just amazed that it was cancelled! i LOVE to run and i dream of running this race someday. i love to take my kids out to watch them come through foresthill middle school at night. so fun! and very cool that your hubby has volunteered at the ruck a chucky crossing. we’re in foresthill and last itme i checked, foresthill bridge was closed due to a new fire at foresthill and old foresthill road. scary stuff around here! you guys stay safe! 🙂
Richard,
There is only the one river crossing, the one you see in this picture. We were really fortunate to get to spend 6 years down there. It’s the most happening checkpoint of the race. The river flow on that fork of the American River (middle fork) is controlled at Oxbow Reservoir. They even have to stop releasing water from it at some point during the day, so the runners can get across. The Whitewater Rafters have to go through here before the water gets too low. It’s really interesting to watch the river shrink. It’s also fun to hear the comments by the runners when they hit the water. Some will say “I’ve been waiting for this all day” and others will say “Ah s**t!”
Christie,
I think the decision to cancel the race was a good, but sad one. I love to run too and although I don’t aspire to run the race, I would consider being a pacer. Let’s make a deal. Next year???
The fire you are referring to that broke out yesterday off of Foresthill Road we could see from our deck. I don’t know the current statis of it, but it looked like they had it most of the way out just before dark last night.
I hope you don’t get trapped up there!
Sherri, LOL. That would be a blast but unfortunately, my longest run has been 3 hours on that trail. I’ve got quite a bit of training to do still. 🙂
have a great day and thank for you comment too. 🙂
You have got me beat! Have you done any of the shorter, local races?
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