The iconic Western States Endurance Run (or Western States 100) was back on this year after the inevitable cancellation of the 2020 race due to the pandemic. The 100-mile course is set in California’s Sierra Nevada Mountains, and gives the potential of snow on the mountains but likely scorching temperatures on the trails. Official high temps recorded this year were 38⁰ C (101⁰ F).
Jim Walmsley won the race in 14:46:01 with a comfortable lead of around 1:25 over 2nd place Tyler Green. This is Jim’s 3rd consecutive win since first winning the race in 2018, after an error cost him the course record at his first 100-mile race in 2017 (for the full story watch “Found on 49”).
Jim’s 2019 record still stands at 14:09:28, but could he be on the road to multiple consecutive wins like Scott Jurek (1999-2005) or the astonishing winning streak by Ann Trason (1989-2003 excl. 1999)?
The UK’s Beth Pascall crossed the finish line on the Placer High School track as first woman in 17:10:42, 7th place overall and 2nd fastest time ever behind Ellie Greenwood’s record in 2012. Beth has an impressive race record with top-ranking positions in many classic ultrarunning races. Clearly keeping busy during a race-dry 2020 she broke the UK’s Bob Graham record in 2020 in 14:34.
Ruth Croft and Ragna Debats followed shortly afterwards coming in 2nd and 3rd respectively. It’s impressive to see that all three finished in the overall top ten.
Results: Men
Jim Walmsley 14:46:01
Tyler Green 16:11:02
Drew Holmen 16:23:09
Women
Beth Pascall 17:10:42 (7th overall)
Ruth Croft 17:33:48 (9th overall)
Ragna Debats 17:41:13 (10th overall)
The full results are available here. We’re so glad to have racing back on and with many top runners taking on solo runs and challenges over the last 18 months we can see that they’re coming back as strong as ever.
Photo credit: irunfar
