WS100 - 2000 Crew/Pacer report Date: Mon, 26 Jun 2000 11:47:37 MDT From: "Peter Bakwin" I got back late last night from the Western States 100. I paced my wife, Stephanie Ehret, for the last 38 miles of the race and also ran the rest of the course on the previous Weds and Thurs. Here are some impressions of the event and course which may be useful to folks who don't know much about the race but are thinking about attempting to sign up. I read a lot of race reports. WS100 is has such a long history that often people assume that everyone already knows everything there is to know about the race. Well, there's no substitute for seeing the event first hand. The WS100 course is amazingly good! For some reason I expected a lot of exposed, stark and dry landscape but in fact the course is mostly on fabulous singletrack under the cover of huge trees. The trail is littered with pine cones that are literally the size of footballs. You run many miles along high ridges and side-hilling through deep gorges. Many, many miles are very runnable, smooth singletrack -- flat or gently rolling. There are plenty of steep climbs and decents as well, but they are mostly rather short. There are only 3 big climbs: the climb to the top of Squaw Valley at the start of the race, and the climb out of the canyon to Devil's Thumb and out of El Dorado canyon. I expected the canyons to be very hot, but again you are mostly in shade (hot yes, but manageable). If you care to take the time you can soak in cool, crystal clear streams at the bottom of the canyons. It is easy to hammer your legs on this course as so much is downhill and very runnable. At dusk Stephanie & I ran a smooth gradual downhill singletrack along the wall of a canyon with the American River far below -- amazingly beautiful moment that reminded me why I run trails! There is a river crossing at mile 78 that sometimes requires a boat shuttle. This year we waded it holding a rope. The current was gentle but the water was up to Steph's chest (she's 5'1"). The water was cool, not icy, and felt quite good at the end of a hot day. We crossed just before full darkness. The last 38 miles of the course (after Foresthill) are especially runnable with a lot of easy singletrack. Also, most people will run this part of the race in the evening and at night (we left the Foresthill aid station at 5:45 p.m., and Stephanie finished in 21:45). A good strategy for this race is a very conservative start to save your legs so you can run most of this last part. The organization at WS100 is legendary. They had a new but very experienced RD this year, Greg Soderland. They keep the crews out of the aid stations and the aid station people take very good care of the runners. It is a difficult race to crew for and there are very long stretches with no crew access (up to 30 miles). But, there are a lot of well-stocked aid stations, something like 26 of them! It is difficult to keep track of the competition unless they are ahead of you. As usual the aid station people typically have no idea where other runners are (even those ahead of you). There is a rather more serious tone to the whole event than at any other ultra I have participated in. The level of competition is very high and the rules are taken very seriously. This might turn some runners off as many of us got into ultras in part because of the relaxed atmosphere. On the other hand the race organizers and volunteers are meticulously attentive to the needs of the runners. On Weds before the race I ran from the start (Squaw) to Robinson Flat (30 miles) with Deb Askew and Craig Robertson. Since the course was marked for the race it was fairly easy to follow. Without the yellow ribbons it would have been very difficult to stay on the route. There was one section of about 16 miles (from about mile 10) with no water, but otherwise there were plenty of streams along the route. The car shuttle for this run is extremely long, something like 120 miles! The next day I ran solo from Robinson to Foresthill (another 32 miles), and again had no problem following the yellow ribbons and finding water frequently. I think this section stays on the Western States trail, so it is fairly well marked with permanent markers. During these two days I saw not one other person on the trail! Thanks to the organizers of this great event & all the volunteers! I have no doubt that we will be back next year! Peter Bakwin Boulder, CO pbakwin@cmdl.noaa.gov