On Location at The Western States 100
A few thoughts and observations after 24 hours on the ground in Olympic Valley ahead of the 2025 Western States 100
Yesterday afternoon I arrived in Olympic Valley after making a last minute decision to come experience the Western States 100 in person. I first learned about ultrarunning in 2005 while thru-hiking the Appalachian Trail. That year, while I was making my way north along the AT through the Whites in New Hampshire, Scott Jurek won his 7th consecutive Western States.
As my Uber rolled into Olympic Valley, I could see The Escarpment, the iconic high point 3.3 miles into the course, in the distance up ahead. I’ve seen it so many times. On livestreams, in photos, through the retelling of races on podcasts and blog posts. But I’d never seen it in person. It hit different. “I’m actually here,” I thought to myself as I frantically texted my wife to share the experience with her.
Shortly after, I walked from my Airbnb into the village area where everyone congregates. Everywhere I looked I saw someone I recognized or have interacted with over the last year while writing The Ultra Minute. Legends of the sport, up-and-comers, fans, and media. I said hello to as many as I could, then sat in the main square and caught two panels, one on empowering women in trail running, and the other on kinship building among the community and inclusivity.
Afterward I got a run in with Zach Hauer, co-owner of Open Fuel (who is supporting my coverage here - more on that below), as he showed me some of the trails from the Broken Arrow races last weekend, and capped the day off spectating the Beer Mile. I briefly said hello to Derrick Lytle, whose videos I’ve linked to many times, then chatted with Jules Campanelli and praised the partnership she and her husband Finn Melanson have. Their film, The Finisher, which tells the story of Jasmin Paris becoming the first woman to ever finish the Barkley Marathons, was a collaborative project between the two and exemplifies a style of filmmaking I’d love to see more of in the sport. They also partner on Singletrack, one of the leading podcasts in the space, and their new event company, Massif Running. Their creative and entrepreneurial partnership reminds me of Chia Vasarhelyi and her husband Jimmy Chin, who directed Free Solo, the 2019 Academy Award Best Documentary Feature, which broke another niche sport (climbing) into mainstream culture. The Finisher now has over 1m views, and I suspect it’s just the beginning for the duo.
Chatting with Jules, I glanced out over the Beer Mile unfolding in front of me. I heard the announcer say the top woman was on her last lap and heading into the finish. As I peered through the crowd to see and spotted her sprinting in, I realized it was Jennifer Lichter, who graced the cover of last week’s issue after her win in the Broken Arrow 46k. Then I spotted a shirtless man, arms out to his side pumping the crowd as he ran into the finish area and recognized him as Ken Hinely, a long lost friend who I last saw 15 years ago, and who is here to crew his wife Jill Hinely, who got into the race from the lottery on 8 tickets. And to my immediate right was Hal Koerner, who won back-to-back Western States titles in 2007 and 2009 (2008 was canceled due to wildfires), and who was one of the main personalities in the iconic 2011 ultrarunning film, Unbreakable, which covered the 2010 Western States. He was chatting with Scott Jurek. About what, I can’t know. But I imagine they were pondering how strange time is, and laughing at how wild it is that a third former Western States Champ, Kilian Jornet, who was at the top of the game during their eras, is back this year for the first time in 14 years, in arguably the best shape of his life and more prepared than ever.
Thanks to Open Fuel for supporting The Ultra Minute’s Western States coverage
I first learned about Open Fuel several months ago after subscribing to one of the co-owners’ Substack pubs (Zach Hauer’s Late Entry). I bought a few sachets to test the product, and quickly ordered more, and then more again. That’s saying something, since as The Ultra Minute has grown I’ve received free fuel from other brands to test. Yet I keep going back and placing new orders with Open Fuel. Why? It tastes good (Passion Mango Tango is my current fave), I like the amount of carbs (60g) and sodium (500mg) per serving, I feel good when I fuel with it, it has great solubility, and it’s never once made my stomach upset. Beyond that, I like their attention to sustainability, as they utilize post-consumer recycled plastics for their packaging.
Give their product a shot and use code TUM25 in checkout for 25% off:
A few thoughts & observations after 24 hours on location in Olympic Valley:
No one knows what’s going to happen in the race tomorrow. There’s no clear favorite and both the men and women’s fields are deep. That said, as I’ve asked, many folks have mentioned Vincent Bouillard and Fuzhao Xiang as their top picks. Vincent because he’s an incredible endurance athlete, smart, and has his good friend (and 4-time Western States champ) Jim Walmsley in his ear. And Fuzhao, as my new friend, Kay, who I met hiking up the escarpment this morning for Mike McMonagle’s Shummit Shots and who’s here on assignment for a Chinese ultrarunning publication, put it: “Last year, Fuzhao thought she’d run 18:30. She ran 16:20. This year she thinks she can go faster.” The course record is 15:29:33, set by Courtney Dauwalter in 2023. If Fuzhao thinks she can go faster than 16:20, and last year she went 2 hours faster than she expected, maybe we’re in for something special.
Tara Dower posted yesterday that she’s been fighting a bad cold the last few days. She said she’s starting to feel a little better, and plans to race, but said it “won’t be pretty.” But she also shared the mantra she plans to repeat throughout the race: “Michael Jordan flu game.” I vividly recall watching that 1997 NBA playoffs game as a 12-year-old. I was a huge MJ fan at the time and had watched countless games, but that night we saw an MJ we’d never seen. As he played with a 103 degree fever, he was laser focused. Raw. Fierce. A beast from deep inside him was unleashed in a way it had never been, and would never be again, as he scored 38 points to lead the Bulls to a win and take a 3-2 lead in the series over the Utah Jazz. Tara Dower is already as fierce as they come. As Corrine Malcolm put it on Freetrail’s Western States Preview, “She's the type of competitor where if everyone puts her hand in the fire she's going to be the last one to pull it out. And she's like laughing at you and smiling.” If that’s true, what does Tara’s flu game look like? Will we meet Tara’s inner beast? And will it be her career defining performance?
Last night I had the privilege to sit down with Will Murray, who earned a Golden Ticket at Black Canyon earlier this year with his 2nd place finish just 2 minutes behind Seth Ruhling. After experiencing a surprise episode of atrial fibrillation followed up by a fractured ankle, he was forced to drop from this year’s race, but decided to stick around as a fan. As a relative newcomer to the sport, he’s never watched an ultra in person, and he’s never been to Western States. He’d just been cleared by his doctor to walk without the boot and to cycle (his first love), and told me he wished he was still in the race just so he could walk the course. “I’d just need to average like 3.5 mph for 24 hours. I could do that.” Tomorrow he’ll be out there cheering and said he’s most curious to see the leaders in the last third of the race. “How fast do they look? How bad are they suffering? That’s what I want to see.” He’s already thinking about Golden Ticket races and is determined to get back here next year to see what he can do on this course.
I’m hearing that Dan Green, who won the Cocodona 250 and set a new course record just a couple months ago, and who subsequently got into Western States off the waitlist, has signed with Salomon. Apparently he was seen in the village decked out in their gear. If so, that’s huge for Dan, big for East Coast ultrarunning (Dan is based in West Virginia), and a cool move by Salomon. It also tells me Cocodona matters for professionals now. Which brings me to Rachel Entrekin, who I ran into outside the Hoka Coffee Bar (the main gathering point in the village). “Cool hat, where’d you get that” I asked. “I won it!” It was a Precision Fuel & Hydration hat, and I’d heard that morning they put on a 100 meter dash, so I assumed she must’ve won it there. “Oh, did you run the 100 meter dash thing,” I followed up. “No, I won Cocodona!” Yes, yes you did Rachel Entrekin. And brands who read this, just a reminder: Rachel remains unsponsored.
I imagined Olympic Valley during Western States would feel crowded and perhaps a bit overwhelming. But the vibe here is chill. It feels like a small community, where everyone knows each other. Maybe that shouldn’t be surprising, though, as the race has stayed relatively small with only 369 entrants despite its prestige.
I binged as much Western States preview-type content as I could (there’s a lot) on my flights here. One that stood out was Jim Walmsley on Singletrack. We’ve known he dropped from the race for a while, but we didn’t know why. In the interview he shares that the same knee issue that caused him to drop from last year’s UTMB is the culprit. In the weeks leading up to Chianti, where he beat Kilian Jornet and Vincent Bouillard (two favorites here this weekend) by nearly 30 minutes he was feeling better and thought maybe he’d finally resolved it. But afterward the pain returned. After that race, I wondered if Jim pushed unnecessarily, and if Kilian ran the smarter race, with a more longterm view in mind. Kilian just needed to secure a Golden Ticket, and when he felt his own issue flaring up he backed off, saying in his post-race interview “When I started feeling pain in my leg, I thought, “‘Okay, don’t do anything stupid.’ Take it easy and make sure to secure the ticket.” Then as recent as this past weekend at the Broken Arrow Ascent we saw a similar decision from Kilian. He came into that race with the intention to race for the win, but when he didn’t feel great on the initial climb, he backed off to not risk his Western States race this weekend. I wonder if Jim would be lining up this weekend if he’d not pushed so hard at Chianti. But maybe that’s not fair. If he was feeling better at Chianti, I love that he raced hard rather than phoning it in. I just can’t help but think maybe part of Kilian’s longevity at the top of the sport is his foresight, longterm view, and knowing when he’s healthy enough to push vs when he’d be smart to back off, and maybe that’s an edge he holds even among some of his most stout competition.
That’s it for now. This was a fun post to write, as it’s a bit different than a typical TUM issue. I’d love to hear what you think. Let me know in the comments or just hit reply and send me an email.
Tomorrow the race starts at 5am and I plan to be back up at the top of the escarpment before day break, this time with lots of other fans around, to cheer the runners on as they crest the iconic high point and make their way toward Auburn. I started a chat thread where I’ll share updates tomorrow throughout the day. If you have pre-race predictions, questions, or comments toss them in the chat.
Oh, and here’s a link for the livestream in case you plan to watch.
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And a big thank you to all of my paid subscribers. Your support combined with the support from Open Fuel has covered the cost of my trip here to cover Western States. That’s a cool milestone and I’m excited about what it could mean for the future of The Ultra Minute.
Ken
Definitely curious to see how Dan does this weekend!
How exciting that you're there! I'm keeping up with the live stream and can't wait to see how the day goes.