Western States 100: A quick primer for the next big thing

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With UTA behind us, in terms of big races my attention - and that of much of the ultra trail world - is turning to Western States, an iconic 100-mile race in the United States.

Many consider Western States to be the ultimate ultra trail race, and it’s not hard to understand why. Like the Barkley Marathons, the event has a fascinating back-story and is the subject of a feature-length film that’s risen to cult status in the trail running community.

In 2025, the men’s race in particular is shaping as one for the ages, with a field stacked full of legends of the sport. Each year, the race takes place on the last weekend in June. In 2025, that will be June 28-29. Given the time difference, that will be June 29 and 30 for us in Australia.

Horses for courses

Somewhat bizarrely, Western States began as a horse race back in the 1950s when a group of horsemen came together to ride the Western States Trail from Tahoe to Auburn, California, to prove horses could cover 100 miles in a day.

They succeeded and thus the Western States Trail Ride, which was also known as the Tevis Cup, was created.

Fast forward to 1972 when horseman and Tevis Cup regular Gordy Ainsworth finds himself with a lame horse just ahead of the race. What to do? Why not have a crack at running the course instead? So that’s exactly what Gordy did, finishing just inside the 24-hour race time limit.

Five years later 14 men took part in the first official Western States Endurance Run, with the runners competing alongside the horses. The following year, in 1978, the running race shifted a month earlier to become an independent event. And the rest is history.

Hot and cold

What makes this race so demanding are the temperature extremes. It starts at Olympic Valley in California, home of the 1960 Winter Games, and finishes 100.2 miles later on the Tartan running track of Placer High School in Auburn.

Runners often literally have to run through the snow as they head over the Sierra Nevada mountains before descending into canyons where the temperature’s often in the mid to high 30s Celsius. It’s not unusual to see runners with their heads in buckets full of iced water at aid stations trying to cool down.

At mile 78 runners have to cross the American River at the evocatively named Rucky Chucky aid station. This is done by wading across while holding a guide rope. But in high water years runners are ferried across in rafts, rowed by volunteers.

The route traverses the traditional lands of the Niseman, Washoe and other Native American people which, in the 19th century, was also gold mining territory.

Golden tickets … but not the Willy Wonka kind

With only 369 entrants every year (or thereabouts), just getting to toe the Western States start line is a massive effort. The best way to guarantee entry it to be one of the top 10 men’s or women’s finishers the previous year.

But given that’s out of reach for us mere mortals, the best option is to enter via the lottery. Western States has a novel method of running its lottery, with the number of tickets you are allocated rising depending on the number of unsuccessful lottery applications you’ve made in the past.

Another method of entry is by securing a “golden ticket”. These are awarded to runners who do well in nominated races in the 12 months prior to Western States each year.

For example, Tarawera Ultra-Trail in New Zealand earlier this year was one such race, with the top two men and women taking home golden tickets. If one of the golden ticket winners either declines the offer to run Western States or already has entry via another means, the ticket passes to the next highest-placed runner.

There are a handful of places available for sponsors and some at the discretion of the race organisers. One place is allocated to a “silver legend” in memory of a former race director. To be eligible, runners need to be aged over 60.

And, rather quaintly, there are 10 places raffled off each year. At $5 a ticket and fully transferable, the race organisers say this is “a great opportunity to surprise that special ultrarunner in your life!”

If your ticket is drawn, or if your number comes up in the lottery, you still have to run a qualifying time in one of a long, long list of events, but this is not an impossible task. For example, Surf Coast Century is on the list and to be successful you need to break 17 hours. I ran that event in 2024 and was just outside that time - so it’s definitely achievable for a mid to back-of-the-pack runner.

Why 369 starters each year? The race website explains it like this:

Hot field

The mouth-watering match-up in the men’s will be between Jim Walmsley, a four-time Western States winner and current course record holder, and Kilian Jornet, the Spaniard who won the race in 2011.

Both are legitimately contenders for “greatest of all time” status amongst ultra trail running men.

Walmsley has swept all before him, especially in the US, over the past decade while Jornet has won races in the US and Europe and set the “fastest known time” on a number of different routes since he was in his early 20s.

They won’t have it all their own way though. Jiasheng Shen will go into the race in great form having ripped it up to win the UTA100 and the Mt Fuji 100k event in April. He was eighth at Western States last year so knows the course.

Top five finishers from last year Rod Farvard (US), Dan Jones (NZ) and Caleb Olson (US) are back as are Jonathan Rea (SU) and Chris Myers (US) from the 2024 top 10.

Frenchman Vincent Bouillard and US pair Joe McConaughy and David Roche will be there thanks to golden tickets.

Roche, in particular, is one to watch. He’s a renowned coach who is taking a completely novel approach to training for an ultra, focussing more on 5k speed work and running economy rather than endurance.

It worked for him at Leadville 100, where he smashed the course record to collect his Western States golden ticket. It will be fascinating to see whether he burns Walmsley, Jornet and co or crashes and burns himself come race day.

In the women’s, it’s harder to pick. Neither of the past two winners - Katie Schide (US) or Courtney Dauwalter (US) - are lacing up this year. But second and third from 2024, Fuzhao Xiang from China and Eszter Csillag from Hong Kong will be there.

So will Priscilla Forgie (Canada), Ida Nilsson (Sweden), Emily Hawgood (Zimbabwe) and Heather Jackson (US) who were all in last year’s top 10.

Kiwi Caitlin Fielder will go into the race in good form having secured her golden ticket with second place at the Tarawera 100k and then won UTA50.