Incredible Ellie does it again – WS100
As I start this post, 18:00:00 of the Western States Endurance Run have elapsed. We have a male and a female winner and 20 competitors have reached the finish in Auburn...It’s now 18:25:33 into the race and 25 racers have finished with the oldest being 48, youngest 26, and 3 females. Not too shabby for 100 miles!
As I start this post, 18:00:00 of the Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run have elapsed. We have a male and a female winner and 20 competitors have reached the finish in Auburn, Ca. This year’s race had all the usual pre-race hype, with numerous interviews posted. I’ll be honest, my early pick was Kilian Jornet for the men, and Ellie Greewood for the women. Both Kilian and Ellie are returning 2011 champs, although Kilian has showed that he is indeed human recently, while Ellie has been having a stellar year with marathon PBs, and a second place female finish at Comrades. However, with the accidental death of ski mountaineering legend Stephane Brosse during a speed crossing of Mt. Blanc with Kilian last weekend (part of Kilian’s newest project: Summits of my Life), the men’s race opened up again as Kilian withdrew from the race. Without Kilian participating, I put my money on Mike Wolfe, who is a pure distance speed machine from Montana.
Well, I got the men wrong and the women right. Timothy Olsen blew the race apart early on and bested South African Ryan Sandes by 18 minutes, and topped Nick Clarke, Dave Mackey, and Ian Sharman by an hour. I’m not sure yet if this was a shortened snow course, but if it wasn’t, then Timothy just broke a 28-year-old record with a finishing time of 14:46:44.
Ellie Greenwood continued her winning ways with a dominant and historic performance that saw her break Ann Trason’s 18-year-old record with a finish time of 16:47:19 — a 50 minute advantage. Ellie was also 14th overall — absolutely incredible. This is someone whose first marathon was around 3:30 a little over 10 years ago. Ellie is living proof that hard work, discipline, and dedication pay off over time. This is a well-earned victory for her and a dominant display of her talent.
I am looking forward to chatting with Ellie about her victory and getting first-hand details, but for now, I’ll settle for what I can glean from the online reports and live tracker on the website. Overall, WS100 failed to disappoint yet again and produced some incredible results, undoubtedly coupled with incredible stories (and suffering). Congratulations to all competitors on reaching the start line, and hopefully achieving their goals. It’s now 18:25:33 into the race and 25 racers have finished with the oldest being 48, youngest 26, and three females. Not too shabby!
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