Fourteen years in the past, all the way through the summer season of 2009, I had the nice fortune to run 3 of North The usa’s maximum iconic 100-mile races. With my circle of relatives through my aspect, we traveled to the Western States 100, Hardrock 100, and Leadville 100 Mile and loved the splendor of those 3 exceptional occasions over the route of eleven weeks. For all 5 people, it used to be probably the most perfect circle of relatives summers of our lives.
This 12 months, as success would have it, I had the chance to shuttle to each and every this sort of races once more, this time as a volunteer and staff member. In some ways, all 3 occasions held the similar magic and maintained the similar really feel as they did 14 years in the past however, as one would possibly be expecting, some issues had modified.
The creator racing the Western States 100 in 2009. Photograph: Glenn Tachiyama
The Western States 100, the granddaddy of all of them, used to be already immensely well-liked again in 2009. On the other hand, once I evaluate what I noticed in 2009 to what I noticed this previous 12 months, something stands proud. There was a vital building up within the selection of spectators, sponsors, and media individuals attending the development.
Considered one of my duties at this 12 months’s Western States used to be to paintings along my excellent pal Scott Wolfe, tracking parking at Robinson Flat, the mile 30 help station of the race. It used to be exceptional to peer the selection of sponsor cars and media groups that descended at the racecourse. Moreover, it looked like the quantity of people that had pushed as much as the help station to easily watch the race used to be large. I, for one, love to peer the larger hobby within the race and sit up for being a part of the volunteer group that works to control this expansion within the future years.
Media compile to watch for the winners on the end line of the 2023 Western States 100. Photograph: Garth McGimpsey
On the Hardrock 100, I used to be privileged to be a part of the Run Steep Get Top media group that used to be video streaming the race are living from the Silverton Top College health club. Over the process 48 hours, we labored to carry the development to other folks are living by means of YouTube. It used to be a brand new enjoy for all people and one that helped to percentage the development with the extremely global.
Once I evaluate the 2009 tournament to this previous 12 months the only factor that stood out is how a lot of a world tournament it had transform. Whilst there used to be the occasional world runner within the tournament a decade and a part in the past, this 12 months the race used to be populated through runners from over a dozen nations, one thing I think will proceed to extend because the succeed in of the race expands.
In any case, for my go back to the Leadville 100 Mile, I used to be a part of a group of coaches from CTS offering improve to runners at Dual Lakes, a key help station at miles 37 and 62. All through the day and into the night time, we attached with dozens of runners in addition to their crews and pacers.
What struck me about such a lot of of those interactions used to be what number of people had been working Leadville as their first ever 100-mile race. Again in 2009, I might bet that only a few other folks ran this tournament as their first 100 miler. This 12 months, a minimum of in my enjoy, it appeared that greater than part had been doing so.
Jacquie Mannhard celebrates profitable the 2023 Leadville 100 Mile. Photograph: Existence Time
It used to be glorious for me to revisit the Western States 100, Hardrock 100, and Leadville 100 Mile multi functional summer season. The chance to peer the vibrancy of the path and extremely group shut up used to be inspiring for me and gave me renewed hope for the longer term, even some of these years later.
Bottoms up!
AJW’s Beer of the Week
This week’s beer of the week comes from Eddyline Brewery in Buena Vista, Colorado, simply down the street from Leadville. The Boater Beer Pilsner is a quintessential summer season beer, easiest for an afternoon at the river or within the mountains. Mild and crispy and weighing in at a modest 4.5% ABV, Boater Beer is a pleasant, all-purpose beer for any instance.
Name for Feedback
Is there a race that you just’ve been going to for lots years, and what adjustments have you ever spotted happen?
