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Western States 100 Qualifier
Hi all,
Can anyone recommend any of the races in the list of WS100 qualifiers? There are two UK races but timing of both isn't great for me so has anyone qualified with any of the others on this list?
Link of Q races for reference: http://ws100.com/QualifyingRuns.htm
Many thanks for any info.
Can anyone recommend any of the races in the list of WS100 qualifiers? There are two UK races but timing of both isn't great for me so has anyone qualified with any of the others on this list?
Link of Q races for reference: http://ws100.com/QualifyingRuns.htm
Many thanks for any info.
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Comments
From memory Jans you can do a 50 as a qualifier as long as you finish in under 12 hours, was that or a 100 what you'd prefer?
Apologies, just had a look at the list of qualifiers and they say any race that's not on their list won't qualify. For what it's worth the coastal ultra is perfectly runnable with only a few miles on shingle beach to slow you down.
Belves, UTMB (France), Chiemgauer, Stunt (Germany), Taby (Sweden) appear to be the only European qualifiers and I wondered if anybody had tackled these (clearly lots of people will have done UTMB but I was looking for something a bit more sign-up-and-go).
Chiemgauer looks like quite a good race although it's the same weekend as the Lakeland 100 which is irritating.
I guess it may be a matter of how much importance you attach to your autumn marathon?
For 2012, the qualification period has ended. For 2013 there are a few races that are official qualifiers in the UK. All of the qualifiers are listed here http://www.WS100.com/QualifyingRuns2013.htm
West Highland Way Race http://www.westhighlandwayrace.org/
South Downs Way 100 http://www.centurionrunning.com/
North Downs 50 and 100 http://www.centurionrunning.com/
Round Rotherham
Our two (centurion races) are listed as being around milton keynes but obviously that is incorrect. James.
James, the NDW looks like it will fit in perfectly, cheers.
I'm a friend of the Hardmoors series of races and would like our 110 mile (with 22000ft of ascent ) through the north yorks moors and down the Yorkshire coast to qualify for WS100 . Do we just e-mail the WS100 RD ?
cheers
James
Hopefully reviving a dormant thread, but curious about qualifiers. I've run 3 but I'm sure my times wouldn't actually translate to a WS finish without further improvement. Having done a bit of research, I'm inclined to think that it would take about a 20hr finish at SDW 100 to get in to the WS bronze zone. I know countless other factors would come in to play but as a very general feel, any comments ?
Personally, I'd say that a sub-24 SDW100 should get you through WS100 under the cut-off, (30 hours?)
I did NDW100 in 23:45 and then The Bear 100 which is a lot tougher than WS100 in 28:30 and I could have easily gone a couple of hours quicker if I'd really wanted to... I've also run the SDW trail solo in 26-ish hours for comparison.
The trouble with WS100 is getting in! The odds are very low for first-timers, I applied twice and never got in either attempt. Dragon's Back in 2015 so am out of the running next year.
I say if you have a qualifier go for it, just train for those downhills
An interestign comparison was publichsed in Marathon & Beyond a few years ago (
www.colibri.se/tec/100_mile_races_usa.pdf). They've compared the result lists and calculated an indication of how fast different races are. I assume there was a large statistical spread and I don't remember if they focused on the elite or a typical runner. I've interpreted the "Relative Effort" numbers as related to how long time each race statistically should take. A 30 hour WS is therefore statistically equivalent to a 24 hour 18 minute Rocky Raccoon.
For me, SDW is tougher than Umstead and Rocky Raccoon. Maybe comparable to Vermont. I've finished all these (only one of these under 24h), as well as two WS (just under 30h) and I feel that the table gives a good indiication.
It is as GreenM says hard to get in to WS. Harder for every year and especially since they started with the on-line registration. The lottery for next year's WS is held in on Dec 6. The odds this time is (coupied from the WS website):
24 folks with 32 tickets, each has a 78.8% chance of getting drawn
57 folks with 16 tickets, each has a 53.9% chance of getting drawn
137 folks with 8 tickets, each has a 32.1% chance of getting drawn
282 folks with 4 tickets, each has a 17.6% chance of getting drawn
643 folks with 2 tickets, each has a 9.2% chance of getting drawn
1433 folks with 1 ticket, each has a 4.7% chance of getting drawn
The different number of tickets has a natural explanation. For each year that one apply and is not drawn one get twice as many tickets the next year. Has to be consequtive years.
But if lucky one is in for a wonderful experience when fighting the big five H: Heat. Hills, and High altitude, -- and Heaven and Hell. A wonderful race!
If one is not lucky then there are other races such as, for example, the Tahoe Rim Trail 100 miles on the east side of Lake Tahoe (WS is on the west side). Fantastic scenery from the high altitude both during the day and the night.
Yep, would agree - WS100 isn't the only 100 in the USA, (there are LOADS - just go onto ultrasignup.com)
Bighorn, The Bear, Pine to Palm, Zion, Bryce, Angeles Crest, Wasatch to name a few - and most you can get straight into without a lottery.
Thanks - as has been said before, WS does have something special to some of us - it was also what got me back running again, so I'm only going to aim at that given the huge expense of a US 100m. I've got 4 tickets this time and will do the SDW if I don't get in - the new process makes it far more likely in the next few years. Sounds like sub-24 at SDW would be a good goal if I get the chance for aa longer training period
The old-fashion layouted www.run100s.com also contains a list of known 100s in the US. Despite the website's stone age design it is still updated and contains many interesting links to races, race repors, and other stuff.
I cannot resist mentioning another site that despite a stone age design contains many interesting links for us ultra runners: http://www.ultrunr.com
It seems that a stone age layout means a website containing much info, compared to modern websites where they often strip the websites of part of the raw-fact info when they adjust the layout to responsive design for the mobiles.
My 4 tickets stayed carefully hidden, so I now need to work on getting 8 next year. Actually a good thing, as I need to get quicker anyway. I had a SDW 100 place but have just had to withdraw due to a family wedding. All other UK qualifiers are full but there are some new ones in Europe. The 100k options in Poland and Czech Rep look significantly easier to qualify than what look like similar options in Germany and Austria. The Spanish one looks interesting but there is nothing in English.... All are hillier than even the NDW so look like a good way of getting some climbing experience without pushing the distance at the same time - looks like I will be checking out cheap flights once they open...... I assume no one has run any of these ? Obviously the UTMB series is full, so it needs to be one of the lesser known ones.
Wait until you can signup for Winter100 or is that to late?
Its not too late but it doesn't really appeal to me.... I'm on the NDW waitlist but the Polish one appeals, and if I screwed it up there might still be time for an emergency Winter 100 - or elsewhere - if needed