Uh. You guys have a WS thread and didn't even mention Gunhild Swanson? Seriously?
70-Year-Old Woman Steals the Western States ShowHere's the video I took. This was, truly, the most incredible thing I've ever seen.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b4TclUQCQwQ&feature=youtu.beEven though I didn't get to run this year, I had an amazing time. Up in Squaw I met Michael Wardian and Elaine Stypula, two of the other Americans running Spartathlon this year. (There are 25 of us total.) The morning of the race, I hiked up to Emigrant Pass and watched the sun rise and everybody go by, got pics of all the elites and everyone I know who was running. Then I ran down and drove to Michigan Bluff. Got there in time to see the leaders go by. Krar and D'Haene were neck and neck there. Not for long.
Pam Smith, 2013 winner, was almost running this as a fun run this year, coming in very undertrained. But she was still in 8th place at this point. Unfortunately she faded to 13th, so no automatic entry next year. Also I was sad to see Meghan Arbogast (54) finish 12th. She is also always top 10.
It was really a pretty brutal year. Hotter than last year, though not as hot as 2013, but the effect was actually a lot worse. I think because it was a bit humid, which is very rare here. The combination had a sneaky effect. Everyone said they felt much worse than the temperatures would indicate. Lots of carnage. Unfortunately, srlopez was pulled by medical at Robinson, M30. He was still pretty beat up the next day, but is now doing better.
While hanging out in Michigan Bluff I chatted with Mike Morton, US 24-hour record holder, also 2013 Spartathlon runner. (He DNFed that early after an incident with a dog caused him to badly wrench his back, and hasn't run a race since.) This was really cool for me -- my two big races this year are Spartathlon and Desert Solstice 24-hour, trying to make the US team.
My runner (Mark Cliggett) was targeting 24 hours. He had trained like hell, averaging 96 mpw this year, peaking at 140, but it wasn't going to happen today. After he came through MB I hightailed to Foresthill to get ready to pace. He ran smart, not sweating the 24-hour pace times posted at the aid stations. By Foresthill we knew 24 was out of reach. Rather than pushing it hard then and trying in vain, like I did in 2012, we ran it to enjoy the last 40 miles, coming in a bit under 27. A solid performance on a day like that. Krar may have run a very fast race, but everyone else really suffered. The women's winner, Magda Boulet, ran over 19 hours (as did Mike Wardian) -- that never happens.
Mark also got a nice treat along the way. At Cal 1 (Dardanelles), we stopped to chat a bit with aid station captain Bruce Labelle, who has finished 11 times, all under 24. Mark wanted to thank him for all the advice he'd given him a few days earlier at a BBQ. But Bruce was on the phone with someone who didn't seem to want to get off. Eventually he handed the phone to Mark and said "here, Ann wants to talk to you". Uh, yeah -- Ann Trason wanted to talk to my runner, while he was hanging out in Bruce Labelle's aid station. Unreal.
And then, of course, the pièce de résistance, Gunhild. Here's what I wrote on FB about that.
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That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Definitely the most dramatic finish at Western States, ever, and there have been plenty of dramatic finishes. This was really unbelievable.
I was following her all day, at least when I could get signal on the trail while pacing, which was rare. It was a brutal day, hot and (very unusually) humid, a lot of carnage, but she hung in there. It was looking pretty grim late – she'd made it to the Highway 49 checkpoint, mile 93.5, just shy of the cutoff, but in order to finish she'd have to run the same split my runner and I had from there to the finish. And we had turned it up a notch at Highway 49.
Then, miraculously, she made it to Robie Point, mile 98.9, with 16:xx remaining. 1.3 to go (it's actually 100.2 miles). Problem is, the first half mile is still up a pretty big hill (coming off a 900' climb). The women's winner, Magda Boulet, 2:26 marathoner, ran this stretch in 15:48. As the clock ticked down, all eyes were on the stadium entrance, but it didn't seem possible. With two minutes left, a woman entered, and started around the track. A cheer went up – but it wasn't her. So, that was it, then.
With a minute and a half remaining, Gunhild entered the stadium, accompanied by Rob Krar, Tim Twietmeyer, her pacer (her son), her grandson, and others. The roar was deafening. But she still had to get all the way around the track. An incredibly valiant effort, but it was going to be another one of those years where the time expires with a runner on the track. An unofficial finish, no buckle, no record. Heartbreaking.
But she was moving. She rounded the final turn, all eyes swept left, clock, right, runner – was it possible??? I still didn't think so.
Somehow, she did it.
