WSER 2023 - The 50th running and my 12th year at Last Chance!

There was a point in the fall when I wondered whether the 50th running Western States 100 race could even happen. The wildfires were devastating and unstoppable.

As it turned out, they were stoppable, due to a heroic effort. But a lot of damage had been done. Last Chance had been spared, but man, so much of the course after it was a mess.

And then we had a remarkably wet winter, and a remarkably wet winter after a wildfire means even more challenges putting this race on. 

In the end, all those challenges were met and the race got the green light. 

There is a reason the cover of this year's official magazine didn't feature a runner for the first time that I recall.

One challenge that couldn't be fixed in time was a badly damaged Mosquito Ridge Road. 

The Mosquito Ridge Road saga

Mosquito Ridge Road provides important access to a number of aid stations, including a couple that are crew accessible. This road goes from Foresthill to French Meadows, providing access to Last Chance, Dusty Corners, and several more aid stations. Anybody that has crewed a runner at Duncan Canyon and/or Dusty Corners has used this wildly twisty, hilly road. In the past, it's been infamous for having areas limited to a single lane due to road damage. Between the wildfire and the wet winter, the road gave up completely and is requiring significant repairs that will take until late summer to finish. 

The runners lost access to their crews at miles 24.4 and 38. The trick was going to be getting the volunteers to those aid stations served by that road. Fortunately, the section that was so damaged was between Foresthill and the turn to Dusty Corners/Last Chance - from that turn to French Meadows was fine. And these hills are infested with back roads, so we would be able to access the locations, but man, it would not be straightforward.

The end result was that, instead of heading to Foresthill out of Auburn, we headed to Cool and then Georgetown, then took a few back roads to get to French Meadows, where we were able to get onto the undamaged bit of Mosquito Ridge Road. All of this meant it took about two hours longer to get to Last Chance than normal. 

(There was an initial proposal for us to take a route that went past Robinson Flat instead of Georgetown - this would have been a bit shorter, but was hampered by snow until very late, when a bulldozer was brought in to clear the road.)

Last Chance

There was some concern that the challenging access might cause some volunteers to stay home this year. That did not happen.

Nearly 60 volunteers at Last Chance braved the challenging access.

The general consensus was that it would be warm for the runners (once they got past the 20 or so miles of snow covered trails in the high country), but not nearly as hot as it was last year. And once again, it was decided to bring an ice trailer to Dusty Corners, and for Last Chance to get its ice from that trailer.

Loading the Dusty Corners ice trailer.

Once the trailer made it to Dusty, we drove up to it and picked up our 1200 pounds of ice. I doubted we would need that much, based on the forecast, but nobody wants to risk running out. (We ended up  using between 900 and 1000 pounds.) 

As cool as it felt at Last Chance this year, the runners knew what was coming - the fire had turned the climb up to Devil's Thumb from a largely shaded slog into a totally exposed slog. It was going to be brutal, and most of the runners prepared for it by packing their hats, sleeves, and bandanas with ice.

Shading the porta-potties to keep them from roasting in the sun.

Two things: It was odd seeing people actively seeking out chairs in the sun, and that table under the awning was added to make it easier for the runners to go through their drop bags.

One thing that took some getting used to was how much brush in the Last Chance area had been thinned in an effort to aid in fire prevention.

This is the hill I put up the signs the runners see as they exit Last Chance. This is what it looked like in previous years.

That same hill this year. It was weird being able to see so far with no obstructions.

Click HERE to see all the signs.

For the most part, the day went smoothly. Many of the runners were having foot issues due to having to spend so much time running on snow, but they were also enjoying the milder temperatures. 

Getting a shower and ice refill.

Attending to a runner meant doing some running yourself sometimes!

The Pixie Ninja dominating some watermelon on her way to her ninth finish!

One of the coolest things was that we had no runners drop at Last Chance this year! (Out of 22 potential places to drop, including a bit oddly, the finish line, only six had nobody drop. At least part of this was because the logistics of dropping here are not great, especially this year with that long drive. Three dropped at Devil's Thumb, the next aid station.)

Maybe my favorite WSER moment of all time

Donna and Tessa alerted me to a special runner in the race - John Almeda. John is non-verbal autistic, and for personal reasons, I was especially fascinated and anxious to see him come through Last Chance. One interesting bit - I think this was the first time in my 12 years I've seen a pacer bib here.

I had to restrain myself from being a fanboy, and the last thing I wanted to do was distract him. I had made him a sign which was in the swarm of signs on that hill - I really hoped he or his pacer would notice it, but seriously, the chances weren't great (they had no idea it was there - I decided to risk having it be a total surprise). 

They noticed it - his pacer took this shot.

Even a week later, this makes me tear up! I mean, just, WOW!

John finished in just a bit over 27 hours. This is so very cool.

Some boring stats that only I find interesting

One thing I'm always fascinated by is the finish rate of the runners that come through Last Chance in the final 90 minutes or so. Based on history, the guidance is that you need to get here by 4:20 to be on a 30-hour finish pace. The actual cutoff is 5:25. So theoretically at least, runners showing upon the last hour should be reasonably doomed. Here is a chart:

Gaps show where runners were unable to finish the race. Click or tap this to see it larger (if you find such things irresistible).

I picked 4:00 PM as the time to start tracking finishes. I found it interesting that four runners in the twenty minutes between 4:00 and 4:20 finished in the 27th hour - a couple of those were pushing the 26th hour! These are runners that seriously thrive on the second half of this course.

For the next twenty minutes, from 4:20 to 4:40, you have five runners that finish in the 28th hour! From 4:40 to 5:00, the runners are finishing in the 29th hour - the interesting thing is that only six of these twenty six runners were unable to finish. For being significantly behind the 30-hour pace, that's really remarkable!

Starting at 5:00 though, things start getting a bit rough. Only two of the twelve runners during the last twenty five minutes finished, but the last one of those came in at 5:14 - nearly an hour after the projected 30-hour pace!

The lesson is that it isn't a fantasy that those runners coming through so late have a realistic chance of finishing - they really do! Maybe they will get to soon start working with their crew and pacers, and that makes the difference. Maybe night running is their thing.

Maybe that second scoop of ice in their bandana and that third piece of watermelon is just what they needed, and it's now game on!

My very dusty van back home.

Wrapping up

This was a challenging year to volunteer at Last Chance due to the longer drive, but even that wasn't so bad thanks to detailed directions given by Dusty Corners Doug! The weather was much more pleasant than usual, the mosquitos didn't seem to be any worse (granted, they've set the bar pretty high), and the day went by remarkably fast.

For the second year in a row, I chose to drive straight home rather than stopping at the finish line. This decision is a big struggle and is always regretted a bit the next day, but as I've gotten older, pulling an all nighter after working the aid station all day is too much of a challenge. Maybe 2024 will be different.

That's it - move along…

PS: I just realized that I didn't provide my usual introduction to the Last Chance aid station. It is the aid station with the longest serving organization - for 41 years the Stevens Creek Striders have managed Last Chance. It's at mile 43.3 and just before the first of the traditionally very hot canyons and the famous Swinging Bridge. One of the things that makes it great is that there are no pacers or crew allowed - we have the runner's full attention! One of the things that makes it challenging is that access is cut off fairly early in the morning on race day since parts of the road are also part of the course, which means you can't leave early or come in late (many of us come in on Friday and camp overnight, much to the mosquitos delight - a bonus of this is that you can explore some great sections of the course). Another thing is that there is no cell service for most people, which means that using GPS navigation is often an adventure.