WSER 2025 at Last Chance

For the 14th year in a row (not counting the cancellation of 2020), I volunteered at the Last Chance aid station at the Western States Endurance Run, a 100.2 mile run from the Lake Tahoe area to Auburn CA. The buildup to the race is always fun - last minute sign requests, late details about ice and water needs, watching the wait list to see if just one more friend can get in - it becomes a huge focus.

This year was a bit different, as I spent the weekend before the race in Colorado with my ailing mom. There was some doubt whether I would even get to go to WSER this year. On the Wednesday before race day, my mom passed away peacefully in her sleep.

My flight back to CA was later on Wednesday, and after a lot of discussion, I decided that flying back as planned was the right thing to do, and driving up to Last Chance was also the right thing to do - I needed a distraction and the Last Chance aid station has a knack for making things better. 

The minivan with a car-top carrier for the first time.

One difference this year was that I would have a couple of people riding with me. I take a lot of stuff up to Last Chance - tables, coolers, chairs, the signs - and in the old days, I would stop in Auburn at the WSER warehouse to load up with a thousand pounds of ice. This year, as has become the norm, there was an ice trailer dragged to the Dusty Corners aid station (the one before Last Chance), so now I just stop in Auburn to pick up some jugs of water.

Which meant I ended up with some bonus room, and since parking at Last Chance is not plentiful and carpooling is strongly encouraged, I had some company for the drive.

Mango "helping" me with the signs.

A few Last Chance details that may be helpful to know:

• It is at mile 43.3 in the race. The generally dreaded hot and steep canyons are next.
• Last Chance is an old mining ghost "town" - actually a wide spot in the "road" - with old mining bits and pieces scattered around. There is no or very little cell service. You are a long ways from everything.
• Bits of the "road" actually become part of the course, so you have to get to Last Chance by about 9 AM on Saturday (most camp there Friday night, which is what I always do) and you can't leave until the sweepers come through (about 5:30 PM). 
• There are no pacers or crew allowed - we get the runner's full attention!
• It is the best of all the aid stations.
• But wow, there are MANY mosquitos thanks to a nearby spring.

The Friday night campfire is a fun tradition. By this time, the mosquitos are mostly gone.

In the old days, it was an actual wood-based campfire, but those are no longer allowed, so this propane campfire is used instead.

Lots of stories are told, previous races recounted, and snacks are eaten.

On Saturday morning, before the road gets closed, myself and three others jumped into the minivan to go get our ice from Dusty Corners. The trailer is normally fairly accessible for us, but this year it was put in a more convenient location for Dusty Corners, but not very convenient for grabbing our ice - a human chain was required to get the ice (60 16-pound bags) from the trailer to the minivan. 

Traditionally, early on Saturday morning, a group of runners heads from Last Chance to Swinging Bridge (towards Devil's Thumb) while another group heads from Last Chance to Dusty Corners via Pucker Point. The group that ran to Dusty Corners got the bonus duty of helping form the chain to load the van.

You can see the ice trailer in the background.

All loaded - some got the coolest seats in the van!

After getting the ice to Last Chance, it's time to get the finishing touches in place, followed by the pre-runner meeting.

Last Chance has three aid station captains, but sadly this year, one of those captains was injured and unable to make it - we missed you Bonnie! Eric and Peggy took up the slack though, so all still went smoothly.

Most of the Last Chance volunteers. 

The action starts…

At 10:46, the runners started arriving and we got down to business. It was already pretty warm, so none of the leaders skipped the Car Wash (what we call the area where we use sponges, sprayers, and watering cans to soak the runners while shoving ice in their hats, arm sleeves, neckwear, and other surprising places).

This feels so much like what being on a NASCAR pit crew must feel like, except, as quick as possible, we cool off the runners and send them on their way, hopefully with no bonus gas.

The rest of the day was spent like this - it would be interesting to know how much ice the average runner carried with them when they left (probably a pound or so). I've heard that it does not last long though - within a mile or two it's mostly melted and well before they get to the next aid station, Devil's Thumb, they are back to being completely dry.

About a half mile before the aid station, there are volunteers that radio down to us, letting us know the numbers of the runners that pass so that the drop bag people can have the bags waiting for each runner as they arrive. 

Each runner gets a greeter that will stay with them as they make their way through the aid station.

The ham radio team - the lack of cell service means these people are our only real contact with the outside world. 

Georgina's Last Chance Buffet. So much good stuff for the runners to eat as they pass through.

Looking back on the aid station (that's the Car Wash that's closest, on the right of this shot - the medical team was between us and the buffet). 

The Last Chance exit team, tracking the runners as they leave towards the canyon.

A "me being dense" story. 

As runners come in to the aid station, runners can get ice in their drinks, but if they want ice for general cooling, they need to come to the Car Wash. So Jill made a sign saying "Get yer ice here!" and sat it out where it was easily visible. I decided that what the sign was lacking was arrows, so I added them. 

Pointing the wrong way.

So we had to move the sign, add a "T" to "here" and made the sign still work. (We soon realized that, for some reason, the runners were not really very keen on reading any signs at this point - they really just wanted someone to point them in the correct direction.)

While breaking up the ice with a hatchet, Jill was not glaring at me for adding bad arrows to her sign. Probably.

And that's about it. 

Occasional screams of delight could be heard as the runners got cooled off.

Well, except for my streak of dental issues. 

Dental issues?

Last year, on race morning, while eating my breakfast of yogurt with granola, I had a tooth crack. It was painful and made it really hard to eat anything.

This year, while packing things up after the aid station had closed, I grabbed a handful of peanuts and tossed them in my mouth, and on the first bite, a cracked tooth I had (different from last year) actually fractured. Again, very painful to try and eat with, but unlike last year, with a bit of effort, I was able to remove the bit of the tooth that had split off, which at least made it so I could eat. 

Next year I vow to just drink Ensures and eat nothing crunchier than a marshmallow while at Last Chance.

Some stats!

Last Chance ended up with four runners entering the aid station after our cut off, but for the first time in a few years, all runners that got in before the cut off managed to get out in time.

• There were 369 starters, and of those, 23 did not get to Last Chance.
• We had 94 runners come in to Last Chance from 4:00 PM on. 
• 4:20 PM is considered to be the 30-hour finish pace. (5:25 is when we close.) Of those 94 runners, 56 would end up finishing. Of those 56 finishers, 45 finished in the Golden Hour - from 29:00 to 30:00. Eight finished in the 28:00 hour and an astonishing two finished in the 27:00 hour Those two really made up a lot of time!
• Note that there were four runners who completed the course but finished after the 30 hour cutoff - technically a DNF, but still very impressive.
• Of the 35 runners that came in from 4:00 to 4:20 (ahead of the historical 30-hour finish pace), 29 finished!
• Of the 59 that came in after 4:20, a respectable 27 finished. (Of the 10 that came in during the 5:00 hour, we still had two finish!)

The wait list.

The wait list was pretty remarkable this year. When the lottery is held, enough names are drawn to fill the race's 369 spots. After that, 75 more names are drawn to fill out a wait list to fill any spots that may open up before race day due to a runner dropping out for some reason. Usually, if you are in the 30s of the wait list, you are right on the edge of possibly getting a shot to run. (Note that many on the wait list that get offered a spot will decline for a number of reasons, such as not having enough time to get ready.)

William Dai was number 53 on the wait list, a number that almost for sure was too high to get in to the race. The kind of number that makes you strongly consider making other plans for that weekend. William did not make other plans, and a few days before the start, got offered a spot! That was so cool - he parlayed it into a fine sub-24 hour finish!

The last of the wait list to get in the race was number 65 (who managed a golden hour finish). Next on the list was number 73, and was likely at the pre-race briefing on the Friday before the race, carefully watching to see if anyone was going to be a last minute drop!

The signs.

As normal, I made a number of signs for runner friends and friends of runners. I also put up a few signs that others made. I made a separate post about those - click here to see it.

The sign I made for William, who got in from the wait list and managed a sub-24 hour finish.

Also, click here to see a YouTube video of all the signs as well as a walk through the aid station before things got hopping.

OK, now that's really about it.

It was a very nice distraction being up at Last Chance for the weekend. It's always inspiring to see all the amazing runners going through a tough course. But it's also inspiring to see the equally amazing volunteers that give up their weekend to hang out there and do just about anything to keep a runner motivated and ready to go. 

A huge thanks to the Steven's Creek Striders for running this aid station and continuing to let me be a part of something so cool!

That's it - move along…