Trail Snacks- Issue 22, 2024
Trail Snacks- Issue 22, 2024
The Western States debrief (oh and Tom Evans started a podcast!)
Welcome to the Trail Snacks Western States debrief.
I thought it would only be fitting to skip last week to give everyone the chance to decompress, breathe and get the voice of Dylan Bowman out of our every conscious and non conscious thought.
So here we are, a week and bit removed from the race and I feel like on one hand I am still getting over it, my friends and family are sick of hearing about it and at the same time, I’m ready to move on an enjoy the rest of the racing season.
But we cannot move on without highlighting some of the cracking content that you may of missed due to the sheer volume of Western States coverage.
The content went off in the lead up to the 51st running of the Western States 100.
Western States is arguably one of the biggest ultra trail races on the western calendar. Not in its participation but in its legend.
Elites race to get in, either the year before or in a series of golden ticket races and us normal folks, well we spend thousands of dollars and thousands of hours over years and years to get the chance to run the race.
The lottery for the race has a live broadcast of its own.
We aren’t going to breakdown the race here, there is plenty of recaps available and you can log in and rewatch the live stream if you like. And I’m not here to bash the livestream, unless you are in the comment section being a twit or sharing yellow hearts, then I figure it’s fair game.
Let’s start with the pre coverage. It’s ok if you felt you needed a break from all the stimulation. As someone said in the chat, Dylan Bowman’s stoke is more contagious than COVID, but it’s also exhausting.
The week kicked off with a bang though, with a great Jim Walmsley interview over on the FreeTrail channel.
There was a lot happening in the lead up to the race. The same athletes were popping up everywhere, saying the same thing, on a variety of outlets.
As a summary, Jim was snippy on Single Track, Hayden copped some unjustified flack for saying that he’s not friends with his friends when he’s racing them, Sally stepped on her inspirational soapbox, Jurek reminisced about the good old days and Trail Society almost stole the entire show with the “here for the women’s race” t-shirts that no one knew the messaging behind.
I did enjoy hearing more about the rest of the athletes in the race, not just the elites. It was nice to hear about the people getting their 1000 mile buckles and the sponsor spots for underrepresented communities.
I felt the additional interviews such as with the historians of the race, race directors etc would have been better placed the week before. There was just too much to consume. It would have been better suited around the time the KoopCast posted how to run the race as a normal person. I’ve flagged a lot of those for the day I finally get into the race and will need all the help I can get.
Podcast wise there was also a bunch of pre-recorded (probably weeks or even months ago) Western States themed episodes that were clearly just about capitalising on the day which I didn’t have the time or bandwidth to consume in addition to everything else going on.
On a positive note, it was great to have Dani Moreno and Tim Tollefson added to the interview and pre-race teams. It would be great to have another female leader in the ultra space have a go at more commentary and contributions. Leah and Corrine are fantastic but I felt Corrine was stretched a little thin this week and Leah was racing.
Hoka hat series!
Hoka athletes Heather Jackson, Jim Walmsley, Kelly Angel, Hayden Hawks and Jon Rae, all appeared in the cowboy themed photo shoot putting the western back into Wedtern States photoshoot. They are so so good. Very very cheesy, and they copped some flack on the Boulder Boys Podcast, but it was hard to not giggle at it.
The continuation of the hat wearing after the shoot and then even to prize giving was when it all got a little bit weird.
Speaking of weird sponsored content and product placement, can we all please appreciate this odd interaction at the prize ceremony when UTMB champion Jim Walmsley was presented with an entry into this years race with a weird flag. (scoot along to about the 19 minute mark!)
Over on the Western states main page was a reel series titled “Meet the Runners”. Yes Western States is about the elite field but it’s also about the runners who come from all walks of life and from all over the globe to run this race, often after spending 5-10 years trying to get in.
Showcasing the rest of the 369 deep field, not just the elites, their stories and how they got into the race. There was only 6 reels and I would have loved to have seen more. One highlighted athlete, blind runner, Will Barkan, had everyone on the edge of their seats as he just missed the 30 hour finish line cut off.
If I had any sway, I’d be giving him and Ash Bartholomew a sponsor spot into next years race!
Also over in Instagram was this stunning art piece by Adidas Terrex athlete Pete Engall. What a cool skill. I’d buy that t-shirt! (Actually I’d probably buy all the Adidas terrex gear if they actually considered Australia/NZ a deserving market! )
Reads wise: this article about board president Diana FitzPatrick was a fascinating read.
There are many athlete debriefs which I’m yet to get through. I’m not sure I will get through them all. There were some great nuggets in the usual iRunFar series especially from Jim and Rod after their epic battle and from pacer Tim Tollefson over on FreeTrail as well.
My burning question, I need the tea behind Rod’s friendship bracelets!
Here’s the original post.
So that is my recap. I’m not about to reshare every 5 part instagram recap of every elite athlete in the field. If there is a must read one out there, send it my way.
If you made it to the bottom of this Western States centric page then I’m super impressed. Your reward, Tom Evans launched his own podcast, The Ultra Sound Podcast (yes it’s over on Spotify/Apple and wherever you get your podcasts too!)
I can just hear the boys on the
podcast gushing over this and how athletes need to create their own opportunities and be a brand. I’m keen to see where this podcast goes. Tom is the eye for detail guy and brings his military training to ultra running so this should be a lot of fun.This shall be our last Western States centric post, so next week we shall be back to our regular programming so if you find something cool, make sure you send it on over so I can share it.
Good stuff! And I‘ll subscribe to the Tom Evans Podcast right away!