Fast Times to Placer High: Western States 100 Results & Story Roundup
June 24, 2012 by Bryon Powell · 43 Comments
Ellie Greenwood summed up the 2012 Western States 100 well when she said to fellow champion, Timothy Olson, at the finish, “It wasn’t good weather, it was fast weather.” Indeed, it was downright miserable for the first 40 or more miles with temperatures barely cracking 40F (4C), winds, and rain mixing with hail. Downright miserable.
That said, the weather allowed for three of four major Western States course records to be broken. Timothy Olson broke the Geoff Roes‘ men’s course record. Ellie Greenwood destroyed Ann Trason’s legendary women’s course record. Dave Mackey 
broke Tsuyoshi Kaburaki‘s men’s masters course record. In fact, the trio pulled a trifecta of lowering the three records sub-15, sub-16, and sub-17, respectively, any one of which would have been huge news on this, the “Real Course.” All four major course records are now “unified” with no dissent about fire or snow courses counting as “course records.”
Below we report on the top 10 men and top 10 women before our collection of articles, interviews, race reports, photos, and videos, which we’ll be updating throughout the week.
Many thanks to Montrail and Mountain Hardwear for sponsoring our coverage of the 2012 Western States 100.
Western States 100 Men’s Top 10 Results
In addition to “fast weather,” fast competitors led to a perfect storm for the men’s field. For more than 50 miles, a large group and then the still-far-from-small group of Timothy Olson (pre-race & finish line interviews), Dave Mackey, Mike Wolfe, Dylan Bowman, Nick Clark, and Ryan Sandes all hung within a minute of one another. Once that group splintered by Foresthill, Wolfe and Sandes and then finally just Sandes continued to push Olson. Throughout the day Olson displayed focused peace, never getting rattled and never backing off. Sandes hung onto second after pulling away from Wolfe after Foresthill, while Nick Clark came back from the dead multiple times. Dave Mackey added yet another feather to his ultrarunning cap in setting the Western States masters course record. Ian Sharman found himself in second in the high country’s early miles after being in tenth when the front of the back took a five-minute detour. The entire back half of the men’s top ten would fall into the relative “newcomer” or “surprise” category, at least on the Western States scene.
Timothy Olson winning the 2012 Western States 100 in course record time. Photo: iRunFar.com
- Timothy Olson (Pearl Izumi) – 14:46:44 (Course Record)
- Ryan Sandes (Salomon) – 15:03:56
- Nick Clark (Pearl Izumi) – 15:44:09
- Dave Mackey (Hoka One One) – 15:53:36 (Masters Course Record)
- Ian Sharman (The North Face) – 15:54:38
- Zeke Tiernan – 15:57:59
- Dylan Bowman (Pearl Izumi) – 16:03:24
- Jorge Maravilla (Salomon) – 16:05:30
- Joe Uhan (Sunsweet) – 16:13:14
- Neal Gorman (Salomon) – 16:18:40
Western States 100 Women’s Top 10 Results
Lizzy Hawker led out the women’s field in typical fashion and built a double-digit lead, challenging the top men while leaving even Ellie Greenwood (pre-race & finish line interviews) far behind. By the time Hawker crested the Devils Thumb climb at mile 47, Greenwood was within striking distance. Once the pass was made, it was all over… even relative to the legendary Ann Trason. Greenwood avoided looking at her watch from mile 78 to 98 while she kept motoring on the way to taking 50 minutes off Trason’s course record.
Rory Bosio continues to show she’s no fluke at Western States. In fact, she’s turning into an institute with fourth, five, and, now, second place finishes at the race, along with her aid-station jokes. Aliza (Lapierre, that is) can no longer hide in East-Coast obscurity after adding a third-place finish to her sixth from last year… especially when that third came directly in front of Krissy, Nikki, and Lizzy. That’d be Krissy Moehl (smart, ever-improving race, as always), Nikki Kimball (running solid all day), and Lizzy Hawker (who hung tough after a fast start). Tina Lewis was the top women’s WS100 rookie, while Team Oregon took the final three spots in the women’s top 10 with Amy Sproston (8th for the second year in a row), Ashley Nordell, and Meghan Arbogast.
Ellie Greenwood leading the 2012 Western States 100 at Foresthill en route to a course record. Photo: iRunFar.com
- Ellie Greenwood (Montrail) – 16:47:19 (Course Record)
- Rory Bosio (The North Face) – 18:08:06
- Aliza Lapierre (Salomon) – 18:18:29
- Krissy Moehl (Patagonia/UltrAspire) – 18:29:15
- Nikki Kimball (The North Face) – 18:31:39
- Lizzy Hawker (The North Face) – 18:32:20
- Tina Lewis – 19:09:49
- Amy Sproston (Montrail) – 19:11:02
- Ashley Nordell (Pearl Izumi) – 19:26:30
- Meghan Arbogast (Sunsweet) – 19:45:24
General Overview Articles
- Auburn Journal – Trail Records Trampled
- SacBee – Western States 100 in 2012 Breaks Records for Endurance Record
- SacBee – Oregon Runner Shatters Western States 100 Mile Record
- [Ashland, OR] Mail Tribune – Record 100 for Olson
- Running Times – Record-Breaking Performances at Western States
- Trail Runner Mag – No Record Safe at Western States
- Apsen Times – Valley Runners Finish Sixth, Seventh [Tiernan, Bowman] at Western States
- Trail Run Argentina - Triple Record en Western States (Spanish)
- Ultra168 – Olson and Greenwood Obliterate Western States Course Records (Australia)
- Mud, Sweat & Tears – Olson and Greenwood Blaze Trails at WS100 (UK)
- SuperSport.com – Sandes Second at Western States (South Africa)
- Bieganie.pl (Polish)
- Dallas Morning News – Record Day at Western States
Interviews/Profiles
- Timothy Olson and Ellie Greenwood Finish Line Interviews
- Ellie Greenwood iRunFar Video Interview
- Timothy Olson iRunFar Video Interview
- Rory Bosio iRunFar Video Interview
- Ryan Sandes iRunFar Video Interview
- Jorge Maravilla iRunFar Video Interview
- Krissy Moehl iRunFar Video Interview
- Andy Jones-Wilkins Video Commentary
Race Reports
Men
- Timothy Olson (1st) – Life to the Utmost
- Ryan Sandes (2nd) – Western States 100 2012
- Nick Clark (3rd) – Western States 2012
- Dave Mackey (4th) – 2012 Western States 100 … One for the Ages
- Ian Sharman (5th) – Western States III
- Dylan Bowman (7th) – Western States 2012
- Jorge Maravilla (8th) – 2012 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run, Maravilla’s Race Report (added 7/12 4 pm MDT)
- Joe Uhan (9th) – M9
- Neal Gorman (10th) – M10
- David Riddle (11th) – Western States: My First Buckle, Western States Follow-up (added 7/9 12 pm MDT)
- Yassine Diboun (12th) – Western States 100 Race Report 2012 (added 7/9 12 pm MDT)
- Zach Bitter (15th overall) – First Hundo at Western States 100!
- Mike Wolfe (19th overall) – Proud to Be Chicked
- Ryan Burch (131 overall)- Western States: Getting My Money’s Worth
Women
- Ellie Greenwood (1st woman) – Patience
- Aliza Lapierre (3rd woman) – Run Strong, Be Brave, Breathe
- Meghan Arbogast (10th woman) – Western States 100 2012
- Liza Howard (14th woman) – No Heat Training Required
- Pam Smith (272nd overall) – My Crazy-Ass Western States
Photos and Videos
- SacBee Photos
- Competitor Running’s Photos
- Brett Rivers Photos (Facebook)
- Galen Burrell’s Photos (Facebook)
- Drymax’s Escarpment, Foresthill, and Finish Line photos
- Jeffrey Genova’s Photos
- Top 10 Women’s Finishes Video Montage (Facebook)
- Top 10 Men’s Finishes Video Montage (Facebook)
Call for Comments
Please let us know about any other great resources you’ve found about the race.
Last updated July 12, 2012 4 pm MDT
Related articles:
- 2011 Western States 100 Post-Race Story Roundup A roundup of the best stories of the 2011 Western States 100 from around the web....
- Portrait of the Western States 100 Course Records A tribute to aa the course records set at the Western States 100, including Ellie Greenwood's and Timothy Olson's 2012 course records....
- Timothy Olson & Ellie Greenwood 2012 WS100 Finish Line Interviews Timothy Olson and Ellie Greenwood interviewed at the finish of the 2012 Western States 100, where they both broke the course record....
Filed under Races ·
Bryon Powell is the Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar.com, which he founded five years ago. Also the author of Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, he's quickly approaching 10 years as an ultrarunner and 20 years as a trail runner. These days he calls Park City, Utah and its trails home.
All posts by Bryon Powell
What awesome coverage from the irunfar team. Thanks to Bryon, Meghan & AJW
Staggering times all the way down the field. Will take one hell of a race to top that.
Looking forward to seeing what Ellie can do on the UTMB course now
Pearl Izumi take the men’s team bragging rights?
Great coverage Bryon et al. even though it kept me
up most of the night.
Watching Tim Olson set a new course record, amazing.
Watching Ellie Greenwood crush Ann Trason’s long standing record, inspiring.
Hearing Rory Bosio busting out a joke on request at the finish line — a great one at that — priceless!
Thanks for all the coverage today. Enjoy the ZzZz.
Great work irunfar! You guys rock!
I’m moving to scotland for 5years then onto to canada. Greenwood is a monster
Absolutely loved the realy-timey-ness of the Twitter coverage! … snuck several peaks at the feed on my smartphone while at a movie with my family. Shhhhhhhhhh.
Good stuff! I am hoping that JB Benna and crew were there filming, this WS100 would make a great movie
Though I plan to blame irunfar if I am tired at work in the morning, the coverage was fantastic.
Fantastic coverage! You guys are an absolute blessing to the sport! Well done and thank you!
Thanks for the great coverage! As Ellie said, it was fast weather. But the ultrafast times that we saw this year cannot just be attributed to the weather. In the women’s race, the field was stacked with a lot of fast and strong ultrarunners – in this respect, the field might have been the strongest yet. If you look to the time differences between 1st and 10th women, however, this time difference is even lager this year than in the previous years. This is one (of several) indications of Ellies outstanding achievement!
I think it is safe to say what most have suspected… Ultra running has reached its tipping point… And the performances and level of athleticism we are seeing now is truly at another level.
Blown away by Tim… But completely agog at Ellie’s time. I mean, Ann Trason is on the Mount Rushmore of this sport. So to improve the time that much, even with the rare “fast” weather… Amazing.
Oh. And in case anyone wasn’t sure. We know now that temps impact Ultras even more than the lay people thought.
In hindsight, given the massive impact heat has on a race as short as a Marathon, it should come as no shock. If 30 degrees temp difference means 30 seconds a mile… That’s 50 minutes right there.
I don’t know if that was a guess, Dean, but you are just about right on Jack Daniel’s estimates on the effects of heat. Plug in Ellie’s time at 60F.
http://www.runworks.com/calculator.html
Both Tim and Ellie had incredible races on a day when those performances were least affected by heat. Reminds me of Boston last year with the wind. It’ll be interesting to see how long the CR’s last at both races. If Jack’s estimates are accurate, in a typical WS someone would have to run the equilavent of 14 flat in cool conditions like this year to break Tim’s record?
And a special congrats to coach Bryon Powell for Aliza’s great showing.
Congratualtions to all the amazing performances….. On a side note I wonder what killian would have done on a day like yesterday…..
Add 10,000′ of climbing and Kilian would crush it. Tim’s time was just fast. Kilian is amazing and a beast in the super technical stuff. If I ever see him run a low 13 on an easy course, then well see. For now Tim’s the man.
Unbelievable performance by the winners (and iRunFar). Wow!!!
I too was wondering about the impact Kilian’s presence would have had on the race. Especially with the unseasonably low WS temperatures, where he’s completely in his element.
Is Ellie being touted as the next Ann Trason? Ann Trason was unbelievable but Ellie seems to be more versatile, if I’m not mistaken. Chuckanut, Comrades, Western States….
I’m pretty sure Trason won Comrades twice and then doubled back for States and she had/has about 10 road world and American records. Remember Ann ran 7:00 for 100k… 30+ minutes faster than the last few world 100k Champs…
I’m sure Ellie will continue to have an amazing career… we’ll know 20 years from now where they stack up to one another…
Don’t forget that Trason has the course record at Leadville at 18:06 and almost won that year outright.
Indeed, Ann’s 18:06 may not be touched for a while unless Ellie…oh, forget it:)
ellie is awesome!!!!, lets see where she is in 10 yrs, ann trason still the best ever
Rory is hot! :)
Amazing!!! Congrats to both Timothy and Ellie on their record breaking runs this weekend!!!
Astonishingly impressive new course records!!!! Congratulations to all and thank you so much for keeping us posted as to the race happenings and results!!
btw. I suggest that Nick Clark puts a ‘Two times WS100 3rd place finisher’ in the top of his blog… :)
Rory also broke a 20 year standing age group record,. Good job Rory
AND, it was another Ann Trason record :)
Truly amazing coverage. While watching the ustream of the finish line, I saw the PR guy announce that Timmy was at Robie…then I saw Bryon walk through the view texting…then, moments later, the twitter feed updated.
Thanks Bryon for all you do. Despite the fact I was up late last night following along (Tim Olson is a WI native, like me!), I PR’d in the marathon I ran this morning!
Hearing Tim talk about what Fatherhood meant to him in a previous interview had me running harder than ever. My best splits (6:35 miles) were miles 21, 23, and 26!
A big thanks to the heroes of the race (at least for all those of us unable to be on hand to witness the event unfold), Bryon, AJW and Meghan. Bryan especially, the work you’ve done in the past has inspired others and the coverage of the race has become unbelievable. I don’t think I’ve ever spent as much time in one day looking at my phone, but w/ updates coming in so fast and great pics and vid, it was tremendously engaging.
Huge congrats to Timmy, Dave and Ellie as well on some phenomenal efforts!
Unbreakable is broken ;)
Great race and exemplary coverage from iRF! So many good story lines. Better than Tour de France coverage (we know how WS ends the same day it begins :), but takes a while to unfold ).
to speculate about how Killian would have done is nonsense. It’s like trying to take away from Tim’s excellent performance. I was there and I ran 27:24 and to read about how fast Tim ran it just makes me think about all the sections of the race and the pace he had to maintain on each including the climb up Devil’s thumb and the technical downhills. Hi race was amazing!
Great comment! Real perception of what it takes to cover that terrain THAT fast. Mindblowing.
Was this your first WS100? Congrats also!
I agree with each of the last two commenters:
Ann: she was extraordinarily versatile. Trails, roads, fixed distance, timed events, all of the Grand Slam 100′s, she did it all. And, thing is, she didn’t race with any concern about gender. She raced to win outright and came close several times. This is not, by any means, to take anything away from Ellie’s incredible race on Saturday. Rather, it’s just my opinion that the “next Trason” suggestion is, perhaps, premature.
Kilian: it was, of course, really unfortunate that Kilian could not come to WS but we all understand and respect his decision. That said, to wonder what the race would have been like if Kilian had been at the race is, in my opinion, unnecessary. Timothy Olson ran faster than anybody has ever run at WS. To tell the truth, I wonder what it would have been like if King, Howard, Johnson, Morton, and Jurek had all been there. Like comparing Ruth, Aaron, Bonds, etc…
I’m sorry I’m not taking away from Tim’s performance. It was truly phenomenal. And I’m not for one moment assuming Kilian would have beaten him. I’m just wondering if he might have pushed Tim even more, like he pushed Anton. Maybe not. Sorry, never mean to start an argument.
Congratulations to everyone … and a special one to 63 year old Barbara Ashe for her 29:16 finish and to 65 year old Mark Olson for his 29:27 … the most senior female and male of all finishers. I marvel at your toughness and longevity!
Scott
Add to Barb’s performance that she suffered a fracture to her second metatarsal on the course before hwy 49. Barb is phenomenal.
matt
(a Barbara Ashe fan from Auburn)
Many thanks iRunFar for the excellent coverage and updates. WS100 has really been inspiring. Makes me wanna run all the time. I appreciate iRunFar for being a big part of that. Happy trails!
Neal Gorman’s report is up: http://www.nealgorman.com/2012/06/m10.html
Thanks for sharing all the results!
Out of interest, how did people do with the prediction contest? Kami’s DNF must have hurt a lot of scores (like mine). Am guessing we’ll need to wait til after the Skygames, Bryon – enjoy yourself.
Ian, the results of the prediction contest are coming. The results of WS were uploaded today, but I’ve yet to look at the full results. The women’s scores are quite high.
The, by now, traditional final mile video of Timmy’s run is up.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=eDxx2M5i2IE
You could probably add to the results parenthetical mentions of M30-39 and W29&U CR’s for Ryan and Rory in addition to the CR’s of Timmy, Dave, and Ellie. I know that age group records aren’t exactly hallowed or revered at WS, but still impressive.