Western States Endurance Run - History

History

The Western States Endurance Run was first completed in 1974 by Gordy Ainsleigh. Ainsleigh had finished the Western States Trail Ride (Tevis Cup) in 1971 and 1972 on horseback, but in 1973 his new horse was pulled with lameness at the 29-mile checkpoint. In 1974, with the inspiration and encouragement of Drucilla Barner, first woman to win the Tevis Cup and Secretary of the Western States Trail Foundation, Gordy joined the horses of the Western States Trail Ride to see if he could complete the course on foot. Twenty-three hours and forty-two minutes later Gordy arrived in Auburn, proving that a runner could, indeed, travel the 100 miles in one day.

In 1975, Ron Kelley ran the Tevis Cup course along with the horses, and completed 97 miles (157 km) of the course before dropping out. In 1976, Ken "Cowman" Shirk became the second runner to complete the course along with the horses, with Ainsleigh pacing him the last 25 miles.

Sixteen runners signed up for the first official Western States Endurance Run in 1977, and started along with the horses in the Tevis Cup. Thirteen of the 16 had dropped out or were pulled by the midpoint that year. Of the three remaining runners, only Andy Gonzales finished in the 24 hour time limit set for the horses. The other two, Peter Mattei and Ralph Paffenbarger, finished in 28 hours and 36 minutes (unofficially), leading to the establishment of the 30-hour bronze buckle time limit for runners. The Run organization later became its own entity: The Western States Endurance Run Foundation.

The following year, 1978, 63 runners competed and 30 runners finished the first Western States Endurance Run. The race was held on a separate date, independent of the Tevis Cup Trail Ride.

In 1984, the Granite Chief Wilderness was created under the provisions of the 1964 Wilderness Act, and about four miles (6 km) of the trail were within the new boundaries. The wilderness designation would normally mean that the Forest Service would not be able to allow organized events in the area. In 1988, however, the Endurance Run (and the original Trail Ride) was finally given Congressional permission to continue, but with the number of runners limited to 369, the size of the 1984 field. As the event grew in notoriety, a lottery system was created to allocate the available positions. Each year since, a limited number of entries have been awarded to selected winners of Montrail Ultra Cup Series and to top-ten finishers of the preceding Western States race. After the few select entries are awarded, a lottery is then held to fill the field from a pool of qualified applicants. The Forest Service allows race management to use a five-year running average of 369 actual starters, and historically some fifteen percent of lottery winners do not report to the starting line, so some 425 runners are typically notified as being eligible.