Western States Endurance Run

Here are the results of the independent Western States Endurance Run (WSER) Runner Survey from the June 24-25, 2023 race, conducted by ultralive.net.

WSER runner registration takes place in Olympic Valley Friday before race day and 2023 allowed for another year of the ultralive survey team to be in position. Runners are happy to participate while they wait in line for check-in providing us a 93.9% participation rate of the 379 starters.

Here are the surveys from 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019. and 2022.

Survey Questions

The runners were asked the following questions. Data was recorded by bib number allowing us to correlate the responses to finish times to make the analysis even more interesting. All data however is compiled and reported anonymously:

• Number of 100’s completed
• Number of years running ultras
• Will they use a crew?
• Will they use a pacer?
• Did they attend the Memorial weekend training camp
• Shoe brand
• Sock brand
• Pack type/brand
• Lighting brand
• Watch brand
• Did they pay for coaching services?

This year’s race temps were “cool” and we saw the top 10 for women and men finish in very fast times. The top 10 women finished under 18:11 and the top 10 men finished under 16:09. Of the 379 starters we saw 328 finishers (86.5%) under 30 hours of which 110 (33.5%) finished under the coveted 24 hour mark for a Silver Buckle. The finish rate is the hightest rate since the early years when 100% completed (when only 1 runner on the course).

A total of 306 of the 328 finshers (93.3%) are in the survey.

Note: All graphs show numbers related to runners who participated in the survey and finished the race. DNS and DNF are not included in the final graphs.

Finish Hour

For sub 24 hour finishers completing the survey, 36 out of 110 (33%) finished in the 23rd hour of the race to get a silver buckle. This was slightly less than in the past couple of years most likely due to the cooler temperature which allowed for faster finish times. In the last two hours of the race, there were 121 (37%) finishers. The busiest times on the track are typically between 4-5 AM and 9-11 AM on Sunday morning and 2023 proved no different.

The graphs show the distribution of finishers by hour (14 hours to 29 hours), distribution of finishers by completed 100 mile races, and distribution of finishers by year of running ultras. Interestingly, many of the finishers over 24 hours have finished more than ten 100 mile races and have been running ultras over 10 years.

Despite the high country snow at the beginning of the race, the cool temperatures in this year’s race definitely attributed to the finish rate of 86.5%.

Shoes

Again Hoka was the most popular shoe (38.2%) for all finishers with Altra in second place with 17.6% and Salomon in third (10.1%). The rankings stayed the same for the sub-24 hour finishers. Hoka has been the top brand in the survey since it started in 2014. We acknowledge some runners did plan to change shoes during the race and may have changed to a different brand so we asked that they provide the brand they planned on using most of the race.

Socks

Injinji is now the strong favorite for all finishers with Drymax coming in second again. The “other” category was quite large this year and runners seem to like a large variety of socks.

Paid Coaching Services

36% of the runners use a paid coaching service overall. Sub-24 hour finishers have fully embraced coaching now and nearly half (47%) use a coach.

Memorial Weekend Training Camp

The training camp held on Memorial Weekend is a great weekend to get on the course for those running, supporting or spectating the race. Attendance is up with 40% of finishers now attending the weekend. However, attending camp does not seem to decrease the chance of a DNF as 40% of the runners who did not complete the race were at the training camp.

Lighting

Petzl’s remains the favorite light brand for all runners regardless of finish time (sub or over-24 hour) with Black Diamond second again.

Packs

Salomon was the top choice for all runners (sub 24 and overall) and at 50% is by far the most common pack in the race.

Watches

Garmin was the most popular watch overall in the survey. Coros is the second most popular and combined those two brands make up 90% of the watches worn in the race.

Crew and Pacer

The use of a crew and/or pacer are personal preference during a 100-mile race but may be more popular at WS. The following chart shows the correlation of using a pacer or crew to finish hour. In the overall survey, almost everyone (89%) planned on using a pacer.

Data Accuracy

379 runners started the 2023 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run

Ultralive.net team surveyed a majority of those runners through the registration process at Olympic Valley. Final survey reflects N = 356 (93.9%) athletes though individual questions may vary if athlete did not answer or know answer. And also note that this analysis was done by amateur statisticians.

Credits

The team would like to thank all of the runners who took time to talk with us and answer these questions. Many thanks to the ultralive.net survey team: Kara Teklinski, Kati Laan and Janeth Siva.

Any feedback or insights are welcome!

Here are the results of the independent Western States Endurance Run (WSER) Runner Survey from the June 25-26, 2022 race, conducted by ultralive.net.

WSER runner registration takes place in Olympic Valley Friday before race day and 2022 allowed for another year of the ultralive survey team to be in position. Runners are happy to participate while they wait in line for check-in providing us a 95% participation rate of the 383 starters.

Here are the surveys from 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, and 2019.

Survey Questions

The runners were asked the following questions. Data was recorded by bib number allowing us to correlate the responses to finish times to make the analysis even more interesting. All data however is compiled and reported anonymously:

• Number of 100’s completed
• Number of years running ultras
• Will they use a crew?
• Will they use a pacer?
• Did they attend the Memorial weekend training camp
• Shoe brand
• Sock brand
• Pack type/brand
• Lighting brand
• Watch brand
• Did they pay for coaching services?
• A few questions about lodging for the race to share with host sites

This year’s race saw 11 women finish in the top 30 runners overall, with the “top 10’s” of both women and men all under 20 hours. Of the 383 starters we saw 305 finishers (79.6%) under 30 hours of which 101 (26.4%) finished under the coveted 24 hour mark for a Silver Buckle.

A total of 290 of the 305 finshers (95.1%) are in the survey.

Note: All graphs show numbers related to runners who participated in the survey and finished the race. DNS and DNF are not included in the final graphs.

Finish Hour

For sub 24 hour finishers completing the survey, 40 out of 93 (55%) finished in the 23rd hour of the race to get a silver buckle. In the last two hours of the race, there were 117 (38%) finishers. The busiest times on the track are typically between 4-5 AM and 9-11 AM on Sunday morning and 2022 proved no different.

The graphs show the distribution of finishers by hour (15 hours to 29 hours), distribution of finishers by completed 100 mile races, and distribution of finishers by year of running ultras. Interestingly, many of the finishers over 24 hours have finished more than ten 100 mile races and have been running ultras over 10 years.

The hot temperatures in this year’s race definitely attributed to the finish rate of 79.6%.

Shoes

Again Hoka was the most popular shoe (42.8%) for all finishers with Altra in second place with 19.7% and Salomon in third (8.3%). The rankings switched for second and third place with the sub-24 hour finishers. We acknowledge some runners did plan to change shoes during the race and may have changed to a different brand so we asked that they provide the brand they planned to start the race wearing.

Socks

Injinji was just barely the favorite over Drymax for the most popular sock choice for finishers. And it was Drymax over Injinji for the sub-24 hour finishers. The “other” category was quite large this year and runners seem to like a large variety of socks.

Paid Coaching Services

31% of the runners use a paid coaching service overall. Sub-24 hour finishers were slightly less likely to use a coach. And as a continuing trend, 48% of the DNF runners used a coaching service.

Memorial Weekend Training Camp

The training camp held on Memorial Weekend is a great weekend to get on the course for those running, supporting or spectating the race. Only a third of the runners in the survey attended the camp. However, attending camp does not seem to decrease the chance of a DNF as 40% of the runners who did not complete the race were at the training camp.

Lighting

Petzl’s remains the favorite light brand for all runners regardless of finish time (sub or over-24 hour) with Black Diamond second again.

Packs

Salomon was the top choice for all runners (sub 24 and overall). For sub 24 finishers, Nathan edged out Ultimate Direction for second place.

Watches

Garmin was the most popular watch overall in the survey. However, for the sub 24 finishers Coros was the most popular watch. Suunto was the third most popular in both categories.

Crew and Pacer

The use of a crew and/or pacer are personal preference during a 100-mile race but may be more popular at WS. The following chart shows the correlation of using a pacer or crew to finish hour. In the overall survey, almost everyone (98%) planned on using a pacer.

Data Accuracy

383 runners started the 2022 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run

Ultralive.net team surveyed a majority of those runners through the registration process at Olympic Valley Final survey reflects N = 364 (95.1%) athletes though individual questions may vary if athlete did not answer or know answer. And also note that this analysis was done by amateur statisticians.

Credits

The team would like to thank all of the runners who took time to talk with us and answer these questions. Many thanks to the ultralive.net survey team: Kara Teklinski, Emily Yu and David Canfield.

Any feedback or insights are welcome!

Here are the results of the independent Western States Endurance Run (WSER) Runner Survey from the June 29-30, 2019 race, conducted by ultralive.net.

WSER runner registration takes place in Squaw Valley Friday before race day and 2019 allowed for another year of the ultralive survey team to be in position. Runners are happy to participate while they wait in line for check-in providing us a 94% participation rate of the 369 starters.

Here are the surveys from 2014, 2015, 2016, 2017, and 2018.

Survey Questions

The runners were asked the following questions. Data was recorded by bib number allowing us to correlate the responses to finish times to make the analysis even more interesting. All data however is compiled and reported anonymously:

• Number of 100’s completed
• Number of years running ultras
• Will they use a crew?
• Will they use a pacer?
• Did they attend the Memorial weekend training camp
• Shoe brand
• Sock brand
• Hydration System
• Pack type/brand
• Lighting brand
• Watch brand
• Did they pay for coaching services?
• A few questions about lodging for the race to share with host sites

This year’s race saw a new course record and the top 10 men all finishing under 16 hours. Of the 369 starters we saw 319 finishers (86.4%) under 30 hours of which 130 (35.2%) finished under the coveted 24 hour mark for a Silver Buckle.

A total of 296 of the 319 finshers (92.7%) are in the survey.

Note: All graphs show numbers related to runners who participated in the survey and finished the race. DNS and DNF are not included in the final graphs.

Finish Hour

For sub 24 hour finishers completing the survey, 45 out of 130 (37%) finished in the 23rd hour of the race to get a silver buckle. In the last two hours of the race, there were 90 (30%) finishers. The busiest times on the track are typically between 4-5 AM and 9-11 AM on Sunday morning and 2019 proved no different. The graphs show the distribution of finishers by hour (14 hours to 29 hours).

The cool temperatures in this year’s race definitely attributed to the high finish rate of 86.4%.

Shoes

This is the sixth year Hoka was the most popular shoe (36.1%) for all finishers with Altra staying in second place with 24%. Salomon (9.5%) again was ahead of Brooks (6.8%) which was the second most popular shoe just four years ago (2015). The rankings remained the same for the top 3 most popular shoes with the sub-24 hour finishers as well. We acknowledge some runners did plan to change shoes during the race and may have changed to a different brand so we asked that they provide the brand they planned to start the race wearing.

Socks

Injinji was just barely the favorite over Drymax for the most popular sock choice for finishers. And it was Drymax over Injinji for the sub-24 hour finishers. The “other” category was quite large this year and runners seem to like a large variety of socks.

Paid Coaching Services

More than 30% of the runners use a paid coaching service overall. Sub-24 hour finishers were slightly less likely to use a coach. And it is interesting to see that nearly half of the runners with a DNF used a coaching service.

Memorial Weekend Training Camp

The training camp held on Memorial Weekend is a great weekend to get on the course for those running, supporting or spectating the race. Only a third of the runners in the survey attended the camp. However, attending camp does not seem to decrease the chance of a DNF as 38% of the runners who did not complete the race were at the training camp.

Lighting

Petzl’s remains the favorite light brand for all runners regardless of finish time (sub or over-24 hour) with Black Diamond second again. All the top 10 men completed the race (under 16 hours) and did not require a headlamp!

Hydration System

This was a new question this year and the most popular method is a combination of pack and bottles. Overall half the finishers surveyed used a pack in their hydration system. For sub 24 hour finishers just hand held bottles was the most popular method.

Packs

Salomon was the top choice for all runners (sub 24 and overall) with Ultimate Direction and Nathan in second and third.

Watches

Another new question this year was about what kind of watch (in most cases a GPS watch) would be used. Just the brand was noted and not the model.
Garmin was the most popular watch followed by Suunto. Interesting that many runners chose to run without a watch at all.

Crew and Pacer

The use of a crew and/or pacer are personal preference during a 100-mile race but may be more popular at WS – what are your thoughts? The following chart shows the correlation of using a pacer or crew to finish hour. Crew use is basically 90% regardless of finish time (or DNF).

Special recognition should go to the 12 runners in the survey with no crew and no pacer. Four (4) of them managed to finish in less than 24 hours to earn a well deserved silver buckle.

Data Accuracy

369 runners started the 2019 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run

Ultralive.net team surveyed a majority of those runners through the registration process at Squaw Final survey reflects N = 346 (93.7%) athletes though individual questions may vary if athlete did not answer or know answer. And also note that this analysis was done by amateur statisticians and inspired by the Ironman “bike survey” in Kona.

Credits

The team would like to thank all of the runners who took time to talk with us and answer these questions. Many thanks to the ultralive.net survey team: Kara Teklinski, Emily Yu and David Canfield.

Any feedback or insights are welcome!

Here are the results of the independent Western States Endurance Run (WSER) Runner Survey from the June 23-24, 2018 race, conducted by ultralive.net.

WSER runner registration takes place in Squaw Valley Friday before race day and 2018 allowed for another year of the ultralive survey team to be in position. Runners are happy to participate while they wait in line for check-in providing us a 95% participation rate of the 369 starters.

Here are the surveys from 2014, 2015, 2016, and 2017.

Survey Questions

The runners were asked the following questions. Data was recorded by bib number allowing us to correlate the responses to finish times to make the analysis even more interesting. All data however is compiled and reported anonymously:

• Number of 100’s completed
• Number of years running ultras
• Will they use a crew?
• Will they use a pacer?
• Did they attend the Memorial weekend training camp
• Shoe brand
• Sock brand
• Pack type/brand
• Lighting brand
• Did they pay for coaching services?
• A few questions about lodging for the race to share with host sites

This year’s race was the 9th hottest on record but that fact did not seem to impact the runners. Of the 369 starters we saw 299 finishers (81%) under 30 hours of which 123 (33.3%) finished under the coveted 24 hour mark for a Silver Buckle.

A total of 284 of the 299 finshers (95%) are in the survey.

Note: All graphs show numbers related to runners who participated in the survey and finished the race. DNS and DNF are not included in the final graphs.

Finish Hour

For sub 24 hour finishers completing the survey, 43 out of 123 (35%) finished in the 23rd hour of the race to get a silver buckle (compared to 36.2% in 2017 with only 69 Silver Buckles). In the last two hours of the race, there were 101 (40%) finishers. The busiest times on the track are typically between 4-5 AM and 9-11 AM on Sunday morning and 2018 proved no different. The graphs show the distribution of finishers by hour (14 hours to 29 hours).

Despite the heat in this year’s race, the finish rate of 81% is much higher than last year’s 67.2%.
An interesting data point for this year is that only “experienced” runners had a DNF – at least one 100 completed and over a year of ultrarunning.

Shoes

This is the fifth year Hoka was the most popular shoe (34.9%) for all finishers with Altra staying in second place with 23.2%. Salomon (10.9%) again was ahead of Brooks (6.0%) which was the second most popular shoe just three years ago (2015). The rankings remained the same for the top 3 most popular shoes with the sub-24 hour finishers as well. We acknowledge some runners did plan to change shoes during the race and may have changed to a different brand so we asked that they provide the brand they planned to start the race wearing.

Socks

Injinji was just barely the favorite over Drymax for the most popular sock choice for finishers. And it was Drymax ahead by sixteen over Injinji for the sub-24 hour finishers. The “other” category was quite large this year and runners seem to like a large variety of socks.

Paid Coaching Services

A little over a quarter of the runners use a paid coaching service for both the overall and sub-24 hour finishers. And from the data it seems that using a coach does not decrease the chance of a DNF compared to the finishers.

Memorial Weekend Training Camp

The training camp held on Memorial Weekend is a great weekend to get on the course for those running, supporting or spectating the race. Only a third of the runners in the survey attended the camp. However, attending camp does not seem to decrease the chance of a DNF as 38% of the runners who did not complete the race were at the training camp.

Lighting

Petzl’s remains the favorite light brand for all runners regardless of finish time (sub or over-24 hour) with Black Diamond second again. Only one runner was able to complete the course without a light – Jim Walmsley (and he did have a Petzl just in case!)

Packs

Salomon was the top choice for all runners (sub 24 and overall) with Ultimate Direction and Nathan in second and third. Not everyone chooses and pack and 38 responded to the survey saying they would only use handheld bottles for the race.

Crew and Pacer

The use of a crew and/or pacer are personal preference during a 100-mile race but may be more popular at WS – what are your thoughts? The following chart shows the correlation of using a pacer or crew to finish hour.

Special recognition should go to the 18 runners in the survey with no crew and no pacer. Five of them managed to finish in less than 24 hours to earn a well deserved silver buckle.

Data Accuracy

369 runners started the 2018 Western States 100 Mile Endurance Run

Ultralive.net team surveyed a majority of those runners through the registration process at Squaw Final survey reflects N = 353 (95.6%) athletes though individual questions may vary if athlete did not answer or know answer. And also note that this analysis was done by amateur statisticians and inspired by the Ironman “bike survey” in Kona.

Credits

The team would like to thank all of the runners who took time to talk with us and answer these questions. Many thanks to the ultralive.net survey team: Kara Teklinski, Emily Yu and Jessi Goldstein.

Any feedback or insights are welcome!