The trail through Granite Chief Wilderness that we use on race day stretches for 6.5 miles. The western portion of the trail was rehabilitated several years ago when it was accepted into the wilderness. The eastern portion was developed long before modern trail building standards were set, and is being re-routed to improve user safety, avoid environmentally sensitive areas, improve sustainability, and provide commanding views.
GCW
We have actively been working on this project for the last two summers (only 10-12 weeks are snow free each year). Work has been performed by USFS employees, a 20-person California Conservation Corp trail crew, and our volunteers. The work has been funded by the Great American Outdoor Act ($1.2M), designed to cover most of the project. Although $0.5M in funding remains, and the USFS was poised to complete contracts to engage a trail crew for this summer, the funding for the project has now been frozen by DOGE and inaccessible, and we cannot hire a trail crew for 2025.
The USFS and our volunteers still plan to work on the project this summer, and we hope to complete enough of the re-routed trail that we can use about 2 miles of the new trail for our event in 2026, which will get us up and out of the bogs. But to get there we need your help. To date our four scheduled trail work weekends are only about half full, so come join us on the weekends of July 26th/27th, August 16th/17th, September 6th/7th, and/or September 20th/21st.
Topher Gaylord, a longtime member of the Western States Endurance Run Board of Directors and a leading voice in the sport of ultrarunning, has been elected President of the WSER Board of Directors.
Gaylord succeeds Diana Fitzpatrick, whose term as President ended at the end of September following five years.
“As the first 100-mile trail race in the world, Western States Endurance Run strives to be a leader in the sport, honoring our traditions and evolving proactively with the sport. We are an organization fueled by the community for the community with tremendous people who make the run special for every participant who has the opportunity to run Western States. It is a privilege to serve in this leadership role for our organization,” said Gaylord.
Gaylord, whose experience as a competitor, organizer and thought leader in the sport dates back more than 25 years, has been a member of the WSER Board since 2016. During that time, Gaylord has served as a vice president for WSER and played instrumental roles in a number of WSER’s most notable successes. This has included WSER’s ongoing presenting sponsorship agreement with HOKA and historic growth overall in terms of partnership agreements, the production of a first-ever and continuing Live Broadcast of the event, and trail stewardship initiatives that have worked to open more of the Western States Trail to the public.
“I am extremely excited for the start of a new era for our race with Topher as our President,” said Fitzpatrick, who remains on the WSER Board as Vice President. “I don’t know if there is a more respected person in our sport than Topher. His keen perspective, which now dates back an entire generation of ultrarunners, his ability of bringing groups together for the common good, and his strategic sense of where the sport is headed next is what we need right now.”
Added Race Director Craig Thornley, now entering his 13th year as race director: “It’s been a distinct pleasure, both professionally and personally, to work with Diana over the past five years in furthering our Run’s mission. I cannot thank her enough for her dedication to all things Western States. I’ve known and worked with Topher for a very long time. He’s an incredibly gifted person in how he mixes his experiences as a leader in the outdoor space and in particular in ultrarunning, with an uncanny ability to always find the best in people and in organizations. He has big shoes to fill. I have every confidence he will.”
Gaylord’s career in global athletic and sports leadership includes executive-level positions with companies such as VF Corporation in North America, Europe, and Asia, Columbia Sportswear, Mountain Hardwear, Under Armour and The North Face. He ran his first Western States in 1998 and is a seven-time finisher of the Run. In 2003, he was the first American male finisher at the first-ever Ultra-Trail Du Mont-Blanc.
The organization’s officers for the upcoming 2025 race cycle include Gaylord as President, Fitzpatrick as Vice President, Lamont King as Treasurer and Kara Teklinski as Secretary.
Posted in General Interest, Race News, WSER Foundation | on: October 4th, 2024 by JohnT |
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The Board of Directors for the Western States Endurance Run has named Lamont King, Western States volunteer, ultra runner and accomplished public pension fund lawyer, to the board, WSER president Diana Fitzpatrick announced.
“We are extremely pleased to have Lamont join our board,” Fitzpatrick said. “Lamont’s accomplishments and involvement in our sport as a volunteer and runner are incredibly impressive, as are his professional accomplishments. King currently serves as Deputy General Counsel for CalSTRS, the California State Teachers’ Retirement System, which is the second largest public pension fund in the country. King led the investment attorney division at CalSTRS for ten years prior to being appointed the first-ever Deputy General Counsel. In his current role he acts as liaison between the General Counsel and the Assistant General Counsels where he provides legal guidance and leadership on matters supporting the entire organization.
“We wish to welcome Lamont to the board as our run faces an incredibly dynamic moment in our sport. Lamont’s experience and perspective as well as his leadership and professional skills will be incredibly helpful for our board and our organization as we look toward an exciting future.”
“I have been fortunate to enjoy Western States as a fan, volunteer, and runner,” King said. “I am beyond thrilled to have the opportunity to contribute as a WSER board member. I look forward to working with the board and the trail running community to continue the great legacy of Western States as the premier 100-mile endurance run.”
King, 50, started running ultras in 2014, inspired by the PBS documentary on Western States, “A Race for the Soul.” He has now finished more than 50 ultras, including Western States in 2022. He has been a volunteer at the Green Gate aid station and has also participated in numerous Western States trail stewardship days. He is a graduate of Allegheny College in Pennsylvania and received his juris doctor degree from Case Western Reserve University School of Law in Cleveland, Ohio. He also holds a CFA Institute Investment Foundations Certificate.
Emily Kraus and Megan Roche have been named Medical Research Directors for the Western States Endurance Run, WSER President Diana Fitzpatrick announced.
Kraus and Roche succeed John Diana, who had served as Medical Research Director for WSER since 2016.
“Emily and Megan both bring impeccable professional credentials as well as a deep understanding of our sport to their new post,” Fitzpatrick said. “We have always viewed our medical research director position as one that needs to constantly evolve as runners in the sport increasingly turn to science-based information for the best practices in enhancing human performance. With Emily and Megan, we have two individuals who have proven track records in understanding the value of collaborative approaches in research, catalyzing that research and making it available for the betterment of the running community.
“They are both incredibly dynamic individuals who we feel will help take our medical research effort to the next level. I wish to thank Dr. John Diana for his incredible record of service to WSER over the past few years. Dr. Diana brought his own personal brand of collegiality, professional sense of collaboration and a strong sense of cohesiveness to our medical research effort. We are extremely grateful for all of the work he did in furthering our research agenda.”
Added WSER Medical Director Andy Pasternak: “Emily and Megan have all of the professional experience and personal qualities necessary to lead WSER’s medical research enterprise. Their insight into what the position needs to do in the coming years is very exciting. They truly wish to see our medical research endeavors continue the impactful legacy that has already been established by our previous medical research directors, while also positioning our future research studies so that they can help re-define how science-based discovery and translational research is being used to further our sport.”
Kraus is a Clinical Assistant Professor in the Department of Orthopedic Surgery at Stanford University School of Medicine. She received her M.D. from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in Omaha, Nebraska, in 2012 and her B.S. in Nutrition Science from the University of Nebraska, Lincoln, in 2008. She has produced more than 20 peer-reviewed original research papers on a variety of topics. In 2018-2020, she served as principal investigator for a study at Western States on “Genetic and Serologic Determinants of Bone Health in Ultramarathoners,” which was renewed for further study in 2021.
Roche is the Research Lead for the Stanford Lifestyle Medicine Program as well as Research Lead for FASTR (Female Athlete Science and Translational Research). She is a Ph.D. candidate in the Department of Epidemiology and Population Health at the Stanford University School of Medicine. She received her M.D. from Stanford University School of Medicine in 2018, earned her M.M.S. in Management from Duke University in 2013 and her B.S. in Neuroscience from Duke in 2012. Her more than a dozen research publications include studies on bone stress and mental health of athletes, among many others.
For more than 40 years, medical research activity has played an important role at the Western States Endurance Run. WSER’s late Medical Director Dr. Robert Lind welcomed and encouraged researchers from throughout the country and the world to come to WSER and study its runners. One of the earliest studies that established the connection between the body’s release of endorphins and physical activity was conducted at WSER in 1981 by Dr. Walter Bortz of Stanford University. Since 2006, more than 80 research publications or abstracts in human performance have been produced by researchers from throughout the world based on studies conducted on WSER runners.
Posted in General Interest, Research, WSER Foundation | on: July 14th, 2022 by JohnT |
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The Western States Endurance Run (WSER) is pleased to announce that the U.S. Forest Service – American River Ranger District (USFS) has secured $800,000 in funding for the Granite Chief Wilderness Trail Reroute Project (Project) through the Great American Outdoors Act (GAOA). The USFS, the Western States Endurance Run Foundation (organizers of the WSER), and the Western States Trail Foundation (organizers of the Tevis Cup Ride), worked together over several years to develop and gain approval of a plan for non-motorized alternative trail access through Granite Chief Wilderness (the Wilderness). Planning activities culminated in a 2019 Decision Memo, issued by the USFS, that formalized the decision to proceed with the Project.
The trail through the Wilderness that WSER uses on race day stretches from approximately miles 4 through 10.5 of the WSER course. Although the western portion of the trail through the newly expanded Wilderness has been recently rehabilitated and meets current USFS trail building specifications, other portions of the existing trail through the Wilderness were developed long before modern trail building criteria and techniques were defined, while other portions of the trail were created by citizens (social trails) that are not within the formally recognized trail network. The existing trail alignment is problematic with regard to both user safety and resource damage. In places the trail is overly steep with grades up to 30%, and over time have become heavily rutted and channelized, contributing to excessive erosion in sensitive sub-alpine riparian terrain. For decades volunteers from WSER and the Tevis Cup Ride have partnered with the USFS to maintain the trail through the Wilderness, but because of its design, or lack of design, it has required an increasing level of commitment.
The Project is designed to close sections of the existing trail that have unsustainable grades that traverse a series of hillside springs (bogs) and replace these trail sections with sustainable trail segments that will be farther upslope and out of the densely vegetated area where the springs discharge. The Project has been divided into nine trail segments (see figure), and will result in 5.7 miles of new trail, along the ridge connecting Granite Chief, Needle and Lyon Peaks. New trail segments will access alpine terrain that has not previously been accessible, which will afford stunning views to the south, east, and west. When completed the new trail system will allow recreational users the opportunity to walk, run, or ride shorter loop routes from both the east and northwest side of the Wilderness. New trail segments will be designed using Best Management Practices to minimize erosion and be safer for all users. Unsustainable sections of the existing trail will be closed and vegetation in the affected area restored.
On a typical year the project area is covered by snow from October to June, and therefore field work can only be performed during summer months. The Project has been scheduled for the summers of 2023, 2024, and 2025. A 20-person professional trail crew will live in the Wilderness and work 5 days each week, for a total of 14 weeks. On weekends volunteer trail crews will perform work commensurate with their skill level. For the summers of 2023 and 2024 access will be arranged with the Palisades Tahoe Resort, and trail workers will use Palisades Tahoe maintenance roads to bring supplies and personnel into the Wilderness from the east. For the summer of 2025 access will be from the northwest edge of the Wilderness using Forest Service Road 51.
Craig Thornley, Race Director for WSER, states: “I have been very excited about this new trail since I first walked it a few years ago. It will not only provide a more environmentally sensitive and sustainable way to traverse the Wilderness and substantially improve the views, but because the new route across the Wilderness will be shorter it will allow us to make other changes farther down our event route to incorporate more single-track and sustainable trail sections.”
Chuck Stalley, the Ride Director for the Tevis Cup also supports the project, as “it will provide safer passage for our horses and their riders and require less annual maintenance.”
Matt Brownlee, the USFS District Trails Manager, is fully committed to the Project “This exciting new trail realignment project will require three years of hard work but will provide years of public enjoyment while at the same time protecting sensitive resources in federally protected wilderness. This project was originally identified in 1993 due to accelerated erosion and lack of trail design parameters but didn’t gain traction until 2016 when myself/WSER/WSTF representatives began initial ground-truthing. Obvious terrain and construction hurdles will make this a logistically challenging project but will benefit the American public for years to come. A mentor of mine used to say “just go out there and make it better”, I truly feel that’s what we are going to accomplish with this legacy project and I welcome any and all who would like to be part of it.”
The USFS has estimated the Project will cost $1,350,000. GAOA funding will cover $800,000 of the cost and WSER has secured funding for its share of the remaining $550,000 in cost.
