The 2026 Western States Health and Athletics Annual Conference in Auburn, CA will provide participants with education to safely run and race ultramarathons. Additionally, participants will gain insight for planning and conducting ultramarathon races, as well as potential effects of ultrarunning on long term health based on existing evidence and expert opinion from leaders in this field. Attendees will actively participate in didactics, panel discussion and hands-on training to evaluate and treat many common medical concerns that occur during ultramarathons. They will gain an understanding of the overall preparation and planning needed to safely produce an ultramarathon that often combines some of the challenges of wilderness and remote medicine with the unique concerns of endurance event medicine. Furthermore, they will understand some of the cutting edge research in this field.
FRIDAY, MAY 22, 2026
8AM to 4PM PDT
Location: Holiday Inn Auburn, 120 Grass Valley Highway • Auburn, CA 95603
If you would like to stay at the hotel booking hotel rate: Click here.
CME and non-CME registration options available at ultrasignup
AGENDA:
| time | Title | Speaker |
|---|---|---|
| 8:00 AM | Intro and Welcome | |
| 8:15 AM | One Hundred Miles, Twenty Years: What Ultramarathon Running Teaches Us About the Human Heart | David Oxborough |
| 9:00 AM | Preparing to run hot at WSER: Heat acclimation, core temperature responses, and nutritional strategies to reduce GI distress and optimize performance | Lois Mougin |
| 9:45-10:00 AM | Break | |
| 10:00 AM | Energy Demands and physiologic changes at WSER | Brent Ruby |
| 10:45 AM | Research trends for female ultrarunners (Giegold lecture) | Marie Mahara |
| 11:15 AM | The Ultrarunner with Difficulty Breathing—Is it Asthma or Something Else? | Geoff Kurland |
| 11:45-1:00 PM | Lunch (provided at hotel) | Lind award presentation |
| 1:00 PM | Workshops- | |
| 2:00 PM | Orthopaedic concerns in ultrarunners | Gillian Soles |
| 2:30 PM | Hyponatremia, rhabdo, AKI and beyond | Tami Hew Butler |
| 3:00 PM | To run or not to run? | John Anderson and Matt Sedgley |
| 4:00-4:15 PM | Break | |
| 4:15-5:15 PM | Cardiac issues in runners - discussion panel with runners | David Oxborough with Runners |
