[Author’s Note: This is the first in a six-part series called History-Making Hundreds where we’ll look at certain 100-mile race performances that altered the landscape of trail running and ultrarunning.]
I used to be a couple of mile into the 2006 Western States 100 when my good buddy, the late Dave Terry, sidled up subsequent to me. Dave was a real old-school Western States veteran, hailing from Oregon. As he seemed up forward of us and noticed the entrance runners escaping into the pre-dawn mild, he turned to me and stated, “AJW, you are feeling that? That is gonna’ be epic!”
Dave was proper. It was epic. The 2006 race had every little thing. Snow within the excessive nation and searing warmth within the canyons. The ending charge was a mere 52%, and whereas it was solely the third hottest Western States on report with a race-day excessive in Auburn of 101 levels Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), it was, and nonetheless is, believed to be essentially the most difficult circumstances the race has ever seen.
A part of a full-page advert which appeared within the October, 2006 challenge of “Runner’s World” journal. Picture is a screenshot. Unique images by Thomas Backer and graphics by The North Face.
Regardless of all this, or maybe due to it, 35-year-old Nikki Kimball of Montana executed a well-planned race technique that noticed her win the ladies’s race and place third general, the primary time a lady had stood on the general Western States podium since Ann Trason in 1996 — a decade earlier than. Trason would end on the general podium 5 occasions.
Tim Twietmeyer, 25-time Western States finisher and five-time winner, ran his ultimate Western States in 2006, stated of the day: “In all my years racing at Western States, these have been essentially the most difficult circumstances I’ve ever skilled.”
This was Kimball’s second time working the race. She’d gained the ladies’s race and completed in tenth place general in 2004 with a time of 18:43. Because of the sizzling forecast, Kimball selected an aggressive technique that day, working the primary 30 miles tougher than normal, then backing off her tempo in the midst of the day earlier than growing her tempo and energy degree because the day cooled. And did that technique work!
The 2006 race-day circumstances have been made additional tough by what former race director Greg Soderlund known as the “pizza-stone impact.” Excessive temperatures within the area have been at or close to 100 levels for 10 days previous to the race, pre-heating the canyons, a lot as a baker pre-heats a pizza stone earlier than cooking. In consequence, the infamous canyon partitions have been hotter than normal, sooner than normal alongside the race course. The warmth was not solely coming down on the runners from the solar overhead, but in addition developing from the parched, baked soil and rock.
Nikki Kimball (left) and Pam Smith on the 2013 Western States 100, after the pair completed second and first, respectively. Picture: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
Sitting in eighth place general at Robinson Flat, 30 miles in, Kimball calmly took her foot off the fuel over the subsequent few hours. She jumped two spots to sixth by the American River crossing at mile 78 as the warmth took its toll on the sector. From the river to the end, Kimball put the hammer down, crossing the end line in 19:26 in third-place general, 36 minutes forward of the subsequent lady. As a testomony to the problem of the circumstances, her time was 45 minutes slower than her race-winning time from two years prior.
Curiously sufficient, since that scorching day in 2006, the closest a lady has come to ending on the general podium was Courtney Dauwalter’s sixth-place end in 2023. Given the upward trajectory in girls’s performances throughout the path working and ultrarunning spectrum lately, I believe it’s solely a matter of time earlier than Trason and Kimball are joined by one other lady on the all-time Western States podium.
You’ll be able to study extra about Kimball’s history-making hundred in our prior article about her efficiency.
Bottoms up!
AJW’s Beer of the Week
This week’s Beer of the Week comes from Lewis and Clark Brewing Firm in Helena, Montana. Miner’s Gold is an American-style wheat beer that’s crisp and refreshing. With only a trace of bitterness and a candy end, this hefeweizen is a good after-run beer on a heat summer season night.
Name for Feedback
- Had been you on the 2006 Western States 100? What do you keep in mind from that yr?
- How did Nikki Kimball’s history-making efficiency that day transfer the game ahead for you?
Nikki Kimball trying thrilled with second place within the 2018 Hardrock 100, later in her working profession. Picture: iRunFar/Meghan Hicks
