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On Saturday, June 26, 2021, at 5 a.m. PDT, 320 runners will depart Olympic Valley, California, on their quest to run 100 miles through the Sierra Nevada mountains to the finish line of the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run in Auburn, California. After Covid 19 shut down the race in 2020, this year’s women’s and men’s fields are some of the most stacked in the race’s history, and it will be a battle through the course’s famed canyons with temps predicted to top 100 degrees. With 18,000 feet of climbing and 23,000 feet of descending, Western States is where 100-mile trail racing began—the first edition took place clear back in 1974.
Here, our correspondent on scene in Olympic Valley Kris Brown interviews several top contenders at this year’s highly anticipated event.
Videography by Tony DiPasquale
Production by Andy Cochrane
Jim Walmsley
Ruth Croft
Tyler Green
Abby Hall
Kaci Lickteig
Jared Hazen
Stephen Kersh