First "Official" Year
Nineteen-seventy-seven marked the first "official" Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, where runners actually entered the race as a competition against other runners.
Wendell Robie, the patriarch whose idea in 1955 led to the organization of the Western States 100-Mile One-Day Ride, later nicknamed the Tevis Cup, felt that it was time that runners had a separate competition, although the run would still be held the same day as the horse race.
Wendell gathered a small "executive" committee to organize the race, consisting of Gordy Ainsleigh, Mo Livermore, Curt Sproul, and Jim Larimer. All were experienced riders and veterans of the Tevis Cup, so they were familiar with the course and the mechanics of staging such an event. Bob Lind, MD, an emergency room physician who had been present at Gordy's run in 1974, served as medical director, assisted by Carol Van Ness, RN.
Fourteen men from four different states lined up at the start at Squaw Valley, and the runners headed up the trail with the horses. It was a very low-key
affair, with only three aid stations, which were staged in conjunction with veterinary checks for the horses. The runners were required to rely on drop bags and crews for whatever their needs were along the way. Compare that to today's race, where there are 1,300 volunteers, 30 aid stations, 11 medical checkpoints, a medical and podiatry corps that could staff a small hospital, communications networks, search-and-rescue units, massage therapists, and on and on.
The outcome of the 1977 race was decided by the time the runners had reached the Michigan Bluff checkpoint, which is slightly past the halfway point of the race. Of the 14 runners, 11 had already dropped out or were too late through checkpoints to continue safely and were pulled from the course.
Of the remaining three runners, only 22-year-old Andy Gonzales was able to finish under 24 hours to earn a silver belt buckle. Peter Mattei and Ralph Paffenbarger, ages 53 and 54, respectively, ran together on their own and finished unofficially in 28:36. This led to the establishment of a 30-hour cutoff the following year.
Following the race, the Western States Endurance Run Board of Governors was established to work independently but under the corporate umbrella of the Western States Trail Foundation. Three of those original members (Mo Livermore, Shannon Weil, and Bob Lind) still serve on the board today.
Course Challenges
In a single year, the Western States Endurance Run developed a national reputation as runners from many states came to Northern California to do battle with the trails and the heat for which the race had become famous. The following factors show why competing in the Western States 100 is not to be taken lightly: heat (it is not unusual for temperatures in the canyons to exceed 110 degrees), the possibility of snow, altitude, elevation changes (18,000 feet of elevation gain and 22,000 feet of elevation loss), rocks, dust, river crossings, nighttime running where temperatures can drop to below freezing, rattlesnakes, mountain lions, bears, dehydration, hyperthermia, hypothermia, kidney shutdown, bee stings, and so on. In spite of-or perhaps because of-these factors, 63 runners braved the conditions and participated in the 1978 edition, which for the first time was run independent of the horse race. It was also the first year that women competed. Five women started, with Pat Smythe going on to become the first official woman finisher (with a time of 29:34:21). It was also the first year that a 30-hour cutoff was made official. Andy Gonzales won the race for the second straight year, to become the first of a number of repeat winners.
In 1979 the race truly became an international event, as runners from three foreign countries were among the 143 runners who took the starter's command. Nineteen-seventy-nine also saw a key change in the race. Runners were now required to do a qualifying run to be able to participate in Western States. To prove that they had completed at least one run longer than the marathon in a credible time, runners had to show proof that they had run a 50-miler in under 10 hours.
In 1979 women proved that they could compete with men when Skip Swannack Gibbs became the first female sub-24-hour finisher with an impressive 21:56.
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