Western States 100
Written by Catriona Adams. Published 8 September 2026
First run in 1977, Western States is widely credited with setting the template every organised 100-mile trail race still follows: a marked course, aid stations, cut-offs and a finish-line results page. 100.2 miles from Olympic Valley to Auburn, California, within a 30-hour limit.
Key points
- 100.2 miles from Olympic Valley to Auburn, California, with 18,090ft of climb and 22,970ft of descent — 30-hour limit.
- Grew out of a horse race: in 1974, Gordy Ainsleigh ran the Tevis Cup horse-race route on foot after his horse went lame, finishing in 23h42m — the first sub-24-hour crossing on foot, and the direct inspiration for the run becoming its own official race in 1977.
- Sub-24-hour finishers earn a hand-made silver belt buckle; 24-30 hour finishers, bronze.
- The HOKA Golden Ticket system grants up to 28 automatic qualifying places a year from a fixed list of races worldwide, several of them UTMB World Series events.
The horse race it grew out of
Western States started life as a foot race against a horse race. In 1974, horseman Gordy Ainsleigh entered the Tevis Cup — a 100-mile horse race on this exact route — on foot, after his own horse went lame. He finished in 23h42m, the first person to cover the course inside the 24-hour horse-race limit. That proof of concept led directly to the standalone footrace launched in 1977.
Three ways in
| Route | What it involves |
|---|---|
| HOKA Golden Ticket races | A fixed annual list of qualifying races worldwide (several also UTMB World Series events) grants 2-3 automatic places per gender to the top finishers, rolling down to roughly 5th-6th place. |
| General lottery | Open to any runner who has completed a qualifying 100k-or-longer race in the past two years — odds worsen for popular applicants and improve with repeated unsuccessful entries. |
| Automatic qualifiers | Past champions and a small number of other automatic categories bypass the lottery entirely. |
The numbers
| Distance | 100.2 miles (161km) |
|---|---|
| Elevation | 18,090ft of ascent, 22,970ft of descent |
| Time limit | 30 hours (sub-24h earns a silver buckle, 24-30h a bronze buckle) |
| Route | Olympic Valley → Auburn, California |
| First run | 1977, alongside the Tevis Cup, 16 starters |
| UTMB link | A UTMB World Series qualifying race; finishers earn Running Stones toward the UTMB World Series Finals lottery |
Current records
| Category | Holder | Time | Date |
|---|---|---|---|
| Course record (men) | Vincent Bouillard | 13h 46m 15s | 2026 |
| Course record (women) | Jennifer Lichter | 15h 28m 05s | 2026 |
The organised end of the spectrum
Where the Barkley Marathons removes every piece of organised infrastructure, Western States supplies all of it — marked route, staffed aid stations, a defined cut-off, and belt buckles that have become the sport's best-known finisher tradition. It's closer in spirit to Eryri by UTMB than to any of the Rounds covered on this site — the same UTMB World Series a UK reader would already recognise, run to the same qualification logic.
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