The Grand Slam

I guess over the next 8 months I'll end up writing about this particular subject over and over again. For a long time now I've considered 100 mile trail runs as the thing I see myself doing more of than any other type of racing in the future. Switching off from the world for a whole day and getting in to the rhythm of running until you drop. The sense of achievement on finishing. The camaraderie between the racers. The atmosphere before during and after an event. The appeal of traveling to far flung places to race. All reasons why I want to run more trail 100's. The downside is the amount of time you spend out of running the other side of a 100 whilst you recover, but if you're not quick enough to be up the front that kind of matters a lot less. There is also a significant cost implication but you can't take it with you so i'll just spend the few grand i've saved on this now instead.

So for a few years now I've wanted to run Western States 100. Western States is the oldest 100 in the world. I could write for about 5000 words on the subject because it is more widely written and talked about than probably any other 100 in the world. This side of the Atlantic, clearly the UTMB is the main trail event over ultra distance with 2500 runners and plenty more wannabe's turned away each year. In North America the honour belongs to Western States, the original 100 mile run and the race with consistently the largest number of applicants.

The WS100 course

I never really considered having a real chance of getting in because it is so hard to get a slot. Every year the management board of WS100 select just 400 runners to toe the start line. This year those people included:

Top 10 Men from 2010
Top 10 Women from 2010
36 slots for winners of some of the bigger trail races in the US
30 Sponsor Slots
The management board
9 time finishers going for a 10th finish
70 Two Time Losers (people who didn't get in through the lottery in either 08 or 09)

This left a total of 219 slots to be drawn in a lottery. Still seems like a lot but there were over 1800 applicants for those 219 slots which gave applicants around a 12% chance of getting in.

Last night they ran the lottery and my name was the 60th one out of the digital hat. I literally couldn't believe it. After sitting through the painful experience of watching 220 people get drawn out last year and not being one of them I didn't imagine I had a hope. It was with a heavy heart that I saw the remainder of the names get drawn without Franks name coming out of the hat. Frank has wanted to run this race for some time also having done just about everything else and it would have added massively to the whole experience to have him there.

So the last weekend of June next year I'll be going to Squaw Valley California to run 100 miles to the finish at the Placer School Athletics Track in Auburn. 100 miles with over 15,500 feet of elevation gain and 23,000 feet of descent, in temperatures ranging from freezing at the start to 100 degrees in the canyons, over mountains, through valleys and up and out of the other side into civilisation again all within a 30 hour time limit.

Course Profile of WS100 c/o www.ws100.com

Having already entered Leadville which takes place in late August, I have decided to have a go at the Grand Slam.

To quote Stan Jensen: 'The Grand Slam of Ultra running award is recognition for those who complete four of the oldest 100 mile trail runs in the U.S. The "Slam" consists of officially finishing the Western States, Vermont, Wasatch Front and Leadville 100 mile Endurance Runs all in the same year.' The races are spread out over a period of just 11 weeks so recovery between the races is going to be difficult especially with the flying back and forth between the US and the UK. I learnt some big lessons this year about recovery after my exploits at Badwater. 3 Brits have completed the Grand Slam before, one of those being Mark Hartell holder of the Lake District 24 hour fell record and a whole heap of trail and fell race wins.

With the Centurion North Downs Way races taking place the weekend before Leadville it's going to be a busy summer but I really can't wait for those 11 weeks. Plus in the short term I have the small matter of running 100s in Texas & North Carolina before heading to South Africa for Comrades in May. I'll probably leave it there for 2011....