Western States 100 - Volunteer report 2017

Note: there are lots of photos here, as always you can click on them to expand. I struggled to narrow them down from the many I took! Are you ready....? Got a cuppa? Then I'll begin....

Here, at home in Scotland, I made the decision at the end of 2016 that I wanted to apply as a volunteer for Western States Endurance Run, fulfil a bucket list dream, and be part of one of the most iconic races in the ultrarunning calendar. In February, turning 40 and feeling a bit.... 'blah' about that, I set myself objectives of going outside my comfort zone: I think travelling to America for the first time, travelling long haul alone for the first time, and volunteering at a race in 100ºF temperatures, definitely ticked that box.  I was accepted as a volunteer, I booked my flights, and from there, it was on. Eeek!

Although I'm not an ultrarunner myself, I frequently marshal and volunteer at Scottish ultramarathons, and shorter races, and I'd read a lot about WSER so I knew the set-up was a bit different, with a LOT more volunteers, but I hoped I would be 'useful', you know?  I said I was happy to work anywhere, and Allyson the lovely Volunteer Coordinator allocated me at the runner check-in (translation: registration) on the Friday, and Dusty Corners aid station (translation: checkpoint) on the Saturday. The checkpoint boss Doug got in touch, sent me loads of brilliant guidance instructions which I found both familiar, comforting and at times utterly bemusing ('greet every runner as follows....' - what? I'm so used to screaming "wooooo!" or "move your arse!" to runners, and now I'm greeting them with a cheery 'welcome'? haha, this would be interesting!) and arranged a car share for me to get to the aid station itself.

San Francisco Port

Dave & me on the Golden Gate Bridge

All I had to do now was get to America. And that was simple, as I found a direct flight to San Francisco from Manchester, my friend Dave offered me a bed for a few nights in Berkeley, and I booked a hire car to head east for the race. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't panicking beforehand, but as it turned out the flight was straightforward, and my few days touristing in the San Francisco area were absolutely fantastic. Dave and Mary were brilliant hosts, and I absolutely adored exploring the city. For my first ever American place to visit, I didn't pick too badly. 

Thursday morning startline set-up at Squaw

I left them and drove to Truckee on the Wednesday before the race (the scenery was outstanding on the drive, which helped take my mind off the sheer terror of driving on the wrong side of the road, haha), and headed to Squaw Valley on the Thursday to meet Allyson and get my bearings. Parking up in the Olympic Village, I audibly gasped at the beauty of the scene, posted on Facebook how I wanted to cry, then headed round the corner to find the start area. I've seen photos of the arch many times, but seeing it up close, was immense. Met a few of the team inside, and was blown away by how welcoming everyone was - and how utterly amazed they were that anyone would travel from the UK simply to volunteer here. WHAT?! I'd have given my left arm to do this years ago. It was costing me a lot of money, but every single penny (cent) was worth it.

Pens & programmes. Heaven. ;)

Friday morning, I headed back early, and met the rest of the team I would be working with at registration, including the super-friendly and organised regulars like Cheri who headed the team, Gloria (I asked her how many times she'd done the race - apparently with a race like WSER, the question is regularly split into 'how many times have you ran it, and how many of those have you finished?'), and Leigh who I was standing alongside and spent most of the time chatting to between runners.  I was also introduced to Craig, the Race Director, who was just as bemused as anyone else that someone might want to travel this far to volunteer, haha. We were in the second room, the 'goody bags' section - every runner registered then headed through to our area, walked around the tables being handed their race goodies. Tshirt, socks, gaiters, hat, clif bars, pen, magazine and programme... The next 5 hours or so flew by. I was starstruck to be face to face with so many runners I only knew about from reading internet race coverage, or listening to podcasts, and everyone was so lovely. Talking to runners who regularly stand on big podiums, I was loving it. I even got a photo with Jim Walmsley, which I would never have dared ask for (to be fair, had I had the nerve I would have asked for photos with around 30 or 40 of the runners who had passed by my table!) but Leigh stepped up. :-)  Leigh had been great company as my table-mate during the whole morning, and as an experienced WS volunteer it was good to have someone to field the small handful of questions I couldn't answer to. (Mostly 'where do drop bags go', and 'what time do I need to be here tomorrow' type things.... I should have done my homework!! Schoolgirl error.)



Jim 'n' me

We closed up, and started the big tidy up of the room, packing stuff away, removing rubbish, folding up tables, etc. I'd had such a fantastic time, felt like I'd been part of the team, and I couldn't keep the smile off my face. Time for farewells, then back to my hotel in Truckee, via food shopping for the next day. Despite being far from home, I'd clicked easily into 'ultra weekend volunteer' mode, prepping my bag for being at an aid station all day, re-reading the event programme, learning the distances to the next aid points, setting out water bottles for filling in the morning, charging everything, and being basically as ready as I could for what lay ahead.  Same as any ultra weekend, only different. Dusty Corners is 'only' 38 miles in (100 mile race, so 38 counts as 'only', haha) so I knew we wouldn't have the same issues that I see when volunteering at Kinlochleven (81 miles) during the West Highland Way Race, but with weather and altitude, and pretty brisk cut-offs, anything could happen. My alarm clock was set for 3:30am, and I went to bed...

Zach, during checkpoint setup

By 4am the next morning, I was in the car, heading towards Foresthill on the interstate, for a 5:15-ish rendezvous with Zach and Annie, who were kindly car pooling with me. We met at Starbucks, and I automatically went in for a quick hug (it's my ultramarathon default, haha), to which a still-sleepy Zach surprisingly replied 'oh, we're doing that are we?' - lol!  We went in for coffee, and a chat, before heading off on the 90-ish minute drive to Dusty Corners.  It was a good drive, great company, with plenty of chat and questions both ways. Zach wanted to ask about fell running, the types of races we get in the UK where you just have to throw yourself up and down a hill as fast as possible, picking your own route through the undergrowth and descending like a lunatic. I, of course, spoke with complete authority about a type of race I've never been at...  (I've read the brilliant 'Feet in the Clouds', so that counts, right?)

Soon enough, we got to the checkpoint and I met some of the other volunteers, and Doug, who's in charge. I can't reiterate enough how friendly people were, and how stunned everyone continued to be that I would fly from the UK just to be a volunteer at the race.  People would take me aside and ask 'did you really only come from Scotland for Western States?' - I started to admit it had been prompted by my midlife crisis on turning 40, which seemed to make a lot more sense to everyone!

Doug runs a tight ship and set-up absolutely flew by; I was soon busy helping put up gazebo tents and tables. Volunteers kept turning up....! I mean, I'd known beforehand that Western States has around 1500 volunteers, but I hadn't really broken that down into aid stations, in my mind, so a crew of more than 50 people for just one checkpoint blew me away. Everyone was allocated jobs, and we split into our teams. With Jim Walmsley publicly stating he was going for a massive CR, we knew we needed to be ready promptly, but with so many hands, we were ready in no time at all. Doug gave a briefing, and presented a 'friend of WS' award to Martha, a volunteer who'd given a lot to the race, similar to Cheri doing the same at runner check-in early the day before, which was really touching.

 

Calm before the storm. :) We're taking shade in the gazebo on the left, I'm sat on the right in the pic.
Photo courtesy Doug White.

My role would be 'greeter' - one of a team of about 6, we would meet a runner arriving into the checkpoint, find out if they needed anything, and dash off to fill their bottles or bladders, guide them to other volunteers who would provide ice for sleeves and bandanas etc, others who would offer food and drinks, others who would provide sunscreen or sponge ice cold water over them, before they headed off to the next point.  Having the experience I've had with numerous Scottish ultras, I won't lie that it felt weird as hell to say to runners "it's 5.3 miles to the next aid station" (Five? no wonder American runners can sometimes struggle in European races...), or even just "welcome to Dusty Corners, what can I getcha?"

 

 

Paul Giblin, plus 5 volunteers:)

The sun was beating down, so we took shelter under a gazebo and chatted for a while, until before long we got the word that Jim was on his way. Sure enough, he flew down the hill into the aid station, amid a flurry of his runner crew, film crew, and race team, interest. Then, a wait to the next runner. We didn't really need to do much for the first few - many had their own crews, their own nutrition, and so on. I was nervously watching out for Paul Giblin, who I hoped would be comfortably uncomfortable (Scotsmen don't do well in 100 degree temps, lol, but Paul trains hard and works harder) somewhere near the top 10. He arrived in, I think, 11th, but in a fairly close group, and smiling. Was really good to give him words of encouragement, help with ice and refills, and set him on his way.



YiOu Wang, leading female,
accompanied by Greeter :)
(Watched over by Doug)

Over the new couple of hours, I helped a handful of runners through. Because of how many people volunteer, there can be a fair bit of standing around sometimes, but in the times when a number of runners arrived together, it got a wee bit more frenetic. We worked as a team of individuals, if that makes sense; it just seemed to work.  I wasn't sure that I was adding much value to the team, but I was loving it - even if it was stupidly hot, my hayfever had fought the antihistamines and my eye painfully itched and watered constantly, and Dusty Corners is named as such for a reason! I learned a lot about running in crazy hot temperatures, and altitude. In my photo here of YiOu, you'll see she's wearing arm bands - this is because runners loaded them up with ice at each aid station. I learned a lot about why and when, and talked to as many experienced runners manning the aid station as I could. You don't get the same challenges in Scottish ultras, that's for sure... 



The checkpoint buffet. Car-mate volunteer Annie is

centre pic in blue shorts, helping the runner.

As time went by, we all realised that there was a fair bit of carnage through the field this year. Regulars were pointing out people who would normally be under 24 hour pace, but were significantly behind that pace today, and we were hearing how bad the slick mud had been after the snowline, due to all the late melting snow. Quads were getting trashed out there, and they were having to 'recover' from the snow and mud by running in 100º temps. People were dropping out, or being caught by cut-offs at the earlier station. It lead for a busy last hour or two, as slower runners still within cut-offs were coming through in groups - but we kept everyone moving. One guy arrived and told me was thinking of dropping out, he was dehydrated and struggling. Looking back, I can see that I went into my 'ultra marshal' mode - using my knowledge and experience, as well as supporting him, grabbing fluids, adding salt, assessing how much he'd been peeing (yes, really, lol.... blame Dr Ellis from WHW Race). Sadly, after 15 minutes or so, he decided to call it a day. Cut-offs were close, he knew he didn't have the strength, and would be marching out 60+ miles against the clock. We spoke, and I offered counterpoints, encouragement, comfort, but also agreement. "Today's not the day for heroics." I said. I felt gutted for him, as I hurriedly headed into the crowd to arrange a car ride for a him to a later aid station where his wife would be.

I don't think it was until that point, close on to the end of the time at the checkpoint, where I really felt part of the race team. Until then, I guess I'd kind of felt like I was on holiday, helping out at an awesome event. But no, I WAS a Western States Volunteer. 

Click to expand. Full Dusty Corners team photo courtesy Doug White.

As the sweepers arrived, and the cut-off klaxons went, all 50+ of us went into action dismantling the aid station. Gazebos going down, tables being folded away, cones being collected in, and so on.... As with any ultra, in any country, you want to leave it as if you were never there: we're representing the race, and respecting the trail and local communities. Just puddles of melting ice to give us away. 'Take only photographs, leave only footprints.'  As we drove away, Zach and I tried to get any signal on our phones to find out what was happening up at the pointy end of the race to decide whether to head straight to the finish line. Despite being exhausted, filthy, and starving, we all wanted to see Jim smash the CR. Of course, we eventually got a signal, and found that Jim had dropped. Zach and Annie decided to head home, so dropped me at my car and we said our goodbyes. It was brilliant to meet two genuinely friendly and interesting runners - thank you so much for giving me the ride, and your company on the journey!

9th Male, Paul, gets a hug
from his Mum.

I sat in the car for a bit, and tried to do the maths on when the race might be won, and when Paul might finish. I decided (probably unwisely) not to drive the 1hour back to my hotel, but instead washed up and got some food and well-needed caffeine at Starbucks, then drove to Auburn, to the finish line. After walking around and looking at the stalls etc I found an almost-sheltered part of the track, and sat down for a couple of hours to wait. Ryan Sandes arrived soon after, to mark a brilliant win, then a couple more hours watching amazing athletes finishing, to Paul finishing in a fantastic and well-fought-for 9th place. So pleased for him - he'd had an incredibly tough day, but he got that coveted top 10 place. I slunk away to my car, and headed back to Truckee, exhausted but happy.

Note: Turns out 'exhausted' is NOT the most fun way to drive for an hour on the interstate in a country you're not used to driving on the wrong side of the road, by the way......... :-)

ANYWAY. I got a wash, sleep, shower, breakfast, got caught up online with the results of the 96 mile West Highland Way race back in Scotland (an outstanding course record!), then drove back to Auburn for the presentation. I got there in time to see the last 2 runners cross the line within the 30hr race cut-off - the last of which only had 8 seconds to spare. You can't but well up with emotion - having to find a near-sprint finish on the track after 30 hours out in insane conditions on a brutal course, is not only impressive, but incredibly inspiring. I made myself some promises that day. Met up with Paul and his family at the prizegiving and was thrilled to be up close and personal with the famous belt buckles! Proud of Paul, and amazed at the achievements of all the runners out there this weekend. It was something special.

There's so much more I could say about my trip, about the place, and about the race - but I've already written way too much.  I'd intended for this to be a one-off trip of a lifetime, but I discovered while I was there that I wouldn't be satisfied with that. I want more. So, when 2017 draws to a close I will be reviewing my budgets and deciding whether or not to come back for a second year, in 2018.  I already have a sneaking suspicion I know what the answer will be.... and Doug has already told me I'm part of the Dusty Corners team now. How could I let him down?