 When you're watching this, I'm literally on an airplane to Reno, Nevada to hop over to Squaw Valley to film this for all of you. I cannot wait. I hope that helps you get a little bit of a better grasp. And it's about to go down, ladies and gentlemen, the western states 100 mile race from Squaw Valley, California to Auburn, California. That's right. It's basically the most prestigious 100 mile race in the country in the United States. And if you're new, I don't often say this, but I'm just going to invite you to hit the subscribe button because if you're here and you're intrigued or interested in learning more about this race, the western states 100, you're going to want to stay tuned in. Hit the subscribe button. We're planning to publish five, six, maybe seven videos over the next four or five days, breaking down all that's going to happen in Squaw Valley from Squaw Valley to Auburn. And yes, right now we're going to dive into the elite women and men break down these top fast, gritty, hard working runners, ultra runners, I should say, from all across the country and around the world will go through the top 10. And then also I'm going to pick out a few dark courses that might not be considered in the top 10. And just so you know, if you've never watched the western states 100, it's really that top 10 placing that gets the recognition at the end of the day. So the men and the women, they know that on the starting line, you want to finish in the top 10 because those are the folks that really are recognized at the awards ceremony afterward. Okay, so I've got a bunch of notes on my computer right here. And so let's, I might actually even just hold it right here for a second. All right, let's start with the women first. Here we go. Last year's champion is returning. That's right. It's the one and only Courtney DeWalter. You see her on your screen right now. She was at the dirty 3050K. She's from Golden, Colorado. So she's not too far from where I live. She was cheering on her husband at the dirty 3050K. So I caught some footage of her cheering. She's basically the favorite going into this 2019 iteration of the western states 100. So you've got Courtney DeWalter, Caitlin Gerbin from Washington, Lucy Bartholomew from Australia. I would say, watch out for Lucy. Okay, I'll come back to her in a second. Amanda Basham from North Logan, Utah. Cecilia Flory from New Zealand. Camelia Mayfield from Oregon. Eliza Lapierre from Vermont. Corrine Malcolm from California. Canapa Morges. Morges, sorry about the names from Italy. Claire Gallagher, very, very well known ultra runner in the United States from Boulder, Colorado. And then Camille Herron from War Acres, Oklahoma. Just a couple of the names Casey Lichtig from Omaha, Nebraska. She's an ultra runner from Omaha. I love that. She was the 2017 western states 100 champion. So she knows what it takes to win on this course. All right. And then Yu Wang, who I watched race at Lake Sonoma a couple of years ago. Lake Sonoma, 50 miler. Keep an eye out for her who is, she's also, she's from San Anselmo, California. Okay. So Courtney DeWalter, the favorite. She's 34 years old, lives in Golden Colorado. I'll just put it this way, everybody. I cannot wait to watch her run in person. Okay. I've seen, if you just type her name into YouTube, there's many videos, many documentaries out there about Courtney. She goes out, guy, like guy, if you're not an ultra runner, turn your ears on. Okay. There's, there's 100 mile races and then there's 200 mile races and 240 mile races. Courtney does those races, those 200 mile plus races. And guess what? She wins them outright, meaning she beats all the men. Okay. She is, well, how else to say it? She's a badass. She's amazing. And so that's Courtney. Okay. Moving on. Let's see what else I just want to make sure. Okay. Lucy, excuse me. Lucy Bartholomew is young. She's 23. She's from Australia. She's, I think she, she ran her first ultra race as a 15 year old with her dad. So I think that's pretty neat. She races quite a bit and is very successful. She runs for Solomon. So does Courtney. Okay. So that's kind of interesting. Courtney and Lucy both run for Solomon. What else about Lucy? She's got blonde hair. So I will, you'll be able to see her in the videos once I get out to California. She's got like bright blonde hair, Lucy Bartholomew. Okay. And then I want to mention one other name, this Camille Heron. So I believe she's 37. Okay. So maybe on the older end of the scale, as far as the racers, she holds the world record for 50 miles, 12 hours, meaning how far can you run in 12 hours, 100 mile, and then 24 hours. Okay. But so what does that mean? And she also has a 237 marathon time to her name. 237. That is impressive. I believe she ran in the Olympic trials last go round, or maybe it was in 2012 for London. But she, okay, she's fast. She's very fast. But just so you know, if you're not familiar with ultra running, speed doesn't always translate to ultra running and specifically ultra running with elevation gain, which don't quote me. I should know this. I think the Western States course has, I want to say between I think it's like 16,000 feet of elevation gain, maybe 20. I don't think it's more than 20. I think it's around. So it's definitely not flat. You know, you're gaining and losing elevation. So I'm not sure if Camille's leg speed is going to translate, but I'm fascinated to see Courtney and Camille duke it out. In fact, a lot of people in the ultra running world have been waiting for this battle to go down. So it's going to be amazing. Okay. Moving on to the men. And I might come back to the ladies here in a second and mention one other. We'll see. But the men moving on. Here we go. Jim Walmsley, last year's champion, current course record holder for the men, 1430 last year, 14 hours and 30 minutes and four seconds for a hundred miles. Okay. That's pretty amazing. That's Jim Walmsley. He's out of Flagstaff, Arizona. Once again, I've never seen, no, okay. I take that back out. I raced him at Lake Sonoma. I forgot about that. I raced him. So I've seen him run in person. It's very impressive. I can't wait to watch it again. Watch his, just his, his form, his leg speed. It's incredible. Okay. All right. Moving on. Mark Hammond from Mill Creek, Utah, who I also raced last year at the Run Rabbit Run 100 Ian Charmin of Bend, Oregon. He's a coach. This is his, I think this is his 10th Western States 100 mile race. Jeff Browning. I love Jeff. He's 47. And last year, he was third at the Run Rabbit Run 100. He was top 10. Was he third last year at, I should know that, at Western States? And then I think he was third at Hard Rock 100. He's 47. Last year, I guess he would have been 46. I'm going to put him also in the best category. All right. Jeff Browning, Kyle Piatari of Edgewater, Colorado, who I've raced as well, Charlie Ware of Tucson, Arizona, Paul Ghiblin of Great Britain, Chris Brown of Santa Barbara, California, Tom Evans of Heathfield, Great Britain. And then I'm just going to mention one other Jordy Gabiota boss from Spain. Okay. Jumping back up real quick to Tom Evans. He kind of took the ultra running world seen by storm in 2018 with some really key victories. I believe he won the CCC race over in Chamonix, France. I believe it was CCC. And I predict a top five finish for Tom Evans out of Great Britain. And then moving on, just a couple other names to mention. Oh my goodness, there's so many. I'll mention Jared Hazen, 24. I expect good things out of Jared. Steven Kersh, you see him on your screen right now. I actually, well, anyway, he, I actually ended up beating him in this race because he took a wrong turn. But anyway, I raced him at this 50k under armor. This is his first 100 mile race. Steven Kersh also had a flag staff. I predict, although it's his first 100 mile race, so I'm not sure, you know, that's always, rookies, you never know what's going to happen for rookies in a 100 mile race. But Steven Kersh and then, okay, I'm going to mention, okay, two more names on the men's side. Here we go. Matt Daniels, he's out of Boulder, Colorado. So, you know, he's here in Boulder or near, near where I live. Matt Daniels is from what I've read. He's the first ever sub four minute miler to tow the line at the Western States 100 mile race, meaning he's run under four minutes for one mile. And I think he did it in college. I'm not, he ran for Adam State, the division two powerhouse in Alamosa, Colorado. That's him. This is, okay. So Jim Wamsley is kind of in another league of his own. I'm just going to say, in my opinion, Jim is the best ultra runner in the United States. I'm not going to, he's not, I'm not, I would not, I'd put him in top five for sure in the world, Jim Wamsley, but he's definitely the best in the United States, in my opinion. But then you got Matt Daniels. Now listen, he does not have as much experience at this distance. He's got a lot of learning curve ahead of him, but leg speed, I think if there's anybody out there who could maybe, maybe give Jim a run for his money, if Matt has a good day for some reason, and I'm telling you, sub four minute speed, and if he's got the endurance, watch out for Matt Daniels. I'm just putting it out there right now. Okay. One other name. Okay. Maybe two. Eric Senceman, also a coca-cina cowboy, along with Jared and Jim, and it's this group of runners that trains and flagstaff, they call themselves the coca-cina cowboys. And then one more, Chris Mako out of Boulder as well. I've raced Chris two or three times. He's beat me every time, but I'm, Mako, I'm coming for you. He's got a YouTube channel, the Mako show. So I hope Mako has a great race. He's been working really, really hard. I can see it on his YouTube videos, but also on Strava. So I'm really hoping it comes together from Mako out there at Western States 100. Okay. Oh, one more. Oh gosh. I'm getting in trouble. Okay. Ryan Sands out of South Africa, Cape Town, South Africa. And then Brian Condon also out of Boulder, who remember I did this crazy epic finish and I crashed and burned at the dirty 30, 50 K last year. That was Brian Condon. So I'm going to be cheering on Brian out at Western States. I can't believe he's racing. That's so exciting. Okay. I'm going to stop there. Stop there. Question of the day. Give me your picks. Who's going to win on the men's side and the women's side? If you want to throw out time predictions, that would be great as well. And then champions, men and women. All right. And then dark horses. Who are your dark horses out there? Who might come out of the woodwork and pull off a victory at the 2019 Western States 100? We're going with a number. That's right. 100 for the key word, key number for this video. Thanks for hitting it up down below. I can't believe it's about to go down Saturday, June 29th, 5am. Thanks for hitting up the question of the day. When you're watching this, I'm literally on an airplane to Reno, Nevada to hop over to Squaw Valley to film this for all of you. I cannot wait. I hope that helps you get a little bit of a better grasp of what's going on. And I listen. It's not, I know it's not the New York city marathon or the London marathon or whatever, but like it's becoming more and more of a big deal. Just so you know, the ultra running scene and this race is basically the top of the mountain when it comes to ultra running in the United States. So it's, it's, it's frankly a big deal. It's turning into a more and more big deal. All right. Thank you for watching. That's it. See beauty, work hard and love each other. See you in Squaw. See you in Squaw.