Dear ,

Race week is here! This is your final runner update email. Any other last minute information will be disseminated at the pre-race briefing on Friday At Olympic Valley.

Thursday and Friday Activities at Olympic Valley

Activities in Olympic Valley will begin on Thursday. Hike or ride the tram for the Flag Raising ceremony at noon at High Camp. We will say a few words about WS runners and volunteers who we've lost in the past two years then ceremoniously being the race weekend with some inspiring words.

If you wish to take one of the trams up to High Camp for the Flag Raising there will be two trams: 10:00am and 10:15 am. The ride will be free, but space is limited.

The Thursday afternoon clinics have been finalized and, like the Flag Raising ceremony, are open to everybody. These will be held in the Squaw Valley Convention Center and also streamed on our youtube channel.

  • 2:30 p.m. CREWING A WESTERN STATES RUNNER – (Asst RD Bill Hambrick and Lon Monroe)
  • 3:45 p.m. Ultrarunning Research and Performance – (Emily Krause, MD and Megan Roche, MD) ~ Dr. Krause will talk about the current study: bone stress injuries in ultra runners. Dr. Roche will speak about performance issues and how research has helped with this in ultra running.
  • 5:00 p.m. The Trail Sisters (Camille Herron, Kelly Teeselink, Abby Hall, Mireya Vargas, Magda Boulet, Kara Teklinski, Audrey Tanguy) ~ The Women of WSER presented by Trail Sisters is a panel q&a composed of seven runners with diverse backgrounds and experiences. These women are invited to share their unique thoughts on both the race and current events within the sport. This event is hosted by Trail Sisters founder Gina Lucrezi.

A note about masks at Olympic Valley: Masks will be required if you are riding the tram. Masks will not be required indoors or outdoors at Olympic Valley if you are vaccinated. The resort and WSER recommend that unvaccinated folks should wear one indoors.

Everybody must check-in on Friday between 9:00 a.m. until 1:00 p.m.. This is where you will get your swag, sign some waivers, have your picture taken for the webcast, and get a wristband. On Saturday morning, between 4:00 a.m. and 4:50 a.m., you must pick up your bib number. There will be a b-tag chip attached to your bib number so please don't fold it. If for whatever reason you decide not to run but have picked up your bib and chips, please report back to a manager at the start so we know you didn't start and are not lost.

Finally the mandatory pre-race briefing is at 2 p.m. outside near the Members Locker Room. Bring a chair. We'll try to keep this under an hour so you can go back to your room and relax.

Trail Conditions

Our trail crews were out working hard on the remaining trail issues this past weekend. With no snow or mud, the course is in great shape. The creeks and rivers are still flowing so there are many opportunities to douse yourself. If the weather is warm I suggest you try to stay as wet as possible.

How can friends and family follow your progress?

Your arrival time at every aid station will be recorded. As most of our aid stations do not have cell coverage your arrival times will be transmitted via ham radio and entered into our tracking database. Our volunteers do an amazing job, but please know that there could be delays. This is the URL to share with them.


New this year we also have a Western States Endurance Run mobile app that is available on both IOS and Android.

Also new this year will be continuous live broadcast for the duration of the event. The webcast will be streamed live on our Youtube channel beginning at 4:30 am Saturday until the end of the golden hour at 11:00 am Sunday:


2021 Race Program

Hard copies of the 2021 Race Program will be available in Olympic Valley. If you can't wait to read the hard copy, you can read the electronic version by clicking on the image below.


The last thing I wish to share is a link to our annual on-line survey. This data has been collected for several years and has been very interesting. Please take the time to complete it now.

Safe travels and we'll see you up at Olympic Valley.

Craig Thornley
Race Director