400 compete in endurance run

Western States Endurance Run participants are severely tested by running through a series of elevation changes and by how their bodies adversely react to being pushed 100 miles.

For the 400 entrants in Saturday's annual race from Squaw Valley to Auburn, there was another foreboding obstacle to overcome: intense heat. Temperatures climbed over the century mark, forcing the ultra runners to be on top of their hydration levels.

The tough conditions didn't slow Hal Koerner, 33, of Ashland, Ore., who won the Western States 100 for the second straight time, finishing in 16 hours, 24 minutes, 55 seconds. Koerner's winning time was well off the Scott Jurek's record of 15:36:27.

Runner-up Tsuyoshi Kaburagi, 40, of Takasaki, Japan, was timed in 16:52:06. Anita Ortiz, 45, was the top woman at 18:24:17, and she placed ninth overall. Ortiz was less than 50 minutes off Ann Trason's women's record time of 17:37:51.

Jurek, a seven-time winner from Seattle, dropped out 47.8 miles into the race. Jurek, who won the event from 1999-2005, was nearly halfway the course in 7 hours, 56 minutes.

Jurek had plenty of company in the did-not-finish department. Gordy Ansleigh, the first human in 1974 to complete the course originally set up for horses in the Tevis Cup, and Ken "Cowman" Shirk, the second runner to finish the course, dropped out early in the race as temperatures climbed above 100 degrees in the canyons.

In all, 159 entrants dropped out of the race and 46 runners who had been registered for the event didn't make it to the start line. There were 241 finishers.

"(The) Canyons reached high 90s to low 100s on Saturday. Most drops were due to nausea/vomiting and blisters," said Greg Soderlund, race director for the Western States 100, in an e-mail to the Tribune on Monday afternoon.

Soderlund indicated that the 159 DNFs didn't set a record. In 1995, 173 runners didn't complete the race after one of the most bountiful winters in history forced participants to run in the snow for the first 24 miles before they dealt with triple-digit temperatures in the canyons.

Truckee's Kathy D'Onofrio-Wood added another completed race to her resume, finishing 187th in 29:06:22. D'Onofrio-Wood won the women's division in 1986 and 1988 and was the last women's winner before Trason reeled off 10 consecutive titles from 1989-1998.

Reno's Mark Winkelman was the last competitor to earn a silver belt buckle, finishing 72nd in 23:53:27. Participants were awarded a silver buckle for completing the run in under 24 hours. Competitors completing the task in under 30 hours received a bronze buckle.

Two former stars of the Lake Tahoe Marathon were among the finishers. Kevin Sawchuk of Alamo, Calif., earned a silver buckle with his 57th-place time of 23:24:55. Sawchuck won the Lake Tahoe Marathon in 1998 and 1999. Sean Meissner of Sisters, Ore., settled for the bronze buckle as he finished 76th in 24:44:13. Meissner won the LTM's Tahoe Triple from 2001-2004, then the Lake Tahoe Ultra in 2006.

Other area results included Dan Rus of Placerville placing 91st in 26:07:13, Reno's Claire Gilles finishing 186th in 29:06:01 and Placerville's Steve Klang just made the final cutoff, finishing in 29:39:38.