As I’m writing this, some of the runners have not yet finished the race (it can be checked live thanks to ultralive.net).

I have been following the race during the night and checking the progress of our local legend Tòfol Castanyer, born and raised in Mallorca (Balearic Islands).

It was a bit of a bummer to see him cross the line at the 11th place, which means that he is not automatically qualified for the next edition just by just one place. But I am incredibly proud (and as an amateur runner, also amazed) to see him finishing among the best in the world in one of the most iconic ultra races.

Tòfol Castanyer crossing the finish line. Photo published by @iRunFar on Twitter.

Edit: while the present article takes a graphic approach in showing how the race evolved, @iRunFar has just published an article describing the race in “text mode”. Both articles complement each other very well. They also dedicate some nice words to Tòfol Castanyer:

“Particularly heartbreaking has to be Castanyer’s finish in 11th after a 12th last year, just outside the men’s top 10.” / “Tòfol Castanyer ran with heart [a word play that makes reference to the holes of his t-shirt in the picture]”.

Men’s race: top 10 finishers only

This is how it went, the data shows that Ryan Sandes was first the entire race if we only take into account the 10th first men to cross the finish line (more on that later).

(click on the image to zoom it)

X-axis: number of miles / Y-axis: time diff between the leader (Ryan Sandes) and the other runners.

The image shows how far back from Sandes all the other runners were during the entire race. 2h at the end might seem like a lot, but remember: we are talking about 161km. 3.8 marathons in a row, with a total of 5500m uphill.

It’s interesting to see how Sandes pushed harder between miles 47.8 to 52.9 (the steepest descent), and lowered the rhythm a bit during the next few miles.

Kudos to Kyle Pietari (10th) who really deserved it. He really went for it: in this video he can be seen vomiting after crossing the finish line, ugh.

Men’s race: top 10 at every station

The other graph showed only the top 10 finishers, but the following graph makes a better job in showing the big picture of the race, with Jim Wamsley leading the race until mile 70 and dropping off the race some miles later.

The graph shows all the runners that arrived among the top 10 at any of the checkpoints.

(click on the image to zoom it)

X-axis: number of miles / Y-axis: time diff between the leader (Ryan Sandes) and the other runners. Dashed lines for all men out of top 10 finishers.

Women’s race: top 10 finishers only

Cat Bradley (1st female, 15th overall) did not take the lead until after mile 50. It was a tight fight between her and Magdalena Boulet during the whole race. The graph shows only the evolution of the 10 first female finishers.

(click on the image to zoom it)

X-axis: number of miles / Y-axis: time diff between the leader (Cat Bradley) and the other runners. Some time diffs are negative before her taking the lead after mile 50.

It worth noting that Cat Bradley is only 25 years old, and that she was virtually unknown up until the end of this race.

Women’s race: top 10 at every station

Now time to see the bigger picture in the women’s race.

The graph shows Yiou Wang leading from miles 40 to 60+, and then dropping off the race some miles later. It also shows Clare Gallagher abandoning at mile 90 while still being 4th.

One can also see Sarah Keyes drifting away from the front pack at mile 60, but not giving up before crossing the finish line 9h+ after Cat Bradley.

(click on the image to zoom it)

The race

The Western States Endurance Run is a 100-mile (161 km) ultramarathon in California. The terrain is quite rugged, frequently with snow on the ground at the high parts of the race, and hot temperatures in the low valleys near the end of the course.

Runners ascend a cumulative total of 18,090 feet (5500 m) and descend a total of 22,970 feet (7000 m) on mountain trails before reaching the finish.

Profile of the race.

This image was taken from last year‘s edition published on Strava .

*I will be updating this post as I keep crunching more numbers*