Silver State 50: Still evolving after all these years

By John Trent

Back in 1986, the idea seemed perfect to local ultramarathon enthusiasts like Roland Martin: Why not use northern Nevada’s abundant trail attributes for a taxing endurance run?

For years, as participation in ultramarathons had grown, northern Nevada ultra runners – particularly those who were entered in the granddaddy of them all, the Western States 100-mile Endurance Run – found themselves living out of their cars each weekend.

To find good ultras, these runners had to drive over Donner Summit each weekend in the spring to northern California locales such as Auburn, Gibson Ranch or the Marin Headlands for trail races.

Why, thought Martin, one of the true ultra pioneers of the area, couldn’t northern Nevada host a similar event? At least for one weekend, local ultra runners could sleep in before racing. Plus, the long, cardio-wrenching climbs and tricky descents of the area seemed to be the perfect training ground for ultra runners.

So why not hold a 50- or 50-kilometer trail event in northern Nevada?

Thus, the Silver State 50/50 Endurance Run was born.

On May 17, the Silver State 50/50 will celebrate its 22 nd running. This year’s race will feature a new start/finish area, as well as a new course.

Although it isn’t a person, the race is deserving of some recognition, and for that reason we have chosen this enduring endurance run as the Silvers State Striders’ Strider of the Month feature.

What makes Silver State special?

Start with the course.

“I think the 50/50 is probably the best training run for someone doing Western States,” says Tim Twietmeyer, of Auburn, Calif., a five-time Western States champion who has run Silver State six times over the years, including, he notes with a wry chuckle, the “Ice Station Zebra year” (1998) when it was snowing over the Microwave. “It starts with a good, long climb at altitude, like Western States and has some tough walking sections, like the switchbacks on the old course, and some good pounding downhills, which helps simulate what it’s like at the midpoint of Western States.

“It’s nice if you can get through the 50/50 without being totally spent, as that gives you an idea of what you might feel like at the top of Devil’s Thumb at Western States.”

As Twietmeyer says, there are few 50-milers in the country as challenging as Silver State . Even with the new course, which will generally keep runners on the north side of Interstate 80 and not take them into the Mount Rose Wilderness due to last summer’s Hawken Fire, the climbing and descending is notable.

Race director Stan Ostrom says this year’s race will still feature 9,200 feet of ascending and 9,200 feet of descending, not far off the old course’s figures of 10,000 feet of ascent/descent.

“The course will be about the same in terms of difficulty,” Ostrom says. “We lose the long (about seven miles, plus the four steep shortcuts that Twietmeyer mentioned) climb to the Microwave buildings, but that’s offset in terms of difficulty by the 13-mile climb that we will have at the beginning of the new course from the new start at Rancho San Rafael Park to the aid station at the top of Peavine.

“This is good news for the runners, since it is all runable versus the steep walking on the old course.”

Then Ostrom adds, in the type of “if it doesn’t kill you, it’s good for you” humor that has characterized the race since its inception, “Of course the bad news is, it is all runable if one has the leg/endurance to do so and they don’t trash themselves in the first 13 miles of the race.”

Ostrom says he is confident that the race will continue to attract the cross-section of competitors that have characterized the race since 1986 – a combination of Western States-bound entrants as well as high-quality runners simply gunning for a 50-mile or 50K challenge, to middle-of-the-packers looking to finish a tough ultra to first-time competitors looking to find out what the sport is all about.

First-timers will get a unique opportunity this year, as the race will also offer a trail half-marathon, which is part of a local fledgling trail points series that will include premium events such as the Kokanee Salmon half-marathon in October.

“This year the 13-mile climb at the beginning with about 60 percent of the climb on single track trail, with a six-mile climb from the Highway 40 aid station to Peavine at mile 30, will be a real challenge and butt-kicker,” Ostrom says. “But then it will be nothing but fun coming back to Rancho San Rafael via a different route with about 80 percent of it on single track trail. There should be plenty of variety for all the runners entered.”

Although Twietmeyer says he will miss the challenge of climbing to the Microwave and then having to slip and slide through several miles of snow in the high country before descending to the old finish near the Caughlin Club – “The old finish at the Caughlin Club was the BEST finish line in ultrarunning with its pool and great showers,” he says – there is one thing he won’t miss.

“In a previous life, I loved the final downhill,” Twietmeyer says of the old finish, which would take runners during the final four or five miles over broken-field running of rocks, steep descents and tricky footing.  It was so tricky, in fact, that it was not uncommon to see runners finishing with cuts and abrasions all over their bodies. They had usually covered the first 45 or so miles with no incidents, but then had taken a head-over-heels tumble during the final downhill. “Now that I’m almost 30 years into ultrarunning, that downhill gets a bit old after about 30 minutes,” Twietmeyer says. “Part of it is that, at that point, you’re tired, at altitude, and you just want to get done. I will say this: it was a good pounder for getting the legs galvanized for Western States.”

The alumni of the 50/50 reads like a who’s who of ultrarunning.

Local standout Sean Crom owned both the 50-mile and 50K courses, and was known to make the final downhill stretch, even with the difficulty, at less than six-minute-per-mile pace. Western States’ legendary women’s champion Ann Trason owns the 50-mile record (a remarkable 7-hour, 29-minute mark) while her husband, the equally gifted Carl Anderson , holds the men’s 50-mile course standard at 6:52.

In addition to Crom, in the 1990s a two-time winner of the Ted Corbitt Award, given annually to the nation’s top ultarunner, local standouts who have mastered Western States include Jenny Capel, the defending champion of the prestigious American River 50-miler and past winner of the Tahoe Rim Trail 50-mile, as well as Fred Zalokar, who in his late 40s continues to battle it out with younger runners for the title of Silver State’s top 50K runner.

Silver State has also served as the coming-out party for young runners with outstanding ability. Last year’s women’s race featured a good duel between Capel and 22-year-old Rory Bosio of Tahoe City, Calif. Bosio prevailed in the 50K by a minute.

All in all, it’s been quite a 22 years for Silver State .

“Some of my best memories of ultrarunning,” Twietmeyer says, “revolve around the 50/50. It was great to run a really hard course, get a quick shower, then a massage, and then sit on the lawn and watch friends finish. “