Vancouver’s Ellie Greenwood smashes Western States 100 mile speed record

June 28 Update: Ellie has just posted a race report on iRunFar which can be read here. She has also added some photos from here race on her blog here.

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The Western States Endurance Run is the granddaddy of 100 milers and a runner from Vancouver not only claimed its top spot yesterday for the second year in a row, but also smashed the race’s 18-year-old course record.

Ellie Greenwood, who now resides in Vancouver, BC, completed the race in a time of 16:47:19, 50 minutes faster that the previous course record of 17:37:51, which was set in 1994 by Ann Trason (who has won the race fourteen times!). This latest feat continues a trend of sucesses for Ellie, who set a course record at the Chuckanut 50k in March, and came in second at the prestigous Comrades Marathon just three weeks ago.

Ellie trailed 100 kilometer and 24-hour world record holder Lizzy Hawker for the first 40 miles before passing her around the famous Devils Thumb at mile 47.

Uncharacteristically cool and wet weather likely contributed to Ellie’s fast time. The men’s and master’s course records were also broken this year, by Timothy Olsen and Dave Mackay respectively. iRunFar does a good job recapping the day’s events here.

Ellie Greenwood 2012 Western States 100 Champ Interview

Ellie Greenwood Pre-2012 Western States 100 Inteview:

Ellie Greenwood 2012 Western States 100 Finish Line Interview:

Final results here.