When Canada’s Ellie Greenwood scorched the Western States Endurance Run 100-mile course in 2012, she was right in the middle of her 13-year reign as one of the most dominant women’s ultrarunners in the sport’s history. Her winning time of 16:47:19 – a women’s course record – set a bar so high that many wondered who besides Greenwood herself might one day surpass it.

For 11 years, Greenwood’s record remained untouched. England’s Beth Pascall came the closest with her win in 17:10:42 in 2021 and New Zealand’s Ruth Croft was in the ballpark with her 17:21:30 victory in 2022.

Through it all, Greenwood’s mark was still comfortably safe – until the 50th edition of Western States on June 24-25, 2023 when Colorado’s Courtney Dauwalter took a wrecking ball to the record board with her head-spinning win in 15:29:33. Still, for all of the well-deserved praise and attention Dauwalter earned for her effort, she wasn’t the only runner to take down Greenwood’s historic mark at Western States. Dauwalter had company from Maine’s Katie Schide who ran with Dauwalter early and continued at course-record pace even after losing contact with Dauwalter as the race unfolded. Ultimately, both women surpassed Greenwood’s record with Dauwalter establishing the new women’s course record and Schide turning in the second-fastest time ever with her runner-up finish in 16:43:45.

In a post-race interview with iRunFar’s Meghan Hicks, Schide expressed relief and satisfaction with her performance.

“It feels like kind of a relief in some ways, but also just like, I was just proud I was able to put the pieces together at the right time,” Schide said. “I think I brought myself to the start line with the best possible preparation I could, and it, luckily, it just like, worked out well. It doesn’t always work out like that. So, I was hoping it could.”

Check out Schide’s full interview with iRunFar here.

Schide’s historic performance came on a weekend where she led a contingent of at least 13 current or recent New England residents who were on the entrants’ list for this year’s Western States. She was joined in the field of 386 entrants by Scott Traer of Woburn, Mass.; Dan Kelley of Waban, Mass; Gregory Lowe of Ipswich, Mass.; Jennifer Kenty of Medford, Mass.; Sophia Farnsworth of Stow, Mass.; Kate Cook of Marblehead, Mass.; Melissa Arnold of Framingham, Mass.; Sean Meehan of Canton, Conn.; Michael Schnepp of Orange, Conn.; Benjamin Fiandaca of Peterborough, N.H.; and former Vermont and Massachusetts resident John Fegyveresi, now of Flagstaff, Ariz.

Also included on the entrants’ list was Chris Bustard of Lebanon, N.H., who was also a longtime Massachusetts resident and member of the ultra-trail community. Bustard died in December 2022 after being struck by a car while out for a run in Florida just three weeks after having his name selected in the Western States lottery. Bustard had waited longer than any other New England applicant – eight years – to be selected for ultrarunning’s original 100-mile trail race.

Of the 386 entrants, 379 started the race and 328 ultimately finished within the 30-hour time limit. That included Jennifer St. Armand of Dexter, Minn., who was the final finisher with just 21 seconds to spare, crossing the finish line in 29:59:39.

This year’s journey from Olympic Valley, Calif., to the Placer High School track in Auburn, Calif., included plenty of snow during the first quarter of the race. While the snow enhanced the challenge of a course that is front-loaded with climbing, runners also enjoyed one of the overall cooler weather years in recent memory.

Among the runners who took advantage of the more comfortable conditions was Traer. Now living in Arizona, the Woburn native followed up his 10th-place performance in 2022 (16:35:23) with another solid day and finished 16th overall – 15th in the men’s field – in 16:40:48.

Meehan finished 127th overall in 25:29:40. Farnsworth – who was a late addition off the waitlist – finished 138th overall (27th female) in 26:10:33. Kelley finished 146th in 26:34:49. Fegyveresi placed 162nd in 27:04:56. Lowe was 183rd in 27:36:02. Kenty finished 246th in 28:43:40. Cook was the final New Englander to finish, beating the cutoff by less than five minutes in 29:55:11 for 324th overall.

Three of the New England residents who started the race did not finish. Fiandaca came close, but ran out of time and officially timed out at the 98.9-mile Robie Point checkpoint. Schnepp dropped after 62 miles and 19:15 expired. The snow took its toll on Arnold and she missed the cutoff at mile 24.4 after 8:26 expired.