Katie Schide lives in France and spends most of her time racing in Europe, but the 32-year-old native of Gardiner, Maine, returned to the U.S. for her debut performance at the 2023 Western States Endurance Run and made a major splash, breaking the long-standing course record and finishing second in the women’s race to world-class mountain runner Courtney Dauwalter.

This year, Schide returned to Western States as the women’s favorite at the 51st edition of the race on June 29-30, in Olympic Valley, Calif., and she made more history.

Schide became just the second woman to break the 16-hour mark at Western States, joining Dauwalter who won the 2023 race in 15:29:33. Schide was the runner-up that year in 16:43:45 on a day where five of the 10 fastest women’s performances ever at Western States took place in 2023. That banner year was topped in 2024 as six of the 10 best times ever were delivered by this year’s leaders.

Schide led the women’s race from wire to wire, and most of it by a comfortable margin. She handled the warm temperatures seemingly with ease, and capitalized on the dry conditions. She spent much of the day running well under course record pace, and although she couldn’t quite hang on for the record she never released her firm grip on the lead. Her dominant day concluded on the track at Placer High School where she crossed the finish line in 15:46:57 – nearly an hour faster than her remarkable race from the year before.

Fuzhao Xiang (16:20:03) and Eszter Csillag (16:42:17) followed with the third- and fourth-fastest women’s performances in course history. Csillag also earned her second straight third-place finish with a 25-minute improvement. Emily Hawgood was fourth in 16:48:43, notching the seventh-best women’s performance ever and improving on her fifth-place finish from a year ago. Yngvild Kaspersen (16:50:39) and Ida Nilsson (16:56:52) were fifth and sixth with the eighth- and ninth-fastest times ever. 

While Schide (13th overall) was the top New Englander at Western States, she wasn’t the only current or former resident of the region to take on the historic course. At least 14 current or former New England residents were among the 375 runners who toed the starting line in hopes of making it 100.2 miles to the Placer High School track in Auburn, Calif., within the 30-hour time limit.

Schide wasn’t the only New England native to deliver a big performance in the women’s race. New Hampshire native and current Bend, Ore., resident Heather Jackson also had a strong race. Jackson, 40, earned her place in the race by earning a Golden Ticket, and she proved she belonged as she raced in the top 10 for nearly the entire day, mostly bouncing back and forth between sixth and seventh. Ultimately, Jackson finished seventh in the women’s field (24th overall) in 17:16:43.

Similar to the women’s race, the men’s race also rewrote the all-time top-10 list even though the course record survived and no New Englanders placed on the podium. Jim Walmsley didn’t quite topple his course record of 14:09:28, but he came pretty darn close with a winning time of 14:13:45 that was the second-best in course history. Prior to 2024, only nine men’s sub-15-hour performances had ever been recorded at Western States, including Walmsley’s wins in 2018 and 2019. This year, the top six men all went sub-15. In addition to Walmsley, Rod Fravard and Hayden Hawks went 2-3 in 14:24:15 and 14:24:31 for the third- and fourth-best times in history. Daniel Jones was fourth in 14:32:29 for the seventh-best time ever, and Caleb Olson’s fifth-place effort of 14:40:12 ranks eighth-best ever, dipping 10 seconds under 2023 champion Tom Evans’ winning time of 14:40:22. Jonathan Albon also broke the 15-hour mark, placing sixth in 14:57:01.

The top 109 overall finishers broke the 24-hour mark. Joining Schide and Jackson in doing so were Todd Curtis, 51, of Great Barrington, Mass., who was 47th overall on 20:16:04; New Hampshire native (now living in Spain) John Tidd, 60, who was 64th overall in 22:01:56); and Shaun Daylor, 45, of Lakeville, Mass., who finished 78th in 23:02:50. All three were first-timers at Western States.

The first current or former New Englander to finish in more than 24 hours was 49-year-old Bogie Dumitrescu. The Boulder, Colo., resident made his mark on the Massachusetts ultra scene as the creator of the Wapack and Back Ultra and the race that became the Trail Animals Running Club’s Fells Winter Ultra. Dumitrescu earned his second Western States finish, placing 146th overall in 28:20:31. Wayne Chan, 47, of Westborough, Mass., crossed the finish line shortly after, earning his first Western States buckle in 28:42:00, placing 207th overall. Peter Lawson, 60, of Burlington, Vt., was the next New Englander to finish, placing 221st in 28:54:44.

The final three current or former New England residents to cross the finish line all did so during the Golden Hour. Former Massachusetts resident Matt Elam, 32, now of Boulder, Colo., and 46-year-old Sarah Slater of Guilford, Conn., finished back-to-back, 238th and 239th overall, in 29:12:31 and 29:13:07, respectively. With the clock running down, 46-year-old Eli Burakian of Brownsville, Vt., secured his spot among the finishers, looping the track and becoming the 270th runner to cross the finish line in 29:43:56.

Ultimately, 286 runners finished within the 30-hour time limit. A handful more runners cross the finish line within a few minutes of the time expiring. One runner who came close but ran out of time was Marcy Beard. The 55-year-old from Livingston, Texas, is a regular at the Trail Animals “Don’t Run Boston” 50K and 50-mile ultras in Massachusetts and is a finisher of numerous 100-milers, including Hardrock, Vermont and Massanutten. Beard battled hard throughout the race, but ultimately ran out of time and reached Robie Point at mile 98.9 as time expired.

Similar to Beard, a handful of other New Englanders saw their races end before the finish line. After placing eighth in the men’s race in 2023, former New Hampshire resident Jeff Colt (now living in Colorado) dropped after 78 miles and 15:50 of racing. Russ Dresher, 42, of Berlin, Mass., dropped after 22:00:00 of running and 79.8 miles. John Sherback, 44, of North Easton, Mass., saw his race end after 52.9 miles and 16:06:00.