Ann Trason
Ann Trason (born August 30, 1960) is an American ultramarathon runner from Auburn, California.[1] She set 20 world records during her career and is considered to be the most successful female ultrarunner of all time.[2][3]
Life
Trason was a top runner in high school, but a knee injury kept her from competing in college and injuries plagued her throughout her running career including not finishing her first two entries to the Western States 100.[4][2][5]
Trason's ultra career began when she entered the 1985 American River 50 Miler at age 24[2] and both won and set a course record. She returned 8 years later and dropped her time by an hour to establish the 6:09 female course record that still stands.[citation needed]. Trason's Western States career began in 1987, but was not able to finish it until 1989 when she was first female finisher.[6] She has won Western States 14 times in all, most recently in 2003.[2] She held the women's division course record for 18 years (17:37:51, set in 1994) until it was broken by Ellie Greenwood in 2012.[7]
Trason appears in Christopher McDougall's accounts of the Leadville Trail 100 in the 1990s in his 2009 book, Born to Run: A Hidden Tribe, Superathletes, and the Greatest Race the World Has Never Seen. Her time of 18:06:24 in the 1994 Leadville is the women's course record.[8]
In both 1996 and 1997 Trason performed the "double" of winning the Western States 100 just 12 days after winning the 56-mile Comrades Marathon in South Africa.
Trason and her ex-husband and training partner Carl Andersen co-directed the Dick Collins Firetrails 50 from 2000 through 2010.[9] Trason set the female course record on the Firetrails 50 the one time she ran it, in 1987.[6]
After a decade away from running, Trason returned to the sport as crew and an occasional racer in 2013.[4] She was a multi-year UltraRunner of the Year, and in 2020, she was inducted into the American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame.[10][1][11]
Course records
- 6:09:08 – American River 50 mile (1993)
- 3:59:32 – Cool Canyon Crawl 50K (1993)
- 7:31:24 – Dick Collins Firetrails 50 mile (1987)
- 6:13:54 – Hunter Thompson 50 mile
- 18:06:24 – Leadville Trail 100 women's record (2nd place overall in 1994)[12]
- 8:55:49 – Miwok 100K Trail Race (2001)
- 6:43:52 – Quicksilver 50 mile (1992)
- 7:29:36 – Silver State 50 mile (1994)
References
- ^ a b Pecoraro, Nick (11 January 2021). "A class of her own: Hall of Fame comes knocking for Western States legend Trason". goldcountrymedia.com. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
- ^ a b c d "Legends of the Trail". Trail Runner Magazine. 2020-02-24. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
- ^ "IAU Records Table" (PDF). International Association of Ultrarunners. Retrieved 2 February 2021.
- ^ a b Homer, Jill (2015-02-20). "Pushing through the pain: ultrarunner Ann Trason makes a quiet comeback". the Guardian. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
- ^ Austin Murphy (July 25, 1994). "Hot on the Trail". Sports Illustrated.
- ^ a b Sarah Lavender Smith (January 10, 2009). "Catching Up with Ultra Legend Ann Trason". Retrieved August 18, 2016.
- ^ "Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run Course Records". wser.org. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
- ^ Erin Strout (May 25, 2015). "A Running Life: Ann Trason". Runner's World. Retrieved August 18, 2016.
- ^ Hicks, Meghan (2014-02-05). "Ann Trason: The Pioneer Returns". iRunFar. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
- ^ "American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame". ultrarunninghistory.com. Retrieved December 23, 2020.
- ^ "UltraRunners of the year - historical". Ultrarunning Magazine. 2014-12-26. Retrieved 23 May 2021.
- ^ Born to Run, by Christopher McDougall. Alfred A. Knopfe, New York, 2009