Here are the results of our 2017 Western States 100 Prediction Contest.
We’re only posting place-specific rankings through the top three. (For a refresher on the rules, check out the contest entry page.) Read on to find out who won the contest, and who did the best at picking the men’s and women’s fields individually.
What made for an exciting race to follow, made for less predictable results and higher-than-usual point totals for all us prognosticators. If you blew it, you’re in good company! Only 208 folks tallied 50 or fewer points, easily the lowest such total since 107 in 2011, when there were only 337 entrants compared 1,117 fully scoring entrants this year.
The Winners
Thank you again to Drymax, Altra, Gu Energy, and Julbo, along with artist Maggie Tides for providing the great prizes for the contest. Without them, the only thing to come out of the contest would be bragging rights. On to the winners!
Kristin Zosel’s (24 points), a gear reviewer and transcriptionist here at iRunFar, path to victory was paved with the lowest score on the women’s side (6 points), where she correctly predicted Magdalena Boulet to finish second and Fiona Hayvice to finish fifth. She was one place off in picking Nicole Kalogeropoulos seventh (finished sixth) and Meghan Laws eighth (finished ninth) along with four points for picking Andrea Huser sixth (finished 10th). On the men’s side, she got one point each for picking Jeff Browning third (finished fourth) and Jesse Haynes seventh (finished eighth). She got two points for picking Ian Sharman fifth (finished seventh), five points for picking Tòfol Castanyer sixth (finished 11th), and nine points for picking Elov Olsson fourth (finished 13th). Kristin wins six pairs of Drymax running socks, a pair of Altra shoes, a great selection of energy products from GU, a pair of Julbo running sunglasses, and a sweet Western States triptych from Maggie Tides.- Harris Brenner (26 points) is our runner-up and he did so with two dead-on picks: Magdalena Boulet for second and Ian Sharman for seventh. His other scoring picks were: Jeff Browning third (1 point), Alex Nichols fourth (2 pts), Ryan Sandes fifth (4 pts), Stephanie Violett third (9 pts), Nicole Kalogeropoulos fourth (2 pts), Meghan Laws fifth (4 pts), and Jackie Merritt eighth (1 pt). Harris wins four pairs of Drymax socks, a pair of Altra shoes, a great selection of energy products from GU, and a pair of Julbo sunglasses.
- Nathan Cornelius (28 points) takes third. He was spot on with picking Magdalena Boulet second, Ian Sharman seventh, and Jesse Haynes eighth. His other scoring picks were Stephanie Violett fifth (7 pts), Andrea Huser sixth (4 pts), Mallory Richard seventh (4 pts), Meghan Laws eighth (1 pt), Jeff Browning second (2 pts), Ryan Sandes third (2 pts), and Elov Olsson fifth (8 pts). Nathan wins two pairs of Drymax socks, a pair of Altra shoes, a great selection of energy products from GU, and a pair of Julbo sunglasses.
Kristin Zosel’s (24 points), a gear reviewer and transcriptionist here at iRunFar, path to victory was paved with the lowest score on the women’s side (6 points), where she correctly predicted Magdalena Boulet to finish second and Fiona Hayvice to finish fifth. She was one place off in picking Nicole Kalogeropoulos seventh (finished sixth) and Meghan Laws eighth (finished ninth) along with four points for picking Andrea Huser sixth (finished 10th). On the men’s side, she got one point each for picking Jeff Browning third (finished fourth) and Jesse Haynes seventh (finished eighth). She got two points for picking Ian Sharman fifth (finished seventh), five points for picking Tòfol Castanyer sixth (finished 11th), and nine points for picking Elov Olsson fourth (finished 13th). Kristin wins six pairs of Drymax 
Harris Brenner (26 points) is our runner-up and he did so with two dead-on picks: Magdalena Boulet for second and Ian Sharman for seventh. His other scoring picks were: Jeff Browning third (1 point), Alex Nichols fourth (2 pts), Ryan Sandes fifth (4 pts), Stephanie Violett third (9 pts), Nicole Kalogeropoulos fourth (2 pts), Meghan Laws fifth (4 pts), and Jackie Merritt eighth (1 pt). Harris wins four pairs of Drymax socks, a pair of Altra shoes, a great selection of energy products from GU, and a pair of Julbo sunglasses.
Nathan Cornelius (28 points) takes third. He was spot on with picking Magdalena Boulet second, Ian Sharman seventh, and Jesse Haynes eighth. His other scoring picks were Stephanie Violett fifth (7 pts), Andrea Huser sixth (4 pts), Mallory Richard seventh (4 pts), Meghan Laws eighth (1 pt), Jeff Browning second (2 pts), Ryan Sandes third (2 pts), and Elov Olsson fifth (8 pts). Nathan wins two pairs of Drymax socks, a pair of Altra shoes, a great selection of energy products from GU, and a pair of Julbo sunglasses.
Reed Breuer is our random grand-prize winner for which he gets the same loaded prize pack as Kristin Zosel minus the art.
Maggie Tides Western States 100 course Triptych.
The Overall Contest Field
For the second year in a row, we’ve had a significant drop in the number of folks with 50 or fewer points with only 208 making it this year… so don’t feel bad if you had a rough go of it in 2017!
Here’s a breakdown of the number of folks tallying 50 or fewer points other the past seven years: 2009 – 46, 2010 – 107, 2011 – 274, 2012 – 446, 2013 – 694, 2014 – 683, 2015 – 807, 2016 – 509, 2017 – 208.
Below are the full results:
Men’s Predictions
After bumping up from two to eight points last year, the men’s winner is back down to two points. Kristin Simonson correctly picked Chris DeNucci in fifth, Ian Sharman in seventh, and Jesse Haynes in eighth. Her only points come from picking Ryan Sandes one place too low (second) and Jeff Browning one place too high (third). Kristin, leave us a comment below so we can hook you up with something from iRunFar.
Women’s Predictions
You already know the women’s winner, the overall winner Kristin Zosel. It’s a sweep for the Kristins!
Final Words
Thanks to the 1,117 individuals who fully took part in the contest… more than triple the total number of starters (369) in this year’s Western States! We had a lot of fun bringing it to you and hope you had a lot of fun participating. We’ll bring you more fun contests in the future.
