DELIVERED
Kiwi Ruth Croft has won one of the world’s toughest ultramarathon races in California. (File photo).
New Zealand athlete Ruth Croft has won the Western States Endurance 100 race in California – one of the world’s most competitive ultramarathons – in scorching heat.
The 33-year-old West Coaster, who is based in Wānaka, came in second on her first attempt in the 100-mile run last year – but won strongly on Saturday (Sunday NZ time) in 17 hours 21 minutes 30 seconds.
Croft’s was the third fastest time by a woman in the race’s 49-year history.
She finished 12th overall in a field led by the men’s race winner, Adam Peterman, in 15 hours 13 minutes 48 seconds.
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Nathan Burdon/delivered
Ruth Croft will be presented with the Kepler Challenge trophy in 2022 by race director Steve Norris.
The Western States Endurance 100 is billed as the world’s oldest ultramarathon.
It started in 1974, from the Olympic Valley to Auburn, California, near Sacramento.
Runners climb up to 18,000 feet (5,486 m) and descend 23,000 (7,010 m) feet in temperatures up to 40 degrees (Celsius).
Croft stated last year that she was a little unsure about her return after finishing second, 23 minutes behind Britain’s Beth Pascall.
But she changed her mind and won the 2022 race.
Her winning time was more than 12 minutes faster than her 2021 finish of 17 hours 33 minutes 41 seconds, which is now the sixth fastest time in racing history.
She finished 25 minutes ahead of Canadian Ailsa Macdonald, 41, who clocked 17 hours 46 minutes 45 seconds to finish 15th overall.
Another Canadian, Marianne Hogan, 32, was third in 18 hours 5 minutes and 48 seconds.
Delivered
Ruth Croft was a star of the European trail running circuit before transitioning to longer endurance events.
The race record of 16 hours 47 minutes 19 seconds was set in 2012 by Canadian resident British Ellie Greenwood.
Croft said in a pre-race interview that she had come to the United States earlier this year to prepare for the race in the Western States.
She had also done a lot more trail runs this time leading up.
Croft won the Kepler 60km race in Fiordland in January and also ran the Three Peaks 55km event in Dunedin.
She said her New Zealand race schedule was affected by events canceled due to Covid-19, but she had focused on “going out and having fun” whenever she could.
Growing up running in the bush around Stillwater, Croft dominated shorter-distance trail racing for years, finishing second on the World Trail Champs in 2019, before stepping up the distance in 2021.
She won the 102km Tarawera Ultra overall – top male or female – in Rotorua last February, before setting her sights on chasing the 100-mile distance en route to the United States to prepare for her first Western States 100.