SPORTS AND ENTERTAINMENT
It ’ s around 3:45 on a Saturday afternoon . Matt Ward has been in the Western States Endurance Run ultramarathon for almost 11 hours , and he ’ s not even halfway done . As he sits at the Devil ’ s Thumb aid station near Mile 48 of the 100.2-mile race , deep in the Tahoe National Forest outside of Foresthill , all Ward wants , he tells a volunteer , is to get the taste of puke out of his mouth . He got about 100 feet out of the aid station before vomiting and having to turn back .
“ I was running conservatively , and it ’ s like hell coming out of that canyon ,” Ward says from a folding chair at the aid station , which is in a shaded area just past one of the race ’ s most challenging climbs .
The day before , Ward stood with his wife and two children not far from the starting line in Olympic Valley , near Truckee , talking about how he ’ d tried for seven years to get into this race , which uses a lottery system to let in a fraction of qualified applicants .
At this point , it ’ s been more than 3 1 / 2 hours since the frontrunners in the race , one of the world ’ s marquee ultramarathons also known as the Western States 100 , have reached Devil ’ s Thumb . Ward tells a volunteer that he ’ s not aiming for even a personal best ; he just wants to finish .
In a race like Western States , finishing is never a sure thing . But this uncertainty epitomizes the lure of extreme sports , where people compete not so much against the field , but themselves . Extreme athletes see what they can accomplish , however improbable — and use their hobbies to contribute to regional economies .
‘ Internally generated motivation ’
Once relegated to obscure corners of the sporting world , extreme sports seem increasingly commonplace , with no shortage of coverage in various forms of media , from cable and pay-per-view television to the internet .
And at this point , some extreme competitions are more or less institutions , such as the Ironman World Championship triathlon that launched in Kona , Hawaii in 1978 . Western States is even older ; as its race program notes , it has been a foot race since 1974 and owes some inspiration to a 100-mile horse race from Lake Tahoe to Auburn that began in 1955 , now known as the Tevis Cup .
“ It ’ s been a long time coming ,” Ward says , as he stands with his wife , Megan Carey , 13-year-old son , Brendan Ward , and 10-year-old daughter , Grace Ward , the day before the June 25 race . “ It ’ s sort of the holy grail of ultra running in North America .”
The 42-year-old Ward , who lives in San Mateo , knows the day before the race that his wife and children won ’ t be there at every point while he ’ s competing — they ’ re going zip-lining tomorrow . To an extreme athlete , though , that ’ s no matter , says Dr . Ethan Bregman , a Sacramento-based sports psychologist . “ With people who are extreme athletes , there is this kind of internally generated motivation ,” he explains .
Extreme athletes can be accomplished people professionally , such as 71-year-old Denis Zilaff , a Western States board member who competed in and finished the race in 1996 and 2005 and retired from the Sacramento County Counsel ’ s Office about six years ago . Zilaff describes ultramarathoners as very
Dennis Vandenbussche of Hoeilaart , Belgium , 39 , cools off after finishing during the final hour . PHOTO BY STEVE MARTARANO healthy , Type A personalities who are “ going to be at the top of their game no matter what they do .”
Mackenzie Cecchi , 37 , of Fair Oaks , a former Sierra College swimmer and crew athlete at Long Beach State , is putting in seven to nine hours of training per week for Ironman California , to be held Oct . 23 in Sacramento . She ’ s done just one prior triathlon , an Olympic-distance race , but is confident about finishing , saying , “ It ’ s kind of been a bucket list item for me .”
Still , checking off the item means doing a lot of work ahead of time . When she ’ s not going for training rides along the American River Bike Trail , Cecchi connects her bike to her indoor trainer and can spin 2 1 / 2 hours while bingeing TV shows . She gets up at 5 a . m . to run in the morning before her 4-year-old daughter wakes up and sometimes trains during her lunch break ( a Level 2 sommelier , Cecchi runs Casino Mine Ranch winery in Amador County , with responsibilities around the clock ).
“ For me , it ’ s been easy to train because I want to do it , and I like waking up early and just getting it done ,” Cecchi says . “ And then I feel really good about the rest of my day .”
Mac Clemmens , 38 , is also training for Ironman California . He completed his first Ironman , Cozumel , in November 2021 , with the swim and bike
54 comstocksmag . com | August 2022