The second Western States 100 “Golden Ticket” race of the year is going down a stone’s throw from rabbit HQ in the Malibu Mountains at the Sean O’Brien 100k. We have a few strong rabbitELITEs vying for a place in Squaw come June as well as a handful of other rabbit athletes competing in the other two distances.
rabbitELITE Kate Elliott is coming off a strong performance at the end of last year at the North Face 50 where she finished 13th in a loaded international field. She’s spent the last two months building off her success in San Francisco, with her eyes set on running her first 100k in her amazingly cool, calm and controlled style. She makes it looks easy and we expect her to not only have a great time on the trails this Saturday, but to impress against some of the very best in the business.
Another rabbitELITE and the newest rabbit employee, Robby Haas, kicked off his 2018 ultra campaign with a 5th place at Louis Escobar’s brutally tough La Cuesta Ranch 28-miler. He’s also new to the 100k distance, but has been logging big miles with plenty of vert in and around his hometown of Los Angeles to prepare for Saturday’s unrelenting course and competitive field. We think he might surprise a few people with a top finish!
Ultramarathon veteran, Bay Area resident and rabbitELITE team member Bree Lambert is the third member of the rabbit family lining up for the 100k distance. She has some unfinished business with the WS100 course after dropping last year and hopes to find a way into the big dance come June with a solid performance at SOB.
Racing the 50-miler we’ve got one of our local Santa Barbara power couples and RADrabbits, Dave and Deanna Odell. Dave is building up for his first WS100 and using SOB as a solid training run, while Deanna will look to continue to defy her age and throw down with some of the young guns in her first 50-mile race since 2016 when she took 3rd on this very same course.
Last but certainly not least, Santa Barbara resident and rabbitPRO Kris Brown got into WS100 via the lottery in January, so instead of competing for a golden ticket he dropped down to the 50k and will be using Saturday as a chance to test his fitness. He’s been putting in HUGE miles with tons of quick climbing, snagging Strava CRs all over Southern California and we expect him to throw down an incredibly fast time while going for the win.
All in all, it’s shaping up to be a great weekend of racing for the entire rabbit family of athletes!
