A class of her own: Hall of Fame comes knocking for Western States legend Trason

Quite possibly the greatest ultra runner of all-time has earned her rightful place among distance deities. Auburn resident and Western States Endurance Run legend Ann Trason was inducted into the American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame on Dec. 10. She became the 18th member of the Hall in her first year of eligibility. The American Ultrarunning Hall of Fame only selects one person per year for induction. "Obviously, with only one induction every year, we have to be really choosey, but this year was absolutely easy," the Hall of Fame's executive director, Davy Crockett, said. "She's no doubt a first-ballot hall-of-famer, no questions about it. Some think she's the greatest ultra runner ever between men and women. She was just so dominant." Trason's dominance was on full display during the 1990s and early 2000s, most notably on the Western States trails. From 1989 to 2003, she won a course-record 14 times in 15 years. Her win total doubles the next-closest competitor – male or female. She twice finished as the overall runner-up in 1994 and '95, the closest any female has come to winning Western States outright. The following year, in 1996, Trason won her eighth consecutive Western States – placing third overall – just 12 days after setting an uphill record in the world's oldest and largest ultra, the Comrades Marathon in South Africa, at 6 hours, 13 minutes, 23 seconds. In 1997, Trason became the second woman to break the six-hour mark in the Comrades downhill race at 5:58:25, missing the course's downhill record by less than four minutes. She won two more consecutive Western States races after that, bringing her streak to 10. "She's most famous for what she did at Western States, but the world records she set were just, at the time she did them, so significant," Crockett said. "She got international attention that kind of stunned people. The records she was setting and the distances she was doing, she was clearly the most dominant in the world among women. She not only broke those world records, she just crushed them. It wasn't even close." Of her 14 Western States victories, she placed in the overall top 10 13 times. The only other time outside of the top 10, Trason finished 11th. In 1994, she set a women's course record of 17:37:51 that stood for 18 years. In 2002, she posted a Masters course record of 18:16:26, which still stands. "In addition to her incredible record on the roads, track, trails and especially Western States, Ann has given back to the sport in many ways as a race director, coach and volunteer," Western States Race Director Craig Thornley said. "She gave back, which is awesome to see people that accomplished to come back and stay involved in the sport." Trason also owns four wins at the Leadville 100 in Colorado, a course on which she was briefly featured in "The Infinite Race," a recent "30 for 30" episode on ESPN about the indigenous Tarahumara tribe renowned for pioneering ultrarunning while in sandals or bare feet in Chihuahua, Mexico. In 1989, Trason set a world 100-mile record of 14:29:44 at Redwood Empire in Santa Rosa and a 12-hour world record by completing 85 miles. She went beyond 100 miles for the first time at the 24-hour National Championship in Queens, New York, winning outright with an American-record 143.09 miles, nearly four miles ahead of the first male runner. Along the way, she also lowered her 100-mile world record to 13:55:02. Trason's place in ultrarunning immortality was etched well before knee and ACL injuries slowed her competitive running days. "Being inducted in the Ultrarunning Hall of Fame is an obvious choice and well-deserved," Thornley said. Ann Trason could not be reached for this story.