Drew Holmen takes third at Western States 100 mile

Drew Holmen looks good as he makes way through the rugged Western States 100- mile race. His parents, Jim Holmen and Rita Plourde and brother Ian came to help in the race and watch Drew place third overall in an elite field of ultramarathon runners. Photo courtesy of Rita Plourde

In his first attempt at running 100 miles, Drew Holmen, 29, took third place in the 2021 Western States 100-mile race.

Holmen, who now lives and trains in Boulder, Colorado, covered the distance in 16 hours 23 minutes and 9 seconds, averaging nine minutes and fifty (9:50) seconds per mile. The race was won by Jim Walmsley from Flagstaff, Arizona, who finished in 14 hours 46 minutes and 1 second. This was Walmsley’s third win in a row at Western States.

Scott Jurek from Proctor, Minnesota, has the most wins at Western States. Scott won the race seven straight times from 1999 to 2005.

The Western States 100-mile run is the world’s oldest 100-mile trail race. It starts in Olympic Valley, California and ends 100.2 miles later in Auburn, California.

In a post-race interview, Drew said he started off patiently and worked his way through the field. The race started off at 53F in the high Sierra Nevada but turned into a hot day where temperatures reached above 100 degrees.

A cross country runner for Cook County High School, Drew said he ran to get in shape to play hockey. During college Drew ran on his own and after college he moved to the San Francisco Bay area and began running and training with a group of dedicated trail runners. It didn’t take him long to discover he had talent at the longer distances and today he is a professional runner.

Here are the results of Drew’s performances: in 2016 Drew was second in the 50Km McKenzie River Trail run. In 2017 Drew placed fourth at the Broken Arrow Sky race and fifth at the Way Too Cool race. The races were 50Km and 52Km.

In 2019 Drew placed first in the Cayuga Trail and Quicksilver 50 Km races, and fourth in the Way Too Cool 50 Km race. The Cayuga Trail race win was huge because it was for the 50-mile U.S. National title.

In 2020 Drew won the 100Km Bandera Run and in 2021 he was second at the 50-mile Tillamook Burn Trail Run.

Drew has also run trail marathons and half marathons, but he excels at the long-distance races. He is currently a professional runner for Strava, a social network for athletes’ company that is an “activity sharing website that allows users to track and upload their rides or runs using GPS data.” The website allows the athletes to share that information with friends and followers.