2021 Bandera 100k Preview | Golden Ticket Hunters

by Chase Parnell — January 5, 2021 — 📸: Randall Chancellor

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We’ve arrived in 2021, a year of hope and new possibilities. For many of the elite athletes arriving this week at the Hill Country State Natural Area in Bandera, Texas, they’ve tethered their hopes to racing their hearts out in an attempt to earn a golden ticket entry slot in the 2021 Western States 100. Two men and two women will walk away with nascent dreams of hitting the track in Auburn, CA come June. For this reason alone, the 2021 running of the Bandera 100k is going to be a race you’re going to want to follow. I’ll do my best to highlight the main contenders and stoke some excitement for what will unfold this Saturday. But first, a little about the course and history. 

Bandera 100k Course Details and Records

The course consists of two 50k loops through the Hill Country Natural Area, which is about a 75 minute drive northwest of San Antonio or about two hours southwest from Austin. The natural area is aptly named; these are hills, not mountains, but that doesn’t mean this course is without its challenges. What it lacks in elevation gain it makes up for in technicality and steep punchy climbs. John Kelly’s Strava data from 2018 puts the elevation gain at 6,768 feet, which isn’t a lot but it’s not exactly flat either. On the profile, I can count 18 different distinct climbs. 

Right now, the weather is looking cool, with a high of 58 degrees Fahrenheit and a low of 35. That’ll help make for faster times as it could easily have been in the 70s on race day. This course will obviously favor the guys and gals with wheels. You can’t be a total klutz though, the technicality and rock-hopping will weed out those without some level of athleticism. 

The top three men’s winning times are: (1) Jim Walmsley in 7h 46m (2016), (2) Jorge Maravilla in 8h 2m (2014), and (3) Mario Mendoza in 8h 7m (2018).

The top three women’s winning times are: (1) Stephanie Howe in 9h 8m (2017), (2) Ailsa Macdonald in 9h 16m (2020), and (3) Cassie Scallon in 9h 19m (2016). I’m going to predict that the course records are safe but anything is possible with great conditions and competition on race day. 

Bandera 100k Men’s Race

(Note: I went through each entry one by one, but I glazed over some of the runners from Texas because there were so many. If I missed a fast Texan, my apologies, tell us about them in the comments below!)

I have to say that the men’s race is definitely a little deeper than the women’s. There are nine guys (at least!) that have a shot at nabbing one of the two golden tickets. 

Matt Daniels: Definitely could win the whole thing, but he’s pretty hit or miss. Most recently, he was running strong at JFK 50 miler but then pulled the plug fairly late in the race. Same at Pioneer Spirit in early 2020 after an epic battle with Tim Tollefson and Max King. Not sure what happened. He already has a slot for the 2021 Western States so he won’t have that to motivate him. But he definitely has the pedigree as a sub-4 minute miler in college and he’s proven himself in ultras with runnable terrain (1st at Black Canyon 100k, 4th at Western States, both in 2019). If he can keep it together, I wouldn’t be surprised if he’s atop the podium on Saturday. 

Matt Flaherty: Cool to see Matt Flaherty back at a big event. Being from the midwest, I don’t hear as much about him but his results speak for themselves. Hard to know exactly how good of shape he’s in right now; he won a local 50k a few months back but I can’t find much else. Looks like he recently stopped uploading to Strava so I don’t know, he’ll be a bit of a mystery. I didn’t know that like me he was a practicing lawyer in a previous life. My condolences for those wasted years. Just kidding.

Seth Ruhling: He could make things interesting out there. After making a big splash winning the 2019 JFK 50 miler and then joining the North Face team shortly thereafter, he’s been out there racing but hasn’t backed up that initial big performance like I’m sure he wants to. He did win a 50k back in October in Tennessee but he beat the field by over an hour so that might not have been much of a test for him. He’ll definitely have his hands full in the competition department at Bandera. Looking forward to seeing what he can do. I appreciate his sarcastic and laid-back attitude, or at least that’s how he seems on the interwebs.

(Update: Kallin is not quite back from injury so he has shifted his focus to Black Canyon in February!) Kallin Khan: Big talent but unproven over the 100k distance. He’s another super fast cat with PRs of 2h 57m for a trail 50k and 2h 22m in the road marathon. He was third in the aforementioned Pioneer Spirit 50 miler after Tollefson and King. I wouldn’t pick Khan to win but there’s a chance he could get a golden ticket if the stars align. 

Anthony Fagundes: Here’s another guy that hasn’t dabbled in longer ultras yet but also can’t be ignored. With a 3rd place finish at the 2020 Way Too Cool 50k in a time of 3:22, he has to be in the conversation. He’s also registered for Canyons 100k (another golden ticket race) so he’ll be able to take a couple swings. Check out his year-end Strava totals.

Cody Lind: Here’s more of a mountain athlete who’s also fast. It’s that versatility that propelled him to a big win at the 2019 Rut 50k in Montana and also a sub 3:30 50k at Way Too Cool just months apart. So while his strength is still likely on more mountainous terrain, he could do well at Bandera because the 100k distance is long enough to equalize some of the speed element. Cody is my dark horse pick. Fun fact: Cody is married to *dating* Brittany Peterson, who won Bandera in 2019. I call that good juju.

Morgan Elliott: Yet another guy who I should’ve known about but didn’t. If you’re half way through an ultra and you’re in the same frame as Xavier Thevenard, then you too belong in this preview. Morgan won the Georgia Death Race in 2019, finished 9th at the 2018 Transvulcania, and was 2nd at the Rut 50k in 2017 with an extremely impressive time of 5h 24m. Not sure he has the high end speed for Bandera, but you never know, especially if he’s been focusing on developing turn-over throughout his buildup. Let’s go Moe!

Cory Logsdon: This dude races a lot! He just ran and won a 100 miler on December 5th (his fourth 100 miler of the year!), but it feels like he’s one of those guys who can bounce back quickly. What makes me feel like he might have a shot at Bandera was his 2nd place finish at Cascade Crest in 2019, a mere 40 minutes behind winner Tyler Green, the 2019 Bandera 100k winner. If we see Cory’s name on race day, I think it will be in the form of a late race charge while others are imploding. Check out his insane ultra signup.

Jim Rebenack: Really solid mountain runner from Littleton, Colorado. The guy has Run Rabbit Run 100 dialed in with a win in 2017 and a 2nd place in 2019. He’s also won Quad Rock 50 miler twice and at one point had 3h 55m speed at Chuckanut 50k. Will be interesting to see if he can turn things over on a flatter course with the likes of Daniels, Flaherty, Ruhling, and Khan. Time to go lactic.

Bandera 100k Women’s Race

I found five women that appear to be in the running for golden tickets. Camille Herron already has her slot so really these other ladies have a pretty good shot! In fact, I’m pretty surprised that more women aren’t participating. Not sure what Black Canyon or Canyons (the only other two golden ticket races) look like from a competitive standpoint, but Bandera might have been the low hanging fruit of the golden ticket series. 

Katie Asmuth: Katie hasn’t ran a ton of ultras but it appears she quickly developed into a very fine 100 mile runner. She was 2nd at IMTUF in 2020, 2nd at Angeles Crest 100 in 2018, and she actually won the 2019 Bear 100. That’s an incredible resume! She certainly has the strength, it’s just a matter of whether or not she maintains an up-tempo pace for 62 miles on dusty, rocky Texas singletrack. Katie is a nurse practitioner and a mom of two. Hmmm, I think she might need to come on Treeline’s Run Hard Mom Hard podcast!

Emily Hawgood: Well, well, well, it appears we have a rematch. Emily was the only female to beat Katie (above) in the 2020 IMTUF 100 miler. Looking back on Emily’s performances, she seems to also thrive in more rugged mountainous races so, again, it’s a matter of whether or not she’s ready for speed. At 26, maybe she still has some spring in her step? We shall see. 

(Update: Camille is running the Project Carbon X 100k in a few weeks instead!) Camille Herron: Camille, now sponsored by Hoka One One (the title sponsor of this race), needs no introduction. She has to be the favorite on a course like Bandera. If this were Hardrock or Wasatch or some other mountain 100, I’d probably choose either of the ladies above for the win, but Camille is so damn fast. She’s metronomic, a grinder on runnable terrain, and I just don’t see anyone else contending with her. She’s coming off a solid win at the JFK 50 miler in November and she’s always fit. I’m sure she’ll be eyeing Stephanie’s Howe’s course record of 9h 8m. She’d have to make a big improvement to get there though; Camille won the 2018 Bandera 100k in 9h 56m. This will be fun to watch!

Maria Sylte: Resident of Houston, Texas, Maria is one to keep an eye on. Local advantage? She won the 2019 and 2020 Rocky Raccoon 100, although it looks like she had a rough go at Bandera in 2019, finishing well back in the women’s field in 20th place. She’s definitely a bit of a wild card. And there, now you can’t complain that I didn’t feature a single Texan! 

Andrea Larson: Andrea finished in 4th place at the 2020 Bandera 100k and podiumed at Leadville 100. Andrea is the executive director of IronBull, a pretty rad looking non-profit promoting adventure sports in central Wisconsin.

Wrap-up and How to Follow the Bandera 100k

Okay, it’s a wrap! Hope you enjoyed this little preview. I love doing these because selfishly they get me way more excited to pay attention to how things unfold. I love to have a little back-story and context to give color to what’s transpiring out there. I also inevitably discover new runners; I’m constantly amazed how in some ways the stars in our sport endure, but also how every couple of years some new ones emerge and seem to immediately solidify their place amongst the best of the best. Will a star emerge on Saturday? Time will tell. 

To follow along, here are some links:

• Bandera 100k Live Tracking Link
• Tejas Trails Facebook
• Tejas Trails Instagram
• Treeline Journal Twitter Account. Follow us and I’ll try to post updates throughout the day!

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