2021 Lake Sonoma 50 Mile Preview!

by Chase Parnell — September 1, 2021

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We are headed to wine country! While most of the year seems to be dominated by post-race beers we’re going to be keeping it classy this weekend, experiencing one of the most competitive ultras in the country as well as dipping our toes into this life of luxury that only Sonoma County could provide. Time to get responsibly sauced and watch some running! Should be a blast!

Lake Sonoma is coming to us this year only after a truly valiant effort by the race organization; they weathered the unfortunate covid-related cancellation of 2020 and then this spring the race was pushed from its customary date in April to this weekend in September. In thinking about how this date change might effect the race, a few things came to mind: it might be a little warmer, the vegetation on the course will be more fried, and there’ll be less water on the course. That said, the September date might actually bring more fit runners to the starting line. I know for those of us that live in mountain environments, it’s almost laughable trying to train for an April ultra in a place like Bend or Bozeman or Salt Lake City. There’s usually just too much snow to develop much speed unless you make a treadmill your best friend. But this year, with the race in September, Lake Sonoma won’t be a rust-buster or a tune-up for a June 100, it’ll be the main event! The elite fields will likely already have a few races under their belts, they’re hitting peak form, and are ready to send one last race before the season starts to wind down.

Lake Sonoma 50 Race History and Course Description

As many of you out there know, Sonoma is one of those races that can make a career. We’ve seen it over and over, a big performance here comes with a lot of exposure and serves as a bellwether for what a runner might be capable of at future high-profile races. I think about how Dakota Jones kicked off his 2012 year of terror with at win at Lake Sonoma, then rolled that into perhaps the win of his career when he took down Kilian Jornet en route to a Transvulcania win, and then he finished it up with a 3rd place finish at Hardrock, all at the age of 22! Then there was Alex Varner’s course record performance (at the time) of 6:09:39 in 2015. I think before that people weren’t quite sure just how good he was, and then he went and dropped that time and it was like.. oh okay, Varner is LEGIT. And then there’s YiOu Wang’s 2016/2017 back-to-back wins. She is still the only runner to defend a title in the race’s history. Steph Howe was 2nd in 2014 and went on to win Western States two months later. And then of course there’s Jim Walmsley. In 2018 he did something truly extraordinary, running sub-6 on this 50 mile course. A 50 mile course with 10,500 feet of gain I might add. That isn’t human. His course record of 5:51:16 has to be one of the stoutest records out there. For kicks, here’s his Strava data from that remarkable run. He followed that effort up with his first win at Western States.

Now a little bit about the course. Despite significant vert, you still need to have a lot of speed and turnover to podium. Mountain legs are good but if all you’ve been doing is tagging 14ers and spending long days out, that’s likely not going to cut it. I’ve heard Sonoma described as death by a thousand cuts; climb after climb after climb, with equally punishing short bomber descents. You really can’t relax on this one. Up down, up down, up down. There are a few extended climbs of 500-750 feet near the turn-around on this out and back course and a cruel 400 foot gut punch at mile 45.

Because this is an out and back course, the field will know exactly how much of a gap there is to the runners ahead and behind them. It’ll be tricky to know how hard to run early on. Will there be a race like there was in 2014 when Zach Miller went out guns blazing and Rob Krar slowly but surely reeled him in but barely ran out of real estate to catch him? Or will the win come from a conservative starter that smartly sits back and capitalizes on all the carnage? We shall see.

Now let’s get into the runners in play.

2021 Lake Sonoma 50 Women’s Race Preview

You’ll have to bear with us a bit here as the Lake Sonoma field is not quite as set in stone as it has been in years past. All the elite entries were rolled over from 2020 and some haven’t notified the race organization to let them know if they are actually coming or not. So if I included someone that you know isn’t running, please let me know in the comments below and I’ll update the list. And likewise, if someone is running that belongs in the preview and I missed them, let me know that too! Thanks!

Magdalena Boulet – Update: Magda will not be racing this year. Magda may be the preeminent ambassador of the sport of ultrarunning. She’s as well-respected as they come, both from a competitive standpoint and from a leadership and stewardship perspective. Magda ran the marathon at the 2008 Beijing Olympics, she is a past winner of the Western States Endurance Run (also now a board member), and she’s raced Lake Sonoma 50 twice (2nd in 2017, 6th in 2019). Earlier this year, Magda finished 15th at Western States, which is a little off the standard she set in prior years but if she rolled that fitness into a nice block for Sonoma, anything is possible! Can’t wait to see her out on the course.

YiOu Wang – Update: YiOu will not be racing this year. Like I said above, YiOu is the only runner, male or female, to win Lake Sonoma two years in a row. Defending a title under any circumstance is one of the toughest things to do in any sport. You have a target on your back and you need to be in peak form on the starting line two years in a row. Hard to do! Clearly, this course is squarely in YiOu’s wheelhouse. She’s fast, she trains on similar terrain in Marin County, and it seems like the 50 mile distance is her bread and butter. Wang ran the Olympic marathon trials in 2012 and 2020 but her focus is on the trails. Just a few days ago, Runner’s World published this profile. Definitely give it a read for a deep dive into Yiou’s background. Perusing YiOu’s instagram and ultrasignup, I don’t see a lot of finish line shots lately, but what I do see are lots of epic mountain landscapes. She’s been getting outside! The deeper I dig, the more I’m thinking YiOu might not actually be running though! She’s in Switzerland right now and she ran 16 miles in the Alps on Monday so stay tuned.

Anna Mae Flynn – Anna Mae is the defending champion! In 2019, she duked it out with YiOu Wang, surpassing her in the final mile, winning by just 18 seconds in a time of 7:25:15. Without this final surge, YiOu would’ve gotten THREE wins in a row, wow, that would’ve been nuts. Flynn is an incredibly well rounded ultra runner. She can handle essentially any terrain. She has two wins at Speedgoat 50k with all that vertical gain but she can also tear it up at Lake Sonoma and Way Too Cool (two top five finishes). Maybe she’ll go and defend her title and match YiOu as the only other defending champ!

Anne-Marie Madden – Anne-Marie and Anna Mae have more in common than confusingly similar names; Anne-Marie too has range and versatility that’s pretty unique. She can finish 2nd at the super-competitive Tarawera 100k in New Zealand, which is known for its runnability, and then she can also finish 3rd at Broken Arrow 52k, a course with massive vert and technicality. Anne-Marie finished 8th at Lake Sonoma in 2018 so she knows the course and is likely ready to tear it up!

Keely Henninger – There’s definitely some Oregon bias happening here but I’m tempted to put my money on Keely. She’s got wheels and that competitive fire. She started off her 2021 racing season with a win at a low-key 36 mile race in central Oregon and then finished 9th at Western States in her debut 100 miler. This was one of the most competitive years in Western’s history and a very tough year with the heat as well. Really impressive. Also, Keely is a former Lake Sonoma winner! In 2018, she won with a time of 7:13:55 which is the second fastest time in the race’s history behind only the course record holder, Stephanie Howe, who ran 7:08:23 in 2015. Let’s go Keely!

Cassie Scallon – Cassie has a resume a mile long! She’s won the Bandera 100k, Squamish 50 miler, Sean O’Brien 50 miler, JFK 50 miler, Lake Sonoma 50 (2013), and many more. She hasn’t raced much in the last couple years and she keeps a pretty quiet profile online so it’s hard to tell exactly where she’s at from a fitness standpoint, but clearly if she’s done the work she has the potential to podium at Lake Sonoma on any given day.

Kaci Lickteig – Update: Kaci is staying close to home and will not be racing this year. Kaci is always a threat but in the nicest manner possible, even if she has two big 100s on her legs like she does this year, a top ten finish at Western States on June 26th and a 2nd place finish at the uber-gnarly High Lonesome 100 on July 30th. You might be wondering if it’s even possible to recover from a 100 miler in five weeks and still race well at a fast 50? Well, for most, probably not, but with the type of volume that Kaci puts in year after year, I wouldn’t put it passed her. And for what it’s worth, she was recovered enough to complete a “birthday run” on August 14th, running 35 miles around her hood of Omaha, Nebraska to celebrate her 35 years of life. Kaci has finished Lake Sonoma FOUR TIMES finishing 3rd, 2nd, 5th, and 3rd; what a resume! Who knows, maybe this’ll be her year to nab the win.

–Others to Watch–

Sally McRae – 1st Badwater 135 (2021); 6th Lake Sonoma (2014).

Marianne Falk – 1st Post Canyon 50k (2021); 1st Rogue Gorge 50k (2020).

Lotti Zeiler – 1st Rocky Racoon 100k (2021); 43rd NAIA National XC Championships (2015).

Sarah Cummings – 2:34 marathoner; 1st Antelope Island 50k; 2nd JFK 50 (2020).

Catrin Jones – 1st Squamish 50k (2018); 2nd Chuckanut 50k (2015).

Kristina Randrup – 1st Seattle Marathon (2019); 1st American River 50 mile (2021).

Melissa Surman – 1st Strolling Jim 40 (2021); 1st Mohican 100 (2020).

Emma McCune – 1st Mount Tam 50k (2019); 9th Speedgoat 50k (2019).

Natalie Chirgwin – 2nd Peterson Ridge Rumble (2021); 13th TNF San Francisco (2019).

Marisa Cummings – 3rd Scout Mountain 21 miler (2021); 2nd Desert Rats 26 miler (2021).

Sarah Thacher – 1st Rodeo Valley 50k (2021).

Lindsay Allison – 6th Kendall Mountain Run (2020); 3rd Way Too Cool (2020).

Ashley Stamps – 5th Lake Sonoma 50 (2017).

Brianna Sacks – 1st Ray Miller 50 (2019); 2nd Cuyamaca 100k (2019).

Melissa Danahey – 1st Angeles Crest 100 (2019).

Even if only half of these women end up toeing the line on Saturday, it’s going to be an exciting race to watch! With a nice sampling of young guns and veterans, there should be some good battles taking place in the second part of the race! If you don’t already, make sure to follow our Twitter and instagram accounts to get the live updates from the course. Can’t wait to see how it all shakes out!

2021 Lake Sonoma 50 Men’s Race Preview

Again, please let me know if any of the following runners aren’t racing. It’s been difficult to nail down who is going to show and who isn’t because all the elite entries from 2020 were rolled over to 2021. Alright, let’s get into the men’s field!

Mario Mendoza – This will be interesting. Mario spent the entire summer training for UTMB but had to pull out just before departure to help care for his family. But with just enough time to throw in some sharpening workouts I think that big vert fitness might just pay off! Mario has ran well at Sonoma in the past, finishing 3rd in both 2016 and 2018. He’s also coming off some great running this year; he won the Tillamook Burn 50 miler over both Tyler Green and Drew Holmen (2nd and 3rd places at Western States this year) and Mario recently set the FKT on the Three Sisters Loop, a 46 mile route here in central Oregon. After his huge training block in the mountains this summer, look for Mario to move well late in the race as others start to succumb to the climbing. Rooting for Mario!

David Sinclair – I got to watch David in action earlier this year at the Speedgoat 50k where he finished a very strong second place behind only the emerging superstar Adam Peterman. David also finished as the top American at Salomon’s Golden Trail Series race Olla de Nuria in Spain on June 13th, where he finished in 8th place against a field of the best short course mountain runners in the world. David has been slowly but surely upping the distance, making his 50 mile debut earlier this year at the Silver State 50 where he set a new course record by almost 20 minutes! This race has been around for more than 30 years so the record wasn’t soft. Lastly, just last month David won the USATF 50k trail championships in New Hampshire. He does it all! It’ll be interesting to see what he can do on a course like Lake Sonoma.

Jeffrey Stern – Jeff comes to us from a competitive cycling background and is still fairly new to the ultra racing scene. That said, he’s quickly improved year over year, producing some high quality results worthy of note. In 2020, Jeff finished 2nd to only Tim Tollefson at the FOURmidable 50k in Auburn, California. In November of 2020, Jeff set the FKT (since broken) on the 68 mile Backbone Trail near his home in Santa Barbara. Jeff has had a pretty incredible last six months, finishing 1st or 2nd place in 12 events ranging from 2 miles to 50 miles. I know Jeff had to take some time off after spraining his ankle (click here for a pretty heinous ankle photo on Strava) less than a month ago, but apparently he’s rehabbed it enough to make a run at Lake Sonoma! Jeff runs for Salomon and writes regularly for Ultrarunning Magazine!

Anthony Costales – Update: Anthony will not be running, but cool to hear he’s racing Run Rabbit Run 100 in a few weeks! Anthony is straight up one the most promising ultrarunners in the country. He put on a show earlier this year at Canyons 100k, winning the race and earning a golden ticket over a very stacked field of veterans. Anthony has the course record at Moab Red Hot 55k in Utah, a course that has been run by all the best of the best. Anthony has 2:13 marathon speed so I’m really curious what he can do here. Will he be only the second runner ever to go sub-6? Hard to say. After Canyons 100k he suffered an injury that took him out for weeks so he missed Western States. That said, based on his training, it looks like he’s had a pretty solid block from July onward so he should be ready to rip!

Jorge Maravilla – Jorge has had one hell of a life and running career! And here he goes again toeing the line at one of the most competitive ultras, ready to take his swing. Jorge is a mainstay in the Marin County and California ultra scene with numerous top finishes at all the classics. He’s run Lake Sonoma three times, finishing 4th, 4th, and 6th. He has 2:21 marathon speed and he’s strong on the climbs too. Looking at his Strava, he doesn’t appear to be logging huge miles but he can still get out there and run low 6-minute pace for a long long ways in the Headlands. I encourage everyone to go and listen to this podcast interview with Jorge, his partner Stephanie Howe, and host Mario Fraioli to hear all about Jorge coming to the United States from El Salvador as a small child and how his upbringing shaped him into the man he is today. Such a powerful story!

–Others to Watch–

Scott Trummer – 9th Canyons 100k (2019); 3rd Way Too Cool 50k (2017).

Nick Hilton – 1st Pinal Peak 50k (2021); 2:17 marathoner.

Luke Paulson – 3nd JFK 50 (2019); 1st UROC 100k (2019).

Allan Spangler – 3rd JFK 50 (2018); 1st The Abbots Way 125k (2016).

Mario Martinez – 3rd Ray Miller 50 (2019); 5th Angeles Crest 100 (2017).

Bobby Peavey – 6th Lake Sonoma 50 (2019); 1st Moab Red Hot 55k (2019).

Timothy Reed – 6th FOURmidable 50k (2019); 1st Leona Divide 50k (2018).

Vincent Dimassa – 10th Lake Sonoma 50 (2019); 5th Broken Arrow 52k (2018).

Tate Knight – 5th Leadville 100 (2019); 1st Quad Rock 50 (2019).

Grant Hotaling – 1st Tahoe Rim 100 (2021); 3rd Castle Peak 100 (2019).

Jesse Haynes – 5th Black Canyon 100k (2020); 1st Chimera 100 (2019).

Brett Hornig – 1st Peterson Ridge 36 miler (2021); 6th Broken Arrow 52k (2019).

Chris Hammes – 2nd San Diego 100 (2019); 12th UTMB (2018).

Jace Ives – 3rd Pine to Palm 100 (2019); 2nd Siskiyou Outback 100k (2019).

Cheyne Inman – 1st Doce Canyon 50k (2020); 1st Ray Miller 50 (2019).

Ben Koss – 9th, 8th, and 7th place finishes at Lake Sonoma in 7:05, 7:02, and 7:01.

Travis Morrison – 11th Speedgoat 50k (2021); 6th Broken Arrow 52k (2017).

Logan Williams – 9th Bear 100 (2019) then 21 days later 5th Wasatch 100 (2019)… at 24 years old.

Wrap up and Race Beneficiary

While this edition of the race will certainly look a little different, the party atmosphere and inspiring performances will be all the same. Who is going to take this one? Will it be one of the vets? Will there be an unknown like Adrian MacDonald that just shows up and spanks everyone? Who knows, that’s what makes this fun. But no matter how it plays out, this is going to be a celebration. The race is back and that’s what matters. Let’s all just eat, drink, run, and be merry, enjoying this historic event to the fullest.

Lastly, I wanted to quickly spotlight the beneficiary of the race’s net proceeds: the Children of Vineyard Workers Scholarship Fund. Each year, the Lake Sonoma race organization raises thousands of dollars that go directly to support children of Sonoma County vineyard workers in their professional and educational pursuits. I can’t think of a better way to give back to the community that has kept this region and economy thriving for so long. If you are participating in this event in any way, consider making an additional donation through the link above!

Alright, that’s it! We can’t wait to see you all down in Healdsburg at the pre-race festivities! Somehow the race director thought it would be a good idea to put me on a stage with Tropical John Medinger on Friday night to help pepper the elite athlete panel with questions. Get ready for something like the worst best man’s speech you’ve ever heard! Just kidding. It’ll be good times.

And then, on race morning, we’ll be bombing around the course, doing our best to provide live updates on our Twitter and instagram feeds so make sure to give us a follow. Apparently cell reception is spotty so bear with us as there may be a delay in the action! The race starts this Saturday, September 4th at 6:30am! Stay tuned!

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