The Most Golden Hour Ultrarunning Has Ever Seen
Western States 100, 2026: both course records obliterated on the same afternoon. Vincent Bouillard ran 13:46:15. Jenn Lichter ran 9:15 pace — for one hundred miles.
Once a year, ultrarunning gets its cathedral moment: the last sixty minutes before the 30-hour cutoff at Placer High, when the track fills with broken, glowing people and everyone in the bleachers cries about strangers. This year the golden hour came early — and twice.
13:46:15. Then 15:28:05. Two course records, one perfect day in the canyons.
France's Vincent Bouillard — yes, the HOKA engineer who won UTMB out of nowhere — took down the men's record, with four men under the old mark. Jenn Lichter, in her hundred-mile debut, broke Courtney Dauwalter's course record and finished 11th overall. Runner's World did the math: her time would have won the race outright 36 times.
Cool weather, hot fields, zero excuses. The sport moved on Saturday. Trail Runner called it the most golden hour in ultrarunning. They're right.