{"id":280484,"date":"2019-06-30T23:54:47","date_gmt":"2019-07-01T03:54:47","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/?guid=d49b5cd898a5e74211100df9deb0e5f7"},"modified":"2026-10-05T11:33:57","modified_gmt":"2026-10-05T15:33:57","slug":"tom-evans-credits-two-months-with-ethiopian-marathoners-for-his-fast-western-states-finish","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/280484","title":{"rendered":"Tom Evans credits two months with Ethiopian marathoners for his fast Western States finish"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>British ultrarunner Tom Evans finished third at the Western States 100-mile Endurance Run in California at the end of June 2019 in 14 hours, 59 minutes and 44 seconds, the fastest time a runner from outside the United States had ever recorded on the course. He prepared for the 161-kilometer race by spending two months in Ethiopia training with the country\u2019s marathon runners, the South China Morning Post reported.<\/p>\n<figure class=\"wp-caption aligncenter\"><img data-recalc-dims=\"1\" height=\"780\" width=\"780\" class=\"aligncenter size-large wp-image-837260\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/runners-addis-ababa-museum-2018.jpg?fit=780%2C780&#038;ssl=1\" alt=\"Runners training in the square in front of the Addis Ababa Museum on 7 February 2018\" \/><figcaption class=\"wp-caption-text\">Runners training in the square in front of the Addis Ababa Museum on 7 February 2018 (A.Savin, Wikimedia Commons, Free Art License) [file photo]<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<p>Evans said the Ethiopian group was fast even by elite standards. \u201cThe slowest runner [in the Ethiopian running group], except for me, was a 2:08 marathoner,\u201d he said, meaning a man who could cover the 42.2-kilometer marathon in about two hours and eight minutes.<\/p>\n<p>Much of the work was tempo running, long stretches at a hard and steady pace. \u201cTheir tempo runs were on dirt tracks with rolling hills, so were perfect for WSER100,\u201d Evans said, using the short name for the Western States race. The sessions were tough. \u201cThey would run until they dropped and we were being followed by a car so they\u2019d be picked up,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<p>Altitude was the biggest early test. \u201cAt first, because of the altitude, I was the first to drop out but I began to get used to the elevation,\u201d Evans said. Many of Ethiopia\u2019s leading distance runners live and train in the highlands around Addis Ababa, more than 2,000 meters above sea level.<\/p>\n<p><strong>Sources:<\/strong> <a href=\"https:\/\/www.scmp.com\/sport\/outdoor\/trail-running\/article\/3016743\/how-high-tempo-training-elite-ethiopians-helped-briton\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener\">South China Morning Post<\/a><\/p>","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>How workouts with Ethiopian elite boosted Tom Evans at Western States ultra&nbsp;&nbsp;South China Morning PostBriton runs fastest Western States time by a non-American in 14:59.44, a performance that may well have won it another year Evans&#8217; efficiency&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":30,"featured_media":837260,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"advanced_seo_description":"","jetpack_seo_html_title":"","jetpack_seo_noindex":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-280484","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-ethiopian-news"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/10\/runners-addis-ababa-museum-2018.jpg?fit=1280%2C720&ssl=1","jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/p9NivD-1aXW","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280484","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/30"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=280484"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280484\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":837279,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/280484\/revisions\/837279"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/837260"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=280484"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=280484"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/mereja.com\/index\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=280484"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}