Jim Walmsley to Race Western States this Year

Announced via the Hoka and WSER Instagram accounts:

He’s back! See you at States, @walmsleyruns!

So Jim took that Hoka sponsor spot after all. This had been rumored and hotly debated among the trail nerds for several weeks now. It’s an official way to “get into WSER” so I don’t have any beef with it*, but clearly he calculated this very shrewdly. He chose not to race any Golden Ticket events to maximize his chances to show up in California fresh and rested.

On this week’s episode of Singletrack with James Lauriello I wondered that after seeing how ACG rolls up at trail events they sponsor Hoka will have to step it up for WSER and UTMB. Well, this is HOKA stepping up: sending their biggest prize pony to one of trail’s biggest shows for a showdown for the ages. This will certainly give several of the athletes who are eying the podium something to think about.

* maybe I do have some beef with it. (These sponsor bibs COULD BE GIVEN to athletes that otherwise would have a difficult time getting qualified to run Western States. Amateur athletes that can bring diversity and color to the event and to one of our sports’ biggest stages. Hoka, and in extension Jim are sending a signal here. Will this be exciting for the fans of our sport? Yes, undoubtedly it will. But Jim clearly could’ve gotten himself into the race at any of the Golden Ticket races these past few months. By taking the sponsor slot he’s not just maximizing his chances of success, but he’s taking the bib away from someone else. That’s a choice.) I wrote this down here and will sit on it for a bit more to see if I change my mind.

Alright, I thought about it some more. Hoka apparently receives 4 sponsor bibs. One went to Jim, one to Tommie Runz and the other two bibs to two amateur women runners. Hard to argue with this selection. (I kept my initial rambling thought in there, to “show my work” and thought process.

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Jim posted a lengthy (post continues in the comments) entry on his Instagram explaining his situation with his injury and how he approached him taking the Hoka sponsor slot.

I asked if Hoka would be comfortable to provide me a sponsor entry and if WS and the board would be okay with this. I’m humbled and I feel small that they didn’t hesitate to have my back to help make this happen for me. I don’t feel I should get special priority like this but it’s been a hard journey with the injury and I needed to ask for help this time. All I can say is thank you. You know I’ll do my best and try my hardest out there. See you at States.

Well worth a read.