Dennis Cook, Race Director for the 100-Mile Endurance Run, called into First Bank of Wyoming Sport Friday to discuss the race that takes place August 8-10 in the mountains east of Star Valley.

(0:00) Joining us now live over the phone is Dennis Cook. (0:04) Dennis is the race director for the upcoming Wyoming Range 100 Mile Endurance Run. (0:10) You better think endurance 100 miles through the the Grays River (0:15) Range of western Wyoming.
(0:17) Dennis with the details. (0:17) Good morning, Dennis. How are you today? (0:20) I’m real good.
Duke, how are you? (0:21) Thanks for having me. (0:23) Hey, thanks for coming on, Dennis. Appreciate it.
(0:24) Tell us more about the Wyoming Range 100 Mile Endurance Run. (0:29) Tell us what it is and where it goes. (0:33) Well, it’s it’s a 100 miler foot race.
(0:36) What’s called an ultra marathon. (0:38) Technically, it’s closer to about 108 miles. (0:42) Just kind of a rounding error.
(0:43) We say 100 miler because that’s what folks like to hear. (0:46) It starts at Middle Piney Lake, about 30 miles west of Big Piney. (0:52) Travels more or less due north through the Wyoming through the Wyoming Range.
(0:57) Runners top out at Wyoming Peak, 11,300 feet. (1:02) Go up to the Dead Man Lookout, if folks are familiar with that, at about 10-3 (1:06) and then swing west into the Salt River Range (1:09) and eventually end at the Box Y Ranch right off of the Grays River Road. (1:15) It’s about 24,000 feet of climbing.
(1:18) So runners will go up 24,000 feet, down about 24,000 feet (1:24) before hopefully finishing within a 48 hour cutoff. (1:28) That’s pretty incredible, Dennis. (1:30) I mean, you’re you’re describing that the ups and downs.
(1:33) And for those of us who have been in that backcountry, (1:35) some of us on on horseback, some of us on, you know, ATVs and off roads and stuff. (1:42) Doing all of that in in two days time by foot. (1:46) That’s pretty wild.
(1:48) What motivates a person to do something like this? (1:52) It’s a really good question, and I wish I knew. (1:55) I think it’s a very sort of personal decision. (1:59) I’ve had the pleasure of running a handful of 100s across the country.
(2:03) My why is I just like to get out in the mountains. (2:07) And I view a hundred mile race as a really good opportunity to see new landscapes, (2:12) experience views that you might not be able to get otherwise. (2:15) But for other folks, it could be for charity.
(2:18) A lot a lot of folks run for causes that are personal to them. (2:22) Some folks run in response to personal hardship (2:26) and a whole lot of things in between. (2:28) And of course, good old fashioned curiosity.
(2:31) We do have a lot of folks who say, you know, I want to I want to test myself. (2:35) I want to test my body. (2:37) I want to see what I accomplish.
(2:40) Most folks do get it done, but sometimes that curiosity can get the best of folks. (2:44) We have probably 60 percent of folks finish the race, (2:48) meaning 40 percent who tow the starting line. (2:51) We don’t get to see them at the box.
Why? (2:54) And I should say we welcome everybody. (2:56) So if you find yourself curious, happy to happy to see it, (3:00) to start and see it to finish as well. (3:02) So, Dennis, tell us about the genesis of this.
(3:05) How did it come about? How did it get started? (3:07) And what was the what was the reasons to start the Wyoming Range 100? (3:13) I think two reasons on a very personal note, as I mentioned before, (3:16) I run these myself and I felt like, frankly, a lot of other races were just. (3:23) There was something missing. (3:24) And so I built a race that I felt like I would want to run (3:28) something that’s a bit quieter, a bit more personal (3:31) and really gets you pretty deep into the backcountry.
(3:35) And so the race specifically was I had the pleasure of a good friend (3:39) introduced me to some some drains and drainages on the east side of the range. (3:43) And I just thought this is really big, beautiful country. (3:46) This is really unique country.
(3:48) And so we pulled out some maps and kind of pieced together (3:52) what we thought would be a super compelling race. (3:56) This is our fifth year. (3:58) And so it was let’s let’s find a really unique landscape, (4:01) something that complements our vision for, let’s say, (4:05) a bit quieter, more personal hundred mile race.
(4:09) Speaking this morning with Dennis Cook, he’s the race director (4:12) for the Wyoming Range 100 mile endurance run. (4:15) This is going to take place August 8th through the 10th. (4:18) How many people participate in this? (4:20) And I assume they come from all over.
(4:22) We don’t have a I’m trying to think of people I know (4:26) personally that might be doing something like this. (4:28) And I’m coming up a little short, Dennis. (4:30) So I’m assuming you have people from all over the country come in.
(4:33) We do. We’ve got about 80 runners coming out. (4:37) Probably 30 percent are from Wyoming, Utah, Idaho, Colorado, (4:41) kind of Rocky Mountain West.
(4:43) But then we’ve got a gentleman coming from New York City, (4:47) living in training in Manhattan, a good bit of folks from the East Coast. (4:51) And I think we’ve got a couple of internationals (4:53) coming down from Canada as well. (4:55) But yet it tends to be, let’s say, an idiosyncratic group (5:00) with a pretty national draw, but a good number of folks (5:03) driving in from Jackson, driving in from the Star Valley.
(5:07) Salt Lake City’s got a really good group of runners. (5:10) I’d say most folks were either driving less than six hours (5:13) or flying for four hours. (5:16) Now, Dennis, this may be a silly question, but (5:19) maybe somebody is out there.
(5:21) Maybe they are absolutely primed and ready for a 100 miler, (5:25) but they just didn’t have one plan for this weekend. (5:27) Can they or this next week, can they still run? (5:29) Or has that time passed? (5:32) That that time has passed. (5:34) I will say this.
(5:35) We the race is ninety nine point nine percent public land. (5:40) And if somebody wants to come out and put down 30, 40, 50 miles, (5:43) we’ll we’ll gladly hand some water along the way, give them some food (5:46) and cheer them on. (5:47) We love it.
(5:48) Love it. (5:48) The 100 endurance mile endurance run August eight through the 10th. (5:53) All right.
(5:53) So, Dennis, you mentioned one of the participants is from Manhattan. (5:57) How do you prepare and train for? (5:59) They don’t have the mountains in Manhattan like we have here in western Wyoming. (6:04) So how does one go about training for the ups and downs in the terrain, (6:08) let alone the endurance of an event like this? (6:12) It is the best that I can say.
(6:14) You know, it’s funny, we had a young lady who did very well (6:18) at the race a few years ago from Dallas, Texas, (6:20) and she was running stairs and a high rise just to get that that vertical. (6:25) Obviously, you can’t get the same altitude preparation, (6:28) but you do a lot of stairs, (6:31) maybe do a couple of destination runs, come out west for a day or two (6:34) just to kind of get a look and feel for it. (6:36) But I will readily admit his name is Hal.
(6:38) He’s coming from New York City. (6:40) He will probably be at a disadvantage. (6:43) The folks who are here locally living at 6000 feet, 5000 feet, (6:46) whatever it might be.
(6:47) They certainly have a leg up on how, but I’m confident he’ll get it done. (6:52) Well, Dennis, what have you learned as a as an organizer of this over the (6:56) the time that you’ve been able to do it? (7:00) Probably patience. (7:02) This is a monumental undertaking.
(7:05) It’s as I joke with my wife, it’s kind of our third child. (7:10) Build slow, build deliberately. (7:13) Welcome help where you can have it.
(7:15) We are fortunate to there’s probably a (7:19) hundred volunteers helping out to put this race on. (7:23) And so, yeah, it’s really about making sure that we are inviting folks, (7:29) enabling folks to help us to help the runners. (7:32) And when things don’t quite go as planned, when a thunderstorm kicks up, (7:36) when a runner goes off course, just be patient, be deliberate (7:40) and try to get some sleep in between.
(7:43) Yeah. In between. Yeah, I love it.
(7:46) Dennis Cook this morning and again, the Wyoming Range 100 endurance run (7:49) taking place August 8th through the 10th. (7:51) It’s going to start in Sublette County. (7:52) It’s going to wind around into Alpine and then up into the Grays River area, (7:57) ending at the Box Y Lodge in the Grays River.
(7:59) Is there a is there some financial (8:03) motivation for some of these runners, Dennis? (8:05) I mean, you mentioned the group that does these types of events. (8:08) I mean, is there is there what does the winner get for somebody (8:11) that that completes this first? (8:16) There’s there’s no financial motivation. (8:18) I can assure you that this is kind of a low key affair.
(8:21) But runners who finish do get a big old shiny, (8:25) authentic belt buckle from Montana Silversmiths. (8:28) We get them custom made for the race. (8:30) It’s an old tradition in the 100 mile endurance run community (8:34) kind of borrowed from endurance horse racing.
(8:37) But they’ll get a big old shiny belt buckle (8:40) to to at least commemorate the accomplishment, take back home (8:44) and stare out on their shelf or perhaps dawn when the time is right. (8:47) And I guess that’s that’s worth a couple hundred bucks, but (8:51) no curse, that’s for sure. Right, right.
(8:54) Well, that’s that’s even more impressive that the that that people like you (8:58) and your comraderies are doing this just for the the thrill of it, I guess. Right. (9:03) So, Dennis, what’s what’s the future of this event expected to be for you? (9:08) You know, we’re going to keep it small.
(9:10) I appreciate you asking. (9:11) It’s as I mentioned before, it’s ninety nine point nine percent public lands. (9:16) We want to be delicate with the landscape.
(9:18) We want to be delicate with other folks on on the landscape. (9:21) And so we’ll keep it small. (9:23) We’ll try to keep it quiet, kind of stay true to that (9:27) that foundation of of a more personal type of race.
(9:31) And so I don’t see a whole lot of change. (9:34) We’ll welcome different runners. (9:35) We’ll welcome different volunteers.
(9:38) But in a perfect world, the races we see it today (9:41) might not change a whole lot from the races we see it in 10 or 15 years. (9:46) And then that’s intentional. (9:47) We can certainly tweak a few things here and there, (9:49) but we think we’ve got a pretty good solution dialed in.
(9:53) And the best we can do is hope that we can have more and more folks (9:56) the years come out here to the line and see these mountains. (10:00) Dennis Cook, the Wyoming Range 100 endurance run August 8th through the 10th. (10:05) Dennis, we appreciate your time.
(10:06) Anything else about this race or anything else (10:08) you’d like to let the public be aware of that we missed? (10:11) I would just want to say thank you. (10:13) We like I mentioned before, we’ve got folks coming from all over the country. (10:17) Thank you for hosting us.
(10:19) Thank you for sharing your backyard. (10:21) And of course, come on out. (10:23) The course is public information.
(10:24) Cheer for us. Clap for these runners. (10:26) Show them some love.
(10:27) It would mean the world to them. Thanks again. (10:29) First Bank of Wyoming Sports Friday this morning on the SBI Radio Network.