Western States 100 Champion, Clare Gallagher

07/16/19 • 55 min

Clare Gallagher just won the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Race, and she did so in spectacular fashion. And normally, that is all the introduction we’d need here, since winning Western States is a very big deal. But there happens to be a whole lot more to this particular story.

Because right before this race, Clare accepted an invitation from Tommy Caldwell to go on an expedition to the Alaskan National Wildlife Refuge to raise awareness of and opposition to plans to give oil and gas companies the right to drill in the coastal plain of the Arctic Refuge.

But backpacking and mountaineering around the wild landscape of Alaska is not how professional runners typically spend time right before their biggest race of the year.

So in addition to diving into the details of her epic Western States win, we discuss with Clare why she was willing to go to Alaska; why she runs; and how wins at Western States — or her 2016 win of the Leadville 100, or her FKT of the Zion Traverse last year — all work to create a larger platform to talk about the things that matter most to her.

TAKE ACTION:

Text 40649 now or CLICK HERE to submit a comment to your representative asking them to protect the Arctic National Wildlife Refuge by voting to pass The Arctic Cultural and Coastal Plain Protection Act.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Recovering from a huge effort at Western States (2:57)
Race Recap: day of the race & the first 80 miles (8:03)
On the intense last 6 miles of the race (10:02)
Mile 93 — 2017 vs. 2019 (13:13)
Clare’s expedition to Alaska prior to the race (18:45)
Winning, Losing, & Competitiveness (29:11)
Clare’s background (34:37)
Her future (49:43)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

But backpacking and mountaineering around the wild landscape of Alaska is not how professional runners typically spend time right before their biggest race of the year.

TAKE ACTION:

TOPICS & TIMES:

Recovering from a huge effort at Western States (2:57)
Race Recap: day of the race & the first 80 miles (8:03)
On the intense last 6 miles of the race (10:02)
Mile 93 — 2017 vs. 2019 (13:13)
Clare’s expedition to Alaska prior to the race (18:45)
Winning, Losing, & Competitiveness (29:11)
Clare’s background (34:37)
Her future (49:43)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Previous Episode

Making the 1st Electric Snowmobile: Taiga Motors

While more and more electric cars are hitting the streets, Taiga Motors is about to bring the world’s first commercial electric snowmobiles to the backcountry and ski areas. So we talked with Taiga Motors CEO & co-founder, Sam Bruneau, about taking the electric snowmobile from a college project to an actual business, and the long process of designing electric sleds from the ground up. Then we get into the specifics of charging a Taiga, and how these electric sleds measure up against gas-powered snowmobiles in terms of power, torque, weight, range, and performance in harsh temperatures.

TOPICS & TIMES:

Background: What is Taiga Motors? (3:10)
From fun college project to actual business (3:30)
Evolution of the product: from TS1 to TS3 (15:02)
Power & Instant Torque (20:40)
Temperature Performance — Cold & Hot (23:35)
Range (28:19)
Charging / How long does charging take? (33:17)
Weight & ‘real-world’ comparisons (37:22)
Pricing & Options (43:06)
Production Launch: When & What? (45:30)
Taiga’s current Pre-Order: Details (47:18)
Electric Cars: thoughts on the current landscape (53:13)
What’s the best question I haven’t asked you? (55:35)
Taiga’s next big thing (58:13)

Hosted on Acast. See acast.com/privacy for more information.

Next Episode

From Skiing Park to Working for NASA: LJ Strenio

Last week, the well-known and well-loved park skier, LJ Strenio, posted a photo of a letter — from NASA — that was congratulating him on being accepted as an intern to the Armstrong Flight Research Facility. Wait, what??

How does a park skier from Vermont, this star of the LINE Traveling Circus, this guy who once served as Vin Diesel’s stunt double, and this guy who has a 29-minute crash reel that is, frankly, almost as hard to watch as it is inspiring to watch — how does this guy get accepted to work for NASA? We talked to LJ to get the whole story, and it’s a great one.

TOPICS & TIMES: