Coming off of her impressive finish as the tenth female at the Western States Endurance Run, ultrarunner Kate Elliott has signed on as the newest member of the rabbitPRO team. For Elliott, who was running in her debut 100 miler, the stellar performance at Western States was yet another step in what has been a quick rise to the top levels of the sport for a woman whose deep love of running on dirt stretches back to her childhood in Connecticut.
A look at Elliott’s UltraSignup results tells the story of her rapid ascent, revealing that her first attempt at an ultramarathon race distance was just over two years ago at the Born To Run 30 Miler. That race was followed by a string of strong results in Southern California 50ks, which included wins at No Name and Ray Miller. In 2017, Elliott moved up in distance to tackle the Mt. Hood 50 Mile, where she finished as the second female and sixth runner overall in a time of 6:59:10, the eighth fastest 50 mile performance by a woman in North America that year.
Inspired by the strong result at Mt. Hood, Elliott set her sights on Western States, a race that had long captivated her attention. After consulting with her coaches—Sage Canaday and rabbitPRO Sandi Nypaver—Elliott decided to pursue a Golden Ticket at the Sean O’Brien 100k in Malibu. Once again, she performed extremely well at the new race distance, earning her ticket to Western States by finishing as the second female (behind the eventual Western States winner Courtney Dauwalter) and fifth runner overall.
Unfortunately for Elliott, an old injury reared its head in March, just as she was ramping up for the peak of her Western States training block. Undeterred by a six week layoff from running, she focused on remaining optimistic and positive while logging many multi-hour pool running sessions, a period she discussed in a recent interview with UltraRunner Podcast. Obviously her perseverance and hard work paid off, delivering her to the start line in Squaw well prepared to contend with a stacked field and soaring temperatures.
Elliott, a Santa Barbara resident, has strong ties to rabbit. She is a long time friend of co-founders Jill Deering and Monica DeVreese, who have closely followed and strongly supported her ultrarunning career from the beginning, “It’s such a great honor and privilege to welcome Kate to the PRO team. Not only is Kate a wonderful friend, but she’s a serious badass and probably the nicest person you’ll ever meet. But don’t be fooled by that sweet smile, this woman is such a competitor and she has really only gotten started in her career. We could not be more excited to support Kate on her journey!”
Looking ahead, Elliott is excited to return to the North Face Endurance 50 Mile race in November, where she will look to improve on her thirteenth place finish last year. Needless to say, she is also already planning for the return trip to Western States in 2019 that she earned with her top 10 result.