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Meet the Mammoths — Sarah Ostaszewski: From Crewing the Storm to Racing It Herself
Today's guest has won Cocodona 250, won Moab 240, and won Ouray 100 twice. This year, after a decade in the Western States lottery, she finally toed the line and came home with a sub-24-hour silver buckle. She's one of the most accomplished names in the sport — and this October, she's racing a course she's never touched.
Sarah Ostaszewski wasn't a stranger to the Mammoth 200 before signing up herself — she crewed and paced her friend Michael Robertson through the inaugural race last year, including a stretch that got hit by a full-blown storm with two separate lightning holds on the mountain. She talks about what that day taught her about the course, why she signed up to actually race it herself this time, and how she thinks about competing in an era where course records keep getting rewritten within a year or two of anyone setting them.
We also get into her post–Western States headspace, what she tells her own coached athletes before their first 200-mile race, and — a series first — a guest who didn't do her homework. Sarah's virtual Mammoth 200 game time is still pending, and we'll update the show notes once she submits it late.
In this episode:
- Crewing a storm-hit inaugural Mammoth 200 in 2025, and what made her want to race it herselfCompeting in a sport where the record books keep moving under everyone's feetFinally getting off the Western States waitlist after ten years, and the "chapter closing" feeling that came with itAdvice she gives her own athletes before their first 200 — and whether she follows it herselfA homework assignment gone late, and a tentative yes to the Mammoth Basketball AssociationHer prediction for race week: expect another storm
Mammoth 200 kicks off Friday, October 2nd in Mammoth Lakes, California — 214 miles around a 760,000-year-old caldera. Catch live coverage on the Mountain Outpost YouTube channel, and follow @Mammoth200 for updates and tracking throughout the race.