2008 will go down in the annals of the Western States Endurance as the year of smoke as thick as fog and fires dangerously close to the trail caused by a freak, dry-lightning storm.

Safety and health concerns shut this year’s race down but there have been other occasions where organizers have been involved in heavy soul searching.

On three runs – 1983, 1995 and 1998 – the snow was so deep and stretched so far along the course that the route had to be shifted.

In 1983, snow blanketed the first 24 miles of the 100-mile route. With drifts as high as 20 feet, the route was shifted and leader Jim King led more than 30 runners away from the course after taking a wrong turn in the white stuff. King would get back on the trail in time to make a heart-stopper out of the finish, losing over the final half mile to Jim Howard.

The next big snow year for the Western States 100 came 12 years later, when a snowstorm a week before the run added to a record Sierra snowfall. Runners followed the 1983 detour through the snow and then dropped into scorching 107-degree heat in the canyons.

1998 was as challenging, with ice and snow driving organizers to use the detour for the first miles of the long run for a third time.

But the run has never encountered fire and smoke. The response to the unprecedented decision to call off the ultramarathon has purportedly been met with near-universal understanding, even from runners who had devoted a massive chunk of time for training and a huge cash outlay to travel to Placer County from points throughout the United States and around the world.

This year’s roster included runners from Japan, Tanzania, Scotland, France, Singapore, Mexico, Italy, Sweden, Norway, England, Australia and Canada.

While there will be no buckles from 2008, all the 370 runners on what have been Saturday’s start list from Squaw Valley will be given automatic entry next year, the run’s board announced Friday.

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This is the sixth post in a Media Life: Etc. blog by the Auburn Journal's Gus Thomson, designed to serve as a continuum of the Media Life column that appears Fridays in the Auburn Journal. The column is also posted on the Journal Website on Thursdays. This week's column features Auburn guitar player Leigh Shepherd discussing the making of Blue Cheer’s “Summertime Blues” and news about a new book from Auburn racecar driver Scott Pruett. The link is http://auburnjournal.com/detail/87529.html.