Western States is Not Just a Race
The WSER Foundation's latest tax filing shows four distinct programs, a growing balance sheet, and a quiet shift in how the sport's biggest race gets funded.
It’s the week of the Canyons by UTMB trail races, which means the final set of Western States Golden Tickets are up for grabs as a stacked field will compete for the last automatic entries to the Big Dance in June. And because the Canyons course overlaps quite a bit with the Western States course, Golden Ticket earners get a preview of what they’ll be in for nine weeks from now.
But Canyons isn’t the only Western States news this week. Quieter, and far less noticed, the release of the Western States Endurance Run Foundation’s Form 990 filing. As a 501(c)(3) nonprofit, the WSER Foundation has to file an annual Form 990 with the IRS, which is essentially a publicly accessible tax return.
It might seem dry, but public filings are often where you can learn the most about what’s going on inside an organization that won’t necessarily make it into a press release. So what do the numbers tell us about what the WSER Foundation, and the race itself, have been up to or where they’re going?
Not Just a Race
Most people think of Western States as an iconic, point-to-point, 100-mile foot race from Lake Tahoe to Auburn, California. Many people also know the WSER Foundation as the organization that manages and puts on Western States. Which it is, but that’s not all it is.
The most recent Form 990 filing shows it serves multiple interrelated purposes. Western States is not just a single race. Western States is an operating charity running four distinct programs year-round.
The filing itemizes four specific program investments in Part IX, the Statement of Functional Expenses:
Race Expenses ($635,934)
These are the costs related to putting on the 52nd annual Western States Endurance Run in June 2025. They include aid station supplies, permits, insurance, finisher prizes, everything else needed to deliver the race safely. There were 285 finishers with a finish rate of 77%.
Trail Preservation ($149,166)
According to Part III of the filing, the work splits across two primary initiatives:
The third year of a multi-year project with the US Forest Service to re-route and improve several miles of the Western States trail in the Granite Chief Wilderness Area1.
Annual trail work along the 100-mile course using the Foundation’s trail steward program.
Race Day Broadcast ($104,113)
Anyone who follows the live coverage of the race knows the broadcast, including follow cams and drone footage, visibly improves every June. Thanks to a recent investment in Starlink internet connections, the WSER Foundation was able to increase worldwide engagement via 31 hours of continuous livestream with more than 1.2 million global views.
The result is a broadcast that now rivals what you’d see from larger endurance properties.
Medical Research ($21,998)
The WSER Foundation sponsored two medical studies at the 2025 race.
“The interrelationship between nutritional strategies, body core temperature and gastrointestinal distress during the Western States Endurance Run.” Lois Mougin of Loughborough University, UK.
“Biomechanical workload, total energy expenditure and markers of bone health in ultrarunners competing in the 2025-2029 Western States Endurance Run.” Richard Willy of the University of Montana and the Department of Defense.
Since 2006, over 100 research papers have been produced by researchers based on studies conducted on WSER runners. No other ultrarunning race in the world has been connected to more research studies.
In total, these four programs account for $911K (~76%) of the foundation’s $1.2M in total expenses, with the rest going to staffing, operations, and overhead.
In this context, Western States is an operating charity. It’s more than a single race, but it’s not a for-profit race organization or series. It sits in between, and it has used its cultural cachet in recent years to raise funds not just to improve the race experience for runners and the broadcast for fans, but to invest in tangential areas that help push the sport forward.
A Quiet Shift in How the Money Comes In
Total revenues for the WSER Foundation were ~$1.25M, up from $1.06M in the prior year. Contributions are the primary driver, making up $897K (72%) of the fiscal year (FY) 2025 figure, with race-related revenue ($247K) and investment income ($30K) accounting for most of the rest.
Contributions are exactly what they sound like: money coming into the Foundation from third parties. These include charitable donations, gifts, grants, or payments from sponsors supporting race operations.
Total revenues climbed from ~$803K in FY 2022 up to their current high of ~$1.25M in FY 2025. But the more interesting line isn’t on the income statement, it’s on the balance sheet. Total liabilities have jumped from almost nothing in FY 2022, to ~$32K in FY 2023, to ~$481K in FY 2024, and now sit at a similarly high ~$459K in FY 2025. The filing shows this balance is almost entirely made up of deferred revenue.
To put it simply, deferred revenue is money received but not yet earned. It’s similar to when you buy a pay-per-view ticket (earned when the event happens) or an annual subscription (earned gradually over the life of the subscription). Companies, organizations, and foundations can collect money at any time, but it only becomes revenue once it’s “earned.”
For the WSER Foundation, revenue is earned in conjunction with the Western States Endurance Run each June. Any contributions made before June would be fully recognized as revenue once the race takes place. Because the Foundation’s fiscal year ends on September 30, any deferred revenue reported on the books would relate to contributions received in the months leading up to year-end that are earmarked for the following year’s race.
To be clear: what follows is my interpretation of public filings, not insider information or statements of fact.
The most likely source of deferred revenue is a contribution made in advance of the next year’s race. And the most likely candidates to make large contributions ahead of time are race sponsors. Starting in FY 2024 and continuing in FY 2025, the Foundation reported roughly $450K of contributions it had received but not yet earned.
This timing coincides with the extension of HOKA’s sponsorship of the race through 2029. It’s worth noting that all WSER Golden Ticket races are also HOKA-sponsored events. I can’t confirm these things are related, but it would make sense that as part of this renewed partnership, the parties agreed to an accelerated payment structure and to exclusive Golden Ticket race sponsorship.
It’s possible the new deferred revenue balance is simply a timing difference (contributions that were previously received just after September 30 are now received just before). But the simplest explanation is that a meaningful portion of WSER’s sponsorship revenue is now arriving earlier than it used to2.
I’m not pointing this out as a “gotcha.” In fact, it makes a ton of sense for races to receive sponsorship payments as early as possible. Not only do these contributions help fund the race they are sponsoring, but in the WSER Foundation’s case, they also provide additional working capital to help fund other initiatives. As a non-profit, the Foundation isn’t designed to generate profit. It relies on contributions to fund operations.
And the WSER Foundation is making good use of these funds. Publicly traded securities on the balance sheet went from $0 in FY 2023, to $423K in FY 2024, to $458K in FY 2025. Investment income also tripled during the same period, from $10K in FY 2023 to $31K in FY 2025. These contributions aren’t just sitting in a checking account, they’re earning yield while WSER waits to deploy them.
If this read is right, it’s a subtle but interesting shift. Sponsor cash arrives earlier, providing working capital to help fund strategic initiatives alongside race day operations.
What Does This Mean for Trail Running?
What does this mean going forward for the sport more broadly?
If my interpretation is correct, HOKA’s 2024 extension bought something more than just rights and signage. It bought a financial partnership structure that lets WSER invest in longer-horizon programs (trail preservation, medical research, broadcast infrastructure) without being constrained by working capital. If this wasn’t explicitly part of the agreement, the timing of contributions allows the Foundation to more effectively use the funds for those purposes.
Not all race orgs are nonprofits, but the model points to a new template for how races and sponsors could work together, one that’s strategic and mutually beneficial. The only question is where else this makes sense. UTMB likely has the platform leverage to demand this from sponsors (if they aren’t already), but they’re also a for-profit organization that generates working capital from multiple revenue streams. Smaller race organizations would likely benefit from a similar structure, but do they have the leverage to demand upfront payments from sponsors well ahead of race day?
At the very least, it’s worth watching. As the sport scales, the trail economy will need new ways for sponsors and races to work together, and WSER may have just shown one of them.
The Aid Station
Miscellaneous quick hits. Trail style. Actionable, digestible, essential.
🔥 SATISFY Secures Trail Running’s Biggest Free Agent
Arguably the biggest news of the week was the official announcement that Molly Seidel has joined SATISFY’s pro team. Some saw this as a surprising move, and maybe it was in a vacuum, but she’s raved about SATISFY in recent interviews and the punk rock vibe fits this new chapter that sees her charting her own path on the trails.
Freetrail and Singletrack already covered most of the details in their respective interviews (linked below), but one thing I found most interesting: the deal leaves Molly independent on shoes. She’s already tested On at the Bandera 50K, the ACG Ultraflys at Black Canyon 100K, and will be experimenting with the adidas TERREX Agravic Speed 2s for Canyons 50K.
🎫 Canyons 100K Storylines
Six Golden Tickets are on the line at the Canyons 100K this Saturday. The field features Western States hopefuls like former champion Adam Peterman, Zach Miller, Hayden Hawks, Riley Brady, Lin Chen, and many more. Might we see another epic battle between Miller and Hawks (a la TNF 50 Mile)? Can Riley Brady and Lin Chen get back into Western States? Or will breakthrough performances rule the day?
Singletrack recorded a great preview and prediction episode. Make sure to check it out and get your Fantasy Freetrail picks in!
🙏 “Next step, next breath” by Andrew Vontz
I met Andrew almost 10 years ago when we overlapped at Strava. I was on the Finance team and he led PR and Comms. I’ve always appreciated his uniquely optimistic, matter-of-fact, no-excuses personality.
One time we had a work volunteer event at a nearby recreation area and were split into groups. Some were assigned to trail work. Others helped with plants and vegetation. Andrew and I were in the deck blasting group. Our job was to take a long metal rod and wedge it in between the wood pieces of the boardwalk, jamming it up and down and side to side, to clear out the dirt and debris. It was one of the most boring things you can imagine, but Andrew made it fun and brought needed perspective. Clearing the debris was a necessary and important job that someone had to do. It was honest work, and sometimes in life you have to blast the decks. I was inspired by the way he approached such a mundane task.
I continue to be inspired by him during what has been a challenging stretch for him and his family. From his recent article, which I highly recommend:
“Whatever the protocol was, I was doing it, and I am getting cured.
That’s the only outcome.
How we get there is how we get there.”
This sentiment applies to all of us. One mile at a time. One step at a time. One breath at a time. Sometimes in life you have to blast the decks.
How you get there is how you get there. ❤️
This area is a federally designated Wilderness Area and the piece of the WSER permitting process that caps the entries at 369 (same as it was the year the land was given that designation). There’s some belief that the race entry cap may increase once this re-route is complete, but TBD.
It’s not possible to confirm this in HOKA’s public filings, since they are a part of the Decker’s conglomerate and a several-hundred-thousand-dollar contribution would not be material enough to warrant specific discussion in Decker’s financials.
" It’s worth noting that all WSER Golden Ticket races are also HOKA-sponsored events. I can’t confirm these things are related, but it would make sense that as part of this renewed partnership, the parties agreed to an accelerated payment structure and to exclusive Golden Ticket race sponsorship."
Dylan Bowman has said the board gets to choose the races Hoka tells them they can pick from.
The most impactful position in North American ultras was sold to an apparel conglomerate.
I wish all trail runners would look at the cost of the race and the number of runners and recognize how critical commercial partnerships are to the health of headline events.