Building a Better Ultra with Wes Plate

Wes Plate returns to HappyCast with plenty to catch up on, starting with a completely different kind of ultrarunning adventure: the 314-mile Vol State Road Race. With no crew, no pacers, no traditional aid stations and miles of Tennessee heat and humidity ahead of him, Wes found himself more nervous before a race than he had been in years. He shares what it was like stepping outside his familiar world of trail 200s, relying on gas stations and community “angel stations,” meeting people along the way and discovering why journey running has become the latest thing he can’t get out of his head.

The conversation heads back to Montana for year two of the Copper Kings 100, including the wild unofficial 200-mile version completed by Doug Watson, Drew Watson and Audra Rundle. Wes also takes us behind the scenes of the technology he’s building to make races run more smoothly—from real-time aid station check-ins and runner updates to an automated live stream that follows the action around the course. Copper Kings continues to grow, with plans for a 200-runner field in 2027 and some major news: the race will officially become a Western States qualifier.

Then Wes introduces Ultra Crew Companion, the app he originally built after seeing how difficult it can be for crews to manage constantly changing pace charts during an ultra. The app can update projected arrival times as a race unfolds, integrate tracking information, sync between crew members, work offline and even import a runner’s existing race plan from a photo using AI. What started as another problem Wes wanted to solve is quickly becoming something much bigger—and another example of how his worlds of ultrarunning, race directing, software development and creativity continue to collide.

Copper Kings 100
https://copperkings100.com

Montana Endurance Trail Foundation
https://mtetf.org/donate

Ultra Crew Companion
https://www.racecommand.run/crew-companion

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