Town Bills Itself as ‘Endurance Capital’

This Gold Rush town straddling Interstate 80 between San Francisco and Lake Tahoe wants visitors to start thinking of it as the place where individuals persevere over great distances despite blistered feet and blistering hot days, twisted ankles, rattlesnakes and the occasional mountain lion.

Auburn is home to the Tevis Cup 100-mile endurance ride, Western States 100-mile endurance run, World’s Toughest Half Triathlon and World’s Toughest Mountain Bike Ride.

As a result, Auburn is now billing itself as “the endurance capital of the world.”

A Saturday celebration of that claim will feature ultra-marathon and triathlon athletes, including current Western States champion Scott Jurek and race creator Gordy Ainsleigh.

Ainsleigh told the Auburn Journal that he remembers his first 100-mile ride as “the most extreme experience of exquisite pain and exquisite beauty one could ever imagine.”