My husband ran the Eastern States 100 as his first 100 mile attempt. We knew the course was very difficult as far as the technicality of the terrain and elevations (around 20000) feet. He was prepared as he had done several extremely difficult ultras leading up to it. The course itself was beautfiul and definitely lived up to it's reputation. Some sections could be quite dangerous especially at night. Very easy to fall off a cliff into the creek. Also if you are afraid of bears or rattle snakes, don't run this race! Due to the remote nature of the course, crews can only access certain aid stations. Pacers are allowed starting at mile 40. Aid stations were hit or miss as far as how well they were stocked. Most of them were great for the front of the pack howeve some ran out of things by the time midpackers came around. The course is definitely much longer than the 100.8 miles they advertise, closer to 107-108 miles. Also the distances they list between aid stations are not all correct. There were many that were much longer than what they stated. The cutoffs are not generous which led to a 30% finish rate. I think this has great potential to become a great 100 miler however only if they make some changes. Here are my and my husband's blog posts:

http://runningmarathonmom.blogspot.com/2015/08/eastern-states-100-crewingpacing.html

http://www.japodrunner.com/2015/08/eastern-states-100-dnf.html