It’s virtually Hardrock 100 (HR100) weekend, and followers are gearing as much as tune in for doubtlessly record-destroying appearances from Colorado-based Courtney Dauwalter and France’s François D’Haene, each hoping to say one other win within the legendary 102.5 mile occasion. The race, which accepts solely 140 runners annually and is notoriously exhausting to get into, will probably be broadcast on a livestream; right here’s what you might want to know to observe alongside.
Ladies’s race
Dauwalter holds the course information for each the clockwise path (26:44:36 from 2022) and the counter-clockwise path (26:14:08 from 2023). In 2023 she managed to win Western States 100, HR100 and UTMB, one thing no athlete has ever achieved. In 2024, she has already taken dominant wins at Transgrancanaria within the Canary Islands and Mt. Fuji 100 in Japan, the place she was additionally third total.
This 12 months, she’ll be going through off towards France’s Camille Bruyas (who was second at Diagonale des Fous on Reunion Island in October and took second at UTMB in 2021) and Katharina Harmuth of Germany, who was runner-up at UTMB final 12 months and will probably be tackling Hardrock for the primary time. Bruyas will probably be paced by Canadian ultrarunner Marianne Hogan. American runner Tara Dower may also be making her debut look on the race, contemporary off an total win on the Umstead 100-miler, held in April in North Carolina.
French runner Claire Bannwarth, recognized for her prolific racing (28 races in 2023), took fifth place within the 2023 version of HR100, however raced Quebec Mega Path (held at Quebec’s Monte St. Anne ski resort) final weekend, and struggled after tearing her addcutor two months in the past. “On one leg and never acclimated, the objective may also be to complete as slowly as potential,” Bannwarth posted on Instagram.
Males’s race
The quickest males’s time for the clockwise route was set in 2022 by Spain’s Kilian Jornet (21:36:24), whereas the counter-clockwise report is held by D’Haene (21:45:50 from 2021), who’s the clear favorite on this 12 months’s race. The French ultrarunning legend has received quite a few prestigious races, and in addition completed second at HR100 to Jornet in 2022, so holds two of the quickest occasions on the course.
U.S. runner Zach Miller, who positioned second at UTMB in 2023, was thought-about a prime contender till he unexpectedly developed acute appendicitis final week and needed to have surgical procedure. “…it’s wanting like I’ll almost certainly be extra donut maker than Hardrock racer subsequent weekend,” he posted on Instagram. D’Haene’s countryman, Ludovic Pommeret, 48, can also problem D’Haene, after taking fourth (fifth total, after Dauwalter) at UTMB in 2023, and successful the TDS (145K) race at UTMB in 2022. Fellow legendary masters runner Karl Meltzer, 56, of the the U.S., will probably be toeing the road, in addition to 2016 HR100 champion Jason Schlarb (46), additionally of the U.S.
HR100 was first held in 1992, and was based as a tribute to the tenacity of the Hardrock miners who as soon as labored within the rugged mountains of Colorado, and used to observe “their mules and instincts, prospecting the San Juans for gold, silver, and different metals,” the race web site explains. HR100 each begins and ends in Silverton, Co., and athletes are above 3,300 metres elevation for a lot of the race. With a ending cutoff time of 48 hours, athletes know they’re in for a protracted haul. The course switches instructions yearly, and this 12 months runners are shifting in a clockwise path across the looped course.
Followers can watch the livestreamed occasion right here, starting at 8 am E.T. on Friday, take a look at dwell assist station splits right here or livetrack (dot watch) HR 100 by clicking right here,
