Hardrock 100 preview: will Courtney Dauwalter do it once more?

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The Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run (HR100), identified for its excessive altitude, deep elite area and difficult entry course of, begins Friday at 8:00 a.m. E.T. This 12 months’s occasion, the primary ever to be live-streamed, guarantees to be a thriller. Runners will encounter over 10,000 metres of elevation acquire whereas dealing with excessive climate circumstances, navigating treacherous terrain and making an attempt to keep away from altitude illness.

Solely 140 members get to line up at Hardrock every year, and this 12 months’s contenders embrace the outstanding Courtney Dauwalter, recent off a jaw-dropping efficiency and course report on the Western States 100, and different well-known elites. The race will likely be live-streamed on the Run Steep Get Excessive YouTube channel. Right here’s what you must know to observe alongside.

HR100 each begins and ends in Silverton, Co., and athletes are above 3,300 metres elevation for a lot of the race. It was based in 1992 as a tribute to the miners who used to observe “their mules and instincts, prospecting the San Juans for gold, silver, and different metals,” the race web site explains. 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 transferring counter-clockwise across the looped course.

The ladies’s race

All eyes are on the exceptional Dauwalter this 12 months (however when are they not?) after a surprising efficiency three weeks in the past at Western States, the place she set a blistering new course report (78 minutes quicker than Canadian Ellie Greenwood’s from 2012) and positioned fifth total. Canada’s Stephanie Case, who was second final 12 months, has withdrawn from this 12 months’s occasion. 60-year-old legendary extremely machine Pam Reed of Jackson Gap, Wyo., will likely be tackling the third a part of her WSER/Badwater 135/HR100 triple this 12 months.

Leadville, Colo.-based Dauwalter holds the course report for HR100 within the clockwise course (26:44) from 2022; this 12 months runners will transfer counter-clockwise, and that course report is 27:18 for girls, set by Diana Finkel in 2009, and Dauwalter will most actually be seeking to problem that point. Will her legs be drained? Will she win your entire factor? We are able to’t wait to search out out.

Additionally from Leadville, 23-year-old path phenom Annie Hughes received the Run Rabbit Run 100-Miler and Excessive Lonesome 100 Mile in 2022, and the Leadville 100 Mile in 2021. She’s a high-altitude ultrarunning champ, and has additionally compiled some wins in actually lengthy races–she received the Cocodona 250 Mile in 2022 and Moab 240 in 2021.

For those who haven’t heard of France’s Claire Bannwarth, it’s time to brush up: she was the primary lady within the 432-kilometre 2022 Winter Backbone Race (by greater than 24 hours), and will likely be making her North American racing debut at HR100. Bannwarth races prolifically and runs lengthy–she will likely be leaping into the Tahoe 200 Mile race per week after HR100.

Claire Bannwarth 2023 Montane Spine Race
Claire Bannwarth  Picture: Montane Backbone Race

Colorado’s Darcy Piceu, recent off the waitlist, is a veteran of HR 100, with the 2023 version being her tenth working. Piceu boasts three wins and 5 second-place finishes, and she or he was fourth in 2022.

The boys’s race

With Kilian Jornet, final 12 months’s winner (and course report holder within the clockwise course) not returning this 12 months, the rostrum appears up for grabs. Not one of the different prime 4 males from 2022 will likely be headed to the San Juans, however a really achieved group of athletes will likely be lining up and followers will likely be wanting to see who holds as much as the HR100 check.

Ohio’s Arlen Glick is a grasp of the 100-mile distance, working 12:57 to win the Umstead 100-miler in April and taking a speedy third at October’s Javelina 100. Like Dauwalter, Glick raced at WSER final month. He positioned 14th, whereas he took third in 2022. Glick will likely be a scorching contender and interesting to look at at HR100.

California-based Dylan Bowman is a Hardrock veteran, putting second on the 2021 version. Bowman has had a decrease racing profile previously 12 months whereas engaged on Freetrail, a media enterprise and path working neighborhood. He’s been coaching within the San Juans pre-race and is raring to showcase his potential.

 

France’s Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz has over 10 years of ultrarunning success, however gained notoriety in 2021 when he took second at UTMB and received Spain’s Transgrancanaria. He missed the 2022 version of HR100 for the beginning of his baby and is a favorite in his debut this 12 months.

Oregon-based path working legend Jeff Browning will likely be taking up his sixth Hardrock at age 51. Browning received in 2018, and completed fifth the previous two years. In October, Browning received the Moab 240 in 57 hours, and extra not too long ago, he showcased his health by successful the Bighorn 100.

Beginning at 8:00 AM E.T. on Friday, followers can tune in in quite a lot of methods. Observe your favorite runners by GPS location on this interactive map with all of the stats, or watch runners on the livestream, right here. For those who’re simply inquisitive about following splits, try this web site.

BONUS: Watch John Kelly, of Barkley Marathons and FKT fame, run the 2022 Hardrock 100:

 



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