The 2023 Hardrock 100 kicks off on Friday, July 14 with the 146 fortunate runners having 48 hours to finish the mountainous loop by way of Colorado’s San Juan Mountains. Beginning in tiny Silverton, the route alternates route yearly with this yr headed counterclockwise towards Lake Metropolis, onward to Ouray and Telluride, earlier than returning to Silverton.
Alongside the way in which, the runners will climb greater than 33,000 ft (10,000 meters) at a median elevation of roughly 11,000 ft (3,350 meters) and a excessive level of 14,058 ft (4,284 meters). With some small adjustments for the reason that final counterclockwise occasion in 2021, the course will run about six tenths of a mile longer, at 102.5 miles.
The winter of 2022-2023 was variety to the San Juan Mountains, depositing a lot wanted moisture within the type of unusually excessive snow volumes. Not like the final two years, which have seen virtually dry course situations, this yr’s course will characteristic residual snow up excessive, lengthy transition zones of moist and muddy path within the center elevations, and dry course at its decrease elevations. Whereas the diploma to which runners will expertise snow and dirt nonetheless is dependent upon how a lot snow melts by race day, we are able to say with certainty that the course will run fairly otherwise than lately.
If we’re speaking about this yr’s Hardrock, I suppose we should always begin with final yr’s ladies’s champ Courtney Dauwalter who simply smashed the Western States 100 course document and will probably be again at Hardrock lower than three weeks later. If anybody can problem her on the ladies’s aspect, it’ll be excessive altitude, long-ultra specialist Annie Hughes or France’s Anne-Lise Rousset Séguret.
The boys’s area is huge open this yr with final yr’s fifth-place man, Jeff Browning, the highest returnee. Trying a yr additional again, 2021 runner-up Dylan Bowman is again, whereas six Hardrock debutants — Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz and Beñat Marmissolle of France, Javier Dominguez of Spain, Avery Collins of Silverton, Ohio’s Arlen Glick, and Utah’s Mark Hammond — might all problem for the rostrum.
The ladies’s counterclockwise course document stays Diana Finkel’s time of 27:18:24 from 2009, whereas François D’Haene holds the boys’s counterclockwise document of 21:45:50 from the final counterclockwise operating in 2021. Each of the general course data had been set within the clockwise route final yr with Courtney Dauwalter operating 26:44:36 and Kilian Jornet operating 21:36:24.
A particular because of HOKA for making our protection of the Hardrock 100 potential!
Thanks additionally to LEKI for its assist of our Hardrock protection.
Forward of the race, we’ll publish interviews with among the race favorites and, in fact, we’ll be overlaying the race stay beginning at 6 a.m. Mountain Daylight Time on Friday, July 14. Take pleasure in!
Courtney Dauwalter successful and setting a course document on the 2022 Hardrock 100 after DNFing the earlier yr’s occasion as a result of abdomen points. Picture: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
2023 Hardrock 100 Ladies’s Preview
On the prime of this yr’s ladies’s area we’ve acquired a pair of runners from Leadville, Colorado — Courtney Dauwalter and Annie Hughes — and one other pair from France — Anne-Lise Rousset Séguret and Claire Bannwarth. Examine them and the opposite ladies to be careful for under.
Prime Ladies
Courtney Dauwalter
So, yeah, Courtney Dauwalter … that Courtney Dauwalter is operating Hardrock once more this yr. After her enormous course document run on the Western States 100 final month and following her course-record-setting run at Hardrock final yr, she’s acquired to be the clear favourite within the ladies’s race. Regardless of being the odds-on favourite, there are two issues that might preserve her from being a certain factor. First, effectively, she did simply run a 78-minute ladies’s course document on the Western States 100, so fatigue or harm might catch as much as her. Second, something can occur, as illustrated when an harm took her out of the Western States 100 in 2019 and abdomen points stopped her at Hardrock in 2021. However, Dauwalter additionally has the benefit of being the one contender for the ladies’s win who’s beforehand run the race.
Annie Hughes
And if there’s a ladies’s specialist at excessive altitude 100 milers, it’s Leadville, Colorado’s Annie Hughes, who received the Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile and Excessive Lonesome 100 Mile in 2022 and the Leadville 100 Mile in 2021. Seeing Annie run seemingly effortlessly at excessive altitude is a deal with. Whereas Hardrock’s longer time-wise than the opposite 100 milers Hughes has received, she additionally received 2022 Cocodona 250 Mile and 2021 Moab 240 Mile, so the additional time on ft shouldn’t be a difficulty. To this point this yr, Hughes has received the 50-mile races at Behind the Rocks and Bighorn and brought third on the Canyons 100 Mile.
Anne-Lise Rousset Séguret
Over the previous decade of operating path ultramarathons, France’s Anne-Lise Rousset Séguret has earned numerous victories. Nevertheless, the overwhelming majority of her racing has come at roughly 50 miles and shorter. Nonetheless, Rousset did win the CCC in 2014 and took fourth on the race in 2018. So far as I can inform, she made her 100-mile-race debut final yr, the place she took second on the Diagonale des Fous, greater than 4 hours behind Dauwalter. That mentioned, earlier in 2022 she set a pace document on Corsica’s GR20, operating its 170 kilometers with 12,700 meters of climb in 35:50. She’ll even have spent three weeks within the San Juans by race day.
If Rousset is the shorter-ultra specialist of the French ladies on this yr’s Hardrock, then Claire Bannwarth is the longer-ultra specialist. As far a I can inform, she went straight from her first extremely in 2016 to operating a 109-mile race as her second extremely. An especially frequent racer, since this time final yr, she’s run at the least 5 100 milers, 4 races between 187 and 261 miles, and a four-day, 305-kilometer stage race in the midst of final month. Amongst her prime current performances are a win at the least yr’s Kullamannen 100 Mile, a win at this yr’s Winter Backbone Race, and a seventh at this yr’s Transgrancanaria.
Trying throughout the Pacific Ocean, Japan’s Kimino Miyazaki also needs to be a prime contender. She’s actually taken to 100 milers over the previous three years, lining up for at the least three 100 milers every year. Highlights from every year embrace taking second on the 2021 Doi Inthanon 100 Mile, successful the 2022 Extremely-Path Mt. Fuji, and taking second at this yr’s Tarawera 100 Mile. She was second on the 2018 Hasetsune Cup.
Darla Askew
Of the ladies’s prime contenders (with Darcy Piceu nonetheless on the waitlist), Oregon’s Darla Askew brings essentially the most Hardrock expertise to the beginning line, with six finishes, most lately taking third in 2018. Final yr, she received the Pine to Palm 100 Mile.
Extra Ladies to Watch
- Becky Bates (Canada) – fifth 2017 Hardrock 100; eighth 2022 Excessive Lonesome 100 Mile; tenth 2021 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile
- Christina Bauer — third 2019 Excessive Lonesome 100 Mile; 2nd 2023 Crown King 50k
- Rachel Kelley – sixteenth 2019 & twenty first 2018 Western States 100
- Dana Kracaw – fifth 2021 IMTUF 100 Mile; twenty fourth 2022 TDS
- Whitney Mickelson – fifth 2022 Swiss Alps 100 Mile; eighth 2021 Wasatch 100 Mile; 4th 2020 IMTUF 100 Mile
Ladies with a Likelihood for Final Minute Entry
- Darcy Piceu (1st Completed waitlist) – 9-time Hardrock 100 finisher with 3 wins, a 2nd in 2021, and 4th in 2022
- Christi Richards (1st By no means waitlist) – 1st 2021 & 2nd 2019 IMTUF 100 Mile; 1st 2018 Canadian Demise Race
Notable Withdrawals
2023 Hardrock 100 Males’s Preview
Not one of the first 4 males’s finishers from final yr’s Hardrock 100 will probably be again this yr. Nevertheless, into that void step an attention-grabbing combine of some runners with Hardrock expertise and much more with out it. With these runners coming to Silverton from around the globe with a mixture of strengths, it’ll be fascinating to see who comes out on prime this yr.
Dylan Bowman operating by way of Maggie Gulch on his option to ending second on the 2021 Hardrock 100. Picture: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
Prime Males
Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz
France’s Aurélien Dunand-Pallaz was to make his Hardrock debut final yr, however skipped the race for the delivery of his household’s first baby. He’ll get the possibility to make that debut this yr as one of many favorites to win. Whereas Dunand-Pallaz has a decade of ultrarunning success, he made an enormous leap ahead in 2021 when he received Transgrancanaria, took second at UTMB, and was third at Extremely Pirineu. Each final Might and this Might he was second on the 54-mile race at MaXi-Race Annecy, whereas he DNFed UTMB final yr.
Since Dunand-Pallaz’s second place at UTMB 2021, fellow Frenchman Beñat Marmissolle might need the very best large mountain extremely outcomes of this yr’s males’s area. In 2021 he was third on the Diagonale des Fous earlier than successful the race final October. Final yr, he was additionally sixth at UTMB whereas successful extra ultras in France. Whereas Marmissolle’s a critical contender for the win, he’s acquired much less expertise at longer ultras than lots of his opponents, having solely gotten into 100-kilometer-and-longer races over the previous two years. However, he’s made the funding of spending a month out within the San Juans forward of the race.
Dylan Bowman
Expertise counts for lots in ultramarathons and that’s actually the case at Hardrock. Luckily for Dylan Bowman, he comes into this race with a second-place end at Hardrock in 2021, the final time the race was run on this route. Since then, he’s run effectively at a pair native races and brought seventh at Extremely Pirineu final yr. He might stay in California’s Bay Space nowadays, however he’s been out in Silverton, coaching for some three weeks forward of race day.
Even deeper into the expertise class, we’ve acquired Jeff Browning, who’s acquired 5 Hardrock finishes, together with taking fifth the previous two years and successful simply 5 years in the past in 2018. Final October, Browning received the Moab 240 Mile in 57 hours.
Javi Dominguez
Whereas this will probably be Javier Dominguez’s first Hardrock, the Spaniard has 100-mile expertise that rivals Jeff Browning’s. At UTMB, he’s been twentieth in 2021, ninth in 2019, tenth in 2018, and fifth in 2016. He’s received the Ehunmilak 100 Mile in Basque Nation 5 instances, together with final yr. He received the Tor des Géants in 2017. You get the concept. Apart from watching Dominguez within the total area, it’ll be enjoyable watching him at 48 years outdated race the 51-year-old Browning for the quickest masters runner.
Though he’s escaped Silverton’s loooong winter of 2022-2023 to coach quite a few instances, Silverton native Avery Collins is 100% acclimated to life on the village’s altitude of 9,318 ft and has put in loads of vert on the native trails forward of his Hardrock debut. Whereas he doesn’t have the big-race podium finishes of the blokes above him (nor these under him) on this preview, he was fifth finally yr’s Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile, eleventh on the 2021 Madeira Island Extremely-Path, and fifteenth on the 2021 CCC.
Arlen Glick
It’s fairly doubtless that Ohio’s Arlen Glick is the quickest 100 miler on this yr’s Hardrock area. Certainly, his resume of stunningly quick 100 milers on flatter programs is just too lengthy to listing right here, however, lately, he ran 13:25 to take third finally October’s Javelina 100 Mile and 12:57 in successful the Umstead 100 Mile this April. Over the previous yr, Glick’s seen success transferring to reasonably mountainous 100 milers, taking third finally yr’s Western States 100 and second finally yr’s Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile, without having his finest day in inserting 14th finally month’s Western States 100. At Hardrock, he’ll have two large hurdles to beat, bouncing again from racing the Western States 100 in lower than three weeks and operating what might be seen as his first large mountain 100 miler. The mixture of these two components is greater than additive. All this makes him one of the crucial intriguing runners on this yr’s race.
Utah’s Mark Hammond comes into Hardrock for the primary day off the waitlist. Just a few years in the past, he’d be a pair spots increased on the listing, as he positioned third, third, and fifth the Western States 100 from 2017 by way of 2019 and took second on the Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile in each 2017 and 2018. Extra lately, he was fifth on the 2021 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile whereas successful the Jackpot 100 Mile in 2020 and taking fifth final yr. Over the previous yr or so, he’s not fairly raced as much as his prior requirements, however there can all the time be unknown mitigating components there. If he’s skilled effectively and he’s on, he might problem for the rostrum.
Extra Males to Watch
- Ryan Burch – 4th 2023 Quad Rock 50 Mile; third 2018 Bighorn 52 Mile; third 2018 By no means Summer time 100k
- Brian Culmo – 2nd 2022 Hellgate 100k; 2nd 2021 Bear 100 Mile; 1st 2021 Squaw Peak 50 Mile
- Yassine Diboun – sixth 2022 Mogollon Monster 100 Mile; 4th 2022 White River 50 Mile
- Jakub Galczynski – 2nd 2021 IMTUF 100 Mile; third 2020, twelfth 2019, & seventh 2017 Bear 100 Mile
- Jesse Haynes – 1st 2023 SAMO 100 Mile; 2nd 2022 & 2023 Leona Divide 100k; 1st 2022 Sean O’Brien 100k; third 2019 Bigfoot 200 Mile
- Chad Lasater – 2nd 2022 Desert Solstice 100 Mile; 4th 2022 Vermont 100 Mile; 1st 2022 Previous Dominion 100 Mile; twenty sixth 2022 Leadville 100 Mile
- Michael Owen – 1st 2018 Grindstone 100 Mile; 1st 2023, 2022, 2021, 2019 & 2017 Promised Land 50k; third 2016, 4th 2019 & 2nd 2017 JFK 50 Mile
- Chris Worth – third 2022 Bigfoot 200 Mile; 1st 2019 Tahoe Rim Path 100 Mile; 4th 2015 Hardrock 100
- Sam Ritchie – 4th 2021 Excessive Lonesome 100 Mile; 2nd 2016 IMTUF 100 Mile
- Paul Terranova – 4th 2022 Bighorn 100 Mile; third 2021 Bear 100 Mile; third 2021 Excessive Lonesome 100 Mile; Nolan’s 14 finisher
- Michael Wardian – twenty fifth 2021 & tenth 2018 Hardrock 100
Males with a Likelihood for Final Minute Entry
- Masazumi Fujioka (2nd By no means waitlist) – sixth 2022 Damage 100 Mile; 1st 2022 Orcas Island 50k; 1st 2022 Lumberjack 50 Mile
Notable Withdrawals
Name for Feedback
- Who do you suppose would be the first girl and first man to complete?
- Who do you suppose will shock everybody at this yr’s Hardrock?
- How do you suppose this yr’s snowy and muddy course situations will have an effect on the competitors and ending instances?
Jeff Browning on his option to his fifth Hardrock 100 end in 2022. Picture: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
