The Hardrock 100 starts on Friday, with runners setting off from the tiny mountain town of Silverton in southwest Colorado. The year’s race is headlined by trail superstar Courtney Dauwalter. Fresh off demolishing the women’s course record at Western States less than three weeks ago, Dauwalter has her eyes set on (another) Hardrock victory.
She’s undoubtedly in peak form—but Hardrock is a beast. The 102.5-mile course sits at an average elevation of over 11,000 feet, with 33,197 feet of climbing through the mud, snow, and dusty dirt of the San Juan Mountains.
Here’s what you need to know for this weekend.
How to Watch:
The Hardrock 100 Endurance Run will be live-streamed, for free, on the Run Steep Get High YouTube channel. Coverage starts at 7 a.m. ET on Friday, July 14 and will continue through Sunday, July 16.
Note: Because of YouTube live stream time limits, Run Steep Get High is dividing their coverage into eight streams throughout the weekend, which can all be found here.
The majority of coverage will be via aid stations and the finish line. Make sure to chime in with your thoughts in the chat!
Who to Watch
Courtney Dauwalter already owns the women’s course record (26 hours, 44 minutes, 36 seconds), which she set last year. But Hardrock alternates the direction of its circular course every year, so she’ll have her eyes set on Diana Finkel’s “clockwise” record from 2009 of 27:18:24. Kilian Jornet set the men’s course record last year as well (21:36:24), although he’s not in the field this year. The majority of runners will be trying to make the 48-hour cutoff time.
In addition to the high altitude and treacherous terrain, Hardrock is known for its intensely competitive lottery—it’s a mammoth feat just to get in. The race routinely receives over 2,000 applicants, and via a lottery, organizers whittled it down to just 146 runners this year.
The whole lottery system is frankly pretty confusing. For example, Darcy Piceu just got off the waitlist on Monday and she’s won the race three times! She’ll shoot for her 10th finish. The race has also recently introduced new efforts to be more inclusive, especially to women, but female athletes only make up 19 percent of the field this year.
Okay, back to the contenders: In addition to Dauwalter, look out for Annie Hughes—the winner of the 2021 Leadville 100 and 2022 Cocodona 250—as well as Anne-Lise Rousset Séguret (who was second to Dauwalter at an October 100-miler) and the veteran Piceu.
The men’s race is a tossup. At 51, Jeff Browning is as consistent and experienced as they come, but he’ll be pushed by 2021 runner-up Dylan Bowman, France’s Aurelian Dunand-Pallaz and Spain’s Javier Dominguez (also a masters runner at 48 years old).
Theo Kahler is the news editor at Runner’s World. He’s a former all-conference collegiate runner at Winthrop University, and he received his master’s degree in liberal arts studies from Wake Forest University, where he was a member of one of the top distance-running teams in the NCAA. Kahler has reported on the ground at major events such as the Paris Olympics, U.S. Olympic Trials, New York City Marathon, and Boston Marathon. He’s run 14:20 in the 5K, 1:05:36 in the half marathon, and enjoys spotting tracks from the sky on airplanes. (Look for colorful ovals around football fields.)
