3 min readA runner entered in the Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run in southwestern Colorado died early Friday morning while participating in the event.
The run began at 6 a.m. in Silverton, Colorado with 146 participants. The San Juan County Sheriff’s Office and the Silverton Medical Rescue team received a Search and Rescue call about an unknown medical reason at Little Giant Basin near Gold Lake and responded to the scene. She was 2.8 miles from the first aid station.
Elaine Stypula, a 60-year-old runner from Farmington Hills, Michigan, was pronounced dead at 10:27 a.m. MT by the San Juan County Colorado Coroner’s Office.
At 8:50 a.m., Stypula’s race tracker showed her last known position to be about 6.3 miles into the event, moving slowly up a very steep trail in Little Giant Basin at an elevation of about 12,150 feet.
“We are deeply saddened to share that a beloved member of our Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run family has passed away during this year’s event,” the event said on a social meeting post. “Our hearts are with their family, friends, and fellow runners as we grieve this tremendous loss. We are committed to caring for runners, crews, volunteers, and all members of our community through the event’s duration and beyond.”
Although it touts itself as a run and not a race, the Hardrock 100 is known as one of the most difficult 100-mile trail running events in the world. It sends runners on a circuitous 102.5-mile run course through Colorado’s San Juan Mountains, passing through the historic mining towns of Lake City, Ouray, and Telluride before returning back to Silverton.
The course includes a cumulative 33,197 feet of elevation gain and descent. It has an average elevation of about 11,000 feet and sends runners up and over 14,048-foot Handies Peak, one of Colorado’s 58 peaks that top 14,000 feet.
In the 2014 Hardrock 100, Canadian runner Adam Campbell was struck by lightning near Handies Peak, but was unharmed and eventually finished third in the race.
This year’s Hardrock 100, the 30th running of the event, sent runners on a counterclockwise loop of the course. Runners have 48 hours to reach the finish line in Silverton at 6 a.m. on Sunday morning.
This year’s event includes runners from 20 states, as well as from France, China, Japan, Spain, Switzerland, and the United Kingdom.
Stypula was an accomplished trail ultrarunner with dozens of race finishes to her credit since 2008, including more than 40 100-mile event finishes. In her only previous Hardrock attempt in 2018, she dropped out at the 91.2-mile aid station after 45 hours and 14 minutes on the course.
She was toward the back of the field of participants, ahead of six other runners at about 7:30 a.m., according to her tracking device.
Stypula’s most recent race finish, according to the Ultrasignup race registration platform, was the Bighorn Mountain Wild and Scenic Trail Run in Wyoming in 2024. She finished that event in 34 hours, 41 minutes.
“I want to extend my condolences to the family, friends and community of Elaine Stypula,” said Keri Metzler, San Juan County Colorado Coroner’s Office.
Brian Metzler is a Boulder, Colorado, writer and editor whose work has appeared in Runner’s World, Sports Illustrated, ESPN, Outside, Trail Runner, The Chicago Tribune, and Red Bulletin. He’s a former walk-on college middle-distance runner who has transitioned to trail running and pack burro racing in Colorado.
