Courtney Dauwalter, Katharina Hartmuth, Ludovic Pommeret and François d’Haene; just a few names of runners that are toeing the line today at Hardrock 100, one of the most famous 100 miles races in the United States.
Hardrock 100 Endurance Run was founded in 1992 by Gordon Hardman, John Cappis, Charlie Thorn and Rick Trujillo as a tribute to the old-time miners who followed their mules and instincts, searching for gold, silver and other metals at the San Juan Mountain Range. They endured the cold, snow, avalanches and hunger, but also enjoyed the immense beauty of this southern part of the Rocky Mountains.
Ten thousand metres of climbing
The race links the Telluride, Ouray, Lake City and Silverton areas and takes place at an average elevation of 3.350 metres. The lowest point is 2.350 metres, the highest 4.280, which means that the athletes will pass through several climate zones. At the lower altitude, forests of aspen, pine, and spruce are common. The timberline is locally at about 3.600 metres. Above the timberline is alpine tundra and low vegetation interspersed with krummholz (low, stunted spruce, fir, and willow).
The course is in total 165 kilometres long and the trail and ultra runners have to climb 10.000 metres.
Dauwalter and d’Haene return
Dauwalter set the women’s course record last year; 26:14, after she ran and won Western States only a couple of weeks earlier. “I think I’ve blocked out what it actually felt like last summer and what it physically felt like in those days before the race”, she said in a pre race interview with iRunFar.
“In the last couple of months I’ve just been in the training groove and that’s been fun. I’m looking forward to a big day in the San Juans. It’s a really cool course. It’s really hard, and I think it’s hard to nail. All of my runs here have had really significant chunks of time that were spent in very low places. So, I’m hoping to smooth out those lows a little bit and see if I can get around without having so many huge lows.”
RELATED: Jim Walmsley and Katie Schide win Western States
Fun before results
François d’Haene is racing Hardrock 100 for the third time. He’s among the favourites in the men’s race: “I always have great memories here. It’s a very nice race, and a very typical race”, he said in his pre race interview with iRunFar.
“I approach every race the same. My main motivation is not to beat this guy, or that guy, or a specific time. The most important thing is to be able to race as well as I can, and then we’ll see. Even more so now, after these two years where my body had some difficulties. I just want to have this happy feeling and memories, and I just want to try to do the loop as fast as possible. Winning and course records are just statistics. The memories and the feelings are more important.”
Archive photo Pascal Tournaire
