Here's some info on the HardRock 100 Endurance
Run that started at 6:00 a.m. this (Friday) morning. This is a grueling run and I find it hard to
believe that there is a wait list for participants. Seems like they should be hard pressed just to
find anyone crazy enough to run it at all.
The run is 100.5 miles long. The average elevation is 11,000 feet. Runners will leave Silverton, travel across
mountains in the San Juan mountains on dirt trails -- or no trails.
There is a cumulative elevation change of 66,100 feet (33,050 feet
climbing; 33,050 feet descending). Rain,
snow, lightening, wild critters all part of the mix. They run day & night and only have 48
hours to complete the run. This is from
their website:
The run starts and ends in
Silverton, Colorado and travels through the towns
of Telluride, Ouray, and the ghost town of Sherman, crossing thirteen major passes in the 12,000' to
13,000' range. Entrants must travel above
12,000 feet (3,700 m) of elevation a total of 13 times, with the highest point on the course being the 14,048'
summit of Handies Peak. The run has been
held in early July of each year beginning in 1992, except for 1995 (too much snow) and 2002 (nearby forest fires).
Each year's run is run in the opposite
direction of the previous year's event (2016 was run in the clockwise direction, 2017 will be
counter-clockwise). In order to complete the
event, instead of crossing a finish line, runners are required to "kiss
the Hardrock", a picture
of a ram's head painted on a large block of stone mining debris.
This course offers a graduate level
challenge for endurance runs. The course
is designed to provide extreme challenges in altitude, steepness, and remoteness. Mountaineering, wilderness
survival and wilderness navigation
skills are as important in this event as your endurance.
Their website is fun. All runners are carrying a "spot
trace" and you can click on
MaProgress on the link and see where everyone is. http://hardrock100.com/
Kilian Jornet is the favored to
win. He has won last couple of
years. I hear that he climbed Mt Everest
twice this year (with no Sherpa) and broke a
record. He ran another race in
Colorado just a couple of days ago. I
heard a little while ago that he has injured his shoulder during the beginning
of the race (I am sure lots of runners take falls.) As of the time I am typing this, Joe Grant
has taken the lead. It's fun to watch
the interactive map & see how the lead changes. We also listen to the "check-in" points manned by ham radio operators.
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