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Silverton, Telluride, Ouray, Lake Metropolis, after which again to Silverton, Colorado. The 2026 Hardrock 100 runs clockwise on its wild and scenic mountain loop in Southwest Colorado.
The run by way of the San Juan Mountains begins at 6:00 a.m. U.S. Mountain Daylight Time on Friday, July 10. This 12 months’s class of 147 runners can have 48 hours to complete the high-altitude route and get again to Silverton to formally kiss the rock.
The course alternates course annually, and this course is casually described as “up the partitions and down the ramps” for its steeper however shorter climbs, and longer, extra gradual downhills. The 102-mile (164 kilometers) course features 33,000 toes (10,060 meters) of elevation at an unbelievable common of 11,000 toes above sea degree (3,350 meters). Handies Peak, at 14,048 toes (4,281 meters), is the course’s iconic excessive level, and it’ll be at mile 64 this 12 months.
A small course change this 12 months, bringing again the historic Grouse Gulch assist station as an alternative of the Animas Forks one used the previous couple of years, has the run a couple of half mile shorter than in 2025. It was an exceptionally low snow 12 months throughout Colorado, and whereas there’s all the time the potential for mountain climate, the course needs to be snow-free on run day.
As of this text’s publication, the Gold Mountain Hearth is burning exterior Ouray, together with numerous different fires throughout the Intermountain West. The race group has introduced it’s monitoring the wildfire scenario and its potential impression on this 12 months’s occasion. We’ll maintain updating this text as we study extra.
Course document holder and 2025 winner Katie Schide won’t race this 12 months as she continues her restoration from harm. Schide’s 2025 document of 25:50, run within the counterclockwise course, is the general document. After a 12 months away, Courtney Dauwalter returns after profitable in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Her 26:11 end from 2024 is the race’s clockwise course document and the race’s second-fastest end ever. Careth Arnold, final 12 months’s TDS winner, and Tara Dower shall be Dauwalter’s strongest challengers. Dower, nonetheless, raced the Western States 100 solely 13 days earlier than Hardrock, ending sixth.
Two-time defending champion Ludovic Pommeret headlines the boys’s area. The Frenchman set an general course document of 21:33 in 2024, and his 2025 end ranks because the race’s second-fastest within the counterclockwise course. He’ll be challenged by the U.Okay.’s Tom Evans, who gained the 2023 Western States 100 and 2025 UTMB, and a win right here would set him on a path to win the world’s 4 most iconic 100 milers, with solely Diagonale des Fous lacking. The 2 Europeans shall be challenged by Jimmy Elam, who carries a six-race win streak into Hardrock, together with the 2025 Wasatch Entrance 100 Mile.
You may take a look at the full entrants listing.
Forward of the race, we’ll publish interviews with a few of the race favorites and, after all, comply with our dwell protection beginning at 6:00 a.m. U.S. Mountain Time on Friday, July 10. Keep tuned!
Because of LEKI for supporting iRunFar’s Hardrock 100 protection!
2026 Hardrock 100 Ladies’s Preview
Courtney Dauwalter has the race’s second-, third-, and fourth-fastest finishes ever. She progressed the race’s general course document in 2022, 2023, and 2024. Dauwalter didn’t race Hardrock final 12 months, and in her absence, Katie Schide broke her general course document. Schide’s 25:50 is 21 minutes quicker than Dauwalter’s quickest Hardrock and 24 minutes quicker than Dauwalter’s solely counterclockwise run in 2024, when she ran 26:11. Dauwalter had a less-than-typical 2025. She dropped on the Cocodona 250 Mile, gained the Lavaredo Extremely Path, and was tenth at UTMB. On the finish of 2025, she ran two highway marathons with a 2:38 greatest. In 2026, Dauwalter gained the Chianti 120k and was second on the Cocodona 250 Mile. Dauwalter has solely 65 days from her Cocodona 250 Mile end to the beginning of Hardrock. She’s completely the race favourite, and she or he lives in Leadville, Colorado, at an elevation of 10,000 toes, however Hardrock’s excessive excessive altitude has typically been a wild card for her race abdomen. She dropped at Hardrock in 2021, her debut 12 months, with abdomen points.
Careth Arnold
Careth Arnold is a longtime race volunteer and is operating her first Hardrock. She’s a prolific racer and accomplished no less than 9 ultras in 2025. Prime highlights final 12 months had been a win at TDS and a second-place end on the Excessive Lonesome 100 Mile. Excessive Lonesome, in Colorado’s Sawatch Mountains, doesn’t get as excessive as Hardrock and doesn’t climb as a lot, but it surely does have a mean elevation of over 10,000 toes. That’s possible a very good benchmark for Arnold’s Hardrock potential, and she or he additionally lives at altitude in Colorado. In 2026, she was fourth on the Method Too Cool 50k and second on the Canyons 100k. On the latter, she gained however declined a Golden Ticket entry to Western States, as an alternative prioritizing her run at Hardrock.
Whereas Arnold declined her Western States entry, Tara Dower is making an attempt an aggressive Western States-Hardrock double after dropping from the 2025 Western States attributable to sickness and ending up first on the Hardrock waitlist two weeks later, all the time a heartbreaking spot to be. At Western States, Dower labored it exhausting and completed sixth. The 2 races are solely 13 days aside. Dauwalter gained each races in 2023, however they had been 20 days aside that 12 months. Dower was fourth at Hardrock in 2024 in 33:10, and she or he’s been wildly profitable since late final 12 months. She gained the 2025 Javelina 100 Mile in course document time, was third on the 2026 Black Canyon 100k, and was third on the 2026 Gorge Waterfalls 50k. Like Dauwalter and Arnold, Dower, too, lives at altitude in Colorado.
Ten years in the past, Kaci Lickteig gained the Western States 100. She’s not profitable the game’s largest races, however she’ll be a enjoyable comply with at Hardrock. Lickteig lives in Nebraska however has usually raced in Colorado, together with a fourth-place run on the 2024 Excessive Lonesome 100 Mile. In 2025, Lickteig was ninth on the Javelina 100 Mile and sixth on the HURT 100 Mile.
Like Lickteig, Vermont’s Aliza Lapierre doesn’t have easy accessibility to altitude coaching. She did end eighth on the 2025 Hardrock 100 in 39:54. In 2026, she was fourth on the Merciless Jewel 50 Mile and, at even longer distances, she was seventh and second on the 2024 and 2023 Cocodona 250 Mile. Like final 12 months, she arrived in Silverton early to achieve that elusive altitude adaptation.
Extra Ladies to Watch
- Jordan Armstrong – 4th 2026 Jemez 50 Mile; fifth 2023 Wasatch 100 Mile; eighth 2023 Bighorn 50 Mile
- Darla Askew – 7-time Hardrock 100 finisher (2023, 2018, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2012); eleventh 2025 Cascade Crest 100 Mile
- Jenny Pierce – sixth 2025 Cascade Crest 100 Mile; 4th 2024 & 1st 2022 Loopy Mountain 100 Mile; 4th 2023 Wasatch 100 Mile
- Meghan Slavin – eleventh 2025 Bear 100 Mile; third 2023 & 2nd 2021 Mogollon Monster 100 Mile
- Emily Wanless – fifth 2024 Cascade Crest 100 Mile; seventh 2023 Leadville 100 Mile
Notable Withdrawals
- Alyson Kirk – 4th 2025 Loopy Mountain 100 Mile; 4th 2024 Merciless Jewel 100 Mile
- Katie Schide – 1st 2025 Hardrock 100, 1st 2024 & 2022 UTMB; 1st 2025 Path World Championships Lengthy Path
2026 Hardrock 100 Males’s Preview
France’s Ludovic Pommeret is the two-time defending champ and general course document holder. He’ll race this 12 months’s run at age 50 and switch 51 lower than two weeks after race day. He hasn’t slowed down in any respect, although. In 2024, on this 12 months’s course course, Pommeret ran 21:33 to set the general course document. Then final 12 months, he gained once more in 22:21. The time was the fifth-fastest end general and second quickest within the counterclockwise course, trailing solely François D’Haene’s 2021 run. Pommeret sometimes excels on the course’s downhill sections. Since final 12 months’s win, Pommeret was sixth at UTMB and fourth at Diagonale des Fous in late 2025, and he was third on the Marathon des Sables Legendary stage race in April 2026.
A profession Grand Slam is whenever you win at Western States, UTMB, Hardrock, and Diagonale des Fous. Solely Kilian Jornet, Courtney Dauwalter, and Katie Schide have completed this quadfecta. Evans has two of the 4, and a win at Hardrock might set him on a path to be the second man to realize the feat. Evans gained Western States in 2023 and UTMB in 2025. He hasn’t raced a lot since UTMB, although. He dropped at Transgrancanaria in March 2026 and gained the 24-mile Three Peaks Race in April 2026. Evans lives and trains within the U.Okay. and is exhaustive in his preparation. He has frolicked in a sports activities lab and does a variety of coaching on a treadmill the place his runs embody mixtures of maximum uphill grades, weighted vests, simulated pole motions, downhill grades, ankle weights, and an oxygen masks to simulate excessive altitude. One might even think about there being a stuffed bear or moose within the nook to mannequin Colorado’s wildlife for full coaching impact.
Jimmy Elam
I don’t know Jimmy Elam, however I’ve this concept that his coaching is the other of Evans’. I don’t envision him on a treadmill with all of the bells and whistles. Elam lives in Utah, and whereas he doesn’t share the identify recognition of Pommeret and Evans, he might spoil their runs. He has gained six ultras in a row within the American West, most at altitude on huge mountains. In 2026, he gained the Miwok 100k and Outdated Pueblo Endurance 50 Mile. In 2025, he gained the Mammoth 200 Mile and Cascade Crest 100 Mile. In 2024, he gained the Wasatch Entrance 100 Mile and San Juan Solstice 50 Mile. And in 2023, he was second on the Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile and gained the Excessive Lonesome 100 Mile. Elam’s mountain expertise and consistency will certainly have him within the podium combine. Will he keep shut sufficient to Pommeret and Evans early to have a shot late?
David Ayala
Montanan David Ayala was solely 18 minutes out of third place at Hardrock in 2025, his debut on the occasion. He’ll certainly look to construct off that end result this 12 months. Like Elam, Ayala additionally has nice mountain operating expertise, together with wins on the 2024 IMTUF 100 Mile and a second-place end on the 2021 Bighorn 100 Mile. Like Evans, Ayala can be coached by Evoke Endurance.
In 2016, Jason Schlarb tied with Kilian Jornet for the win at Hardrock. His 22:58 end that 12 months nonetheless ranks because the race’s eighth-fastest end ever. That was a decade in the past, however Schlarb was third right here in 2024, too. He’ll be extra conversant in the course and its challenges than almost anybody else within the area.
Ryan Smith has some Hardrock historical past, too. He was third in 2021 in a time that sits simply exterior the race’s all-time prime 10. Like Schlarb, Smith has perhaps slowed down a bit since then. He was 14th at this 12 months’s Chuckanut 50k and fifth finally 12 months’s San Juan Solstice 50 Mile, however he was nonetheless second on the 2025 Excessive Lonesome 100 Mile too. His time at Excessive Lonesome was 33 minutes slower than Elam’s 2023 end there.
Extra Males to Watch
- Dylan Bowman – eighth 2026 Jemez 50 Mile; ninth 2023 & 2nd 2021 Hardrock 100
- Nick Coury – 7-time Hardrock finisher (2024, 2022, 2017, 2016, 2015, 2013, 2008); seventh 2024 & eighth 2022 Hardrock 100; 2nd 2025 Zane Gray 50 Mile
- Alex Docta – sixth 2025 Mogollon Monster 100 Mile; 4th 2023 Jackpot 100 Mile
- Arlen Glick – eleventh 2025 Extremely-Path Cape City 100k; 4th 2023 Hardrock 100; third 2023 Run Rabbit Run 100 Mile
- Jeff Rome – 4-time Hardrock finisher (2025, 2024, 2018, 2017); seventh 2025, 4th 2024, 2nd 2018 Hardrock 100
- Paul Terranova – sixth 2024 & 2023 Hardrock 100; sixth 2023 Leadville 100 Mile
Notable Withdrawals
- Nate Jaqua – 1st 2025 & 2023 HURT 100 Mile; 1st 2023 Loopy Mountain 100 Mile
- Michael McKnight – ninth 2026, eighth 2025, 1st 2023, & 2nd 2022 Cocodona 250 Mile; 2nd 2024 Tahoe 200 Mile
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What 2026 Hardrock 100 predictions do you’ve?
