Altra Elite athletes Jeff Browning and Sabrina Stanley took first at this year’s Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run. Both gained entrance from the waitlist only weeks out from the race’s start.
Jeff Browning grabbed his first ever Hardrock 100 win with a time of 26:20:22. Browning’s win comes just 26 days after placing fifth at the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run. He also currently holds The Double record for the combined times of running Western States and Hardrock 100 in the same year—two legendary 100-milers that are just a few weeks apart. He set the record in 2016 with a combined time of 42:12:43 for the two races.
“Hardrock is a challenging race because the course is remote and the competition is spread out, but given the opportunity, it can turn into a head-to-head race at any second,” Browning said.
Browning ran the first 44 miles in a sample pair of Altra’s new Timp 1.5, a high cushion trail shoe that will be released in November 2018. He changed into the Altra Lone Peak 4, the same pair he ran in for this year’s Western States, to finish the race.
One of Altra’s newest Elites, Sabrina Stanley, shocked everyone and won first female with a time of 30:23:28. This was her first Hardrock 100 and she led the women’s race the entire time—a highly unusual feat. At just 28 years old, Stanley was also the youngest runner on the course. In an interview, she admitted she plans to return to Hardrock next year with a goal of going sub-30 hours and hopefully grab another first place finish.
“This race was very, very surreal,” Stanley said. “I feel like I’m just starting my journey as an elite ultrarunner, and because of this, I’m overlooked a lot. So to have this win validate myself, it’s just really fulfilling.”
Stanley won in Altra’s max cushion trail shoe, the Olympus 2.0.
Browning’s win was not without controversy. Xavier Thévenard was leading at mile 91 when he was disqualified. Thévenard, a 30-year-old from France, had more than an hour lead and less than 10 miles to run when he was disqualified for receiving aid outside of an aid station halfway into the race outside of Ouray. He became the first-ever runner at Hardrock to be disqualified. Thévenard broke Rule 5 of the Hardrock 100’s Executive Rule Summary that reads: “No stashing of supplies along the course and no accepting aid except within 400 yards of a designated aid station.” Thévenard, who was officially disqualified at the Cunningham aid station at 91.2 miles completed, was photographed about two miles outside the Ouray aid station receiving water and ice from a crew car. After admitting to the violation, Thévenard was given the option to finish the race in Silverton as an unofficial finisher, but he opted to drop out and was not seen in Silverton as other finishers came in. As you can see from the comments on the Facebook post, this decision was met with a multitude of opinions.
“We were made aware of a potential violation of run rules in Ouray by a member who had proof of a rules infraction,” Race director Dale Garland said. “He showed us that proof in Ouray. This is standard protocol. We formed a rules infraction committee of people to review the evidence then come up with a decision.”
Initially, Thévenard denied accepting aid when interviewed at the Sherman aid station at 71.9 miles into the race. Later, the crew called Garland and explained that they were confused by the questions and wanted to talk more. After speaking with the crew again, and partnered with the evidence, it was clear Thévenard had accepted aid not permitted by the rules. Garland departed to Cunningham aid station to meet with Thévenard once more, again with a translator. Thévenard began talking and admitted the infraction. He hoped for a time penalty and was visibly upset by the disqualification. However, Hardrock does not have a policy in place for issuing time penalties, and the committee did not want to institute a new policy mid-race.
“I understand and think we understand as an organization that this may taint whoever finishes first, but it is a great race and I don’t want it to detract,” Garland said. “I felt, to respect Xavier and to respect all the other finishers, I wanted to have this resolved and have this finished. We wanted it to be dealt with in a way we could go on and celebrate the accomplishments of everybody else.”
Thévenard said he would have accepted a time penalty of one to two hours, but a total disqualification, he felt, was too severe.
The Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run is an ultramarathon across Colorado’s San Juan Range. The run is held on a loop course on roads, dirt trails and cross country with 33,050 feet of elevation gain at an average elevation of roughly 11,000 feet above sea level. As one of the hardest 100-milers in the US, the course is designed to provide extreme challenges in altitude, steepness, and remoteness.
Check out the Team Altra Facebook page to stay updated on Jeff Browning and Sabrina Stanley, along with all of the accomplishments of Altra’s Elite and Red Teams.
About Altra
While working at a running store, Altra founder Golden Harper was frustrated that modern running shoe technology caused poor running form and had not decreased running injuries. His passion to create a shoe that followed the science produced Altra’s FootShape™ toe box and Zero Drop™ platform. Since its founding in 2011, Harper and co-founder Brian Beckstead have grown Altra from one to 30 shoe styles, winning multiple Editor’s Choice awards and distribution in more than 60 countries. Join the conversation @AltraRunning and #ZeroLimits on Twitter, Instagram and Facebook.