By Cody Olivas, Special to The Durango Herald
In his Hardrock 100 debut, French athlete Francois D’haene set new benchmarks in the endurance run by placing first in 21 hours, 45 minutes and 50 seconds.
D’haene broke the record for running counterclockwise – 23:28:00 – set by Kilian Jornet in 2015, by nearly two hours. D’haene’s time also beat Jornet’s overall record of 22:41:33, set in 2014. Jornet did not compete in the race this year.
Portland’s Dylan Bowman and Boulder’s Ryan Smith placed second (22:45:51) and third (23:24:29), respectively, in the 100-mile, high-altitude run.
Silverton’s Sabrina Stanley, meanwhile, scored the women’s title this year. Her winning time of 27:21:49 is the second-fastest overall women’s time in the race’s 25-year history, just four minutes slower than Diana Finkel’s record of 27:41:33 set in 2009.
Courtney Dauwalter of Leadville led for more than the first half of the race but dropped out with stomach issues with Stanley about 30 minutes behind her. Darcy Piceu and Meghan Hicks finished second and third in the women’s race.
The runners began and ended the 100-mile endurance race in Silverton. Along the way, they ran to the top of Handies Peak (elevation 14,058 feet), took Engineer Pass and Bear Creek Trail to Ouray and then ran 16.2 miles up Camp Bird Road to Telluride. They then headed back to Silverton over Oscars Pass and Great Swamp Pass, climbing 33,050 feet in elevation and descending the same.
This year’s race is the first one since 2018. Last year’s race was canceled because of the pandemic. Snow danger caused the cancellation in 2019.
Read the full article at the Durango Herald.