15 locals tackle Leadville Trail 100 run, which is celebrating its 40th anniversary

Fifteen Eagle County locals will compete in Saturday’s Leadville Trail 100 race, the final event in the Leadville Race Series. Two of them are entered in the 100-mile run as the final leg of the Lead Challenge, which incorporates five of the six Race Series events.

Now in its 40th year, the LT 100 run takes athletes to a high point of 12,600 feet as the out-and-back course climbs just over 15,700 feet total. The race begins on the corner of Sixth Street and Harrison Avenue at 4 a.m.

Athletes to watch

Alexi Pappas – The Greek Olympian set the national 10,000-meter record at the 2016 Rio Games and has since ventured into writing and filmmaking.

Eleanor Pell – Boulder-based runner has nabbed podiums at the USATF 50-mile trail championships and JFK 50-miler.

Lucie Hanes – The professional ultrarunner and rock climber could contend for the podium. She was first in the Ring the Springs 100k and the Valkyrie 50k and finished sixth in the Leadville Silver Rush 50. In climbing, she’s sent 5.13d and is well on her way toward the elusive 5.14a mark.

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Devon Yanko – The former Leadville winner (2017) has a resume too long to list. She looks to be sharp after winning the Silver Rush 50 earlier this summer.

Mario Mendoza – Winner of five USATF trail national titles and the top American at the Trail World Championships in 2017 and 2018, Mendoza won the Broken/Vista 50k this June.

Duncan Callahan – The Gunnison runner won Leadville in 2008 and is back for more. Fun fact: Callahan also won the Leadville 100 cross-country ski race — a since discontinued event.

Matthew Flaherty – Flaherty was second in the Leadville 100 in 2021.

Llamas are back

For the 21st year, llamas will be used to support LT 100 runners. Rancher Gary Carlton’s long-necked animals transport supplies to the course’s high point at Hope Pass. There, Carlton offers athletes food, water, electrolytes and first aid supplies to athletes who are on course for anywhere from 16-30 hours.

“The llamas are an example of the quirky culture found at endurance running events, but they are also an emblem of the resourcefulness found in rural communities such as Leadville, a former mining town that now has found a new boom in recreation and tourism, guided along by the 40-year-old Leadville Race Series,” stated Life Time’s Alexa McRoberts in a press release.

Last leg for the Leadmen and Leadwomen

The LT Trail 100 is the last leg for the Lead Challenge. The five-event epic started with the Leadville Trail Marathon on June 17 — which saw slush and snow pelt runners throughout the day — proceeded to the Silver Rush 50 weekend (athletes could choose either the mountain bike or run on Saturday or Sunday) on July 8-9, and continued with the Leadville Trail 100 MTB and Leadville 10k Run on Aug. 12 and 13, respectively.

Last year, 137 athletes started the challenge, with just 33 finishing. Leadville’s Jolene Sandoval, who has worked in Vail for over 20 years, took third overall, Vail’s Nick Kierstead completed all six events and Vail’s Chris Lindley gritted his way to mile 50 of the run before being forced to drop out.

Sandoval is currently in first for the women’s Lead Challenge; she holds a 27 minute, 4 second lead over Brandy Taylor, the only other woman still eligible in the competition. Avon’s Jake Wells is sitting in sixth out of 59 athletes still alive on the men’s side. He trails leader Rob Krar by 1:05:45.

Krar is a two-time (2014, 2018) winner of the 100-mile run and one of only two individuals to have finished the race in less than 16 hours (Matt Carpenter holds the course record at 15:42:59).

Vail’s Rick Gregory currently sits in 32nd while Casey Childers (Dillon) and Mike Leighton (Breckenridge) are in 26th and 22nd, respectively.