Anna Frost weaved through the fans giving high-fives on her way to the finish line to become the first woman to kiss the rock at the Hardrock 100 for the second consecutive year.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Anna Frost was struggling against the heat and trail Friday on Bear Creek outside Ouray, but she stayed composed and won hr second consecutive Hardrock 100.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Emma Roca also dealt with heat going up Bear Creek, and her stomach began to give her problems at that point of the race 42 miles in.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Emma Roca also dealt with heat going up bear Creek, and her stomach began to give her problems at that point of the race 42 miles in.
Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Kilian Jornet, left, of Spain, and Jason Schlarb, of Durango, celebrate on Saturday in Silverton after they tied for first place in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Dale Garland, co-founder of the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run on Saturday, has made it a practice to greet every runner who finishes the race in Silverton. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Xavier Thevenard, of France, crosses the the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run claiming third place on Saturday in Silverton. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Jason Schlard, of Durango, with pacer Paul Hamilton make their way up Bear Creek Trail on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Emma Roca makes her way up to Bear Creek Trail on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Anna Frost, of Dunedin, NZL, makes her way up to Bear Creek Trail on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Xavier Thevenard, front, and Kilian Jornet, and a pacer make their way up Bear Creek Trail on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Xavier Thevenard, of France, feels the effects of the the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run after claiming third place on Saturday in Silverton. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Emma Roca makes her way up to Bear Creek Trail on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
The media and crowd gather around to ask questions of Kilian Jornet, of France, and Jason Schlarb, of Durango, and hear them talk about the race on Saturday in Silverton after they tied for first place in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Jason Schlarb, of Durango, hugs Kilian Jornet, of Spain, on Saturday in Silverton after they tied for first place in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Jason Schlard, of Durango, makes his way up Bear Creek Trail with his pacer on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Xavier Thevenard, front, and Kilian Jornet, and a pacer make their way up Bear Creek Trail on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Jason Schlard, of Durango, makes his way up Bear Creek Trail with his pacer on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Jeff Browning makes his way up to Bear Creek Trail on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
The media and crowd gather around to ask questions of Kilian Jornet, of Spain, and Jason Schlarb, of Durango, and hear them talk about the race on Saturday in Silverton after they tied for first place in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Anna Frost, of Dunedin, NZL, makes her way up to Bear Creek Trail on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Jason Schlarb, of Durango, and Kilian Jornet, of Spain, kiss the finishers rock on Saturday in Silverton after they tied for first place in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Joe Grant makes his way up to Bear Creek Trail on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Nick Clark makes his way up to Bear Creek Trail on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Jason Schlarb, left, of Durango, and Kilian Jornet, of France, cross the finish line hand in hand in Silverton on Saturday as they tie for first place in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Troy Howard makes his way up to Bear Creek Trail on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Anna Frost, of Dunedin, NZL, makes her way up to Bear Creek Trail on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Ryan Kaiser makes his way up to Bear Creek Trail on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Troy Howard makes his way up to Bear Creek Trail on Friday afternoon while competing in the Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Emma Roca, of Spain, crosses the finish line with her children as she finishes second in the women’s Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run on Saturday in Silverton. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Anna Frost, of NZL, and Durango, is congratulated by a large crowd gathered as she wins the women’s Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run on Saturday in Silverton. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Anna Frost, of NZL, and Durango, is congratulated by a large crowd gathered as she wins the women’s Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run on Saturday in Silverton. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Anna Frost, of NZL, and Durango,kisses the finishers rock as she wins the women’s Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run on Saturday in Silverton. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Anna Frost, of NZL, and Durango, relaxes and answers in front of the finishers rock after winning the women’s Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run on Saturday in Silverton. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
“I have nothing left,” said Emma Roca, of Spain, after crossing the finish line for second place in the women’s Hard Rock 100 Endurance Run on Saturday in Silverton. Photo by Jerry McBride/Durango Herald
Anna Frost can call herself a “True Hardrocker.”
The native of New Zealand claimed her second consecutive Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run women’s championship Saturday morning in Silverton. She completed the 100-mile course through the San Juan Mountains in 29 hours, 2 minutes and placed eighth overall. She kissed the finisher’s rock a little more than six hours after men’s co-champions Kilian Jornet and Jason Schlarb finished.
“I think I was more scared going into it last year, but this year I found it so much harder,” Frost said. “I don’t know if it was because I knew what to expect that it was much harder and last year it was just a surprise.”
It was the second consecutive year Frost has finished eighth overall and as the top woman in the race that features 33,000 feet of climbing and 13 mountain passes at more than 12,000 feet.
The 34-year-old Frost moved to Durango to live with her boyfriend after last year’s Hardrock. She fell in love with the San Juans and spent several weeks running the course in preparation for her title defense.
“Really amazing feeling,” Frost said. “It’s not just one day, it’s all the weeks you put into it. Just getting to the start line is hard enough, so getting to the finish line is a huge feat.”
Emma Roca of Spain finished second in her first Hardrock appearance. The 42-year-old finished in 29:36 and was ninth overall in the 152-runner field. She joked with Frost after the race saying her legs were dead from trying to catch Frost. Frost quipped back that her legs were done because of her effort to hold off Roca.
“Before Ouray, I was confident I could do it better and better,” Roca said. “After Ouray … I couldn’t eat properly. I had problems with my stomach upside down. I knew with that problem I couldn’t run that fast.”
Frost, wearing shoes that said “run happy, be kind,” said dealing with heat was difficult, especially when she left Ouray mid-afternoon Friday. That’s where Roca also experienced difficulties with the heat.
“Absolutely boiling,” Frost said of the temperature as went up Bear Creek Trail. “I had to take my speed down and go to walking instead of running up into Bear Creek because it was so hot. I laid in every creek that was along the way.”
She reached the summit of 14,048-foot Handies Peak near Lake City in the middle of the night under a bright moon while coyotes serenaded her along the way. Frost said that was her favorite part of the race.
Although Roca called Hardrock the toughest race of her life, she also said it was the most beautiful race she’s ever competed in. She saw what she believes was either a mountain lion or a lynx during the run.
“The mountains with the lakes with high altitude, high mountains, you don’t find a race you pass through that quantity of 13ers and 14ers around,” Roca said. “You’re always arriving at 13,000 feet, and you don’t find that in any race.”
Roca said she struggled through the night as it grew colder and temperatures dipped into the low 30s.
“With the cold you lose a lot of energy,” she said. “I wanted to catch Anna also and was realizing that goal was over. I was feeling awful.”
Salt Lake City’s Bethany Lewis was the third woman across the finish line in 31:57. She debated dropping out at 70 miles and laid down for a nap but was determined to kiss the rock.
Darla Askew backed up her third-place finish in 2015 with a fourth this year in 33:51 for a new personal record in the clockwise direction. It was her fourth Hardrock finish.
Meghan Hicks finished fifth in 34:26 and has now finished the race in both directions.
Now that Frost and Hicks have completed the course in the clockwise and counter-clockwise directions, they are considered “True Hardrockers.”
Frost said she actually preferred 2015’s counter-clockwise course, noting that the long downhill portions of this year’s course didn’t play to her strengths. Still, she used the same three words she did in 2015 to describe the race.
“Beautiful, brutal and scary,” she said.
When asked if she would be back to claim the automatic entry awarded to each winner in the following year’s race, Frost had an easy answer that left her fans wondering.
“I’ll be back for sure, but I’m not sure if I will race,” she said.
