Out of the 146 runners who got into this year’s Hardrock Hundred endurance run in Silverton, 111 of them were able to complete the trail challenge in the allotted 48 hours by Sunday morning.
Aurelien Dunand-Pallaz of France and Courtney Dauwalter of Leadville won the race early on Saturday morning. Dunand-Pallaz, who at 30 years old was the youngest male to run this year, finished first overall in 23 hours and 7 seconds. Dauwalter then set a new women’s counterclockwise record, crossing fourth overall in 26:14:08. Dauwalter also set the race’s clockwise record last year (26:44:36).
This year’s race featured 29 women, and 27 of them were able to finish. Annie Hughes of Leadville, 25, was the youngest runner this year and finished third in the women’s race and 13th overall. Rick Hodges, 74, was the oldest runner, but didn’t finish.
Two Durango runners completed the challenge. Drew Gunn finished 57th overall, finishing the 100-mile run in 40 hours, 2 minutes and 37 seconds. It was the 10th-time Gunn finished the Hardrock.
Anthony Culpepper also completed the feat for a fourth time. Culpepper finished the race in 46:42:09, crossing 94th overall.
The race had 13 runners finish in the last hour, with Eric Pence of Leadville finishing less than eight minutes before the cut off.
While international runners grabbed the top-three male finishes and the second-best women’s effort, area runners also did well. Some area runners who completed the challenge include Chris Price of Ouray (12th overall, 30:46:11), Avery Collins of Silverton (15th, 33:05:57), Bryon Powell of Silverton (35th, 37:11:39), Cody Bradford of Silverton (61st, 41:02:50) and Amanda Grimes of Silverton (110th, 47:10:44).
Steve McClung of Durango did not finish.
“Generally speaking, everything went smoothly,” said run director Dale Garland. “We had great community support and over 500 volunteers.”
Garland also said the focus before the race was on how much snow was on the course, but the story of the race was how well the runners managed the heat.
