For the second year in a row, Anna Frost (pre-race and post-race interviews) won the 2016 Hardrock 100 women’s race. She did so with unyielding pressure off the front, despite challenging heat conditions in addition to the normal challenges of the Hardrock course.
The men’s race ended in what many fans at the race suggested was perfect-for-the-Hardrock-family style, with a tie between Kilian Jornet (pre-race and post-race interviews) and Jason Schlarb (pre-race and post-race interviews). The pair dueled and worked together for some 90 miles of the race before ultimately agreeing to finish together. Kilian’s win is his third straight at Hardrock, and Jason’s win was his first.
For all the details on how the race played out, read back through our live coverage from race day.
[If you’ve not yet checked it out, be sure to take a look at Meghan Hicks’s long-form multi-media feature on the mining history along the Hardrock course!]
Special thanks for Salomon for making our coverage of the Hardrock 100 possible!
Thanks also to Smartwool and Ultimate Direction for their support of our Hardrock coverage.
As usual, we’ll be updating this article with additional results as well as links to race-related articles, photo galleries, and race reports. Check back.
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2016 Hardrock 100 Men’s Race
The men’s race started inauspiciously with Jason Schlarb, Kilian Jornet, and Xavier Thévenard (pre-race and post-race interviews) running together and slower than course-record pace. As the race heated up, all three started to increase the pace to at, or below, course-record pace by Telluride, mile 27. These top-three runners were stalked by the ever-consistent Jeff Browning (pre-race interview), as well as Joe Grant, Troy Howard, and Nick Clark. Coming into the aid station at Ouray (mile 44), Joe Grant concussed his head going through a tunnel, and the weather had turned to become the hottest Hardrock in recent history.
Xavier Thévenard, Jason Schlarb, and Kiliam Jornet on the summit of the first climb. Photo: iRunFar/Amy French
As the trio of Jornet, Thévenard, and Schlarb continued to pull away at under course-record pace, the afternoon heat intensified. Stalwart veteran Browning was consistent in staying approximately 90 minutes behind the leaders. Thévenard fell back from leaders Schlarb and Jornet going up Handies Peak, the race high point and mile 63, and he remained in third place for the remainder of the race. Schlarb and Jornet continued to run together, and at the Cunningham Gulch aid station (mile 91), they agreed to run it in together for a deliberate tie. Both runners commented at the finish that they could have been dropped by the other over the last 30 miles.
Xavier Thévenard leading Jason Schlarb and Kilian Jornet at mile 11. Photo: iRunFar/Marissa Harris
Thévenard came into the finish 50 minutes back, stating through loose translation from French to English that Hardrock was the measure of a difficult 100 miler.
Jeff Browning continued to impress with his speed and consistency at age 44 in taking fourth place, three weeks after his third-place finish at Western States, with his combined time for the two races bettering Nick Clark’s previous record for the double from 2011. Ryan Kaiser rounded out the men’s top five.
Many Hardrockers commented about struggling in the extreme heat, which race director Dale Garland described as the hottest year in memory.
Kilian Jornet at mile 18. Photo: iRunFar/Sarah Lavender Smith
2016 Hardrock 100 Men’s Results
- T-1 – Jason Schlarb (Altra) — 22:58:28(pre-race and post-race interviews)
- T-1 – Kilian Jornet (Salomon) — 22:58:28 (pre-race and post-race interviews)
- Xavier Thévenard (ASICS) — 23:57:10 (pre-race and post-race interviews)
- Jeff Browning (Altra) — 25:42:03 (pre-race interview)
- Ryan Kaiser — 27:39:16
- Bryan Williams — 28:41:19
- Ted Mahon — 28:52:04
- Grant Guise (Altra) — 30:35:54
- Timothy Olson (The North Face) — 31:53:36
- Scott Jaime (Pearl Izumi) — 32:13:45
2016 Hardrock 100 Women’s Race
For the second-consecutive year, Anna Frost won the women’s race. Anna led from start to finish in a race where heat played a significant factor. By the time Frost reached Ouray at mile 44 and began the long ascent up the Bear Creek drainage toward Engineer Pass at mile 52, which she was “absolutely boiling” and had to slow down her pace to a walk, she had a 26-minute lead over Emma Roca (pre-race and post-race interviews) which would extend to 41 minutes by Maggie Gulch at mile 85. Anna maintained her composure and went on to run a clockwise time of 29:02:09 and eighth-place overall.
Frost found this race much harder than her 2015 win both mentally and physically despite not being pushed in the same way by second place. This year’s clockwise-course direction, with its long and runnable downhills, didn’t play to her strengths. Her favorite part of the course was going over its high point, Handies Peak, at night with the the bright moon, stars, and coyotes howling.
Anna Frost climbing Oscar’s Pass early in the race. Photo: iRunFar/Mad Moose Events
Roca ran her own race for a very solid second-place finish. Emma ran in third until Chapman Gulch (mile 18) where she overtook Bethany Lewis (pre-race and post-race interviews), who took the race out hard. Roca looked controlled throughout the race, but she also looked affected by the heat in places. That said, she moved through aid stations quickly and with determination, and she never let the gap between she and Frost extend beyond 40 minutes. At Grouse Gulch (mile 58), she commented about the beauty of the course. At the finish with her family, which had crewed her through the day, night, and day again, she was emotionally charged.
Emma Roca finishing second with her family. Photo: iRunFar/Tom Caughlan
Lewis would eventually finish in third more than two and a half hours behind the winner as she suffered from leg cramps on the descent off Grant Swamp Pass, only the second descent of the race. Instead of chasing her own potential, she spent most of the race trying to minimize any further damage. Icing her quadriceps in Ouray, a longer break at Sherman (mile 72), a lay-down rest at Maggie Gulch, and a lot of her own willpower are how she said she managed her way back to the finish line.
Fourth place was experienced Hardrocker, Darla Askew, closely followed by Meghan Hicks in fifth.
Bethany Lewis running toward third place. Photo: iRunFar/Sarah Lavender Smith
2016 Hardrock 100 Women’s Results
- Anna Frost (Salomon) — 29:02:09 (pre-race and post-race interviews)
- Emma Roca (BUFF) — 29:36:40 (pre-race and post-race interviews)
- Bethany Lewis — 31:56:36 (pre-race and post-race interviews)
- Darla Askew — 33:51:49
- Meghan Hicks — 34:25:25
- Betsy Nye — 38:23:25
- Rachel Bucklin — 42:55:17
- Tina Ure — 43:55:59
- Jill Bonney — 45:28:39
- Betsy Kalmeyer — 45:50:25
2016 Hardrock 100 Articles, Race Reports, and More
Articles
- Hardrock 100 runners endure heat, high wind on one of world’s toughest courses (Denver Post)
- At Hardrock 100, Kilian Jornet and Jason Schlarb finish as co-champions (Denver Post)
- Spain’s Kilian Jornet, Durango’s Jason Schlarb finish as co-champions at Hardrock 100 (Durango Herald)
- Anna Frost repeats as Hardrock 100 women’s champion (Durango Herald)
- Kilian Jornet embodies what Hardrock 100 is all about (Durango Herald)
- Hardrock 100 co-champ Jason Schlarb brings pride to Durango (Durango Herald)
- Jornet, Schlarb Call it a Draw at Hardrock, Becoming Co-Champions (Trail Runner Mag)
- Inside One of the World’s Toughest Ultramarathons (5280) [Added 7/27]
Photo Galleries
- Salomon Running Facebook update
- Smartwool Facebook update
- Photos: Faces of the 2016 Hardrock 100 (Denver Post) [Added 7/26]
- Jared Campbell’s Kroger’s Canteen photos [Added 7/27]
Race Reports
- M1. Kilian Jornet [Added 7/26]
- F2. Emma Roca (en español) [Added 7/26]
- M7. Ted Mahon [Added 7/26]
- M8. Grant Guise [Added 7/26]
- Andy Jones-Wilkins (Down to the Very Marrow) [Added 7/26]
- DNF. Joe Grant [Added 7/26]
Coverage Thanks
A sincere thank you to the massive group of people who helped make iRunFar’s live coverage of Hardrock possible over two days in some remote and rugged mountain terrain. Thank you to Marissa Harris, Mauri Pagliacci, Tom Caughlan, Dave James, Amy French, Ashley Saloga, Matthew Curtis, Sarah Lavender Smith, Kristin Zosel, Roch Horton, Jared Campbell, Rachel Bell Kelley, Travis Trampe, Kim Wrinkle, Vince Heyd, Adrian Lazar, Dani Torres, Rodri Lizama, Justin Ricks and his whole family, Aisha and Steve Weinhold, Mike Place, Alex Nichols, Ellie Greenwood, Jon Allen, Gretchen Brugman, Aliza Lapierre, and Dean Georgaris. Phew! What a crew, thank you!
