On Saturday, August 17, 2024, history was made at the Leadville 100 Mile. Trail runner and coach David Roche broke one of the sport’s historic course records by finishing in 15:26:34, resetting the record by more than 16 minutes.
The prior record was set in 2005 by mountain running legend Matt Carpenter at 15:42:59. Carpenter’s was an effort that could best be called calculated, honed from multiple years of racing Leadville and hundreds of hours of training on the course. Carpenter incredibly details his 2005 effort on his website. Carpenter’s was a record that many runners aspired to, but none could beat — until David Roche ran the 2024 edition.
David Roche winning the 2024 Leadville 100 Mile and setting a new course record. Photo: Life Time
The course has changed a small amount in several spots in the interim 19 years since Carpenter set his record. However, most Leadville experts would call the current course a little longer and harder than in 2005. Generally speaking, the Leadville 100 Mile course runs on an out-and-back route described as largely runnable, with a couple of big climbs, including the double crossing of the high point at Hope Pass, and several other punchy climbs. All this takes place at high altitude, with the start and finish in downtown Leadville, Colorado, at over 10,000 feet.
Roche, with more than a decade of success in shorter-distance trail racing experience, started the 2024 race as a 100-mile rookie. Like most years at Leadville, the lead men, including Roche, ran at or under course record pace from the start. In most years, contenders have slowed compared to record pace, starting around the 50-mile point, or in some exciting years, after around 60 miles in. But not Roche, who categorically stuck the landing on this race, maintaining a good pad on course record pace until he ran across the red carpet of the Leadville 100 Mile finish line.
Here, we compare Roche’s versus Carpenter’s splits:
- At May Queen 1 (mile 12.6), Roche came through in 1:31:34, while Carpenter split this section in 1:41.
- At Outward Bound 1 (mile 23.5), Roche was through in 2:59:11, while Carpenter split 3:07 at the old Fish Hatchery 1 aid station, located about a mile before what’s now Outward Bound 1.
- At Twin Lakes 1 (mile 37.9), Roche split 4:51:20, while Carpenter passed in 5:21.
- At Winfield (mile 50), Roche ran through at 7:09:08, while Carpenter’s split was 7:35.
- At Twin Lakes 2 (mile 62.5), Roche was through at 9:27:00 and Carpenter at 9:39.
- At Outward Bound 2 (mile 76.2), Roche split 11:35:30. Carpenter’s split at the old Fish Hatchery 2 aid station, located a mile later on the course, was 12:00.
- At May Queen 2 (mile 87.4), Roche passed at 13:29:03, and Carpenter’s split here was 13:45.
This could only be the sweetest of victories for Roche, who suffered significant injuries in a bike crash in April of this year but was able to recover and prepare for this race.
