2011 Hardrock 100 Results and Roundup
July 9, 2011 by Bryon Powell · 54 Comments
While there’s still 15 hours left to go in the 2011 Hardrock 100, we thought we’d provide a brief results article that we’ll update when we get the chance. We’re also adding articles, videos, photos, and race reports (jump down to these resources) as we receive them. [Please leave a comment letting us know about any such resources you find!]
On Friday, 140 runners set off from Silverton, Colorado for a 102 mile (or so) counterclockwise jaunt through the San Juan Mountains. Only 32 hours into the race, 53 runners have already dropped. That’s Hardrock. Racing happens, but surviving doesn’t always. Among the notable drops are five-time champ Karl Meltzer (pre-race video interview) at Chapman (mile 81.6), last year’s men’s champ Jared Campbell at Telluride (mile 72.7), and Nerea Martinez (pre-race video interview) at Grouse Gulch (mile 42.1). In the end, 80 runners kissed the hardrock, which signifies their completion of the race, within the 48 hour cutoff. Two more crossed the line after the two-day time limit had passed.
Garett Graubins on Engineer Pass
Then there were the survivors who excelled. Frenchman Julien Chorier (pre-race and post-race video interviews) took the lead three or four miles into the race and never relinquished it. In fact, it felt as he accelerated through the day. He relentlessly built his lead. Pre-race intelligence that Chorier was a strong, methodical mountain ultra runner provided to be true when he crossed the line in 25:17:2?. That’s the third fastest Hardrock 100 in history behind only Kyle Skaggs (23:23:30 – 2008) and Karl Meltzer (24:38:02 – 2009) and that’s with an extra two to three miles of course heading out of Telluride.
Julien Chorier running into Maggie Gulch
The men’s race on the day turned out to be the battle between Dakota Jones (pre-race video interview) and Nick Clark (pre-race video interview). They ran in the top five (or so) from the early going, but by Engineer Pass (mile 49), they were sitting alone in second and third. After being separated by no more than 6 minutes and some yo-yoing, they were essentially together at Governor Basin (mile 64.5). At that point, Dakota built a lead up to 13 minutes at Telluride (miles 72.2), which Clark cut to 7 minutes leaving the KT aid station (mile 89). From there, Dakota built more than a half hour cushion en route to placing second in 27:10:0? in the race that started his quest to take up ultramarathoning.
Dakota Jones running into Maggie Gulch
Clark finished in 27:43:21 just two weeks after placing third at the Western States 100. Between States and Hardrock, Clark lowered Andy Jones-Wilkins WS-HR double record by 3 hours and 22 minutes.
Nick Clark running out of Grouse Gulch
Unknown to most, Frenchman Dan Levy went out in the top three and never faded out of the top six (as far as we know). With a late surge, he passed Diana Finkel to finish fourth in 28:57:10. That’s quite an introduction!
Daniel Levy running into Grouse Gulch
In a rematch from last year, Diana Finkel and Darcy Africa (pre-race video interview) had a day (and change) long battle for the women’s win. It was a much closer match than last year. After being in close proximity for all of the first 40 miles, they were essentially together at Grouse Gulch, before Finkel surged ahead. By Chapman Gulch (mile 81.6), Finkel had built an hour and 19 minute lead, but it wasn’t over yet. Africa closed and closed fast. With 5 miles to go, Finkel’s lead was down to 41 minutes. She held on and “lifted a weight off her shoulders” by finishing in good spirits and good health in contrast to her prolonged hospitalization after last year’s race. Finkel finished fifth overall in 29:27:39 to earn her fourth straight Hardrock 100 women’s title.
Diana Finkel running into Maggie Gulch
Africa crossed the line 19 minutes and two places behind Finkel in 29:46:33 sneaking under the 30 hour mark.
Darcy Africa running in Maggie Gulch
Joe Grant (pre-race video interview) was sixth overall in 29:38:27. He was further up in the field for much of the day, but got lost often and for long periods. At the finish, he estimated that he was lost half a dozen times and that it cost him a couple hours. The absence of the two largest diversions – 45 minutes in Governors Basin and 1 hour on Grant Swamp Pass – would have put Grant in fourth overall.
Joe Grant after finishing the 2011 Hardrock 100
Two-time Leadville 100 champ Duncan Callahan never ran from the front nor did he ever fall of the pace. He is one consistent runner. Without looking at the splits, it feels like he was within three spots of 10th all day long. He finished on the high end of that in eighth with a time of 30:57:46.
Duncan Callahan 2011 Hardrock 100
Ted Mahon (31:55) and Danny Gnojek (32:21) round out the top 10.
2011 Hardrock 100 Top 10 (iRF’s unofficial times)
- Julien Chorier -25:17:2?
- Dakota Jones – 27:10:0?
- Nick Clark – 27:43:21
- Daniel Levy – 28:57:10
- Diana Finkel – 29:27:39
- Joe Grant – 29:38:27
- Darcy Africa – 29:46:33
- Duncan Callahan – 30:57:46
- Ted Mahon – 31:55
- Danny Gnojek – 32:21
The Hardrock website is posting live (sort of ) updates.
- Julien Chorier (1st) (two reports in French – 1 & 2)
- Dakota Jones (2nd)
- Nick Clark (3rd)
- Joe Grant (6th)
- Matt Hart (14th)
Photos
- Competitor Running photos (by Meghan M Hicks and Bryon Powell)
- Brendan Trimboli’s photo set
Other Articles
- Competitor Running men’s article
- Competitor Running women’s article
- Durango Herald
- Sarah Lavender Smith’s pacer’s perspective
Last updated July 27, 2011
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Filed under Races ·
Bryon Powell is the Editor-in-Chief of iRunFar.com, which he founded five years ago. Also the author of Relentless Forward Progress: A Guide to Running Ultramarathons and a contributing editor at Trail Runner magazine, he's quickly approaching 10 years as an ultrarunner and 20 years as a trail runner. These days he calls Park City, Utah and its trails home.
All posts by Bryon Powell
Exceptional coverage! Thanks for all your hard work.
Sean Cunniff
Santa Fe, NM
Been following along since yesterday morning. Once again, thanks for some fantastic coverage!
Thanks for the great coverage yet again. Any follow-up on Chorier possibly taking a wrong drainage early on?
I talked to the RD and there were issues with marking in that section with multiple runners taking slightly altered routes. With a race like this, close, honest attempts are within the spirit of the rules.
Fair enough. Thanks for the follow-up info. Fact is even if he gained 15 min. it made no difference in the final outcome.
Thank you – Meaghan and Bryon for keeping us informed. You make quite a team!!
Julien Chorier did incredible, and 2 hrs in the lead!! They all are really amazing athletes!
Super nice race coverage! Thank you!
I was especially glad that Diana finished healthy and happy! She has my utmost respect! (Not that she needs it.)
It used to be if you weren’t right there at the race, there was no hope of getting one smidgen of info about what was going on. It would takes weeks sometimes just to find results. All your travels and tech saavy have really filled a big void for us spectators. Thanks so much for being right in the thick of it with pics, posts and interviews in just about real time. It is REALLY appreciated!
Here, here! Thanks so much Bryon you really make these races (and this sport more generally) come alive
Great coverage. Congrats to Fort Collins’ Nick Clark…this guy is quietly establishing himslef as one of the top runners.
Absolutely. I think Nick has to be front runner for UROY at this point? This double 3rd plus beating the WS/HR record plus Kyle Skaggs Jemez record.
I’ll second that motion!
Incredible race! Your coverage/updates at times had me paralyzed at my PC – thank you!
Awesome coverage!
Any chance you feel like driving down to Death Valley and doing the same thing on Monday?
Thanks. I’ve thought about the Hardrock/Badwater coverage before and I’ve always come to the same conclusion: why in July would I leave the San Juans to go to Death Valley. I’ll stay in Heaven rather than go to hell. :-)
As much as I would like the in depth coverage you would provide of Badwater; I can’t say I blame you for staying away!
Thank you for all hard work and excellent coverage of the race and for covering
WS100 too!
Great coverage, again. Thanks!
Many thanks for great race coverage. We were following it all in Oxford UK.
Grandson Joe had a great run for 6th.
We really appreciate your work for keeping us all in touch.
Keep it up
Doug
Thanks again guys, coverage of HR has never been so good.
Top shelf!
Could not agree more with above comments. Followed it blow by blow all the way from Canterbury, England. Many thanks for a great job. Obviously proud of how Nick did. Pity the Hardrock videocast did not seem to be working very well. Any chance of posting a video of the finishes? Roger Clark (Nick’s Dad!)
Hi there; I’m very surprised AND happy to read that Julien won this epic race; I remember seeing the guy on the 2007 CCC course, way ahead of the other runners and thinking “this guy has a real talent”. Here we go. Congrats to all the finishers, we’re waiting for most of these top-class runners here in France on late August!
Vive la France, vive the U.S.A. !
Does anyone know if Chorier is running UTMB? Many thanks iRF team, your coverage is spot on.
No, not this year.
Nailed it again Bryon, Great coverage!!! Nick Clark is an ANIMAL!!!
Bryan, your double deserves a big shout out! Very fine running result at Western States followed by providing such excellent coverage of Hardrock. Thank you forgoing sleep and meals to keep us informed! It was truly a privilege for me to meet you in Auburn. Keep up the good work!
A quick note from the back of the pack! First congratulations to all the finishers and to those that didn’t, I feel your pain! #144 Mike James I dropped at Ouray, The race started slow for most of us over to Maggie’s with the first rain and hail starting to fall on the way over. It was a little heavy but not that bad All and all spirits were high but people were already starting to yo-yo after going out to hard. Unless your running top 5 know your limitations especially on this course as it just gets tougher as it grinds on! The hike and run down to the next aid station were enjoyable with the sun out and the views spectacular. Coming out of the aid station (Cunningham?) you get 4 miles of dirt road that everyone seems to rock not remembering the ugly climb up Handies! This year was by far the toughest (’08-’09 finish) that I have seen. Climbing up Handies although pretty, sucks as it just keeps coming. On I my way up the way up the clouds were forming and after cresting the skies opened up a little making the snow steps in the ice fields just like a slip and slide. Coming down the last stretch to out when things got really dicey with the lightning illuminating the ridge we were coming down. Grouse is where the fun seemed to go out of the faces of those around me and the slug fest started! Climbing up Engineers is long but really not that technical but throw in heavy rain, hail and 30 mph winds, and it just blew! The run down to the aid station saw the hill side like a grgot eased pole and after a few tumbles and losing the trail a couple times I eased into the aid station after tumbling through the shrubbery! Great aid station and then a long descent with several high creek crossings we entered into Ouray. Physically I was a little tired but mentally I was drained. I decided with nothing to prove that I had another fun-filled day in the San Juan mountains and bagging was the right thing for me to do. Even after sleeping for a couple hours I still had no regrets. I will be back as nothing compares to the degree of difficulty to this race and the good-hearted nature of the competitors and the race volunteers make this although the toughest the best run and one of the most enjoyable races on my calendar!
I completely echo the above sentiments thanking Bryon and his crew for their coverage. Great work and this team definitely has this hard-to-cover sport coverage down!
Anyone know what kind of shoes Dakota wore for the race?
Montrail Rockridges
I saw a fair few using poles during the race, anyone know what types of poles were being used by a few of the runner.
A strong majority of the runners were using Black Diamond Ultra Distance Z-Poles. (The poles are available in the iRunFar Store.) These poles were at least partially inspired by long-time BD employee and 10-time Hardrock 100 finisher Roch Horton.
That would be Captain Horton to those of us serving at Kroger’s Canteen!
I snapped both my carbon z-poles, one coming down Virginius and the other coming down Grant Swamp Pass. After using them for so many hours, I felt like I lost a couple limbs!
Did you snap them in snow-plant non-withdrawals? If not, how so?
Brendan,
Neptune Mountaineering has them you can try out (Plus it’s a good excuse to go to Southern Sun!)…every time I go in I play with them but haven’t picked up a set yet. They are SUPER light.
Hi Byron,
Thank you for the great coverage of Hardrock and Western States! I have a sort of story idea: “The Shoes of Hardrock” (and “The Shoes of Western States”); what I’m curious about is what shoes were used by whom.
Ted
Bryon, what happened to Nick Clark’s post race interview? Saw it in my RSS feed, then ‘poof’
Sorry about that, Rob. I accidentally hit publish when I meant to schedule it for later. It’ll be up on Wednesday.
Great coverage and updates by you and Meghan, thanks!
Bryon, Another huge Thank You from France. Your coverage was so great!
Cheerleaders for Joe and congratulations to everyone running that course.
You’re quite welcome. Will you be cheering from Chamonix in late August? If so, see you there!
What is Julien wearing for a pack up above?
This is a prototype pack out of the Salomon S-Lab. One never knows if such products will be released to the public, but I should learn soon.
Dakota Jones is only 20, right? And he finished 2nd!! Unbelievable. Is he the youngest ever HR100 finisher? Surely he’s the youngest to place top 10 right? Any stats around this? What an amazing athlete
Great job with HR100. Will you be covering Leadville?
Thanks. Unfortunately, we won’t be covering Leadville. It’s to close to when I’ll be traveling to Europe to cover and run UTMB.
Must be darn hard if the winning time was 24 hours.