Of the numerous good-natured debates that permeate the game of path operating and ultrarunning, few are as vigorous and as numerous because the dialogue over which path — clockwise or counterclockwise — is more difficult on the Hardrock 100.
In fact, the straightforward resolution is that they’re each exhausting. And that’s rather true. However, for the ones people who’ve run the race in each instructions, and I’m lucky to depend myself as a type of, all of us have our critiques.
The Hardrock 100 route showcases 4 ancient mountain cities of the San Juans — Silverton, Lake Town, Ouray, and Telluride — and permits the hardest ultrarunners on the earth to check themselves in those majestic mountains. Over just about 30 years of the long-lasting race, the route has remained just about unchanged, save for a couple of small re-routes right here and there. In consequence, it supplies nice fodder for the controversy: which path is more difficult? What follows is my opinion on that query.
Claire Bannwarth (left) and Annie Hughes percentage early miles within the 2023 Hardrock 100 mountain climbing up the “ramp” outdoor of Maggie Gulch. Photograph: iRunFar/Eszter Horanyi
Maximum we all know that the Hardrock route, over its 100 miles, packs about 33,200 ft of mountaineering over 9 primary climbs, the best possible one topping out at 14,058 ft. All of the ones climbs are steep, soul-sucking efforts in each instructions that can check even probably the most seasoned ultrarunner. However, upon nearer inspection, it turns into transparent that one path — the clockwise path that runners are traversing this 12 months — is extra forgiving and, due to this fact, much more likely to yield speedy occasions. As my nice good friend Roch Horton, 10-time Hardrock finisher, regularly says, “Going clockwise you run up the ‘partitions’ and down the ‘ramps.’”
Within the clockwise path, the climbs, or the partitions, are invariably steeper, extra technical, and shorter. The descents, or the ramps, are longer, gentler, and much more likely to permit runners to open issues up a bit of and make up time operating down the extra slow grades. There are 4 key puts the place this level is illuminated:
- The descent off of Oscars Cross into Telluride
- The lengthy descent down Camp Hen Street into Ouray
- The sweeping highway descent from Engineer Cross to Grouse Gulch
- The sleek highway from Burrows Park to Sherman
Those 4 sections, totaling over 22 miles in mixture — most commonly on jeep roads and double-track tune — constitute sections the place runners can truly run. They’re superbly forgiving. I keep in mind first changing into acutely aware of this in 2008 when Kyle Skaggs become the primary particular person ever to run Hardock in beneath 24 hours. That 12 months, he informed me he ran the seven-mile Camp Hen phase from Governor Basin to Ouray in 48 mins throughout the race.
This concept was once bolstered in 2012 when, consistent with winner Hal Koerner, he ran down all 4 of the “ramps” at a sub-7:30-minute-per-mile tempo and distanced all of his competition within the procedure.
Kilian Jornet main François D’Haene and Dakota Jones early within the 2022 Hardrock 100, a clockwise 12 months, sooner than happening to set a route document. Photograph: iRunFar/Bryon Powell
In a protracted mountain race of 100 miles, more than one variables are all the time at play, and the brutal fact is that Hardock is hard in both path. However for the good and savvy runner who does their homework and analyzes the route, it’s transparent that clockwise is the speedier path. It’s going to be a laugh to peer the way it all performs out this 12 months.
Bottoms up!
AJW’s Beer of the Week
This week’s Beer of the Week comes from Telluride Brewing Corporate in Telluride, Colorado. Suero is a crisp pilsner brewed with contemporary lime juice and a pinch of salt to supply a style of Mexico in a top mountain the town. Suero is, in some ways, a vintage German-style pilsner. However in alternative ways, it’s a type of beers that assists in keeping you coming again for extra.
Name for Feedback
- If you happen to’ve run Hardrock in each instructions sooner than, which do you assume is more difficult?
- Given the choice, which path would you select to head?