The Leadville 100 is by any measure one of the toughest and most popular ultra-marathons in the United States. More than 100 miles in the Rocky Mountains of Colorado, it crosses the 12,540-foot Hope Pass twice and grinds up a total of more than 15,000 vertical feet.
This year, The North Face athlete Rob Krar won the grueling race in front of about 360 other finishers on August 16th.
He’s so fast that his Suunto Ambit2 recorded all but the final three miles of the race set at one second intervals before the battery ran out. (GPS watches have a fairly short battery life, so completing a 100-mile event on a single charge is tough even for fast runners.)
Krar finished in 16 hours, 9 minutes, and 32 seconds, the second-fastest time behind Matt Carpenter’s record of 15:42 set in 2005.
Uploaded to the fitness tracking application Strava, Krar’s pace overlaid with the elevation gain appears almost superhuman. Here are just a few of the highlights:
— Krar ran at a 6:53 pace on mile 23 of the race
— In his slowest mile, 54, he gained 1,165 feet in 22:21
— His average pace over 100 miles? 9:46 per mile
— 95 miles in, Krar ran a 7:28 mile on nearly flat terrain
For more fun details about the second-fastest Leadville 100 run in history, check out Krar’s Strava page (note: you’ll only see the details if signed in) and prepare to be amazed!
