RacesColorado Rockies
Leadville Trail 100
Demand
4 out of 5
How much it asks
Worth
2 out of 5
Worth the flight + fee
Leadville, Colorado, United States
Scorecard · is it worth it?
People look this up. The scores are the take. Famous is not a mountain destination.
The card
Leadville is the race people name when they mean 'I did something hard in Colorado' and the course mountain runners name when they mean 'that is not what we meant.' We score it because the question arrives every season, and because skip is a score, not a silence.
Demand is 4. Starting at 10,200 feet and climbing Hope Pass twice at 12,600 feet will still take people apart, and the 30-hour cutoff is a real clock. What it is not is a mountain-running demand: the Leadville Trail 100 is substantially jeep road and dirt road, out and back, with one famous pass as the alpine alibi. Technicality is a 2. Vertical is a 3. Altitude is a 5, and altitude is why the race keeps its reputation among people who do not look at surfaces.
Worth is 2 because the weekend is a poor use of a Colorado flight. You pay a Life Time fee, stay in a town that knows how to host a circus, and spend most of the day on a surface you could have trained on at home if home has a dirt road. Hope Pass is worth seeing. It is not worth 90 miles of boulevard. High Lonesome, Ouray, and Hardrock are in the same mountain range family and are actual mountain courses.
Finishers earn their buckles in thin air. This is not a hall of fame for famous names. Organization confidence is medium: professionally staged and publicly documented, and also a product line. If the buckle is the point, be honest that the buckle is the point. If the mountains are the point, skip.
Who it is for
Runners who specifically want the Leadville buckle, a high-altitude road-ish 100, or a first 100 where the hard part is air, not rock.
Who should skip
Anyone flying to Colorado for mountain running. If you can get to Leadville, you can get to a better course.
Elevation
Tap or hover for miles, clock, and aidft
Bottom ticks are aid. Longest gap 15.5 mi.
- Start
- 10,144 ft3,092 m
- Finish
- 10,144 ft3,092 m
- Net
- 0 ft0 m
- Longest climb
- 3,330 ft1,015 m
- Above 10,000 ft
- 41 mi66 km
Start and finish are within 400 ft. Treat net as a loop.
Weekend
Official handbook facts
- Start
- 04:00
- Crew
- 26, 29.6, 40.3, 64, 74.9, 78.3 mi
- Drop bags
- 20.5, 26, 31.8, 40.3, 52.2 mi
- Pacer from
- 64 mi
- Tracker
- Open
- Course file
- Open
Leadville Trail 100 Run (2026 schedule for reference) · retrieved 2026-09-06 (repo record)
Field
Last editions · 100M scored distance
Field evidence: who showed up, who finished, how long. DNF is that evidence, not a difficulty score. Public results, scored distance only.
2026
Official live hub: Overall 656 / Still racing 391 / DNF 265 (391+265=656). Four of the 391 chip times are over the 30-hour cutoff (30:19:30–30:42:21); counts follow the posted table.
- Starters
- 656
- Finishers
- 391
- DNF
- 40%
- Win
- 15:47:23
- Median
- 28:03:51
Latest median 28:03:51 (2026) vs the 30-hour cutoff already listed in Gate. Not a hardness score.
2026 field from the official live hub: 656 starters, 391 finish chip times, 265 DNF. Win Adrian Macdonald 15:47:23; median of those finish times.
Overall field only. Not a pro or sponsored subset.
Climate
Typical August at the start area · historical race-week weather
- Typical high
- 67°F (19°C)
- Typical low
- 40°F (5°C)
- Typical precip
- 1.8 in (46 mm) / August
- Days with rain
- 35% of days
- High point
- 12,598 ft (3,840 m)
BewareHigh point 12,598 ft (3,840 m). the air is part of the weather.
2015–2024 August means at the start / massif. · Open-Meteo ERA5 / climate · retrieved 2026-09-06 (repo record)
Dimensions
Ten 1–5 scores with a one-line why. Organization has a separate confidence tag.
Supporting dimensions · organization confidence medium
A 100-mile out-and-back with a 30-hour cutoff. The format is classic; the surface is the issue.
Hope Pass is the mountain. The rest is rolling high-altitude dirt and jeep road, not a vert race.
Mostly runnable dirt road and jeep track. Power-hike the pass, run the boulevard.
August in the high Rockies: sun, storms, cold nights. Real, not Diagonale or Hardrock weather.
Start at 10,200 ft, Hope Pass at 12,600. The air is the honest hard part.
Leadville is straightforward by Colorado standards. Life Time packaging is the logistics personality.
A famous name with a thinner mountain-running field than the mythology. History is not the current start list.
Large, commercial, practiced. Public materials exist; the soul of the event is a Life Time product.
You fly to Colorado and pay a premium to race jeep roads at altitude. Better mountains are in the same state.
Two Rivers and Hope Pass are real. The boulevard is a long dirt road with a view.
| Dimension | Score | Why |
|---|---|---|
Distance & format How much does the advertised distance and format actually ask? | 4 out of 5 | A 100-mile out-and-back with a 30-hour cutoff. The format is classic; the surface is the issue. |
Vertical How serious is the climbing, not just the mile marker? | 3 out of 5 | Hope Pass is the mountain. The rest is rolling high-altitude dirt and jeep road, not a vert race. |
Technicality Hands, poles, route-finding, or just a long dirt road? | 2 out of 5 | Mostly runnable dirt road and jeep track. Power-hike the pass, run the boulevard. |
Climate Heat, monsoon, ice, or a friendly summer afternoon? | 3 out of 5 | August in the high Rockies: sun, storms, cold nights. Real, not Diagonale or Hardrock weather. |
Altitude Does the air change the race, or is it a talking point? | 5 out of 5 | Start at 10,200 ft, Hope Pass at 12,600. The air is the honest hard part. |
Logistics How hard is the weekend around the race: travel, crew, lodging, rules? | 3 out of 5 | Leadville is straightforward by Colorado standards. Life Time packaging is the logistics personality. |
Prestige & field Does the start list and history change what the weekend feels like? | 3 out of 5 | A famous name with a thinner mountain-running field than the mythology. History is not the current start list. |
Organization From public evidence, does the event look competently run? | 3 out of 5 | Large, commercial, practiced. Public materials exist; the soul of the event is a Life Time product. |
Value Entry fee, travel tax, and lottery friction versus what you get on course. | 2 out of 5 | You fly to Colorado and pay a premium to race jeep roads at altitude. Better mountains are in the same state. |
Adventure & scenery Would you fly for the place even if nobody kept score? | 3 out of 5 | Two Rivers and Hope Pass are real. The boulevard is a long dirt road with a view. |