{"id":53755,"date":"2020-05-24T20:52:13","date_gmt":"2020-05-25T02:52:13","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/hardrock-100-canceled-for-second-time-in-as-many-years\/"},"modified":"2020-05-25T02:52:13","modified_gmt":"2020-05-25T02:52:13","slug":"hardrock-100-canceled-for-second-time-in-as-many-years","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/hardrock-100-canceled-for-second-time-in-as-many-years\/","title":{"rendered":"Hardrock 100 canceled for second time in as many years"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

\"For
For the second year in a row, no runner will kiss the finisher\u2019s rock at the Hardrock 100.<\/span>Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run can\u2019t catch a break.<\/p>\n

After unveiling a loaded field of U.S. and international runners selected through the lottery in December 2018, the Hardrock 100 ultra-marathon that starts and finishes in Silverton was canceled in 2019 after a winter of heavy snow left avalanche debris and dangerous high water along its 100.5-mile loop through the heart of the southern San Juan Mountains<\/a>.<\/p>\n

A year later with the same field of registered runners as 2019 set to compete, the Hardrock 100<\/a> board of directors once again had to cancel one of the world\u2019s most iconic mountain ultra-marathons. This time, it is because of the global COVID-19 pandemic with public health orders in place prohibiting large gatherings such as the Hardrock, which has a field of 145 runners. Though it is a small field of athletes, hundreds more are involved in the form of pacers, crew members, media and run volunteers.<\/p>\n

The Hardrock 100 continued to delay its decision until Saturday<\/a> while similar events in the U.S., such as the Western States Endurance Run in California<\/a>, canceled much earlier. Western States 100 made its decision March 27.<\/p>\n

\u201cThis is a tough decision,\u201d said Hardrock 100 director and co-founder Dale Garland in a phone interview with The Durango Herald<\/em>. \u201cI hated making it. It is not one where just sat down one day and decided to pull the plug. We realize we have an impact on the sport and the economics of the area, and it\u2019s something done with a lot of consideration. I\u2019m really sad, and I have heartache about it.\u201d<\/p>\n

The latest Hardrock 100 cancellation is another blow to Silverton, which suffered economically from the affects of less tourism because of the 416 Fire near Durango in 2018. Already in 2020, Silverton has seen the Iron Horse Bicycle Classic, which brings more than 3,000 people to Silverton on Memorial Day weekend, canceled because of COVID-19<\/a>. Many businesses in Silverton remain closed with only essential visitors allowed into the small mountain town of fewer than 700 residents. In 2019, DeAnna Gallegos, the director of the Silverton Area Chamber of Commerce, said the Hardrock 100 helped deliver $1 million to the local economy.<\/p>\n

Past experience pays off<\/div>\n

\"Dale
Dale Garland, co-founder of the Hardrock Hundred Endurance Run, has once again had to cancel the event. It is only the fourth cancellation in run history dating back to 1992 but the second in the last two years.<\/span>Jerry McBride\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

The cancellation is the fourth in Hardrock 100 history dating back to 1992. The previous cancellations were all because of natural causes. Along with the dense avalanche debris scattered across the course in 2019, the event was called off in 1995 because of too much snow and in 2002 because of extreme fire danger in the San Juan National Forest.<\/p>\n

It was because of that first cancellation in 1995 that Hardrock is able to financially survive a cancellation, even with two in a row. After 1995, the board of directors established a reserve bank account to set aside funds in the case of another lost year.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe just needed to make a decision by June 1, if we could,\u201d Garland said. \u201cPart of that is to honor people\u2019s flight plans, vacation rentals and all those things. Also, we felt if we made a decision by June 1 we could still buy everything we needed. We hadn\u2019t spent a whole lot of money with equipment, merchandise, awards or anything like that. So, we\u2019re in pretty good shape and didn\u2019t have to hit the reserve account very hard.\u201d<\/p>\n

A loaded field awaits fate<\/div>\n

The run, which traverses across the rugged San Juan Mountains with 66,050 feet of elevation change at an average elevation of more than 11,000 feet, including the 14,048-foot summit of Handies Peak outside Lake City and seven mountain passes at higher than 13,000 feet, has become a legend among the world\u2019s best ultra runners. Athletes must complete previous qualifying 100-mile races to even enter the lottery, which had a record 2,487 applicants for the 2019 race.<\/p>\n

While U.S. stars such as Courtney Dauwalter, Dylan Bowman, Jeff Browning, Jason Schlarb, Sabrina Stanley, Darcy Piceu and Darla Askew were among those expected to run in 2019 and then in 2020, French stars Francois D\u2019Haene and Xavier Th\u00e9venard were also highly-anticipated competitors who had gained a lottery spot.<\/p>\n

\"Sabrina
Sabrina Stanley moved to Silverton full time after her 2018 Hardrock 100 win and has seen the 2019 and now 2020 races canceled.<\/span>John Livingston\/Durango Herald file<\/span><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n<\/p>

It was expected to be the most talented field in the history of the event, and it has now been put on hold twice.<\/p>\n

No announcement was immediately made regarding registration for the 2021 race and if it would once again carry over from the 2019 lottery or if there would be a new lottery.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s up in the air,\u201d Garland said. \u201cThat is a board decision, and it\u2019s split. That\u2019s why it hasn\u2019t been decided yet. It\u2019s been two years, so do we keep rolling people over or give 145 new people a shot at it? They\u2019ve been waiting two years for a new lottery, as well. It\u2019s a philosophical difference not resolved yet. We will keep people updated as soon as those decisions are made.\u201d<\/p>\n

Garland said making the event larger to accommodate the addition of new runners to the existing pool of 145 already selected would require discussions with the Bureau of Land Management and forest service, as that would exceed what the event\u2019s permit is allowed. He did not indicate that there was a plan to try to increase the size of the event.<\/p>\n

Alternative formats didn\u2019t fit Hardrock\u2019s image<\/div>\n

Garland and the run committee considered alternative plans to the traditional Hardrock 100 this year. Some suggested it be conducted virtually. There was discussion of holding the event as usual but with staggered starts and without gatherings such as Camp Hardrock, the pre-race briefing and the awards banquet which would have brought all the runners together at the same time.<\/p>\n

\u201cI don\u2019t think you can replicate the Hardrock experience virtually,\u201d Garland said. \u201cWe entertained the idea, but no, we couldn\u2019t do that. Then we looked to see if we could do it without all the experiences that make Hardrock what it is and build our community. At some point it was like, \u2018What are we trying to create?\u2019 Especially for a first time runner, we didn\u2019t want that to be their experience.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe also thought about doing a regional Hardrock and limiting it to the Four Corners states. But we couldn\u2019t come to a philosophical agreement that we wanted to do something like that, either.\u201d<\/p>\n

While Garland said canceling the event stings, he is confident it can move forward and remain a special event. In a year in which the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc in France and other U.S. events such as Western States and the Leadville 100 have been canceled, he believes the running community will understand.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhat does it say when we can\u2019t do it two years in a row?\u201d Garland said. \u201cThat\u2019s why we wanted to wait and see as it got really close if things were going to change or not or if we could make it work. We kept trying to move forward, but we couldn\u2019t do it.\u201d<\/p>\n

This is a developing story. For more, follow www.durangoherald.com.<\/em><\/p>\n

jlivingston@durangoherald.com<\/a><\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Avalanche debris in 2019, COVID-19 in 2020 wipe out famed ultra-marathon<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":53756,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[],"tags":[685,2185,29,1489,1914,327,2343,97,1916,1915],"naviga_topic":[],"class_list":["post-53755","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","tag-coronavirus-covid-19","tag-hardrock-hundred-mile-endurance-run","tag-newsletter","tag-ouray","tag-running","tag-silverton","tag-sports-group","tag-telluride","tag-trail-running","tag-ultra-running"],"acf":[],"author_name":"dh_admin","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53755","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=53755"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/53755\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/53756"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=53755"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=53755"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=53755"},{"taxonomy":"naviga_topic","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/dh.durangoherald.com\/tj\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/naviga_topic?post=53755"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}