On Saturday, August 16, Anne Flower and David Roche each ran spectacular races on the 2025 Leadville 100 Mile to set new course data with instances of 17:58:19 and 15:12:30, respectively.
Flower broke Ann Trason’s 31-year-old report of 18:06:24 by simply over eight minutes and completed second total within the race. It’s value noting that when Trason set her report in 1994, she additionally positioned second total within the race.
In the meantime, Roche repeated his victory from final yr and lowered his personal course report by simply over 14 minutes. Final yr, Roche broke Matt Carpenter’s 2005 course report by 16 minutes.
Anne Flower breaks Ann Trason’s 31-year-old course report. All images: Life Time
Each earlier report instances stood for lengthy sufficient that they appeared unattainable, though many elites had tried. Whereas the course that Carpenter and Trason ran was somewhat bit shorter, and by some accounts somewhat bit simpler, the longevity of their data was a testomony to their unbelievable runs on the time.
Roche’s run final yr confirmed that any report, no matter how previous, may be damaged, and Flower solely reiterated the purpose this yr.
David Roche reaches the crimson carpet in course report time on the 2025 Leadville 100 Mile, for the second time in two years.
This may solely be thought of a breakout efficiency by 35-year-old Flower. Whereas she received the Silver Rush 50 Mile earlier this yr and the Javelin 100k final fall, it seems that this was her first try on the 100-mile distance. She’s largely competed in smaller races within the 50k to 50-mile vary, the place she’s constantly been on the entrance of the sector. It additionally seems she has a strong historical past in street marathoning.
Flower took the race out rapidly, working because the second-place girl and simply outdoors of the highest 10 total till the Outward Certain support station, 23.5 miles in. From there, she took the lead within the ladies’s race and steadily moved up within the subject total, discovering herself in third on the primary traverse of Hope Move. She was constant within the second half, the place many individuals battle, and completed robust to overhaul all however the wining man within the remaining miles. This allowed her to take the ladies’s win, end second total, and set the ladies’s course report.
Anne Flower on her option to a brand new ladies’s course report.
Roche ran on the entrance of the race from the beginning and was a minute forward of his earlier report tempo 90 minutes into the occasion. He was solely three minutes up on his previous report 50 miles in on the turnaround at Winfield, however he closed a lot quicker this yr, making up 11 minutes on his splits from 2024 within the second half of the race. This should have felt like a little bit of redemption for Roche, who dropped out of the 2025 Western States 100 earlier this yr with abdomen points simply previous the midway level.
David Roche within the early miles of setting a brand new males’s course report.
The Leadville 100 Mile out-and-back course is thought for its excessive elevation, moderately runnable trails, and the double traverse of Hope Move, one on all sides of the midway level. There are a number of punchy climbs sprinkled all through the course, and traditionally, many falter within the again half of the occasion because the miles, altitude, and fatigue construct up. The occasion begins and ends within the city of Leadville, which is the very best included metropolis within the nation, sitting at 10,154 ft. The race course tops out at Hope Move at an elevation of 12,600, and the route takes in about 14,400 ft of climbing.
Full outcomes and splits.
