François D'Haene wins Hardrock 100 in record time

For Francois D’haene, the most difficult part of winning the Hardrock 100 may have been getting to the Hardrock 100. After a three-year wait to run the famed 100-mile Colorado ultra-marathon for the first time, the Salomon athlete smashed the former course record this weekend to win in 21 hours, 45 minutes and 50 seconds. D’Haene either led or was in the lead pack for the entire race, beating 2nd place finisher Dylan Bowman by one hour. Ryan Smith was 3rd. All three broke the former counter-clockwise course record set by Salomon athlete Kilian Jornet in 2014. D’haene bettered the record by an astonishing 1 hour and 43 minutes.

To the surprise of the three-time UTMB winner, Bowman and Smith remained just a few minutes behind for the next eight hours, and—because much of the race takes place above tree line—D’haene could see his pursuers the entire time.

“I was thinking coming into the race that if I was a bit behind Kilian’s pace, I’d still be in good shape,” D’haene said. “And I stayed ahead of that pace and Dylan was always just five minutes behind me. I was saying, ‘Wow, he’s still there. He’s fast.’ It was hard to understand how we could be so fast. Kilian is not nobody, so when you are an hour or two in front of his record pace you think maybe I made a mistake and will I be able to make it to the end.”

After the Hardrock 100 was canceled in 2019 due to avalanche danger and then again in 2020 due to the COVID pandemic, the wait to run in the race was wearing on D’haene. This year, it was travel restrictions that placed his chances of getting to the start/finish line in Silverton, Colorado in doubt. At one point, D’haene got all the way to the airport in Europe, only to be sent home. Two days later, he finally made the trip to Colorado, giving him 10 days to acclimatize to the high-altitude conditions.

“We were joking about it here that maybe it was the longest preparation for a race, considering it has been two and a half years,” D’haene said with a laugh. “So the motivation was high and that was a good thing. We got here early enough to do some training, to acclimatize and see some parts of the course. I was excited before the race, and I’m even more excited now to have won. It’s a very nice place and a very beautiful race, so I am very happy it has gone well.”

The Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run is 161 kilometers (100.5 miles) in length and is run at an average elevation of 3,352 meters (11,000 feet). The race climbs and descends more than 10,000 meters (33,050 feet) of elevation and takes entrants above 3,700 meters (12,000 feet) of elevation 13 times during the race.

D’haene said the time to acclimatize served him well and the race went rather smoothly once he solved the issue of how to eat at altitude.

“By being acclimatized, I could breathe and run fast even at 4,000 meters, but after seven or eight hours, even when you live here, it’s very hard to have classic food like I use normally, so it was hard to drink and eat,” D’haene explained. “In ultra-trail, if you don’t have enough energy, it’s very difficult. I drank more here, and I knew it was hard to eat at the top of the mountains, so I ate when I was down at lower elevations. And I used more gels. But it’s strange for your body because you need to eat.”

After the 2019 race was canceled, D’haene decided to travel to Silverton anyway, familiarizing himself with the course and forging strong connections with the Colorado trail running community

“Two years ago, I felt the connection, but this year even more because I have some friends here now, and they all came here to see me,” D’haene said. “It was incredible. Jim Walmsley and Dakota Jones paced me. Sage Canaday and Anna Frost were there, too. For ultra-runners, it’s a mythical race so it’s nice to be here. It has such a family feel. This morning, they called the name of every runner—every single one—to go up and receive their prize, so it’s quite a community.”

In winning the Hardrock 100, Francois D’haene used a full kit of Salomon footwear, apparel and gear. He ran in a prototype version of the S/LAB Ultra 3 trail running shoe, and wore the S/LAB Sense Ultra 8 running vest, long S/LAB Sense shorts, S/LAB EXO half tights, an S/LAB Sense T-shirt, S/LAB NSO calve sleeves, and a Salomon cap. He carried a waterproof Bonatti jacket and a Salomon custom quiver for his poles.