Schide, Pommeret Win Amid Tragedy

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Silverton, Colorado—Katie Schide broke Courtney Dauwalter’s course record by 21 minutes at the 2025 Hardrock 100, while 49-year-old Ludo Pommeret defended his title in a Frenchmen’s podium sweep. Despite the celebratory spirit at the finish line during the wee hours of July 12, the 34th year of this formidable 102-mile run will also be remembered with heavy hearts among this tight-knit community.

At 10:27 a.m. on Friday, June 11, four-and-a-half hours into the run, the Silverton Medical Rescue Team pronounced a runner deceased. She was identified as Elaine Stypula, a 60-year-old entrant from Farmington Hills, Michigan.

“We are deeply saddened to share that a beloved member of our Hardrock Hundred Mile Endurance Run family has passed away during this year’s event,” Hardrock organizers wrote on social media. “Our hearts are with their family, friends, and fellow runners as we grieve this tremendous loss. We are committed to caring for runners, crews, volunteers, and all members of our community through the event’s duration and beyond.”

Unaware of the tragedy, runners at the front were locked in tight competition. Pommeret bided his time behind the early frontrunners before forging a decisive gap at mile 30 as he climbed up to the high point, 14,058-foot Handies Peak. Schide battled through typical high-altitude afflictions to lead wire-to-wire and kiss the rock marking the finish at 25 hours, 50 minutes, and 23 minutes elapsed. She’s the first woman to run under 26 hours.

Schide’s victory caps an unassailable two-year campaign in which she’s won the four most iconic 100-milers in the world: La Diagonale Des Fous (2023), Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (2023, 2024), Western States 100 (2024), and now Hardrock. In doing so, she’s become just the third runner after Kilian Jornet and Dauwalter to win this “grand slam.”

Tragedy Strikes Early On

The Hardrock 100 Endurance Run, which was established in 1992 as a “salute to the toughness and perseverance of the Hardrock miners who lived and worked in the area,” considers itself a “run,” not a race.” That’s partly because of the unique difficulty of this event, which takes a field capped at 146 entrants on a 102-mile loop through the San Juan Mountains of Southwest Colorado. With 33,000 feet of climbing and descent, the event’s average elevation is over 11,000 feet. Snow, hail, rain, and thunder storms are commonplace.

At 9:02 a.m., three hours into the event, members of the Hardrock safety sweep team made a call about a CPR in progress, according to a press release from the Silverton Medical Rescue Team. Stypula was in the Little Giant Basin on the first major climb, at approximately mile 6.3. The rescue team drove on 4×4 roads and hiked up to perform resuscitation efforts. A Flight for Life helicopter medical team also responded to the call.

“I want to extend my condolences to the family, friends and community of Elaine Stypula,” said Keri Metzler, San Juan County Colorado Coroner’s Office.

Stypula was an accomplished ultrarunner, with more than four dozen 100-plus mile finishes under her belt spanning the last 15 years. This was her first Hardrock 100.

A Fight at the Front

As first responders made their way to the tragic scene at mile 6, the leaders ran close together. At the Maggie Gulch aid station (mile 14.8), the top five men were separated by less than five minutes. But success at the Hardrock 100 takes patience, grit, and as this year’s winners showed, experience.

Pommeret, who turns 50 on July 22, returned to Silverton with a title to defend, having notched a win and course record last year. Because Hardrock changes directions each year, Pommeret was tasked with a counterclockwise course, which is generally considered more challenging because of its more runnable climbs and even steeper descents.

“For me, I found this direction much more difficult than the other one,” Pommeret said at the finish line. “In the last 70K, you have half of the elevation. It’s a bit more difficult. The first part, in fact, is more runnable, so I was going maybe a bit too fast, and I paid a bit at the end.”

Schide, on the other hand, came into this event with a fresh perspective. The 2024 Western States and UTMB champ toed the Hardrock start line for the first time as the heavy favorite. But the course wasn’t completely new to her. She and partner Germain Grangier—also running Hardrock for the first time—temporarily relocated from their home in the French Alps to Colorado two months prior, and trained near the course leading up to the event.

“Neither of us had been to the San Juans before, so it was a good opportunity to see the area and have an excuse to spend some time here,” Schide said at the finish.

While training in Colorado in May, Schide took a fall that required stitches and a week off from running. While the event was rattling, the setback didn’t stop her from making history.

Ludo Pommeret Headlines French Sweep

The sun rose a vivid pink in a hazy sky as runners congregated at the start of the 2025 Hardrock 100 in downtown Silverton. The air quality index (AQI) hovered around 150, which the Environmental Protection Agency considers “unhealthy for sensitive groups,” due to smoke from nearby wildfires. Thankfully, winds shifted, and by the time runners were traversing the higher elevations above town, the skies had cleared.

Mathieu Blanchard (France) took a slim, early lead, while Pommeret ran with Zach Miller (U.S.) in second, followed by David Ayala (U.S.) and Grangier. Schide followed in sixth overall and first woman, taking her run out well ahead of Dauwalter’s 2023 course-record pace.

Pommeret made a surge going up Handies, but he really put time on his competitors by blistering the descents. By the time he descended to a hot, 80-degree evening in Ouray at mile 58, he had nearly 20 minutes on Blanchard. Grangier, meanwhile, had moved up into third as Miller began to struggle.

Paced by Jim Walmsley, Pommeret climbed up to Kroger’s Canteen, the highest aid station perched on a ledge at 13,000 feet, while Blanchard and Grangier ran just a few minutes apart behind. A full moon greeted Pommeret as he ran into the night with pacer and 2024 UTMB winner, Vincent Bouillard.

“We had some nice parts. The sunset at Kroger’s with Jim—he had some mezcal there,” Pommeret said. “And we had the full moon with Vincent, it was quite nice.”

During a moonlit night of running, Bouillard helped bring Pommeret back to Silverton, where he kissed the large, painted rock marking the finish just after 4 a.m. in 22:21:53. After giving big hugs to race director Dale Garland and his pacers Bouillard and Walmsley, Pommeret excused himself to vomit behind the rock. To add to the discomfort, temperatures at the finish in the pre-dawn darkness hovered around 40 degrees Fahrenheit—quite the whiplash from the hot afternoon the day before.

“I was really cold when I passed the finish line,” Pommeret said. “Maybe in two days, I will feel better.”

Blanchard and Grangier held their positions through the latter half to complete the French sweep of the podium, crossing in 23:44:23 and 24:04:10, respectively.

Katie Schide Breaks Courtney Dauwalter’s Course Record

For Schide, consistency was key—especially as discomfort set in over the second half. After setting a blazing early pace, the 33-year-old originally from Gardiner, Maine, built up over an hour lead on second place runner Manon Bohard (France) by sunset.

“It took patience and being ready to adapt to the new environment, and a totally new race course,” Schide said.

At the Ouray aid station, the lowest point of the course at 7,700 feet, Schide dealt with some stomach troubles. She spent 10 minutes with her crew to reset, sitting down, closing her eyes, and taking slow, deep breaths as she tried to get herself to burp. Her cantankerous stomach slowed her down as she continued on to Telluride, but she remained well ahead of Dauwalter’s ghost. By the final climb, Schide caught Miller, running in fifth, leading to a sunrise battle over the final few miles.

After Miller sprinted to the finish, he turned around and said, “Katie’s gonna come soon. Alright, I’ll move.”

Sure enough, just as Garland was putting a finisher’s medal around Miller’s neck, Schide rounded the final corner one minute and one second after Miller. She became the first woman to break 26 hours in either direction, and broke Dauwalter’s previous course record by 21 minutes.

She said much of this event was new to her, including the wide alpine vistas that allow runners to see exactly how much terrain they have ahead of them.

“Sometimes it’s better to not look up too much,” Schide said.

Women’s second-place Bohard finished nearly three hours later in 28:38:16. The race for third, meanwhile, tightened as Katharina Hartmuth (Germany) began experiencing a litany of problems. She went up Grant Swamp Pass, mile 86, “without seeing anything,” and had to be guided by her pacer as the event took a toll on her vision and cognitive function.

After spending an hour at Kamm Traverse, the penultimate aid station at mile 89.1, fourth-place Amber Weibel and fifth-place Stephanie Case had made up significant time.

But Hartmuth stuck it out for the final miles, crossing the line in nearly 80-degree, high-altitude afternoon heat in 32:39:48 to match her third-place finish from last year. Weibel, who finished 18th at Western States two weeks ago, finished eight minutes later for fourth. Rounding out the women’s top five, Case completed her 102-mile journey less than five minutes later holding her infant daughter, Pepper.

2025 Hardrock 100 Results

Men’s Results
Women’s Results

1. Ludo Pommeret (France), 22:21:53
1. Katie Schide (U.S./France), 25:50:23

2. Mathieu Blanchard (France), 23:44:23
2. Manon Bohard (France), 28:36:16

3. Germain Grangier (France), 24:04:10
3. Katharina Hartmuth (Germany), 32:39:48

4. David Ayala (U.S.), 24:22:24
4. Amber Weibel (U.S.), 32:47:48

5. Zach Miller (U.S.), 25:49:22
5. Stephanie Case (Canada/France), 32:53:16

Full results

A Complicated Legacy

Hardrock continues to grow in popularity, with 3,023 applicants for this year’s complicated and controversial lottery. But Garland, who has been involved with Hardrock since the beginning, seeks to maintain the grassroots, community feel.

“When we first set up Hardrock, we established some values and things we thought were important, and we’ve still tried to stay true to those things,” Garland said. “But how do we adapt to the changes in the world of ultrarunning without losing our soul or without losing the values that we’re built on?”

Adaptation, in Hardrock’s case, looks like a livestream broadcast, GPS tracking, and aid stations stocked with the latest in sports nutrition. Going into the future, Garland hopes to “keep the heart” of the event, from centering community partnerships to celebrating aid station volunteers who have been helping the event for decades.

For 114 runners, this year’s event marked the completion of a longtime dream. But for one, this year’s run marked the end of a journey. Outside Run extends its condolences to the family, friends, and loved ones of Elaine Stypula.