Leadville Trail 100 Run
2026 Life Time Leadville Trail 100 Run presented by La Sportiva
Leadville Trail 100 Run · 99.7 miles
Course changed
The route is not the one it was. Read the race's own notice before you plan. The Willow Fire (July 2026) burned Hagerman Pass Road, Sugarloaf Mountain and Powerline, all on the traditional course, and the USFS/BLM permitting agencies required a reroute. Race-director letters on 7/15/26 and 7/31/26 confirmed the season would proceed with 'courses [that] will look different' and promised final Run course maps by Friday 8/14/26 and crewing/aid-station info by Tuesday 8/18/26. The 2026 course now goes around Turquoise Lake by a different path and rejoins the traditional course at the Outward Bound aid station; Hagerman Pass Road, Sugarloaf and Powerline are not run in 2026.
Race dateAugust 22-23, 2026
Duration2 days
Start4:00am
When55 days ago
First held1983
Who's going to Leadville Trail 100 Run?
Free. You can start with nothing.
Free, and always will be. NavRun makes money from race-day planning for runners who want it, never from this.
Ultras change constantly, sometimes the morning of. Always confirm with the race director and the official website before you rely on anything here.
Distance
99.7 miles
Climb
13,357 ft
Descent
not checked yet
High point
12,500 ft
Time limit
30:00:00
Aid stations
14
Started
not checked yet
Finished
not checked yet
Finish rate
not checked yet
The course
Where it goes
out and back · 14 aid stations
The 2026 course, rerouted around the Willow Fire burn area. Runners head west from Harrison Avenue, out and around Turquoise Lake (the reverse side from the traditional route) via new Carter Summit Mini Aid and Turquoise Lake Dam aid stations, then rejoin the traditional course at Outward Bound. Hagerman Pass Road, Sugarloaf Mountain and Powerline (all traditional-course features, all within the fire's burn area) are not run in 2026. From Outward Bound onward the course matches the traditional route: Half Pipe, Twin Lakes Village, up and over Hope Pass to the Winfield turnaround, then back the same way.
The race
What this one is
A 99.7-mile out-and-back trail ultramarathon starting and finishing at the corner of 6th Street and Harrison Avenue in Leadville, Colorado, out to a turnaround at Winfield and back, crossing Hope Pass (12,500 ft) twice. Starts at 4:00 a.m. with a 30-hour limit; sub-25-hour finishers earn the big belt buckle, sub-30-hour finishers the small buckle.
First held in 1983 as the 'Race Across the Sky,' created by local miner Ken Chlouber with Merilee Maupin to bring tourism and economic revival to Leadville after the closure of the Climax Mine. 45 runners started the first race. It grew into the Leadville Race Series, which now also includes the Leadville Trail 100 MTB, Silver Rush 50, Leadville Trail Marathon & Heavy Half, Leadville 10K and the Leadville Stage Race. The Leadville Trail 100 Legacy Foundation, a nonprofit created by Chlouber and Maupin in 2002, funds community needs and an annual $2,000 scholarship to graduating Lake County High School seniors.
Getting in
Getting in
Entry, lottery and what the race asks of you before race day.
- Lottery
-
Yes
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Lottery opens
-
Dec. 1, 2025
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Lottery draw
-
Jan. 8, 2026
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Field cap
-
not checked yet
- Registration
-
Race website
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Qualifying
-
No fixed time-standard qualifier; entry is via an annual lottery (see edition), Leadville Race Series qualifier races (Leadville Trail Marathon, Silver Rush 50 Run, Austin Rattler Run) awarding a minimum of 35 coins per event by overall/age-group finish plus a post-race lottery, the LT100 Run Camp + Entry package, Boundless Coaching coaching + entry packages, official charity partner slots, or Life Time Club-Access member priority registration.
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Minimum age
-
18
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Transfers
-
No
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Deferrals
-
Yes
leadvilleraceseries.com
Running, crewing, pacing or still deciding
How NavRun helps with Leadville Trail 100 Run
Thirty hours, and ten stations with a clock on each.
You are running it
You reach Twin Lakes Village, mile 40.3, before its 2:15pm cutoff, and you already knew that this morning.
An arrival time for all 12 stations, worked out from your own training.
Start free →
You are pacing
You are at Twin Lakes Village (inbound), mile 64, warm and fed, and you know you have 36 miles ahead of you.
The same sheet says when they reach you.
You are deciding
You find out Leadville Trail 100 Run is months of work away, not years, and you put your name in the lottery.
Put in a race you have already run. NavRun shows you where this one sits from where you are.
No account needed →
Crew access, pacers and drop bags
The rules that shape your day
Anything marked "not checked yet" is a gap in what we hold, never a no from the race.
- Crew allowed
-
Yes
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Vehicles per runner
-
not checked yet
- Pacers
-
Yes, from mile 64.00
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Muling
-
Allowed
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Drop bags
-
Yes
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Cupless
-
not checked yet
- Course marking
-
Fully Marked
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Night running
-
Yes
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Dogs
-
not checked yet
- Headphones
-
not checked yet
- Crew rules
-
Exactly 3 official crewing locations in 2026: Outward Bound, Pipeline Alternate, and Twin Lakes Village; runners pass each twice. Crewing outside these 3 locations is against official rules and may disqualify the runner. Color-coded wristbands (Twin Lakes green, pacer yellow; no wristband needed at Outward Bound) mark crew access; kids 10 and under are exempt. Twin Lakes Village has no driving access -- crews must use the continuous shuttle running from Outward Bound, 6:00am-11:00pm (or until all crews are returned). Crews may support any registered athlete, not just their own. Crews must follow Lake/Chaffee County laws and all race staff/volunteer/enforcement instructions; grounds for the runner's disqualification include crewing outside the 3 locations, littering, illegal parking, and arriving to camp before race day.
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Pacer rules
-
Pacers may join beginning at Twin Lakes Village inbound, mile 64. Each runner gets 2 pacer bibs at packet pickup; extra pacers require transferring a bib or picking one up at Twin Lakes Village, Half Pipe (no vehicle access -- hike or bike in), Outward Bound, or Turquoise Lake Dam (no bib pickup at Pipeline). Only one pacer at a time is allowed until mile 99, though a runner may use as many different pacers as they wish across the race. Every pacer must complete a waiver (online, printed, or at a checkpoint) before going on course. Pacers may act as burros to carry food/equipment for their runner but may not push, pull, carry or tow them, use a vehicle or bicycle, take aid from a vehicle, or camp overnight on course. Special pacing accommodations (e.g. a blind runner) require pre-approval from race management.
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Drop bag rules
-
Drop bags accepted Friday 11:00am-5:00pm at 316 Harrison Ave (Leadville Race Series Retail Store) for 5 on-course locations: Turquoise Dam, Outward Bound, Half Pipe, Twin Lakes, and Winfield. Every location except Winfield is passed twice, so the race suggests sending two bags together, one for each direction. Bags must be CLEAR plastic, labeled in large letters with bib number, name, and aid station; liquids must be in leak-proof, non-breakable containers. Return window is Sunday ~8:00am-5:00pm at the same retail store; unclaimed bags after 5:00pm Sunday are donated to local charities and are not mailed.
leadvilleraceseries.com
- Cutoff philosophy
-
Two finish times, both worth a buckle: finish within 25 hours (chip time) for the big belt buckle, or within 30 hours (chip time) for the small buckle and official finisher status. Intermediate aid-station cutoffs are measured on gun time (from the 4:00am start regardless of a runner's actual start-line crossing time), while buckle eligibility is measured on chip time (a runner's own elapsed time).
leadvilleraceseries.com
Aid stations
Every stop, and what you get there
● yes ○ no ? nobody has checked – does not apply to this race
| Mile |
Station |
Cutoff |
Crew access |
Bag |
Pacer |
Med |
To next |
| 0.00 |
Start / Finish (6th St & Harrison)
|
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
10.60 |
| 10.60 |
Carter Summit Mini Aid
|
? |
○ |
○ |
? |
? |
9.90 |
| 20.50 |
Turquoise Lake Dam
|
10:15am |
○ |
● |
? |
? |
5.50 |
| 26.00 |
Outward Bound
|
11:15am |
● |
● |
? |
? |
5.80 |
| 31.80 |
Half Pipe
|
12:15pm |
○ |
● |
? |
? |
8.50 |
| 40.30 |
Twin Lakes Village
|
2:15pm |
● |
● |
? |
? |
5.10 |
| 45.40 |
Hope Pass (outbound)
12,500 ft
|
4:45pm |
○ |
○ |
? |
? |
6.80 |
| 52.20 |
Winfield
|
6:50pm |
○ |
● |
? |
? |
6.80 |
| 59.00 |
Hope Pass (inbound)
12,500 ft
|
? |
○ |
○ |
? |
? |
5.00 |
| 64.00 |
Twin Lakes Village (inbound)
|
11:00pm |
● |
● |
● |
? |
8.60 |
| 72.60 |
Half Pipe (inbound)
|
2:00am |
○ |
● |
? |
? |
5.70 |
| 78.30 |
Outward Bound (inbound)
|
3:45am |
● |
● |
? |
? |
5.90 |
| 84.20 |
Turquoise Lake Dam (inbound)
|
5:30am |
○ |
● |
? |
? |
15.50 |
| 99.70 |
Finish (6th St & Harrison)
|
10:00am |
? |
? |
? |
? |
? |
Same race, other lines
Other distances and other years
What it looks like out there
Somebody has been out there with a camera
the tables say the climb is long. these say what long feels like.
31 people have been out there with a camera or a microphone.
+ 23 more.
These are other people's work and we link straight to them. Watching costs nothing and needs no account.
More of them: every race we hold, on film.
Add to this page
What you know
every one of these is read by a person before it changes anything
Ran this race? Tell the next runner what you know.
Nobody sees it until we have read it. No account, no sign-in.
See something wrong or out of date? Suggest an edit.
This changes nothing on the page on its own. Somebody checks it against the race first.
Seen a course preview or a film of this one? Send it over.
Somebody watches it before it goes anywhere near this page. What we are after is footage of this course, on the ground. If it would be just as true of any other race, it is not this.
Have the GPX? Send us the link.
We want the address of the file the race publishes, not the file. We download it from there so the page can say where the line came from.
Are you the race director? Get in touch and we'll make it right.
We read every one of these and we write back. Every fact here carries the source it came from, and the way a wrong one gets fixed is a person checking it against what you tell us.
Where this came from.
Every fact on this page records its source and when we last checked it: 180 sources for this race. Hover a source link to read the sentence it came from.
51% of what we track for a course is filled in. The rest says "not checked yet" rather than guessing.
Ultras change. We will tell you when this one does.
Cutoffs move, races get postponed, lotteries open and close. We read the race's own sources and record where every fact came from. Put your email in and we will send you what changed, and where we read it.
No account, and nothing to cancel.
What happens to your email. Nothing else. I do not sell it, and I will not send you anything except this race changing. One click gets you out.
I keep this catalog because the information is scattered and hard to trust. Telling you when it moves is the same job.
