Sullivan and Allgood break both Run Rabbit Run records in a night of rain at Steamboat

The Hares went off at 1 pm on Friday from the ski area in Steamboat Springs, straight into a 4,000-foot climb up Mount Werner. Rain arrived a few hours later and stayed for most of the twelve hours of dark. Both winners ran most of the 101.5 miles and 20,391 feet of climbing by headlamp, and both broke the course record by a wide margin.

Ryan Sullivan took the lead from Jeff Mogavero on the climb out of Fish Creek Falls, around mile 17. He had three minutes at Long Lake, nine at Summit Lake at mile 30, which he reached in 4:46, and was never challenged after that. He finished in 17:03:38, nearly 19 minutes under Dave Stevens' 17:22:34 from 2023, and 55:36 ahead of Mogavero in 17:59:14. Jesse Rich, last year's winner, was third in 18:18:47 after running part of the night with a dead headlamp. Sullivan was fourth here last year in 19:29:32 and won the High Lonesome 100 in July.

Hannah Allgood shared the first climb with Isabella Poulos, pulled away on the long descent to Fish Creek and led the rest of the way. Her 19:01:59 took 46 minutes off Emilie Mann's 2024 record and won by 1:24:23 from Nicole Laughton, with Lauren Puretz third. It was only her fourth 100-miler, less than three months after tenth place at Western States. She missed 19 hours by under two minutes.

The 100,000 dollar purse paid seven deep, 20,000 to each winner, and the night before the race the organisers announced 100,000 dollars for first place in 2027 and 2028.

Two records in a storm, on a course with a 10,600-foot high point. The money next year will be the smaller story.

Sources: iRunFar; Marathon Handbook; iRunFar.