True story · No. 30

Hardrock 100: No Finish Line, Just a Rock to Kiss

At the Hardrock 100, you don't finish by crossing a line. After more than 160 km and more than 10,000 m of climbing in the San Juan Mountains, you have to kiss a rock painted with a ram's head. The race was born as a tribute to the miners.

By the PacePoster desk · October 16, 2026 · 3 min · 15 sources

The lead runners of the Hardrock 100 on the Ice Lake trail near Silverton, July 2012 John Fowler (Placitas, NM, USA), 2012, CC BY 2.0, via Wikimedia Commons — PacePoster duotone, same license

01How the Hardrock 100 began: an ad in a magazine

In fall 1991, Gordon Hardman runs an ad in Ultrarunning magazine: next summer, there will be a 100-mile race in the San Juan Mountains of southwestern Colorado. John Cappis, from Telluride, gets in touch to ask what he has in mind. By January 1992, a route drawn only on a map is ready. Charlie Thorn joins the project, and the permits come through in April.

The first edition starts from Silverton, clockwise: 98.8 miles and 29,684 feet of climbing, with a section added a week before the start. There are 42 starters and 18 finishers. Hardman himself finishes third, according to the official results.

1992first edition

14,048 ftHandies Peak

48 hourstime limit

02For the miners

The race is conceived as a “post-graduate” event: open, in principle, to those who have already finished several 100-milers. The course must pass as close as possible to four mining towns, Silverton, Lake City, Ouray and Telluride, and follow the old miners' trails wherever it can. Cappis and Thorn write in their course description, iRunFar reports: “This run follows routes laid out by the miners and is dedicated to their memory.”

The dates cross: the Mayflower Mill, an ore-processing plant near Silverton, closes its doors in 1991, the year the idea is born. For iRunFar, that is the end of mining in Silverton.

I think it's logical because we were running together for the whole course.
Kilian Jornet, 2016 (quoted by Trail Runner)

03One direction, then the other

At first, the idea was to change the starting town every year. After the first edition, Silverton is kept for good and the loop is reversed with every edition.

The profile, according to the official site: 33,441 feet of climbing, a high point of 14,048 ft (4,282 m) at Handies Peak, and a low point at Ouray. The cutoff is 48 hours.

Silverton, Colorado, the race headquarters, July 2011 Ericshawwhite, 2011, CC BY-SA 4.0, via Wikimedia Commons — PacePoster duotone, same license

04The rock

It's a big block of mine tailings with a ram's head painted on it, the race's emblem. The official course description even ends on an order: “Stop! Kiss the Hardrock!” The motto fits in three words: “Wild and Tough.”

Where does the ritual come from? The official site doesn't say, and the stories diverge. According to The Outdoor Wall, Dale Garland, today the race director, pointed at a random rock in the very first edition for lack of a finish line. According to Running for a Lifetime, it was the third year, when he told an exhausted finisher to touch a block of mine tailings. The legend is a good one; the date stays fuzzy.

Ran it? The Hardrock 100 poster, with your name and your time →

052016: two men, one kiss

In 2016, Kilian Jornet already holds the record, set on his debut in 2014: 22:41:33. That year, he runs a large part of the race with American Jason Schlarb. At the finish, they take each other by the hand and kiss the rock at the same time: 22:58:28 for both, co-winners. The last shared victory dated back to 1997.

Jornet explains: “I think it's logical because we were running together for the whole course.”

Sources for this story (15)

Every fact was cross-checked in at least two independent sources. Where they disagree, the story says so.