Hardrock 2019: the best cancelled race
Hardrock 100 was cancelled this year, but that didn't keep runners from celebrating the event at Camp Hardrock
It’s no mystery that the Hardrock 100 Mile Endurance Run is special and unlike anything else. Situated in the rugged and unique San Juan mountains in the tiny town of Silverton, the event brings together the essence of authentic mountain and ultrarunning. When race organizers cancelled Hardrock 100 this year, much of the community kept their commitment and partied anyway at Camp Hardrock. Each year during the week before the run, Camp Hardrock brings together the endurance running community and their supporters to celebrate Hardrock. This year was no different.
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Camp Hardrock is a celebration of the history and legacy of the event and a way for everyone to learn, share, and interact while basking in the overall experience. The small town of Silverton, in the heart of the San Juan mountain range, lights up with like-minded people, events, and mountainous trails. Celebrating a race that wasn’t, was easy at Camp Hardrock 2019.
Camp Hardrock week includes learning events, panels with Hardrock veterans, fat-ass style group runs on the Hardrock 100 course, trail work, volunteer opportunities, and a film festival. This year, the Trails in Motion Film Festival featured Hardrocker Joe Grant’s film The Middle Way telling the story about summiting all of Colorado’s 14ers over 31-days.
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Despite the race being cancelled, the 2019 version of Camp Hardrock was just like previous years, with a bit of extra snow. Registered runners, their pacers, crew, families, and veterans of the run flocked the streets of Silverton to celebrate a cancelled race. Athletes such as Anna Frost, Alissa St Laurent, Jim Walmsley, Amelia Boone, Jamil Coury, and ultrarunning photographer Howie Stern joined the party and played on the Hardrock 100 course regardless.
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The Hardrock 100 course cuts through the stunning and rugged mountain range as a tribute to the Hardrock miners who lived and worked in the area. But you don’t have to be an ultrarunner to love the scene at Camp Hardrock. Any excuse is a good one to head to the San Juans. Each year, a number of runners not picked for the lottery complete the entire Hardrock 100 course as a ‘Softrock’ version of the event over multiple days.
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Whether you’re running the event, pacing, crewing, volunteering, contributing to trail work, watching the film festival, learning about the event’s history, or drinking beer at Avalanche Brewery–Camp Hardrock will lift your spirits.
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