Elbert and Massive seen across the valley near mile 32 of the Leadville Silver Rush 50.
On Saturday, July 6th I motored over to Leadville and ran in the 12th annual Silver Rush 50; a 50-mile trail race offered by the Leadville Race Series that takes place every summer. Things went well and it was a good day out for the most part. I was happy to get another 50-miler under my belt and check out another classic Colorado ultra that also happens to be close to home.
Truth be told I didn’t sign up for the Silver Rush until after the San Juan Solstice 50 was cancelled in May. Those of us on the SJS50 runners list kept our fingers crossed but as the spring wore on, it became clear that there was simply too much snow, avalanche debris, and flood potential around Lake City to make the mountain race viable in late-June. The race director was forced to call it and allowed runners to bypass the lottery and defer their entry to next year, which was an option I was happy to take.
The Silver Rush 50 then seemed like the obvious choice for a plan B race and there were still slots available, so I promptly signed up. High snow totals in the mountains around Leadville dictated that we’d be running an alternate course (surprise, surprise) but at least the race was still on. The changes added something like 900 feet to the normal course, making for a total of 7,800 ft of elevation gain.
Kicking things off at 6am with the ascent up Dutch Henri Hill. The first male and female to hit the top get to bypass the lottery for the Leadville 100 later in the summer.
One distinguishing characteristic of the Silver Rush 50 is that it’s run almost entirely on dirt roads. My impression is that this is more or less the case on a normal year as well. The course is a big out-and-back as opposed to a loop, so everything you run past in the morning you’re going to see again later in the afternoon.
On top of that the course changes required us to climb up into Iowa Gulch and run back down the same road not once but twice, as opposed to the normal course which travels two parallel roads to the same spot with a hairpin turn at the end. In summary it wound up being a day of out-and-backs integrated into an even bigger out-and-back.
Turnaround in upper-Iowa Gulch at the base of Mt. Sherman. We ascended to this point in the morning and then again later in the day.
All that said, the course is spectacular and offers up some great views of the Sawatch giants across the valley as well as Mt. Sherman and neighbors to the east. In terms of scenery, this race is right up there with the best of them in Colorado. Especially on a gorgeous day like this one.
Past the Venir aid station ascending up the west side of Ball mountain near mile 20.
Mining ruins near the Stumptown aid station and the turnaound point of the course at mile 25.
From the Stumptown turnaround point back to the Printer Boy aid I was feeling pretty good. A rain storm rolled through around mile 35 and cooled things off which was a nice reprieve from the midday heat. Back up to the top of Iowa Gulch and down to the Black Cloud aid, and I had just 8 miles left to go. Right around there is where the wheels started to come off a little bit. I was hot, tired, and really not looking forward to several miles of nearly flat running to the finish line. Unfortunately I wound up walking a decent amount along this stretch, trying to will myself to switch to more of a shuffle but oftentimes to no avail. I just tried to stick to my creed of “just keep moving” and eventually I was able to work out of the bonk and put together a couple decent miles to the finish.
At the finish line, where Anna-Lisa and Jax were waiting for me.
I finished in 9:11:26, which equated to 72nd place out of 524 runners (full results here). Technically it was among my worst placings in an ultra but I had to remember just how many people run this thing compared to other ultras I’ve done. It also didn’t help that I got passed by about a dozen people inside the final 5 miles. Not my best race overall but I was just happy to have made it through.
A huge thanks to the Leadville Race Series for thinking on their feet and making the necessary adjustments to make this thing happen this year. And to Anna-Lisa as always for her support as I train for and run these types of events.
As for the Silver Rush 50, I’m not sure if I’ll be back or not but I can say this is an excellent race to run for anyone looking for a good first mountain 50-miler and one of the more scenic courses out there. Definitely a large challenge and a memory I won’t forget anytime soon.
Cheers and thanks for reading!