2026 LEADVILLE 100 RESULTS: MACDONALD WINS A THIRD TITLE, HICKORY WINS HER DEBUT
Adrian Macdonald won the 2026 Leadville Trail 100 on Saturday, August 22, in 15:47:23, his third title at the race after wins in 2021 and 2022. McKendree Hickory of Steamboat Springs, Colorado, won the women's race in 19:39:12 in her first attempt at 100 miles.
The 43rd running took place on a modified course. The Willow Fire closed the Sugarloaf and Powerline sections nine days before the start, and organizers redrew the opening and closing miles to loop around Turquoise Lake instead. The Twin Lakes out-and-back and the double crossing of Hope Pass to Winfield stayed in place, which kept the race's defining climbs intact while the preview's concern about a rerouted race played out in real time.
Men's Race
Macdonald did not lead early. He moved to the front around the halfway point and then extended his advantage through the return trip over Hope Pass and the closing miles around the lake.
Matthew Zupan finished second in 16:15:25, 28 minutes behind the winner. Tim Tollefson completed the podium in 16:45:14. Mikey Mitch took fourth in 17:48:07 and Corky Patton rounded out the top five in 19:03:10.
Macdonald's result also closes a loop from 2024, when he finished second behind David Roche. Roche's 15:12:30 from 2025 remains the mark on the standard course, and with the reroute this year's times do not compare directly against it.
Women's Race
Hickory arrived in Leadville with recent form on the same ground. She finished fifth at the Leadville Trail Marathon earlier in the summer, then entered the 100 as a debutant at the distance.
She worked through the field rather than leading from the start, and took the lead in the closing stretch of the race. Jacquie Mannhard was second in 20:28:37 and Leadville local Emma Wood was third in 20:33:33. Ailsa Macdonald finished fourth in 20:42:07, with Silke Koester fifth in 22:16:47.
The Field
More than 650 runners started, and 387 finished inside the 30-hour cutoff. The field drew from 46 states and 15 countries, with 42 Leadville residents among the entrants.
Eric Pence recorded his 31st finish, the most of anyone in the race's 43 editions. The race has been run every year since 1983, and its origin as a survival project for a mining town is covered in our history of the Race Across the Sky.
With the 2026 edition complete, the race returns to its usual August slot in 2027. Whether the Sugarloaf and Powerline sections return depends on trail recovery from the fire.