OURAY 100 CANCELED AS GOLD MOUNTAIN FIRE BURNS IN THE SAN JUANS
Organizers have canceled the 2026 Ouray 100, which was scheduled to start on July 17 in Ouray, Colorado. The decision came as the Gold Mountain Fire burned near the town, part of a wildfire outbreak that has disrupted the summer ultramarathon season across the state.
The cancellation was reported by Runner's World and the Colorado Sun in the first week of July. The Silver Rush 50 in Leadville was also canceled, with organizers citing concerns about the separate Willow Fire.
The Fire
The Gold Mountain Fire has burned in the mountains near Ouray and Ridgway since early July. Regional reporting put the fire at more than 27,000 acres on July 6 and more than 33,000 acres by July 10, when containment stood at seven percent.
Gunnison County issued mandatory evacuation orders for a rural area southeast of Montrose as the fire grew. The city of Ouray placed the area under Stage 2 fire restrictions at the start of the month and urged residents and visitors to monitor fire activity.
For a race that runs almost entirely on the steep trails above the town, that left no realistic path to a safe event. The Ouray 100 course covers 102.1 miles with 41,862 feet of climbing, reaching 13,365 feet at its high point, and much of it sits in exactly the terrain now affected by the fire.
A Hard Race to Lose
The cancellation lands hard on a small event with an outsized reputation. The race gives runners 52 hours to finish a course that gains more than 40,000 feet, and it drew 82 finishers in 2025. Its origin and its standing among the hardest 100-milers in the United States are covered in our history of the Ouray 100.
Runners registered for this year's edition lose one of the most distinctive tests on the American trail calendar. The race is expected to return in 2027, though organizers have not yet announced dates.
The Rest of the Colorado Summer
The fires have forced every major race in the region into contingency planning. The Hardrock 100, which starts in Silverton about 25 miles south of Ouray by road, went ahead as scheduled on July 10 after organizers monitored conditions through race week. Rain during the event helped keep smoke off the course, and the race produced course records in both the men's and women's fields.
Other events remain in a holding pattern. Runner's World reported that the High Lonesome 100 was not yet affected but was monitoring conditions, and that the Leadville Trail 100, whose course overlaps areas near the Willow Fire, faces variable air quality as its August date approaches.
Colorado's public lands agencies have closed sections of forest in the fire zones, and Stage 2 restrictions remain in place across much of the southwest part of the state. Race directors will be watching containment numbers and closure orders for the rest of the summer.
For Ouray, the calendar now turns to next year. The town's race will wait for the mountains to reopen.