The Leadville Trail 100 attracts a wide range of racers, especially for a mountain bike race run on a single-file track — presidential candidates, pro cyclists, everyday daredevils and masochists.
With a starting line at 10,200 feet in elevation to a high point at 12,550 feet, you’d think the field would thin as much as the air. But no, more and more racers every year show up to the corner of 6th Street and Harrison Avenue in downtown Leadville for the 100-mile race.
Lance Armstrong, the seven-time Tour de France winner who won the Leadville Trail in 2009, remained a mystery Thursday for Saturday’s race. Armstrong has until the early-morning start time to decide, which is what happened July 31 when he showed up two minutes before the start of a qualifier in Crested Butte. He went on to win that race.
Six-time LT100 champion Dave Wiens, who last won in 2008 and finished second and fourth the past two years, announced Thursday he will not compete this weekend.
Defending champion Levi Leip- heimer, who set a course record last year in 6 hours, 16 minutes, 37.2 seconds, will not race, choosing instead the Tour of Utah road race.
Nonetheless, the field remains packed with top-notch riders.
Two-time defending champion Rebecca Rusch, who holds the women’s record of 7:47:35.2 set last year, will be one to watch. She’ll be chased again by Amanda Carey, who was 25 minutes behind last year.
“People kind of go crazy for this race,” Rusch, who lives in Idaho, told the Vail Daily this week. “I think it’s going to be a really good turnout.”
In the men’s field — with Armstrong a maybe, and Wiens and last year’s runner-up Jeremy Horgan-Kobelski of Boulder both out — the favorites likely will be California’s Todd Wells, who finished third last year in 6:30:31.1, and fifth-place finisher Jeremiah Bishop.
It will be on them to challenge the newest barrier — the 6-hour finish.
“I think it’s possible,” Wells told . “It seems like every year it gets faster. If you have teams driving it, that’s how it will happen.”
And if the ranks weren’t heated enough, Gary Johnson, former two-term governor of New Mexico who’s now running for the Republican presidential nomination, will break from campaigning to race in Leadville.
Leadville Trail 100 MTB
A 100-mile mountain bike trail race on the slope of Colorado’s highest 14er, Mount Elbert.
• When: Saturday, 6:30 a.m.
• Where: From downtown Leadville to the Columbine mine above Twin Lakes, and back again.
Record holders
• Men: Levi Leipheimer, 6:16:37.2 (2010)
• Women: Rebecca Rusch, 7:47:35.2 (2010)
STAY ON THE COUCH
Rockies in prime time.
The Rockies finally get the national, prime-time spotlight on national TV this Sunday. And it couldn’t come at a less opportune time.
The Rockies face the Cardinals in St. Louis on Sunday at 6 p.m., airing on ESPN as part of the network’s Sunday Night Baseball broadcast.
The problem is, the Rockies are just 2-16 on Sundays this season. They haven’t won on Sunday since April 17. Also, Colorado is 1-2 vs. St. Louis this season, 4-7 in August and 27-33 on the road, so there could be trouble brewing for Sunday’s game. But there’s a bright spot for the Rockies — at least it’s a night game. The Rockies are 12-26 in day games, 43-38 at night.
GET OFF THE COUCH
Pound the pavement.
Breezy walk to short run to serious distance challenge, there’s plenty of foot racing this weekend.
Beginning Saturday, the 24th AIDS Walk Colorado will move around Cheesman Park starting at 7:30 a.m. ().
Also Saturday, the Georgetown to Idaho Springs Half-Marathon starts at 8 a.m. and follows Interstate 70 (). And Sunday, the I Run Colorado 5K, which benefits the Denver Rescue Mission, goes around Washington Park at 9 a.m. ().
WHAT WE’D LIKE TO SEE
Eagles-Canada meet in rematch.
With the Rugby World Cup coming next month to New Zealand, the USA Eagles — the men’s national team — is starting to ramp up its schedule.
They’ll be in Glendale on Saturday to host rival Canada at Infinity Park.
In June, the Eagles topped Russia 32-25 in Worcester, England, to win the Churchill Cup. In that match, fly half Nese Malifa led the U.S., scoring two penalties and two conversions.
A rematch with the Russians awaits the U.S. on Sept. 15 at the World Cup.
But in the meantime, the Eagles will warm up with a go at Canada. That, too, will be a rematch.
Canada topped the U.S. 28-22 in Toronto on Saturday, a match that aired live on national TV in Canada.
Saturday’s 7:15 p.m. kickoff will be broadcast live on NBC Universal.
