GetRaceTwin / Race course guides / Leadville Trail 100

Find a Local Route That Simulates the Leadville Trail 100

Leadville, CO

GetRaceTwin analyzes the Leadville Trail 100’s elevation, climbs, descents and overall course rhythm, then searches your local area for runnable routes with similar terrain -- so your training run rehearses the actual race, not just the distance.

About the race course

High-altitude out-and-back · Hope Pass twice. The Leadville Trail 100 moves through 7 distinct sections, each with its own terrain demands, from leadville start to leadville finish.

Elevation and terrain characteristics

Course data below is sourced from the race organizer’s own published course description, not estimated. Each section is shown with its grade -- positive for climbing, negative for descending.

1. 01Leadville start+1.0%
2. 02Powerline climb+3.5%
3. 03Sugarloaf ascent+2.0%
4. 04Twin Lakes descent-3.0%
5. 05Hope Pass climb+5.5%
6. 06Hope Pass return+5.0%
7. 07Leadville finish-2.5%

Course data via Leadville Race Series course.

Major climbs and descents

Leadville's course is decided by Hope Pass, climbed twice at high altitude -- once outbound, once on the return in the afternoon when fatigue is highest. Training should rehearse the same steep climb done twice in one session, not just once.

What runners should replicate during training

A useful Leadville Trail 100 training route doesn’t need to match its distance -- it needs to reproduce the order and intensity of its climbs and descents. Match the course’s terrain rhythm above rather than picking any local hill at random.

How GetRaceTwin finds a local match

GetRaceTwin’s automatic route matching today searches roads and sidewalks, not trails -- so it can find a local route that rehearses Leadville Trail 100’s climbs and descents, but not one that reproduces its actual trail surface. Trail-specific matching is on our roadmap; until then, use the course breakdown above to guide your own trail training.