Photos by Eddie Clark

Three days have officially ticked away in the Colorado Trail Race. I’ve been glued to the dots, and some serious FOMO is going on! The weather has been a mixed bag, but overall, it’s proving favorable for fast travel. It’s been mostly dry, with minimal monsoon action or lightning storms and no heavy, extended rainfall. There has been some heat, but luckily not as extreme as in previous years. For the most part, the temperatures have remained mild, with highs in the 70s to the mid 80s.

Poor air quality has been adding a warm glow and moody lighting to Eddie’s photos, and it’s also been wreaking havoc on lungs and sinuses. In addition to the Willow, Elk, and Gold Mountain fires, smoke continues to blow in from Utah and Nevada. Red flag warnings are in effect all along the route, and it only appears to be getting worse as riders close in on Durango. The forecast for the next couple of days shows much of the same. Mostly dry, fairly hot during the day, and lots of smoke. Let’s hope riders can continue to manage themselves and stay healthy.

Men’s Division

All I can say is wow. It’s becoming more and more likely that we’ll crown a men’s champion before we hit day four. Alex McCormack has set a relentless pace from the get-go, and the longer the race goes on, the longer his lead stretches. Yesterday afternoon, Alex stopped by Cathedral Ranch Cabins (mile 375) at around 4:30 p.m. Annette, the amazing human who runs the operation, reported the inside scoop. According to her, Alex was very calm, didn’t appear to be fatigued at all, and was chipper overall.

Alex McCormack

Alex explained that he crashed on day one and he had the scrapes on his right forearm and lower leg to prove it. Obviously, the wounds haven’t been slowing him down much. Alex restocked with two orange Gatorades, a Coke, chocolate milk, a burrito, two sandwiches, and some Snickers bars before departing to Slumgullion Pass. According to Trackleaders run/rest data, McCormack has been moving 87% of the time, with an average moving speed of 7.2 miles per hour on the route. His tracker is only set to ping every half hour, so take those stats with a grain of salt, but it’s still pretty telling. Alex is currently in the famed Cataract/Coney segment of the race, inching his way toward the route’s final town of Silverton.

Alex McCormack (left) and Xavier Chiriboga (right) at Cathedral Ranch Cabins. Credit: Annette Cadwell.

A few hours back from Alex and firmly in second place is last year’s overall winner, Xavier Chiriboga. He’s also potentially on pace for a sub-four-day finish if he can hold it together. Interestingly enough, Alex and Xavier are both racing on brand new Canyon Lux full-suspension bikes. Annette greeted Chiriboga around 9:20 p.m., approximately five hours behind McCormack.

In 2024, during a heavy rainstorm, Xavier couldn’t find the turn-off for the cabins, but he was intent on making it happen this time around. When he arrived, he promptly put all his devices on charge before devouring a supreme pizza and chugging a Gatorade and a bottle of chocolate milk. After a couple of hours of quality sleep in a cabin, he left with a smile, ready to continue the hunt for Alex. Currently, Chiriboga’s moving rate is 74%. Significantly lower than McCormack. His race strategy involves more sleep and stopped time than Alex. This makes sense because he’s 44 years old and his body is craving more recovery than the 28-year-old race leader’s is. Trackleaders shows a whopping average moving speed of 10.4 miles per hour for Xavier, offsetting his downtime. The accuracy is probably a bit off, especially since his tracker wasn’t working on day one, but the overall gist of his ride is there.

Behind the two frontrunners, Rocky Gingg and Jacob Hora have been leapfrogging in the heated battle for the last podium spot. They’ve been on slightly different sleep cycles, but both rolled into Cathedral Ranch Cabins around 11:30 p.m. last night. Jacob has a track record of slightly under-pacing and finishing strong when other riders start to fade late in races. Rocky never let off the gas during his impressive win at the Grand Loop in June. Both are very familiar with the last 90 miles from Silverton to Durango, and both reside in Durango. They will have warm, inviting beds calling their names over the final stretch, so their mini duel for third place will likely become a nail-biter to the end. In Jacob’s most recent Instagram update, his voice is hoarse, and he’s suffering from a “smoky” cough. Let’s hope it doesn’t get any worse.

Willis Wood currently finds himself in sixth place overall. He scratched at mile 375 in last year’s race, and seems to be finding redemption this year with a super strong effort thus far. Bryan Klahn must love the number four. Either that or he hates it. He started and finished the Colorado Trail Race four times between 2014 and 2022, and he finished in fourth place in all four races! This year, at age 48, he may not get fourth place again, but hopefully he’ll get his fifth finish. Right now, he’s tracking just behind Willis in seventh place.

Rounding out the top 10 for now is Jefe Branham. In true Jefe style, he’s been picking off riders one by one to make his way from the midpack all the way up to the front. In the lead-up to the race, Jefe’s training time was limited. He’s been super busy being a dad, running his upstart Dilly Deli in Gunnison, and putting on multiple bikepacking events. Even without being in top form, it’s amazing how fast he can race “off the couch.”

Meanwhile, 17-year-old Cruz Blue continues to make steady progress. He bivied last night around mile 271 and should make his way up Fooses and Sargents Mesa today. As far as I know, when Cruz reaches Durango, he’ll become the youngest athlete to complete the Colorado Trail Race. Let’s go, Cruz!

Women’s Division

Nicolette Jones is proving once again to be in a league of her own. She’s now a solid day ahead of her nearest rivals, and her lead continues to grow. She slept for a few hours around mile 324, after getting through the dreaded Sargents Mesa. Today, she’ll look forward to some relatively fast gravel miles, a probable pit stop at Cathedral Ranch Cabins, the baby head rock infestations of Jarosa Mesa, and hopefully getting up and over the route’s high point at Coney Summit. She’s been smooth and steady, remaining pretty much exactly on her winning pace from 2024, and hanging around sixth place overall.

Nicolette Jones

Torin Lackmann and Leila Housain are duking it out for the number two spot, and both have had their share of trials. Torin had issues with her front brake early on and had to do some sketchy descending while skidding around with just her rear brake. It appears that she rolled into Breckenridge to get it fixed and lost a fair amount of time, but she’s clawed her way back.

Torin Lackmann (left) and Leila Housain (right)

Leila reported that she was throwing up for two nights in a row and that her body would not keep any food down. It seems like she’s figured out a way to work through it. Both tenacious riders pulled into Buena Vista last night around 8:30 p.m. and decided to get some quality sleep in motel rooms. They stopped for over seven hours to get a full reset.

Celeste Carmignani

About four hours behind Torin and Leila, Celeste Carmignani made her way into Buena Vista and also got a room for the night. They’re all basically on the same program, and riding very similar paces, which makes for a fun battle.

Singlespeed Division

The singlespeed group is also extremely competitive this year. Matt Annabel has been leading from the start, and has been lurking around fifth or sixth place overall during his bid to win his third SS crown. But the chasers aren’t letting up and have been relentlessly breathing down his neck. After Matt, Joe Grant is only about 15 miles back. He’s having a strong ride and is currently in ninth place overall. His race age is 43, and he finished the CTR in 5 days, 7 hours, and 31 minutes way back in 2015. I don’t see him taking the pressure off of Matt anytime soon.

Matt Annabel

Just 10 miles behind him are the next four riders. Brandon Bettes and Scott Petrie consumed double portions of pancakes, eggs, and hash browns in Buena Vista to fuel them through yesterday’s ride up to Marshall Pass, where they both got some well-earned sleep. Alex Kowalski and Justin Bell also called it a night in the same area and got around five hours of rest.

Meanwhile, Miles Morris, on his full-sus single cog, jumped ahead into third place this morning. It’s still a toss-up with the top riders so close to each other. I can’t wait to see how this continues unfolding. The scratch count is up to 18 for this year’s race, and unfortunately, 71-year-old George Hollerbeck, riding his SS, has become one of them. He remains an inspiration, nonetheless!

What’s Next?

There’s still a lot of racing to be had. Everyone who’s still in the game has found their rhythm and is fully immersed in trail life. Alas, a finish on the CTR is never guaranteed until you slap that trailhead sign at Junction Creek. With smoke getting progressively worse and three treacherous passes in the San Juans still to be tackled, even Alex and Xavier can’t take anything for granted. I’m staying glued to the dots, in between bike rides, of course. I recommend you do the same. Catch ya on the next update!

Check out the 2026 Colorado Trail Race Tracker page to follow along on the live tracking map, and stay tuned in for more event coverage. Find it here.

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