Last weekend in the Colorado mountains, the trail community was treated to two of the most impressive ultrarunning performances of the year, with both winners setting new course records and posting some mind-boggling stats at the 2025 Leadville 100.

…Flower’s time is eight minutes quicker than Ann Trason’s 1994 record.

On Saturday night, 17 August 2025, David Roche broke the tape in a new course record of 15:12:30, bettering his course record from 2024 by over 14 minutes. A few hours later, Anne Flower came through in record time, easily winning the women’s race and finishing second overall in 17:58:19.

Both have taken down legendary marks at Leadville. Last year, Roche broke Matt Carpenter’s mark set in 2005, and Flower’s time is eight minutes quicker than Ann Trason’s 1994 record.

The two, in many ways, took different paths to the start line. Roche, 37, is a well-known name on the trail scene. He has a popular podcast and YouTube channel and is known for his unabashed positivity. In June, Roche competed at the Western States 100, but he dropped out at the 100km mark, citing mental struggles.

Flower, on the other hand, is not a household name. Leadville was the 35-year-old’s first 100-mile race. When she’s not logging miles, she’s working shifts as an emergency room doctor. The two had very different fueling strategies, too.

The Leadville course is situated at a high altitude, over 9,000 feet above sea level and has more than 15,000 feet of elevation gain. We took a look at the unbelievable stats behind Flower and Roche’s record-setting runs.

David Roche:

• 5:40: Average kilometre pace.
• 3:40: Roche’s fastest kilometre, according to his Strava. This was a downhill section at the beginning of the race.
• 150 grams: The rough number of carbs per hour that Roche was trying to consume. (For reference, an original Gu gel has 22 grams of carbs. So that would be 6 to 7 of those an hour. But Roche was using sports drinks for fuel, too.)
• 30 minutes, 29 seconds: Time difference between Carpenter’s longtime record (15:42:59) and Roche’s new time.
• 49: Days between Western States and Leadville.
• 6: Days before Leadville, Roche decided he was going to race.
• 280: Total kilometres Roche has raced in the last seven weeks. (Western States + Aspen Backcountry Half Marathon + Leadville.)
• 37: Kilometres Roche ran at Leadville alongside his wife and coach, Megan.
• 141 beats per minute: Roche’s average heart rate for the 15-hour event, per his Strava.
• 2 hours, 54 minutes, 4 seconds: His margin of victory over the second man to finish, Justin Grunewald.

Anne Flower:

• 6:42: Average kilometre pace.
• 12th: Flower’s overall place at the first aid station, MayQueen (20km).
• 8 minutes, 5 seconds: Difference between Flower’s time and Trason’s previous record (18:06:24).
• 1 hour, 38 minutes, and 23 seconds: Flower’s margin of victory over Imogen Ainsworth, who was second in the women’s division.
• 100 kilometres: The longest race Flower had done before Leadville (she won the 2024 Javelina Jundred 100km).
• 60 grams: The rough number of carbs per hour that Flower was trying to consume. (She said she probably went above that in the race.)
• 2:40:32: Her personal best in the marathon, which she ran at the 2016 Indianapolis Monumental Marathon.
• 113th: The place Flower got at the 2020 Olympic Marathon Trials, out of 355 women.

READ MORE ON: 100 miler Leadville 100 race stats Ultra Trail Running