Race Across the Sky: Kathryn Tubb Claims the F18-19 Crown at Leadville 100

• Kathryn Tubb, 18, of San Antonio, TX — the sole F18-19 finisher — crossed in 28:26:36 at 17:04/mi, earning her Leadville belt buckle with room to spare under the 30-hour cutoff.
• 31st-fastest women's split on the 40.5M→45.6M segment, a bright moment of strength deep in the race.
• Tubb moved through the women's field from 20th at the first checkpoint to 53rd at the finish, a natural arc as the miles and altitude accumulated across a 28-hour effort.

There is exactly one F18-19 finisher in this year's Leadville Trail 100 Run, and that makes the story simple but no less remarkable: Kathryn Tubb, 18 years old and hailing from San Antonio, Texas, ran 100 miles through the Colorado Rockies at elevations up to 12,500 feet and came out the other side with a finish time of 28:26:36. At a course that twice sends runners over Hope Pass and keeps them above 9,400 feet for the entirety of the race, simply finishing is the headline — and Tubb did it with nearly an hour and a half to spare before the cutoff.

Her pacing told a story of a young runner learning what a hundred miles actually costs. She entered the women's field in 20th place through the early going, but the back half of the course — as it does to nearly everyone at Leadville — gradually pulled her back through the standings, settling at 53rd among the women by the finish. That kind of drift is not a failure; it is the honest math of 100 miles at altitude, and plenty of experienced ultrarunners follow the same arc. What stood out was the 40.5-to-45.6-mile segment, where Tubb posted the 31st-fastest women's split in the field — a sign that she still had real running in her legs past the race's midpoint.

At 18, finishing the Leadville 100 is a feat that most runners — of any age — never attempt, let alone complete. Tubb owns the F18-19 result outright, and that silver buckle heading back to San Antonio tells the whole story.