Midway’s 31-year-old Olympian Sofia Gomez Villafane and 29-year-old Melisa Rollins, from Provo, competed in the Leadville Stage Race July 25 to July 27.
They joined 350 racers from 39 states and six countries in the qualifier for the historic Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race.
Cyclists ranging in age from 15 to 71 had to cover 20 to 40 miles a day with a total time under 11 hours across the three days.
Rollins secured the first-place spot in the stage race for the second year in a row. Cutting her 2024 time by more than 23 minutes, she finished in about 6 hours and 28 minutes.
She won the 2024 Leadville Trail 100 mountain bike race and has a chance to do it again this year. Gomez Villafane finished third at 6 hours and 39 minutes. Both women will now compete in the Aug. 9 Leadville 100-mile race.
The Leadville Trail 100, which began in 1994 with 150 riders, takes bikers through 100 miles of high-altitude Rocky Mountain terrain.
The race starts above 10,000 feet and riders climb to over 12,400 feet in one of the most prestigious endurance cross-country mountain bike events in the world.
After the bike race, runners will compete in the Leadville Trail 100 running race Aug. 16. It weaves through a similar Colorado mountain course.
