'A pure challenge of athlete versus course' - Former mountain bike world champion Kate Courtney debuts at Leadville 100 after forced rest from wrist surgery

Eight weeks after surgery to repair a fractured scaphoid bone in her wrist, Kate Courtney (She Sends Racing) has not just 'jumped back in' to racing, but steps out of her comfort zone for a debut at Leadville Trail 100 MTB in Colorado.

The accomplished mountain bike racer - a 2018 World Champion, 2019 World Cup champion and 2020 Olympian in the cross-country Olympic format - crashed in the short track World Cup event at Nové Město in late May. The two-month recovery time forced her to take a break, which also allowed her to adjust her calendar and take on two iconic races at high altitude.

"Yeah, it definitely in some ways, this was bad timing. Three World Cups and national championships [missed]. But in another sense, I think it was actually really great timing for me. I got this big forced mid-season rest," Courtney told Cyclingnews.

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"The rest period, I think it also was an opportunity to think about what would make me excited and motivated during my return to racing. It felt like the universe was pointing me in this direction to try just a totally different challenge and something where I didn't have any pre-conceived notions or expectations or numbers to base off of. [Leadville 100] really is a pure challenge of athlete versus course, and trying to go as fast as we can on a very, very hard track at in a very hard environment at 10,000 feet of elevation."

Restarting July 25-27, she took part in the three-day Life Time Leadville Stage Race, winning a pair of stages and settling for second overall between winner Melisa Rollins (Liv Racing Collective) and third-placed Sofia Gomez Villafañe (Specialized Off-road). The new hardware in her wrist did not seem to be an issue.

"Honestly, my wrist has healed a lot faster than maybe we were expecting. My plan to ease back in was certainly a bit more of a jump back in. But I think for me, I went into it with without any expectations, and really as a training event to learn the course and learn some of the dynamics, and also see how my body felt at altitude and performed over this distance on this course," she said about taking part in the Leadville Stage Race, which provides a preview of part of Saturday's Leadville 100.

Courtney grew up in the San Francisco area and makes the region her US home base when not racing abroad. That part of California is hilly, but the densely populated city is near sea level. Time spent in recovery for her wrist also meant time to acclimate at elevation, where racing starts at 10,158 feet (3,096 metres) above sea level on Saturday and peaks at 12,500 feet (3,810 metres).

"Absolutely, I think first and foremost, for me, Leadville is an opportunity to focus on the challenge of the race course over 100 miles, at 10,000 feet of elevation. It's just a really unique physical feat.

"It's also a historic race where people have raced on this course for a number of years, and you can compare times. You can really go for your fastest possible time on this course, which requires a mix of a bunch of different skills," she said about the allure of the event, which is the third stop of six off-road events in the Life Time Grand Prix series.

"Gravel and the Life Time Grand Prix are almost a completely different sport than cross-country mountain bike racing. So it's something that challenges me in a totally different way. And I think of it almost like a sprinter taking on a marathon. It's a different type of challenge, mentally and physically.

"I think also something that is really exciting is seeing the level of women's racing in the US. The competition is going to be a huge part of it, and I'm really motivated and excited to see what I think will be the most competitive women's field this race has ever seen, and push us all to go faster."

The two most recent past champions of Leadville 100, Rollins and Villafañe, will be on the start line Saturday, as well as contenders in the top of the Grand Prix elite women's standings - Cecily Decker, Lauren De Crescenzo, Cecile Lejeune and Hayley Preen. Among the U23 women in the field are Michaela Thompson, who was third overall in Leadville last year.

Also in the field are accomplished riders outside the Grand Prix roster, including 2023 runner-up Ruth Edwards, two-time US gravel national champion Lauren Stephens and Geerike Schreurs, a double winner of UCI Gravel World Series races in Europe this year.

Courtney refers to herself as a 'sprinter' for typically targeting the 20-minute XCC and one-and-a-half-hour XCO races, which are drastically shorter than the four hours, five hours or more on a high-level US off-road race. Last year at Leadville Trail 100 MTB, Rollins won the elite women's division in 7 hours, 10 minutes, 10 seconds,

The Colorado race isn't a new foray into MTB long-distance racing for Courtney, as she teamed with MTB legend Annika Langvad in 2018 to win seven stages and the overall at Cape Epic. This year, she started her season with a GC win at the four-day Tankwa Trek in South Africa with partner Candice Lill, then added off-road variety at the Grasshopper Adventure Series in her home state. She won two rounds of the Hoppers and set a new women's course record at the 90-mile Huffmaster Classic, finishing in 4:17:25.

The Stanford University graduate also switched to a completely new team setup this year, riding for She Sends Foundation with Allied Cycle Works and SRAM equipment and support from Rivian, Rapha and Red Bull.

"It's been a lot of work this year, launching my own programme and really doubling down on my work with the She Sends Foundation," the 29-year-old said.

"I was looking for brands, mostly US-based, who shared this belief that racing could be translated into something of real value, not just for the fans of the sport and the athletes now, but has a lasting impact on future generations."

While the second half of her Leadville adventure is her immediate focus, she said mountain biking would be her focus later in this season when she'll compete at the final four mountain bike World Cups and mix in the XCO and Marathon World Championships, taking place in Switzerland in September.

"I am still really focused on cross-country mountain bike racing, and that is what I plan to focus on for the next few years," she stated.

"Both the Marathon and Cross-Country World Championships are a week apart in Switzerland. I must say that Leadville is a really fantastic preparation for a marathon race that's gonna have quite a lot of climbing in it."