Ultrarunner Clare Gallagher:
Her dominance ‘is impressively consistent’
When Clare Gallagher raced the Leadville Trail 100 Run for the first time back in 2016, she was searching for her life’s calling. The former Cherry Creek high school star and Princeton grad had moved to Boulder after a two-year stint teaching English in rural Thailand. Gallagher’s grandparents were medical doctors, and it was expected she would follow in the family footsteps and attend medical school, followed by a career in medicine.
Gallagher, however, chose a different path, one that led up 12,058-foot Hope Pass and the rest of the trails and roads in the Leadville 100 miler, which she won in the second-fastest time ever on the venerable course. That win propelled her to a career as a professional runner, sponsored by La Sportiva, Petzl and Patagonia, and gave her a platform to showcase her passion for environmental work, focusing on the effect of warming oceans on coral reefs and air quality as well as women’s advocacy and nonprofits such as Suffer Better.
Now, six years later, Gallagher is returning to Leadville, ready to face friend and former Boulder runner Addie Bracy and a field that Trail Runner Magazine editor Zoë Rom calls perhaps the most competitive ever. Saturday’s Leadville will be Gallagher’s last big race before she embarks on a new journey, one that has led her to a doctoral program in the University of Colorado’s Department of Environmental Studies lab of Antarctic expert Cassandra Brooks, the latest of several mentors Gallagher has found since her high school days.
“The path is always evolving,” Gallagher, 30, said in an interview last week. “I feel grateful and excited about what is in store, and grateful to be healthy” for Saturday’s race.
Trail Runner’s Rom calls Gallagher a “trail running superhero” and one of the most consistent stars in trail and ultra running, successful over a range of distances and terrain, from steep mountains to flat 50 milers. Her most recent race was a win at the Aspen Backcountry Marathon, where she beat all the men as well as the women.
“Clare’s dominance in the trail scene is impressively consistent,” said Rom, who shares a coach with Gallagher in Boulder’s David Roche. “She is great at whatever event she applies herself to. She takes a longterm, holistic approach to training and has amazing speed. Clare is someone who pursues excellence in all she does.”
That includes her advocacy work. Gallagher is a popular speaker at running and nonprofit environmental events, pleasant, polite and an attentive listener. At races, she is known to linger at the finish line to greet those coming in behind her. At the same time, said Rom, Gallagher is “a fierce and intense competitor.”
As she starts her PH.D. program with CU’S Brooks, researching sustainable fishing of the Antarctic toothfish (also known as the Chilean sea bass), Gallagher’s passion is clear. The toothfish lives in 32-degree water and can grow, she explains, to human size over a 40-year life span. What drew Gallagher to Brooks’ lab is the way Brooks melds biology and science with communicating her research. “She is a scientist who cares about getting it out to the general public and in policy making. Cassandra excels at that.”
So does Gallagher, said Taylor Nelson, events marketing manager for La Sportiva, which counts Gallagher among the roughly 30 athletes on its La Sportiva Mountain Running Team. “We really love working with Clare. She is on the team not just for her athletic ability, but also for being an outspoken voice for climate advocacy. She embodies, ‘Why do we run beyond running? Is there something we run for that means more than just for us?'”
Gallagher has fans outside the trail community as well. Ana Weir, who spent a week with Gallagher on a shoe distribution to Cuba with One World Running, said, “Clare is someone to be commended. If you want direction, go talk to Clare. Young people should use her as a role model.”
Gallagher will be easy to find as she plans to continue to and remain immersed in the running world. “I am still a fan of track, and personally I love to race ultras,” she said. “At the end of the day, we are all runners. The commonality we have is a passion for running.”