Results/Photos

Date: Aug. 22, 2026 Participant: Rodney Ripley #248 Race: 2026 Habanero 100K Distance: 62.0 miles

Steady Pacing Through the Heat Carries 100K Finish Rodney Ripley completed the 2026 Habanero Hundred's 100K distance in 19:36:53, finishing 26th overall out of 75 participants and 18th among men, on a course that runs on a single 10km loop and is famously never more than three miles from aid. Ripley opened strong, holding a 13:25 min/mile pace through the first six miles and sitting inside the top 20 overall early on a notable clip given the event's reputation for average real-feel temperatures above 100 degrees on deep sand terrain. As the race progressed, Ripley's pace gradually settled from the mid-13s into the 18-19 min/mile range by the midpoint, a common and expected adjustment given the Habanero's brutal midday start and accumulating heat exposure over the 10 loops required for the 100K. His splits show a resilient final stretch: after grinding through the 27-minute-plus laps in the 50-53 mile range, Ripley closed with two of his fastest late-race splits, laps of 15:28 and 15:35 min/mile at miles 60 and 61 a strong finishing kick after nearly 19 hours on course. Ripley's consistency across nearly 20 hours of racing, particularly the ability to rebuild pace late rather than fade, is a strong takeaway from this performance. For future efforts on similarly grueling terrain, working on smoothing out the mid-race pace fluctuations particularly the swings between the 16-minute and 33-minute splits seen around miles 25-32 could help build an even more even effort across the full distance.