A 31-year-old record was smashed in Leadville on Saturday at the Life Time Leadville Trail 100 Run race by Colorado Springs resident and Silver Rush 50 Run winner Dr. Anne Flower.

Fresh off her victory in the July win in Leadville, in her 100-mile debut, Flower broke one of the longest-standing records in ultra-running. On Saturday, Flower completed the ‘Race Across the Sky’ in a record time of 17:58:19.

In an Instagram post from the Leadville Race Series, Flower was seen crossing the finish line in the dark after and being showered with champagne after running for nearly 18 hours.

The previous record of 18:06:24 was set by the ultra-marathon runner Ann Trason in 1994.

In an ironic finish, both Flower and Trason came in 2nd place overall when they set their records respectively.

Flower was in second in both her age division and gender groups, and 12th overall at the May Queen Out split, the first of 12. She moved up to 11th overall, and maintained second in the other two groups at the Outward Bound Out split.

By the third split, Half Pipe Out, Flower had secured the first spot in age division and gender groups and would never relinquish her lead for the rest of the race.

She did not move up to second overall until in between the May Queen In and Kick to Finish splits, however, she was able to keep an under 11-minute-mile pace for the entire race.

Flower has been running road and trail for approximately 15 years, and qualified for the Leadville Trail 100 with her win at the Silver Rush 50 back in July.

“I got into running during medical school,” Flower, said. “My first long race was a road marathon called the Flying Pig in Cincinnati. My first ultra was a 50 mile race in Moab, Utah, that I completed on my 30th birthday.”

Flower grew up in Cincinnati, Ohio, and moved to Colorado three years ago and now is practicing medicine in Colorado Springs.

Boulder’s Dave Roche won the Men’s division, age division and overall race in a time of 15:12:30, beating his 2024 finish by over 14 minutes.