When Aspen and Vail showed no interest Butera found support by Lake County Commissioner Ken Chlouber to hold the event in Leadville as a way to bring in visitors after the closing of the Climax Molybdenum Mine.

[4] In 2010, Chlouber sold the Leadville Trail organization and its associated events to Life Time Fitness.

Entrance can be gained through an open lottery, via select qualifying races, through charitable donations, by signing up for coaching and/or the Leadville Run camp, or as a member of Life Time Fitness.

They held their flashlights pointed skyward, unaware that these "torches" needed to be aimed forward to illuminate the trail ahead.

His mark stood for 8 years until broken by Chad Ricklefs in 2002 (17:23), then again by Paul DeWitt in 2004, then again by Matt Carpenter in 2005, and finally by David Roche in 2024.

His time of 15 hours, 26 minutes, and 34 seconds in 2024 shattered the 19 year record previously held by Matt Carpenter.

He was featured in the August 1999 issue of GQ magazine, which compared his training for the race to that of a professional football player.

In 2019, Eric Pence finished his 25th Leadville 100, becoming the third person to earn 25 or more buckles, along with Finkbeiner and Garry Curry.

[11][12] In 2019 Dion Leonard became the first male to complete the Grand Slam of Ultrarunning and the Leadman series in one year.