Melisa Rollins (Liv Racing Collective) called her win last year in Leadville, Colorado, "life-changing". She had some doubt creep into her mind this year about defending her title at the Life Time Leadville Trail 100 MTB presented by Kenetik, but recent results have boosted her confidence to accept the tag as 'race favourite'.
That one signature victory was then followed by a podium at Big Sugar Gravel and second overall in the Life Time Grand Prix series last fall. This year, after a podium at RADL GRVL and healing quickly from a broken left wrist, she finished sixth at Sea Otter Gravel and was 14th overall at Unbound Gravel 200. Then she piled on a string of recent victories - SBT GRVL, Firecracker 50, Leadville Race Series.
