{"id":2104834,"date":"2026-08-21T14:45:04","date_gmt":"2026-08-21T11:45:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2104834"},"modified":"2026-08-21T14:45:04","modified_gmt":"2026-08-21T11:45:04","slug":"leadville-high-school-teacher-raises-140000-for-students-by-racing-the-leadville-100","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2104834","title":{"rendered":"Leadville high school teacher raises $140,000 for students by racing the Leadville 100"},"content":{"rendered":"
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Photos: Spencer Stanek<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

Last Saturday, Jeff Spencer, a high school teacher from Leadville, Colorado, raced the Leadville 100. Despite some decent results from previous races, including previous Leadville 100 races, Spencer was slated to start dead last. With more than 1,400 racers ahead of him, Spencer had his work cut out for him. For the second year in a row, Spencer was the Leadville Dream Chaser.<\/p>\n

Each racer he passed raised money for the Leadville Trail 100 Legacy Foundation<\/a>. In the past two years, Spencer has raised nearly $300,000 by passing roughly 3,000 racers.<\/p>\n

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This year he passed nearly 1,400 Leadville racers<\/h2>\n

\u201cA little over 1,400 people started; maybe like 1,420 people or so,\u201d Spencer told Singletracks, trying to recount the exact numbers. \u201cI finished in 44th place.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Spencer is a Leadville resident and a math teacher at the local high school. He only got into mountain biking in 2009 when he moved to the city. He was intrigued by the endurance side and quickly started racing, entering his first Leadville 100 in 2012. Even if he didn\u2019t always know or care about the exact race results, we can assure you he\u2019s done pretty well.<\/p>\n

But we have the exact numbers. There were 1,433 racers ahead of Spencer when he started the race this year. Including him, that is a field of 1,434 (excluding the pros). Finishing 44th means that he passed 1,390 Leadville racers. While the official dollar figures for the Leadville Trail 100 Legacy Foundation aren\u2019t in yet, Spencer said he raised roughly the same amount as last year: $140,000.<\/p>\n

Despite not \u201cracing\u201d against the pros, Spencer\u2019s time bested several in the field. His 6:54:51 time puts him ahead of seven of the elite men. With over 1,500 racers, including the elite fields, the Leadville 100 uses mass starts in waves. And, of course, Spencer was dead last.<\/p>\n

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\u201cI think they have [the pro men] start around 6 a.m.,\u201d he told us. \u201cThe pro women at about 6:15. And then at about \u2014 I think it\u2019s 6:25 \u2014 they start sending out waves. And so, by about 7 a.m., I finally take off.\u201d<\/p>\n

A 100-mile race provides ample opportunities to catch and pass many people. But despite the long distance, 1,400 racers are a lot of people to catch, many of whom started more than 30 minutes ahead of him. But knowing that each person he passes is another chunk of money he is raising makes Spencer push even harder.<\/p>\n

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As a Leadville local, he also recognizes a few advantages. Beyond the course being in his backyard, living and riding at such a high elevation is normal for Spencer. He often looks to some of the iconic climbs of the Leadville course to really grind hard and put a substantial number of racers behind him.<\/p>\n

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But with the course change this year<\/a>, Spencer had to re-evaluate strategies from previous years. He was especially disappointed that the iconic Powerline climb and descent would not be part of the 2026 course.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s a downhill that a lot of folks who come and do this race [can be] pretty anxious about. And then, heading back home, I really appreciate the challenge of having to climb back up it.\u201d<\/p>\n

That said, Spencer also mentioned that after conquering the Columbine Climb, he wasn\u2019t as disappointed that Powerline wasn\u2019t in the mix. Regardless, he was just happy to see the race happen at all and, of course, to raise well over $100,000.<\/p>\n

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Jeff Spencer with the Legacy Foundation and Leadville 100 founders: Ken Chlouber and Merilee Maupin<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The Leadville Trail 100 Legacy Foundation<\/h2>\n

\u201c11 years ago, they did the first Dream Chaser fundraiser as a part of the Legacy Foundation,\u201d Spencer explained. \u201cHis name is Ty Hall<\/a>, and he did it for about nine years and was ready to pass the torch.\u201d<\/p>\n

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The torch was passed to the high school teacher for the 2025 race. Last year, nearly 1,800 racers lined up at the start, and Spencer passed more than 1,600 of them.<\/p>\n

Spencer explained that Ken Chlouber and Merilee Maupin started the foundation. If those names sound familiar, it is because the two also originally founded the Leadville race in response to the closing of a local mine. Thousands lost their jobs, and the town of Leadville neared economic collapse. Chlouber and Maupin started the epic race to bring people and a new industry back to Leadville.<\/p>\n

Then, Lifetime bought the Leadville 100. Still wanting the race to have a direct impact on the Leadville community, Chlouber and Maupin started the Legacy Foundation. Spencer explained that the foundation is the place to go for funding in the Leadville area. As the Nordic ski coach, he said that the Legacy Foundation provided funds to help repair and service ski equipment. They also provided the elementary PE teacher with balance bikes for the school\u2019s programming.<\/p>\n

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\u201cIn terms of what [the Dream Chaser] raises dollars for, it is scholarships for any kid who graduates from Lake County High School,\u201d Spencer told us. The scholarships extend beyond those pursuing a traditional college education. Those looking to the trades \u2014 welding, construction, cosmetology \u2014 can all benefit from the funds. \u201cAs long as they have a plan, they get those dollars raised by the foundation and Dream Chaser effort.\u201d<\/p>\n

And many of the recipients are former students of Spencer.<\/p>\n

\u201cI feel super blessed to be a part of it. I love biking, I love racing bikes, and I love teaching. For the two big parts of my world to come together like that and have a positive impact on the community, it\u2019s pretty awesome.\u201d<\/p>\n

The news stinks. Why not follow Singletracks on Google News<\/a> to bring more joy to your day?<\/em><\/p>\n

\t\t\t\t\t\t\t<!–<\/p>\n

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\t\t\t\t\t\t\t–><\/p>\n

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\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Close-up<\/a><\/p>\n
Mountain bikes<\/a><\/div>\n
A 32er could win Leadville this year as a brand known for road, tri bikes teases new MTB<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/a><\/p>\n
Colorado<\/a><\/div>\n
The iconic Powerline climb will not be in the Leadville 100 after wildfire forces course alterations<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
<\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"A<\/a><\/p>\n
Colorado<\/a><\/div>\n
Meet the Man Trying to Pass Everyone on the Leadville 100 Course to Benefit the Community<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\"Two<\/a><\/p>\n
Community<\/a><\/div>\n
Yuri Hauswald became a pro mountain biker at age 36. By 45, he was a gravel biking legend.<\/a><\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
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<\/div>\n<\/p><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Photos: Spencer Stanek Last Saturday, Jeff Spencer, a high school teacher from Leadville, Colorado, raced the Leadville 100. Despite some decent results from previous races, including previous Leadville 100 races, Spencer was slated to start dead last. With more than 1,400 racers ahead of him, Spencer had his work cut out for him. For the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,274],"class_list":["post-2104834","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-singletracks-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104834","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2104834"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2104834\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2104834"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2104834"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2104834"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}