Leland Barker

About

Leland Barker is an American ultrarunner and race director from the Cache Valley region of northern Utah, who built a distinguished ultrarunning career in the 1990s and 2000s within the tight-knit Wasatch Front trail community. He won the Wasatch Front 100 outright in 1999 (20:24) and again in 2001 (21:44:38), finished 9th overall at the Western States 100 in 2000, and placed 3rd at the Hardrock 100 in 2003 in 29:43:06. In 1999, frustrated by how difficult the Wasatch 100 had become to enter, he founded the Bear 100 in Cache Valley, originally envisioning an end-to-end course from Logan to Bear Lake before permit constraints shaped it into the loop course now run every autumn through prime leaf-season colors; he served as its race director for over two decades, personally hand-tooling a leather carving each year as the race's first-place prize, before stepping back around 2021. He remained an active competitor into his sixties, returning to run the Bear 100 himself as recently as 2025.

Notable Wins

• — Wasatch Front 100 winner 1999
• — 2001; Western States 100 9th 2000; Hardrock 100 3rd 2003 (29:43:06); founder and longtime race director of the Bear 100

Race History