By Bill Scanlon, Rocky Mountain News

LEADVILLE - Paul DeWitt ran through hail, lightning and darkness, persevering for more than 17 hours in all, before breaking the course record in the Leadville Trail 100-miler and collapsing into the arms of his wife.

"I'm just ecstatic!" DeWitt, 36, of Colorado Springs, said Saturday evening as he headed to the medical tent for a check of his lungs and a sip of hot chocolate. "At 50 miles, I wasn't sure I was going to finish at all."

DeWitt, a technical writer, won for the second consecutive year. His time of 17 hours, 16 minutes, 19 seconds broke the record by 7 minutes.

More than 400 runners started at 4 a.m. Saturday, but fewer than half the field finished.

The others either fell victim to nausea, cramps, blisters or other physical breakdowns, or weren't going to reach the finish line within the 30-hour time limit.

Anthea Schmid, a physical therapist from Crested Butte, was the first woman to cross, finishing seventh overall in 23:30:43. She was presented with a huge bouquet of flowers at the finish by race director Merilee O'Neal, who hugged every finisher.

Her left leg was bloody. "I fell. I do it every single race," Schmid said. "I have almost a nervous breakdown every race. But the trails are so beautiful. It's a roller coaster. You feel terrible one moment, then you feel fine."

Susan Brozik, of Albuquerque, was the second-place woman.

Aron Ralston, the Aspen resident who captivated the nation last year by cutting off his arm to save himself from being pinned by a boulder in a remote Utah canyon, finished in a little more than 29:43, fast enough to be an official finisher.

"This was my first competitive race more than a 5K (3.1 miles)," Ralston said. He said he got sick eating an onion sandwich and was nauseated for dozens of miles. But he wouldn't quit. His amputated arm wasn't a problem because friendly volunteers peeled bananas for him at the aid stations.

"I felt in good balance," he said. "I helped one gentleman who took a spill."

In second was Scott Jurek, who padded his lead in the Grand Slam of 100-mile races with a time of 18:01. In the past eight weeks, Jurek, of Seattle, broke the course record at the Western States 100-mile run in California, finished fifth at a 100-miler in Vermont and finished second in Leadville. In three weeks, he'll compete in the Wasatch race in Utah. If he does well, he'll set a Grand Slam record.

"He's really a tough guy," Jurek's wife, Leah, said as she watched him leave the Maryqueen Campground at Turquoise Lake for the last torturous 13 miles. "He's a smart, smart runner."

Legendary ultra-marathoner Matt Carpenter was in the lead for the first 60 miles, but then he suffered cramps in his quadriceps, and the next 40 miles were miserable.

At the mile 87 aid station, in the darkness, he said, "Sometimes, you just have to finish what you started. If you reach all your goals, you don't set them high enough."

He picked up his toddler who had fallen, comforted her, ate a slice of pizza, waddled off on sore quads and said, "I've walked the last 20-some miles but I'm still here. Let's go finish this thing." He finished 14th.

Bob Findlay, a Rocky Mountain News assistant news editor who has written columns about his first attempt to complete a 100-mile race, finished in 29:38, fast enough to be an official finisher and be awarded a medal. "I feel terrible. I feel great," Findlay said, echoing the emotions of many other tired but happy finishers.