Recent winner of the Hardrock 100 and sixth overall, the American runner is not far from beating the best men. Portrait of the one who could change the game.
455.9 kilometers. That's the mind-blowing distance Courtney Dauwalter ran in the 2019 Big's Backyard Ultra. This quirky event involves running a 6.7-kilometer loop every hour. Whoever wins is the last runner left in the event. On that day, the American completed 68 loops (in 68 hours), finishing the event with a total distance of 455.9 kilometers.
A few months later, the Salomon runner won the UTMB and made a name for herself in Europe in the world of ultra after having reigned without sharing on the long distances in the United States, especially on the Western States Endurance Trail. Two years later (the 2020 edition having been cancelled), the American runner did the double on the most prestigious trail race in the world by winning again in Chamonix.
But that day, it was her performance compared to the men that marked this 2021 edition. With a time of 22:30, she not only beat the record of the event held since 2013 by her compatriot Rory Bosio (22h37 at the time) but also finished seventh overall, men and women combined. A remarkable result on this reference race of 170 km and 10,000 of positive altitude difference. The second woman of the event, the French Camille Bruyas, finished in 15th place overall.
Coming from cross-country skiing, which she practiced in her youth, Courtney Dauwalter donned her first running bib at the age of 26. A latecomer to the ultra world, the woman who grew up in Minnesota and now trains in Colorado broke through in 2016 when she won the Run Rabbit Run, a renowned 100-mile race in the USA on which she beat her nearest rival by 75 minutes. "I run an average of 177 km a week, mainly on the mountain trails near my home," explains the woman who left her job as a biology teacher to devote herself fully to running at the age of 31. Dominant on ultras, Dauwalter has already overtaken men on long distances, such as her overall victories in the USA on 24-hour events.
And proving that the UTMB 2021 wasn't a one-off, the 37-year-old American repeated her alpine performance last weekend by winning the Hardrock 100, one of the two benchmark ultra-trails in the USA. Over 160 km and 10,000 m of ascent, she won the women's race after an effort of 26:44 (a new women's record) and finished sixth overall. In front of her, they can now be counted on the fingers of one hand: Kilian Jornet (winner of the race) and François d'Haene. Trail legends with whom Dauwalter has already established herself, and whom she may one day be able to beat on a regular basis on an ultra.
"We're going through an exciting time in ultra at the moment," the trainer explained last year to Red Bull. "Women are pushing all kinds of boundaries and raising the bar for each other. I'm lucky to be in this sport right now and to be part of this movement. I think that over very long distances, the differences between men and women diminish and running becomes just a matter of endurance and mental strength." An observation confirmed by recent studies which conclude that women have a greater ability to resist over very long distances. Although she won't be lining up for a third consecutive UTMB in 2022, the American will be present at the Diagonale des Fous in La Réunion at the end of October. She'll be hoping to add a new line to her record of achievements, and perhaps win the overall race and go down in the history books of her sport.