Courtney Dauwalter Gives Everything at Nice Côte d’Azur by UTMB

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In a shock to utterly no person, Courtney Dauwalter led wire-to-wire to win the Good Côte d’Azur by UTMB 100-miler on October 5. She moreover capped off an undefeated season that included decisive victories, course info, and crashing males’s podiums on the Transgrancanaria 126KExtraordinarily Path Mount Fuji 100-miler, and Exhausting Rock 100.

It is likely to be boring, routine, habituated. Nevertheless it’s not, and there’s a fairly easy motive why. Dauwalter was ostensibly proper right here to qualify for subsequent summer season’s Extraordinarily-Path du Mont-Blanc. “All” she wanted to do was win. (Actually, she didn’t even need to win, she merely wished to finish throughout the prime three.) Nevertheless Dauwalter didn’t merely win. She went to the depths of the successfully—or as she would say, the “ache cave”—to obliterate the sphere by 5 hours. 5 hours! That’s virtually a 25 % distinction in time between her and second place Enrica Dematteis of Italy.

Not solely that, she threw down a valiant wrestle for the overall title.

The reality that she acquired right here up merely wanting that honor is about as close to “failure” as a result of the 39-year-old from Leadville, Colorado, will get as of late. And naturally, her race was a convincing success.

In the long run, she ran out of precise property, crossing the tip line on the Promenade des Anglais in downtown Good, France, in 21 hours, 35 minutes, and 57 seconds, decrease than quarter-hour behind males’s winner Cristofer Clemente Mora from the island of La Gomera in Spain’s Canary Islands. Mora, 38, is not any slouch at working, by the best way through which. He runs professionally for Hoka and has excelled in any respect the issues from the Run the Rut 50K, which he obtained in 2016, to fifth at TDS in 2023 and a victory remaining yr on the Puerto Vallarta México by UTMB 100K.

Nevertheless like most ultra-trail runners, Mora has contended collectively along with his ups and downs. He dropped out of three UTMB World Sequence races this yr sooner than lastly nailing it in Good. Not Dauwalter. The ultimate race she DNFed was the Hardrock 100 in 2021 on account of she was puking her guts out on the side of the trail. She rose from the ashes by profitable Extraordinarily-Path du Mont-Blanc merely six weeks later and has under no circumstances regarded once more, together with fairly a couple of prestigious titles to her palmares since along with: the Hardrock 100 and Diagonale des Fous in 2022, her jaw-dropping Western States 100, Hardock 100, and UTMB triple crown in 2023, and her slew of victories this yr.

It’s a resume anyone other than Dauwalter might be thrilled to carry out over a lifetime. And however she seems to assault each race with the fervor of an unknown rising star decided to indicate herself. In a sport full of unpredictability and hazard, she rises to the issue repeatedly.

That’s to not say all of the issues on a regular basis goes correct—Dauwalter, on a regular basis gracious and composed in victory, might be unafraid to disclose her soul on the race course. She knowledgeable us by the use of blue lips on the tip line of UTMB remaining yr that every step of that virtually wire-to-wire win was laborious. The issue is, she’s in order that considerably higher than virtually all people else that her margin for error is so big, she’s going to work by the use of deep lows and nonetheless win by hours.

Dauwalter’s dominance under no circumstances will get earlier precisely on account of she offers it her absolute all even when she doesn’t ought to. She acknowledged this race was “très difficile” as compared with even a couple of of her completely different through-the-night wins from this yr.

“This course is de facto distinctive I imagine,” she continued. “The terrain you get to cowl. The rocks, the roots, the rain in a single day. I found it very troublesome, and I’m very joyful to be proper right here now.”

So relatable, throughout the least relatable methodology doable. She’s emblematic of the runner battle, the human battle, inside the kind of a path working god.

How Dauwalter Dominated Good Côte d’Azur by UTMB

Perhaps the hardest part of Dauwalter’s day acquired right here sooner than the start gun event went off. As she  made her technique to the start line, she graciously stopped for selfies with throngs of adoring followers and even fellow racers. So it was almost definitely a assist when the start gun went off at 12 P.M. on October 4, and Dauwalter and a self-discipline of virtually 600 took off from the ski village of Auron throughout the Maritime Alps at 5,200-feet.

She went out with the lead males as they made their methodology up by the use of the wind-swept mountains earlier the Refuge de Rabuons and to the highpoint at over 8,700 ft. Clad in her quintessential prolonged, saggy shorts (this time emblazoned with tropical choices equal to palm bushes) and an outsized shiny orange transient sleeve T-shirt, she traced the enduring ridges of the Mercantour massif in Mercantour Nationwide Park and at last hit winter.

Nevertheless a bit of little bit of rain and flying snow was no disadvantage for the earlier Nordic skier. Because the boys around her positioned on coats, she stayed in her tropical garb. Is she even human? It truly didn’t appear to be it as she floated down the technical mountainside and flitted by the use of assist stations collectively along with her attribute calm effectivity, inserting on chapstick as her husband Kevin added current snug flasks to her working vest. (None of her assist station stops all by way of the race hit two minutes.) After which it was poles once more out as she headed into the night time time and up the Col de Madeleine and into third place complete.

As a result of the photo voltaic rose over the Mediterranean Sea in path of the tip line, Dauwalter had already coated over 85 miles of the relentless mountain terrain. Shades on, she moved into second on the final word grunt over the Plateau Saint-Michel and navigated the slippery rocky trails alongside the coast and concrete staircase-laden trails by the use of the higher Good house. It didn’t look easy—Dauwalter gingerly picked her ft up over rocks and roots, shuffled down tight staircases, and grimaced in focus (or dare we’re saying ache?) as she rounded the marina in Good. Nevertheless as she handed cheering followers with decrease than a mile to go, she cracked a smile.

At 9:36 A.M. Dauwaler broke not solely the tape, however moreover the women’s course file by virtually six hours. She immediately circled and clapped for the followers lining the tip line.

“I actually really feel truly lucky we acquired to come back again experience this race, this course, this place,” she acknowledged. “As soon as I came around that remaining hill and observed the ocean and I would start to see Good I was thrilled. Great psyched on the entire self-discipline. I hope people will come cheer for various runners coming in at current.”

This victory not solely caps off one different epic season, it models the stage for perhaps an far more partaking 2025. The one completely different title throughout the sport to come back again close to Dauwalter’s diploma of dominance is, the truth is, fellow American Katie Schide. Since her victory at UTMB in 2022, Schide, too, has slayed women’s fields and vied for males’s podiums. She truly cemented her standing as Dauwalter’s solely competitor by breaking Dauwalter’s course file at UTMB this summer season. We’ll solely hope now that Dauwalter has licensed for the 2025 model of the 107-mile lap spherical Mont Blanc that we’re going to see a revision of the head-to-head showdown we’ve all been prepared for.

Higher of the Rest

In a testament to the unfettered improvement of the UTMB World Sequence over the earlier two years, most Good Côte d’Azur races contained a few huge names with a quick drop off in depth. There are simply too many UTMB World Sequence races, together with the rest of the races throughout the sport, to help aggressive self-discipline at every.

So unsurprisingly Jon Albon of the U.Okay. cleaned up throughout the 50K, crossing the street in 4:15:31—eight minutes ahead of France’s Simon Paccard. This yr’s Zegama champion Sylvia Nordskar of Norway obtained the women’s race in 5:08:48, 5 minutes ahead of Italy’s Camilla Magliano. Valentin LaCroix of France took residence victory throughout the 100K in 11:19:04, and Norway’s Ingrid  Due-Gundersen obtained the women’s race in 15:02:49. Merely 5 weeks after his astonishing win at UTMB, Vincent Bouillard cleaned up throughout the 20K (1:32:07). French compatriot Marie Nivet obtained the women’s race in 1:48:04.

Whereas Dauwalter hopefully kicks once more subsequent to the waters paying homage to a blue slushie, there’s no rest for the weary for UTMB staffers all around the world. The UTMB World Sequence continues subsequent weekend on the Kodiak Extraordinarily Marathons by UTMB in Enormous Bear Lake, California, and likewise at  TransJeju by UTMB in South Korea, the place many additional runners will pour their hearts into qualifying for the UTMB World Sequence Finals in Chamonix, France, subsequent August.

Within the occasion that they’re lucky, in a yr they might uncover Dauwalter subsequent to them on the start line.