In a span of about a month and a half this summer, the Leadville runner won — and set course records – at Western States, Hardrock 100 and UTMB
Leadville ultra runner Courtney Dauwalter made history on Saturday.
The 38-year-old won her third-career Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB), a 106-mile race that gains 32,000 feet as it circumnavigates Mont-Blanc through Italy, Switzerland en route to Chamonix, France. In doing so, she completed an unprecedented ultra-trail triple crown — winning the Western States Endurance Run (June 24), the Hardrock 100 (July 14), and UTMB in a single summer.
The legendary Kilian Jornet is the only athlete to have won all three — over the course of a lifetime. Nikki Kimball won the Western States and UTMB in 2007 but didn’t attempt Hardrock that summer. In 2012, Krissy Moehl attempted all three, finishing fourth, fourth and 14th, respectively.
You can’t triple unless you try. Any time we’re given the opportunity to try something difficult or crazy, we should absolutely take it. This was totally crazy and really, really difficult, but worth it.
Courtney Dauwalter, who smashed course records in all three wins, told Trailrunnermag.com
Dauwalter told irunfar.com she wanted to approach UTMB as if it were the only race of the summer.
It’s sort of what my approach was with all three of them. Not have, you know, an excuse queued up, not be thinking of the fatigue that might still be there, but just give it everything I have. So, lining up for this one, that was the plan. And for sure I started the race with that intention. Like, my pace was not trying to be conservative or hold anything back because it was the third in a string of hundreds this summer. It’s like, let’s race it how we normally would, and then just see where that road leads us.
History was made on the men’s side as well, as Jim Walmsley became the first American male to win the race, largely regarded as the most prestigious and competitive ultra in the world. The Arizona-based runner, who moved to France a year ago to prepare specifically for the event, broke the course record with his 19:37:43 winning time. Zach Miller, who lived at Barr Camp on Pikes Peak for over four years, took the silver after leading the race at one point.
Read the full story at the Vail Daily.