Fast Women: Courtney Dauwalter wins unprecedented triple
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Fast Women: Courtney Dauwalter wins unprecedented triple
Letesenbet Gidey runs 14:08 for 5,000m.
Issue 255, sponsored by New Balance
One summer, three 100-mile wins for Courtney Dauwalter
When I started this newsletter in 2019, my plan was to focus on events from 800m to the marathon. But as ultrarunning grows in popularity, races like Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) have made my list of must-follow events.
This year’s UTMB champ, Courtney Dauwalter, has 534K followers on Instagram. (It was 509K when I first wrote that sentence, on Saturday.) That’s more than Shalane Flanagan (422K), Sifan Hassan (236K), Molly Seidel (232K), Des Linden (199K), Kara Goucher (198K), Athing Mu (177K), or Faith Kipyegon (150K). She’s not just the most recognizable female ultrarunner, she’s one of the most popular runners, period. (Sha’Carri Richardson is at 2.8 million, and Sydney McLaughlin-Levrone and Allyson Felix are both at 1.1 million.)
Dauwalter helped her cause by completing an unprecedented triple on Saturday. After winning the Western States 100 in record time on June 25, three weeks later, she set another course record and won the Hardrock 100. That was supposed to be the end of it. After Hardrock, which she said wrecked her, she took time off from running. She told iRunFar that she didn’t really do anything, other than eat ice cream. But after a couple weeks, she went for a light run and began to wonder how she would fare at UTMB. Once the question was there, she couldn’t ignore it.
And on Saturday, Dauwalter got her answer. She earned her third 100-mile victory in 70 days, covering the 172K (106.5-mile) course, with 32,800 feet of climbing, in 23:29:14. Others have won all three races, but Dauwalter is the first to do it in one summer.
This was Dauwalter’s third victory at UTMB, following wins in 2019 and 2021, and this one wasn’t easy. A little over halfway into the race, the wheels came off. “Usually when I’m in the pain cave, chiseling, it translates then to the physical motion I’m asking for,” she told iRunFar’s Meghan Hicks. “And this time, no matter how hard I was chiseling in there, the mental strength wasn’t translating.” From there to the finish, Dauwalter had to “hope like heck” that with every stride, her legs would continue to support her.
Dauwalter had so many people surrounding her at times during the race that if she returns to UTMB, she might need a bodyguard, or better crowd control. But that’s also part of the race’s charm. Dauwalter acknowledged when talking to Hicks that there were a couple times when she felt like she just needed a minute to herself. But there’s no such thing when you’re Courtney Dauwalter at UTMB.
With Katie Schide’s victory last year, American women have won the last four editions of this race, and they’ve won the race nine times in its 20 years. Jim Walmsley became the first American man to win the race this year, and I appreciated that when he was asked about being the first at the finish line, he made sure to point out that he was just adding his name to the list of American women who have won the race. “I’m just happy to stand on their shoulders,” he said.
Dauwalter led for most of the race, but behind her, the race was tighter. Germany’s Katharina Hartmuth prevailed, taking second in 24:10:52. She was thrilled and said in a finish-line interview that she knew that on a good day, she could finish in the top 10, but she never expected to land on the podium. And France’s Blandine L’Hirondel finished third in 24:22:50.
There’s often talk of ultrarunners who overrace and pay the price in the long term. So there’s some element of don’t-try-this-at-home in Dauwalter’s accomplishment. Dauwalter acknowledged, in talking to Hicks, that her focus will now shift to taking as long as she needs to “make sure all the reserves are filled back up, mentally, physically, and emotionally.”
UTMB’s coverage sets a high bar
If I were an event director, especially of a major road race, I’d be watching UTMB and seeing what ideas I could adapt. They probably have the best finish line atmosphere in the sport. With their epic crowds and theme music, UTMB knows how to make a race finisher feel special. And there are all sorts of sweet touches, like parents running to the finish with their kids, and partners there to greet their runner at the finish line.
The streaming coverage is incredible, and the camera operators are the unsung heroes. Despite the obstacles, they figure out how to stream footage from places where it seems like it should be impossible. The broadcast features commentary in a variety of languages, and on the English channel, Corrine Malcolm was fantastic.
And while it’s not always the case with event streaming, I thought the live chat on the YouTube channel really added something to the viewing experience, creating a sense of community around the event. While there are certainly some trolls, I enjoyed the interaction the commentators had with those following along from afar. And the viewers could sometimes help with things like IDing athletes, pronunciation of names, and coming up with good “dad jokes” (which might be an oxymoron) to tell Dauwalter at the finish line.
At the same time, UTMB still has work to do. I’m curious if this year’s field was any less white than it was a year ago. The event’s complicated entry process does not make it easy, even for accomplished runners, to get to the starting line. And until UTMB includes Kenyan and Ethiopian runners, among others, it’s not really going to be about figuring out who the world’s best ultrarunners are.
The event put out a press release indicating there are initiatives in the works that will promote greater equality for disabled athletes and trans and non-binary people. It also noted that only 22 percent of the field, across all of this year’s UTMB races, was female. In the marquee event, the 172K, only 188 of the 1578 finishers (11.9 percent) were women. And from her comments on the broadcast, it sounds like Malcolm had to fight for coverage of the women’s race. She stayed on air until the 10th-place woman finished, but it shouldn’t take a battle to get there. (Results | Dauwalter’s finish | Race highlights | iRunFar’s race recap)
Thanks to New Balance for supporting Fast Women
Because of New Balance’s generosity, I was able to do another shoe giveaway on Instagram last week. I asked people what their favorite shoes are, and what they’d like to try. I tallied a sample of the responses and here are the trends:
The most mentioned shoe was the FuelCell SuperComp Trainer v2. A lot of people either love it or want to try it. And they should. It’s a really fun shoe. Another carbon-plated shoe was running a close second—the FuelCell SuperComp Elite v3. (It comes in a couple of colors, but the linked purple is fun.) Fall marathon season is almost here, and a lot of people are in the market for a good race day option.
The next two biggest vote-getters were non-plated daily trainers: The Fresh Foam X 880v13 and the Fresh Foam X 1080v12. Beyond that, I counted at least 10 other shoes that received votes. But the top two were the FuelCell Rebel v3 and the Fresh Foam X 860v13. So if you’re looking to try out New Balance, all of the above are a good place to start.
Cross country season is here
On Friday night, I was sitting in my office when I heard yelling nearby. A quick search indicated that the sound was what I thought it was—a cross country race, happening within shouting distance of my house. I went out to catch the end of it, and watching made me feel nostalgic for the years that I’ve been a part of teams, either as a runner or a coach. I miss knowing everyone’s names and stories, and being able to tell who is having the race of their life or who brings great qualities to the team, regardless of their speed.
Some of the top teams in the NCAA began racing last week as well. The early meets don’t mean much, nor do the preseason rankings. Many top athletes sit out the smaller meets, others treat them as workouts. But the collegiate cross country season is officially underway.
From what I saw on Instagram, the crowd at Saturday's George Kyte Classic in Flagstaff was a who’s who of distance running. NAU, ranked second in the preseason poll, looked good, with Ruby Smee, Elise Stearns, and Aliandrea Upshaw finishing together up front (results). Some runners will run “unattached” in the early season meets, as their coaches leave their options open as far as who redshirts.
At the CU time trial, CU’s Samree Dishon, Emily Covert, Katie Doucette, and Karrie Baloga finished together up front, with everyone except Covert running unattached. Despite the details revealed in CU’s investigation of its cross country and track & field program, they have a strong team and are ranked fifth going into the season. CU’s Natalie Cook, who transferred from Oklahoma State after finishing seventh at the NCAA Cross Country Championships last year, finished 11th. She’s on her way back from injury, and she ran unattached (results).
Riley Stewart and Sophia Kennedy went 1–2 for Stanford, ranked eighth, at the USF Invitational (results). And Sydney Thorvaldson and Paityn Noe led the way for Arkansas, ranked 19th, at the Cowboy Preview (results).
Other News and Links
This morning’s USATF 20K Championships feature a strong field, including Emily Sisson, Aliphine Tuliamuk, Des Linden, Molly Seidel, Kellyn Taylor, and Emily Durgin. The race is scheduled to stream live on USATF TV starting at 8:20 a.m. ET. Lori Riley wrote a nice preview article on Linden. And Seidel will be the one in the smelly socks.
Olympian and former Atlanta Track Club Elite coach Amy Yoder Begley shared that she has taken a position as Associate Director of Long Distance Running Programs at USATF.
We already knew that Sharon Lokedi, Hellen Obiri, Peres Jepchirchir, and Brigid Kosgei will run the New York City Marathon November 5. And NYRR announced last week that they’ll be joined by Letesenbet Gidey, Yalemzerf Yehualaw, Lonah Chemtai Salpeter, Gotytom Gebreslase, Edna Kiplagat, Mary Ngugi-Cooper, and Viola Cheptoo, among others. Fewer Americans are running the race this year, because the Olympic Trials are only three months later, so I assume that left more money to pour into the international field, which is very strong. It will be interesting to see how the top Americans, Kellyn Taylor and Molly Huddle, fare. Both will be running their first marathons since having babies, and they’re counting on the fact that three months is long enough to bounce back physically and mentally and run another strong marathon. And I love that Huddle will be simultaneously raising money for &Mother.
Susannah Scaroni headlines the NYC Marathon wheelchair race, which will serve as the U.S. selection event for the 2024 Paralympic marathon. The top two American women will earn auto qualifiers.
Nell Rojas said on The Rambling Runner Podcast that she hasn’t run on land since she pulled out of the Bix 7 at the end of July. She was diagnosed with two stress reactions and a stress fracture. Though she doesn’t fully trust the diagnosis, she has been taking time off and cross training, and she recently began running on the Alter-G. But as of when the episode was recorded, the Chicago Marathon was still on her schedule.
Bethany Sachtleben, a 1:10 half marathoner who earned a silver medal in the marathon at the 2019 Pan Am Games, is returning to racing today in New Haven. “Coming back to running while healing my body and mind from a lifelong eating disorder has been so much harder than I ever imagined,” she wrote in an Instagram post. It’s been more than two years since Sachtleben raced at a high level.
Laura Thweatt said on Instagram that she has left coach Steve Jones’ group and she’s now training with The Track Club, coached by Evan Schwartz.
Shaunae Miller-Uibo of the Bahamas won the pre-program 400m at the Zurich Diamond League meet (meaning it wasn’t one of the featured events), in 51.83 seconds. It’s a very impressive run for the two-time Olympic champion in this event, considering she gave birth a little more than four months ago. Three days later, she DNFed in the 400m at the ISTAF Berlin meet due to some tightness.
Jinghuan Liu Tervalon profiled Sue McDonald, 60, who has set eight age-group world records this year, for Women’s Running.
Gwen Jorgensen won the World Triathlon Cup Valencia.
Are you a woman of color who coaches runners or aspires to do so? Game Changers helps women of color become certified running coaches, and offers mentorship and business consulting. Applications are open through Sunday, September 10. If you’re thinking about it, you can get more information here.
Stephen Lane has written a book about the 1984 women’s Olympic marathon, called Long Run to Glory, and it comes out tomorrow. I haven’t gotten very far yet, but what I’ve seen suggests it’s going to be a great read.
Additional Results
Ethiopia’s Letesenbet Gidey’s 5,000m at Sunday’s ISTAF Berlin meet was basically a rabbited time trial, but it was an impressive one. She ran 14:08.79 and won by 48 seconds. After the race, Gidey said that the wind made it tough to run a faster time. (As if what she ran wasn’t fast enough!) Behind Faith Kipyegon’s 14:05.20 world record from earlier this season, Gidey now has the second-, third-, and fourth-fastest times ever in the 5,000m. (The commentator appeared to have no idea how close she was to the world record.) She has run 14:06, 14:07, and 14:08. Running her first 5,000m of the season, Karissa Schweizer finished fifth in 15:02.62. And Allie Buchalski placed 10th in 15:20.66. (Results)
The Diamond League circuit resumed on Thursday in Zurich. It seems like poor planning that the two women’s distance events—the 800m and the steeplechase—both had their finals on the last day of the world championships, only four days earlier. So some of the athletes seemed tired. Great Britain’s Laura Muir, who had nine days off from competition, thanks to running the 1500m at worlds, looked great, winning in 1:57.71. Nia Akins finished fourth (1:59.29), Raevyn Rogers was sixth (1:59.35), and Sage Hurta-Klecker took 10th (2:00.51). The top three in the steeplechase finished in the same spots they did at worlds: Bahrain’s Winfred Mutile Yavi won (9:03.19), and she was followed by Kenyans Beatrice Chepkoech (9:03.70) and Faith Cherotich (9:07.59). Courtney Wayment finished 11th in 9:24.77. (Results)
The next Diamond League stop was in Xiamen, China, on Saturday. Kenya’s Beatrice Chebet, who won bronze in the 5,000m at worlds one week earlier, won the 3,000m in a PR of 8:24.05. Mexico’s Laura Galvan, who was 10th in the 5,000m at worlds, had a great race. She pushed the pace when it slowed late in the race and she held on to take second in 8:28.05, a big PR and yet another national record. Running her first Diamond League meet, Abby Nichols finished 13th in 8:52.75. Ethiopia’s Freweyni Hailu outdueled Kenya’s Nelly Chepchirchir in the 1500m, 3:56.56 to 3:56.72. Dani Jones had another strong race, taking eighth in a PR and Olympic standard of 4:01.66. Helen Schlachtenhaufen (10th, 4:03.69), Josette Andrews (12th, 4:05.52), and Emily Mackay (14th, 4:06.45) were also in the field. (Results)
Sinclaire Johnson won the 800m at Italy’s Meeting Città di Padova in 1:59.76, a small PR. Ireland’s Ciara Mageean finished second (2:00.08), and Sage Hurta-Klecker took fourth (2:00.46). Italy’s Nadia Battocletti won the 1500m in 4:03.34. (Results)
Elise Cranny and Courtney Frerichs dropped down to the 800m at a meet on Saturday in England. Cranny won the race (2:01.43), and Frerichs took fourth (2:09.37). (Results)
Teagan Schein-Becker rabbited Laurie Barton through 900m in the Monmouth Mile, and after that, Barton was on her own. She won the race by 17 seconds, with a meet record 4:28.07. (Results)
The 170K race at UTMB is the main show, but the accompanying races are also very competitive. Norway’s Yngvild Kaspersen won CCC (100K, 6,100m of climbing) in 11:51:22. And Helen Mino Faukner of the U.S. took third in 12:38:05. South Africa’s Toni McCann won OCC (55K, 3,500m of climbing) in 5:18:21. Last year’s UTMB champion, Katie Schide of the U.S., finished second in 5:26:25.
Kenya’s Janeth Chepngetich won Prague’s Birell 10K in 30:21. (Results)
Calli Thackery won London’s Big Half in 1:09:15. The race served as Great Britain’s selection race for the World Athletics Road Running Half Marathon Championships, which will take place October 1 in Riga, Latvia. Rose Harvey (second, 1:10:02) and Abbie Donnelly (third, 1:10:31) also made the team. Donnelly’s performance was somewhat of a surprise—she was running her first serious half marathon—but she has run quick times at shorter distances. (Results)
Kathy VanDehy won the Marquette Half Marathon in 1:14:12. (Results)
Allie Ostrander hopped in a low-key 50K, her first, and won in 4:43:51. She finished second overall, and the third-place finisher overall, Sarah Allaben, was also a woman. Ostrander said in her Instagram stories that she took a wrong turn at mile 29 and ran an extra mile. (Results)
Podcast Highlights
I caught up on recent episodes of the Trail Society podcast this past week, and I loved hearing about the incredible work both Peyton Thomas (comes on around 19:00 in) and Jordan Marie Brings Three White Horses Whetstone (comes on around 27:30) are doing.
Kara Goucher and Des Linden told some of their drug testing stories on Nobody Asked Us.
It was fun to hear Alexi Pappas’ perspective on her experience at the Leadville Trail 100 on For the Long Run.
Thanks to New Balance for sponsoring Fast Women. And thank you to all of you who contribute via Patreon and Venmo to help make this venture sustainable. I hope you all have a great week!
Alison
Fast Women: Courtney Dauwalter wins unprecedented triple
Incredible win by Courtney. Great read, Thank you!
Great write up!