Has a 10th-placed finish ever been celebrated as much?
Courtney Dauwalter, the women’s GOAT of ultrarunning, brough Chamonix to a standstill on Saturday night when she emerged from her pain cave to cross the line in that position at UTMB, trail running’s biggest race.
The American superstar had obviously been hoping for so much more. The winner of Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc in 2019, 2021 and 2023, she was looking to extend that sequence.
And all was going to plan until at least the midway point despite horrendous overnight weather which forced a change of route for the 174km event around Mt Blanc.
She led by more than 11 minutes at the 100km mark at Arnouvaz but not long after the wheels started to come off.
Digging deep
On the Grand Col Ferret climb the warning lights were on and by Champex-Lac at 128km it was now eventual winner Ruth Croft who led the way as Dauwalter started to go backwards.
It was soon obvious another win was out of the question – and not long after the podium disappeared out of view too.
But rather than abandon, Dauwalter dug deep and spent lots of time in her famed ‘pain cave’ as she looked to honour the race and get to the finish.
The crowds were huge late into the evening and nearly three hours after Croft has crossed the line it was Dauwalter who arrived in Chamonix to the acclaim of all who were there – and with a smile on her face.
She finished in 25 hours, 50 minutes and 38 seconds and though not another win to add to her glittering CV, this will still be one that goes down in the record books.
‘Always the GOAT’
After winning earlier – and becoming the first woman to complete the set of the ‘Triple Crown’ of UTMB World Finals – Croft was asked about going head to head with Dauwalter for a large portion of the race.
And her response was as classy as her performance.
She said: “It was a privilege to get to race her finally but she’s the GOAT – always has been, always will be.”
That was echoed by the many there to see Dauwalter battle to the line as well as the tens of thousands watching online.
Speaking shortly afterwards, she said: “It was a really, really tough day – and night – out there but I was boosted by the cheers on course and by my support crew. Teams doing the hardest things together makes for the best memories.
“This welcome back into Chamonix was the best of the best so thank you to them for being out here.”
When asked why she kept going rather than drop out, the answer was simple but brilliant: “I think I continued because a race this special is worth doing the full loop.”
