38-year-old Courtney Dauwalter has won the women’s Western States ultramarathon with a time of 15:29:33, smashing the previous record set by Ellie Greenwood in 2012 by 1 hour and 18 minutes.
Former UTMB winner Dauwalter crossed the finish line with a triumphant smile after battling with 100-mile stretch of Californian countryside, climbing over 18,000 ft and descending 23,000 ft. She led the pack throughout, pulling away at the half way point and eventually crossing the line an hour and 14 minutes ahead of second-place racer Katie Schide. She ran without a pacer.
Temperatures were among the lowest in the race’s history and racers had to battle snowfall in the first stretch. This may have been a welcome relief to runners later on the course, though, as last year’s wildfires had done major damage to forests and left portions of the trail unprotected from the shade.
Elsewhere, former soldier Tom Evans became the first Brit to win the men’s race.
Before the race, Courtney Dauwalter took to social media to tell followers she was “ready as [she’s] gonna be” and that she was excited for “a 100 mile long party”.
The Western States ultra can only be entered through a lottery, unless athletes have been specially selected based on their performance in other races….
