This weekend marked the 2023 edition of the Hardrock 100 in Colorado’s San Juan mountains, with deep snow and soaring temps to keep things interesting in the alpine.
With 102.5 “wild and tough” miles to complete in the course’s counter-clockwise direction, which is considered by many to be the more difficult direction because of the tough ascent of Handies Peak (the hard side!) around mile 32. Courtney Dauwalter, fresh off a record-setting win at the Western States 100 on June 24, made it look surprisingly easy.
In her third go at Hardrock, after a DNF in 2021 and win (and course record, clockwise/overall) in 2022, Dauwalter again raised the bar for women’s endurance running with a 26:14:08 clocking and fourth-place overall finish. (well below Diana Finkel’s 2009 CR of 27:18:24), making her owner of both the counter-clockwise and clockwise records and shattering her own overall course record set in 2022 (26:44:36).
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