Courtney Dauwalter: Transgrancanaria title defence ‘just felt very difficult’

“I just found it a hundred times harder this year,” said ultrarunning GOAT Courtney Dauwalter after defending her title in the 126km Classic race at The North Face Transgrancanaria.

As ever all eyes were on the American superstar as she started her season following a remarkable 2023 which saw her notch the Western States / Hardrock / UTMB treble.

And while she was never threatened in the women’s event, she did have to battle tough rainy, windy and cold conditions not long after the race started at midnight local time in the Canaries.

Dominant – but hard work

But when day broke she soon started to move well clear of her rivals.

She had more than an hour to spare by the time of the last couple of checkpoints in the race which traverses the island and finishes on the southern shore on the outskirts of Maspalomas.

Her finish time of 15:14:54 was over half an hour slower than last year’s 14:40:39 – and she was 13th overall rather than seventh – though conditions and the course itself were different.

But speaking soon afterwards she added: “I don’t know why it felt so much harder – there could be many factors but it just felt very difficult.”

Back for the party

Nonetheless she was delighted to have returned to the event, saying: “Last year we fell in love with this race – and this island and all the people here – so I just had to come back and join the party again!”

More than an hour after Dauwalter finished, Spain’s Claudia Tremps crossed the line in second in what is the third of the World Trail Majors of 2024.