“Open the floodgates, women’s ultrarunning is 🚀🚀🚀!”
That was Courtney Dauwalter‘s reaction to Katie Schide‘s incredible Western States victory last weekend.
Of course no one has done more than Dauwalter to accelerate that process.
The ultrarunning GOAT produced a mind-blowing performance in the same race last year when she became the first woman to break 16 hours as she won by over an hour, with Schide in second.
That was part of an incredible treble that also featured Hardrock 100 and UTMB.
The sport is evolving – at a rapid rate
But Schide, herself a UTMB winner, has picked up the baton in style.
For a long time at Western States she was ahead of Dauwalter’s splits before setting the second fastest time ever by some margin, with a 15:46:57.
And the mutual respect between the two is obvious.
Writing on her Instagram page a few days after the race, Schide had said: “Absolutely in awe of this insanely fast women’s field and the way the sport has evolved in just a few short years.
“My legs & feet are still sore and swollen but it’s getting me all fired up to get back to work and keep this momentum of women’s ultrarunning rolling forward.”
To which Dauwalter replied: “Huge congrats! I feel lucky to be in the sport at the same time as you!”
‘Exploding what everyone thought was possible’
Much was also made on the day during the live broadcast about what feels like a game-changing spell for the sport, with Schide asked in her immediate post-race interview by Dylan Bowman whether she viewed it as “a sort of Roger Bannister four-minute mile moment”?
“I have no idea,” was her initial reaction but she added: “But, yeah, I think we saw last year just the top ten women totally exploding what everyone thought was possible.”
And that happened again this year.
To put the performances into context, the finishing time of the 10th-placed female [Leah Yingling’s 17:33:54] would have won the race in 38 previous years out of 51.
Next up to potentially push the boundaries even further is Dauwalter’s return to Hardrock 100 on 12th July.
Last time out she not only dominated the women’s field at Mt Fuji 100 but finished third overall.
