The great Courtney Dauwalter (USA) and 48-year-old Ludovic Pommeret (FRA) both shattered the respective female and male course records as they ran out brilliant winners of the 2024 Hardrock 100 Endurance Run.
France’s Pommeret, the 2016 winner of UTMB, was in the front rank throughout and took complete control after pre-race favourite François D’Haene was forced to call it a day midway through the 102.5 mile-route.
It was a clockwise loop this year and Pommeret arrived back in Silverton in a time of 21:33:06, taking just over three minutes off the previous best of the legendary Kilian Jornet from 2022.
Dauwalter was already the course-record holder for both clockwise and anti-clockwise but she shattered her previous best for the former (and the latter too) by nearly 33 minutes – 26:11:47 compared to 26:44:36 as she claimed a third consecutive win.
That was also good enough for fourth place overall and made it three wins out of three this year, following victories at Transgrancanaria and Mt Fuji 100.
Men’s race – Pommeret winds back the clock
In the early stages there was little between Pommeret, fellow Frenchman D’Haene, and Diego Pazos of Switzerland, with the trio in close proximity after the opening 10 miles.
And for the first third of the 102.5 miles, D’Haene was able to stay within a couple of minutes of Pommeret but that was as tight as it would get.
For Pommeret, who turns 49 in just over a week, was powering clear at the front while D’Haene started to struggle. By the Engineer aid station at 51.8 miles, Pommeret was more than an hour ahead and at 10:27 very much on track for record pace.
D’Haene by now had been joined by Jason Schlarb (USA) and by the next aid station of Animas Forks, D’Haene’s race would come to an end as he DNF’d after what had been an interrupted build-up.
In stark contrast, Pommeret had been in the Silverton area for a month before the race, doing two complete recces, and he looked super smooth as he pulled further and further clear.
By the Sherman aid station after 73 miles he was almost exactly two hours clear of Schlarb – and 22 minutes inside of record pace.
And while he understandably tired a little in the closing stages he still dipped under Jornet’s mark – and would have to wait over three hours for the runner-up to also cross the finish line.
That was Diego Pazos of Switzerland who overhauled Schlarb for second place.
Women’s race – Wire to wire for the GOAT
Dauwalter wasted little time in stamping her authority on the women’s race.
By the Chapman aid station after 18.4 miles she was already 10 minutes under course record pace and five minutes clear of her nearest rival, Camille Bruyas of France.
Katharina Hartmuth (SUI) was going well in third too, seven minutes back – and the leading three women were all in the top 10 overall.
And that was very much how the rest of the race panned out, Dauwalter putting more distance between herself and the rest but Bruyas and Hartmuth also staying strong too.
At the halfway point, Bruyas was just over half an hour back, with a similar margin to Hartmuth in third. That would balloon to more than three and four hours respectively as all stayed in the top 10 overall.
The only question was how much time Dauwalter would knock off her previous best and the answer was nearly 33 minutes as she reached the finish in Silverton shortly after 8am local time.
It was her third successive Hardrock victory (and course record), last year’s win forming the middle part of an unprecedented Western States / Hardrock / UTMB treble.
2024 Hardrock 100 Endurance Run, Friday July 12, 102.5 miles
MEN
- Ludovic Pommeret (FRA) – 21:33:06
- Diego Pazos (SUI) – 24:39:33
- Jason Schlarb (USA) – 24:48:13
WOMEN
- Courtney Dauwalter (USA) – 26:11:47
- Camille Bruyas (FRA) – 29:28:11
- Katharina Hartmuth (SUI) – 30:29:12