Katie Schide produced an astonishing, record-breaking display to complete a famous Western States / Ultra Trail du Mont-Blanc double in Chamonix.
While Jim Walmsley, also bidding to win WSER / UTMB in the same year, exited the men’s race midway through, everything went smoothly for Schide.
She only confirmed her entry three weeks before after seeing how her recovery had gone since her Western States win at the end of June.
But the French-based American was always ahead of the fastest female time for trail running’s greatest event, which was set by ultrarunning GOAT Courtney Dauwalter in 2021. And she crossed the line in 22:09:31 to eclipse Dauwalter’s mark of 22:30:55.
She becomes only the second woman after Dauwalter to win both Western States and UTMB in the same year, though the latter also added Hardrock 100 in an unprecedented treble 12 months ago!
It was also Schide’s second UTMB victory following her success in 2022 when she had a great battle with Canada’s Marianne Hogan, who made the podium again despite dislocating a finger in a fall.
Ruth Croft, who was bidding to become the first woman to win OCC, CCC and UTMB, overtook Hogan on the final climb and finished nearly 40 minutes behind Schide in second, with Hogan a further 22 minutes back.
Always on track
It was hard to believe that it was just nine weeks ago that Schide was winning Western States as this was a masterclass of a performance in seriously warm conditions.
She put the hammer down from the start and led early on from Blandine L’Hirondel before Hogan moved into second.
But none of her rivals ever got in range and in contrast to their challenges, Schide looked smooth and relaxed virtually throughout.
Afer 51km, she was 30 minutes ahead of fastest time pace (calling it a course record could be slightly misleading as there are subtle changes to the route each year).
It was 50 minutes at 101km and though it came down in the closing stages she still had nearly half an hour in hand at the final checkpoint of La Flégère.
That was probably the first point where her efforts visibly showed as she gingerly limped down the descent towards Chamonix.
But she made it and was greeted by an incredible, deserved ovation as she rewrote the record books.
She also finished 13th overall, with surprise winner Vincent Bouillard one of just 12 men ahead of her.
UTMB 2024 results – Elite Women
Friday 30 August – Saturday 31 August 2024, 176km
- Katie Schide (USA) – 22:09:31
- Ruth Croft (NZL) – 22:48:37
- Marianne Hogan (CAN) – 23:11:15
- Lin Chen (CHN) – 24:16:33
- Blandine L’Hirondel (FRA) – 24:35:54
