Courtney’s greatest running achievements. Where to begin? I tried to get her to tell me what she thought her biggest moments were, but she just laughed at me and said, ‘Do your job, idiot,’ and hung up. That’s not true. She did laugh, though. But then I guess she’s always laughing.
The trouble is, Courtney has won pretty much every race she’s entered since turning pro in 2017. She has no ceiling. She just keeps going up. So, what we’ve cobbled together here represents the tallest peaks in a career with more highs than Snoop Dogg and Willy Nelson riding pogo-sticks through the Himalayas. For most of you, this list will merely be a refresher on what Courtney has pulled off (while eating nachos and candy). For the rest of you, we recommend putting a fishbowl on your head so you don’t get brains all over the curtains. We begin the journey in 2016—one year before Courtney Dauwalter turned pro.
2016: Javelina Jundred, Run Rabbit Run
It’s no surprise that Courtney quit her day job to go pro in 2017, because in 2016 she did two things that made the running world sit up and say, ‘Whoa, whoa, whoa—she did what now?’ In September of that year, Courtney won Colorado’s Run Rabbit Run 100-miler by 75 minutes (having placed 9th the previous year), and then less than two months later at Arizona’s Javelina Jundred 100K, she came in first overall (that’s dudes and dudettes) and set a new course record of 8:48:25. But it was her RRR win that, in her humble words, ‘made waves, maybe? People were like, “Who’s this person in long shorts and what is she doing at the top of the podium?” [Laughter].’ Note: she won other races that year and in every other year we’ve listed below, but if we included all her wins, this would turn into a novel called Picnic in the Pain Cave: The Courtney Dauwalter Story.
2017: Riverbank One Day Classic, Run Rabbit Run, Moab 240
Courtney kicked off 2017 by setting an American 24HR Women’s record at The Riverbank One Day Classic in late February and left her teaching job to turn pro that summer. In September, she was the first-place female at that year’s Run Rabbit Run 100, despite... losing her sight 12 miles from the finish line? Yes. She went blind. ‘My vision started blurring in the periphery,’ she said, ‘and over the course of the next couple of miles, it closed in until it was pure white. I couldn’t see anything.’ The extreme exertion had brought on corneal edema, and by her own estimation, she was 98% blind. However, Courtney still managed to stumble ten-odd miles of trails to the finish line and win with just the one rock-inflicted head injury. The following month, she entered and won—outright—the Moab 240, crossing the finish line more than ten hours ahead of second-place winner Sean Nakamura. I’m resisting the urge to type the ‘B’ word right now because I think it’s a bit early in the piece...
But fuck it. Courtney is a goddamn BEAST!
2018: Ultra Trail Mount Fuji, Big’s Backyard Ultra, Western States, Tahoe 200
2017 was a massive year for Courtney, but in 2018, she had her sights set on a fun little race held annually in the Sierra Nevada Mountains: Western States. In February, she won Southern California’s Sean O’Brien 100K and earned her ‘Golden Ticket’ entry into WS100; then she spent the rest of winter and spring running (and winning) a bunch of smaller training races. In April, she entered (and won) the Ultra Trail Mount Fuji 100-miler just to get her body and mind back into the long-distance groove, and when Western States finally rolled around in June, she went out and came last. Wait. Sorry. She WON. And with a time of 17:27:00. Later that year, she also set a Women’s course record in Big’s Backyard Ultra and beat the Tahoe 200 women’s record by—hold onto your fishbowl—over 18 hours. What? That’s insane. COME ON!
2019 — 2022: UTMB, Big’s Backyard, Hardrock
In 2019, Courtney had only been a professional athlete for two years, but she went ahead and crushed the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc anyway. When I say crushed, I mean she won it—and how. With a time of 24:34:26, Courtney came in a whole hour and a half faster than the previous year’s winner. But then —THEN—in 2021, she returned to Chamonix and set a new course record by shaving two frickin’ hours off her 2019 effort. Bananas. Three years on and 22:30:54 remains the fastest women’s time at UTMB. Speaking of returning to the scene of the crime, Courtney also went back to Big’s Backyard Ultra in 2020, ran 68 laps (456km / 283.3 m) and set another women’s course record, and in 2022 she set a new clockwise and overall women’s record at Hardrock. Then she did the world’s longest keg stand while jumping 30 school buses on a Harley Davidson made out of chocolate. Probably. She can do anything.
2023: The Triple Crown
In 2023, Courtney did something so incredible, so unbelievable, so mind-bendingly fantastic that she almost got herself called out for witchcraft. Check this out. In June 2023, she set a new course record at Western States 100 (15:29:33), then a few weeks later, in July, she set a new course record at Hardrock 100 (26:14:12), and then, in September, the Queen of all Beasts strolled up to the starting line at UTMB... AND WON THAT SUCKER AS WELL! That’s three of the world’s biggest ultra races in 70 days. Who does that? The mental and physical discipline needed to achieve this Triple Crown is not just impressive—it’s unimaginable. But she did it. And if you think those all-caps were unnecessary, you need to stop sniffing glue. This whole thing should’ve been written in all-caps. WOW. Courtney Dauwalter is a force of nature. What will she do next?
