Courtney Dauwalter is on a roll this summer. Just three weeks after breaking the women’s course record at the Western States Endurance Run, the ultra-marathon star obliterated another course record at the Hardrock 100.
On Saturday, July 15, Dauwalter arrived at the finish line in Silverton, Colorado, fourth overall, covering the 102.5-mile course in 26:14:08. She improved on the previous counter-clockwise course record (Hardrock alternates the direction of its circular course every year) by an hour and four minutes.
The record didn’t come easy for the 38-year-old, who took a wrong turn around mile 87 and had to descend to get back on track. Anne-Lise Rousset Seguret of France led the race through the first 64 miles or so until Dauwalter passed her and started eating away at Diana Finkel’s course record set in 2009. After climbing 33,197 feet through mud and snow in the San Juan Mountains, Dauwalter finally made it to the finish line around 8:15 a.m. Seguret placed second in 27:29:55.
More From Runner's World
Dauwalter’s performance is the latest in a series of breakthroughs for the Leadville, Colorado, resident, who now owns both course records at Hardrock (she set the clockwise record last year) and the Western States record, among other accolades.
Heading into the race, Dauwalter told iRunFar she had “unfinished business” on the Hardrock counter-clockwise course. In 2021, she dropped out of the race around mile 62 due to stomach issues. But this year’s attempt at redemption on the brutal course—which sits at an average elevation of over 11,000 feet—followed shortly after another huge effort at Western States, the oldest 100-mile trail race in the world. On June 24 in Auburn, California, she crushed the Western States course record, winning in 15:29:33 and breaking Ellie Greenwood’s 11-year-old women’s record by 77 minutes.
“My idea for [Hardrock] is to put Western States in a drawer in my brain where it’s not even on my mind that we just did that, and race this like it’s my only race of the summer,” Dauwalter told iRunFar before the competition. “So, going at it like I would any 100-mile race.”
The strategy worked for Dauwalter, who is now the first athlete in history to set course records at Hardrock and Western States in the same year.
Taylor Dutch is a writer and editor living in Austin, Texas, and a former NCAA track athlete who specializes in fitness, wellness, and endurance sports coverage. Her work has appeared in Runner’s World, SELF, Bicycling, Outside, and Podium Runner.
