Federer, Nadal. Messi, Ronaldo. Gretzky, Lemieux. Schide, Dauwalter?
We all love it when elite sport throws up fascinating individual rivalries between athletes at the very, very top of their game. There’s something thrilling about when the very best on the planet go head-to-head in contests that are too close to call. Bars are raised, barriers broken, records smashed. Legends are made. In the world of female ultra running, we’re witnessing greatness in the form of Courtenay Dauwalter, widely regarded as ultra’s queen, and Katie Schide, the young pretender to the throne. So, who is Katie Schide?
2024 was a stellar year for the American runner, as she emulated Dauwalter by winning Western States and the Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) in a single season. Not only this, she smashed the UTMB female course record in the process. Add her earlier 100k victory at The Canyons Endurance Runs in April and it’s no wonder that Freetrail named her as Trail Runner of the Year, even ahead of Jasmin Paris, who’d stunned the world when she became the first woman ever to complete the Barkley Marathons.
She’d shot to renown by winning the 2022 edition of the UTMB and has won or been on the podium at some of the world’s most legendary trail races, mostly in Europe where she lives with her partner and fellow professional runner Germain Grangier.
Below we delve into her life and career thus far, detailing how she went from running between mountain huts in Maine to dominating the world’s most iconic ultra.
Early life
Katie Schide was born January 24, 1992 in Gardiner, Maine. As a youngster, she’d spend many summer vacations exploring New Hampshire’s White Mountains, hiking Vermont’s Long Trail, growing an appreciation for the high places and the trails. Crucially, as a young adult, she became part of the croo, working at the Appalachian Mountain Club’s huts for four summer seasons. During this time, she’d become accustomed to moving fast across mountainous terrain, delivering bits and bobs to the huts or running from one to another to see friends.
After a short while studying geology at the University of Utah, Schide moved to Europe. She’d been accepted at ETH Zurich and was working towards her PhD. She started to check out the skyrunning scene in the Alps, along with friend Hillary Gerardi, herself a Black Diamond Athlete who’s set FKTs for running up and down Mont Blanc. At a race in Limone, Italy, Schide met Germain Grangier, an accomplished French ultra runner with whom she’d go on to form a loving partnership.
Meet the expert
Alex is a qualified Mountain Leader and avid upland runner who follows the world of mountain ultra running with great interest. He's originally from Cumbria, home to the English Lake District, the spiritual home of fell running and loves nothing more than a fast-paced adventure in the hills.
American and European golds
Schide’s first competitive trail race was in June 2015, when she was still based in Utah. It was the Logan Peak Trail Run, a 28-mile trail race that played right to her strengths – plenty of vert and technical trails. She won the women’s race, coming in just shy of five hours. She backed this up with a 7th place at Speedgoat 50k in July of the same year and then another win at the Antelope Island Fall Classic 50k in the November.
2016 saw her finish in second place at Moab’s Ret Hot 55k, though from here onwards, her move to Europe and her burgeoning partnership with Germain Graingier would mean most of her races would be on the eastern side of the Pond. She now had a likeminded adventure buddy and the European trail running scene was her oyster. Her consistent and methodical approach to training and nutrition would see her on podium after podium.
Over the coming years, she’d race iconic races like Zegama in Spain and Glen Coe Skyline in the Scottish Highlands. 2018 would see her first flirtation with the UTMB, finishing second on the highly competitive, 100k CCC (Courmayuer–Champex–Chamonix). She’d been prolific earlier in the year, winning all four of the Trail Des Balcons d’Azur, Madeira Island Ultra-Trail, Salomon Gore-Tex MaXi-Race and 2 Alpes Outdoor Festival Summit Trail – and all in the space of two-and-a-half months.
She continued in the same vein in 2019, winning the Ultra Trail Cote d’Azur Mercantour and the Marathon du Mont-Blanc, while she finished sixth on her maiden UTMB. She squeezed in another win at the Ultra Trail Cote d’Azur Mercantour in 2020 before Covid lockdowns put pay to the race schedules. She was back at UTMB in 2021, finishing eighth and frustrated that she’d not managed to better her 2019 time.
She warmed up for the 2022 UTMB by winning both the Greenweez MaXi-Race in France and the Val d’Aran race in Spain. Schide was steadily gaining momentum. It was time to take things up a gear.
Winning the UTMB in 2022
Schide’s first two UTMB appearances in 2019 and 2021 saw top 10 finishes and a certain Courtney Dauwalter dominate the women's race. In the lead up to the 2022 race, Schide admitted that she felt that her times were “not that great”, especially given the commitment she’d put into training and preparation.
2022 was a different story altogether. Against a highly competitive field, albeit one without Daulwalter, Schide led the race from around the 7-kilometer mark. She’d opened up a commanding, 20-minute lead by Courmayeur, at around the halfway stage, but then Canadian runner Marianne Hogan started to reel her in, with Schide suffering from stomach issues. By Champex-Lac at 125 kilometers, her lead had evaporated and Hogan was now enjoying a 10-minute cushion herself. It’s testament to Schide's mental strength that she was able to recover from such a setback and go again, rebounding dramatically over the remaining kilometers. With Hogan suffering an injured left leg, she couldn’t live with Schide’s pace. The American crossed the finish line in 23 hours, 15 minutes and 12 seconds, 75 minutes faster than Hogan, who eventually crossed in second place.
Schide had improved her 2021 time by over four hours.
Closing the gap in 2023
2023 hinted at the triumphs to come, though Schide had to settle for second place in some of her major races. At Western States, she broke the previous course record, finishing the women’s race in a blistering 16 hours, 47 minutes and 45 seconds. There was just one problem: she wasn’t the only one. Having been challenged closely by Schide in the early parts of the race, Courtney Dauwalter put in an astonishing second half, winning the race and setting a new course record of 15 hours, 29 minutes and 33 seconds – with some stating that it would be a time that could stand for decades. Schide took second, despite fading a little towards the end. Nonetheless, there’s no doubt she was getting closer to female ultra running’s GOAT.
She was back at the UTMB festival in 2023 but not to run the main event. Instead, she took on the 53-kilometer OCC (Orsieres-Champex-Chamonix), finishing second, eight minutes behind winner Toni McCann from South Africa. The season ended with a flourish, with Schide winning the hugely challenging Diagonale des Fous, a 102-mile race on Réunion Island.
A stellar 2024
After her impressive performance in Califronia in 2023, Schide’s main focus for 2024 was winning the Western States. Schide not only won the iconic race in emphatic fashion, she was also on course to beat Dauwalter’s seemingly untouchable record time until late in the race. With no Dauwalter at the start line, Schide was the clear favorite and she ran her own race, smiling her way to victory. She’d spent the best part of three months dedicating her training to Western States, hitting the trails in Flagstaff, Arizona. Earlier in the year, she’d won the Canyons 100k, itself an iconic ultra that’s part of the UTMB World Series.
At Foresthill, mile 62, Schide was 19 minutes up on Dauwalter’s time from the previous year but she couldn’t quite maintain the effort all the way to the finish line. However, her time of 15 hours, 46 minutes and 57 seconds was easily the second fastest by a woman on the famous course and little did she know that the best was yet to come.
The cherry on the 2024 cake was Schide’s record-breaking win at UTMB. She’d only officially entered three weeks before the race, as she had been seeing how her recovery went following her stellar efforts at Western States.
Once she was at the start line, there was no stopping her. Unlike the battle with Marianne Hogan in 2022, this was a more dominant display, with Schide turning heads with her blistering speed at the start of the race, sticking to the male front runners and passing through the second checkpoint just a minute or two behind Jim Walmsley, who was also absolutely motoring. By Courmayeur, at around the halfway stage, she was 50 minutes ahead of the course record pace. The watching crowd knew they were witnessing history and Schide didn't let them down. She eventually crossed the line in 22 hours, 9 minutes and 31 seconds to rapturous adoration from the Chamonix crowd. She’d taken over 20 minutes off Dauwalter’s 2021 record to become the fastest ever female runner to complete the famous round.
Personal life and skimo
Schide lives in the tiny village of Saint-Dalmas-le-Selvage in the Maritime Alps with her partner Germain Grangier. The surroundings provide the perfect training ground for her skyrunning exploits, while she admits that the rural setting means there’s little to distract her from her training and rest schedule.
The pair also compete in skimo races during the winter. She enjoys the complex challenges and novelty of skimo, revelling in the fact it's a pursuit she knows less about than running.
She says that her bond with Grangier and the journey they have taken together have played a large part in her success. As well as providing inspiration for one and other, Grangier has helped Schide to focus on the little details that make all the difference when running ultras. Now one of the veterans, Schide’s increasing consistency is down to her experience. She no longer goes into races hampered by anxiety. She know what to expect and she knows how to run her own race.
We can’t wait to see how 2025 pans out and whether or not we'll be seeing many more Dauwalter vs Schide battles in the future.
