If you've been paying attention to the world of trail running, it will come as no surprise to learn that Courtney Dauwalter won the women's race at the Mt. Fuji 100 on Saturday. However the queen of ultrarunning still managed to stun by grabbing third place overall in the tough race, with the second-placed runner believing she could have beat him.
Dauwalter set off on the evening of Friday, April 26 among some 2,400 hopefuls to tackle the course which winds through mountains and forest terrain at the foot of Mt. Fuji, an active volcano on Japan's Honshu island. The course delivers a cumulative elevation gain of 23,093 feet.
Dauwalter maintained her lead in the women's race from the very beginning then surged ahead of the majority of the men in the race, at one point holding second place overall. In the end, she finished third overall, just 30 seconds behind Guidu Qin and 11 minutes behind the winner Guomin Deng, with a finish time of just 19:21:22.
"I felt so lucky to be out there seeing the sunrise with Mount Fuji. It was absolutely stunning," says Dauwalter, who you can watch crossing the finish line in the video below.
"Generally I just felt like it was the best day to be out moving with my feet on an amazing course in a beautiful place with a wonderful community and that was what kept me pushing towards the finish line."
Dauwalter caught up with Qin with just 20km remaining on the course, who acknowledged that she is his "senior" in this sport and says he believes she allows him to beat her out of respect.
"When she caught up to me, I had no energy left, but I thought I would try to stay with her until the end to learn from her. I think she could have passed me and finished, but she respected my pride and let me go ahead. I appreciate her consideration."
Dauwalter came in more than four hours ahead of the second-placed woman. This was her second win at Mt. Fuji, having been previously crowned champion in 2018. Last year, she won the UTMB, Western States 100 in California and Hardrock 100 in Colorado.
