When last year saw you win four 100-mile races and a 100k, where do you go next? If you're Courtney Dauwalter, you double the distance (and then some) of course.
Ultra running's reigning queen, who took the top podium spot at the Hardrock 100, Transgrancanaria, Mt Fuji 100 and Nice Cote d'Azur by UTMB in 2024, announced on Instagram this weeked that she's planning to put her beloved Salomon S/Lab Genesis shoes through extra paces this year, with her first 250-mile race.
Craving a BIG adventure and missing my hallucinated friends lately," writes the Colorado-based runner, who says she's signed up for the Cocodona 250 from Black Canyon City north of Phoenix to Flagstaff, Arizona in May.
Though Dauwalter says she doesn't have much experience at this level, the background she does have bodes well. She set a course record and took first overall at the Moab 240 in 2017 and took first place and second overall the following year in the Tahoe 200. In 2020, she won Big's Backyard Ultra, but since then she's stuck largely to 100-mile races and cemented her place in history as one of the fastest trail runners at this distance.
Now, it seems, the 39-year-old is curious to see what else she's capable of.
"Something about those multi day events keeps me really intrigued. What’s possible?! Standing on a start line knowing you have multiple sleepless nights, thousands of footsteps, and inevitable problem-solving ahead of you feels so cool."
Those of us who watched Katie Schide steal Dauwalter's record at the UTMB in 2024 wondered if the pair might be heading for another matchup in 2025 as Dauwalter returns to try to reclaim her title, and it's still not beyond the realm of possibility. Dauwaulter will have more than three months to recover from the Cocodona, which links together some of the most iconic trails and towns in Arizona, before circling Mont Blanc if she decides to.
Dauwaulter already qualified for the UTMB when she won the new Nice Cote d'Azur race in October, so she can make her mind up closer to the time – the perks of being the undisputed champ of ultra. One thing we can say with near-certainty is she'll be rocking her S/Lab Genesis shoes, Suunto 9 Peak Pro and trademark Shortneys – oh, and probably having more fun than everyone else combined.
