Courtney Dauwalter

Dauwalter was raised in Hopkins, Minnesota and competed in track, cross-country, and nordic skiing in high school. She was a four-time Minnesota state champion in nordic skiing during her high school career.[2] She attended the University of Denver on a cross-country skiing scholarship, and then earned a master's degree in teaching from the University of Mississippi in 2010 while participating in the Mississippi Teacher Corps.[3]

Dauwalter worked as a middle and high-school teacher in the Denver area before becoming a full-time professional runner in 2017. She lives in Golden, Colorado with her husband.

In 2016, Dauwalter set a course record at the Javelina Jundred 100K and won the Run Rabbit Run 100-mile race, finishing 75 minutes ahead of second place. She also won the 2017 Run Rabbit Run while battling temporary blindness when running the final 12 miles.[4]

Dauwalter won the 2017 edition of the Moab 240 race in 2 days, 9 hours, and 59 minutes, finishing first overall and beating the second-place finisher by more than 10 hours.[5]

In 2018, Dauwalter won the Western States Endurance Run, a 100-mile race, with a finishing time of 17h27m. This was the second-fastest time by a woman in the race.[6] Dauwalter competed in the Big's Backyard Ultra in 2018, finishing second overall and completing a total of 67 laps, setting the women's course record at 279.268 miles.[7][8] She also placed second in the Tahoe 200, beating the previous women's course record by over 18 hours.[9]

Dauwalter was named Ultra Runner of the Year in 2018 by Ultrarunning Magazine after winning 9 of the 12 races that she entered, including two where she finished first overall.[10]

In 2019, Dauwalter won the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc in a time of 24 h 34 min 26 sec, coming in 21st overall.[11][12] She also competed in the 2019 edition of Western States, but dropped after 77 miles.[13] Dauwalter competed for the United States at the IAU 24 Hour World Championship in Brive-la-Gaillarde, France in October 2019, finishing 12th.

In 2020, Dauwalter won the American section of Big's Backyard Ultra. She ran 68 laps for 283.3 miles for a finish time of 56 hours, 52 minutes, and 29 seconds. She set the record for the longest distance recorded by a female runner in the race.[14]

Dauwalter is sponsored by Salomon.[15] She is known for wearing looser shirts and baggy basketball-style shorts while running, which is uncommon among elite ultramarathoners.[16][17]

In 2020, Dauwalter received the George Mallory Award [18] for pushing the boundaries of physical human achievement.