Fortunately, she set foot on Reunion Island for the first time in her life a few days ago. The American ultra-trailer Courtney Dauwalter has just achieved a resounding feat, this Friday, by becoming the first female athlete in history to climb into the top 5 scratch (men and women combined) of one of the most legends in the world, the Diagonale des Fous. The 33rd edition of this insane race of 165 km and 10,210 m of elevation gain, which had 2,816 participants from Saint-Pierre on Thursday evening, will therefore go down in history.
Not for the first major victory of the career of Bayonnais Benat Marmissolle (third last year on the Diag) in 11:14 p.m., but because no woman had until then managed to join the race for the first five places on the Diagonal of the Fools.
François D’Haene as special adviser
On 14 occasions since 1989, the female winner of this formidable event crossing the Mafate circus has even completed the race beyond 30th place in the general classification. But that was before Courtney Dauwalter (37) landed on the island and shattered the Swiss Andrea Huser’s women’s record, 8th in 2017 in 26:34. Phenomenon of the ultra-trail, the one who lives in Colorado thus only needed 24h37 to cross Reunion and arrive under a huge ovation in Saint-Denis, in fourth place.
After his 7th place on the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc (171 km in 22h30) in 2021 (record place of his compatriot Rory Rosio in 2013 on the UTMB equaled), then his 6th place on the last Hardrock 100 in July (160 km in 26h44), she has just proved even more brilliantly that women can stand up to the best male athletes in the world over very long distances, including during an ultra major. And this without the slightest knowledge of the terrain or the climatic conditions on Reunion Island, as long as it takes. As a symbol, a certain François D’Haene, his partner at Salomon, injured for this Diag’, became a special adviser to Courtney Dauwalter during various refuelings. Before a final descent… of Colorado perfectly managed to confirm this historic top 5.
Source: 20minutes
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