Ultrarunning icon Courtney Dauwalter showcased her unparalleled prowess as she kicked off the 12 months with a triumphant protection of her title within the Transgrancanaria 126K Basic within the Canary Islands. The race kicked off at midnight on Friday (native time), on the Spanish island of Gran Canaria. Runners traversed 126 km and seven,060 meters) of vertical achieve as they made their solution to the city of Maspalomas, on the island’s southern shore.
The Transgrancanaria 126K occasion was the third race within the nine-race World Path Majors Collection, following the Hong Kong 100 and Black Canyon Extremely in Arizona.
Ladies’s race
All eyes had been on Dauwalter after final 12 months’s spectacular season, when the Colorado-based athlete turned the primary individual to win Western States 100, UTMB 171K and Laborious Rock 100 in the identical 12 months. Dauwalter delivered, profitable in 15 hours, 14 minutes and 54 seconds, and thirteenth place total; whereas she was greater than half an hour slower than her time final 12 months (when she took seventh place total), she was nonetheless over an hour forward of the second lady.
Runners confronted vital challenges with the climate all through the race and ran in rain, wind, and chilly which started shortly after the occasion started. Dauwalter mentioned that this 12 months’s race introduced a heightened degree of issue, describing it post-race as “100 instances more durable.”
Spanish runner Claudia Tremps crossed the end line in 16:27:03, and Eire’s Emma Stuart accomplished the ladies’s podium, and famend Polish runner Dominika Stelmach completed fourth.
Males’s race
Romania’s Raul Butaci emerged victorious in 13 hours, 22 minutes and 32 seconds to clinch the general title in a a lot nearer race than on the ladies’s aspect. Butaci confronted formidable competitors, heading off Spain’s Miguel Heras, to mark essentially the most vital success of his profession. 48-year-old Heras notably received the race in 2010.
Whereas China’s Jiasheng Shen and American favorite Zach Miller sped to the entrance of the pack close to the beginning of the race, however after working by the powerful nighttime circumstances, three runners emerged within the daylight in a race for first place. Butaci held on to a lead over Heras, who was additionally a couple of minutes forward of Romania’s Ionel Christian Manole. Miller, who would end seventh, was fifteen minutes behind in a pack that included Shen and Spanish runners Andreu Simon (the defending champion) and Abel Carretero.
Heras took second in 13:32:48, solely ten minutes behind Butaci, and after a battle with Carretero, Manole secured third place in 13:49:04, simply 36 seconds forward of the Spanish runner.
