Courtney Dauwalter Colorado Trail FKT Attempt!
by Chase Parnell — August 3, 2020 — Photo: iRunfar
** Story updates on Courtney’s progress will be posted at the bottom! **
Here at Treeline Journal, we don’t have any real process when it comes to selecting what to write about. We rely on our intuition and write about whatever moves us and hope that our passion shows on the page. When I saw Courtney Dauwalter’s instagram post announcing that she was going to run the Colorado Trail, from Durango, Colorado to Denver, Colorado, I knew immediately that I wanted to do the research, figure out exactly what she was undertaking, and share it with all of you.
Not only is Courtney an out of this world runner, she’s also extremely likable; she has an infectious personality, a killer laugh, and a humble approach to her craft. That said, if you look close enough, you’ll catch glimpses of the fierce competitor within; she has an uncanny ability to go to the well and perform on the biggest stages. She is tough beyond belief but I can assure you, this Colorado Trail attempt is going to test her limits and peel away the layers one by one. This could be a very special run. You’re going to want to follow along.
What is the Colorado Trail?
The Colorado Trail Foundation says it best about the epic 485 mile crossing of the Colorado Rockies, “The Trail passes through six National Forests, six Wilderness areas, traverses five major river systems and penetrates eight of the states mountain ranges. […] What makes The Colorado Trail unique is that it was developed with the efforts of thousands of volunteers, all interested in the conservation and recreational exploration of Colorado’s stunning mountainous areas.” Needless to say, this is one of the gems of Colorado and a trail that Coloradans are deeply passionate about.
While internet sources vary to some degree, it would appear the entire Colorado Trail has roughly 90,000 feet of elevation gain over the course of the entire route. For those of you who need running analogies to understand numbers (like me), there’s about 18,000 feet of gain per 100 miles. Western States 100 has 18,000 feet of climbing so we’re talking five Westerns in a row. Add to that: (1) The average elevation of the Colorado Trail is a mind-blowing 10,300 feet; and (2) The route is far more technical on average than the Western States course. The highpoint on the route is Coney Summit at 13,334 feet.
The Colorado Trail is one of the trails included in the “Triple Gem”, a designation assigned to the three great “short” trails in the USA. The others are Long Trail in Vermont and the John Muir Trail in California. For your average mortal, the gems can be done in weeks as opposed to months for the “Triple Crown” thru-hikes (Pacific Crest Trail, Continental Divide Trail, Appalachian Trail).
Lastly and worthy of note is that Courtney is a resident of Golden, Colorado, a suburb to the west of Denver. Golden is just 20 miles north of the Waterton Canyon Trailhead, which will serve as the terminus of her Colorado Trail mega-journey. So in a sense, as Courtney departs Durango and proceeds east along the trail, she’ll be running home.
Who is Courtney Dauwalter?
Courtney is the Queen Bee. She is undoubtably the strongest all-around female ultra marathon runner in the sport today. Key word there: ALL-AROUND. I make that distinction because I think there’s a good argument that Camille Herron is the better road/track/timed event runner although I don’t know that Courtney has ever focused 100% of her training on one of those events. Her forays into those styles appear to me to be afterthoughts, not focus races.
While this may seem trivial to some, Courtney revolutionized the women’s running apparel market by showing up to races wearing long shorts. She was most comfortable in knee length shorts so that’s what she wore. In doing so, whether intentional or not, she empowered women to not conform to the status quo.
Courtney is married, 35 years old, and a former high school science teacher.
Here’s a quick running resume splash:
- 2019 Ultra Trail Du Mont Blanc Champion
- 2019 Madeira Island Ultra Trail Champion
- 2018 Tahoe 200 Champion
- 2018 Western States 100 Champion
- 2018 Ultra Trail Mount Fuji Champion
- 2017 Moab 240 Champion (overall)
- 2016 & 2017 Run Rabbit Run 100 Champion
What is an FKT?
It’s the fastest known time on a particular route. How quickly did you move from point A to point B? The FKT website, which fosters this emerging community of people who enjoy pushing themselves outside the context of a race, and serves as a repository for people to make their FKTs public, adds some nuance to the definition, “The route is notable and distinct enough so that others will be interested in repeating it.” This is a nice way of saying please don’t submit your record on the Saturday morning park loop that you run with the boys. That might have some level of local prestige but the hard truth is that it probably isn’t something people outside your town will care about. For an FKT, it really should have some sort of obvious and renowned geographical objective: a summit, a circumnavigation, a traverse, a big loop in a special place, or the length of a classic trail such as the Colorado Trail.
It’s also important to note that there are three types/formats/styles of FKTs: supported, self-supported, and unsupported. In basic terms, supported means you have unlimited help from a crew along the way. Self-supported means you don’t receive assistance from other people but you are able to pick up food/gear/water in towns and stash supplies along the route. Unsupported means you carry everything you need from the start and receive no aid whatsoever. One sentence descriptions are hard so here are the full guidelines if interested.
What route and type of FKT is Courtney doing?
Courtney is going west to east, from Durango to Denver. The FKT website lists two route alternatives: Collegiate West and Collegiate East. Collegiate West is longer and has more elevation gain but FKT holders have gone both ways and found success. We don’t know yet which route Courtney is doing. She is, however, for sure going for the supported fastest known time.
In a YouTube video interview with Jamil Coury (below), Courtney said, “I was never considering doing it unsupported because sharing it with people is so fun and building those memories of whatever happens out there together is definitely part of it for me.” We should all be happy about this because otherwise we would never get to consume any of the amazing content that is likely to come from this effort. Jamil also revealed that Salomon brought him on to document the run and apparently he’s going to share a lot of trail miles with Courtney along the route. All I have to say is… I hope he’s fit.
Predictions
The longer we run, the greater the equalizer between men and women. Courtney won the Moab 240 outright and nearly won the Tahoe 200 overall if it weren’t for a late charge by Kyle Curtin. Maggie Guterl took down everybody at the 2019 Big Backyard Ultra, covering 250 miles throughout the event. Here, Courtney has 500 miles to work with. Is there a gap in performance between men and women at all for that length? It’s a total unknown. Jason Koop addresses elements of this topic in a superb podcast entitled Women Are Not Small Men with guest Stacy Sims, PHD. Worth a listen.
There have been a lot of great runners and endurance athletes who have attempted the Colorado Trail but none as talented as Courtney in my opinion. Joe Grant, Hal Koerner, and current record holder Bryan Williams (8 days, 0 hours, 30 minutes) were/are great athletes, but Courtney seems to be a once in a generation type talent and she has a lot of experience going really really far. She enjoys pushing beyond 100 mile races and has made it her mission to explore the outer boundaries of her potential.
It’s going to be exciting! I’m going to go out on a limb and say she’ll get the supported record in 7 days, 20 hours, 58 minutes and finish it with a smile…and then a beer. No matter the result, it takes a huge heart to even attempt this sucker. I think she has that special kind of crazy to get it done and I appreciate the vulnerability required to announce a big objective and go for it.
Follow Courtney on Her Pain Quest
On Courtney’s instagram post she said she’d post a Garmin link for us all to follow along. As of this posting, the link is not up yet but I will update this once she posts it. I’m also hoping her sponsors, friends and family will be posting instagram stories and updates along the way. See links to their social accounts below. I’ll try to update this article as developments arise so be sure to check back (**updates posted at bottom**)! Lastly, I don’t see that there’s a designated hashtag for this so I’m going to make one up. Use #CourtneyCT if you have any updates, sightings, news, or predictions. I’ll do the same.
She’s set to take off sometime this week. I imagine she left her departure date/time vague so that she could go with the best weather window. Can’t wait to see how this one shakes out!
Bonus Material:
Instagram accounts to follow for potential updates:
- Courtney’s
- Treeline Journal
- Run Steep Get High
- Jamil Coury
- Tailwind Endurance will be pacing and crewing
- Sufferfest Beer Company
- Salomon Running
If you care to play around with the Colorado Trail route on CalTopo.
Shawn Forry’s unsupported FKT novel of a recap (10,000 words). Would love to meet this guy.
Meaghan Hicks from iRunfar tells the tale of Scott Jaime’s supported FKT from 2013.
The Colorado Trail FKT write-up and record boards.
Bryan Williams (current record holder) post-FKT interview/story.
**Updates**
8/3/20: We received word from Tailwind Nutrition that Maggie Guterl (mentioned above regarding her win at Big Backyard Ultra) is actually an employee of Tailwind and will be pacing and crewing Courtney on the entire route and posting daily updates so make sure to follow Tailwind on instagram!
8/5/20: Courtney is off! Here is the Garmin link to follow her journey: https://share.garmin.com/CourtneyCT. They were able to preload current FKT record holder Bryan Williams’ data to show how far he made it each day. It’ll be fun to see Courtney’s day by day comparisons. Who knew staring at a dot on a map and hitting refresh could be this fun. Hope she stays healthy! Let’s GO!
8/7/20: Courtney is off to one hell of a start! In her first 48 hours on the trail she made up an entire day on the current FKT holder’s time. She hit his (Bryan Williams) three-day mark in two days. The question now is: Can she maintain this pace?! She’s on track for a truly legendary run. Go Courtney!
8/8/20: Courtney has settled into a more manageable pace after blasting out the gates. She maintains an 18-22 hour lead over the current FKT holder at the end of four days of running. She’s well over half way and has money in the bank, now she just needs to hold on!
8/10/20: Courtney had to pull the plug on Colorado Trail FKT. Sometimes the body doesn’t cooperate with the heart and mind. This doesn’t take anything away from her valiant effort. What she did on those first 300+ miles was out of this world. Rest up Courtney!!
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I am so inspired by Courtney’s joy and grit! Thanks for the updates! Go Courtney!
We are too! And just glued to the tracker. Really hope she gets the FKT! So far so good! 🙌🏻
Go Courtney! Even 62 year old girls are inspired by your “Get it Done” attitude. So keep it moving, we are all waiting to celebrate with you.👍