By Stephen Granger
Two of the world’s finest ultra-trail athletes will be racing on Table Mountain trails at the end of the year in the Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100km, as the event continues to grow in stature and prestige as one of the world’s foremost trail races.
Americans Jim Walmsley and Courtney Dauwalter are amongst the biggest names in the sport and will be competing in South Africa for the first time. Their presence will reinforce the increasing view amongst ultra-trail athletes around the world that Cape Town at the year-end is the place to be to participate in one of the most beautiful urban trails on the planet.
Walmsley has revolutionised ultra-trail through injecting greater speed into the sport and as a result, has demolished many high-profile ultra-trail race records. He has also excelled on the road, and in 2019 shaved 14 seconds off South African ultra-distance legend, Bruce Fordyce’s world 50-mile road record, which had stood for 36 years.
At the Golden Trail Championships in the Azores last year, Walmsley proved he has the speed to stay with the best marathon and sub-marathon distance trail athletes. He placed second to top Polish athlete and sub-marathon specialist, Barthomiej Przedwojewski, in the four-day stage race and achieved a notable win over Przedwojewski in the fourth and final stage.
Walmsley’s failure to succeed in his ambitious attempt at winning the world’s two biggest trail races in the same year – the Western States 100 miler in California, which he won emphatically in June, and the Ultra-trail Mont Blanc (UTMB) in the French Alps, where he was forced to withdraw 75km into the race in late August – could lead to an African triumph.
“I’m feeling good after my shortened run at UTMB,” admitted Walmsley from his base in Flagstaff, Arizona yesterday. “UTMB didn’t go as I would’ve hoped, but it’s kind of nice in some ways to feel recharged and motivated after a sub-par run, to bounce back now. I took some time to rest and back off training for a few weeks.
“I’m now home in Flagstaff, where I’ll be until leaving for South Africa in mid-November.
“I feel excited to put one more race on my calendar for this year. I still have a lot of training and work to get into proper shape at this point, but I hope to get into a familiar routine the next few weeks at home.”
Dauwalter and ultra-distance are synonymous, the longer the distance, the more the 36-year-old ultra-distance athlete from Golden, Colorado, comes into her own and her feats of distance running over mega-distances are legendary. And the manner in which she raced clear of her rivals to win the UTMB in record time in August underlined her form and fitness.
Dauwalter made history with her time of 22:30:54 – 7 minutes inside her compatriot Rory Bosio’s 2013 time on a course three kilometres shorter – which was good enough for a seventh position overall in a stacked men’s field and, like Walmsley, is looking to close out her year with an African adventure.
Injury prevented Dauwalter from racing at UTCT in 2019, although her presence at the race in Cape Town inspired many athletes in the field and she vowed to return to race.
“I am very excited to come to UTCT again this year and finally getting the chance to run this course,” said Dauwalter. “I am excited to come to Cape Town to hang out with the community, to test myself on a fun course, and to unwind from a big year of racing. This will be a really cool way to end the season and head into some weeks of holiday and relaxation.
“I am feeling great after UTMB,” Dauwalter continued. “My body and brain seemed to have recovered fairly quickly and I have been enjoying a really beautiful fall here in Colorado. The weather has been amazing and the mountains have been a perfect playground to adventure in!”
Unlike Walmsley, Dauwalter has been unable to resist the lure of ultra-racing and lines up for ‘just one more’ – the Big’s Backyard Ultra on 16 October – before setting her sights on Cape Town. On the face of it, the BBU is not the ideal preparation for UTCT. Born out of Gary ‘Laz’ Cantrell’s (Barkley Marathon founder) inventive mind, competitors run one-mile loops of just over 4 miles (6.5km) each hour, until only one is left standing.
Dauwalter tied the record with her win last year with 68 loops completed and a total distance of 283 miles (453 km). Most BBU runners are left mentally and physically broken, taking months to recover. Although Dauwalter is not ‘most’ – many would argue she is in a category of her own – it would be surprising if the BBU does not impact her performance in Cape Town, just six weeks later.
But Dauwalter is energized rather than fearful. “I am psyched (for Big’s Backyard)! There’s a fantastic field of runners and we will work together to try and push the limits of how far we can go. After that, the goal will be to recover and to get in some training to prepare for UTCT.”
Meanwhile, Walmsley is doing his best to replicate conditions which are likely to prevail at UTCT in his training and is getting advice from fellow-Flagstaff athlete, Cody Reed, who won UTCT in 2019.
“I think between the Flagstaff trails, the Grand Canyon, and some warmer Northern Arizona trails like what we have in Sedona, I have a really nice training ground for a race like UTCT,” reflected Walmsley. “We still have warm weather, our trails don’t have massive 1800m climbs, but we have nice 700m to 1200m climbs which can be kind of chunky and ideal for slower running in training. I think these played a role into Cody’s success at UTCT in 2019.
I will plan to estimate my pace for UTCT around past winning times and the course record, but that’s all a starting point which could still go any direction from there. It’s more important to look at each race and its course conditions, and not to get caught up in chasing anything.
“Trail running always needs context. These will be new trails for me in a new area, after long travel, so I hope to find my legs once I get there and really focus on having a good day on the trails for myself.”
Nutrition is one of the critical aspects to ultra-distance running and the failure to find ideal race-nutrition solutions has caused the downfall of many. Dauwalter has also struggled and was forced out of the Hardrock 100mile in July due to stomach problems. But that challenge led to further experimentation, and Dauwalter’s strategy of ceasing all solid food after 80 km (halfway) into the UTMB just six weeks later, paid rich dividends and she is eager to continue with her nutritional success in Cape Town.
Dauwalter is excited that her husband, Kevin Schmidt, will be joining her in Cape Town. “I came home after my last trip and couldn’t stop raving about how beautiful Cape Town is, how awesome the community at UTCT is, and how much fun I had. I can’t wait for him to experience all of this as well!”
For Walmsley, his deep desire to race the Comrades Marathon has been thwarted by COVID-restrictions for the past two years. Comrades remains firmly on his bucket list and the odds are strong that the American will race the world’s best in the world’s leading road ultra-marathon in the not-too-distant future.
But for now, Walmsley’s focus is on the trails. “I am so excited to finally find a time to make it out to race in a country with such rich running history, especially in the ultra-marathon world. I’m looking forward to making it out there and getting after the hard trails!”
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