Ultra-trail dynamo Courtney Dauwalter is ready to tackle her second race of the year—Mt. Fuji 100-miler in central Japan, which starts on Friday. All eyes will be on Dauwalter after her 2023 season, when the Colorado-based athlete became the first person to win Western States 100, UTMB and Hardrock 100 in the same year. Dauwalter is returning to Mt. Fuji after first tackling it in 2018. “Will be fun to (hopefully) see how much I’ve grown & learned about running 100 miles in the last six years,” she shared on Instagram.
Mt. Fuji 100 is the fourth event in the nine-race World Trail Majors Series, following the Hong Kong 100, Black Canyon Ultra in Arizona and Transgrancanaria 126K in the Canary Islands (which Dauwalter won in February). Runners will traverse 7,574 metres of elevation over the 166-km course, running through the foothills of Japan’s highest mountain. The race originated in 2012 and has seen some esteemed athletes taking the podium over the years, including Americans Dylan Bowman and Krissy Moehl, France’s François D’Haene and Fuzhao Xiang of China.
Quebec Mega Trail joins new World Trail Majors global race series
In February, Dauwalter kicked off her season with a return to Transgrancanaria to triumph for the second year in a row. Runners faced significant challenges with rain, wind and cold throughout this year’s race, which Dauwalter said made it “a hundred times harder.” Heading into Mt. Fuji, Dauwalter says she’s ready to “test herself” in her return to the event; in 2018 she won in 23:57:48, hours ahead of the next woman.
“I remember the climbs being steeeeep and the runnable sections being fast,” Dauwalter said on Instagram of her Mt. Fuji initiation in 2018. “I also remember throwing up a lot and bonking hard around mile 80, slogging my way in to the finish.” Dauwalter is also set to return to Hardrock 100 in July, where she shattered the counter-clockwise women’s course record in 2023 only three weeks after taking an hour off the course record at Western States Endurance Run.
To tune in to the live stream of Mt. Fuji 100, click here.
