Two out of two, that’s almost all she needs. Courtney Dauwalter has won the Mount Fuji 100 miles (7.574m+) race in Japan, that’s part of the Gran Canaria World Trail Majors Series (WTM). It meant her second victory in the WTM and as the best two results are counting towards the final standing, the victory is almost hers.

Almost, because only if another trail runner gets two victories as well, the winner will be the runner with the best combined ITRA (International Trail Running Association) race score. Rachel Drake (Black Canyons) and Lin Chin (Hong Kong 100) both have won one race, so they are still in the race for the overall victory.

In February Dauwalter won Transgrancanaria, the 126 kilometres (6.804m+) long race on the Canary Islands, which was the third race of the World Trail Majors Series, after Hong Kong 100 and Black Canyons Ultras.

Deng just beats Dauwalter

Guomin Deng (China) was the fastest overall, but only just. With his time of 19:10:34 he beat Dauwalter only by 11 minutes. Behind Deng Guidu Qin (China) finished second 19:20:52. Dauwalter came in third overall in 19:21:22. She was more than an hour faster than the third man, Ryo Murata (Japan), who clocked 20:27:14.

For Dauwalter her victory also meant her second win in the Mount Fuji 100. In 2018 she won the race for the first time. The only other runners who have won the race twice are: Thevenard, François D’Haene, Julien Chorier and Dylan Bowman. Dauwalter: “I felt so lucky to be out there seeing the sunrise with Mount Fuji. It was absolutely stunning. I hope you all saw it as well. Generally I just felt like it was the best day to be out moving with my feet on an amazing course in a beautiful place.”

Photos: Fuji Hakone Izu Trail Support