BLACK PAGE FOR WALMSLEY AND DAUWALTER

Congrats to them for having the biggest running addiction coupled with some talent.

I agree!!!! Black page! Black page!!!

The article they wrote about it has the title “Walmsley becomes first man to win UTMB Mont Blanc”.
you know that difficult ultra, Ultra Trail de Mont Blanc Mont Blanc. That’s what you’ll get about ultras on LR.

You’ve never touched a hill and it shows.

And not just that -- they also managed to spell her name wrong in that bullet point.

It's pretty simple. After losing Killian, Salomon needed another star to fill the vacuum. Then, out of the blue, a middle aged woman smashes WS, HR and UTMB - the most elite races in 3 months. Her recovery is not an issue - BIG RED FLAG. As for JW, it's like "I dedicated a chunk of my life, specialized in this 2 races, and was more than happy that KJ was out" Trail running got to the level of the road running doping.

Those are not sports, they are events within the sport of track and field. And the talent pool for ultras is hugh compared with the PV.

Who cares?

If that’s the case, why did someone like Heather Jackson finish 20th in the ITMB OCC 50k. She is a multi-time WC medalist in Ironman half and fulls, AND track cycling. Clearly an elite distance talent and most of the women that beat her do 50k-100mi races.

All I’ve been seeing all day on here is that ultras lack depth, yet time and time again in the last decade the ultra world sees an elite endurance athlete enter the sport and they barely scratch the top 10 in big races. The people screaming depth have never run an ultra and have no idea what they are talking about. What Jim and Zach can run in a 5k is irrelevant to how they do in a 100mi ultra race. Talent in ultras is how you handle adversity and HOURS of fatigue.

let me repeat that: Talent in ultras is how you handle adversity and HOURS of fatigue.

Teehee.

Courtney winning is very much the opposite of “out of the blue.”

The 35th issue of “Like the Wind” magazine’s opening article was written by a mom-turned-writer who used to watch Courtney run when she was a middle schooler on the cross country team…in 1997. It then details some of her Nordic skiing and running accomplishments through high school & college. She won her first major 100 miler and threw herself onto the ultra radar in 2014. In 2020, she ran 283 miles at the Big Backyard Ultra sufferfest (a race where you run a ~4ish mile course every hour until the last woman/man stands). Truthfully, though, the interview that followed from the retelling of her track record is what really was astounding. Her pursuit to challenge limits and learn how to explore the pain cave, all with a grin and obvious joy, is what is truly worth admiring as runner.

So, while her accomplishments are astounding and in a league of their own, they are not unbelievable. And you’re late to the party.

Perhaps your envious of the talent, grit and larger than life way that she lives, but stop blindly firing nasty shots from behind a keyboard if you’re unhappy. It’s a real bummer.

In other news, I’m sure Courtney is too busy training and eating nachos to care.

Hello Courtney! Nice to see you so early. Anyway, your enthusiasm blinds you. Grow up and check in 10 years or so. It's never been about bread and water.

Dauwalter is certainly not more dominant than Faith Kipyegon is in the 1500, the latter running in a far more competitive event and environment. The fact that we know the names of the 1500 runners that Kipyegon destroys is just a testament to how competitive the event is and how good she is. Obviously you are an ultra fan, but if you really think Dauwalter is more dominant than Kipyegon or Crouser, you are delusional.

This is a 172km race after all. I wonder how long the average Letsrun poster could stick with the leaders. The first part of the race is pretty much a cross country, so many could. Some would even find it very easy. As soon as the climbing begins, we would lose substantially all. After 1 hour of this 20 hour race, there would be a handful at best. not sure after that. But none after 2 hours for sure.

The thing is nobody cares about the leaders, let alone running with them. Ultras are the "triple jump" of the distance running world. It only exists because some people couldn't jump far enough in one attempt.

Somehow, reading this thread has convinced me that the LRC board isn’t quite worth my time. I found it a year ago and it was a fun, increasingly-time-sucking habit.

The snotty trolling though, it shows the worst of people. There seems to be more of this than its opposite.

Courtney wins by a much larger margin than Kipyegon or Crouser. That is a fact no matter how you spin it.

You ask and you shall receive. Here is the black page:

letsrun.com

Walmsley, Dauwalter lead US Sweep at UTMB

Open link

Is anyone like me and now waiting for people to tell us what Jim is going to run in the Olympic trials....?

Not going to happen. He has said he plans to continue living in France and has plans to run Western States again in 2024. At one point he talked about trying to win Comrades so maybe that is out? Maybe he tries to get into an run Hardrock? I think it was in 2020 when he ran the course as an FKT attempt and was way ahead of course record pace for a while before stomach issues.