Did you know Courtney Dauwalter quit in her 1st 100-mile race? Great BBC profile of Dauwalter

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1 year ago 01/18/2024 12:55pm EST

bbc.com

Courtney Dauwalter: Step inside the 'pain cave', where rules are remade

https://www.facebook.com/BBCSport/

Courtney Dauwalter used to teach biology. Now her ultrarunning achievements are challenging centuries-old ideas about the differences in physical capabilities between men and women.

Link:www.bbc.com/sport/athletics/67945344

Just over 10 years earlier, Courtney Dauwalter sat alone and dejected at an aid station after dropping out of her first 100-mile race, Run Rabbit Run,, external in Steamboat Springs, Colorado.

The remote location meant no easy escape - no simple way out. She would have to sit for hours watching others pass before the aid station closed and she could get a ride to the finishing area.
"When it started getting physically difficult, almost immediately my headspace went really negative, and I just whirlpooled down into it," says Dauwalter.

"Any runner will tell you that a 'did not finish' is a crushing experience. I couldn't believe I'd given up so quickly and quit something I'd started."

Alone and hurting, watching others gritting it out, she searched her mind for some resolve.
"I decided I was going to be a person who could finish 100 miles. I just had to make a new plan and figure out how. Later that day I signed up for a 100-mile race one year from then."

1 year ago 01/18/2024 1:03pm EST

re: rojo

Calling it great might have been a bit too much. The first half of the article was enjoyable but the second half was full of the same non-sense that was in the NY Times 30+ years ago about how women are better than men at longer events.

Check out this nonsense

BBC wrote:
In professional marathons, women are, on average, 11.1% slower than men. Greater muscle mass and a higher V02 range mean that, barring a long shot, women will always finish behind men over this distance when ability levels are considered. Yet at 50 miles, there is only a 3.7% difference; at 100 miles, just 0.3% separates men and women.

"It seems 195 miles is the magic number where women become faster than men," says Jovana Subic, head of running research at Run Repeat,

So if 195 is the magic number, then why is the men's 24 hour world record 198.6 miles and the women's just 167.8? That's a more than 18% gap!!

A reader on another thread a few months ago shared this article from the NY Times from 1992. I remember this in HS. People were spouting the same nonsense that women were going to pass men at the longer distances.

The NYT in 1992 wrote:
IF women's running performance continues to improve at the rate at which it has soared since the 1920's, the top women will soon be running as swiftly as the best men, and may even outrun them someday, two physiologists say.

The researchers suggest that elite female runners have been getting so much faster at such a rapid pace that they should be running marathons as quickly as men by 1998, and other shorter track events before the middle of the next century.

Thankfully, Peter Snell had the guts to point out it was absurd then and I'll do it now.

nytimes.com

Link:www.nytimes.com/1992/01/07/science/2-e...

This post was edited 20 seconds after it was posted.

1 year ago 01/18/2024 1:14pm EST

re: rojo

Should she win a BBC award?

1 year ago 01/18/2024 1:15pm EST

re: rojo

Man even Rojo is talking about BBC now. When will this stop?

This post was removed.

1 year ago 01/18/2024 1:27pm EST

re: rojo

Unfortunately, the myth that women are better at longer distances persists. Mostly because there have been some higher quality women in some high profile longer events. When you get the best showing up, the gap is still there.

1 year ago 01/18/2024 1:29pm EST

re: rojo

rojo wrote:
Calling it great might have been a bit too much. The first half of the article was enjoyable but the second half was full of the same non-sense that was in the NY Times 30+ years ago about how women are better than men at longer events.
Check out this nonsense
BBC wrote:
In professional marathons, women are, on average, 11.1% slower than men. Greater muscle mass and a higher V02 range mean that, barring a long shot, women will always finish behind men over this distance when ability levels are considered. Yet at 50 miles, there is only a 3.7% difference; at 100 miles, just 0.3% separates men and women.
"It seems 195 miles is the magic number where women become faster than men," says Jovana Subic, head of running research at Run Repeat,
So if 195 is the magic number, then why is the men's 24 hour world record 198.6 miles and the women's just 167.8? That's a more than 18% gap!!
A reader on another thread a few months ago shared this article from the NY Times from 1992. I remember this in HS. People were spouting the same nonsense that women were going to pass men at the longer distances.
The NYT in 1992 wrote:
IF women's running performance continues to improve at the rate at which it has soared since the 1920's, the top women will soon be running as swiftly as the best men, and may even outrun them someday, two physiologists say.
The researchers suggest that elite female runners have been getting so much faster at such a rapid pace that they should be running marathons as quickly as men by 1998, and other shorter track events before the middle of the next century.
Thankfully, Peter Snell had the guts to point out it was absurd then and I'll do it now.
Link:www.nytimes.com/1992/01/07/science/2-e...

Actually it may not be absurd at all. If anyone can be a woman, then anyone can run as fast as anyone else, meaning a woman may end up with the fastest time in the world, depending on how one defines a woman.

1 year ago 01/18/2024 7:38pm EST

re: rojo

After the 195-mile nonsense assertion, the article redeems itself a little bit.

However, one point that Dr Tiller is often keen to stress is the importance of approaching the subject with objectivity. Dauwalter may have trounced the men in 2017, but that doesn't mean she does it every race. At the UTMB in 2023, fellow American Jim Walmsley finished nearly four hours ahead of her.

Another point to bear in mind is that these findings are based on niche events in which female participation shrinks the further the distance, meaning there is limited data. And with conclusions based on averages, numbers can easily become skewed. A few elite female runners pitted against a larger number of men of more varied ability makes sweeping generalisations difficult.

But yes, it was very lazy reporting/thinking to suggest that there's parity at the 195 mile distance and beyond. Even with the Moab 240 that she won outright in 2017, there were only 98 finishers so that's a terribly small sample size. A 10-second google search will show that the course record for that race is more than 2 hours faster than when Courtney won.

I love Courtney as an athlete and a personality, but to try and use her accomplishments to push some silly notion is really a disservice to the amazing things she's done.

This post was edited 40 seconds after it was posted.

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Did you know Courtney Dauwalter quit in her 1st 100-mile race? Great BBC profile of Dauwalter

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