Will the 45 elite runners who will set off on Friday (6 p.m.) for the 171 km of the legendary Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc manage to beat the record set last year? For the first time since the creation of the UTMB in 2003, five women have indeed climbed into the Top 40, men and women alike, after more than 22 hours of effort, and 10,000 m of elevation gain. Eight years after her compatriot Rory Bosio, the American Courtney Dauwalter even equaled the best female performance in scratch history, with a 7th place in 22:30.
A stunning time that Courtney Dauwalter confirmed last month in Colorado, this time obtaining 5th place in the terrible Hardrock 100 (160 km, 10,000 m D +) which notably pitted the two stars of the discipline, Kilian Jornet and Francois D’Haene. These stunts are symbolic of the increasingly important competitiveness of women’s ultra-trail. “The level of the runners has increased dramatically on the UTMB since the first Top 10 obtained by Rory Bosio in 2013, confirms Catherine Poletti, co-founder of the race in Chamonix. From there, we realized that we had to make the most of their sporting performance. We therefore now reward the first 10 women in the same way as the first 10 men. »
40% of elite runners are women in this 2022 edition
An equity that allows, for example, the winner of the queen event of the world ultra-trail to receive 2,000 euros, like her male counterpart. The proportion of women registered on the UTMB has on average “increased from 8 to 12% over the past 10 years”, indicates Catherine Poletti. If we only count elite runners, this percentage even reaches 40% for this 2022 edition. in the women’s draw last year, and 33rd overall. Gone are the days when it was said that it was an old man’s sport. Seeing 20-year-olds embark on long distances helps to constantly increase the level of women’s trail running. »
So much so that this 31-year-old Lyonnaise, who finally forfeited the CCC (101 km, 6,100 m elevation gain) for this 2022 edition, has gotten into the habit of watching the men’s lap times: “I’m not starting a race with the motivation to beat men. But out of curiosity, I like to see where I stand in relation to them”. We can see that women have a hard time competing with men on “short distances” like the MCC (40 km), where only one trail runner has reached the Top 20 in three editions in Chamonix, and where they are only three on average in the Top 50 despite 35% female registrations.
When Corinne Favre beat François D’Haene in Chamonix
And this apart from phenomena like the Swiss Maude Mathys, able to obtain the third best time in the scratch of the final of the Golden Trail Series 2021 (37 km and 2,850 m of D + in 4h05), the Dutch Nienke Brinkman and the Spaniard Sarah Alonso. On the other hand, the more we switch to the ultra, the more women reduce the gaps. To the point of symbolically signing some prestigious victories, such as New Zealander Ruth Croft, winner of the Tarawera Ultramarathon 2021 (100 km) on her land in 9:21.
15 years earlier, the Frenchwoman Corinne Favre had done the same in Chamonix during the first CCC in history, with 86 km covered in 10h35. All in front of a certain… François D’Haene, then 22 years old and 4th that day. French pioneer of ultra-distances from the end of the 1990s, with Karine Herry, she remembers having celebrated the mountaineering diploma of a friend the day before the race, with “a beer-pizza evening”. Faced with 1,050 men, she wrote history, at the age of 36, to everyone’s surprise.
When I told my sponsors that I was leading the race, they thought I was joking. Myself, I did not expect it so much. It was obviously a point of pride, and I quickly realized that it had made a strong impression. »
“An impression of ease over long distances”
If this scratch victory of a woman on a French elite race remains unprecedented, the spectacular female record of the GR20 (170 km and 12,700 m of D + in 35h50) obtained in June by Anne-Lise Rousset reminded how much the performances men are not so far on the very (very) long. “Unlike the men, we hardly ever see a single woman go to the first aid stations at the finish of the races, notes Stéphane Bergzoll, doctor for the French trail team. As Anne-Lise Rousset showed at the GR20, the best trail runners always give the impression of ease over long distances, which allows them to compete with the male elites. »
Mother of an 11-month-old boy at the time of his record in Corsica, the Haute-Savoie veterinarian was squarely ahead of the time achieved in 2016 by François D’Haene on the GR20, after 9 hours of effort. “The record holder of this GR [en 30h25] Lambert Santelli, who was my to pace, was afraid that I left a little too quickly. He suggested that I be more reasonable, ”smiles the one who is preparing for the Diagonale des Fous (165 km), in October in Reunion. “Not being too far from the men is a source of pride in itself, I can’t deny it,” she confides. Because to rank third woman in a race by finding yourself 100th overall, that wouldn’t have much value. »
Lipids beneficial to women on the ultra
But by the way, why do women struggle more with men in the long run than in the short run? 20 minutes First of all offers you a small point Michel Cymes with Marion Delespierre, sports doctor in Lyon in addition to being a high-level trail runner. “Women have better fat oxidation and a higher lipid reserve than men, which is important for producing energy during long efforts at moderate pace,” she says. We also have more slow fibers than men at the muscular level, which is beneficial for endurance. »
Gynecologist in Lozère and reigning world and European trail running champion over distances of 44 and 47 km, Blandine L’Hirondel will participate in the first ultra of his career on Friday with the CCC, a year after winning the OCC (55 km, 3,500 m of D +), with the key to the 20th time (5h45), men and women combined, at 42 minutes of the winner. “I am firmly convinced that if women tickle men even more in the Top 10 of longer distance races, it is not the result of chance”, announces the 31-year-old trail runner. In addition to the physiological question stated by her doctor colleague, she directs us towards the mental dimension, with “better resilience in the face of pain on the female side”.
Courtney Dauwalter 63rd at km 21, then 7th in the end in Chamonix
Blandine L’Hirondel does not neglect the context of races over 80 km, where women represent on average less than 15% of registered participants. “Because of this density which is not enormous, women are less influenced than men by the start of the race of their adversaries, she notes. We manage our race better as we please, without nervousness. This propensity to sign linear performances is also an explanation for Courtney Dauwalter’s 7th place finish in the UTMB 2021, after having been… 63rd during the first refueling in Saint-Gervais (at km 21). Marion Delespierre complete.
Unlike most men, women are more on a personal quest than a competitive one. We put ourselves perhaps less in the red when we feel that we are going through a difficult moment. And gradually, we grab places. »
This is how the Lyonnaise, long far from the Top 50 last year in Chamonix, finally ranked 33rd overall. The boom in women’s trail running prompted Evadict, Decathlon’s trail brand, to launch the first team last January. 100% feminine of the history of the discipline. Until then at Hoka, Blandine L’Hirondel is one of the ten athletes who joined this atypical French team.
Corinne Favre “in complete anonymity” despite a huge track record
“It’s not just a buzz from Decathlon, she says. The trail is really feminized and I am very honored to promote women’s sport in this way. Women should know that the trail is also made for them, including the ultra. The means made available to female athletes have indeed evolved significantly, as Corinne Favre notes. “I never had a coach, I did everything feeling, without the possibility of flexible hours at work, and I was very far from the healthy lifestyle they have today, smiles the fifty-year-old with a gigantic track record, between three coronations on the Diagonale des Fous and 13 successes on the 6.000D. I was completely anonymous at the time. »
And the men were then clearly not used to having to fight for the first places with trail runners. “I had waited almost 20 minutes for the second CCC to greet him, remembers Corinne Favre. He was an Englishman [Alun Powell] and he barely looked at me as he crossed the line. “According to Stéphane Bergzoll, times have clearly changed: “Men and women always train together in the France team and that gives a healthy emulation. For several years, it has been taken for granted that average runners like me can no longer compete with the best women, as was the case at one time. »
Does a female victory remain so “utopian”?
Can the next step be to soon witness the first female victory in history on an ultra monument such as the UTMB, the Diagonale des Fous, the Western States or the Hardrock 100? “I don’t know, these ultras are so random, recalls Catherine Poletti. I didn’t always feel like women had this desire to push themselves and prove to the world that they could be the best, but that’s changing. »
Marion Delespierre also wants to be nuanced: “I am, for example, a big fan of Courtney Dauwalter [absente cette année à Chamonix] but it’s a bit utopian to imagine seeing a woman win such a race”. Just like a scratch Top 10 seemed ten years ago, right?