Which athlete managed to win five UTMB Mont-Blanc races? Not Kilian Jornet, not even François D’Haene, but a woman, the English Lizzy Hawker. How many athletes have won both the Western States and the UTMB in the same year, the two most prestigious hundred-mile races? One man (Kilian Jornet) and three women, Nikki Kimball, Courtney Dauwalter, and Katie Schide. These two facts would be enough to refute a statement: “Ultratrail exacerbates male domination and values such as effort and courage. Women are on the course to encourage and refresh them at the refreshment points.”
The quote is not from a feminist manifesto of the sixties, but from the article by Héléne Constanty published in Il Fatto Quotidiano on August 31. These words were pronounced by Clément Delbes, a Sociology of Sport doctoral student at the Université Savoie Mont Blanc. The Constanty article caused a stir in the community precisely because of this quotation. “How can you quote something like this, it’s medieval,” commented Paolo Comparin from the Instagram account Sterrato. Truly bizarre statements, to be kind.
What should Martina Valmassoi say, who in the film Crewing, besides assisting Dakota Jones, is in turn assisted and encouraged by Dakota when she is the one running? The problem exists, as in other sports, but it is not with statements of this kind (also extemporaneous within an article that analyzes in detail the various issues of a huge event like UTMB Mont-Blanc for the local community) that it is addressed.
The example comes from other French journalists, those of the magazine Grand Trail, who dedicated the issue distributed at the UTMB to gender equality in trail running and especially in ultra trail running. Because female participation decreases drastically with increasing kilometers. According to the Trailgender research, considering 95 countries, on a 10 km trail distance, 40% of participants are women (43% in France); on a marathon, it drops to 22% (17% in France); on a 100-mile race, we are at 17% (9% in France). The same research also analyzed the finisher data in trail races of various distances. The average of women at the finish line in Europe is 18.2%, in North America 33.1%. Topping the list is Canada, with 36.4%. In Italy, we are at 16.8%. On average at the UTMB hundred miles, 18% are women, while on the shorter CCC, the percentage reaches 26%. The reasons? Those that undermine gender equality in daily life, according to the many athletes and experts interviewed by the magazine: less time (because women are still the ones dedicated to caring for children and the family in many societies) and fewer resources (because pay equality is a chimera). This is despite the performances, which tend to be less distant between men and women in long distances. And sensationalistic statements.
It should also be noted that UTMB has organized a conference on women’s health in ultra endurance sports, dedicates 50% of live coverage time to female athletes, and this year has created stations at aid stations to allow access to companions and facilitate breastfeeding. An opportunity taken advantage of by only two athletes, a sign of the still low numbers, but perhaps not of a sexist attitude.
