Canada’s Jazmine Lowther wins Ultra-Trail Cape Town 100K
Three Canadian runners sped to top 10 spots in the 100K race
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UTCT
On Saturday at Ultra-Trail Cape Town (UTCT) in South Africa, Canadian ultrarunner Jazmine Lowther captured the top spot in the 100K race, crossing the line in 12:04:25. Her dominant win highlighted a successful day for Canadian runners, with Quebec’s Geneviève Asselin-Demers and Jean-François Cauchon also taking top-10 finishes, placing seventh and eighth in the women’s and men’s races, respectively.
UTCT boasts 4,972 metres of elevation over 100K and is described on the event website as “a front-loaded, technical route.” The race has two major climbs within the first 50K, and this year’s race had temperatures reaching 25°C. Last year’s edition saw Quebec’s Marianne Hogan claim the second-place spot.
Lowther’s dominant victory
Lowther pulled by the 31K mark and never looked back, extending her lead to nearly 30 minutes by the final climb. Antonina Iushina of Russia finished second in 12:50:01, with Germany’s Eva Sperger taking third in 13:07:21. Asselin-Demers also had a solid race, finishing seventh in 14:47:03.
Lowther, who took second at Run the Rut 50K in Big Sky, Mo. in September, turned professional in 2022. Originally from Nelson, B.C., she had a standout win at the 2022 Canyons Endurance Runs and a strong fourth-place finish at the UTMB’s CCC race. Lowther then had to take time off to navigate injuries and biomechanical challenges; she returned in top form in 2023.
On the men’s side, France’s Hugo Deck claimed the top spot in 10:31:02, with Portugal’s Miguel Arsénio taking second, and Michelino Sunseri of the U.S. rounded out the podium. Quebec native Cauchon, who took eighth in the men’s race, smashed the course record at Quebec Mega Trail in July in Mont-Sainte-Anne, Que.
World Trail Majors finale
UTCT is the final race in the World Trail Majors, a nine-race series that launched in January. Runners earn points at each race in the series, based on performance, with the ultimate winners announced at the end of November. The current standings have Courtney Dauwalter tied with Quebec’s Anne Champagne; fellow Canadian runners Kelsey Hogan and Geneviève Asselin-Demers are placed fourth and seventh respectively. Pro ultrarunner Marianne Hogan of Quebec has also had a standout year, capturing the 11th spot. On the men’s side, Canada’s top runner is Fernie’s Ethan Peters, also in 11th place.
Quebec Mega Trail, launched in 2012, is the sole Canadian stop in the series, which kicked off in Hong Kong in January and continued with races in Arizona, Spain, Japan, Portugal, Switzerland and England before Saturday’s race in Cape Town.
Learn more about the World Trail Majors here. For full results of Ultra-Trail Cape Town, head here.
