You don't need to be an 'investor' to invest in Singletrack: 6 days left: 95% of target - Find out more
I did a quick search but couldn't see anything on this.
Jasmin Paris has just smashed 12 hours off the course record for The Spine, 268 mile running race up the Pennine Way. 12 hours ffs, that is huge.
Why is that remarkable?
1. She beat everyone, including all of the blokes. Second place runner had to abandon with just 6 miles left in the race
2. Dot watching and time splits suggests she spent just 7 hours in checkpoints during 83 hours of racing. Checkpoint time includes eating, drinking, sorting out kit, getting medical and sleep.
3. She works full time so gets up at 4am to train
4. She has a young baby, apparently she was expressing in the checkpoints
5. She is writing a thesis in her spare time (seriously, how does she have spare time?)
Mind blowing, inspiring and generally awesome.
Blimey Charlie, hat most definitely doffed!
Erm... 😳
That’s one hell of a challenge 👍💃
It's mentioned in the (very long) running thread but easy to miss really.
I'd stopped watching the live tracking page after she'd finished so didn't realise Eugeni (the second placed runner) had scratched.
Until last month she held the women's records for both summer and winter Bob Graham Rounds, her summer time for the BGR is the seventh fastest ever - when you look at the names of those ahead of her you realise the sort of company she's in: Kilian Jornet; Billy Bland; Mark Hartell; Mark McDermott; Rob Jebb; Jon duncan. She also holds the outright record for the Ramsay Round - #91 on this page - http://www.ramsaysround.com/finishers/ and I think she's the fastest woman on the Paddy Buckley Round in N. Wales as well.
She was interviewed on BBC Breakfast earlier, typically modest, even when speaking about hallucinating and seeing animals everywhere as running across the Cheviots.
Frankly I'm amazed she was even awake for the interview. I would be sleeping for the next week at least!
She was interviewed on BBC Breakfast earlier, typically modest, even when speaking about hallucinating and seeing animals everywhere as running across the Cheviots.
Yeah, but she did say her feet were a bit sore. Lightweight.
Incredible stuff
I have a friend who appears to be having a bit of a rest in Alston so just under 200 miles in.
https://live.thespinerace.com/
286 miles in 83 hours..... that's 17 min miles. Even i can do that FFS.
(astonished really....)
I'd be happy if I rode the pennine way in the same overall time, including required sleep. Definitely hats off to her.
Blimey! Massive respect anyone who would even consider running that let alone smashing it.
I bet she uses Gillette razors.
I've walked the same distance. I think I probably spent about twice as long sleeping as she did running.
It's absolutely phenomenal and beyond my comprehension.
She is ace. Met her at FRA Relays at Luss a couple of years ago. It is a gob smackingly amazing achievement. Hopefully all the publicity will die down soon and she can get back to normal life.
Nails. Astonishing run. Just from looking out of the window the last couple of days probably not bad conditions for fell running in January but 12 hours quicker??????
I expect she'd fair quite well in that SAS telly programme (mentally and physically insanely capable).
It's both amazing, genuinely, and annoying
It's annoying that some people are just so damn fast/efficient/good.
But it's mostly amazing!
I think the enormity of this is really starting to sink in. She has totally redefined what female athletes can achieve against male counterparts. Smashing the course record by 12 hours is remarkable but to beat the next nearest (male) competitor, Eoin Keith, by 15 hours is off the scale.
bonkers. the () second place guy (who scratched) was a previous champion it would seem..
express milk while undertaking that- insane. mind you I did a 70 mile challenge with a riding colleague who did that too, while we scoffing flapjacks..
I always loved Amelia Boone taking on the blokes but this is a level way beyond that.
Courtney Dauwalter is another female ultra runner showing the men how it should be done
Generally in fell running and regardless of the event distance there's about a 6:1 ratio of men to women which given that it's one of the most inclusive sports going is a sad indictment of our society. The same ratio is typical of longer MTB events as well.
Childbirth does seem to be a spur for distance women athletes - Ingrid Kristiansen posted many (most?) of her best times after the birth of her first child. Can't remember if Paula Radcliffe was a mum when she set the women's best marathon time.
given that it’s one of the most inclusive sports going is a sad indictment of our society
If it was CEOs in companies I'd agree but the barrier for entry into running is a bit lower. Looking at our local running club (mixture of road, XC, fell) that my lad goes to there must be 50% women (finger in the air) all of whom presumably have the same opportunities to train and compete, so presumably the issue is simply one of desire/choice. I kind of see your point that maybe society suppresses that desire but I expect that will be changing faster than it ever has previously.
@scuttler - not sure about club figures, @djglover is a member of the running club I used to belong to so maybe he can say what the figures are there. I appreciate that not all club runners enter races, maybe the skew occurs at that point.
Looking at last year's BGR figures there were 199 registered attempts, 175/24 split. Successes were 74/14. So the women tend to have a better success ratio possibly, and this is pure conjecture, because they only step up to have a go when they feel success is likely whereas men maybe "chance it" a bit more.
I think there needs to be some form of "reach back" to girls in schools in the way that The Adventure Syndicate (Lee Craigie, Jenny Graham, et. al.) do otherwise the achievements are so far removed from the experience of most folk that there's a big temptation to say: "Ah, but she's special", etc. Hopefully things will improve.
I dont know if the Spine race runs the Pennine way route and somebody can correct me but if this is the case then a number of people have run it faster (not to diminish Jasmins incredible effort!) I remember reading Mike Cudahy's book years ago who ran the Pennine way under 3 days and Mike Hartley who ran it in 65 hours in 1989 and as far as I know is still the record.
You do wonder how some people do it, she is running 100 miles a week, mother to a small child, writing a thesis and is a vet, i truly think they should of given her a cape not a medal!
It's a record for the race, not for the route. The race is unsupported and in the depths of winter (statistically the 20th of January is the coldest day of the year). So not the best conditions.
Mike Hartley ran the route faster in 1989, but that was with pacemakers and in July (so lots of daylight and, one would imagine, better conditions overall).
@surfer yes it's the Pennine way end to end.
The difference with Mike Hartley's (equally astounding) 65 hour outright record is that he was running in much more amenable summer conditions and with full support and pacers etc. Spine racers are on their own (in the dark mostly!) and carry all their own kit including stove and bivvy gear.
[edit] ninja-ed!
Jasmin Paris is being interviewed on Woman's Hour (Radio 4) this morning. I'll be catching up on it later on i Player, should be worth a listen.
Edit, think it will be between now and 11am
On Radio 4 now
edit: a bit disappointing that, usual predicable questions about sleep and expressing milk. Nothing about what this says about females in sport, inspiring people, future plans etc.
She has totally redefined what female athletes can achieve against male counterparts.
I read many years ago that women are better at ultra mega endurance than men. There's a female swimmer isn't there who does ridiculous stuff better than men? Pretty sure when I was a kid I had a Guinness type book which listed a woman as holding the record for the longest distance run full stop.
You do wonder how some people do it
Some people are just on the go ALL the time, they thrive on doing stuff and can't have down time. I'm not one of them.
I think Mike Cudahy's effort was unsupported but he did run bits of it with other people but I dont think they "supported" him as such. I can recommend his book. Yes time of year makes a huge difference.
Grauniad article/interview at https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2019/jan/18/ultrarunner-jasmin-paris-montane-spine-race-winner-mens-record-express-milk
I believe she beat the previous women's record by 26 hours! That's more than a day!!
She's not just a deisel engined long distance runner either as she is current FRA champion as well.Respect.