March is Women's History Month in the UK, USA and Australia. This year, I decided to mark Women's History Month by sharing a story from women's running history on social media each day. This turned out to be a much more time-consuming task than I had expected, because...
An ultramarathon in a shopping mall Until 1994, nearly all shops in the UK were closed on Sunday by law. Small “corner shops” and newsagents, garden centres, chemists and and garages were allowed to open but large shops were not. This meant that the big shopping...
The subtitle of Ally Beaven’s book, “Broken”, is “2020: the year running records were rewritten”. 2020, our first year of living with Covid-19, was a year when plans were thrown in the bin and runners looked for new ways of motivating themselves to keep running and...
“The organisers dubbed this race “Hell in Paradise”. I am sure that when they coined this phrase they never anticipated how right they would be.” This seven-day stage race lived up to its nickname in more ways than one. Eleven of the 27 starters didn’t make it to the...
It isn't too often that everything goes well and perhaps this is part of the attraction of the 24 hour race - the waiting for the perfect day and the perfect performance. Eleanor Adams The period from 1985 to 1990 saw top performances from Eleanor Adams (now Robinson)...
Imagine a time when women did not run in road races. Imagine a time when women were told distance running would harm their health. Imagine a time when running in a marathon meant risking being jeered at or even assaulted. This time was in my lifetime. I was born in...
The first ultrarunning World Championships were created in 1987 when the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) held the inaugural 100km World Championships in Torhout, Belgium. What attracted top-class ultrarunners like Eleanor Adams to take part in this new...
British women have been very successful at the IAU 100km World Championships, taking seven gold medals, two silvers and six bronzes. They stand second in the medals table behind Russia who have won 19 medals. GB have won the team competition twice, placed second three...
At 10.30 am on 27th April 1983, the New South Wales Premier fired the starter’s gun on a race that was to make a national hero of its winner and create one of the most famous Australian ultramarathons, the Westfield Sydney to Melbourne race. Eleven men lined up in the...