Still Running (weakly). Issue 147

PAST – inspiration – “There may possibly be some accommodation difficulties,” was typical of the excuses used in the 1970s to stop women from joining certain sports clubs.  “What?  You mean blokes and tarts together?” was the rather sexist and vulgar retort, which nevertheless neatly summarised the pretext upon which the move to admit women could be rejected.  The real reason was of course some clubs’ long-established and jealously guarded aversion to female participation of any kind.

The lady who did as much as anyone to break down those barriers was Ann Sayer, against I competed in race walking events in the 70s and 80s. 

“I was not aggressively women’s lib,” she said of her successful battle for acceptance in a male-dominated world.  “I was more bolshy than anything.  If men were allowed to be daft and do 24-hour walks, why not us?  Why shouldn’t a woman do this?”

Having competed for Great Britain in the European Rowing Championships of 1960, 1962 and 1964, finishing 4th, 5th and 6th respectively in the eight, this remarkable woman had turned her attention to race walking in 1974.  Indeed, she became the first female to qualify as a Centurion – walking 100 miles in less than 24 hours – in 1977, though predictably a few males threatened to resign if she were admitted to the ‘Brotherhood.’  Justice, aka common sense, prevailed and she was indeed given her unique Centurion number of 599.  She joined my club, Surrey Walking Club, in 1992.

In 1980, she set the still-standing record for the fastest ever Land’s End to John O’Groats walk by a woman.  Her time – 13 days, 17 hours and 42 minutes – was beaten by Sandra Brown (also Surrey Walking Club) in 1995 and then Sharon Gayter in 2006, but they ran at least some of the way.

Ann Sayer died in April 2020, having fallen and broken her hip in 2018.  At that time, she was issued with a motorised scooter, but she sent the first one back because it wasn’t fast enough!

PRESENT – perspiration – There are many more up-to-date examples of female inclusion, competitiveness and even domination over men in the world of ultrarunning.

Courtney Dauwalter won the 2017 Moab 240 miles race outright – by 10 hours!

The Badwater Ultramarathon is probably the world’s toughest footrace, starting at 85 metres below sea level and running 135 miles through Death Valley at the hottest time of the year when temperatures reach 130oC (54oF).  Even the rattlesnakes come out onto the road at night to get some relief on the relative coolness of the tarmac – as if the race didn’t hold enough terrors for the runners!

You’ll not be surprised to learn that not many people finish this race, but in 2002 Pam Reed did, beating all the men (she beat the first man by almost 5 hours), a feat she repeated in 2003.

Nicky Spinks has not only completed the three famous fell-running ‘rounds’ in the UK, which involve attaining the summits of various peaks in a certain order – the Bob Graham Round in England (42 fells, 26,900 feet of ascent), the Paddy Buckley in Wales (47, 28,000), and the Charlie Ramsay in Scotland (24, 28,500) – not only has she done doubles on them all (run them twice in succession), not only does she hold the women’s record for each of those doubles, but she also at one time held the absolute record for each of them too.  She still holds the outright record for the double Charlie Ramsay.

And Jasmin Paris of Barkley Marathons fame – in January 2019, she won the 268-mile Montane Spine Race along the Pennine Way, beating all of the men, and shattering the previous (either sex) record by 12 hours.  She also at one time held the women’s records for the (single) Bob Graham, Paddy Buckley and Charlie Ramsay rounds – the last of which still stands to her.

FUTURE – suggestion – After Jasmin Paris became the first woman in the race’s 38-year history to complete the Barkley Marathons under the 60-hour cut-off, in 59:58:21 on 22nd March 2024, she recounted one key training session that she had done leading up to it – and its physical and mental outcomes.

“There was one particular morning after I’d gone to bed at 8pm, the same sort of time as my son.  I slept for four hours and got up at midnight, and it was hammering down with rain outside.  And I went out and the dog was a bit like, are you sure you want to go out now in the middle of the night?

“But I went out dressed in full waterproofs, all the gear, and I knew that the minute I started to climb it was going to turn to snow because it was just about one degree – and it did.  It was really kind of battering it down and I was really acutely aware at that point that this was really crazy.  Most people would think this was completely bonkers.

“But I just carried and pushed on – it was just a complete whiteout.  It was a complete blizzard by the time I got to the top of the hill.  And then I dropped down and then I basically did 17 times up and down this hill overnight.”

Jasmin ran for nine hours and then took her kids swimming at 10:30!

“But part of me had that inner kind of warm feeling when you’ve done something big.  Because it doesn’t always have to be a race.  Sometimes it can be a training session.  And that one was like a prime example.  It was just stored away – that knowledge that I’d done that and that it was okay.  And I actually quite enjoyed it in a kind of slightly masochistic way.

“And at the end of it there was this fantastic kind of reward of the morning and the snow.  I think sessions like that, you do something like that and then it kind of all adds up … that knowledge, that kind of self-confidence.”

On reflection, file that session under “Do not try this at home” rather than “Future suggestion”!