Jasmin Paris becomes first female winner of 268-mile ultra marathon

dowie · 17 Jan 2019 at 14:31

RSS thread I know, but this is pretty incredible - a friend just shared it on Facebook:

A 35 year old woman (and new mum) just won a 268 mile ultra marathon! Not only did she win but she smashed the previous record by 12 hours... finishing in 83 hours.

She had a total of 7 hours for breaks, which included a little bit of sleep (presumably only very brief power naps), personal admin, eating and...... breast feeding her baby!

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/46906115

Skillmister · 17 Jan 2019 at 14:33

Sounds like fun.

Fubsy · 17 Jan 2019 at 14:35

It's totally mind boggling that a human body can do that.

touch · 17 Jan 2019 at 14:36

Great achievement!

From my experiences in this type of race (cycling, not running), there isn't a gap between sexes like you'd see in shorter races and, if anything, women are actually better at ultra-endurance racing than men.

jsmoke · 17 Jan 2019 at 14:38

Crazy stuff, can't say I'm too into these diehard women trying to act like men but crazy distance anyway.

Probably be plagued with arthritis later on in life though.

Orionaut · 17 Jan 2019 at 14:40

Fubsy said:
It's totally mind boggling that a human body can do that.

As has been commented in other threads.

Endurance running is the Human physical ability.

Less that a handful of other species on the entire planet even come close!

Orionaut · 17 Jan 2019 at 14:44

touch said:
Great achievement!

From my experiences in this type of race (cycling, not running), there isn't a gap between sexes like you'd see in shorter races and, if anything, women are actually better at ultra-endurance racing than men.

A super-fit woman probabally has a rather better power/weight ratio than a super-fit man. "He" might be a lot stronger, but "She" might have better endurance.

(See also better ability at losing heat and keeping cool)

DrToffnar · 17 Jan 2019 at 14:46

Amazing stuff. Truly inspiring!

cheesyboy · 17 Jan 2019 at 14:52

touch said:
Great achievement!

From my experiences in this type of race (cycling, not running), there isn't a gap between sexes like you'd see in shorter races and, if anything, women are actually better at ultra-endurance racing than men.

I read another article a few days ago about a woman ultra-marathoner who had won mixed races and thought it interesting. I'd often wondered if there might be a particular sport where the female body actually had an advantage - had thought for a time that it could be free diving, as the most famous participant was a woman, but it turns out that men do have an advantage.

Zatoichi.uK · 17 Jan 2019 at 14:57

The advantage women have is due to fat stores I believe. Amazing achivement non the less!

Diddums · 17 Jan 2019 at 15:02

Christ. I'm out of breath after two flights of stairs and this woman's just done that?

That's pretty spectacular, congrats to her!

D.P. · 17 Jan 2019 at 15:12

As an ultrarunner myself I have the slightest inkling of what she went through.
That is a massive result for here. She is incredibly talented. Her times on Bob Graham and Ramsy rounds are impressive. Her first attempt at 100miles was the tough UTMB and she cam 6th or 7th if I remember.

D.P. · 17 Jan 2019 at 15:17

Zatoichi.uK said:
The advantage women have is due to fat stores I believe. Amazing achivement non the less!

No, because it is very easy for a man to add fat stores. The reason women do well in endurance races is complex. At the physiological level it is mostly about efficiency and slow-twitch muscle capacity. Absolute VO2max is not important. Women don't differ from men much in this regard. What is really important is race strategy, nutrition, coping with sleep deprivation and mental strength. Women tend to to better than a lot of men.

This is also why older ultra runners also normally do well and are frequent winners. The most frequent age group is something like 40-45, and it is perfectly normal to see a 50-60 year old win an ultra.

dowie · 17 Jan 2019 at 15:39

Well some of the comments on Facebook are along the lines of how a new mum would be awesome at coping with sleep deprivation relative to the rest! It certainly does seem to be a sport where the playing field has been levelled between the sexes if not actually tilted the other way to some extent.

I did see one comment questioning whether oxytocin might have had a beneficial impact here too.

SexyGreyFox · 17 Jan 2019 at 16:18

Wow - that is all I can say.

Our own Firstborn has completed the Marathon de Sables.

My Mum's oddjob man is 72 and the other day I found out he has completed 467 marathons :eek:

Many times he did a triple in a weekend which took in Snowdon, Dublin (or Belfast) and another one.

ttaskmaster · 17 Jan 2019 at 16:44

Chojin · 17 Jan 2019 at 17:26

It's a good achievement but I do wonder how competitive this 268 marathon is given the margin she won by. Even accounting for breaks she was going just above average walking pace, so it seems to be an exercise in sleep management and tenacity rather than athleticism.

cheesyboy · 17 Jan 2019 at 17:29

ttaskmaster said:
"Massive pair of lungs on her" doesn't mean what you thought?

heh

Thekwango · 17 Jan 2019 at 17:30

Chojin said:
It's a good achievement but I do wonder how competitive this 268 marathon is given the margin she won by. Even accounting for breaks she was going just above average walking pace, so it seems to be an exercise in sleep management and tenacity rather than athleticism.

so run one then

One More Solo · 17 Jan 2019 at 17:33

Chojin said:
It's a good achievement but I do wonder how competitive this 268 marathon is given the margin she won by. Even accounting for breaks she was going just above average walking pace, so it seems to be an exercise in sleep management and tenacity rather than athleticism.

It took 17 posts before someone finally ****s all over a great achievement, is OcUK going soft?