Jasmin Paris conquers Barkley
Beers for victory, the best US running city, and more endurance news
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You know it’s getting close to race week when you’ve pulled the wetsuit from the closet, topped off your wheels with new sealant, put speed laces on your race shoes, and calculated if you have enough fuel to get through one more week of training + your race.
Stay moving…✌🏼 - Scott
Headlines
🏃 You Always Remember Your First: Regarded as the hardest running race you’re supposed to fail at - until last weekend, only 17 men have ever completed the Barkley Marathon. That all changed as Jasmin Paris became the first woman to complete the challenging course with just one minute 39 seconds to spare of the 60-hour cut off. [Unilad]
🏊🚴🏃 Hometown Hero: At Ironman 70.3 Geelong, Australia’s own Ellie Salthouse battled all day to grab the win. A minute down after the swim, Salthouse played catch up all day before taking advantage of her greatest strength, the run. She pulled ahead at mile 4 and never looked back, winning by just under a minute. On the men’s side, Sam Osborne (NZL) snagged the win by a mere 12 seconds. [tri247]
🚴 Beers Takes Cape Epic for Third Time: An eight day mountain bike race through South Africa consisting of 7 stages, 400+ miles and 55K feet of climbing wasn’t hard enough for Matt Beers, as he won for the third time. Competing as a team of two, Beers and Howard Grotts carved out a more than 11 minute win. [CyclingNews]
Who is Jasmin Paris?
Hailing from the UK, Jasmin Paris became the first woman to ever complete all five loops of the Barkley Marathons within the stringent 60-hour time limit. A mother of two, Paris is an unknown in the world of ultrarunning. Without the flashy wins like American Courtney Dauwalter, she does own something Courtney doesn’t, victory at Frozen Head State Park, TN.
Quiet, unassuming, and modest, Paris currently resides just south of Edinburgh with her husband Konrad and their two young children. She balances her ultrarunning pursuits with her profession as a small animal vet specializing in Internal Medicine at the University of Edinburgh’s teaching hospital.
But don’t get it twisted, Paris didn’t simply show up to this race because she watched a bunch of Barkley Marathon YouTube videos like the rest of us; she is undeniably an ultrarunner. She’s been in the sport for 14 years and in 2019, made headlines by clinching an outright victory in the grueling 268-mile Montane Spine Race, shattering the course record by over 12 hours. Insane in its own right, she did this while giving birth to her first child just 14-months prior, having to express breastmilk at checkpoints along the way.
While just one of many victories in her illustrious yet under-the-radar career, she’s also won the World Extreme Skyrunning Series in 2016, securing second place overall at the Dragon’s Back in 2015, and setting records such as the female 24-hour Munro Record in 2021.
On her victory at Barkley, the 40-year-old said:
I think it all came down to that kind of self-belief that I could do it. Because in the last loop if you look at the timings, actually I should have said, well, you’re not going to make it, even from hours out. But somehow adrenaline took over and drove me. And I never really lost the belief that I could make it until actually about the last kilometer when suddenly I was like, I’m not sure I can sprint up that hill. I had nothing left. I’ve never been that desperate to collapse down on the ground before.
Meanwhile
🏃 The Best Cities for Running: Lists can be silly because let’s face it, the best part of running is being able to put on shoes and just, you know, going. According to ARRIS, San Francisco was found to be the best city for runners because of it’s good air quality, access to parks, and low pedestrian fatality rate all contributed to its top ranking. More importantly, almost half of Americans (43 percent) currently run. [Runner’s World]
🚴 It’s like SRAM, but cheaper…: I’ve never heard of them but WheelTop says its new EDS-TX electronic groupset for road bikes offers “the same performance as SRAM AXS at half the price.” Their rear derailleur will work with cassettes with a minimum sprocket size of 10T and a maximum of 36T. The front derailleur is designed for chainsets with a range (the difference in size of the chainrings) of up to 16T and chainrings up to 53T – which covers most road setups. Sounds great in theory but call me skeptical. I’ll stick with my SRAM set up. [road.cc]
🚴 Explore how a bike is made: Get an inside tour of Giant bikes and how they make their all-new carbon TCR road bike. Bravo on a great PR move to build more hype for their new flagship bike. [velo]
🏊 That didn’t last long: Texas Junior Luke Hobson broke the NCAA and American record in the 200 FR with a time of 1:29.13. In the next heat, Arizona State junior Leon Marchard went 1:28.97 to eclipse the 10 minute old record. [SwimSwam]
Training Tips
Your Guide to Perfecting your Transition: Ahead of your first race, or your 50th, get a refresh on best ways to master your triathlon transitions.
Open Water Swimming Tips: GTN dives into 9 open water swim skills for beginners.
The Rewatchables
Content for long training days inside or just everyday life.
World’s First Ironman in Antarctica: Anders Hofman attempts to become the first-ever human to complete a long-distance triathlon in Antarctica (3.8 km swim, 180 km bike, 42.2 km run), “the Iceman”, to show that limitations are perceptions.
Mathieu van der Poel talks about his career highlights: In an exclusive interview, the champ reflects on the last six years, and his amazing 163 victories. From iconic wins like the Amstel Gold Race to the thrill of racing and the euphoria of victory, it's a journey of triumphs and unforgettable moments.
Rapha Films Presents | Descent: Following a near fatal crash in 2021 that left her bed-bound and unable to walk, Ana Orenz could think of only one correct course of action - to return to the race that nearly killed her just one year on.