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BBC News
29-04-2025
- Sport
- BBC News
London Marathon: How ultrarunner's viral moment inspired change
Sophie Power had not even laced up her trainers for her first run when she signed up to an what was initially a fresh challenge after being made redundant has manifested into a life-changing passion that has led to positive change for women in 2018, a photograph of Power breastfeeding her then three-month-old son during a 106-mile race went had been no option for her to defer her place until she was fit to compete and it highlighted what she saw as a major issue facing women and many of the world's biggest events, including the London Marathon, have implemented pregnancy deferral policies and Power's work has been central to that change. A starting dilemma Power signed up for her first 250km (155-mile) ultramarathon at the age of 26, shortly after having been made redundant from her job in she was not a runner and never had been, a friend had recently completed the challenge himself and recommended she try it, as he believed she could have the stamina needed due to her time in the air squadron at university."I went for my first run the next day and realised pretty quickly that I loved ultra-running. I love being outside, the breadth of phenomenal people you meet [who] you wouldn't come across in everyday life," the 42-year-old, who lives near Guildford in Surrey, told BBC Sport."And really kind of pushing my body to the limits in a new way."Immediately hooked, Power devoted her time to training and travelling to compete in stage races around after the birth of her second child, Cormac, she was faced with a dilemma. Having given up her entry to the iconic Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) race while she recovered from the birth of her first child, Donnacha, three years before, she was not prepared to do so many races, UTMB had no pregnancy deferral policy at the not being able to run so soon postpartum, Power entered the 106-mile event with a view to starting and maybe walking the first 43.5 hours after setting off she completed the challenge, that included 10,000m of climbing, inside the cut-off time, walking the whole way except for a short stretch after one of the highest points when she was worried she might get hyperthermia. She crossed the line with then three-year-old moment is one she looks back on with immense pride, though it was a photograph of her taken with her younger son that day that would inspire what followed. The image that helped spark change French photographer Alexis Berg was at UTMB photographing the 2018 race, as he is at many ultra events. And it was at one of the refuelling stations that he saw something he had never previously seen at one of these events."I knew it was unusual. At that moment it was impossible to realise the photo would have such an impact, but I just pushed one button that day and everything else that has happened is because of Sophie," he he captured was Power sitting down and breastfeeding her baby son during a break from the race."That photo has undoubtedly changed the course of my life. I worked out I should never have been on that start line," she said."I should have been given the opportunity to complete that kind of dream race when I was fit and healthy, not three months postpartum, trying to go 106 miles around a huge mountain by breastfeeding my baby. It was crazy." Power wanted to ensure returning mums did not face the same choice and put their bodies through the same risk as she had founded the charity SheRaces with the core aim of breaking down barriers preventing women from entering events alongside men and safeguarding returning the photo went viral, many male directors contacted her almost immediately to say they had added pregnancy deferrals to their programmes and expressed embarrassment that it was something they had not thought of engaged with more than 2,000 women to find out what prevented them from getting on the start line of races alongside research went far beyond elite level sport. Power is not a professional athlete herself and her real passion is for other women and girls who had been like her."Girls drop out of sport at such a high rate. There's a massive dream deficit for girls compared to boys," she believes a big reason for this is the language used when promoting sports and sporting events."It's 'hardest, toughest, baddest', and for a lot of women that's quite off-putting," she said."How do we redesign sport in a female lens? Can we make sure that the opportunities for girls are tailored to them, and what they want and sports provided in the right places in the right way?" 'Winning battles and driving change' The result of her research was a set of nine principles that organisers could commit to in order to make their events more inclusive for included adapting the use of language and imagery on websites to reflect and appeal to female runners, changing cut-off times, providing female toilets, period products, changing facilities and event T-shirts made specifically for female entrants, rather than unisex ones for all, and a safeguarding and harassment for elite races includes equal exposure for the female race on social media coverage and prizes for female has seen change in some of the world's biggest policy, external since 2023 for some of its marquee events entitles those who are pregnant, have a pregnant partner or are adopting or birthing via surrogacy to a full refund and priority re-entry for up to five she says there is still a long way to go. The New York, Boston and London marathons now all have pregnancy deferrals in place, yet mothers must pay the entrance fee for a second time when they use the deferral scheme, she charity's criteria requests races to implement a two-year deferral to allow people enough time to recover fully from their pregnancies."The majority of races are commercial, it's a business. If they can get more people on their start lines then they're going to do it and the purpose of the guidelines is they're almost non-cost. It's a no-brainer," she said."There are a lot of brands out there who say they are pro-women, yet they're sponsoring women's races that don't have pregnancy deferrals, that don't treat women equally."And then there are dinosaurs, they don't value the voice of female athletes."Then there are races that still need to make improvements, I put London Marathon in that bracket. They have listened to us, they are phenomenally inclusive, they've got loads of initiatives that they put out for diversity on their start lines, but they still want to make women pay twice for their place when they have a baby."I've definitely lost faith in some race organisers because of it but so many are changing and becoming better. You always feel like you fail at the battles you don't win but we're winning so many battles and driving so much change."The London Marathon's policy, external allows entrants to defer for up to three years after giving birth. The event's organisers did not respond when asked why users of the deferral system must pay their entrance fee again. Pushing her body to new limits As the scale of her work and its influence has grown, Power's propensity for testing her physical limits has grown with is now the holder of two Guinness world records - becoming the fastest woman to run the length of Ireland, last completed the gruelling 340-mile route in three days 12 hours and eight minutes, smashing the previous record set by Mimi Anderson by more than three route took her through Munster, where husband John was born, and to County Cork, where many of the Power family live, running through torrential rainfall, experiencing the early stages of sun stroke and sleeping for little more than two hours, while sustaining herself on a diet of jam-filled tortilla wraps, gels, chews and ice tongue was burned after two days of eating nothing but fruit and sweets. She pushed herself to the brink of total exhaustion."I was seeing nativity and Christmas scenes everywhere in this town. And all the trees had turned into plastic. The hallucinations were phenomenal, crazy," she has since gone on to set a second world record for the longest distance covered on a treadmill by a female in 48 hours and has once again been selected for Great Britain in the 24-hour World Championships in France this will also be hosting her own women-only ultra races in the Peak District in how will she know when she has achieved what she set out to do?"My ultimate goal for SheRaces is that we don't exist because it's not needed anymore and every woman is able to get on the start line," she added."Part of the reason I created it was to have something that wasn't just me and was owned by all women. We can all help each other and demand fairness."
CNN
26-02-2025
- Entertainment
- CNN
Ultrarunner Sophie Power breaks 48-hour treadmill world record in bid to inspire women in sport
Endurance athlete Sophie Power might have come to running later than most, but she's more than making up for it. After leaving behind a career in investment banking, the British athlete jumped into the world of ultrarunning and now has two world records to her name. She recently broke the record for the most distance covered by a woman on a treadmill in 48 hours. It follows an equally impressive feat last year, in which she became the fastest female to cross Ireland on foot. In her latest challenge, Power covered more than 365 km (226.8 miles) across two days in January, running and hiking on a treadmill at the National Running Show in Birmingham, England. Her achievement – which is still subject to usual ratification from Guinness World Records – was driven in part by her burning passion to improve access for women in sport. 'You need to set something slightly outside your comfort zone because, if I said I was going to do something I knew I could do, you don't get that achievement at the finish,' she tells CNN Sport when asked how she chooses her challenges. 'Also, it's got to be really personal, it's got to mean something to you.' Despite her endurance feats, Power is cautious about being a role model to others. She says inspiration can sometimes be dangerous if people do not see it in a more realistic context. As a mother of three, who has faced barriers to entry throughout her endurance career, the 42-year-old wants to provide a more realistic picture of what sacrifices she makes in order to achieve. 'I think we put lots of pictures up of women achieving things without saying how they do things, and that only gives us that desire to do something but doesn't say how we do it,' she says. 'It's important to say, 'This is my training, this is my childcare, this is my multitasking, this is what I don't do.' Like my house is always a mess, I don't put makeup on in the morning, I don't care about what I wear, I don't watch TV, I don't go out all the time, so there's all stuff I don't do, so I can do things.' Power didn't have a conventional route to becoming an ultra-athlete. She says wasn't sporty as a child and would finish towards the back of running races at school. She instead dived into the world of finance, a millions miles away from her current passion, before being laid off from her job shortly after getting married. Feeling 'lost' during that difficult period, Power says she traveled to Thailand to clear her head and took up kickboxing. After two months, she returned and a friend convinced her to try the Marathon des Sables. Without any prior experiences of running such long distances, the keen hiker signed up to one of the hardest races in the world – which sees runners cover 103 miles. It was an experience that ignited a passion and she has since run over 50 ultramarathons and 'accidentally' qualified for 24-Hour World Championships last year, representing Great Britain. 'I just love being out in nature, away from things, meeting new people that I'd never meet in real life,' she says. 'I'm very angry that I missed out on decades of being active in sport, and there's a whole generation of women that are just like me that you see picking up these endurance events. 'My goal, I guess, is to try and inspire as many of them, to give them the courage to try to do something.' It was her passion to inspire more women to get into sport that led her to her latest treadmill challenge. The fact it was on a treadmill made logistics a lot easier, meaning she wouldn't have to spend time away from her family and friends. It also meant she could be more accessible, so people at the event could actually witness her break the record. She started the challenge at 2:30 p.m. and says she barely slept for the first 24 hours. After the first day, she started taking short breaks, often lying down in a nearby bathroom on a tiny black mat. But her body wouldn't allow her to sleep, in part due to the busy atmosphere at the National Running Show – a UK event which attracts thousands of visitors. She only managed to get real rest after breaking the record the following morning, taking a well-earned break from the treadmill before hiking out the remaining time. 'It was getting very dangerous trying to run. I was so wobbly that I couldn't run and that was the frustration. My body felt great, but I couldn't run on that treadmill, and that was frustrating that I lost out on that distance … but I can't not be proud of what I did, just not quitting,' she says. Efficiently fueling such an epic feat of endurance was vitally important to keep Power healthy. Researchers from a local university monitored her body throughout the run, and she followed a diet plan which involved caffeine gels, high-sugar candy and basic carbohydrates. But, as it turns out, the simple things in life worked best for Power. Asked what she ate most of during her epic challenges, she pointed to the humble jam sandwich. 'They're cheap, they go down quickly and they sit in your stomach,' she says. 'White bread, no crusts. It's very specific.' Recovery is now Power's next challenge, admitting she struggled to sleep in the days that followed the 48-hour treadmill run. It will also allow her time to focus on her charity, SheRACES, which was set up to improve conditions for women wanting to compete in races. In 2018, Power rose to prominence after a picture of her at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc went viral. The photo showed her breastfeeding her three-month-old baby during the 106-mile race, as a male competitor lay slumped on the floor. It highlighted the need for better facilities for women at such races and inspired Power to set up her foundation which aims to help organizers understand how to make events more inclusive and assist brands in understanding how events they sponsor can support female athletes, across all levels of ability. In the coming years, it is planning to hold a women-only trail running series across the UK, showcasing how races can better cater for female athletes. 'My goal wasn't the record,' she says, speaking about why she chose to complete the 48-hour treadmill run. 'My goal was connecting with people, and so I didn't put it in the optimal environment. I lost time because of it, but I got the outcome I wanted, and the record will go, I don't care. The impact has been made, and that's the most important thing. 'I had all these little girls on the treadmill next to me watching, and I was thinking, 'They are reassessing what they think women can do.''
