British ultrarunner Sarah Perry‘s brave bid to better her own world record of 95 laps (or ‘yards’) is over after she bowed out of the Legends Backyard Ultra in Belgium having run 76 laps.
The format sees athletes run 4.167 miles every hour, on the hour, until there is just one left standing.
So 24 hours equals exactly 100 miles and Perry’s exploits in Belgium meant she ran for over three days and covered 316 miles or more than 500km.
On the ‘suffer bus’
She set an incredible world record at the Big’s Backyard Ultra World Championship in Tennessee last October, under the watchful eye of Lazarus Lake – the man who created the format as well as the Barkley Marathons.
INOV8 are one of Perry’s sponsors and had been with her in Belgium following her progress. And on Tuesday afternoon they posted: “Having been on, as she called it, ‘the suffer bus’ for most of day 4, Sarah returned early from lap 77 having made the difficult – but ultimately the right – decision to retire.
“She returned to camp to huge applause from friends and fellow runners, before an emotional embrace with her partner Luke, who had expertly crewed her throughout.
“Sarah’s average lap time for the 76 she completed was 48:46. Her fastest was lap 4 (39:48) and her slowest was lap 66 (55:39).
“During the third night and into day 4, her lap times had got slower, meaning she had less time to recuperate between the 4.167-mile laps. Unable to bank sleep, exhausted by the relentless heat, and having pushed her body further into the red than ever before, Sarah reluctantly called time on her epic Legends journey.”
Last woman standing
She had long been the only remaining woman in the race, ever since Dutch runner Irene Kinnegim called it a day after 37 laps.
The event began with 104 runners (13 women and 91 men) on Saturday morning and it was eventually won by Łukasz Wróbel, who completed 114 laps, two yards short of his PB from the same event last year.
