Ultrarunner Lucy Bartholomew made operating and triathlon historical past on Sunday, changing into solely the second girl ever to complete the 171-kilometre Extremely-Path du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) in addition to the Ironman World Championships in the identical yr.
Replace right here: @lucybartholomoo efficiently accomplished the UTMB-Kona double, the primary Australian and the second feminine to have performed this double!
Lucy completed in 10:43:41 at Kona, good for twenty ninth in her AG, and 215th OA. Unimaginable! #UTMB #ironman https://t.co/UOcNvEA1vW
— Liam (@aidstationfireb) October 15, 2023
Bartholomew ran remarkably properly at each occasions, taking a tenth-place end at UTMB in 27:39:22, and finishing what was solely her second Ironman in 10:43:41, with a 3:31 marathon time. The double–practically 400 kilometres of difficult racing–has solely been conquered by one girl earlier than Bartholomew: Eire’s Diana Hogan-Murphy, in 2014. Bartholomew can be the quickest particular person of any gender to have accomplished each occasions in the identical yr.
Bartholomew shot to fame within the ultrarunning world in 2018, when she was the third feminine on the Western States 100. The runner shared on social media that she misplaced a number of the pleasure in racing within the years following her WSER podium, and after her 2022 race resulted in a DNF, she wasn’t positive if she’d race 100 miles once more.
“You present up (virtually) each day to run as a way to run much more on the race day, end and never be capable to run, solely to need to run, after which run to assist within the recovering of the operating and to arrange for extra operating,” Bartholomew defined. “To take myself out of this cycle I made a decision to tick a bucket record thought to do an IRONMAN triathlon. It was a ‘in the future, sometime’ goal that I pulled ahead to assist pull me out of feeling caught.”
Bartholomew’s first Ironman, in Western Australia in December 2022, certified her for the Kona World Championship occasion in Hawaii. Whereas the runner had solely deliberate to finish one Ironman, she felt she couldn’t miss the chance to race in Hawaii. “Not being one who steps down from a problem, it appeared proper to go another,” she stated.
“I’ve swum, biked and run my method to unbelievable restoration from UTMB and reasonable triathlon health for Kona,” Bartholomew stated pre-race. “It was a enjoyable, tremendous steadiness to play with these two massive occasions so shut to one another.”
Watch the street to Bartholomew’s first Ironman on YouTube:
