The history of women’s six day ultra races has been overshadowed by the focus on the men’s record. The impetus for writing a series of posts about the women’s six day record came from interviewing Eleanor Robinson and Lorna Richey Michael who both competed in the New York Road Runners Six Day Track Race in 1984. I realised that 1984 was a stellar year in the history of the women’s event. The record changed hands five times and women drove the distance up by 91 miles in just 8 months. There hasn’t been a year like it before or since. Six day ultras began with Victorian-era pedestria ..read more

This is part five of a series of posts about the development of women’s six day races from 1981 onwards. In 1984, the six day record changed hands five times. Four women extended the distance by 91 miles that year. The first was British ultrarunner Christine Barrett at Stoke-on-Trent. This is the story of the second woman to set the record that year, American Mary Hanudel.  Mary Hanudel – June 1984 – Pennsauken New Jersey Hanudel competing in the six day race, Ultrarunning magazine Mary Hanudel (born 1960) was just 24 when she set a new six day record at the Edward Payson Weston ..read more

This is part four of a series of posts about the development of women’s six day races from 1981 onwards. The series documents the women who set the world record for six days. In 1981, Marcy Schwam of the USA became the first woman to compete in a six day race since the revival of the format in 1980. Her “new era” record of 384 miles was broken in 1982 by 23-year-old British runner, Ros Paul, with a distance of 407 miles 741 yards. In 1983, Eleanor Adams extended the record a little when she ran 409 miles 1178 yards. 1984 was the stellar year for women’s six day racing. The rec ..read more

This is part three of a series of posts about the development of women’s six day races from 1981 onwards. The series documents the women who set the world record for six days. In 1981, Marcy Schwam of the USA became the first woman to compete in a six day race since the revival of the format in 1980. Her “new era” record of 384 miles stood for just over a year. For the next two years, Nottingham was the place where the record was rewritten. Firstly, in 1982, when 23-year-old British runner, Ros Paul, broke Schwam’s record with a distance of 407 miles 741 yards. Secondly, in 1983, when Elean ..read more

On Monday 1st May 2023 ultrarunning adventurer Nikki Love embarked on an epic 4000km run across Australia from Perth to Sydney. This is the second part of my interview with Nikki in which she talks about her distance goals, the dangers she encountered on the roads and the final day of the run. Her route started at Cottesloe Beach in Perth and finished at Bondi Beach in Sydney on Sunday 16th July. Nikki’s time was 76 days 3 hours and 43 minutes. Read the first part of the interview which covers the build-up to Nikki’s run across Australia, the start of the run, the practicalities of making it ..read more

The more I thought about 2023, the more I realised that lots happened this year. My sports history research in particular has led to new experiences and opportunities. I’ve made enriching connections with other people with an interest in women’s history and sports history. 2023 has also been a year of loss and absence. I have lost someone who was very dear to me and almost lost my sense of being a runner. These are three of my 2023 reflections. 2023 reflections - getting a postcard I used to send lots of postcards, often when I was travelling on holiday. Postcards used to be cheaper to s ..read more

Stephen Lane’s book “Long Run to Glory” is timely. The Paris 2024 Olympic Games will mark the fortieth anniversary of the first women’s marathon at the Olympics. The race was held at the Los Angeles games on 5th August 1984. It was 88 years since the first men’s marathon at the inaugural Olympiade. Long Run to Glory gives us an extended narrative of the events that led to the first Olympic Marathon and a detailed account of the race. Several books have covered parts of the story. For example, Kathrine Switzer’s memoir “Marathon Woman – running the race to revolutionise women’s sports” and Ja ..read more

On Monday 1st May 2023 ultrarunning adventurer Nikki Love embarked on an epic 4000km run across Australia, realising a long-held dream. When she set off from Cottesloe Beach in Perth, Nikki could not know that she could make it to the finish at Bondi Beach in Sydney. Her preparation in the three months before had not gone well. In the first part of this interview, we talk about the build-up to Nikki’s run across Austrlia, the start of the run, the practicalities of making it work and the challenges involved. Nikki talks about her ability to draw on her life experience and running experience ..read more

In January I had the pleasure of meeting British ultrarunner Sophie Power for the first time. I attended her talk about the She Races campaign at the National Running Show in Birmingham and introduced myself afterwards. Sophie mentioned that she was planning to compete in the Crawley 24 Hour Track Race in April in a bid to qualify for the British team for the International Association of Ultrarunners (IAU) 24 Hour World Championship. She also said that other elite British ultrarunners were going to be at the race. This sparked the idea of volunteering at the race. Later that day I bumped int ..read more

The history of women’s six day ultra races has been overshadowed by the focus on the men’s record. The impetus for writing this series of posts came from interviewing Eleanor Robinson and Lorna Richey Michael (interview to be published soon) about their involvement in New York Road Runners Six Day Track Race in 1984. When researching Richey Michael’s story, I realised that 1984 was a stellar year in the history of the women’s event. It was the year when the record changed hands five times and women drove the distance up by 92 miles in just 8 months. There hasn’t been a year like it before or ..read more