Ultrarunner Lucy Bartholomew made operating and triathlon historical past on Sunday, changing into best the second one girl ever to complete the 171-kilometre Extremely-Path du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) in addition to the Ironman Global Championships in the similar 12 months.
Replace right here: @lucybartholomoo effectively finished the UTMB-Kona double, the primary Australian and the second one feminine to have accomplished this double!
Lucy completed in 10:43:41 at Kona, just right for twenty ninth in her AG, and 215th OA. Unbelievable! #UTMB #ironman https://t.co/UOcNvEA1vW
— Liam (@aidstationfireb) October 15, 2023
Bartholomew ran remarkably smartly at each occasions, taking a tenth-place end at UTMB in 27:39:22, and finishing what used to be best her 2d Ironman in 10:43:41, with a three:31 marathon time. The double–just about 400 kilometres of difficult racing–has best been conquered via one girl ahead of Bartholomew: Eire’s Diana Hogan-Murphy, in 2014. Bartholomew could also be the quickest individual of any gender to have finished each occasions in the similar 12 months.
Bartholomew shot to repute within the ultrarunning international in 2018, when she used to be the 3rd feminine on the Western States 100. The runner shared on social media that she misplaced one of the crucial pleasure in racing within the years following her WSER podium, and after her 2022 race led to a DNF, she wasn’t positive if she’d race 100 miles once more.
“You display up (virtually) on a daily basis to run so that you could run much more at the race day, end and now not have the ability to run, best to need to run, after which run to assist within the improving of the operating and to organize for extra operating,” Bartholomew defined. “To take myself out of this cycle I made up our minds to tick a bucket listing thought to do an IRONMAN triathlon. It used to be a ‘sooner or later, at some point’ goal that I pulled ahead to lend a hand pull me out of feeling caught.”
Bartholomew’s first Ironman, in Western Australia in December 2022, certified her for the Kona Global Championship match in Hawaii. Whilst the runner had best deliberate to finish one Ironman, she felt she couldn’t omit the chance to race in Hawaii. “Now not being one that steps down from a problem, it appeared proper to head another,” she stated.
“I’ve swum, biked and run my technique to unbelievable restoration from UTMB and average triathlon health for Kona,” Bartholomew stated pre-race. “It used to be a amusing, high-quality stability to play with those two giant occasions so shut to one another.”
Watch the street to Bartholomew’s first Ironman on YouTube:
