Any of us who have run with (or in my case behind) Emma Funnell know that she is one of our best lady runners. However she’s really outdone herself this time! Huge well done to Emma for not only completing her first ultra race, but being the winning lady, and second home overall!
A big well done from all of us at Lichfield Running Club Emma. Her report is below. (Emma is on the left!)
“The race was called the 50 Mile Challenge, run by a small company called Challenge Hub, in Kent.
The challenge I did was that we had 15 hours to run/walk/crawl your way through as much of the 52.9 mile course as you could. It was made up of 8 x 6.6 mile laps around a couple of farms, mostly off-road, in a wonky figure-eight pattern. The organizers were fantastic – really kind, super supportive and totally dedicated – they were all there from before 6am (when the run started) to after 9pm (when the race finished). We were given loads of encouragement and training tips to help us get through. The majority of the 87/100 people who entered completed the whole thing, but you had the option to stop and back out at any time and everyone was made to feel a winner regardless of when they finished and how far they managed. The run attracted all sorts of people with all sorts of ages. Some walked the whole way, one man dragged a tyre with him the whole way – he was training for a sled race in the Arctic later on this year! Everyone was super friendly and we all helped each other out.
It was my first official ultra and I had never run that far before (previous longest having been 33miles) – so I had no idea what to expect or how I would feel during or after. I got there early evening the night before and camped at the run “base” – with some others! I kept to a steady, slower pace than usual during the run and was surprised to find that I could keep it up indefinitely without feeling any sort of fatigue at any point. I felt no pains or stiffness of any kind all the way through, and I made sure to keep hydrated and filled with food as I went along – easy to do with all the snack stations at different points along the course! The loops were uneven with some hills, but nothing like Eastern Avenue! It was mostly really sunny throughout the run, but with an hour of pouring rain near the start, which personally I enjoyed as it was more like running back in Lichfield temperatures!
I finished in a much quicker time than I expected to: 9 hours 15 mins. Shockingly, I was the first woman home and set a new course record!! I was also the second person home overall!!”
A massive achievement – well done Emma! If you would like to find out more about this race, visit http://www.challengehub.co.uk/about-challenges/about-50-mile-challenge.