In her debut at the daunting 100K distance last weekend at the Anglo Celtic Plate 100K race in Northern Ireland, Sarah Webster set a new British record of 7:03:40, taking a whopping 23 minutes off the former record set by ultramarathoner Carolyn Hunter-Rowe in 1993, according to Athletics Weekly.
Not only did the 43-year-old athlete smash the British record, but she clocked the fifth-best time in the world — ever — in the 62.13-mile distance. Her finish was also the second fastest recorded European time, after Dominika Stellmach’s 6:53:20. Only nine competitors on the men’s side broke seven hours and finished ahead of Webster.
The race, which also acted as the British Athletics 100K Championship and the national championships of Scotland, Ireland, Northern Ireland, and Ulster, was held on a tarmac course around a lake, featured 21 full loops plus a 250-meter dash to the finish line. Some onlookers reportedly doubted Webster could hold the ripping pace she set out with, but she maintained her speed lap after lap, only slowing on the last two circuits, and finishing over a full hour ahead of the women’s race runner-up.
Webster, who runs for Northern Isle of Man Athletics Club — and lives and trains on the island in the Irish Sea, between England and Ireland — placed second in the mass race at the 2021 London Marathon, with a 2:41:24 finish that secured her qualifying standard for the following year’s Commonwealth Games.
She’s from a family of runners and has been at it since she was eight years old, but gave up the sport during her college years and didn’t pick it back up until her daughter was born, “with encouragement from my husband who really didn’t know what he was getting himself in for,” she Webster has the running world’s attention. As Welsh distance runner Super shoes race well for this long, says science.
Webster has the running world’s attention. As Welsh distance runner, Mike McGeoch, said in a comment on her race results, “Brilliant run, Sarah! … I think you’ve got the ultra world at your feet!”
