Ultrarunning super mum's inspirational message to women as she breaks huge second record
Inspirational ultrarunner Sophie Power is hoping her record-breaking successes will get more women on the starting line.
The UK mum-of-three is an absolute POWERhouse… pardon the pun.
She wants to inspire other women and girls to reconsider their limits and achieve incredible things, just like she has.
The 42-year-old first entered the record books last year when she ran across an entire country.
Sophie running along a road in Ireland
Sophie completed the fastest crossing of Ireland on foot (female) in just 3 days 12 hr 8 min.
She ran over 100 miles every day and slept for less than three hours the entire time.
Not one to rest on her laurels, Sophie was back at it in January to break the record for greatest distance run on a treadmill in 48 hours (female).
At the National Running Show in Birmingham, she ran for 370.90 km (230.46 mi).
Sophie, who founded initiative SheRACES to support female athletes, told us: “When I was running across Ireland, so many people came to run with me and shared how my run made them feel they could take on their own challenge.
“I wanted to do something more public to share that with more people in person - over 30,000 people attend the National Running Show! I knew it would be a great way to raise money for SheRACES and share the work we are doing to get more women on start lines, taking on challenges – and even breaking records!”
Sophie, who shares sons Donnacha, 10, and Cormac, six, and daughter Saoirse, four, with husband John, also used her latest attempt to help further research into female physiology.
She said: “A team from Liverpool John Moores University led by Dr Jamie Pugh analysed all of my data every hour – only 6% of Sports Science is exclusively conducted on women and we need to see this increase!”
Sophie in Ireland
Sophie, who is also a company advisor, speaker and charity trustee, drew quite the crowd as she racked up the miles on her treadmill.
Even legendary long distance runner Sir Mo Farah stopped by to cheer her on.
But her biggest supporters were her children, who ran alongside her for some of her attempt.
It was actually little Saoirse’s first time on a treadmill.
Sir Mo Farah visits Sophie while she runs on a treadmill
“When I needed to squeeze a workout in while looking after her she loved hanging out in the gym we have at home with me so it felt like a team effort,” Sophie explained.
“Having a daughter drives me so much harder to remove barriers to girls in sport and every time I see her so happy being active she inspires me to keep going.”
Her kids, who could soon become record holders themselves thanks to a river clean up they’re doing in Wales later this month, have been with her every step of the way.
Sophie chose Ireland as the setting for her first record in tribute to her husband, who hails from Cork.
Sophie at the start and end of her run across Ireland
As the family now lives in England, it was an opportunity for her and the kids to learn more about her husband’s homeland.
And while he and the boys followed her in a campervan, Saoirse was staying with her grandparents near the finish line, urging Sophie to run all that quicker to get back to her little girl.
She said: “It was so personal to John and the kids and I assembled a brilliant crew – as well as having so many people join me on the roads as I ran sharing their stories. I ran past schools with kids shouting my name holding up signs encouraging me. I’m not sure I’ll ever experience something like that again!”
Unfortunately, the attention Sophie has received hasn’t always been positive.
Sophie during her record treadmill run
A few years ago, a beautiful image of her breastfeeding her youngest son in a quiet corner at an ultrarunning event went viral.
While the general reaction was admiration and positivity, there were a small number of people who threw criticism her way.
Some told her “put your boobs away” and others suggested she was “selfish” for breastfeeding her baby at an event where she impressively ran 106 miles just three months after giving birth.
Looking back on it, she told us: “I wouldn’t focus on the backlash as that was only a few voices. The reason it went viral around the world was that it spoke to so many women on so many different levels.
“It spoke of the struggle we face as mothers to keep a sense of self, to still have our own goals, to regain ourselves both physically and mentally. It was a visual representation of the juggle we face every day to be a mother and live our lives – as well as raising the sad issue that many women don’t feel comfortable breastfeeding in public.”
She added: “For me it was a wake-up call. I then had a platform under my Instagram (@ultra_sophie) and I’ve dedicated myself since to advocating for women in sport, including founding SheRACES to get more women on start lines – and able to defer entries for pregnancy!”
Now a double record holder, Sophie is proud of the message she can send to other women through her online platform.
When asked what advice she’d give to women, including new mothers, who want to take up running but may fear it’s too late, she said: “It’s never too late! In fact the older we are the more important it is to keep our fitness and for women especially to strength train.
“I want to keep being able to take on adventures into later life – and keep up with my kids as long as possible! It doesn’t have to involve an expensive gym membership or lots of kit – I use my kids as weights in a lot of my training so I can do it at the park or in the kitchen.”
Sophie is a super mum and she's Officially Amazing.
She added: “A huge thank you to the National Running Show for giving me the platform to do the challenge, to Kate Strong (also an endurance Guinness World Records title holder for the greatest virtual distance on a static cycle in one hour (female)) for being Chief Crew and to everyone who came to support me and donated to SheRACES during the challenge.
“Donations are still open here.”
