Ultrarunner Sophie Power breaks 48-hour treadmill world record in bid to inspire women in sport

Endurance athlete Sophie Power might have come to running later than most, but she’s more than making up for it.

After leaving behind a career in investment banking, the British athlete jumped into the world of ultrarunning and now has two world records to her name.

She recently broke the record for the most distance covered by a woman on a treadmill in 48 hours. It follows an equally impressive feat last year, in which she became the fastest female to cross Ireland on foot.

In her latest challenge, Power covered more than 365 km (226.8 miles) across two days in January, running and hiking on a treadmill at the National Running Show in Birmingham, England.

Her achievement – which is still subject to usual ratification from Guinness World Records – was driven in part by her burning passion to improve access for women in sport.

“You need to set something slightly outside your comfort zone because, if I said I was going to do something I knew I could do, you don’t get that achievement at the finish,” she tells CNN Sport when asked how she chooses her challenges.

“Also, it’s got to be really personal, it’s got to mean something to you.”

Despite her endurance feats, Power is cautious about being a role model to others. She says inspiration can sometimes be dangerous if people do not see it in a more realistic context.

As a mother of three, who has faced barriers to entry throughout her endurance career, the 42-year-old wants to provide a more realistic picture of what sacrifices she makes in order to achieve.

“I think we put lots of pictures up of women achieving things without saying how they do things, and that only gives us that desire to do something but doesn’t say how we do it,” she says.

“It’s important to say, ‘This is my training, this is my childcare, this is my multitasking, this is what I don’t do.’ Like my house is always a mess, I don’t put makeup on in the morning, I don’t care about what I wear, I don’t watch TV, I don’t go out all the time, so there’s all stuff I don’t do, so I can do things.”

Diving into ultramarathons

Power didn’t have a conventional route to becoming an ultra-athlete. She says wasn’t sporty as a child and would finish towards the back of running races at school.

She instead dived into the world of finance, a millions miles away from her current passion, before being laid off from her job shortly after getting married. Feeling “lost” during that difficult period, Power says she traveled to Thailand to clear her head and took up kickboxing.

After two months, she returned and a friend convinced her to try the Marathon des Sables. Without any prior experiences of running such long distances, the keen hiker signed up to one of the hardest races in the world – which sees runners cover 103 miles.

It was an experience that ignited a passion and she has since run over 50 ultramarathons and “accidentally” qualified for 24-Hour World Championships last year, representing Great Britain.

“I just love being out in nature, away from things, meeting new people that I’d never meet in real life,” she says.

“I’m very angry that I missed out on decades of being active in sport, and there’s a whole generation of women that are just like me that you see picking up these endurance events.

“My goal, I guess, is to try and inspire as many of them, to give them the courage to try to do something.”

It was her passion to inspire more women to get into sport that led her to her latest treadmill challenge.

The fact it was on a treadmill made logistics a lot easier, meaning she wouldn’t have to spend time away from her family and friends. It also meant she could be more accessible, so people at the event could actually witness her break the record.

Record fueled by jam sandwiches

She started the challenge at 2:30 p.m. and says she barely slept for the first 24 hours. After the first day, she started taking short breaks, often lying down in a nearby bathroom on a tiny black mat. But her body wouldn’t allow her to sleep, in part due to the busy atmosphere at the National Running Show – a UK event which attracts thousands of visitors.

She only managed to get real rest after breaking the record the following morning, taking a well-earned break from the treadmill before hiking out the remaining time.

“It was getting very dangerous trying to run. I was so wobbly that I couldn’t run and that was the frustration. My body felt great, but I couldn’t run on that treadmill, and that was frustrating that I lost out on that distance … but I can’t not be proud of what I did, just not quitting,” she says.

Efficiently fueling such an epic feat of endurance was vitally important to keep Power healthy. Researchers from a local university monitored her body throughout the run, and she followed a diet plan which involved caffeine gels, high-sugar candy and basic carbohydrates.

But, as it turns out, the simple things in life worked best for Power.

Asked what she ate most of during her epic challenges, she pointed to the humble jam sandwich.

“They’re cheap, they go down quickly and they sit in your stomach,” she says. “White bread, no crusts. It’s very specific.”

Breaking down barriers to entry

Recovery is now Power’s next challenge, admitting she struggled to sleep in the days that followed the 48-hour treadmill run.

It will also allow her time to focus on her charity, SheRACES, which was set up to improve conditions for women wanting to compete in races.

In 2018, Power rose to prominence after a picture of her at the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc went viral. The photo showed her breastfeeding her three-month-old baby during the 106-mile race, as a male competitor lay slumped on the floor.

It highlighted the need for better facilities for women at such races and inspired Power to set up her foundation which aims to help organizers understand how to make events more inclusive and assist brands in understanding how events they sponsor can support female athletes, across all levels of ability.

In the coming years, it is planning to hold a women-only trail running series across the UK, showcasing how races can better cater for female athletes.

“My goal wasn’t the record,” she says, speaking about why she chose to complete the 48-hour treadmill run.

“My goal was connecting with people, and so I didn’t put it in the optimal environment. I lost time because of it, but I got the outcome I wanted, and the record will go, I don’t care. The impact has been made, and that’s the most important thing.

“I had all these little girls on the treadmill next to me watching, and I was thinking, ‘They are reassessing what they think women can do.’”

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