Going To Extremes

Forget the ‘humble’ marathon, women are going ultra with their fitness goals by pushing themselves harder than ever. Katie Mulloy reports on a new thirst for challenge.

- Katie Mulloy

At some point, everything hits avocado-on-toast status – too mainstream to be impressive, and so the marathon, a mere 26.2 miles of sweat, tears and blisters, may be at such an impasse. Our lust for a long-distance challenge has moved on and going ultra is the new social currency. ‘Seeing how impressed people are when you say you’ve completed an Ironman [a 2.4-mile swim, 112-mile cycle, and a marathon] makes you feel good about yourself,’ says Sarah Grant, 38, a paramedic from County Durham who first attempted the extreme triathlon in 2016.

And while extreme fitness is still male-dominated, things are changing. Around a third of Ironman World Championships competitors are women, a figure that tallies with Triathlon England’s membership – the number of British women joining has increased by 230 per cent since 2009. Davina McCall completed a gruelling 500mile triathlon in 2014 for Sport Relief and, last summer, a group of six female teenagers from London became the youngest relay team to swim the Channel. We’re being inspired to test our endurance harder than ever before.