Nursing mother destroys previous men's record for 268-mile race by 12 hours
Jasmin Paris didn’t just win the grueling Montane Spine Race, a 268-mile race through the United Kingdom — she absolutely smashed the men’s record. And she did so while expressing breast milk.
Paris became the first woman to win the race, according to Runners World. The 35-year-old ultra-runner, who studies acute myeloid leukemia at the University of Edinburgh when she’s not running, finished the brutal race in just over 83 hours, beating the previous record by more than 12 hours.
She left frozen breast milk at home for her 14-month-old daughter, Rowan, but needed to express milk during the race to prevent mastitis, as BBC reports.
“At the first checkpoint, it slowed me down a lot and I had to hurry afterwards to catch back up,” Paris told The Guardian. But she produced less milk as the race progressed, so expressing didn’t take as long. “In the end,” she said, “it was less of a problem than I’d feared.”
People around the world were blown away by her tenacity, including former first daughter Chelsea Clinton.
Incredible story: Jasmin Paris becomes first woman to win 286-mile Montane Spine Race – breaking record by 12 hours! AND she expressed milk for her baby daughter along the way. Inspiration. https://t.co/65NYY61LdX
— Chelsea Clinton (@ChelseaClinton) January 17, 2019
This is truly epic. Woman wins mixed (men and women) 286 mile ultramarathon, EVEN THOUGH SHE STOPPED TO PUMP BREAST MILK on the way. Jasmin Paris 🙌🙌🙌 https://t.co/Q0xPWRroWp
— Emma Graham-Harrison (@_EmmaGH) January 17, 2019
I'm in awe of Jasmin Paris who last night won what is arguably Britain's toughest endurance race. 268 miles over mountainous terrain. And smashed the record by *12* hrs. Oh, and did I say she did this with almost no sleep and expressing milk for her 1-year old. #spinerace
— Mike Bentley (@MikeBDurham) January 17, 2019
Paris and her 136 opponents battled 50-mile-per-hour winds and rain as they ran from Derbyshire to the Scottish borders. In the 83 hours Paris was running, she reportedly only spent seven hours eating, sleeping, packing her kit and expressing breast milk.
Paris’ sponsor, athletic gear company inov-8, called her achievement “one of the greatest stories” in the sport.
“She is not a professional, full-time athlete, but instead a down-to-earth, modest mum-of-one with an incredible talent and phenomenal strength, both physically and mentally,” inov-8 ambassador team manager Lee Procter told the BBC. “What she has achieved in this race in beating everyone of both sexes and setting a new overall course record is one of the greatest stories in the history of ultra-running as a sport.”
And now that the race is over, Paris has a thesis to write.
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