Woman wins Ultramarathon

[MsVanillaRoseAuntof7]

www.bbc.co.uk/sport/athletics/46906115

But, you were saying women can't hope to win against men in sport? Anyway, yay for Jasmin and little Rowan!

Oh bore off. Even if this was representative of most sport (it's not, ultrarunning is very different) this is still the only time a woman has EVER won this particular race and it's so unusual as to be newsworthy.

Is there a prize for the dumbest opening post on mumsnet?

Cos i reckon this one is in with a great chance of first prize

Ha ha, I KNEW someone would start a thread like this!

Whoa, Rufus, you don't want people to think y'all are ableist, do you?

Oh look, a woman won something
Shall we celebrate that and congratulate her or shall we use her amazing achievement to further our own twisted agenda?

An amazing effort! I knew being used to lack of sleep had to come in useful somehow.

There are a number of examples of women being successful in ultra-endurance events.

Here's another inspiring woman

That said, the success of women in a very specific niche sport that is not based purely on physical strength does not make it ok Laurel Hubbard or Hannah Mouncey to beat up women.

Nor does it mean necessarily that women are better at ultra-endurance - the issue here is that it's an incredibly particular sport with a small field where you get 50 year olds and so on who are clearly NOT in their physical prime, so with such a small field and self selection, you can't really draw any conclusions.

Whoa, Rufus, you don't want people to think y'all are ableist, do you?

I honestly dont care

Where is the y'all from...are you actually American

Is it just americans who say that?

Plus i am all for the equal opportunities on here

And you absolutely deserve to win

Fingers crossed for you...

Is it just americans who say that?

It’s widely used in TRA circles and is another example of social contagion.

Wow that is an absolutely phenomenal achievement!

I've been following the live tracker of this event all week, as I do every year, and I knew as soon as it was obvious that Jasmin was going to smash it that it would be used as evidence that women are as fast as men (when of course it demonstrates no such thing).

This isn't the first place I've seen it mentioned in that context.

It's actually well established that the gap between male and female performance narrows the longer the distance. Whether this is because it becomes about mental fortitude as well, I couldn't say. You do sometimes see women winning ultras outright in a way you would simply never see at a road marathon, for example. Even so, men still do win most ultras.

By the way, Jasmin holds the ladies record for the Bob Graham round, at 15 hrs 24. To put this into perspective, the men's record is 12 hrs 52.

FFS.

I could enter a race (of any length, I'm not fussy) against my Dad and all his similarly octogenarian mates and I'd beat them easily.

Come back when you've got some stats to show that women can beat men of the same age group in Olympic athletics events. We'll wait.

Extreme ultra marathons are as much about wanting to take part and having the psychological will to continue as physical strength. As QuietContrary says very few people do them because they are so hard. Hallucinations and blindness are part of the deal.

deadspin.com/ultrarunner-courtney-dauwalter-explains-why-she-runs-th-1826672881

Women also win single handed sailing races and compete and win in one of the most dangerous sports, horse riding. So yes, when winning is about what goes on inside your head, not how strong your biceps are, women can compete against men.

Unfortunately some people want to segregate sport according to 'identity' and ignore the physical differences between men and women. That doesn't work in 100m races, whatever the 'allsorts' pack says.

Well I for one am going to take this as proof that there are no real differences in physical prowess between men and women.

This week I shall challenge DH and both my brothers to arm wrestling. If I lose I will be reassured that it was down to my mindset and is nothing to do with biology.

I will be sure to let them know we are physically equivalent. They won't laugh. Oh no.

Women have more stamina and better endurance than men, scientists have found.
Researchers at the University of British Columbia in Canada found that men are bigger and more powerful but women outlast them in the most gruelling tasks.
www.standard.co.uk/news/health/women-have-better-endurance-than-men-scientists-find-a3619871.html

www.standard.co.uk/news/health/women-have-better-endurance-than-men-scientists-find-a3619871.html

I recall that pregnancy can have a significant impact on a woman's body as it adds capacity to the circulatory system so this great woman's achievement really isn't surprising (except to those unpleasant misogynists who only wish use women to achieve their own ends)

sciencenordic.com/pregnancy-can-boost-sports-career

Earlier this year Nicky Spinks, a 51-year-old farmer, was first person to run Ramsay Round twice - 116 miles.

Not first woman. First person. At 51. After beating cancer. Total legend.

I hear women with a larger amounts of body fat tend to fare better as open water swimmers.

As PP have said, there are some biological features of male and female bodies which make them well suited to some sports... was that the point you were trying to make?

Jasmin, Leal and Nicky are all phenomenal athletes. They compete against other phenomenal athletes, some of whom are male. As other previous posters have said - at ultra distances the strength gap between male and females narrows and it becomes a mental challenge. Mixed races for shorter, explosive events would see men dominate.

Jasmin is awesome - she didn't just win, but she also stopped to express at the check points !

The race is still going on, by the way - she was just interviewed on Jeremy Vine

(Still doesn't mean that all events should be mixed sex )