Lizzy Hawker dominates at second Commonwealth Mountain and Ultradistance Running Championships
The Commonwealth Mountain and Ultradistance Running Championships, a biennial event founded back in 2009, observed the commencement of its second edition on September 23, 2011. The three-day event, which is organised by the Commonwealth Games Foundation
this year, took place in North Wales. The running championships observed performances of athletes in three major events, which were the 24-Hour ultra run, Up and Down Mountain race and the 53km Trail run.
In the 24-hour ultra run that kicked-off in Llandudno on 23-24 September, English player, Lizzy Hawker overcame the world’s best 24-hour performance ever displayed by a woman. While running at the Commonwealth Mountain and Ultra Distance track, the strenuous
runner overdid the previous record by 3.423km. As the race concluded, spectators were rightly calling the splendid finisher superwoman.
Llandudno has observed a number of commendable performances, however, the way the thin English girl smashed the record that stood firm in its place for last 18 years and that too, with a huge margin of over three km was simply overawing. The 24-hour quest
of the athlete culminated in her covering an impressive distance of 246.4080km. The previous record, marked by German athlete, Sigrid Lomsky back in 1993, stood at 243.657km.
The interesting fact about the run and Lizzy’s performance was that she was running in her debut race over the discipline, and still she managed to observe a finish that was even ahead of her men counterpart. John Pares, the male counterpart of the English
girl, bagged the event gold medal in the Men’s race. However, he too finished three km short of Hawker.
While commenting on how he felt in being a part of the race which observed a women’s world’s best performance, Pares said, “It was an honour to have been in the same race as Lizzy. She is a world class athlete – Superwoman! I stopped for a massage at midnight
and she went past me. Then I had to decide whether or not to try to beat her and blow my chances of the gold medal, and just concentrate on my own race.”
The title winner of the men’s race made it clear that he had already run further than the girl twice in the same event, however, to him, she had been simply inspiring throughout the two-day run.
While commenting upon her inspiring performance, the 35-year-old Hawker said, “I really didn’t know what to expect because it was my first race over the distance on the road. I didn’t have any huge expectations going into the race. It was just a case of
staying fully focused and blocking out the pain. It did hurt – a lot –but I’m really pleased to have won and taken the world best.”
The English athlete said that she felt great by proving that even a woman athlete could beat her men counterparts in a strenuous event like the Commonwealth Mountain and Ultradistance Running Championships.
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