Ultrarunner Lucy Bartholomew made operating and triathlon historical past on Sunday, changing into solely the second lady ever to complete the 171-kilometre Extremely-Path du Mont-Blanc (UTMB) in addition to the Ironman World Championships in the identical 12 months.

Replace right here: @lucybartholomoo efficiently accomplished the UTMB-Kona double, the primary Australian and the second feminine to have carried out this double!

Lucy completed in 10:43:41 at Kona, good for twenty ninth in her AG, and 215th OA. Unbelievable! #UTMB #ironman https://t.co/UOcNvEA1vW

— Liam (@aidstationfireb) October 15, 2023

Bartholomew ran remarkably nicely at each occasions, taking a tenth-place end at UTMB in 27:39:22, and finishing what was solely her second Ironman in 10:43:41, with a 3:31 marathon time. The double–almost 400 kilometres of difficult racing–has solely been conquered by one lady earlier than Bartholomew: Eire’s Diana Hogan-Murphy, in 2014. Bartholomew can also be the quickest individual of any gender to have accomplished each occasions in the identical 12 months.

Bartholomew shot to fame within the ultrarunning world in 2018, when she was the third feminine on the Western States 100. The runner shared on social media that she misplaced among the pleasure in racing within the years following her WSER podium, and after her 2022 race led to a DNF, she wasn’t certain if she’d race 100 miles once more.

“You present up (nearly) daily to run so as to run much more on the race day, end and never have the ability to run, solely to need to run, after which run to assist within the recovering of the operating and to arrange for extra operating,” Bartholomew defined. “To take myself out of this cycle I made a decision to tick a bucket checklist thought to do an IRONMAN triathlon. It was a ‘in the future, sometime’ goal that I pulled ahead to assist pull me out of feeling caught.”

Bartholomew’s first Ironman, in Western Australia in December 2022, certified her for the Kona World Championship occasion in Hawaii. Whereas the runner had solely deliberate to finish one Ironman, she felt she couldn’t miss the chance to race in Hawaii. “Not being one who steps down from a problem, it appeared proper to go yet one more,” she mentioned.

“I’ve swum, biked and run my method to improbable restoration from UTMB and average triathlon health for Kona,” Bartholomew mentioned pre-race. “It was a enjoyable, nice steadiness to play with these two massive occasions so shut to one another.”

Watch the highway to Bartholomew’s first Ironman on YouTube: