You may well fancy yourself a runner. You may have even completed a few half-marathons or marathons in your time. Perhaps you’ve even done some triathlons, Tough Mudder events, or an Iron Man or two. And these are all impressive achievements. But 2 Brits have well and truly gone above and beyond to demonstrate the power of the human spirit in sporting achievement at recent ultra running marathons.
This past weekend, Londoner Ioana Barbu and Cheshire-based Alex Welch completed the truly momentous ultra running marathon, the Beyond the Ultimate Desert Ultra. But they didn’t just finish the event. Both athletes managed to set truly impressive records at the event.
Beyond the Ultimate Desert Ultra results and records
Alex Welch came first in the Men’s Race, with a commanding performance that saw him win all 5 stages of the race, as well as breaking the previous record. Welch completed the race in 24 hours, 27 minutes, 48 seconds. In doing so, he broke the previous record and smashed American ultra runner and Race Director Adam Kimble’s 2018 course time by nearly 40 minutes. Welch has now completed 3 of the 4 Global Race Series terrains, and won 2 of them.
The Women’s Race was won by Canadian Kasia Orzechowska. This is the second time that she has won the Women’s Desert Race, having broken the record back in 2019.
In second place was Ioana Barbu. Barbu may have missed out on the win, but completing the race netted her a unique credit to her name. This was the 6th ultra running marathon that Barbu has completed this year, and she is now the first person in history to finish all 6 of the Beyond the Ultimate races in a single year.
Ultra running marathons
To put this in perspective, you have to understand just how difficult these ultra running marathons are. The Beyond the Ultimate Desert Ultra event itself is a 250km self-sufficient ultra marathon that takes place in the Namibian desert, one of the most hostile in the world. Temperatures rise to above 50°C during the day, and drop to below freezing at night. 39 people started the race this year, but only 26 completed it.
But here’s where it gets even wilder. The Namibian desert event is just 1 of the events that comprise the Global Race Series, by ThruDark. The Global Race Series itself is made up of 4 ultra running marathons. And these form part of an even bigger category of races: the Beyond the Ultimate races. Altogether, there are 6 enormous events that make up this series, which are huge achievements by themselves.
Ioana Barbu finished all 6 of the Beyond the Ultimate races in a single calendar year. She is the very first person in the world to accomplish this feat. The races took her across the Arctic Circle and the Namibian desert, through the Amazon rainforest, and beyond. Altogether, she has run over 1,200 kilometres across the 6 races in the past 12 months.
Find out more about the Beyond the Ultimate races here.