Wildstrubel Ultramarathon for Women in Sports

Movement and sports have served as an outlet to destress, challenge ourselves physically and mentally, and as a space to socialise where lasting relationships are built.

Although Caroline and I acknowledge the privilege we’ve experienced in not facing many barriers that some girls and women do in sports, we’ve felt the effect internalised misogyny has had on our willingness to explore the limits of our capabilities. And so, we are taking action to address feeling out of place within sports and the wider mountain sports community because of our gender, and that there isn’t space for us. It’s important to us that other women, non-binary and trans folk feel that the space for us to exist within sports is intentionally held, which is why we chose to raise money for Women In Sport. Their purpose is to create lasting change for women and girls in sports and society so that no one is excluded from the joy, fulfilment, and lifelong benefits of engaging in sports.

Whilst we are trying to actively unlearn many entrenched rhetoric about our capabilities and strength, it’s empowering to embody and facilitate the change in sports that we want to become the norm.

The respect that mountains demand and the connection with nature at the heart of trail running are unique and facilitate a less toxic competitiveness. We bonded over this sentiment the first time we met while on a run in October, and two weeks later, set our sights on completing a physical and mental challenge together.

On September 16th, Caroline and I will be enjoying the mountain pastures of the Oberland and arriving in the heart of Crans-Montana after covering 50km with 3300m of elevation gain during the UTMB Wildstrubel Ultramarathon in Switzerland.

We hope that through our conversations with friends and family about our training, we can serve as examples, demonstrating the benefits of participating in sports and choosing strength over trying to take up less space.