WHAT DOES IT TAKE FOR THE WOMEN?

By Kate Dzienis

This past weekend at the Lighthorse Ultra 12-hour in WA, three female AURA members secured podium finishes for the women’s division, with two of the three defending their titles and one a relatively new runner. Margie Hadley, Jen Millum, and Sophee Gregory took first, second and third ladies’ positions respectively, and showed the guts and determination needed to secure their distances.

Hadley, from Henley Brook, defended her title for the third year running as first female with 123.49kms and third overall. Last year, she took first overall with 127.10kms, and racers – both men and women – heading into the event this year knew she was a contender they had to watch out for. Hadley is vicious in her training, and always steps up to the plate with guts on race day.

But if you know Hadley, then you’ll know what makes her an even more resilient ultra runner is her unpretentious nature.

“I’m happy with defending my title, and making it on the podium is always a great feeling, but my focus was on distance not placing,” she explains.

“I felt okay; not as prepared or in quite as good form as last year though. I haven’t had the lead up that I would have liked with a plantar plate injury to my left foot, but as always my awesome coach, who doubles as my crew, helped motivate me to keep going as well as the other runners, volunteers and supporters.”

Hadley averaged a 5:47/km pace throughout the day and walked away happy with her achievement.

Karnup runner Millum also defended her title with this year’s second female placing (110.47kms), and looked in strong form as she took on 45 laps of the 2.5km loop course at Yellagonga Regional Park.

She too is also known to dominate WA ultra events, and has cracked onto the scene with gutsy performances, including podium finishes at most of her races. Her strategy takes on board the philosophy of positivity to get her through the hard yards.

“Physically my training had been good; I’d increased my weekly mileage considerably and was feeling very comfortable,” she says.

“Forty-eight hours before the event, my house had been vandalised and trashed, but funnily enough whilst cleaning up, all I could focus on was the fact that at least I could still run at Lighthorse – so mentally, I was more than ready.”

For someone relatively new to the sport, Gregory from Nollamara has come into ultra running with her hands swinging and forces up. Her training in the lead up to Lighthorse was consistent and on target, with plenty of cycling and strength work.

Mentally, she hadn’t done a time race before so nerves kicked in early, but it didn’t stop her from securing third place for the ladies with 99.70kms.

“I really struggled in the early hours of the morning (midnight start for the 12-hour participants), and because this was my first night race I figured it was normal to feel fatigue,” she reveals.

“By 4am, I couldn’t go any further safely; I’d taken a fall and had started sleep walking, waking myself up tripping over my own feet. It had also gotten really cold and I had slowed down so much I was freezing.

“Once I had some caffeine though, and the sun came up, I had an incredible second wind; my mood improved, and I could pick up the pace.”

This was Gregory’s point of excitement because as everyone else was slowing down, she felt like she had just started with fresh legs.

Hadley, Millum and Gregory each have their own strengths, their own goals, and their own steps in dealing with the discomfort that comes with endurance running, but either way, they are today and tomorrow inspiring more women to aim high and get into a sport that is life changing.