SUSIE CHAN

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To many of the running Twitterati, Susie Chan and endurance go together like ham and eggs, Bogie and Bacall, blisters and marathons. In just six years the 42-year-old mother of one has gone from not running at all to becoming – arguably – the face of British amateur ultra running. In 2011 Chan was signed up to a half marathon by her brother, which she finished in 2:17, becoming bitten by the bug in the process. From there she worked her way up through the distances and has now racked up three Marathon Des Sables finishes, completed the 230km Jungle Ultra Marathon through the Amazon and snaffled a Guinness World Record for the furthest distance run on a treadmill in 12 hours (68.54 miles) – and that’s just a few of her achievements. Throughout she has enthusiastically chronicled her journey on social media, entertaining her following with heart-onsleeve musings, jokes, moans, trademark on-the-run selfies, midrace rants from deep inside multi-day ultras, as well as daily updates from her bulldog, Roy, who has his own Instagram account. This dedication to connecting with other runners of all levels (Chan estimates she spends over three hours a day posting online) has led to offers of work from brands and events, as well as invitations to run yet more races all over the world. One of these, will be the Badwater Ultra Marathon, a 135-mile slog through Death Valley, California, in temperatures that reach 130F. Susie will tackle this in 2019. Loads of time to train.