Jo races to PB at world champs!
ULTRA runner Jo Murphy has achieved an “incredible” personal best on her way to helping Great Britain and Northern Ireland to a fifthplace World Championship finish.
The Crossgates competitor travelled to
Berlin to compete at the IAU (International Association of Ultra runners) 100K World Championships, which took place on Saturday, and placed 14th overall in the women’s race.
Jo, who was competing at the event for the first time, had secured her qualification, and place in the GB team, by winning the Scottish and British 100K titles at the Anglo Celtic Plate competition, in Perth, in April, in which she set a new female course record of seven hours, 41 minutes and 12 seconds.
Despite muggy weather conditions on the day, she completed the course in a time of 7:38.10, surpassing the previous best set at the Anglo Celtic Plate, which, together with runs from Caroline Turner and Amy Sarkies, who also ran PBs, saw them finish fifth in the team event.
Speaking to Press Sport, an elated Jo said: “It was incredible. It was warm, it was muggy, but it never got to the roasting temperatures that I think it had been in Berlin the week before so we were really lucky in that respect.
“I felt on top of nutrition, food, fuel, and felt pretty strong the whole race, to be honest.
“I set off at probably a similar pace to Perth, just wanting to bank a good
50K, at a pace I thought, if I maintain this through the race, great, I’ll be happy with that finish time. But I think I kicked on a bit in the second half and I started to overtake people, which always fuels me up.
“I didn’t think anything could top the experience I had at Perth but this was next level. This was Perth on steroids!
“It was amazing. It was just so nice to be mixing with the best in the world. The pace from those at the front was incredible. The girl who won it, she was finishing her last lap on the last 800 metres when I still had a lap to go. I was four-and-a-half, five miles behind her, so the competition was really hot. It was just amazing to be part of.”
Jo’s efforts have also taken her to fifth in the all-time UK rankings and she added: “I never actually realised that I was on myself for a PB until probably the last lap.
“Everybody had worked to the best of their ability on the day and it was nice, you could feel it, a proper team feel to it.”