Trail News: Abby Hall, New Western States Champion
Mountains were moved last week - ending June on a high!
Welcome to Trail News, this is the natural evolution of the Monday Instagram Post . I’ll share what’s caught my eye in the women trail news, & next events to follow. Thanks for being here and if you enjoy reading, please share far and wide to others that might enjoy it too!
News
Sarah Kelly took on another impressive swim-run challenge this week-end in Snowdonia: the Puddle Buckley Round - featuring a 64km run, 16 summits, over 5,000m of elevation gain, and swims across four lakes. After 19h38m she became the first solo female to complete the round — and set the fastest women's time in the process. Outstanding achievement!
In the beautiful Dolomites mountains, Lavaredo was all happening too and Courtney Dauwalter claimed victory in the 120km race with a commanding performance and a big smile.
Western States - what a race, the women race was super exciting! Abby Hall took the win hard-fought comeback, followed by Fuzhao Xiang in 2nd and Marianne Hogan in 3rd. Ida Nilsson claimed 4th, and UK favourite Fiona Pascall made an awesome late-race charge to finish 5th!
If you don’t know Abby, she came back from a brutal injury in 2023, chased a golden ticket this year but it didn’t happen, so when she announced she will be on the start line of Western States in April, with one of the golden tickets rolling down to her, she said:
“I believe we end up exactly where we’re meant to be, and I truly believe this is where I’m supposed to be this year. keep betting on yourself, keep being scrappy, and don’t throw in the towel. you never know what might be waiting for you”
Over in the Alps fast women were running the Marathon du Mont Blanc with Naomi Lang taking 3rd from the UK on the 42km distance.
Also in the Alps, Lise Wortley made it to the summit of Mont Blanc as part of her work to highlight the first woman to climb the mountain unaided in 1838 ! Her and her team walked to the top of the Mont Blanc, via the original Grand Mulets route taken by Henriette d’Angeville.
What to watch next:
Coming up, we have the Oslo Bergen Trail with 4 different distances: 37km, 130km, 300km or 500km. Sanna & Lina, the awesome athletes and Swedish twins, are taking on the 500km as a team. I can’t wait to follow their journey and adventure!
Weekly Reminder:
Thoughts? Things you would like me to cover? Reply to this email or reach out via instagram!