71 Yr Old Gunhild Swanson Becomes 1st 70+ Woman To Finish 100 mile Western States (Read 174 times)

In the "I Hope I'm This Badass When I'm 71" department:

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-3144047/71-year-old-Gunhild-Swanson-finished-100-mile-ultramarathon.html

My family is SO TIRED of hearing about Gunhild!  What an absolutely amazing story.

Below is what I wrote about this elsewhere.

The runner I paced, Mark Cliggett, wrote essentially the same thing, but more thoroughly:

https://pointlenana.wordpress.com/2015/06/30/gunhild-swanson-dfl/

And yeah, she's 70 (71 in two weeks).

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29:59:54?  Six seconds to spare as she was coming around the track?  I think I may start crying. I met her in Washington in 2007. Everyone had such respect for her and bragged about how she had won the Tahoe Triple (three marathons in three days around Lake Tahoe) a few years earlier. She is extraordinary.

That was the most amazing thing I have ever seen. Definitely the most dramatic finish at Western States, ever, and there have been plenty of dramatic finishes. This was really unbelievable.

I was following her all day, at least when I could get signal on the trail while pacing, which was rare. It was a brutal day, hot and (very unusually) humid, a lot of carnage, but she hung in there. It was looking pretty grim late -- she'd made it to the Highway 49 checkpoint, mile 93.5, just shy of the cutoff, but in order to finish she'd have to run the same split my runner and I had from there to the finish. And we had turned it up a notch at Highway 49.

Then, miraculously,  she made it to Robie Point,  mile 98.9, with 16: xx remaining. 1.3 to go (it's actually 100.2). Problem is, the first half mile is still up a pretty big hill (coming off a 900' climb). The women's winner, Magda Boulet, 2:26 marathoner, ran this stretch in 15:48. As the clock ticked down, all eyes were on the stadium entrance, but it didn't seem possible. With two minutes left, a woman entered, and started around the track. A cheer went up -- but it wasn't her. So, that was it, then.

With less than a minute and a half remaining, Gunhild entered the stadium, accompanied by Rob Krar, Tim Twietmeyer, her pacer (her son), her grandson, and others. The roar was deafening. But she still had to get all the way around the track. An incredibly valiant effort, but it was going to be another one of those years where the time expires with a runner on the track. An unofficial finish, no buckle, no record. Heartbreaking.

But she was moving. She rounded the final turn, all eyes swept left, clock, right, runner -- was it possible??? I still didn't think so.

Somehow, she did it.

Here's the video I took.

And here's a couple of pics I took of her at about M3.5, after the first 2,500' climb. I later realized with horror that I probably cost her 5-10 seconds here. She noticed my Marathon Maniac shirt and had to exchange Maniac numbers. (I've met her a few times, but it's been a few years.) I can't imagine how I'd feel if she'd just missed it.

Oldest woman (70) ever to finish Western States. (She also holds the F 60-69 course record, set 10 years ago.)

Bhearn your description of her journey to the finish gave me chills.

I love this story. And of course she also seems to be one of the most humble people around. So cool, on so many levels.

She truly is an inspiration. I can picture out a caption "70-year-old-woman finishes 100-mile run, what's your excuse?" Lol!

That is so great.