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Sunday, December 1, 2024

Grandma, 71, Finishes 100 Mile Ultramarathon Just 6 Seconds Before Deadline [WATCH]

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This is the amazing moment 71-year-old Gunhild Swanson crosses the finish line of a 100-mile ultramarathon, just six seconds before the cut-off time.

At pension age we’d be happy just to be getting to the gym and back, so Gunhild must be ecstatic to be the first ever woman over 70 to finish the gruelling race.

In total, she clocked in at 29 hours, 59 seconds and 54 seconds for the Western States 100 in California. 

Gran, 71, becomes oldest ever female ultramarathon runner with just six seconds to spare
It’s no exaggeration to say that Gunhild Swanson was the show stopper at this year’s Western States 100 (Picture: Facebook)

And she almost didn’t make it – at mile 88 she accidentally followed some other runners off course, adding an extra three miles to the famously tough race.

It's no exaggeration to say that Gunhild Swanson was the show stopper at this year's Western States 100, as she became not only the first woman over the age of 70 to finish the race, she also finished the race in 29:59:54, just 6 seconds under the 30-hour race cutoff. In the following interview, Gunhild talks about what her race plan was, how her race went, why her pacer was important, what it felt like to run in the final miles with Rob Krar and Tim Twietmeyer, and how moving the community's reaction was to her. To learn more about Gunhild, be sure to read our in-depth WeRunFar profile of her. For more on how the race went down, check out our Western States results article.
Supergran! (Picture: Facebook)

‘It wasn’t terribly hot, I don’t know what it was, but we really suffered out there’, she told iRunFar.com.

‘I saw people curled up sleeping in the shade under the tree and laying in the creek. The terrain is so difficult that ordinary mortals like me, you can’t run.

‘You have to powerwalk it and hike it, so I just kept getting further and further behind. Once I got to where it was runnable, then I started to make up time.’

It's no exaggeration to say that Gunhild Swanson was the show stopper at this year's Western States 100, as she became not only the first woman over the age of 70 to finish the race, she also finished the race in 29:59:54, just 6 seconds under the 30-hour race cutoff. In the following interview, Gunhild talks about what her race plan was, how her race went, why her pacer was important, what it felt like to run in the final miles with Rob Krar and Tim Twietmeyer, and how moving the community's reaction was to her. To learn more about Gunhild, be sure to read our in-depth WeRunFar profile of her. For more on how the race went down, check out our Western States results article.
She has run more than 200 marathons and ultramarathons (Picture: Facebook)

But as soon as her son started running alongside to pace her at Michigan Bluff, she started to find things a little easier.

The crowd erupted into cheers as she finally crossed the finish line, making history as she ran.

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Yes! (Picture: YouTube/UltraRunning magazine)

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