JOGLE: Youngest Female Record
Written by Chris Taylor
Taylor is a UKA Running Coach and an Expedition Leader. He's coached multiple world record holders, has organised record-breaking events on all 7 continents, and has helped raise more than £5million for charity.
22nd July 2022
Reading Time: 3 Minutes
Two weeks ago, Imo Boddy become the youngest female to run the length of Britain and, aside from a 36 hour hiatus to run (the eventually cancelled) Ultra-Trail® Snowdonia, I was there for the entire three week journey.
The reason I love this sport so much is that it consistently grants the practitioner a rare opportunity. The opportunity to make the decision to continue, when every fibre of your being is telling you to stop. Not many people get that chance and it’s a muscle memory worth exercising.
Watching Imo flex that muscle throughout JOGLE was both the toughest and most profound part of the experience for me. The struggle is the reason, and I knew a higher realm awaited her on the other side. But that doesn’t make it easier to watch.
This internal battle manifested itself most evidently in the mornings. Breakfast was often a jovial affair, but the drive from the accommodation to the start line typically kickstarted a steady descent in morale. It began with less talking, then nervous laughter, poignant eye contact… until eventually silence, and sometimes tears.
It’s a feeling I know well, and one I associate most viscerally with my time in Royal Marines training. Hellish as those field exercises were, the coach journey in often took the greatest psychological toll. It can be all fun and games loading the vehicle, but no-one’s smiling once the engine starts. Nausea. Anxiety. I’d find myself praying for the journey to never end, for the coach to break down, anything to delay the sound of the vehicle being parked, the engine being cut. Because once you hear that sound, that’s it. No more hiding.
“The reason I love this sport so much is that it consistently grants the practitioner a rare opportunity … to make the decision to continue, when every fibre of your being is telling you to stop.”
Facing and overcoming that feeling 22 days in a row takes considerable mental strength. Strength I most certainly did not possess at 22 years old.
I suppose we celebrate “oldest” record holders for the assumed physical disadvantages that come with age, while “youngest” record holders are assumed to lack the experience gained from a life long-lived. (Of course there are physical disadvantages to youth as well, particularly in an endurance sport like ultra running, which can take years of practice to build an aerobic base worthy of even moderate, let alone record-breaking, success).
However, watching Imo confront the high and lows of this challenge head on, with unwavering positivity, presence and perspective, I found myself easily forgetting her age, so precocious was her composure throughout.
It’s fitting that Imo chose to raise funds for Young Minds – you’d be hard pressed to find a finer example of what young people can overcome and achieve with the right support.
It was an honour and a privilege to play a part in this journey; an experience I’ll cherish forever.
“I suppose we celebrate “oldest” record holders for the assumed physical disadvantages that come with age, while “youngest” record holders are assumed to lack the experience gained from a life long-lived.”
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Two weeks ago, Imo Boddy become the youngest female to run the length of Britain and, aside from a 36 hour hiatus to run (the eventually cancelled) Ultra-Trail® Snowdonia, I was there for the entire three week journey.
The reason I love this sport so much is that it consistently grants the practitioner a rare opportunity. The opportunity to make the decision to continue, when every fibre of your being is telling you to stop. Not many people get that chance and it’s a muscle memory worth exercising.
Watching Imo flex that muscle throughout JOGLE was both the toughest and most profound part of the experience for me. The struggle is the reason, and I knew a higher realm awaited her on the other side. But that doesn’t make it easier to watch.
“The reason I love this sport so much is that it consistently grants the practitioner a rare opportunity … to make the decision to continue, when every fibre of your being is telling you to stop.”
This internal battle manifested itself most evidently in the mornings. Breakfast was often a jovial affair, but the drive from the accommodation to the start line typically kickstarted a steady descent in morale. It began with less talking, then nervous laughter, poignant eye contact… until eventually silence, and sometimes tears.
It’s a feeling I know well, and one I associate most viscerally with my time in Royal Marines training. Hellish as those field exercises were, the coach journey in often took the greatest psychological toll. It can be all fun and games loading the vehicle, but no-one’s smiling once the engine starts. Nausea. Anxiety. I’d find myself praying for the journey to never end, for the coach to break down, anything to delay the sound of the vehicle being parked, the engine being cut. Because once you hear that sound, that’s it. No more hiding.
Facing and overcoming that feeling 22 days in a row takes considerable mental strength. Strength I most certainly did not possess at 22 years old.
I suppose we celebrate “oldest” record holders for the assumed physical disadvantages that come with age, while “youngest” record holders are assumed to lack the experience gained from a life long-lived. (Of course there are physical disadvantages to youth as well, particularly in an endurance sport like ultra running, which can take years of practice to build an aerobic base worthy of even moderate, let alone record-breaking, success).
“It’s fitting that Imo chose to raise funds for Young Minds – you’d be hard pressed to find a finer example of what young people can overcome and achieve with the right support.”
However, watching Imo confront the high and lows of this challenge head on, with unwavering positivity, presence and perspective, I found myself easily forgetting her age, so precocious was her composure throughout.
It’s fitting that Imo chose to raise funds for Young Minds – you’d be hard pressed to find a finer example of what young people can overcome and achieve with the right support.
It was an honour and a privilege to play a part in this journey; an experience I’ll cherish forever.