The runner who went viral and sparked a campaign for change

Sophie Power signed up for an ultramarathon before even laced up her trainers for her first run.

What was a new challenge at first as a result of being made redundant has since become a life-changing passion that has enabled positive changes for women in sport.

In 2018, a photograph of Power breastfeeding her then three-month-old son during a 106-mile race went viral.

She could not take her place until she was ready to compete, which highlighted what she thought was a pressing issue facing mothers and women.

Shortly after being fired from her banking job, Power signed up for her first 250-kilometer (155-mile) ultramarathon at the age of 26.

A friend recently completed the challenge himself and suggested she try it because he believed she might have the endurance she needed from her time serving the air squadron at university, even though she wasn’t and never had been.

“I went for my first run the next day and realised pretty quickly that I loved ultra-running. The range of incredible people you meet [who] you wouldn’t find in everyday life, the 42-year-old Surrey resident told BBC Sport.

And really, really pushing my body in a whole new direction.

Immediately hooked, Power devoted her time to training and travelling to compete in stage races around world.

Having given up her entry to the iconic Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc (UTMB) race while she recovered from the birth of her first child, Donnacha, three years before, she was not prepared to do so again.

At the time, UTMB had no policy for pregnant deferral, like many other races.

Power entered the 106-mile race with the intention of starting and possibly walking the first 10 kilometers despite being unable to run so soon after giving birth.

Yet 43.5 hours after setting off she completed the challenge, that included 10, 000m of climbing, inside the cut-off time, walking the whole way except for a short stretch after one of the highest points when she was worried she might get hyperthermia. With Donnacha, who was then three years old, she crossed the line.

As he frequently does at his ultra events, French photographer Berg, Alexis was at UTMB to document the 2018 race. And at one of the refueling stations, he discovered something he had never seen at a previous event.

“I knew it was unusual. He claimed that Sophie was the cause of everything that happened at the time, even though it was impossible to imagine the photo’s impact.

Power breastfeeding her son while taking a break from the race, as he captured.

“That photo has undoubtedly changed the course of my life. She said, “I worked out, I should never have crossed that starting line.”

Power wanted to make sure that returning mothers faced the same choice and risked harm to their bodies as she had.

She founded the charity SheRaces with the core aim of breaking down barriers preventing women from entering events alongside men and safeguarding returning mothers.

Many male directors contacted her almost immediately after the photo went viral, complaining that their programs had included pregnancy deferrals and that they had never considered it.

She spoke with more than 2,000 women to find out what prevented them from competing alongside men in the first round.

Her research went far beyond elite level sport. Power isn’t a professional athlete herself, and she has a real interest in helping other women and girls who have been similar to her.

“Girls leave sports at such a high rate. There’s a massive dream deficit for girls compared to boys”, she said.

Power believes that the language used to promote sports and sporting events is a significant factor in this.

It’s “the hardest, the toughest, the baddest,” she said, and for many women that’s quite off-putting.

The result of her research was a set of nine principles that organisers could commit to in order to make their events more inclusive for women.

Changes to cut-off times, providing female toilets, period products, changing facilities, and event T-shirts made specifically for female runners, rather than unisex ones for all, and safeguarding and harassment policies were among these measures.

The inclusion of equal coverage for the female race on social media platforms and prizes for the female competition are considered criteria for elite races.

Power has seen change in some of the world’s biggest races.

People who are pregnant, have a pregnant partner, or are adopting or giving birth via surrogacy have the right to a full refund and priority re-entry for up to five years under UTMB’s policy since 2023 for some of its marquee events.

Mothers are now required to pay the entrance fee for a second time when using the deferral scheme, she said, but all of the marathons in New York, Boston, and London now have pregnancy deferrals in place.

Races are required to implement a two-year deferral in accordance with her charity’s criteria to give pregnant women the opportunity to fully recover from their pregnancies.

“The majority of races are commercial, it’s a business. The guidelines’ goal is to almost non-cost, so they’re going to do it if they can get more people on their start lines. She said, “It’s a no-brainer.”

“There are a lot of brands out there who say they are pro-women, yet they’re sponsoring women’s races that don’t have pregnancy deferrals, that don’t treat women equally.

The voice of female athletes is not valued by dinosaurs, as they are.

I put the London Marathon in that category because there are other races that still need improvement. They have listened to us, they are phenomenally inclusive, they’ve got loads of initiatives that they put out for diversity on their start lines, but they still want to make women pay twice for their place when they have a baby.

Many race organisers are changing and improving, but I’ve definitely lost faith in some of them. We’re winning so many battles and causing so much change, but you always feel like you’re going to fail.

As the scale of her work and its influence has grown, Power’s propensity for testing her physical limits has grown with it.

She set a new Guinness world record for the fastest woman to run Ireland’s length last year, breaking her previous record.

Power broke Mimi Anderson’s previous record by more than three hours by completing the grueling 340-mile journey in three days, 12 hours, and eight minutes.

The route took her through Munster, where husband John was born, and to County Cork, where many of the Power family live, running through torrential rainfall, experiencing the early stages of sun stroke and sleeping for little more than two hours, while sustaining herself on a diet of jam-filled tortilla wraps, gels, chews and ice cream.

After consuming nothing but fruit and sweets for two days, she had two burns on her tongue. She pushed herself to the point of exhaustion.

” I was seeing nativity and Christmas scenes everywhere in this town. Additionally, the trees were completely plastic. She said, “The hallucinations were phenomenal, crazy.”

She has since gone on to set a second world record for the longest distance covered on a treadmill by a female in 48 hours and has once again been selected for Great Britain in the 24-hour World Championships in France this October.

In August, she will also hold her own women-only ultra races in the Peak District.

How will she be able to tell when she has succeeded in her goals?

” My ultimate goal for SheRaces is that we don’t exist because it’s not needed anymore and every woman is able to get on the start line, “she added.