Susie Chan: Treadmill running World Record holder reveals her Inspirational Story   

Susie Chan is an ultra marathoner, a triathlete, a marathoner, a parent, a hilarious Tweeter, and an all-round goddess of a person. She has placed in multiple races, completed the Marathon des Sables and has recently burst onto the triathlon scene. Ultra runner Susie Chan did set a new 12-hour on treadmill running world record.

She writes on her website " I have run races from 1 mile to 100 miles. I began running quite late in life to get a bit healthier. Since stumbling over my first finish line in a race in 2010 I have gone on to run thousands of miles in training and in races. My favorite races are multistage ultras, these are races over multiple days and miles. Highlights of my races have included two Marathon des Sables (setting off with the elites in 2015) Thames Path 100 and Boston Marathon. I do the odd bit of cycling and swimming too".

Susie is a mother who has been doing ultras for 2 years. Susie loves the scenery and people you meet doing ultras. Read about Susie's good and bad times and her top tips for success in ultra running.

Susie said on breaking the treadmill running world record "This was the hardest thing I've ever done. Running 100 miles non-stop, pretending I can cycle and swim, Marathon des Sables.. none of them as tough as running on a treadmill against the clock to beat a world record. Having already run 50 miles on a treadmill to take part in research at Kingston University - without sounding too arrogant - I found it quite easy. It took 8 hours and I hopped off feeling quite fresh. When a friend pointed out that if I had kept going I would have broken the world record. Together with the Sports Science department at Kingston University we hatched a plan to give it a go".
 

Fast forward 6 months and with the green light and a huge list of rules from Guinness World Records the date was set. Dr Hannah Moir and PhD researcher Chris Howe got everything together. They needed two independent witnesses and two time keepers every four hours to satisfy GWR. Some very cheery students had volunteered. The first on the rota had got up at 4am to get there! Incredible! Susie would have a team of friends running next to her at various points to help spur her on. The existing official record sat at 60.26 miles and there was an unofficial record of 66.79 miles. She had picked up some niggly injuries over Xmas and was not fully fit, but the great thing about endurance running is that it stays in your legs. The plan was to get past 70 miles - She felt comfortable with her goal.

They decided to announce it during the week before the event and that's when things started to escalate. By Thursday hundreds of messages were coming in wishing her luck. She was beginning to lose her nerve, it suddenly seemed like a big deal. After all, it was her running on a treadmill, for a long time. She needed to relax. How on earth top athletes deal with the pressure of the race of their life in something like the Olympics she will never know.

So 12 hours on a treadmill. 12 hours of exactly the same thing. Here are the good and the bad things that happened:

Ultra runner Susie Chan has set a new 12-hour treadmill world record with the support of sport science and exercise experts from Kingston University in London. The 40 year old, from Farnham, Surrey, ran a total distance of 68.54 miles (110.3km) in 12 hours in the human performance laboratory at the University's Penrhyn Road campus -- beating the previous women's record for the same time period of 66.79 miles.
 

The record attempt was supervised by senior lecturer in health, exercise and physiology Dr Hannah Moir and sport scientist Chris Howe, along with a team of 10 sport science and nutrition students acting as timekeepers and witnesses.

During the challenge, a live stream beamed from the University on YouTube had more than 3,000 views, while hundreds of messages of support tweeted to Chan using the hashtag #susieWRrun were projected on to a screen in front of the treadmill to give her an extra boost. One of the first to congratulate the ultra runner on her achievement was British marathon world record holder Paula Radcliffe, who tweeted: "I've never watched someone run on a treadmill on my computer until now -- Susie Chan you got me! Congrats on your new world record!."

After celebrating her treadmill triumph with friends and family, the mother-of-one, who only took up running five years ago when she completed a half-marathon with her brother, spoke of feeling "absolutely exhausted but elated." She added: "I would never have got there if it wasn't for the team at Kingston University -- I couldn't have let them down."

The athlete's links with the University came about after she participated in a research study being conducted by Mr Howe examining the physical and psychological effects of endurance running on those who take part in such events. Ultra endurance running -- generally classed as any distance over the traditional marathon -- has become increasingly popular during the past few years, with a large rise in the number of races and events. "Using a multi-disciplinary approach, we're now looking at the factors that make an ultra-distance runner, how their bodies adapt over time and what pushes them to do it," Mr Howe said.
 

Helping Chan set a new 12-hour women's treadmill world record had been incredibly rewarding, Dr Moir said. "Susie's achievement showcases the importance of top athletes having access to research expertise and state-of-the-art facilities, such as those we have on offer at Kingston University," she added. "It's also a tremendous way for our students to enhance their learning by being involved in such a high-profile activity."

Chan beat the previous unofficial 12-hour women's record, of 66.79 miles (107.49km) set by Kristina Palten on 7 February 2013, as well as the current official Guinness World Records holder Dee Boland, who set a distance of 60.26 miles (96.98km) in October last year. Chan's distance of 68.54 miles will remain an unofficial record until she receives verification from Guinness World Records.

The ultra runner is the latest in a long list of top-achieving athletes to have made use of the high performance facilities and academic expertise available at Kingston University's Faculty of Science, Engineering and Computing. Last year, the University provided heat acclimation support to almost 25 athletes training to compete in the Marathon des Sables, including explorer and adventurer Sir Ranulph Fiennes. The annual footrace, which Chan herself has completed twice, sees those taking part run a total of six marathons over six days in the Sahara Desert, enduring temperatures of up to 50 Degree C.

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