Bangor Law Lecturer faces world’s toughest endurance test
A young female lecturer at the Bangor University's School of Law has been invited to take part in the world’s toughest triathlon, the Ultraman Canada Championships.
Not only has Sarah Nason been selected to represent the UK, she will also be the first ever person from Wales to face this challenge in the history of the 25 year triathlon championships. Sponsored by Bangor University Law School, Sarah will be competing alongside 30 other elite individual entrants from across the world, which is by invitation only.
The 28 year old, who lives in Llanrwst, was invited to take part in the Triathlon following her outstanding achievement in the Welsh Ultra Triathlon held last year where she came fourth and was also the youngest entrant and only the second woman to complete the course in a time of just under 22hrs.
The Ultraman Triathlon is a 3-day, 318 mile individual ultra-endurance swimming, cycling and running event, which covers part of the Okanagan/Similkameen regions of British Columbia, Canada.
Stage 1 is a 6.2 mile point to point swim starting in Penticton and finishing in Okanagan Falls, followed by a 90 mile bike ride, beginning in Okanagan Falls over the Richter Pass returning to Okanagan Falls.
Stage 2 is a 170 mile bike ride, beginning in Penticton and ending in Princeton.
Stage 3 is a 52.4 mile double-marathon run from Princeton to Summerland. Each stage has to be completed within a time limit of 12 hours.
Sarah, who also completed the Ironman UK Triathlon 2007, said, “This is a huge commitment and preparing my body for this event is going to take over my life for the next six months as it is a big step up from the last triathlon that I did.”
“I have already started an intense training schedule with the support of my coach, Steve Lumley of TheTriathlonCoach.com, who also coached me for the last two events. I have to do between 12 and 30 hours a week of training and eat a healthy, balanced diet, combining carbohydrates for energy and protein for muscle recovery. This will probably be the toughest challenge of my life but I am really excited about it.”
After a brief period of service in the Royal Navy, Sarah studied Law BA at the University of Cambridge and graduated with First Class Honours. She then went on to pass the Solicitors Legal Practice Course with Distinction and began a Training Contract with a major city firm in London. She was appointed Law Lecturer at Bangor University in summer 2006 and her main teaching and interests are Administrative Law and Jurisprudence.
What’s next for Sarah? “This will probably be my last triathlon as there won’t be anything harder than this one so I will have to find another challenge, like rock climbing. I have always been adventurous so I certainly won’t be putting my feet up!”
Sarah will be raising sponsorship for the charity Dolen Cymru, which fosters links between Wales and Lesotho. If you wish to sponsor Sarah, please visit www.justgiving.com/sarahultra4lesotho, or contact Sarah on s.nason@bangor.ac.uk / 01248 388 165.
