{"id":91458,"date":"2025-01-31T15:45:21","date_gmt":"2025-01-31T15:45:21","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/?p=91458"},"modified":"2025-01-31T16:00:03","modified_gmt":"2025-01-31T16:00:03","slug":"ultra-friends-are-losing-sleep-over-marathon-50-hour-run-to-support-asylum-seekers","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/cardiffjournalism.co.uk\/thecardiffian\/2025\/01\/31\/ultra-friends-are-losing-sleep-over-marathon-50-hour-run-to-support-asylum-seekers\/","title":{"rendered":"Ultra friends are losing sleep over marathon 50-hour run to support asylum seekers"},"content":{"rendered":"\n

The friends will run non-stop for two days with hills equivalent to six summits of Pen y Fan<\/strong><\/h4>\n\n\n\n

TWO runners attempting their biggest ultramarathon yet will have to battle through 50 hours of sleep deprivation to get to the finish line.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Susie Ventris-Field, 44, and Tomos Owen, 29, have signed up to the Epona 100, which covers 100 miles of stunning but very steep Welsh scenery.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

The pair already have 15 ultramarathons between them but this extreme challenge will be by far their toughest task yet – doubling their longest distance run to date. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The race starts on June 21 and the cut-off time to finish is 50 hours, which means it will end at 8am on Monday June 23.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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\u201cThis morning, I woke up at three, ran to an exercise class, did that class and ran here,\u201d said Susie.<\/p>\n<\/blockquote>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

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It means they will be running through two days and two nights.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI think the hardest thing is just staying awake that long because it is a really long time,\u201d said Tomos, Deputy CEO of Oasis, a charity that helps refugees and asylum seekers in Cardiff. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Their strategy involves taking short naps throughout the race but not properly falling asleep because they would not be able to complete the race if they spent too long asleep.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n\n\n\n

Susie said that neither of them have particular experience of running through the night.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI feel like it can’t be much worse than managing a small child around full-time work,” she said. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

“I was super sleep deprived then.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

But it is not just the distance and the sleeplessness that they have to cope with. The route has over 17,000 feet of elevation \u2013 the equivalent summit height of six Pen y Fan\u2019s stacked on top of each other.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThe consolation is that there is 17,000 feet of downhill too. That is what I am going to focus on,\u201d said Susie, the CEO of charity.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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