BNU's Dr Mark Homer supports ultra-runner to set new British record in Death Valley
Dr Mark Homer, Senior Lecturer in Exercise Physiology & Sport Performance at Buckinghamshire New University (BNU) supported the pre-race training for Ali Young who has become the fastest ever British woman to run the gruelling 135-mile Badwater Ultramarathon through Death Valley. With a debut time of 28 hours and 56 minutes, Ali crossed the finish line on 9th July as the third fastest female and took 13th place overall in a field of 99 runners with temperatures topping 48°C (118°F), while raising £5,408 for Maggie’s hospice charity who cared for her late father, Tony Brooker.
Dr Homer supported Ali’s pre-race training at the University’s Human Performance Lab in High Wycombe by measuring her blood lactate levels and sodium loss as she ran several sessions in a heat chamber which reached humidity of 82% with a relative heat value of 67.8°C (154°F). It’s part of BNU’s longstanding work with athletes across a range of endurance sports and challenges, and as a TASS delivery site/accredited ‘Dual Career’ institution. The facility also supports undergraduate sports students and armed forces personnel studying within the Tactical Athlete Performance Centre, making use of BNU’s academic insight and fitness testing equipment to attain their goals.
The Badwater 135 is an ultra-endurance footrace from Death Valley’s Badwater Basin (282 feet below sea level) to Whitney Portal (8,380 feet) which traverses California’s Mojave desert and ends with a gruelling 12-mile climb to the finish line.
Dr Homer said: “Success in races like the Badwater 135 is highly dependent on an athlete’s ability to tolerate high temperatures. Acclimatising is a big part of that which can be difficult to achieve in the UK. The facilities and equipment we have in the Human Performance Lab at BNU enabled Ali to start the process before travelling to the US, and provide data that she could use to optimise her fuelling during the race. Well done to Ali for her performance in those tough conditions.”
Ali Young said: “I’m really grateful for Dr Homer’s expertise, and the access to BNU’s first class facilities, which played a key role in calculating my hydration and electrolyte balance to ensure I ran my best possible time. The sessions were extremely tough to test my tolerance and we didn't allow any cooling strategies to really put my body to the test.”
“The epic Badwater course has vast, stunning desert scenery from start to finish with only three road turns so features that seem close are actually many miles away. It’s a non-stop race which starts at 10pm so the lack of sleep is super tough. The climbs are relentless with ascents of 8 and 17 miles before the final one right at the end. And the heat is something else but thanks to all the cooling strategies I was actually chilly at points which was bizarre in those temperatures!
Ali’s latest race comes hot on the heels of setting a new Guinness World Record at the London Marathon in April for the fastest female dressed as a bird. She wore a penguin costume – her father’s favourite feathered creature – and achieved a finish time of 3 hours and 26 minutes, despite her arms being enclosed throughout the race.
The next challenge comes in October when, for a fifth time, Ali will represent Great Britain and Northern Ireland at the IAU World 24 Hour Championships in Albi, France. Held biennially, Ali will join a 12-strong team selected by British Athletics as the world’s top ultra-distance athletes compete to cover the greatest distance possible within a 24-hour period on a looped course.
In 2023, Ali completed the 153-mile Spartathlon race from Athens to Sparta, based on the run of Pheidippides in 490 BC, and became the only British woman to complete the event three times having participated in 2017 and 2022.