A former British Triathlon Age-Group duathlete and triathlete, Carla Molinaro (www.carlamolinaro.com) has found her true calling in the world of ultra running. With a ninth place (and Gold medal) at the Comrades Marathon and representing Great Britain in the 100km World Championships, the change of sports has not impacted her competitiveness.
By any measure, 1327km qualifies as a ‘long run’, and that’s what Carla took on earlier this year when trying to break the women’s best time for the Land’s End to John O’Groats (LEJOG) record.
Triathlete Mark Livesey was part of her support team, and also captured the journey in a new documentary to be released on Sunday, Every Step.
New documentary released this weekend about the latest record-breaking attempt to run the length of Great Britain
- An in-depth view of the record-breaking attempt by Professional Ultra-runner Carla Molinaro to be the fastest woman in history to complete LEJOG.
- Every Step film will be released at 1800 hrs on Sunday 13th December YouTube, The Brick Session Media
- Mark Livesey combines the role of film maker and key support crew member as he chronicles her often painful journey.
A new documentary Every Step, will be available on YouTube from 1800 hrs GMT Sunday 13th December, chronicling the incredible Guinness World record-breaking efforts of Carla Molinaro in her quest to be the fastest woman in history to run the length of Great Britain from Land’s End to John O’Groats.
Documentary maker Mark Livesey was with Carla every painful step of the way, and he shows the highs and lows of this amazing feat of endurance both for Carla and the support team around her.
Carla took on the challenge earlier this year just as the first round of COVID restrictions were eased. Like many, Carla found lockdown severely mentally challenging. As a professional runner, she is used to spending the majority of her time running outside. Running up and down her 100m long drive for two months was mind numbing. With all races cancelled in 2020, like many other ultra-runners she couldn’t be without a challenge. She decided that (lockdowns permitting) she wanted to take on the Guinness World record to run the 1327km LEJOG, a record that previously stood at 12 days and 11 hours.
Mark and Carla pulled together a support team who could form a bubble to enable her to reach her goal. Sleeping just 4-5 hours a night for nearly two weeks this team was an integral part of her success. Every Step follows Carla’s journey up the country as she battles injury, sleep deprivation, and mental hurdles on her way to breaking one of the hardest records in the book.
Mark said: “I was not just making the film, I was also a critical part of the support team for Carla. It was awe inspiring to witness the pain and suffering both she and our team went through day after day. This run was one of the most incredible things I have ever seen, and I have aimed to capture that in the film. If you need motivation to get out and challenge yourself then this is it.”
Achieving the LEJOG world record was “the most painful thing I have ever done” said Carla, as the deep fatigue coupled with the numerous injuries she accumulated along the way made every step of the run “a colossal game of mind over matter”.
Carla added: “There were so many times that my team did not know if I could keep going. But always knew that I could. This film captures the emotional highs and lows, the camaraderie, and the wonderful public support I had along the way.”
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