Faster with Age: Great Britain’s Jane Hansom

An incredible Age-Group performance from Challenge Roth.

While I’ve reported on the Pro race at Challenge Roth HERE, one performance I didn’t (deliberately) comment on at the time was of Great Britain’s Jane Hansom. That was for good reason – her result deserves its own recognition.

Plenty of winning already achieved…

Now, Jane is no stranger to success in long distance triathlon – she is after all the reigning IRONMAN World Champion in the 45-49 category (and she came second in her first Kona, 12 months previously). She also (of course!), won her division at The Championship (in Samorin) in June, at Challenge Gran Canaria in April, while she also has a house full of #clearperspex trophies from pretty much every IRONMAN or IRONMAN 70.3 event she has started.

“But she’s got time to train…!”. Really? The reality…

Now, if you follow Jane on social media (@JaneHansom), you could be forgiven for thinking that she lives life in a travelogue, flying between glamorous locations (Nevis, Barbados and St. Moritz are regulars!), with seemingly endless time and resources to train. “It’s ok for her!”. You would be SO WRONG! There are only 24 hours in her day, just like yours.

Ok, the travel bit is true – Jane runs a marketing agency, clients of which are typically sporting or tourism related – and while this may provide some flexibility outside of a standard 9-5… I can assure you, she is working practically every minute she is not either sleeping or training. I think she may have borrowed some of those Duracell Bunny batteries from Lucy Gossage (or maybe just hides being knackered, really well?!).

Challenge Roth 2017. VERY impressive…

Having finished in a fantastic 9:38:27 12 months ago (13th overall), Jane improved even more this time around to 9:33:15 on a course that most considered tougher with the revised marathon route. How did that stack up?

• Sixth overall.
• Fastest Age-Group athlete overall.
• Fastest in category by an hour and twenty minutes.
• At age 48.

Stunning. Congratulations Jane Hansom.

2 trophies.1st amateur & 6th overall trumping the Kona fruit bowl @ChallengeRoth1 rocks #notperspex @Challenge_Famil pic.twitter.com/Y5Fq7GbKvP

— Jane Hansom (@JaneHansom) July 11, 2017