Nelson Continuing to Represent Woodstock on World Stage

Thursday, 23 February 2023 07:41

Woodstock's very own Amanda Nelson is hoping to compete in the Race of Champions Backyard Ultra in Germany this May and the 24-hour World Championship in Taiwan this December.

WOODSTOCK - A GoFundMe page is now up and running in order to raise funds to send a Woodstock runner to two international competitions this year.

Amanda Nelson made headlines last year, after she broke the women's record for most yards ran at the Backyard Ultra World Championships in British Columbia. She ran 55 hours over three days, finishing with a total of 55 yards (368 kilometres). You can find more details online here.

She also broke the 12 hour national record at Desert Solstice in Arizona with a total of 135.072 kilometres and she broke the 100 mile record at Survivorfest in Alberta with 14 hours, 45 minutes and 51 seconds.

Nelson is now hoping to fly to Germany in May to compete at the Race of Champions Backyard Ultra worldwide invitational. She would also like to go to Taipei, Taiwan in December so she can compete at the 24-hour World Championships.

Her GoFundMe page is looking to raise $5,000 for her travel expenses and you can donate to the cause online here.

In a Backyard Ultra, the runners must run 6.7 kilometres every hour, on the hour until they can't go on. In the 24-hour race, the runners must run as much as they can within 24 hours and see how many kilometres they have in the end.

Nelson stopped by the Heart FM studio Tuesday morning, to chat with Dan and Marcie about how her love of running began.

"I had to walk my dogs and my kids were in the stroller, they were babies and they didn't like going slow so I started running. That was a lot more enjoyable for them and me, so I just continued that and then I started going for runs after they went to bed at night. I just fell in love with running!"

During the interview, Nelson also talked about the following:

- What it was like to compete at the Backyard Ultra World Championships in British Columbia last fall.

- Her running group Run Oxford County.

- How many pairs of shoes she goes through in one year and how many steps she records on her smartwatch during big races.

You can listen to the full interview below: