01 WHY ARE WOMEN BEATING THE MEN IN ULTRA EVENTS?
A number of high-profile ultra-endurance events have recently seen women take the overall crown over their male rivals. Are these outliers or is there something physiologically favourable going on? American ultra-endurance cyclist Lael Wilcox is one of the evergrowing band of female endurance athletes who’s excelling in ultra-distance cycling events to such a degree that men’s testosterone-fuelled advantage is overcome.
“In 2022, I set the overall record for the [827-mile] Arizona Trail in just over nine days,” Wilcox tells us from Montana where she was just about to set out on the 2,745-mile Tour Divide route from Banff to New Mexico parcours after having raced itStates from west to east.” In 2017, she was also the overall winner in the Baja Divide race.
