Ashley Paulson sets new women’s course record

India’s Ashish Kasodekar close to finishing

US-based triathlete and ultra-runner Ashley Paulson won the women’s race at 2022 Badwater 135, crossing the finish line in 24 hours, nine minutes and 34 seconds, a new course record.

The previous women’s course record was 24:13:24 hours, set by Polish runner Patrycja Bereznowska in 2019.

The overall winner of 2022 Badwater 135, the 217 kilometre-ultramarathon held annually in California, was Yoshihiko Ishikawa from Japan. He finished the run in 23:08:20. Yoshihiko had won the 2019 Badwater 135 setting a course record of 21:33:01. The race was not held in 2020 due to the COVID-19 pandemic. In 2020, the overall winner was Harvey Lewis of the US (25:50;23); the winner among women was Sally McRae (30:48:47), also of the US.

The overall second place finisher this year was Ivan Penalba Lopez of Spain. He finished in 24:02:57 hours.

Ashley Paulson was the third runner to finish.

At 11.11 PM (IST), the time of publishing this report, India’s Ashish Kasodekar (from Pune) was past the time station at 131.1 miles (210.98 kilometres). The race is 135 miles long.

(The authors, Latha Venkatraman and Shyam G Menon, are independent journalists based in Mumbai.)