A New Zealand ultrarunner has just rewritten the record books — and the story of how she got there is one of lightning strikes, horse fly attacks, infertility heartbreak, and a woman rediscovering herself one mountain at a time.
Sophie Woods, a 42-year-old based in Andorra, has become the fastest person ever to complete the Via Alpina — a grueling 2,000km trail cutting through eight European countries.
Her finishing time of 28 days, 17 hours, and 59 minutes didn’t just break the record — it obliterated it.
But behind the headlines and the staggering numbers is a deeply personal story about loss, resilience, and what the human body is truly capable of when pushed to its absolute limit.
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Eight Countries, 28 Days, and One Terrifying Thunderstorm
Woods set off from Muggia, near Trieste in Italy, on July 4th with a single mission: run the Via Alpina faster than anyone had ever done it before.
The trail winds through Italy, Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland, France, and Monaco — a relentless, rolling network of alpine terrain that would challenge even the most seasoned mountain runner.
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Just two weeks in, things nearly went sideways in the most terrifying way possible.
Woods and her photographer had just crested a peak in Switzerland when a ferocious thunderstorm rolled in without warning.
The lightning was going off around us … there was nowhere to shelter in place and all the rocks around us were conductive.
She didn’t hesitate.
I was slightly concerned that one of us was going to die. I ran so fast to get out of that.
Horse Flies, Heatwaves, and Ferns as a Weapon
The storm wasn’t even the strangest ordeal Woods faced out there.
Deep in the Austrian mountains, after running since 3am in punishing heat, Woods found herself at a complete breaking point — stressed, exhausted, and uncertain whether her crew had anywhere to sleep that night.
Then a swarm of blood-sucking horse flies arrived.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
They were biting me, and I was already at my wit’s end. I’m screaming at them every time they bite me. All I wanted to do is curl up in the foetal position and cry.
Unable to outrun them, she improvised in the most wonderfully unhinged way possible.
Woods ditched her hiking poles, grabbed two fistfuls of ferns from the roadside, and spent the next hour beating herself with foliage to keep the insects at bay.
I looked completely nuts. It was horrendous.
She kept running.
7,000 Calories a Day and 20-Hour Running Shifts
The sheer physical demand of this undertaking is difficult to wrap your head around.
Woods was running up to 20 hours a day, consuming roughly 7,000 calories just to keep her body functional. A single ankle sprain could have ended everything.
Her husband George and photographer Zoe Salt served as her lifeline — feeding her, managing rest stops, cooling her down during heatwaves, and sourcing accommodation on the fly.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
By week three, something remarkable shifted.
My body was just like, ‘OK, this is our life now … we go out and eat mountains for breakfast.’
She crossed the finish line in Monaco on August 1st — shuffling into the glittering city-state on empty, overwhelmed with relief rather than celebration.
You’ve used up everything … so it just was a sense of relief I don’t have to run any more.
Her time of 28 days, 17 hours, and 59 minutes smashed British runner Jake Catterall’s overall record of 35 days and 21 hours — and demolished Dutch runner Tessa Caspers’ previous women’s best of 38 days.
From 15-Minute Jogs to History-Making Runs
Woods grew up in Christchurch, New Zealand, with no particular passion for running.
It wasn’t until she moved to the UK at 20 that she laced up her shoes — initially just to get healthier, barely managing 15-minute jogs.
Those modest runs eventually snowballed into 10Ks, then marathons, then weekends chasing mountainous trails while working in a London hair salon during the week. After 16 years in the city, she and George bought a camper van and spent seven years roaming Europe’s mountain ranges before planting roots in Andorra.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
By 2025, though, something had dimmed.
The Heartbreak That Changed Everything
After years of IVF treatment, Woods and her husband had to face a painful reality: they would not be having children.
The grief quietly hollowed out her love for running. Races started to feel mechanical — joyless.
I was really struggling with the fact … that my life wasn’t going to look different, that I wasn’t going to be changing nappies and doing school runs.
It was George who spotted the spark she needed — suggesting the Via Alpina as a new challenge, one they could chase together.
What followed became about far more than a record.
I had come from a place with the IVF where I was not particularly in love with my body. But my love and respect for my body, and what she can do for me now, is just so much more. What she allowed me to achieve, in a way that was joyful … I just have so much more respect for myself.
55,000 New Followers — and a Message She Never Expected to Send
Since crossing that Monaco finish line, Woods has been flooded with messages from women and girls across the globe — many inspired simply to attempt their first 5km run.
If you want something simple that actually works, this is one of the most effective tools I’ve used to build strength, conditioning, and endurance without needing a full gym setup.
- Full-body training with one weight using swings, squats, and presses
- Solid cast iron build that feels stable and lasts for years
- Comfortable grip that makes high-rep workouts easier to handle
Her Instagram has gained over 55,000 followers in just a matter of weeks.
For someone embedded in the trail-running community, the scale of the response caught her completely off guard.
When you’re in the trail-running world, these things seem a lot more normal. But it has blown up, and you start to understand that what you’ve just done is not normal at all.
Woods is quick to share the glory, insisting the record doesn’t belong to her alone.
It’s a pretty massive thing to ask of anyone, and I’m just so grateful to them.
From fern-wielding chaos in the Austrian alps to a record-shattering finish on the French Riviera, Sophie Woods has proven that sometimes the mountain you most need to conquer is the one hiding inside yourself.
