Sabrina Verjee (born ) is a British long-distance fell-runner who held the overall record for the 325 mile circuit of the

Wainwrights Wainwrights are the 214 English peaks (known locally as '' fells'') described in Alfred Wainwright's seven-volume '' Pictorial Guide to the Lakeland Fells'' (1955–66). They all lie within the boundary of the Lake District National Park in Cu ...

from June 2021 to May 2022 and the female record for the

Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches for from Edale, in the northern Derbyshire Peak District, north through the Yorkshire Dales and Northumberland National Park and ends at Kir ...

from September 2020 to August 2021.

Early life and education

Verjee grew up in

Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...

and studied human sciences at

Oxford University The University of Oxford is a collegiate research university in Oxford, England. There is evidence of teaching as early as 1096, making it the oldest university in the English-speaking world and the second-oldest continuously operating u ...

. After a few months working as an investment banker she studied veterinary medicine at

Cambridge Cambridge ( ) is a List of cities in the United Kingdom, city and non-metropolitan district in the county of Cambridgeshire, England. It is the county town of Cambridgeshire and is located on the River Cam, north of London. As of the 2021 Unit ...

, with a postgraduate certificate in emergency medicine and surgery. At both universities she ran and rowed, and at Cambridge she took up

modern pentathlon The modern pentathlon is an Summer Olympics, Olympic multisport that consists of five events: fencing (one-touch épée followed by direct elimination), freestyle swimming, obstacle course racing, Laser pistol (sport), laser pistol shooting, and ...

and then

adventure racing Team Wild Rose setting out on the paddling section at Full Moon in June 2009, Panorama Mountain Village Adventure racing (also called expedition racing) is typically a multidisciplinary team sport involving navigation over an unmarked wildern ...

Running

Verjee competed in, and won, her first ultramarathon, the Grand Tour of

Skiddaw Skiddaw is a mountain in the Lake District National Park in England. Its summit is traditionally considered to be the List of Wainwrights, fourth-highest peak but depending on what topographic prominence is thought to be significant is also ...

, in 2014. In 2017 she competed in the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, finishing in 21st place, but did not enjoy the experience: "You climb to the top of the hill and all you can hear is these banging cowbells and shouting people, but it's so foreign to me because I actually go to the hills for peace and quiet. I just hated it".

Pennine Way

In Summer 2019 she was the overall winner of the

Spine Fusion The Spine Race is an ultramarathon held over a distance of around from Edale, England, to Kirk Yetholm, Scotland, along the Pennine Way The Pennine Way is a National Trail in England, with a small section in Scotland. The trail stretches f ...

, a summer race which follows a similar route to the

but is not identical, in a time of 81hrs 19mins. In January 2020 she finished fifth overall, and first woman, in the Spine Race, the equivalent winter race; her time was 108hrs 7 mins, outside the female race record of 83hrs 12mins set the previous year by Jasmin Paris. In September 2020 Verjee set a female record for the fastest completion of the Pennine Way, finishing the run in 3 days 2hrs 28mins. This stood until August 2021 when Anna Troup set a new best time of 3 days 46 minutes.

Wainwrights

Verjee's first attempt at a tour of the 214 Wainwright summits in June 2020 was ended early due to

COVID-19 Coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) is a contagious disease caused by the coronavirus SARS-CoV-2. In January 2020, the disease spread worldwide, resulting in the COVID-19 pandemic. The symptoms of COVID‑19 can vary but often include fever ...

restrictions.Ally Beaven, ''Broken'' (Sheffield, 2020). She tried again the following month and on 12 July, returned to her start point having visited all the 214 summits in 6 days, 17 hours and 51 minutes, a route of involving of ascent. However, this was not claimed as a record for the challenge as she had received physical support because of knee problems ("I needed assistance down Clough Head to the Old Coach Road – I had to lean on little Dave to take the weight off"). In September of that year, Mel Steventon became the first woman known to have run all the Wainwrights in a continuous journey, with a time of 13 days 12 hours. On 30 April 2021, Verjee began another effort on the route, aiming to complete in under six days, but had to stop after three days because the severe weather conditions were aggravating her

asthma Asthma is a common long-term inflammatory disease of the airways of the lungs. It is characterized by variable and recurring symptoms, reversible airflow obstruction, and easily triggered bronchospasms. Symptoms include episodes of wh ...

. She said: "This is not the conclusion I had anticipated and I am hugely disappointed. This story isn't over. I love running and I love exploring the Wainwrights. We have unfinished business." She started a further attempt on 11 June 2021 and was successful, completing the tour of the Wainwrights in 5 days 23 hours 49 minutes and 12 seconds. This was the fastest time by anyone for the route. The overall record was broken on 7 May 2022 by 37-year-old American runner John Kelly who completed in a time of 5 days 12hrs 14mins 42secs, taking more than 11 hours off Verjee's time.

Personal life

Verjee works as a vet in

Carnforth Carnforth is a market town and civil parish in the City of Lancaster in Lancashire, England, situated at the north-east end of Morecambe Bay. The parish of Carnforth had a population of 5,560 in the 2011 census, an increase from the 5,350 reco ...

and lives in

Langdale Great Langdale is a valley in the Lake District National Park in North West England, the epithet "Great" distinguishing it from the neighbouring valley of Little Langdale. Langdale is also the name of a valley in the Howgill Fells, elsewhere ...

with her three cats and husband. On 21 August 2021 she was

Simon Armitage Simon Robert Armitage (born 26 May 1963) is an English poet, playwright, musician and novelist. He was appointed Poet Laureate on 10 May 2019. He is professor of poetry at the University of Leeds. He has published over 20 collections of poetr ...

's guest in his

BBC Radio 4 BBC Radio 4 is a British national radio station owned and operated by the BBC. The station replaced the BBC Home Service on 30 September 1967 and broadcasts a wide variety of spoken-word programmes from the BBC's headquarters at Broadcasti ...

programme ''The Poet Laureate Has Gone to His Shed''.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Verjee, Sabrina Year of birth missing (living people) 1980s births Living people English female long-distance runners British female long-distance runners British fell runners British ultramarathon runners Women veterinarians British veterinarians Peak bagging in the United Kingdom Adventure racers 21st-century English sportswomen