![\"Sophie](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/sophie-woods-crossed-through-eight-countries-on-her-traversa-NAE2NDRR6JDQ3NBDZF4XDFBDIU.jpg\")
<\/p>\nKiwi ultra-runner Sophie Woods has broken a record for fastest traversal of the Alps, running 2000km across eight countries in just 29 days.<\/p>\n
The Via Alpina, one of the world’s toughest endurance challenges, follows the entire length of the European mountain range, with elevation equivalent to climbing Mount Everest 12 times.<\/p>\n
The 42-year-old Cantabrian began the route on July 4 in Italy, travelling through Slovenia, Austria, Germany, Liechtenstein, Switzerland and France before ending on the Mediterranean coast in Monaco on Saturday.<\/p>\n
Woods battled heatwaves, storms, a swarm of horseflies and wildfires which caused a 5km detour from the trail.<\/p>\n
“I am ecstatic but knackered,” she told the BBC.<\/p>\n
“The last couple of days I did on one and a half to two and a half hours of sleep to really push at the end. That tipped me over the edge a little bit.”<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n
Sophie Woods crossed through eight countries on her traversal of the Alps. Credit: Zoe Salt (Source: BBC)<\/p>\n
She said there were points in the journey where she felt overwhelmed by the enormity of the task.<\/p>\n
“I might not be the fastest person out there but I know how to do big, long days in the mountains and just keep moving when everything hurts.”<\/p>\n
The first week was “horrendous”, Woods said.<\/p>\n
“Everything was swollen, everything was sore. I was sure I was going to pull 15 million muscles. Week two wasn’t great either and then week three, I felt like I was getting fitter. It was like I was eating mountains for breakfast.”<\/p>\n
The previous fastest-known time for Via Alpina was 35 days, set by British runner Jake Catterall in 2024.<\/p>\n
Woods said the record was in her sights from the very beginning.<\/p>\n
“I didn’t want to be running for more than 30 days – 30 days is enough. I knew that I was strong and capable. But this has taken it over and beyond that,” she told the BBC.<\/p>\n
“Ultra-running is about preparation, mental strength and being able to continue to persevere when things go wrong.”<\/p>\n
The morning’s headlines in 90 seconds, including another earthquake wakes thousands, a Kiwi runner sets an ultramarathon record, and the lucky escape for a New York scooter rider. (Source: 1News)<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Kiwi ultra-runner Sophie Woods has broken a record for fastest traversal of the Alps, running 2000km across eight…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":110988,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[16],"tags":[50,17985],"class_list":["post-110987","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-alps","tag-alps","tag-uk-europe"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@ch\/117028179655880815","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110987","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=110987"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/110987\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/110988"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=110987"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=110987"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ch\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=110987"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}