World-record endurance runner helped by scientists ahead of 24-hour challenge

A world-record endurance runner turned to University of Essex sports scientists to help push her body to the limit in a gruelling 24-hour race.

Imo Boddy visited the School of Sport, Rehabilitation and Exercise Sciences for physiological testing ahead of her latest endurance challenge in Switzerland.

The 27-year-old ultra-runner has built a global reputation for taking on extraordinary feats of endurance, including running hundreds of miles across mountains, deserts and entire countries.

Now she is preparing for her third attempt at a 24-hour track race, supported by Essex PhD student Niamh Cameron, who is also Imo’s nutritionist.

Imo is the latest elite athlete to be tested in the University’s cutting-edge labs which give students hands-on experience working with professional athletes.

During testing at the high-tech Essex facilities, scientists measured how efficiently Imogen’s body uses oxygen and how it responds as running intensity increases, helping the team fine-tune her pacing, training and nutrition ahead of the punishing contest.

Niamh said: “We’re looking at how Imo’s body responds as she runs faster, and how efficiently she uses oxygen at different speeds. That gives us a detailed picture of the intensity she can sustain over an extraordinary endurance challenge like a 24-hour race.

“At Essex, we can use our specialist facilities and expertise in human performance to turn that data into practical advice around training, pacing and nutrition.

“For an endurance athlete like Imo, even small improvements in efficiency can make a real difference over 24 hours. The aim is to give her the insight she needs to manage her effort, conserve energy and perform at her best for as long as possible.”

In March, Imo completed The Speed Project solo, racing from Los Angeles to Las Vegas across the Mojave Desert.

She covered approximately 350 miles in 77 hours and 54 minutes, recording the fastest female time and finishing second overall.

She also held the fastest female time for completing the National Three Peaks Challenge on foot.

In 2024, she ran approximately 700km between Ben Nevis, Scafell Pike and Snowdon in six days, five hours and 43 minutes.

And at the age of 22, she became the youngest woman to run the length of the UK from John O’Groats to Land’s End.

Imo said the work with Niamh and the sports science team will help her develop her training for future challenges.

She said: “Niamh and I started working together a year ago, and I’ve developed as an athlete in that time in more ways than I could have imagined.

“Her knowledge of endurance nutrition is incredible and she understands me as an athlete in so many ways.

“She leads all of my nutrition both around training and racing and works closely alongside my coach. Having that team around me gives me the confidence to put in the work, trust the process and know that everything we’re doing has a purpose.

“Testing at Essex and has given us an even deeper understanding of how my body responds and another layer of information we can use going into my third 24-hour race.

“There’s definitely some unfinished business, and I feel like I’m going into this one far better prepared than ever and with a much greater understanding of what my body needs to perform.”