Sandra Brown (ultradistance athlete) Sandra Brown (ultradistance athlete) Sandra Brown (born 1 April 1949) is a British ultra distance walker / runner who holds a number of world records in the field of long distance walking. After a childhood which included many long family walks 'off the beaten track', Brown completed her first formal marathon in 1982 in Winchester, at age 33 years. That same year saw her enter her first 'ultra' (a race of a distance beyond the marathon's 26 miles 385 yards) with the 100 km Surrey Summits in April and a Long Distance Walkers Association (LDWA) crosscountry 100 mile event along
Marathon earlier. In 2014, an estimated 550,600 runners completed a marathon within the United States. This can be compared to 143,000 in 1980. Today marathons are held all around the world on a nearly weekly basis. For a long time after the Olympic marathon started, there were no long-distance races, such as the marathon, for women. Although a few women, such as Stamata Revithi in 1896, had run the marathon distance, they were not included in any official results. Marie-Louise Ledru has been credited as the first woman to complete a marathon, in 1918. Violet Piercy has been credited as the