Ireland’s Emma Stuart, who lives in the U.K., thrives in the toughest of environments. The farm veterinarian, who trains in the Lake District’s rainy fells, stormed to victory in the 2023 Tor des Géants, having won that year’s Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 100 Mile by almost three hours, and has also taken podiums in world-class ultramarathons, including the Lavaredo Ultra Trail and Transgrancanaria. She does all that alongside a physically and mentally demanding job, and has also just completed a Master’s degree this past summer.
We caught up with her to learn about her journey to ultrarunning and hear more about the high-wire balancing act that is her life.
Emma Stuart, the 2023 Tor des Géants champion. Photo: Zzam! Agency/Alessandro Zambianchi
Emma Stuart grew up in Sligo, on the west coast of Ireland. Not an early prodigy in running, she said: “I was last in every school sports day race. But I do remember my aunt, who was a marathon runner, always said, ‘The problem with these races is they’re too short for us Stuarts. We need longer races to really come into our own.’”
After finishing school in 2008, she moved to Edinburgh, Scotland, to study veterinary medicine. After graduating, she worked in New Zealand for a time, and returned home to Ireland for 18 months, before ultimately deciding to move back to the U.K. She said, “One of the main reasons I went back to the U.K. is because I’ve always loved the outdoors, and the footpath network and the open access to land in the U.K. means that it’s a lot easier to spend a lot of time in the outdoors.”
Stuart was a mountain lover before she was a runner, and said, “I did do a lot of rock climbing at university and did a bit of hill walking and things like that, but never really ventured into the world of running until about six years ago.”
After dabbling in a couple of half marathons, Stuart quickly stepped up to the 50-kilometer distance, running the 2019 Manx Mountain Marathon 50k on the Isle of Man. She said, “It’s an amazing race. You start from the north of the island, and you basically cross the whole island, across a mountain range. It was an absolutely awesome day out, and the first time I’d run 50k, and I ended up being second lady.”
Stuart quickly realized she had an aptitude for long-distance running in the mountains, and added, “I did another 50k a couple of weeks later and won that.” She completed a few more ultras that year, before the COVID-19 pandemic called halt to racing.
As she continued to train quietly in the background throughout 2020, when racing resumed in 2021, Stuart was ready to step up to bigger, harder races, winning the prestigious Lakeland 50 Mile that year.
She progressed to win the Lakeland 100 Mile in 2022, as well as the Kong Lakes Ultra 50 Mile, but still felt there was a lot of room for improvement in her training and racing. She said, “I made the decision after Lakeland 100 Mile to get a coach, because my life is incredibly chaotic and disorganized. I try to do too many things, and there aren’t enough hours in the day.” She added, “I started to realize that it makes racing a lot harder if you haven’t got a structured training plan going into these races.”
After she began working with a coach, Stuart’s first race was the Arc of Attrition 100 Mile, in January 2023 — a race she saw as a turning point in her running. She said, “To this day, that’s probably been the best race I’ve ever run. I broke the women’s record, and was the first woman to go under 24 hours. So that was quite special for me. What’s incredible is two women finished under 24 hours in that year.” She added, ”I really loved that race, it wasn’t 100% perfect, but I executed it to the best of my ability and was really happy with my performance.”
Next Stuart turned her attention to the arduous Ultra-Trail Snowdonia 100 Mile, which she won by a huge margin, beating top international competitors including the U.S.’s Sabrina Stanley, France’s Claire Bannwarth, and Japan’s Kaori Niwa.
Emma Stuart smiling her way to victory in the 2023 Ultra-Trail Snowdonia by UTMB 100 Mile. Photo: Guillem Casanova/UTMB
Not long after, Stuart ventured out of the U.K. for her first major European ultra — the 2023 Lavaredo Ultra Trail. Here she placed third behind French duo Fiona Porte and Maryline Nakache. She said, “That was the first race I’d done where you go to altitude at any time. And that was a bit of a shock to the system. I didn’t really get any headaches or bad nausea. But God, the fatigue, the exhaustion, it was just overwhelming. Everything just seemed like Everest, especially towards the end of the race.”
As well as the altitude, the crowds and the hype of a huge mass start was a new experience for Stuart, who said, “That was my first European race where you experience the huge numbers of people running the race, and everybody goes off like they’re running a 5k. It’s insane how fast people start, and I just wasn’t prepared for any of that.”
Stuart on her way to third place at the 2023 Lavaredo Ultra Trail. Photo courtesy of Emma Stuart.
Later in 2023, Stuart had an opportunity she couldn’t turn down, to take part in the epic 330k Tor des Géants in Italy. She said, “Every year there’s always somebody I know who does it, and prior to last year, I always had a bit of FOMO. And then the opportunity arose for me to get a place on it through Scarpa, the team that I run for. They offered to give me a place and help crew me, so I couldn’t really pass the opportunity.”
As her busy day job did not afford Stuart the opportunity to train in the Alps, she prepared for the race through long days in her local Lake District fells, during a particularly cold and rainy summer. She said, “I was going out for back-to-back days and the weather was horrific. I was questioning my life choices. I was going out for eight hours, I was absolutely frozen, and soaked to the skin, and I just did that day-after-day.”
Stuart’s hard work and persistence paid off, and she had a commanding win at Tor des Géants, her most high-profile international win to date. She said, “It was a learning experience, because it’s such a jump to go from 100 miles in the U.K. to 200 miles at altitude in the Alps. It’s a huge jump. I made a lot of mistakes, but learned a lot at the same time. So hopefully I can go back in a couple of years and run stronger and faster.”
Emma Stuart on Day 4 of the 2023 Tor des Géants. Photo: Zzam! Agency/Anja Bakowska
In spring of 2024, Stuart embarked on another European adventure, taking on the ever-competitive Transgrancanaria, where she again took third, this time behind the U.S.’s Courtney Dauwalter and Spain’s Claudia Tremps.
She spoke of being a little starstruck lining up next to Dauwalter, and said: “I did briefly see her for about 15 seconds on the start line before she left, then she was gone. That was quite cool, standing on the start line with her.”
The profile of the course did not work to Stuart’s advantage, starting with 80k of mostly climbing to the course’s highpoint, followed by 50k of mostly descending to the finish. She said, “I’m a much stronger downhill runner. So, by the time I kind of got to the downhill 80k in, I just had nothing left in my legs. So, it wasn’t a very pretty finish. My legs were pretty goosed by the end, but it was a great experience, and it’s a cracking race.” That said, the brutal weather conditions may have acted in her favor.
Later in 2024, Stuart had the opportunity to represent Ireland at the European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships in Annecy, France. It was her first time representing Team Ireland, and she was struck by the overall standard at the event, which at 58k was also on the shorter side for her skillset.
Laura O’Driscoll, Emma Stuart, Sorcha Loughnane, and Aoife Mundow representing Ireland at the 2024 European Athletics Off-Road Running Championships. Photo: Richard Nunan
“The standard was phenomenal,” she said. “The French were just incredible, the caliber in that race, I don’t think you can get a better set of female ultrarunners.” She added, “I ran the best I could. I did suffer a bit, with cramps in my legs, but I ran as fast as my little legs would carry me, and that’s all you can do.” Stuart was first Irish woman home and said, “In terms of how I competed against my peers, I was quite happy.”
Next up, Stuart headed to Chamonix, France, for her UTMB debut, which sadly ended in a DNF. She suffered stomach problems from early on, which she found was exacerbated by the intense energy of UTMB, which was a far cry from the quiet fells she is accustomed to. She said, “One of the factors that played into [not finishing] was that I really didn’t like that there was so many people around me, because when I’m not feeling very good, or when I’m digging deep, I just want to be on my own. I spent a lot of Tor [des Géants] on my own. It’s just a chance for me to race myself and do my own thing.”
Despite not particularly enjoying her first UTMB experience, Stuart is determined not to let it beat her, and is already looking into qualifiers for next year’s race. She said, “If I can get the time off work, my next race is Kullamannen 100 Mile, which is a UTMB qualifier. Currently I’m supposed to be working the day that I’m to fly out, we’re working on that, but that’s the plan!”
For the past 10 years, Stuart has worked as a vet, currently specializing in farm animals. She said, “I went to full-time farm animal work probably about five or six years ago, just because I prefer being out and about. I like chatting to farmers, I like cows a lot, and I just like that whole environment.”
Stuart’s job involves 5 a.m. starts, long days out in the elements, and weekend on-call work. She said, “One in six weekends, I’m very much tied, so I can’t go and do big adventures, big days out, or the like. I’m just tied to being within 20 minutes of my car.”
Despite the limitations Stuart’s job can place on her free time and her availability to travel, there is no doubt that it has also helped with her strength of character, giving her a deep reserve to dig into in the toughest of races. We look forward to seeing where her passion and perseverance will take her next.
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Emma Stuart takes a breather on the way to winning the 2023 Tor des Géants. Photo: Zzam! Agency/Anja Bakowska
