Pippa Middleton Just Completed A 47-Mile Race In Sweden
The royal pro battled through treacherous open waters and long runs during this swim-run event.
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Apparently Pippa Middleton is a royal pro when it comes to impressive endurance feats. First, Kate’s sis ran a pretty fast marathon earlier this year. Now? She completed a 47-mile swim-run race in Sweden, the ÖTILLÖ swim-run world championship, saying it was “one of the hardest things I’ve done,” according to People.com.
The two-person team experienced intense winds and icy open-water swims through to the Baltic Sea during their 47-mile journey, making an already-insane feat even more difficult. For Middleton, she says the toughest part was swimming in the cold water and battling large waves due to high winds. “But the scenery was beautiful, and I love the team part of it.”
The 32-year-old, who celebrated her birthday the day before, started at 4 a.m. Throughout the race, she completed more than 50 transitions between swimming and running with teammate Jons Bartholdson, covering 26 islands on foot in between the swims. She even visited the region beforehand to train on the race-day terrain and grow accustomed to the area. However, the endurance queen wasn’t racing for any spectacular time; her efforts were as much physical as they were philanthropic.
“She’s not here to win—she’s here to race money for charity,” the commentator expressed on the live feed from the race’s website. Three total teams raised funds for the Michael Matthews Foundation, in honor of brother and fellow competitor James Matthew’s brother, who died during a mountain climbing expedition.
Middleton crossed the finish line with brother James Middleton and both of their teammates, finishing in 13 hours, 4 minutes and 24 seconds. According to the race founder, Michael Lemmel, simply crossing the line—”anything under 12 hours is fantastic,” he told People.com—is an accomplishment. The course is totally grueling—more than 20 couples did not finish the race.