Emma Pooley broke the women's record for the Everest Challenge (open in new tab) by more than 15 minutes, becoming the first woman to complete the 8,848-meter climb in under nine hours. The now retired former time trial world champion completed the Haggenegg mountain in Switzerland in 8 hours and 53 minutes after 10 repeats. ["I did that ride I would never do..." ["I did that ride I said I would never do..."]. Pooley wrote on Instagram on Wednesday. 'Terrifying and amazing at the same time. Sometimes at the same time. And apparently it was an #Everest record. Never again, never again!"

Pooley said he would donate to the Kate Home Nursing Center in memory of former British champion Sharon Rose, who died after battling cervical cancer in 2017.

The riders will run as fast as possible on a single ascent of 8,848 meters, the height of Mount Everest, in the Everest Race, officially run by Australia's Hells 500.

Recently, a number of women have broken Everest Challenge records, including Katie Hall, who completed the vertical meters in 10 hours and 1 minute on the Bonny Doon climb outside Santa Cruz, California. Lauren De Crescenzo broke this record with a time of 9 hours and 57 minutes at Hog Pen Gap in Georgia. A few days later, Hannah Rhodes Patterson broke this record by nearly 50 minutes with a time of 9 hours 8 minutes on the short side of Kirkston Pass in the Lake District in Penrith, England.

After 130 km, Pooley repeated Haggenegg 10 times, which is 6.7 km and has an average gradient of 13%. She wrote on Strava that she "almost threw up near the top of the last three laps," but "somehow, it was still a great day ...... I genuinely enjoyed it."

Pulley, who won the time trial at the 2010 World Championships, said that if she could do it all over again, she would make some adjustments to her Everest summit strategy.

"But if I had to do it over again, I'd go to ....... But if I had to do it one more time...

"My less than genius plan included: averaging 13.5% with inadequate gearing, a fully exposed climb on a hot sunny day, a twisty, technical descent with blind corners, gravel, and mowing, and all the farmers in Haggeneck mowing their pastures and collecting hay on Picking a day to do this. I don't know what this tells you about how bad I smelled!

"But despite some hiccups, it was a happy day. I wanted to challenge myself and find my limits. Or maybe my limits found me.

Pulley, along with her support crew Liz Romanov and coach Tim Pigott, thanked Lourdes Patterson for setting the bar so high last time.