A&U acquires Urquhart ultramarathon story

Allen & Unwin (A&U) has acquired world rights to ultramarathon runner Donna Urquhart’s as yet untitled story about her Guinness World Record Antarctic run in January 2024, written with journalist and communications specialist Charisse Ede.

In addition to being an ultramarathon runner, Urquhart is also an associate professor and pain scientist, factors that A&U publisher Sally Heath said come together in her story: “She takes us inside the physical, mental, emotional, social and spiritual domains of the run, of her pain and adversity.”

Heath also highlights Urquhart’s commitment to empowering young female athletes: “The data show that females are challenged by physical, mental, emotional and social issues in sport, resulting in only 32% of girls playing sport by the age of 15 and less than 10% of women being involved later in life … Donna believes that we have an incredibly exciting opportunity to pioneer a new holistic model of sport for community-based sport in Australia, and in doing so, empower the next generation of female athletes to develop a love of sport and experience the important health and education benefits throughout life.”

Urquhart has represented Australia at world and Asia championships and completed events such as the 240km Coast to Kosciuszko ultramarathon. She achieved the record for the longest polar ultramarathon (female) between 15 December 2023 and 14 January 2024 after running an average of 50km per day over 28 days to reach 1402km. She trained for nine months, running on a treadmill in a refrigerated shipping container and an industrial wind tunnel, before embarking on the final run through what the publisher describes as “the coldest, windiest and driest desert on Earth”.

A&U plans to publish the book in the second half of 2026.

Category: Local news Rights and acquisitions