Anna Troup (born 1970) [1] is a British ultramarathon runner who, in 2021, achieved the fastest known time for a female completion of the Pennine Way. She is a qualified lawyer and works in financial management.
Troup has an MA in PPE from the University of Oxford and is a qualified lawyer, having trained at Slaughter and May. [2] While at Oxford she rowed as stroke in the winning boat in the 1991 Women's Boat Race. [3] [4] She has been chair of the Oxford University Women's Boat Club and a member of the board of The Boat Race Company, which runs The Boat Race, and is on the board of the Leander Club. [5]
On 17 August 2021, Troup completed the 268-mile (431 km) Pennine Way in 72 h 46 min, [6] [7] breaking the fastest known time previously held by Sabrina Verjee who had completed in 74 h 28 min 19 s in 2020. [8]
Troup is the female record holder of the Summer Spine Race along the route of the Pennine Way, having completed the 2021 race in a time of 80 h 28 min 35 s. [9] In the 2022 Spine Race, run in January, she dropped out at Torside; [10] the fastest female completed in 104h 08min 22s. [11]
Troup was the fastest female in the 2021 Lakeland 100 race, in which her partner, Richard Staite, was the fastest veteran; one of her daughters was the youngest finisher in the associated Lakeland 50 race, and her other daughter supported the family runners at the aid stations. [12] [13] She has also been fastest female in the 2020 Arc of Attrition 100, [14] the Wendover Woods 100, and the Exodus 100, and has been placed in several other races. [6]
As of January 2022 [update], Troup plans to take part in the 2022 Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc, which starts on August 28. [15] [16]
Troup's partner is ultrarunner Richard Staite, and she has two daughters who also compete in ultramarathons. [3] [12] She lives in Henley. [3]
She works in financial management [2] and, among other roles, is a non-executive director of the Charles Stanley Group [17] and of T. Bailey Financial Services. [18] She is a trustee of the Triathlon Trust. [19]
In a 2019 interview, she said that her favourite book was Steve Peters's The Chimp Paradox; her favourite app, Strava; and her favourite quote, Henry Ford's words: "If you think you can do a thing or think you can't do a thing, you're right." [5]