This is for all women around the world - Jasmine Paris said after collapsing at the finish line in Frozen Head Park, Tennessee, after 160 kilometers (100 miles) of running.
The "Girl of Steel" from Manchester became the first woman to finish the toughest ultramarathon in the world - she crossed the finish line after 59 hours, 58 minutes and 21 seconds, exactly 99 seconds before the 60-hour time limit for this race.
The fact that before Jasmin, only 19 men managed to finish this ultramarathon within 60 hours - since 1989, when it was extended to 160 kilometers - is perhaps the best indication of what a feat it is.
"In the last meters, I realized that I only had a few minutes to finish the race before the time ran out, so after almost 60 hours of going through the climbs in the forest, I practically sprinted to the finish line," Paris told the BBC.
Scratched from running through the woods of Tennessee and visibly exhausted, Jasmin says she felt incredible relief at the finish line.
"I'm happy for myself, because after three years I succeeded, but I'm especially glad that in some way I did all this for women all over the world - not only for those who are involved in running, but for anyone who wants to accept the challenge, and maybe they don't have confidence. The thought that maybe I inspired them to believe in themselves... That's huge," Paris emphasized.
The Berkeley Ultramarathon, or "Sixty Hours of Hell," is the toughest race on the planet and was started by Gary Cantrell in 1986. He got the idea in a somewhat bizarre way, after James Earl Ray, the assassin of Martin Luther King, ran 12 miles (19 kilometers) in about 55 hours while escaping from the police through the mountains of Tennessee.
Allegedly, Cantrell then said that he would cover 100 miles in that time and a new race was born. He named it after his long-time companion on many races, Barry Berkley.
By the way, the course is full of ups and downs through the Tennessee forest, consists of five 20-mile laps, and was the first to be completed in 60 hours by Mark Williams in 1995, six years after the Berkeley story began.
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