This year, Bolton School Girls’ Division celebrated International Women’s Day with Old Girl Victoria Connelly (née Bayley, Class of 2000). In 2024, she became the first British woman to win the Racing the Planet 4 Deserts Ultra-Marathon Women’s Champion title. She has also built a 20-year career in Procurement across the pharmaceutical and technology industries, and is currently a Senior Director in Global Procurement at AstraZeneca in Cambridge.
Her International Women’s Day address to the entire Girls’ Division in morning assembly gave an inspiring recap not only of her career, but also of her incredible experiences as an ultra-endurance athlete and Ironman triathlete.
She looked back on her journey to joining the ‘4 Deserts Club’: she is one of just 305 individuals to have completed the prestigious 4 Deserts ultra-marathons, covering 250km over seven days not once but four times, in some of the harshest environments on Earth.
It all began with the Atacama Crossing in 2018 (Chile, 2nd woman), followed by the Namib Race in 2022 (Namibia, 1st woman) and the Gobi March in 2023 (Mongolia, 4th and 1st in age group). The title of Champion is awarded based on the lowest cumulative ranking across all four races, culminating in the series final in Antarctica. Victoria achieved this honour in December of 2024 after completing the Last Desert race in third place.
Her story of resilience, endurance and courage no doubt inspired the girls in the audience to take on challenges in their own lives, drive their personal growth and find the amazing rewards that come with being brave.
After assembly, Victoria visited PE, Geography and Biology lessons, where she was able to spend time with students, talking more about her ultra-marathon experiences, her Geography degree and her current work with AstraZeneca.
She also met with girls in the Elite Athletes programme to talk about building resilience and balancing demanding training and high-level competition with school or work. Later in the day, she met with Junior Girls and Boys in the Elite Athletes programme to share her life-changing ultra-marathon story.
Victoria’s visit was a wonderful celebration of self-empowerment, overcoming physical and mental challenges, and the benefits of venturing into the unknown.
Photos from IWD 2026:
