The actual finish was something of an anti-climax – which is often the case at ultra-endurance events. As the city residents of Brest awoke on a grey Monday morning, Kolbinger rolled into a hostel car park, dismounted one final time and stopped the clock to officially become the race winner in just over 10 days.
Davies would arrive eight hours later, and the rest of the field would slowly appear over the next five days. Kolbinger turned her phone back on and processed what she had achieved.
She describes herself as somebody who is naturally outspoken and will call out something she feels is unjust. Gender equality is a subject close to her heart and was already something she thought about in everyday situations. Now she feels its importance from a new perspective.
“I have the impression that, especially in male-dominated groups, sometimes women are just underestimated because of their gender,” she says.
“Now that I have done this exceptionally ‘male’ thing [in] winning this race, I feel like they do accept me a bit more – or I feel like I get a bit more respect without anyone mentioning it. There is less underestimating me right now.
“If you understand what I mean, it’s different in that I’ve shown I’m not the ‘weak female’ so I think this gives me a bit more respect. Which is sad on the other hand, because I feel like before they didn’t respect me so much. It’s really sad to think about it that way – that the ‘ordinary’ woman who hasn’t done any crazy race or crazy ‘male’ stuff in her life, like climbing Mount Everest or something, she wouldn’t get that respect.
“I think some media has interpreted this as if I had changed the world entirely and shown that women are capable of doing things… surprisingly… and I didn’t really expect to become such a women’s ambassador in the media.
“They are comparing me with Jasmin Paris who won the Spine Race and Lael Wilcox doing really well in the Silk Road Mountain Race, and all of these successful women in sports, especially ultra-endurance sports. And that kind of surprised me that I was in that role, but I do think I like that role and I can take it.
“I think I have a talent – apparently – that I didn’t really know about until the summer, and if I can use this talent to promote equality then that’s perfect.”