Meet the Two Women Running 214 KM From Jeddah to Taif in 28 Hours

Emma Merrick and Elzette Van Zyl are set to attempt a 214-kilometre relay from Jeddah to Taif in late November, covering the route in one continuous push over roughly 28 hours.

The usual road between the two cities is shorter; they are taking a longer back road that climbs from the Red Sea coast up to Taif, a city in the mountains.

They expect to remain awake for most of the 28-plus-hour attempt, with only short periods of rest possible between shifts.

The two behind it are Emma Merrick, a British performance coach who has lived in Saudi Arabia for five years, and Elzette Van Zyl, a South African personal trainer based in Jeddah for three.

Merrick came to the country for a corporate sales job in high-end fitness clubs, then competed in indoor rowing at the Saudi Games, taking silver in 2022 and gold in the women’s 2,000-metre event in 2023, and took up running about a year and a half ago.

Van Zyl has been running "since I can remember" - more than ten years, though long-distance running is a newer endeavour for her.

The pair’s longest race together is the 38.6 km Salomon Cappadocia Ultra-Trail, which they completed side by side in around six hours in October 2025.

The 214 km route is more than five marathon distances and sits in the territory of endurance races such as California’s 217 km Badwater 135. Unlike those solo ultramarathons, Merrick and Van Zyl will divide the distance between them, with each expecting to run 115 to 120 km.

This is the first leg of a project the pair is building, called Run Beyond, and the first run is meant to be the shortest of three.

If the plan holds, Jeddah to Taif will be followed by Jeddah to Medina, then Jeddah to AlUla, each run longer than the last, and all of them building towards an ultimate goal. "How cool would it be to be the first females to run from Jeddah to Riyadh?" Van Zyl tells SceneSports.

They will run the Jeddah-Taif route as a relay. "We're going to start together," Van Zyl says. "I think we'll probably do the first five kilometres together from Jeddah, and then we'll switch, say each hour we will change places. And in the last 20, 30 kilometres, we will run together again."

The plan is for each woman to personally cover roughly 115 to 120 kilometres across the 214-kilometre route. They expect to remain awake for most, if not all, of the 28-plus hours. While one runs, the other will recover in the support vehicle: eating, hydrating, changing clothes, doing mobility work or treatment if needed and, where possible, getting short periods of rest before switching back in.

"Learning to recover quickly between sections will be a big part of the challenge," Merrick says.

With late November approaching, both women are training every day. Weekends are reserved for increasingly long trail runs, often requiring 2 AM alarms, while weekdays are split between running, strength work and sessions specifically intended to prepare their legs and lungs for the climb.

Their longer outdoor runs are currently around 20 to 25 kilometres, alongside sustained incline work as the challenge approaches.

Rather than chasing a fixed weekly running mileage, they are spreading the training load across running, cycling, incline treadmill sessions, StairMaster work and strength training.

One recent five-hour session involved three hours on a treadmill followed immediately by two hours on the StairMaster, designed to recreate the feeling of reaching the climb towards Taif with hours of fatigue already in their legs.

The pair are also using their longer runs to figure out what they can actually eat and drink after hours on the road, testing water intake, gels and different foods as the distances increase.

"A lot of it is trial and error," Merrick says. "What gels work? What doesn’t work when we run?"

Van Zyl sees one upside. "Eating all the time."

During the challenge, a dedicated support vehicle and crew will stay with them throughout the route. The vehicle will act as their base, carrying food, water, electrolytes, spare clothes and shoes, medical and first-aid supplies, lighting and charging equipment. A medical professional will also accompany them throughout the run.

"At this point, our training isn’t only about whether we can run the distance," Merrick says. "It’s about whether we can keep repeating the cycle of run, recover, refuel and go again for 28+ hours."

Merrick and Van Zyl met at a barbecue about two years ago and soon began running together. After a few trail runs in Jeddah, Van Zyl suggested Cappadocia, where they eventually completed their first ultra together.

The idea of running between Saudi cities came later. Merrick sent Van Zyl a video of a group that had run the length of Iceland, thinking "how cool would it be to do something like that."

Van Zyl replied that they should try to become the first women to run from Jeddah to Riyadh. Merrick was stunned; four months earlier she had independently told her old rowing coach she wanted to do exactly that.

Jeddah to Riyadh is too far to attempt cold, so they broke it into stages, each through a different Saudi landscape.

"One of the reasons we wanted Run Beyond to come to life was showcasing the different landscapes of Saudi Arabia to people, outsiders, especially as an expat living here. We want to get people into the movement, inspire people," Merrick says.

Van Zyl's family, on the other hand, are "still scared that I'm going to end up in hospital".

For both women, the point of the challenge extends beyond running.

"Fitness for me is a space where I can push my body to the limit, and then my mind has to take over. The world is a very, very big place, and we are a very small dot on this big planet. We're just ordinary women who are trying something extraordinary," Merrick says.

"We want to inspire people to be braver, or to realise that they're stronger and more capable than they once believed."

Van Zyl traces it to that first ultra in Cappadocia, Turkey: "You get to a point in your body that is telling you that you have to stop, you cannot go any further, but your mind says that you should. It's not about running at all. If you put your mindset to anything that you want, you should just go for it."

The entire process has taught them a lot about each other. Both admit they are stubborn; both, according to Merrick, are "good at suffering together."

"Run Beyond grew out of the bond between Elzette and me, and that connection is what carries us through the long, difficult hours out on the road," Merrick says. "This is a shared journey built on trust and support, not just a physical challenge."

When it gets really hard they split in opposite directions. "Emma goes silent, I like to talk," Van Zyl says.