Ukrainian Athlete Dariia Bodnar discusses Lakeland100 Podium

Dariia Bodnar is a Ukrainian-based Montane athlete and ultra-runner. She is at the forefront of ultra running in Ukraine, becoming one of only five athletes to complete the first-ever 100-mile trail run in the country. 

She is also a finisher of the European Series in Adventure Race and the Monte Rosa Skymarathon. Dariia juggles running with her career as an environmental engineer opting to work remotely to have more time to spend travelling and in the mountains.

Dariia admits her running journey began quite late in comparison to others as she started running after her interest got piqued during her trekking adventures. She explains she started running short 5km distances to improve her fitness, and her love grew from there.

“After about a year, I then got involved in orienteering competitions and made plans to climb Kazbek mountain (5034m) in Georgia. As training for Kazbek, I started going on more frequent and longer runs, between five and ten kilometres. Around that time, I realised that I had a predisposition for endurance sports though running on flat and paved surfaces is a suffer fest for me.”