HONOLULU, Hawaii -- Explosive Ordnance Disposal officer 1st Lt. Ashley Sorensen set a new world record Monday running a mile while wearing a fully functional bomb-disposal suit weighing more than 75 pounds.
Sorensen's time of 11 minutes, 6 seconds, bested the existing record by more than two minutes. Pending review and formal validation by the Guinness Book of World Records, it will become the official record for fastest female one-mile run in an Explosive Ordnance Disposal, or EOD, bomb disposal suit.
Sorensen is a member of the 303rd Explosive Ordnance Disposal Battalion, 8th Military Police Brigade, 8th Theater Sustainment Command, based out of Schofield Barracks, Hawaii.
"Whenever EOD goes out in the bomb suits for a manual approach, it's really important that we're able to work and sweat in the suit and still be able perform," Sorensen said. "So making it a competition when we train helps with that. Running a mile like this is definitely a challenge."
The Milwaukee-native compared the run's physical and psychological intensity to the final miles of a marathon.
After an 18-month process of training and planning for the record-breaking attempt, she said, "We finally did it, it feels awesome, and I really appreciate everybody coming out for it," she said.
Sorensen graduated from the United States Military Academy at West Point in 2010, and she currently serves as her unit's executive officer. She made her record run on the University of Hawaii-Manoa track.
