The mother of two risked scorpion stings, encounters with metre-long snakes and spiders the size of her hand to run, wade, swim and at times crawl almost 160 miles through the Amazon rainforest in Brazil.
The 51-year-old was one of only 30 people who completed the Jungle Marathon – a feat she managed just months after suffering a suspected stress fracture to her ankle while running around the Island seven times in as many days. She finished in 21st place in the Brazilian challenge. Seven runners did not complete the course.
‘I knew it was going to be tough, but I never thought it was going to be this hard,’ said Mrs Goncalves, who raised more than £10,000 for Headway by finishing the challenge.
‘Position-wise I was very happy, but even if I was last I would not have cared. When you are in that situation you are just happy you finish. It was survival more than a race.’
For six days the runner, who has completed the infamous Marathon des Sables across the Sahara desert, as well as a challenge in which she ran for 100 miles non-stop, and 30 marathons in 30 days, battled her way across the jungle. After landing in northern Brazil it took her and her fellow competitors 13 hours’ travel on a boat down the river through Tapajos National Forest before they even got to the start line.
From there, Mrs Goncalves, a cashier for Barclays, and her fellow runners, braved six different stages ranging in length from 14 to 62 miles, with the racers carrying the equipment they needed for the whole journey themselves.
‘I would rather do the Marathon des Sables and the round-Island [race] back to back before I would do this again. I got a bit tortured doing this. Maybe if I was 20 years younger, but it was torture. We had many tears,’ she added.
‘Even after I got back I was having nightmares about the jungle. I was waking up shouting: “I am okay, I am okay”. That is what you are saying all the time in the jungle because you are falling over or being sick. It took me over two weeks to stop having nightmares.
‘The route, the jungle, the humidity – it was close to 40 degrees sometimes. I got stung by a scorpion on my foot. It was the hardest thing I have ever done. My feet were destroyed because they were wet all the time.’
The Islander said that she got lost countless times and was often running in the dark – surrounded by potentially deadly animals. During some stages she had to wade and swim across rivers infested with snakes and piranhas.
‘Jovica Spajic was taking part and he is one of the top five in the world at this kind of thing. Every night he gave me a hug and said: “Ana, that was the hardest ever”.
‘They all named me the Queen of the Jungle. They kept saying to me they knew I would finish because of the determination in my face. I knew I would not give up, but it was tough.
‘If you do the round-Island walk or run here and think it is tough, it is five star in comparison.’
