Ultra-Orthodox mother of 5 from Jerusalem wins Riga half-marathon

JTA — An ultra-Orthodox mother of five from Jerusalem won a half-marathon race in Latvia, reportedly becoming the first Haredi woman to win an international athletics competition.

Beatie Deutsch, 29, was the top woman finisher in Sunday’s 13-mile (21 km) race in Riga in a time of 1 hour, 17 minutes, 34 seconds,.

“So many of you shared stories of your families that had perished in Riga and it felt truly incredible to be running through the streets as a proud Jewish woman,” Deutsch, who uses the moniker “Marathon Mother,” wrote in a post on Facebook after the race.

Deutsch won the 2018 Jerusalem Marathon and the Tiberias Marathon in January. She ran the Tel Aviv Marathon in 2017 while seven months pregnant.

She has a coach and is receiving partial funding by the state to train for the 2020 Olympics.

Deutsch, who made aliyah from New Jersey in 2009, is known for running in modest clothing including a skirt, shirt sleeves below her elbow and headscarf.