RunYoung50
Women’s running history
and the stories of older women runners
Recent articles…
Margaret Lockley – national marathon champion 1978
The 1970s were an important decade in the history of women’s marathon running. Countries around the world began to lift the ban on women racing long distance. Margaret Lockley was one of the UK’s first top-class women marathoners.
Anne Dockery – an amazing journey
British masters athlete Anne Dockery tells the story of her amazing journey in running and the four challenges she set herself since turning 70.
“Something out of the ordinary” – the Nanango 1000 Miles Track Race
When Eleanor Robinson turned 50 in November 1997, she had been an ultrarunner for 16 years. She was a 24 Hour World Champion, 100k World Champion twice and had probably set more world records and world bests than any other ultrarunner1. Robinson...
The 1998 Nanango 1000 Mile Track Race – competitors and results
The 1998 Nanango 1000 Mile Track Race was held from 11th to 26th March and had a 15-day cutoff. The race hosted the inaugural International Association of Ultrarunners 1000 Mile World Championship. Read an account of the race here.Competitors There...
Did Not Finish
On Saturday, I was a "DNF" for the first time. I failed to finish the Nottinghamshire Cross Country Championships race. I stopped at just past the 3-mile point in the 5-mile race due to a calf strain. I had walked a bit, stretched and massaged my...
A parkrun anniversary
Ten years ago, on 7th January 2012, I went to parkrun for the first time. I had been running for less than a year. I'd heard of parkrun but had only found out a few weeks before that there was a parkrun in Nottingham. I remember not being sure...
Marathon Blunders
Google “marathon mistakes” and you’ll find lots of articles giving advice about how to avoid things going wrong in a marathon. You shouldn’t overtrain or undertrain, don’t forget to taper, get to the race in plenty of time, don’t get cold at the...
Chris Bexton – competing in her sixties
**Guest post** Chris Bexton from Nottinghamshire began running at 53 and quickly found she could improve her times. Now in her sixties, Chris continues to be a competitive age group runner despite experiencing a major health setback just three...
Nottinghamshire Running Clubs – A Brief History
2022 marks the 40th anniversary of the founding of my running club, Holme Pierrepont Running Club. In the course of my research into women’s running history in the UK, I’ve visited many athletics clubs’ and running clubs’ websites (see my blog post...
Chasing the Elite – Masters Running
** Guest post ** Christine Oldfield writes about her experience of competing against world class masters athlete, Angela Copson, at the British Masters Athletics Federation 10km Championships in 2019. My friend and fellow Holme Pierrepont Running...
An Olympics timeline – women’s running
On Friday 30th July 2021, the athletics programme at the Tokyo 2020 Olympic Games gets underway. Female athletes will compete in a full range of running events with eight distances from 100 metres through to the road marathon. In addition, the...
Athletic Review 1947 – post-war running
My oldest athletics magazine is this copy of Athletic Review, dated November 1947. I received three copies of this magazine, this one and two from March and May 1948, when I purchased several years of Athletics Weekly magazines from a gentleman who...
Most Read Articles
Six popular articles on my blog recently….
Running and the Menopause – Resources
There is not much research into, or information about, the impact of the perimenopause and menopause on runners. What effect might it have on women's endurance and on our performance? How can we cope with the symptoms of the menopause? Should we...
Female Ultrarunners over 50
In January I added three women to my list of running bloggers over 50. I noticed that all three of them run ultra distance races. Alene Nitzky, from Colorado USA, has been running ultras since 1991 and has run the Badwater 135 race twice. Carolin...
Running on HRT
Arriving late for my first race of the cross country season in 2017, I was already feeling hot and bothered by the time I'd dumped my bag, got my trail shoes on and made my way to the start. It was unseasonably warm weather for...
“Jeffing” the Yorkshire Marathon
This is the story of how I got to the starting line of my first marathon and what happened on the day. Getting ready for the Plusnet Yorkshire Marathon on Sunday 9th October 2016 I thought about the interview I had done with Sandy Poole in January...
Running towards the menopause
Today (18th October) is World Menopause Day. I've spent quite a bit of time on Twitter participating in an awareness raising campaign organised by Henpicked, a network for women over 40, using the hashtag #HotFlashMob. It's probably the first time...
The first London Marathon
On a sunny day in August 1980 200 women from 27 countries lined up in Battersea Park in London to run a marathon. It was the first time the city's streets had ever been closed for a race. It was the 3rd August. Two days before the men's marathon...