21 Mar 2021 | Running after fifty |
** Guest post ** – Joyce Bell from Kent writes about how she finally became a runner in her early sixties. Within a few years of her first parkrun, she ran a marathon and surprised herself by qualifying to represent England as a Masters athlete. I met Joyce at...
9 Sep 2020 | Women's endurance running history, Women's marathon history |
Imagine a time when women did not run in road races. Imagine a time when women were told distance running would harm their health. Imagine a time when running in a marathon meant risking being jeered at or even assaulted. This time was in my lifetime. I was born in...
11 Apr 2020 | Running after fifty |
Vanessa Walker chose to celebrate her 60th birthday in 2019 by competing in the Dukeries 30 ultra race with her two sons and six friends from her running club. Despite a very early start and 30 miles of running, she had enough energy left to attend her own birthday...
19 Apr 2019 | Women's endurance running history, Women's marathon history |
On 3rd August 1980, 200 women from 27 countries lined up in Battersea Park in London to run a marathon: the third Avon International Marathon. Maureen Fitzpatrick was one of those women, excitedly waiting at the start and hoping to complete her first marathon at the...
9 Jul 2018 | Interviews with women runners over 50 |
It’s unusual to meet a runner who’s been running for over 40 years, and it’s particularly unusual for that runner to be a woman. The RunBritain rankings website lists 31,600 active runners aged 60 and over, but only 28% of them are women. There has been a significant...
