Liverpool Pembroke Sefton runner Lisa Gawthorne flew out to the Portuguese island of Madeira last week to take part in the European Non-Stadia 10K Championships which took place on the evening of Thursday 29th October at 8.30pm on the closed streets of Funchal. The race, which attracted runners from ten countries was an age group graded race and Lisa succeeded in bringing home the gold for Great Britain, being crowned as the new age group champion in the V35 category in Europe. Lisa also finished 8th out of all females making that coveted top ten position.
We caught up with Lisa after the race and she commented “Its been amazing, the race was professionally organised to ensure we were all socially distanced, the atmosphere was great and I really had to work hard for it, I only got into that leading position in the last mile, finishing seven seconds ahead of the next female in my age group from Portugal who took silver. The course was quite hilly and there were lots of cobbled streets so it wasn’t easy. It was so fantastic getting up on the podium for the medals at the victory ceremony as they played the national anthem for me. It’s something I will never forget.”
The celebrations didn’t end there as Lisa formed part of a three-strong female team with Caroline Wood (Sussex Athletics) and Barbie Ahearn (LR Runners) who picked up team silver in the 10k. The medal ceremony took part at 11pm and Lisa was up again early the next morning to take part in the Cross-Country Relays so there was not much time for rest. Yet again Lisa’s three strong team with Caroline Wood again and Lesley Clancy (Ashford RC) performed strongly and brought home the silver medals for Great Britain.
Lisa adds “The race setting was so unique, we were 1500m above sea level and you could actually see the clouds below you whilst running! I ran the anchor leg, I went into the final leg not knowing where we were, but all I wanted to do was overtake if possible and I managed to overtake the Portuguese team runner who was in 2nd position up until I overtook so we ended up taking home the silver with Romania finishing in Gold and Portugal in Bronze positions.” Lisa is looking forward to continuing training throughout the winter season and is also looking forward to the World Duathlon Championships that she has qualified for which take place in Holland in Sept 2021.
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