Cornish Sporting Heroes, #1: Emma Stepto, International Distance Runner

Reading time: 20 minutes

Hero (noun). A person who is admired for their courage or outstanding achievements.

(OED, 10th edition, 2001)

In this series, I interview people from the world of Cornish sport who you, the reader, have intimated to me are admirable for their courage and/or achievements. (Naturally, I had my own shortlist too.) Over the next few weeks, you can expect to find out more about the careers and ambitions of Richard Pascoe (Saint Piran Cycling), John Collins (Cornwall and England Rugby Union), Cassie Patten (Olympic swimmer and medalist), Gerry Cawley (champion Cornish wrestler), Tony Penberthy (First Class cricket), and Graham Paul (Rugby Union and League star).

First up though is the international distance runner Emma Stepto, who is quite simply inspirational.

Her family moved to Cornwall from Essex when Emma was three, and she grew up in St Minver, St Mabyn, St Kew and Bodmin. Cornwall is all she remembers! School was Wadebridge Comprehensive, which

I absolutely loved…there was so much sports on offer, there was a big sports field, tennis courts, a swimming pool and a gym. We also used to do cross-country, down towards the Camel Trail. We were really lucky, looking back, especially now so many places have lost their sports fields…we did athletics, hockey, football, touch rugby, tennis, a real good variety!

With a degree in Hotel and Catering Hospitality at Bournemouth University, her career path for several years meant Emma left sport in general, and running in particular, behind:

Athletics came later really, what with the nature of the job, seriously long hours, split shifts, which I actually loved, and I was able to live-in at the hotels I worked for…but you are so shattered at the end of the day when you’ve been on your feet for 12-14 hours, you don’t feel like doing any sport!

It was something of a career-shift at around the age of 35 that brought Emma back to running:

The athletics came back really when I moved more to an office job, doing admin at a car dealership, and I wasn’t getting that opportunity for physical activity which I like, and I had to find an outlet for it in sport.

The sport Emma rediscovered in the mid-1990s was distance running:

I found it so comfortable, and you could kind of get into a zone with your running, also the solitude of it actually…not that I didn’t want to be with other people because it’s a great team sport and I enjoy that, but being able to concentrate, being able to listen to your breathing, your footfall and the surroundings, it’s kind of hypnotic, the rhythm of it…with sprinting, you don’t get that, it’s adrenalin and it’s over really fast, it’s a totally different feeling you get from it. Distance running is just what naturally appealed to me I think.

In 2007 Emma joined the Cornwall Athletics Club (CAC), based at Carn Brea Leisure Centre, which is quite obviously her spiritual home:

CAC members have a real pride in their Club, they really do tend to stay a long time, there’s a real commitment to the heritage and the history, it’s been going for so long, and even the coaches, volunteers and officials who were there since the very beginning, 1982, many of them are still there now, and that gives you a pride in the Club, and you want to be part of the team!

Certainly CAC has a massive following:

The Club has a wide range of ages, from u11s up to 80 years, a real range of abilities too and a real sense of belonging, nobody’s judged, it’s a real welcoming community! We must be around 250 members, with quite a large junior section, with field events as well, and around 30 coaches, and some really well-established endurance coaches, and that experience is priceless, and to have that passed on, year after year – I think that is a real special feature of the Club.

This experience has certainly fed into the Club’s success. A quick scan of CAC’s impressive list of international representatives¹ throws up such luminaries as Dave Buzza, Mark King and Molly Caudery, to name but three². Unsurprisingly, it wasn’t long before Emma’s prowess on the track attracted attention:

Initially I was just joining up unsure I’d be able to keep up with anybody! But I was okay, I managed it, I fitted in…Dave Buzza used to take the Thursday night social runs, which was one of the first runs I went to, and I think he sort of said to Alan Rowling, this person’s joined up, she’s doing a mile in seven and a half minutes, keep an eye on her! I mean, I didn’t have a clue what pace was good or bad! It was also my first experience of running and training with other people, and although it was in a friendly way, it naturally brings out a kind of competitive side as well, because you want to keep up with somebody…and then you want to keep up with the next person, and the next person…

Emma works best when she has a target or a goal, which might be something as simple as keeping up, or overtaking, the runner in front of her, all the way up to running a marathon in a certain time. Her natural focus and determination were honed when she teamed up with her long-term coach, CAC legend Alan Rowling³.

Alan will help anybody who wants to improve, and get the best out of them…I don’t think I was anything special specifically, it was just that when I had that help from Alan, I knew I wanted to make the most of it, to be the best that I could, and to make him proud as well. I think he instils that in everybody that he coaches. We would structure my training very specifically, into macro and micro programmes…I knew what my target races were for the year, how my build-up worked, training races, what weekly sessions I’d be doing and how they’d progress in intensity and duration.

The devil is in the detail as well:

Alan is very analytical with numbers, timings, performances…but he’s never pressurising or overstretching you, he’s very aware of what you’re capable of…Alan is very quiet and unassuming, but so supportive, and you just want to do him proud…acknowledgement from him that you’ve done a good job, that’s fantastic, that’s what you wanted!

From a Thursday evening social run in 2007, in 2008 Emma raced in twenty-four organised V35 (aged 35-40 years) events, including cross-country, track and half-marathons, mainly in the West Country. It’s an impressive first season, to say the least. Emma won the Duchy Open 3000m at Carn Brea, and was second in the 5000m County Championships at Par⁵. In 2010, further honours beckoned. Emma was selected for the England Masters Cross Country (5K), to be held in Dublin:

It was a surprise for me when Alan said, ‘do you want to run for England?’, I never thought I’d hear those words, and I remember blurting out ‘Yeah, of course I do – can I?’…and Alan said ‘Look, you can go down the Masters route, this is the aim, this is what you’ve got to do, and I think you can do it’. So I followed the plan, I trusted him, 100 per cent…and I got to hold my England vest up for the first time, and it meant the world to me, and you never forget that feeling.

It was Emma’s first experience of racing abroad:

I travelled over on my own, but when we were over there, and obviously you’re running as a team as well, I got to know the girls on my team and you form a bond so quickly, it’s lovely, I made some really good friends…it was a great trip, it went really well and it certainly got me hooked to try for more!

In 2011 Emma raced the same event, but in Glasgow this time, and then prepared for a whole new challenge, marathon running. In April 2012 she ran the London Marathon (in 2hrs 44mins) as preparation for the Toronto Waterfront Marathon in October:

That was really my main target, it was my first full England vest, not as a Master but as a Senior [V40]…it was absolutely magical to achieve that, and be able to do it, and to get a PB, even though it was a really tough race! My family went with me and it was really special to have them there…for them to have that commitment to go with me was great…you have to try really hard then, because you owe it to them!

Emma’s then-PB which she achieved at Toronto was 2hrs 42mins, but the route was challenging:

Although it was a flat course, it was very windy, and there was lots of long, long sections, like the last six miles was pretty much all in one direction, but with a head-wind, and there was quite a small field in the elite race, we were quite spread out, you didn’t have anybody to run with, there were sections where there weren’t spectators out, it was quite a lonely race…it was very difficult to keep your head in the game, to concentrate and keep that pace, when you’re battling wind and you can see straight ahead, I really did hurt after that.

It was such a tough, windy race and I hurt so much afterwards I had to walk backwards to the bus…so embarrassing, the elite bus, and the only elite runner who had to walk backwards!

Being an armchair athletics fan, I had to ask Emma how Toronto differs from the London Marathon:

Noise level! It’s got such a different feel to it because it’s such a big charity event as well…it’s a lot more of a festival atmosphere, I just love it when you get there and they’re playing the London Marathon theme, it just gives you goosebumps! The support is the whole way, there’s spectators the whole way, obviously it’s a historic race, and finishing in The Mall, that’s priceless, you can’t compare that to anything!

In 2014, Emma was as successful as she was prolific. She won the RunBritain Grand Prix (an event scored on performances over six races⁸), came seventh at V40 level in the Frankfurt Marathon (with a PB of 2hrs 32min), and raced the 5000m European Championships in Birmingham…

Everything sort of fell into place that year and I think it’s very rare when things do…you’ve trained for so many years, to get that one time when everything is just right. It was just such a special year, and at the time you kind of don’t realise, because you’re so focused on what’s next and what the progress is, you don’t realise what you’ve achieved until you look back at it, and you say Wow, was that me? Did I actually do that?

They’re priceless memories from that year, Frankfurt was incredible, a fantastic marathon to run, and running in the European Championships on the track I felt so out of my comfort zone, I’m not really a track runner, but to be running with people like Jo Pavey, Charlotte Purdue⁹, it was amazing…I’m glad I have pictures from it because I probably wouldn’t believe it otherwise…

Training for an event is one thing, yet the sheer physical toll of the event itself is another matter altogether. However it’s somehow comforting to discover that elite athletes sometimes recover from extreme exertion in the same manner as us mortals…

I’d usually take a week or two off completely, and then very gradually get back into it, sort of do a reverse-taper and build back up on mileage…it probably took me a month to get back to where I was.

I was so shattered after Frankfurt, I remember going out with my Dad for a pizza, honestly it was the biggest pizza I’d ever seen, it was hanging over the plate, I was tired from the marathon, I’d given it everything, how I didn’t fall asleep and drown in this pizza I don’t know…I can’t even remember if I managed to eat it or not!

The races that made up the 2014 Grand Prix were the Mizuno Reading Half Marathon, the Bristol 10km, the Bupa London 10,000m, the BMC Track Festival (Trafford) 10,000m, the Cardiff Half Marathon, and the Age UK Leeds Abbey Dash 10km. (Of course, Emma raced 22 other events that year too.) After the Abbey Dash, she was ten points clear of her nearest rival and could claim the £3000 prize. Yet it all happened by accident:

I won a couple of the races just because I happened to be doing them, and realised that they were part of the series and thought well, actually the other races are really great quality races as well so I discussed it with Alan and it fitted in with our plans, and so without expectations I thought, well I’ll do those as well…and to win it was just amazing.

The £3000 prize was Emma’s biggest career haul, and it’s here we genuinely begin to appreciate her sheer dedication:

Nothing else compares to that really…a lot more were local races…the prize money suddenly started to decrease around that time…a lot of races used to offer travel, accommodation, things like that, but it’s quite difficult to find that now, which is a shame, but yes, it was definitely my biggest, and gratefully received!

I did consider going professional, I think if I’d been in my 30s, I probably would have taken the plunge, but being in my 40s and thinking realistically how many more years at that level have I got, can I give up a career and a stable job with a decent salary on a gamble of having maybe another year or two…and I’d struggle to make an income from it…

I do kind of look back and wonder how much more I could have done if I’d been able to train, and rest, and not work…but I’m glad I did what I did!

Fortunately, Emma was able to acquire sponsorship deals:

I used to have a local running shop, sadly it’s not going now, they gave me amazing support, it was called At Your Pace, based in Helston, they used to supply me with Brooks running shoes, my go-to, and that was a massive help because there’s just no way I could have even afforded to keep going racing…the speed I was going through them, with the mileage I was doing, just couldn’t have afforded to buy all those shoes…

A quick glance at the Brooks website tells me their women’s Glycerin Max shoe starts at £180. At her peak, Emma was running between 80-100 miles a week:

I’d have different shoes for different sessions, racing flats don’t last very long at all, you should replace your training shoes every 500 miles, and when you’re running about 80 miles a week that doesn’t last long! I did used to make them last longer but they would have holes in and be falling apart…

So Brooks and At Your Pace were very supportive, and that really did help because the cost of travelling, hotels and entry fees…they really did mount up, even just entering a lot of local races, they’re £15-20 a time, and you’re doing 20 of them a year, it’s a lot of money. Even just going to the London Marathon you’d probably have to spend £500 with the train travel, hotel for two to three nights…it’s a few hundred, just for one race! But it’s worth it, for the memories.

And what memories! In 2015 Emma finished the London Marathon a whole minute faster than Paula Radcliffe, and while I’d personally dine out on this feat for evermore, Emma herself is modest:

If she [Paula] was at her fittest and at her peak, there’s no way I’d be anywhere near her. I’ve got far too much respect for what an incredible runner she is to even compare myself as I’m so far off that mark…it just so happens that she would have had a lot more years of competitive, international running in her legs since she was a junior, she’d had a long break, she hadn’t been targeting that race throughout the year…I didn’t in no way see it as a competition against her. It was just an honour, really, to be able to run in the same race.

Of course, some memories are less cherished. Emma has had her fair share of injuries along the way:

I’ve had a few falls, which aren’t great and I’ve had a couple of cracked ribs, and quite a few stress fractures in my feet and ankles…maybe three metatarsals and an ankle…it’s incredible how painful they can be…

The second time I ran the Frankfurt Marathon, I pulled out with a stress fracture at seven miles. That was incredibly painful! I think I’d had it for a couple of weeks but had been resting, tapering, and then you set off at that speed…bang!

I had to find my way back across the city, with no map, no idea of where I was, and I could only speak a little bit of German…and I’m limping through Frankfurt in a crop-top and shorts, and I managed to ask a German couple where the sports stadium was, bless them they took me on the Metro, took me to the closest station to the stadium, and luckily I was able to find my father…I was so grateful because I was completely lost, I had no idea, I had no money for the Metro, I never race with a phone, God no!

Emma has nothing but love for the track and facilities at Carn Brea Leisure Centre:

That’s where I first ran on a track in Cornwall when I was at school, it’s where I feel at home, and to be able to see the Carn Brea monument, which I first saw when I was at school, it’s really special to think I’m back there now.

Emma also highly recommends the Penrose Park Run in Helston¹¹. In 2016, 2017 and 2018 she placed first nationally for Park Runs at V45 level:

It’s beautiful, it’s through a National Trust area in the woods, it’s stunning, it’s really well supported and organised, it’s nice seeing the same people there and having that little competitive thing…you come out at Loe Bar and the sea at Porthleven, just a gorgeous place to run…Lanhydrock if you want a good workout, it’s quite hilly, not the one you’d go to run a good time, but if you’re going for endurance and strength, it depends what you’re training for!

My favourite place is definitely the Camel Trail¹², ten miles from Bodmin to Padstow and ten miles back, so you can get a 20 mile training run in, you run down through the woods and out along the estuary, it’s an old train-track and it’s just the most beautiful place, a good running surface, usually really quiet first thing in the morning, it’s just so peaceful…

Of course, Emma is always focusing on the next target, the next goal. Besides building up her own gardening business in West Cornwall, for the last two years she’s been developing her abilities as a triathlete:

It’s given me a new challenge, a new route, new things to learn, and new targets, so I’m really enjoying it…we’re signed up to do the Windsor Triathlon in June…the most challenging thing for me is staying warm, I’m quite lean, I get cold really quickly, and to get out of the pool, and then get onto the bike, and be cycling for an hour, everything’s soaking wet and I really struggle with the cold…I’ve kind of had to toughen up!

She’s also a qualified coach, having taken the Leadership in Running and Fitness qualification¹³:

I love seeing people progress, just to see how proud they are, and if you can give a bit of advice, and see it pay off, that’s really rewarding!

Sport in general, and Cornish athletics in particular, has given so much to Emma, and it’s fantastic to hear she wants to give that knowledge and experience back. Cornwall AC will be well-served for many years to come!

Many thanks for reading; follow this link for more top blogs on all things Cornwall: https://blog.feedspot.com/cornwall_blogs/

References

1. See: https://www.cornwallac.org.uk/content/HallOfFame.asp
2. For more on Dave Buzza, see: https://www.city-runs.co.uk/dave-buzza-qa. For more on Mark King, https://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=39738. For Molly Caudery, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Molly_Caudery
3. For more on Alan’s achievements and contributions to Cornish athletics, see: https://www.cornwallac.org.uk/content/NewsDetails.asp?ID=1101
4. Image from: https://www.city-runs.co.uk/emma-stepto-qa
5. For a comprehensive breakdown of Emma’s races and times, see: https://www.thepowerof10.info/athletes/profile.aspx?athleteid=77736#2007
6. Image from: https://www.torontowaterfrontmarathon.com/event-info/#marathon
7. Image from: https://athleticsweekly.com/event-news/emma-stepto-retains-vets-title-at-london-marathon-21547/
8. See: https://athleticsweekly.com/featured/scott-overall-emma-stepto-win-runbritain-grand-prix-13886/
9. For more on Jo Pavey and Charlotte Purdue, see: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jo_Pavey, and https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charlotte_Purdue
10. Image from: https://www.frankfurt-marathon.com/en/frankfurts-rise-to-become-one-of-the-worlds-fastest-marathons/
11. For more information, see: https://www.parkrun.org.uk/penrose/
12. For more information, see: https://cameltrail.co.uk/
13. For more information, see: https://www.englandathletics.org/coaches-and-officials/coaching-qualifications/leadership-in-running-fitness/