Come and hear from our inspirational athlete panel at the National Running Show!

Are you heading to the National Running Show in Birmingham this weekend? We have a fantastic opportunity for you to hear from four inspirational athletes from across the England Athletics running family!  

From 12 noon to 12:45pm on Saturday 20th January, we will be hosting our very own Q&A session at the Run Club Hub Zone (stand G80), located by the England Athletics stand (F81) in the hall. During this you will have the opportunity to hear from the athletes and ask your own questions about their running journey.  

Let’s meet the athletes: 

Samantha Harrison (Charnwood AC, Vince Wilson)

Sam only started running competitively in 2018 and from here she decided to join her local running club.

Fast forward to 2024 and Sam is now an adidas sponsored athlete who has represented Team England at the Commonwealth Games and Great Britain at both the European and World Championships.

In April, Sam was the first British athlete home at the 2023 TCS London Marathon in a time of 2:25:59 - a pretty impressive debut! 

Gemma Steel (Charnwood AC, Liz Nuttall)

Perhaps best known for her incredible performances over the country, Gemma won gold at the European Cross Country Championships in 2014, building on the silver in 2013 and the bronze in 2011.

She also boasts an impressive top 20 finish at the World Cross Country Championships. Gemma’s success hasn’t been limited to the country and over the years has competed at multiple World Half Marathon Championships finishing an incredible 7th in 2012.  

Vinay Joshi (Abbey Joggers)

Vinay started running in 2018 with a local Couch To 5k group with the aims of losing weight and getting fitter. In 2019 Vinay qualified as a run leader and in 2022 became a qualified coach.

Vinay is passionate about introducing running to those that are in the minority or less active demographics group. He has learnt sign language to help deaf runners and is a guide runner for both hard of hearing and visually impaired runners.

Last year he became a Run Leader Mentor, connecting him with many groups within the county.  

Sara Willhoit (Shrewsbury AC, Colin Livingstone) 

Sara has been competing in the sport since 2014, first getting involved at local parkruns she soon discovered a love of running off-road and it was here that she found for talent for mountain running.

Sara has represented Team England on multiple occasions. The year of 2023 was perhaps Sara’s best ever as she represented Great Britain at the World Mountain Running Championships, helping the team to an incredible bronze medal in the vertical race (1,016m up in 4.08 miles). 

Wanting to come along?

If you’ve not yet got your tickets for the National Running Show, don’t worry!