Law and District athlete Fiona Steele is celebrating after following up a double gold at the British Masters recently with new personal bests and a 4x400m relay silver medal at the World Championships in Finland.
The 57-year-old, who hails from Douglas village, has enjoyed a purple patch in recent weeks and admits she’s been blown away by her success.
First up, Fiona competed in the British Masters Championships in Derby on June 11, winning the W55 100m (14.20s) and 200m (29.20s) championship titles.
And she told Lanarkshire Live Sport : “The girl that was second beat me in the indoor championships so I was expecting a really tough race – the medal wasn’t expected.
“I knew I was happy with my running but you can only run your own race, you can’t influence what happens with the others.
“The 200m is my better event and I ran the 100m first, so to win that was just ‘wow’ and it was such a thrill for me.
“I just ran so relaxed in the 200m because I’d won a medal in the 100m. I just delivered what my coach believed I could do and I was delighted.”
Fiona then went on to compete with team GB & Northern Ireland in the W55 4x400m relay in Lahti, winning team silver and finishing fourth in the 4x100m relay during the heatwave that swept across Europe in July.
In the individual events in Finland, she achieved personal bests and W55 Scottish records the 100m and 200m finals, finishing eighth in the 100m with a time of 14.04s and seventh in the 200m in 28.99s.
Fiona said: “It was so hot in Finland. It was 32 degrees, so that was some way to disadvantage the Scottish team! But I made the finals and, for all I finished last or so, I ran a new PB and a new Scottish record in both. I couldn’t have asked for too much more.
“There was a bit of pressure on the 4x400m because I hadn’t ran a 4x4 before. My legs at the end were like jelly, but it was a really good experience to win silver.”
It has been a great introduction to Law AAC for Fiona, who only joined the club in March. And she says she couldn’t have achieved her success without them.
She added: “Everyone at Law has been so welcoming. I really am so grateful to them and they run such a great club, with such a high end batch of young kids and it just brings your running on so much.
“The coaches are fantastic. They are so incredibly kind and dedicated. Joining the club has certainly paid dividends.”
Fiona will now focus her efforts on preparing for the World Indoor Masters in Poland in March.
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