"cross country has been good to me..."
Yelling - a stalwart
Following a tough time at the European Championships on Sunday, and a decade at the top of UK athletics, GB international Hayley Yelling has decided to make the hardest decision of any runner’s career and hang up her spikes.
It must have been very difficult for an athlete, formerly the winner of the championship event, to watch the leaders disappear up the hills of Brussels. Many runners never know when to give up when racing, Hayley Yelling is once such athlete. However, she is intelligent enough to realise that after years of racing at the top the ‘also ran’ life is not for her.
She has conceded that her best years may well be behind her (a very tough confession to make), and after the near miss of Olympic selection having slipped from her grasp on so many occasions 19th on Sunday was never going to be good enough. Her racing CV makes for pleasurable reading, with the 2004 XC Euros surely the highlight…
It was such a shock. I knew I was running okay domestically, but you never really know how everyone else is doing. You are just in that runner’s bubble. It was Jo Pavey that helped me win that one, she came up on my shoulder near the finish and I thought ‘I’m not going to let you beat me – not on cross country’. It spurred me on to win it.
2004 European champ - get in!
Like many athletes before her Hayley will plough that extra energy back into the sport that has been so good her, and we can be sure that the likes of Steph Twell and Charlotte Pudue will benefit from her knowledge and experience in the future.However, it seems that she will take some time to reflect first on what has been a solid career at the top.
I hope to do a bit of work at my club (Windsor, Slough, Eton & Hounslow) working alongside Conrad and then maybe on my own when I get a bit more experienced. I will run just to keep fit now. I’d also like to go skiing. You don’t really get the chance to do these things that when you are an athlete.
Of course when looking at the heiresses to her mantle, the UK can also be pretty confident that another senior champ will be along soon.
Thanks Hayley and best wishes, just don’t stay away too long – UK athletics needs you!
