Sarah Sawyer didn’t start running until she was 33 but has since competed in and won races all around the world.

SARAH SAWYER was involved in numerous sports when she was at school but bad injuries from a road accident in her teenage years halted any further progression.

It wasn’t until she was 33 that she took up the sport of running and she did it in such a manner that it has enriched her life in more ways than one.

Running has taken Sarah to some of the most unique places around the world enabling her to combine her love of travelling with her passion for the sport. She took time out of her busy schedule to talk to us about all aspects of her life and the sport from her first endurance race win to trial racing back in the UK.

When you were younger were you a sporty person and if so which sports were you involved in and what were any successes you had in them?

I was sporty at school (athletics, tennis, badminton) but was involved in a bad road accident when I was a teenager where I broke my leg in several places and was in a wheelchair for three months as they had to re-operate to reset my bones and then pin them back together. Then I went to college and university, and sport took a very back seat. In fact, when I started running again at the age of 33, it was the first exercise I’d really done since school…. you could say I was a late starter to running!

When did you realise running  was the sport for you and who were your biggest mentors and inspirations at the beginning?

My husband and I had spent six months travelling round South East Asia and it made me realise that when I returned to London (where we were living at the time), I didn’t want to go back to my old party girl lifestyle. My husband had a place to run London marathon through his work charity and I thought I might give this running thing a go. I had absolutely no running aspirations or goals, I just thought it would be quite nice to start running two to three times a week.

As it turned out, I realised pretty much straight away that I enjoyed running and it just developed gradually from there. I ran a half marathon about nine months after starting running and a marathon another ten months after that. For the first few years, although I really enjoyed running and training and trying to improve my times, it’s only been in the last three or so years that I started taking my running more seriously and realised I could be okay at it.

I didn’t really have any mentors or inspirations in the beginning, running was just something I started doing and enjoyed. Nowadays though there’s so many female ultra runners who continue to inspire me – obviously there are some huge female names on the international stage, but closer to home people like Debs Consani, Cat Simpson, Sophie Grant, Katie Kaars Sijpesteijn, and so many more, are examples of incredible women doing inspiring things in the world of ultra running.

Sarah Sawyer has taken in sights and managed trails of a wide variety of terrain during her years as a competitive ultra and trail runner.

What have been your biggest running successes to date and where are some of the places the sport has taken you?

I’m really lucky in that running has taken me to some amazing places throughout the world and I do like to combine my love of running with my love of travelling. My first race win was at RTP Ecuador (155 miles self-supported multi-day race through the Andes) so that race will always hold a special place in my heart. I also finished 1st in RTP Patagonia and 2nd in Atacama Crossing (also 155 multi-day races), in Argentina and Chile respectively, and they were two of the most beautiful places I’ve run. Running the CCC (100k/6,100m elevation) last summer where you run from Italy, through Switzerland and finish in France, will always be one of my favourite race memories as I love that part of the world and despite having to face torrential rain and freezing temperatures for the majority of the race, it was just one of those perfect running days. Berlin is one of my favourite cities in the world so finishing 3rd at the Berlin 100 was really special, and the Germans know how to put on a fantastic race!

Closer to home I can often be found running Centurion races which take place on UK national trails and I’ve finished 2nd in the TP100 (100m along the Thames Path) and third in WW50 (50 miles around Wendover Woods). 

It’s not all gallivanting round the world in exotic locations though….my last race was Crawley 24 hours where I ran for 24 hours round a 400m track in Crawley, where I finished first and second overall with a distance of 127.8 miles. That’s probably the race result I’m most proud of.

When did you enter then world of Pilates and what was it about the discipline that got you so interested?

I started practicing Pilates and yoga pretty much when I started running. I realised that I enjoyed running and wanted to be in for the long-haul, so I knew how important it was to compliment my running with other activities. And I massively credit this for keeping me injury-free for over 8+ years of running.

About 4 years ago I decided to train for my Pilates teaching qualification, initially just to increase my my own knowledge, but once qualified I started getting good feedback on classes I was covering, so set up my own classes, mainly teaching Pilates to runners and other people with sporty backgrounds, as I’m a huge advocate of how they can work together to keep runners injury-free.

Sarah Sawyer on a particularly tough piece of rock to navigate.

Tell us what you offer as a running coach and the message you try to instil in those who come to you for guidance?

I coach runners of all levels across a wide spectrum of races. The main thing that I hope to instill in people is that anything is possible in their running with hard work, consistency and determination. There’s no quick wins with running but if you put the training in, then you’ll see the rewards. I’m not some naturally talented runner, but I’m very open with my training and running, so I hope other people can see that hard work gets results.

As long as people have a sensible approach to training and racing, are enthusiastic, driven and love running, then we’ll work well together. 

What other exciting plans, races or projects having you got coming up in the months ahead and beyond?

My next races will take me to Bhutan for Global Limits Bhutan (125 miles multi-day race through the Himalayas) and then the Pyrenees for GRP Tour des Cirques (120k/7,000m elevation). Then I’ll finish the year off with Valencia marathon as I like to do a road marathon every year (plus a couple of half marathons and 10ks) to keep some speed in my ultra running legs! 

Longer-term, top of my racing bucket list is the UTMB (165k/9,600m elevation in the Alps) and my recent distance at Crawley has given me an automatic qualifying time for Spartathlon (153 mile continuous race in Greece with a 36 hour cut-off and strict cut-offs on route), so part of me does think it would be rude not to take up the place, although that one does scare me!

Mainly though as long as I’m running with a big smile on my face and continue to enjoy my running, then I’m happy.

More spectacular scenery surrounds Sarah as she marches on in her extraordinary running journey.