The ISEH recently held its annual 5K and 10K running event in London’s beautiful Regent’s Park on Sunday 26 June. Leading the event warm-up and setting runners off at the start was two-time Olympian Mara Yamauchi, who is the UK’s second-fastest female marathon runner of all time, with a personal best of 2:23:12.
Mara was a professional runner for seven years, before retiring in February 2013. The highlights of her career were finishing sixth in the 2008 Beijing Olympics women’s marathon – the joint best ever finish by a British woman in the Olympic marathon, a bronze medal at the 2006 Melbourne Commonwealth Games 10,000m, and winning the 2008 Osaka International Ladies’ Marathon in Japan. She now works as a coach, motivational speaker, and writer, helping people to achieve their goals in running, work and life in general, and to get the very best out of themselves.
The ISEH’s mission is to support elite athletes in performing at their best, and also helping to improve the nation’s health through encouraging people to be more physically active. Mara’s new career closely mirrors this mission as she uses her expertise from her career as an elite athlete to help people to improve their running, set and work towards goals, and identify their strengths and weaknesses.
She says “The appeal of running, no matter what level we are, is that we all face the same challenges of training hard, looking after ourselves, and delivering our best on race day. The lessons, skills and insights I learned as an elite athlete are as relevant to recreational runners and non-elite athletes as anybody. I love helping people and enjoy passing on what I learned as an elite athlete.”
Mara is a familiar face at the ISEH, having almost(!) been a patient of the ISEH's Clincial Director Prof Fares Haddad when she faced a serious hamstring injury in 2011 while aiming for the London 2012 Olympic Games. She also works with the Dame Kelly Holmes Trust which supports retired athletes and young adults in difficult circumstances, and has attended several events with the Trust held at the ISEH on Tottenham Court Road.
Mara commented “The ISEH is a terrific facility in the heart of London providing much-needed support to elite athletes and the general population. With lifestyle problems such as obesity, diabetes, and cancer causing such big challenges for the UK today, organisations like the ISEH which encourage everyone to be more active are so important. I hope through my coaching that I can play my own role in helping people to enjoy a healthy lifestyle.”
Mara coaches runners of all abilities, delivers coaching workshops for running clubs and England Athletics amongst others, and also delivers motivational speeches for corporate events, conferences, schools and universities. She is also a regular TV commentator for the BBC’s London Marathon coverage.
More information about Mara
Photo credit: marimo images