Fiona Oakes is an incredible athlete. At 14 years old she was struck down with a horrendous condition in her knee which resulted in a knee replacement and the loss of one knee cap and severe damage to the other resulting from years spent on crutches.
Despite the Consultants warnings that she might have to have the bones in her leg fused together to render it completely immobile and the fact she would be lucky to walk properly again, Fiona went on to not only walk, but run – how incredible is that?
Fiona entered her first Marathon & did rather well…
Fiona holds the course record for the Essex Country Marathon Championship which she won in 2007 – her record still stands today. She is the only female runner to run under 3 hours on the course in it’s 18 year history.
Fiona won the marathon in Finland in 2010, setting a new course record by 11 minutes.
Fiona was the first lady to finish in the masses race of the Great North Run also in 2010 – YES FIRST !! & the Media ignored her !! She headed a team of runners for the Vegan Society, who all proudly wore their Team Vegan vests – perhaps something to do with the fact she was ignored as the media seem to love ignoring any positive vegan role models.
Fiona has come top 10 in several international marathons (Florence, Moscow & Amsterdam and Nottingham) and top 20 in London & Berlin (two of the 5 Major City Marathons, the biggest races in the world) – how is this possible for a girl with a knee replacement and no knee cap – to say the least, a chronically debilitating knee condition???
That should give you some idea of how hard Fiona pushes herself in all that she does.
Fiona went vegetarian aged 4 & has been Vegan all her adult life
To maintain this level of fitness Fiona runs around 80 miles a week and tops 100 when in full training for a race. At her level the speed she is training at has to be seen to be believed – Fiona focuses on speed work which is necessary to have the speed endurance that you will need in order to “race” the marathon. getting round is not the issue at this level, its how fast you can get round.
Fionas best recorder marathon time is 2 hours 38 minutes, although in training she has been sub 2 hours 35.
Fiona runs a 20 x 65 second 400m (thats 22 kph if you want to try it at the gym treadmill !)
Fiona also cares for over 400 rescued animals at Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary. Fiona does all the work alone with her partner’s help at the weekends. There are no staff or volunteers as the Sanctuary is not a business – Not what Fiona does for a living – she is a retained Fire-Fighter !
Fiona is also a Patron of Captive Animals’ Protection Society, a Sports Ambassador for In Defense of Animals in the US, and a founder member of VITA, the only real animal welfare/rights group in Russia. In 2012 she was made an honorary patron of the Vegan society.
Fiona became the first female Vegan to complete the Marathon des Sables in 2012 – the toughest foot race on the planet. 153 miles across the saraha over 6 days – one race stage being 50 miles, carrying all your food & equipment in temperatures up to 50 C.
This year she is tackling the North Pole Marathon in April & the South Pole in October. Please support Fiona in this as she wants to raise as much as she can as well as promote Veganism. We know of no other Vegan female to ever have attempted these races.
