Vegan takes Gold at Euro Duathlon Championships

Previous appearances have seen Lisa take creditable placings on several occasions – and she has also competed at the World Championships.

The Venice Championships were an opportunity for Lisa to compete in the Sprint event which was a 5 km run followed by 20 km of cycling, then a further 2.5 km run.

“The race was fantastic” Lisa told Great Vegan Athletes afterwards. “I put in a really solid first run which put me in a strong position to get in a little pack with another girl and we worked together and then joined another large group all taking turns to draft.”

“We kept the speed up the entire way then we ran into transition 2 to rack the bikes where sadly I had a major issue with my helmet clasp – I just couldn’t undo it so I watched lots overtake me in transition whilst I got stuck in the same position standing still for over a minute. I then knew that I had to chase them all down and the pressure was on for that final run.”

“I just dug as deep as I could and started overtaking – which was tough as the other girls are all fantastic strong athletes. I was kind of confident I was in a strong position as I entered the stadium as I had overtaken all that got past me but for the final 100m but I couldn’t stop giving 100% as the athlete that finished behind me by 3 seconds took the silver so it was so close in the end.”

“When I crossed the line to hear that I had won gold it was like a dream – it all seemed so unreal and I was over the moon. It’s fair to say that I shed a lot of happy emotional tears. It really has been amazing.”

Vegan

Now in her early forties, Lisa has been vegetarian since age 6 and vegan since age 21.

“I am a huge animal lover and that was originally my reason for going veggie at the young age of six. I remember reading a leaflet that came through the door about farming and battery farming and even at that young age. Then I made the connection that meat was actually of animal origin and felt it was wrong to carry on eating any meat for that reason.

“Going vegan was definitely something I was working towards as I was veggie for many years and wanted to cut out the dairy.”

She also runs a vegan business, supplying vegan confectionery. As well as duathlon, Lisa has represented England in Cross Country running.