Allie Bailey: Victory at the Wildhorse 200

When Allie Bailey completed her first London Marathon in 2013, she thought that was it – there weren’t any other races worth doing, were there? She continued doing the London Marathon year after year, but the road and time pressure took its toll. She yearned for something more but wasn’t quite sure what that was. 

“I came later to running – I was 30 when I ran my first London Marathon. I started running for my frankly appauling mental health and did the same marathon for about six years. I’m originally from Dorset, and one day my sister told me about a trail marathon she’d heard about – one where you can eat cake and don’t have to go fast.

“So I gave that a go, and I realised there was another way. It was a totally different experience. I loved the hills, mud and running in incredible places. But most importantly I loved the community of the runners and volunteers, the ack of pressure on time and pace and the sense of just being accepted for who I was.” 

“I was working in the music industry at the time, and I was breaking. I was hyperaware of what other people thought of me and the need to be ‘cool’. I behaved in a way I thought I should behave – not the way I actually wanted to behave.