Going the Distance

By Sarah McDonald (06-11)

Some people may remember me for winning the prestigious Miller Cup, or wearing the bright yellow polo shirt of Collingwood on school Sports Day, while others may remember me for always getting told off and sent to the Head of Years for wearing nail varnish or the absence of my blazer.

Sarah winning the Vitality Westminster Mile, 2015 Sarah after winning the Birmingham Diamond League

Ivividly remember on my first day at RGS in September 2006, walking into Mr Bailey’s form classroom, in the brand new Performing Arts Centre. More importantly to my ‘sporting story’, I still recall what I was doing after school that day –I negotiated my way on the Metro to the Whitley Bay ice rink, as I was an aspiring figure skater, albeit seeking to battle through an injury to my hip.

In those early days I have a memory of being press-ganged into cross-country due to the severe lack of the ‘XY chromosome breed’ in my year group at the time and I guess at this point the running bug was ignited inside me. This assisted in softening the blow, when at the age of 16, I underwent operations on both hips, leaving me on crutches for prolonged periods (and let me tell you, it is a seriously long hobble on crutches from the language department to the chemistry labs!) I was realistically told that ice-skating was no longer an option for me. My skating leotards were confined to the bottom of my wardrobe, where they remain to this day, and my focus turned to running.

Throughout Sixth Form I juggled between training at Jarrow’s Monkton Stadium and my homework as I sought entry into a Medical School, and in 2011 I left the North East for Birmingham, where the next chapter began. I had a place to study Medicine and met my current coach, Bud Baldaro. Bud lies at the heart of middle distance running in the UK, especially women’s and Bud gradually set me ever increasing goals and targets which at that point I believed were unobtainable. He told me he had never met anyone quite so determined or “bonkers” as me: ‘he may say that to all the girls’, but it sure worked with me.

Five years on, I can’t quite believe that in the past six months I have had the honour of representing Great Britain at the European Championships, achieving a place in the final, represented England twice, become British Road Mile Champion, English 800m Champion, bizarrely ranked at 16th in UK All Time Rankings over 1,000m and, perhaps best of all, claimed my first Diamond League victory. It has been ever-soslightly bittersweet with being 0.18 seconds off Olympic selection but I’ve taken this in my stride and I’m using it to push for future success, particularly with the World Championships in London next year.

I was asked to write a little about how I manage to balance studying for Medicine alongside training to such a high level. I must be frank and honest and say it hasn’t been without mishap or difficulty, but I’ve done it. The University of Birmingham and its Medical School have been brilliant in accommodating me for this year,

Sarah in the 1,500m Birmingham Diamond League, June 2016 © Adrian Royle

particularly with it being an Olympic year. I was allowed to do a portion of my work at 1,700m altitude in Font Romeu, in the middle of the Pyrenees. We have worked together to make the remainder of my degree to be as ‘track and field friendly’ as possible to give me the best chances of making the team for the upcoming World Championships and Commonwealth Games.

I train twice and sometimes even three times a day, yet I still love it. It’s only in the winter at 6am, weather sleeting and freezing, that I get half-way down the road and start to question my life choices, having lost all feeling in my fingers! However, it’s a lifestyle, not a chore. I guess I almost know no different. I train, I go to placement/lectures, I go home and I train again. Eating and sleeping are included too. There have been times where people have pointed out my Nike compression socks under my tights in hospital and I’ve had to shrug my shoulders and laugh it off, knowing I would never get through my next run without them.

I use the medicine and the track side-by-side to perhaps reduce the pressure and strain of the other. For example, in exam time, running breaks up my work and reduces the monotony and vice versa. This skill, I believe, I developed at school. Despite RGS being a highly academic school striving for the best grades in the region, it also provides a huge number of extra-curricular activities, and mastering the art of time management in the early days has really paid dividends.

So I hope to encourage and urge the current students of today to engage in CCF, rugby/hockey, rock-climbing or dragon-boat racing or even athletics, although perhaps not all at the same time; and when they are in the queue for lunch, to look at what sporting talent the school has nurtured on the Wall of Fame and strive towards joining them.

It really is true when people say that your memories of school stay forever.