VALE Royal endurance athlete Liz Renondeau won a medal on her Great Britain debut.
The Shell scientist, who fought back from injury to proudly wear the senior international vest for the first time at the age of 43, played her part in the Great Britain team winning gold in the inaugural International Association of Ultrarunners 50km European Championships staged in the Spanish city of Ávila.
She was the 24th woman to finish the gruelling event, doing so in a personal best 3hrs 55mins 30secs.
For Renondeau, a long-time member of Vale Royal Athletics Club, it was the culmination of years of hard work and dedication to the sport.
She showed true grit just to make it to the start line, a selection she earned for an outstanding performance in the Manchester Marathon in April when she was 12th woman and broke the Vale Royal AC women’s marathon record with 2hrs 42mins 04secs.
She revealed she has been through one of the lowest points of her athletics career since the highs of that race due to serious injury threatening to ruin her deserved opportunity and preparing in the way she needed to.
In fact her only race results posted since then were for the Essar Guilden Sutton 10K on September 18 when she was second woman over the line and Chester parkrun on September 24 when she was home first.
“There were genuinely times when I wondered if I’d ever run again,” said Liz.
“I did everything in my power to be ready but it simply wasn’t enough.
“From lap three of the hilly 5K loop – we ran 10 in total – I knew I was in trouble.
“But thanks to the support of the fantastic British Athletics team managers and a couple of wonderful people on the course I somehow managed to find a way to the finish.
“Some amazing memories to take with me and in time I’m sure I’ll look back and be proud.
“I’m looking forward to rehabbing properly now and just enjoying running freely for a while.”
The over 40s runner, who also has experience of representing Cheshire Dragons, Northern Masters, Ellesmere Port, Tattenhall and Wirral throughout her 21st century athletics career, was one of five senior international debutants making up the GB women’s squad squad for the event in Avila.
She was joined by Chloe Richardson (Birchfield Harriers), Rebecca Bunting (London Heathside), Ali Lavender (Oswestry) and Sally Ratcliffe (Aldershot, Farnham and District).
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