Anna Kirkman

Trail running mum of two girls

Soon after she moved to Chamonix to start her family in 2017, Anna found herself captivated by the world of trail running. Overwhelmed with emotions that were enhanced by the powerful hormones of pregnancy, she sat through the night outside a town centre restaurant, applauding runner after runner as they finally made it into the final 500m of the gruelling 170km UTMB trail race route.  She knew she had stumbled across something amazing. Some were still running, some were limping, some were muddy and most were wearing headtorches, backpacks and carrying weird-looking drinks bottles and folded poles. All seemed somehow elated but exhausted and some were even crying. Her throat was sore from cheering and her hands were blistered from a week of clapping, and that week she started to dream.  

Soon she had signed up for her first 17km race, then a 40km, and also contacted all the local trail event organisers to join the volunteer teams for next year's events.  

Over the next five years she trained and raced and experienced and learned.  Having been a national champion high-jumper and then a heptathlete in her youth, she had never much enjoyed running, and it was all her Dad, as her coach at the time, could do to get her to reluctantly complete two laps of the track to close out each heptathlon competition weekend.