The vegan runner
Veganism is gaining popularity and of late, a number of elite athletes have revealed that they follow this diet and lifestyle choice. Typically, many associate vegans as undernourished, unhealthy peace-loving hippies, but Tennis players Venus Williams and Novak Djokovic, Formula 1 racing driver Lewis Hamilton, Footballer Jermain Defoe and boxer David Haye certainly dispel that misinformed concept!
Here on the Costa Blanca we have our very own sporting vegan superstar by way of British expat Gemma Ann Selby. Originally from Coventry, Gemma moved to Spain in 1997, settling in Benidorm. She initially gave up meat around 4 years ago on ethical grounds and then followed that with fish and now been totally vegan, abstaining from any animal products for the last 3 years - but husband and teenage son both still eat meat, although they have to cook it themselves!
To date she has completed 22 marathons – a distance of 42km plus 11 Ultra marathons – typically beginning at 50km!
At school, she was more of a sprinter than a long distance runner but following the birth of her son wanted to lose weight, so she joined the Alfaz ladies netball club and started jogging to get fit in between. From there her love of running developed – she is part of the El Faro athletic club in Alfaz del Pi and her very first marathon was right here in Benidorm.
Last April she competed in the Boston marathon under one of the worse weather conditions every experienced in the competitions history – with wind, rain and hail to contend with in addition to the many kilometres.
Only last week she took part in the Tarragona marathon and despite the extremely windy conditions won and proudly took the coveted centre stage position on the podium. It obviously takes an awful lot of training and discipline to get to such a high level of fitness and Gemma trains 6 days a week plus does yoga once a week.
In addition, for the last 3 years or so every Wednesday between 10.00 and 13.30 you will find her down at the Benidorm dog pound where she will take around 10 of the biggest and often neglected dogs out for a walk, such as Pit Bulls and Rottweilers, as many are too scared because they categorised under dangerous breeds – this is in addition to 4 of her own at home!
In June, she is competing in the 100km Jurassic Coast challenge – no that isn’t a typo, of the iconic Dorset Coastline, which will take in the breathtaking West Bay cliffs, made famous following the TV drama Broadchurch. Her goal is to complete the ‘Marathon Majors’ which comprises competing in Tokyo, Boston – tick, London – tick, Berlin, Chicago and New York.
The next on her list is Berlin, mainly as logistically it’s the nearest leaving Tokyo and New York. Astonishingly, she funds them all herself – the entry fee, travel, hotel and associated costs… surely, there must be someone out there that would sponsor such an incredible local athlete?
Her collection of running shoes would rival that of any sports shop – apparently, a pair has a running life of around 500km therefore understandable that she gets through so many.
Good Luck Gemma – you’re an inspirational role model that many will now aspire to and if there are any local businesses that would like to help sponsor our local girl please get in contact and we will put you in touch with Gemma, our poster girl.