Athlete's Profile (20)

ATHLETE'S PROFILE (20)

NAME: Eluned - though most people these days refer to me as Ellie Salisbury 

CLUB: ERYRI HARRIERS 

ANY PREVIOUS CLUBS: No 

AGE AND DATE OF BIRTH: 53-  DoB 04/03/1961 

HOW LONG HAVE YOU BEEN COMPETING: Since my first fell race - the evening, Summer version of the Llyn Elsi race, 1986 

ANY OTHER SPORTS PLAYED: mountain biking, road biking, horse-riding, skiing 

OTHER HOBBIES OR INTERESTS: Travelling - I’ve just returned from Iceland, where my partner & I finished 3rd in the Icelandic Mountain Marathon, & where we climbed up a glaciated volcano, & where I enjoyed the most amazing, very fast long ride on an Icelandic horse on a lonely beach, with Arctic terns & an eagle for company.  Music -  I sing with the Monteverdi Singers in Bangor, & with Cantamus, a local chamber choir. I also play the violin & various recorders. 

FAVOURITE RACING DISTANCE: 2-day mountain marathons 

FAVOURITE RACE AND WHY: The Moel Wnion Race – it’s in March, so it’s never sunny (I hate running in the heat), it’s got 4 climbs/descents (I hate flat terrain), it’s short enough not to hurt too much, & it’s in my favourite area – the Northern Carneddau, which I think of as my back garden.  

FAVOURITE TRAINING SESSION:  I don’t do any training sessions! I just run or bike in the hills every day with my dog, Elsi 

PROUDEST MOMENT:  I have four very proud moments, & I’m finding it difficult to chose between them:

• running on the Welsh ladies fell-running team in Ireland in 2001 – amazing to wear that red & white vest
• getting to the top of the Ngozumpa Glacier at about 19,000ft (the longest glacier in the Himalays, & stretching below Cho Oyu, the 6th highest mountain in the world)  – fantastic to be able to take a photo of the North face of Everest in the Winter
• finishing second overall in the Medium Score Class of the Karrimor International Mountain Marathon with Adrian, my partner, in the Cheviots in 2002, being narrowly beaten by a pair of very fit-looking Swiss gentlemen!
• arriving in Perpignan with two of my best friends last Summer, having left Biarritz 5+1/2 days before, & having cycled about 800kms, unsupported, across the Pyrenees  

WHOM DO YOU MOST ADMIRE (INSIDE ATHLETICS AND OUT) AND WHY:  Inside athletics – Steve Redgrave.  Like him, I’m an insulin dependent diabetic, so his amazing achievements have been an inspiration to me.  Outside athletics – my mother!!  She’s an amazing, independent, quietly confident, selfless lady.  How many other 86 year old would visit Kracow then Budapest on their own, & attempt to learn to speak Hungarian?!

 

ANY PERSONAL AMBITIONS:  I’d like to visit St Petersburg & then to climb Mount Elbrus, the highest mountain in Europe. 

ANY REGRETS:  I wish I’d started fell running as a junior, & had the opportunity to train with a coach like our Eryri juniors are fortunate to do now.  Although I ran XC & 800m for the old county of Denbighshire while at school, I had no idea that a sport called fell-running existed until I was in University, & at no time was I lucky enough to be coached.

 

ANY EMBARRASSING EXPERIENCES:  When I ‘collapsed’ on The Cadair Idris race a couple of years ago.  It was very hot, & I was obviously dehydrated, & since dogs aren’t allowed on that route, I didn’t have Elsi, my diabetic assistance dog, with me. I had a terrible race, & my legs just buckled just before re-joining the road towards the end.  Because my blood glucose had dropped too low, my muscles wouldn’t work, & so an elderly spectator had to lift me off the ground & help me to get going.  She offered to drive me back, bless her, but 4 jelly babies later, I managed to restart my pathetically-slow jog. Having to be driven back to the finish would have been even more embarrassing than having to be lifted off the ground by someone twice my age!  I learnt a few lessons that day.

WHAT CHANGES (IF ANY) WOULD YOU LIKE TO SEE IN THE SPORT: I’d prefer not to get involved with politics here........!