warrior

Steph Kessell

Steph talks about a running journey that has taken her from Glasgow schools competitions to the Tokyo Olympics, and how she’s coped with mental and physical obstacles on the way…

Words: Rachel Ifans

Steph got the chance to wear a GB vest on the world stage at the Tokyo Olympics

Steph Kessell (née Davis) is a British marathon runner and Olympian. Having started as a schools cross country runner in Glasgow, she quickly advanced to racing for the University of Edinburgh at a county and national competition standard. Having reached Olympic standard in adulthood, it’s funny to look back on all those pre-elite days. She says: “It was never on my radar to be a professional runner as such. I just really enjoyed being fit and active, meeting people, taking part in competitions and things like that.”

After she graduated, Steph moved down to London and got a job in the city. During her time at university, she had had what she calls a low-level eating disorder. She explains: “I was never so underweight that people thought I was dangerously ill or anything but in my final year, things took a bit of a turn.” Although she was suffering quite badly, she found she was able to keep her running going for a while with no impact on her performance. Ultimately though, it became unsustainable: “I struggled to have the energy to keep up my standard of running and it all stagnated because of the eating disorder.”

After a couple of years, a work colleague managed to persuade Steph to take part in the JP Morgan Corporate Challenge, an annual 5.6K race around Battersea Park and the world’s largest corporate running event. She placed seventh out of 15,000 runners that first year and more importantly the race really re-ignited her love for the sport.