After her hopes of a scholarship in the U.S. appeared to have fallen through, Emily Coltman was coming to terms with the fact that she was likely to end up going to St Mary’s University in Twickenham. It wasn’t what she really wanted but it seemed she was just going to have to make the best of it. Then, out of the blue, she received a phone call that changed everything.

It turned out that she had got a scholarship after all and would in fact be heading out to the U.S. Suddenly, all her dreams had become reality and after all that, it was happening.

It was a busy last couple of months for Emily as she worked two jobs in a bid to save some money for when she headed out there. Emily’s dad Jason also runs for Bournemouth AC and they often did races together, always staying with each other throughout the whole race, whatever the distance and difficulty level. That included the Great North Run in September which they did in 1:51:42, raising money for the Stroke Association.

Over New Year, Jason took Emily out to the U.S. for a week to visit her university. Whilst out there, they found a local trail race in Trussville, Alabama. It was called the New Year’s Resolution 6K Trail Run.

It was a very hilly route, with some rocky sections and rivers to get through. It wasn’t exactly a fast course. That suited Jason though as he isn’t a speed merchant as such. He loves running on the trail though so this was an ideal race for him.

This wasn’t one of those situations where Emily and Jason would run the whole race together. In this one, they were both going for the win. Emily found herself contending for first female and Jason was up at the sharp end of the field and was one of the top men in the race.

The first mile didn’t have any significant climbs and Jason got through that in 8:13. There were a couple of testing inclines on the second mile and that put Jason down to 8:44. Most of the third mile was on a slight uphill trajectory but Jason still managed to get through it in 8:48.

After that it was mostly downhill for the rest of the race, enabling Jason to pick the pace back up to 8:06 for his last half a mile. That saw him get to the finish line in a time of 30 minutes 30 seconds which was enough to give him the runner up spot. Only one man could better that and he got round in 27:16, so was quite a way ahead in the end.

The elevation gain was 400ft over the course of the 3.65 mile route, so it was an easy route. Jason did really well to complete it in that time and come away with an average pace of 8:21 per mile.

Meanwhile, Emily was having a good run herself and, although she around four minutes behind Jason by the end, she had a significant advantage over the next woman in the race.

Completing the course in 34 minutes and 44 seconds, Emily was the sixth person over the finish line but was over six minutes ahead of her nearest female rival. That meant it was a comfortable win for Emily and a fantastic way to begin her racing life in U.S.

Emily will be attending the University of Montevallo and they have an amazing set up, with a nice track to train on and she’ll no doubt be receiving some first class coaching as well during her time out there. That will hopefully see her progress a lot with her speed and her times, particularly in the steeplechase if she continues to make that her main focus.