'I ran with top marathoner and learned how to run elite times alongside my job'
Hyde Park, London. The scene of sporting achievements such as Alistair Brownlee winning Olympic gold in 2012 and this writer once earning a £25 gift voucher for a team prize in the local club’s New Year’s Day 10k.
But on this Wednesday, as tourists meander on a cloudy mid-July morning, Mirror Sport is here to gain some insight from one of the UK’s top marathoners into what separates weekend warriors from the real deal.
Clara Evans, a 2:29 marathoner who represented Wales at last year’s Commonwealth Games and once held the female world record at parkrun, is here to promote a new shoe from her sponsors ASICS, the Kayano 30.
And Evans, who is the 29th fastest British woman of all time and may be expected to climb those rankings when she next takes on 26.2 miles in Valencia this December, believes there is no magic recipe to success.
Because much of it comes down to putting in hard work consistently, learning to become comfortable with feeling uncomfortable and, perhaps the hardest bit, a willingness to park other activities to one side.
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The 29-year-old is indisputably elite but, such is the financial reality of competing as a long-distance runner, she continues to work full-time as a transport planner while slotting in, at her peak, 120-mile weeks.
“I don’t think there’s anything stopping a recreational runner achieving those goals,” Evans says before we head off on a casual jog around the park. “It’s more about the application and commitment levels.
“Some might have jobs in the way or other aspects of their life. A lot of people have kids. That makes it difficult. And I don’t have those commitments so I can focus on athletics. It’s small things.”
Enjoyment helps too, of course. Evans says she was never that good as a youth but enthusiasm ensured she continued - before a breakthrough year in 2019 led to her realising there were international vests, fast times and a shoe deal within reach.
The breakthrough was not running a blisteringly quick time, though. It was getting a coach.
Welsh marathon runner Clara Evans talks to Mirror Sport's Alan Smith at an ASICS Comfort Lab event“As a junior I was never the best, I just really enjoyed it,” she adds. “That’s the key. It keeps you in the sport, not necessarily being good from a young age. I loved the social aspect, the friends I made, and that made me stay in the sport, while some other people stopped. I kept going because I loved it. I didn’t take it seriously until 2019, which is really not that long ago.
“Getting a coach, that was the biggest transformation. The training didn’t change too much, it was more the accountability. I think that’s what sets the elites apart from recreational runners - accountability.
“I don’t want him to waste his time doing a program for me if I’m not going to do it. I’m very much aware he puts a lot of time into me so I’ll do what I can to perform to the best of my ability.”
A quick look at Evans’ results suggests a degree of modesty - she was ranked third in the UK at under-17 level in the 5,000 and third at under-23 over 10,000 - but the most significant leap came two years either side of ‘19.
In 2017 she ran a more than respectable 2:46 marathon in London (followed by a 2:59 in the infamous and brutal sun-baked 2018 edition) but when she next lined up for the 26.2 miles, at the Olympic trials in 2021, that PB was obliterated by a remarkable 15 minutes.
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This February, in Seville, she shaved another two minutes off to run 2:29 having been welcomed into the ASICS fold a few weeks previous.
Mirror Sport's Alan Smith with Clara Evans and other runners at an ASICS Comfort Lab event event in Hyde Park.While running is a sport in the curious position of possessing huge grassroots participation numbers, there are growing challenges at the very top. Most of them are financial.
It is simply accepted that even the best of Britain must work full-time or at least find alternative ways to supplement their incomes. Many go into coaching recreational runners, others are fully qualified in jobs related to their athletic pursuits - such as physiotherapy or podiatry.
Evans has a good balance, working as a transport planner in south Wales, and her new sponsor has made “a massive difference.”
She adds: “Not just financially but they provide counsellors if you’re struggling, support you with finding physios. Even to stop you from getting injuries - being able to rotate your shoes a bit more is a big thing.”
ASICS also own a house in Font Romeu that athletes can book a room in for training camps and in some instances can assist with getting athletes spots in races - especially if they have separate sponsorship deals.
Evans is heading there now for a few weeks, although staying elsewhere, and will return for the Big Half in September before aiming to run another PB in Valencia at the end of the year.
Post-Seville she enjoyed some down time and focused on shorter distances but her mileage will build gradually from now - even if she is not one to obsess over the numbers, instead emphasising the importance of quality key sessions.
“I don’t think it’s an important thing,” she says of hitting certain weekly distances. “I have my key workouts and long runs that become the main things for me to hit. The rest is just mileage around it. The runs around it are flexible.
“The workouts don’t change but the runs around them change dependent on work and everything else, including how tired I feel. Going into Commonwealth Games I think 120 was my maximum mileage. But I don’t chase miles, I don’t look at my mileage at the end of the week.”
- ASICS ambassador Clara Evans was speaking at the launch of the ASICS Gel Kayano 30. To find out more head to
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