Natasha Cockram: From Covid at Commonwealth Games to Worlds selection
- Published
Natasha Cockram required medical help after 2022 Commonwealth Games marathon
Athletes never know if and when that phone call is going to come and give them a big break.
Many a late night dinner speech or anecdote starts with a call reaching them at an inopportune moment.
For Welsh marathon runner Natasha Cockram, Great Britain and Northern Ireland squad selection for the 2023 World Championships in Hungary contributed to a "very tense" family day.
"My dad was actually going in for heart surgery, so I was waiting on that and selection," she said.
"The call came whilst my dad was in the operating theatre, we were sat in the hospital cafe, my mum and I, when the phone call came, which was really exciting.
"When he came out of the theatre that was the first thing he asked, so it was really nice being able to tell him 'yeah I just heard from the selectors, we're going to Worlds'."
Qualification for the World Championships, which take place in Budapest from 19-27 August, came after the Cwmbran-raised athlete smashed her own Welsh record by almost four minutes in a time of 2hrs, 26.14mins.
That race in Valencia, in December 2022, came at the end of what had been a disappointing year for Cockram.
She had finished 12th at the Commonwealth Games in a time of 2:40.18 having hoped to make the podium, but believes her race was hindered by Covid.
"I put a lot into the Commonwealths, it was the most I'd ever focused on a race, so for it to go so wrong - it just didn't make sense at the time," said Cockram.
While it is hard to compare marathons, her time in Valencia would have secured gold in Birmingham
"I probably had Covid for the actual [Commonwealth Games] race. I had to realise that actually it was that that made my performance how it was and not any other reason because my training had been going so well," said.
"But knowing that helped me focus on getting back to running, rather than racing, because it took me quite a long time to recover from Covid.
"Just focusing on getting healthy again was the first part of the comeback Once I was running again, it was just focusing on what races I could do. Thankfully I was ready for Valencia."
Cockram is no stranger to setbacks. While at university, she was advised to end her career before it had truly begun due to a serious knee problem.
"I thought my running days were completely over at that point. The doctors even told me that I should probably reconsider my career path," she said.
"I had surgery, took about a year out of running completely and then two years to get back running competitively.
"That was my first major injury and then my next was during the Covid lockdown. I had an ankle injury which was an ongoing injury even through the [Tokyo] Olympic trials, which I probably shouldn't have run."
Cockram won the 2022 Cardiff Half Marathon
The 30-year-old, who was British champion and Los Angeles Marathon winner in 2021, still trains with her local club, Mickey Morris Racing Team in Cwmbran, something she balances with working as a human resource researcher.
But preparations for the World Championships started - inadvertently - immediately after qualification in Spain.
"Strangely after Valencia I went on holiday to Budapest not knowing that the Worlds were there," said Cockram.
"It's not a huge place so I already know a bit of the course and it's quite flat, which is nice for a marathon."