“She’s quite a lady.”

Those are the words of the ever-popular Stroud Athletic Club chairman Jim Adams who was talking about Sue Bateman, one of the runners in his training group.

Sue is preparing to run the Stroud Half Marathon at the end of October and even at the age of 65 it’s something she will most certainly take in her stride.

She’s run the Stroud Half before – she’s got a best time of just under two hours – and she’s pretty experienced over 13.1 miles.

But she’s also run a couple of marathons and and an ultra-marathon – that was 45 miles – so she’s definitely up for a challenge!

Surprisingly, she’s only been running for 10 years and she’s been a member of Stroud AC for just 18 months.

“My oldest son Rory got me into it, he’s a runner,” explained Sue.

“I used to do aerobics when we lived in Bath but never any running, never anything competitive.”

Rory, who has just turned 35, runs for a club in Bristol but he is also a member of Stroud AC and he will be running the Stroud Half on Sunday 27^th October.

“We won’t be running together, he’s much quicker than me,” laughed Sue, who said  this year’s race will be the third time she she has run the Stroud Half.

“The first time I ran it I think I was a bit over-confident. I’d only been running for about three months, I finished but my legs were like jelly!”

She’s come a long way since then, of course, and there’s plenty more she wants to do.

She’s running the Brecon to Cardiff ultra in February and then in April she’ll compete in the London Marathon for the first time.

She has been offered a place by the Samaritans, a charity that has become very important to her following the death of her brother Kevin Yates in January.

Kevin, who lived in Morpeth in the North East, committed suicide and Sue said: “It was very unexpected, it’s the last thing you think somebody will do, it still doesn’t feel real.”

Sue is obviously hoping to raise as much money as possible for the Samaritans when she runs in London and she has been one of the charity’s big supporters  in recent times.

She knows what it takes to run 26.2 miles because she’s completed the Manchester Marathon twice with a best time of just under four-and-a-half hours.

Her ultra marathon took rather longer.

“It was the Green Mile ultra around Bristol,” explained Sue. “I did it with Rory just after Covid. There were lots of stiles and fields, we had to finish inside 12 hours to get a medal.”

Happily, they crossed the finishing line in 11 hours, 20, which is some achievement.

And Sue, who lives in Nailsworth, is clearly going to keep on challenging herself.

“I’ve just started doing triathlon,” she said, adding with a laugh, “insane isn’t it, I’m not going to get old gracefully!”

Stroud Athletic Club are her biggest supporters – “They’re a great club, so friendly,” she said – but it is Sue that is making it all happen.

As Jim Adams says, she’s a quality lady.

To support Sue's fund-raising efforts, visit https://2025tcslondonmarathon.enthuse.com/pf/sue-bateman