There are milestones and then there are milestones and, as such things go, the one Angie Sadler is about to achieve is something very special.

That’s because later this month the 59-year-old runner will complete her 200th marathon.

The Tewkesbury Running Club member will join the sport’s 200 club in the Gloucester Marathon on Sunday 20th January on what will be another special day in what has been a glittering career.

Sadler, who lives in Forthampton, near Tewkesbury, is a former England long distance runner having been selected five times by her country at distances from 50km to 24 hours.

Phillip Howells, her Tewkesbury RC team-mate, friend and long-time running partner, said: “Her running career is one of Gloucestershire’s outstanding athletic records and includes winning a Commonwealth 100km Championships team gold medal.”

Sadler has always been a keen runner, starting when she was at school in Stroud, and she became a strong cross-country and 1,500 metres competitor.

Howells continued: “Since then running has been an integral part of her life and an enduring passion which she has pursued throughout her marriage to husband of more than 33 years, Phil, and the arrival of two children Jason and Kaylee, who is about to make Phil and Angie grandparents for the first time.

“Phil has always totally supported his wife in her quest to excel at her chosen sport and she cannot thank him enough for enabling her to devote the time needed to reach her goals.”

Sadler spent 13 years as a member of Cheltenham Harriers for whom she competed at first in the shorter distances of up to half marathon, twice winning the female annual season-long Gloucestershire County Championship.

Moving up to the longer 26.2-mile distance her distinguished marathon career took off after completing her first London in 1999.

She has so far completed London 18 times, once starting on the elite runners’ line, five times on the championship line and on every other occasion as ‘good for her age’, regularly recording sub-three hours, 15 minutes with a marathon best of three hours, three minutes.

Ask her about breaking the magical three-hour barrier and she’ll say that was never a target objective, although she was clearly capable of beating it.
She has, nevertheless, been first woman and/or first woman veteran in many road, trail and ultra-marathons, with one of the highlights being winning the British Masters Women’s Marathon title with a new course record in the Anglesey marathon in 2008.

And she is still winning both overall and veteran female titles today despite approaching the start of her seventh decade.

Since joining Tewkesbury Running Club some 15 years ago, she has developed her running in much longer distances than the ‘mere’ standard 26.2 miles of the marathon, being particularly competitive as a long distance trail runner.

After successfully proving her worth in several international selection trial races, although by now a ‘veteran’ status runner, she made a first international long distance running appearance in an England vest at a 50km race in Holland.

This was followed with selection three more times for England at 50km (once) and 100km (twice). In this latter discipline she won a Commonwealth Championships gold team medal and was fourth woman overall. Angie was also a gold medal team winner in the annual Anglo Celtic Plate held in Ireland, where she was second woman and won the British Masters Women’s 100km championship title.

During this period she made the step up to 24 hours racing, entering – “just as training” – an upcoming 100km selection race!

It was the East Hull 24-hour track race, and despite never having run the distance before she won the race outright, beating all the men as well, several of whom already had significant 24-hour performances to their name.

On the back of this she was selected to run for England in an international 24-hour race in Scotland, finishing fifth overall, first woman and being the top England female 24-hour runner for that year with a World Championships selection standard distance of over 128 miles.

She has also competed four times with distinction in the famed international 56 miles Comrades marathon in South Africa, which commands fields of over 20,000 runners and in which she has twice finished in the top 20 women and always finished well within eight hours.

Although, as with most runners who compete in the Comrades, it became an all-time favourite race, other events that stand out for her are the Snowdonia Marathon and the 70 miles over two days Isle of Wight coastal circuit race in which she was once the first lady.

Other races abroad that are memorable to her include marathons in Calgary, New York, Berlin and La Rochelle.

Back in the UK, a recent outstanding result was to finish as first lady in the Cotswold Centenary Run, a 106-mile non-stop race along the Cotswold Way from Chipping Camden to Bath.

She still shows no signs of slowing down significantly and last year was still winning female veteran marathon first place awards with road marathon times consistently around the three hours, 40 minutes/three hours 50 minutes mark.

Her achievement on 20th January will be marked by running the course with a number of running friends followed by a celebration with drinks and mandatory cakes at the Quedgeley event HQ.

Sadler would like to thank organisers Anne and Norman Wilson of ‘Beyond the Limitations’ events for their support for her special occasion and for allowing the celebration to be held at the race HQ following the race.

Also present will be many fellow members of the exclusive UK 100 Marathon Club to which she has belonged for some years as a second claim member to her first claim Tewkesbury RC home-town allegiance.

Phillip Howells added: “Even in the relatively rarefied atmosphere of runners completing 100 marathons, Angie's has surely already been an outstanding marathon running career.

“Most of us can only sit back and admire the dedication and commitment – not to mention the talent – needed to achieve such a string of successes.

“I admire her capacity to keep going, her pace management is superb.”