Interview
Victoria’s
‘crazy’
multiple
marathon
She has faced more major life challenges in her 29 years than most
people can expect in a lifetime, but award-winning Newport gym
owner Victoria Coles seems to possess an incredible reserve of courage
and strength when it comes to meeting life’s battles head-on.
Currently, she’s set herself the herculean challenge of completing 12
marathons in 12 months: a tall order for anyone, but Victoria has taken
it on to raise funds for Wessex Cancer Trust, the charity that has been a
lifeline for her since her cancer diagnosis in 2015. Here she tells Jackie
McCarrick what it is that drives her.
She laughs wryly as she describes the
12-marathon challenge as “crazy and
stupid” - but one of the reasons why
Victoria says she is doing this is to
support the other cancer patients who
have become her friends during her own
difficult healing journey.
“You become part of a club that you
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would never have wanted to join” she
explains.
“I’ve lost four friends over two years, and
have two others of around my own age
with more advanced cancers - they’re the
ones who keep me going.
“My attitude is that I’ll keep on doing
crazy stuff for them”.
The marathon-a-month idea came
about last year when Victoria and her
brother Anthony, a personal trainer and
ski instructor, were on the train back
from London following the 2017 London
Marathon, which she was doing in aid of
Wessex Cancer.
Ironically, Victoria was at such a low