Name Jill Harrison | ||
Jill Harrison (née Clarke; born 20 June 1958) is an English long-distance runner. She is the 1980 World University Cross Country Champion. At the age of 55 in 2013, she won the 5000 metres and 10,000 metres at the World Masters Athletics Championships.
Contents
Career
Clarke Harrison grew up in a small village in Derbyshire. She didn't discover running until encouraged in a PE lesson to train for the Sheffield schools championships. This lead her to run for Britain at the age of 19. By this time she had already been 2nd in the English Schools. She studied at the Birmingham and Loughborough Universities and turned down a scholarship to an American University. She became World Student Champion in cross country in 1998.
Clarke competed in the 10,000 metres at the 1986 Commonwealth Games, but dropped out due to injury. She ran 2:34:19 to finish 14th at the 1989 London Marathon.
Coaches have included George Gandy, Brian Scoby and Frank Horwill. Training partners have included 1989 London Marathon winner Veronique Marot, 1984 Olympic silver medallist Wendy Sly, and Angie Pain. She won at the 2013 World Masters Championships, running 19:49 in the 5000m and 42:25 in the 10,000m.
Harrison now lives in the West Country with her husband and two children.
Personal bests
All-time rankings as of June 2017