Wendy Dodds has been at the heart of English and British fell running since before most of us could tie our laces. Now approaching her 75th birthday, Wendy has been racing in the hills since the early 70s, across the breadth of the sport. In 1972 she paired up with Val Finch (nee Pacey) to be the first women's team to complete the KIMM mountain marathon. She was also the first every person to complete the Paddy Buckley round in Snowdonia, and took part in the inaugural Dragon's Back multiday race in 1992.
As well as having done far too much to list here, her longevity is incredible, listing 37 Yorkshire 3 Peaks races to her name for example.
Throughout her running career Wendy worked as a doctor, both as a Consultant Rheumatologist and as a Sports Medicine Physician. As she has gotten older she has been a strong advocate for older age categories in championship races, and herself has multiple FV50, FV55, FV60 and FV65 English championship results.
If you are interested in the KIMM / OMM mountain marathons, please also see Episode 28 with Janie Oates and Victoria Thompson who won the 2022 Elite OMM and were at the time the only female Elite category finishers since 2016. Episode 41 also features Phil Rutter and myself discussing winning the OMM 2024.
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