As you may know, from our previous updates, Poppy Bowie has been selected to represent Team GB in the Marathon at the Deaflympics in Tokyo in November 2025! This is a fantastic achievement for Poppy who was selected after an excellent performance at the challenging Windemere Marathon earlier this year, notwithstanding any other of her impressive performances.
Poppy’s selection coincided with her plans to relocate from Scotland to Australia for a year. She left for the southern hemisphere in early August, landing in Brisbane, eastern Australia.
Poppy wasted no time in finding her bearings, maintaining her running and training momentum with regular long runs mixed in with shorter interval sessions and strength workouts. She quickly hit the 20 mile mark, and has been averaging weekly miles in the high 40’s.
The highlight of her running journey to date in Australia was when she took part in the ‘Surefoot Trail Race’ west of Brisbane on 24th August. A very tough 13+miles, with 3,800 feet of elevation, at Mount Coot-Tha, however an excellent performance saw her claim 3rd placed female!
Poppy said “I was a little worried because I didn’t taper for it, and the elevation profile! Also one of the things on the mandatory kit list was a bandage for snake bites! But I loved it. It was mostly on mountain bike track. Trails are always fun but the hills were no joke, and with the downhills so steep, I’d have fallen if I walked, so I had to sprint down them and hope for the best! But no falls thankfully“.
So, it’s onto September and a build on miles and intensity. Only 86 days until the start line in Tokyo on 25th November!
Poppy has to fund her Deaflympics adventure herself, so thankyou for donating to her ‘Go Fund Me’ page, she very much appreciates this and all the kind words too. You can still donate at https://www.gofundme.com/f/poppybowie
Tune in next month for another ‘Poppy Post’ update!
