Claire Clancy

Sport has always been part of Claire's life. She ran cross-country and athletics at school, rowed and grew up with training nights and weekends built around movement. After university, a workplace entry to the Manchester 10K brought her back to running. She finished strongly with very little training, and the result lit a fire to see what else she could do.

Marriage and motherhood changed the rhythm of everything. Claire had three boys within 17 months, and training disappeared while daily life became about getting through sleepless nights and raising a young family. When the boys were around two and a half, she realised she needed to find part of herself again. She began with 20-minute run-walks, creating small pockets of time wherever she could and joining her local running club for one dependable session each week.

One exhausted run after a particularly difficult night shifted her perspective. She left the house drained but came back with more energy and a clearer head. Running stopped being something in the background and became part of how she could manage everything else — a way to work things through, reset and return ready for whatever the day brought.

Today, Claire balances training with family life and her role as a co-founder of The Farm Club in Cheshire. Her work spans events, retreats, administration, payroll and purchasing in a family business that rarely fits into nine-to-five hours. She no longer thinks of balance as holding each part of life apart. The aim is to make work, training and family function together — giving herself permission to create the time, then making that time count.