Angela Mudge lives the simple life. The stereotypical lifestyle of a sporting world champion is one of private jets, five star hotels and a profile in the public eye.

However Scotland’s world champion hill-runner, Mudge, spends nine months of the year working to fund her sporting interests, and she spends the remaining three months training and competing in Europe. Sleeping in a tent, cycling between race venues, Mudge is secluded away from attention, living for the sport she loves.

Her sport, on the other hand, is not as simple as her lifestyle. Sinew stretching climbs followed by knee jarring descents, trudging through muddy bogs and sliding over slippery slopes, hill running (also known as fell running) is a test of skill, stamina and endurance.

A combination between cross-country running and orienteering, hill-running often forces competitors to navigate their route to the finish.

Indeed, if the challenging nature of her sport was not enough to hold her back, Mudge has had to overcome a number of personal barriers en route to becoming a champion hill runner.

Born with pedal defects – both of her feet were pointing backwards – she spent her early years with both legs in plaster.

Then, in the first years of her hill running career Mudge realised that she was anaemic, and in 2004 she overcame a career threatening injury in which she wore away part of the cartilage in her knee.

Sitting down with InTheWinningZone, Mudge revealed her experiences of becoming a world champion, setting the world record for the world’s highest marathon, and why she enjoys the minority status of her sport.

Though she was born in Devon, Mudge has lived in Scotland for seventeen years and is at home in the hilly terrain of Stirlingshire. She can almost claim the Scottish hills as her very own territory, in a career that has seen her crowned multiple Scottish champion as well as conquering mountain ranges around the globe.

Mudge’s sporting career began at school where she found her flare for long-distance running. “I’ve got no co-ordination so I didn’t really enjoy team field sports, I usually got put in a position which needed filling. Athletics was the one I really began to shine at.” She says.

Competing and succeeding at county level throughout her school career, Mudge kept herself active at all times. Indeed, she believes that a sporting childhood has been vital in forming the successful athlete she has become.

“I used to go out running during school lunchtimes but I mostly cycled and swam as a youngster to keep myself fit. I was down at the sports centre every night just keeping generally active, which I think is the secret when you’re young.”

In 1991, Mudge came to Scotland to pursue a Msc in Environmental Management. Arriving with substantial experience in orienteering and cross-country running, Mudge took to the Dumyat hill in Stirling on a regular basis before joining a local hill runners club. It was here that she discovered her ability to climb and descend hills at pace and at a competitive level.

Mudge, still finding her feet in the sport, was dealt a significant blow before her career had even started when she was diagnosed with anaemia. She was left in a frustrating catch-22 position in which she would train harder to increase her fitness, but recovery time was halted by her anaemia.

“I knew that I was good but I just thought I had become unfit over the years and it took me a while to realise something was wrong. Somebody pointed out that I should get my blood tested and that proved to be the reason why”. Mudge turned to iron supplements, which brought her back to full fitness and allowed her to improve and compete as a hill runner.

When the time came for her to compete at an international level, Mudge was spoilt for choice. She opted for her adopted nation - the country that introduced her to her sport.

“After a few years of hill running I was asked to run for Scotland. In the same year I was asked to run for England, but because I was training in Scotland and training alongside all the Scots, it made sense to run for Scotland.”

In her early years as a competitive hill runner, Mudge displayed her natural talents to grasp the Scottish Hill Running Championships in 1997 and the British Fell Running Championships four years in-a-row. It was however a race in Bergen, Germany in 2000, which has defined her as an athlete. Mudge won the World Mountain Running Trophy to become world champion.

“For me that was the pinnacle of my career. I thought that I could get into the Scotland team when I started out but I never thought that I would finish in the top 5 in the world never mind number 1, you never really think you can be a world champion.”

Following her success in the World Mountain Running Trophy, Mudge was nominated for the Laureus World Sport Award in the extreme sports category. It came as no surprise to hear that she was absent from the limelight in order to pursue running interests elsewhere.

“I’m not one for posh dos and the thought of wearing a frock frightened me away” she laughed, “It’s not my kind of thing.”

Injury struck for Mudge in 2004 as she was diagnosed with osteochondral defects in her knee – in essence she had completely worn away the cartilage in her femur.  After career-threatening surgery and a slow rehabilitation regime, Mudge was amazingly back on the hills, winning the World Masters Mountain Running Championships a year later.

Just as being crowned world champion was the pinnacle of Mudge’s career, her knee injury was possibly the lowest point, the greatest barrier and the biggest challenge to overcome.

In 2006, Mudge competed in mountain running at altitude in the Buff Skyrunner Series.  She won 4 of the 5 races and won the series overall. Indeed she won the series again the following year.

There seems to be no stopping her drive and enthusiasm to challenge herself and improve as an athlete!

“I’m definitely a self-driven person, at the beginning of each year I pick out which races to do. I think goal setting is important for everybody. If you don’t set goals then you’re not going to progress. Through the years I have set goals and gradually progressed and improved.”

More recently, Mudge participated in the Everest Marathon – the world’s highest race. With an average altitude of 4000 meters, she fought against altitude sickness to win the race with a record breaking time of 5 hours and 2 minutes – knocking 13 minutes off the world record.

“It was a tough race because it is so high so I decided to run my own race. There were three Nepalese women in front of me and I didn’t catch up with them until about 22 miles.”

When questioned upon whether or not she would compete in the race, her eagerness to explore the world’s running areas shone through, “I loved it, it was one of the nicest races I’ve done but to me the Himalayas is something special and if I go back I want to see another area.”

Mudge began hill running almost twenty years ago and her career story speaks volumes for her love of the sport. She understands that it is a minority sport, unknown to some but she likes it that way.

“We’re not IAAF recognized, they support us but they don’t organize the races. It means that there isn’t the big money in the sport so you’re not going to get the cheats and people are doing it for the right reasons. As far as I’m concerned, people in this country are doing hill running because they love the hills and they love the races.”

At 37, most athletes are winding down their competitive career and becoming more leisurely, but you get the idea that leisurely isn't a word in Angela Mudge's lexicon. Her life so far has been filled with challenges, which she has overcome – and there is a sense that Mudge is not satisfied, she has more to offer and there is no doubt that she will continue to challenge herself and continue to step onto the podium for years to come.

“I want to keep hill running for as long as possible. I want to have a go at the longer stuff as I get older – it’s a new challenge.”

IC
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