Claire Hallissey is a British

distance Distance is a numerical or occasionally qualitative measurement of how far apart objects or points are. In physics or everyday usage, distance may refer to a physical length or an estimation based on other criteria (e.g. "two counties over"). ...

runner. She competed for Britain at the 2009 World Half Marathon Championships coming 25th. In 2010, she ran her first marathon, in New York and in 2011 ran the

Chicago Marathon The Chicago Marathon is a marathon (long-distance foot race) held every October in Chicago, Illinois. It is one of the six World Marathon Majors. Thus, it is also a World Athletics Label Road Race. The Chicago Marathon is the fourth-largest r ...

. In 2012, she finished 11th in the

London Marathon The London Marathon is an annual marathon held in London, United Kingdom, and is the 2nd largest annual road race in the UK, after the Great North Run in Newcastle. Founded by athletes Chris Brasher and John Disley in 1981, it is typically held ...

. Hallissey was confirmed as a member of the Great Britain squad for the 2012 Summer Olympics in the women's marathon alongside compatriots

Paula Radcliffe Paula Jane Radcliffe MBE (born 17 December 1973) is a former British long-distance runner. She is a three-time winner of the London Marathon (2002, 2003, 2005), three-time New York Marathon champion (2004, 2007, 2008), and 2002 Chicago Maratho ...

and

Mara Yamauchi Mara Rosalind Yamauchi (born Mara Myers 13 August 1973) is a British long-distance track and road running athlete. She currently holds the third fastest time by a British woman over the marathon, behind former world-record holder, Paula Radcli ...

. She finished in 57th place in a time of 2:35:39.

Running career

Hallissey first began running at the age of 11. She made her first international appearance at the 2009

European Cup 10,000m The European 10,000m Cup is an annual 10,000 metres race for European athletes which was first held in 1997. The competition is organised by the European Athletics Association and first began as the European 10000 Metres Challenge (''European 1 ...

race. She made a gradual transition to longer-distance races, and finished in 24th overall at the

2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 2009 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held in Birmingham, United Kingdom on 11 October 2009. It was the final event of the International Association of Athletics Federations' 2009 World Athletics Series. Organisation The city of B ...

. In 2010, she moved with her husband to

Arlington, Virginia Arlington County is a county in the Commonwealth of Virginia. The county is situated in Northern Virginia on the southwestern bank of the Potomac River directly across from the District of Columbia, of which it was once a part. The county is ...

, and went on to win several road races in the DC metropolitan area. Upon moving to the United States, she was first coached by George Buckheit from

CAR A car or automobile is a motor vehicle with wheels. Most definitions of ''cars'' say that they run primarily on roads, seat one to eight people, have four wheels, and mainly transport people instead of goods. The year 1886 is regarded as ...

. She was still able to run internationally in the UK national singlet, as she qualified for the

2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships The 2010 IAAF World Half Marathon Championships was held in Nanning, China on 16 October 2010. The competition took place on the city streets, beginning and ending at Wuxiang Square, with a total prize purse of US$245,000 at stake. The Kenyan ...

and placed 18th overall. She qualified for the marathon in the

2012 Summer Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

when she finished the

2012 London Marathon The 2012 London Marathon was the 32nd running of the annual marathon race in London, England, which took place on Sunday, 22 April. Both of the elite races were won by Kenyan athletes, and Ethiopia's Tsegaye Kebede was the only non-Kenyan to re ...

, held in April the same year, in a personal best time of 2:27:44. In 2014, she raced in the DCRRC singlet when she won the 2014 Maryland-D.C. Road Runners 10-Mile Club Championship.
Bill Blewett. The Baltimore Sun: ''Harford's RASAC is fifth overall in 10-mile Club Championship race''. February 27, 2014. Retrieved November 5, 2015.

References

External links

* * 1983 births Living people Sportspeople from Watford Alumni of Robinson College, Cambridge British female long-distance runners British female marathon runners English female long-distance runners English female marathon runners Olympic athletes for Great Britain Athletes (track and field) at the 2012 Summer Olympics 21st-century British women {{UK-athletics-bio-stub