On a chilly and windy Glasgow Thursday morning in late July on a day when southern areas of the UK were sweltering in heatwave temperatures, Herne Hill’s Katie Snowden represented England in the women’s one-mile heats at the Commonwealth Games. This was Katie’s third time at these championships having raced on the Gold Coast in Australia in 2018 and in Birmingham in 2022.
Sadly, this wasn’t to be third time lucky for Katie as after somehow having avoided any illness through 2026 up until then, she woke up on the day feeling unwell. She raced as best she could but 8th of the 12 women in her heat wasn’t enough to qualify her for the final on the Saturday evening.
As things transpired Katie’s cold grew much worse over the ensuing weekend meaning she would surely have had to withdraw from her final had she qualified as it’s unlikely that she could have made it onto that start line.
With all her best training already banked Katie is left with a fortnight to recover to full health and strength in time for her women’s 1500m heat at the European Championships in Birmingham on the morning of Saturday 15th August.
All at Herne Hill Harriers will be rooting for her there at what will also be her third time in the Great Britain team for these championships.
Geoff Jerwood