Julie Anne Ryan is visiting her father’s hometown and competed in the Medieval Marathon on 13 September which happened to be the anniversary date of her police graduation back in 2006. Julie is a serving frontline police officer in Queensland Australia.
Julie comes from a sporting background, her grandad Richard Joseph Ryan, who established R.J. Ryan Electrical some 80 years ago, was a competitive boxer. From a young age Julie trained and competed in many sports growing up. She earned a Division One tennis scholarship to the USA, living there for four years playing college tennis. She also competed as an amateur boxer for many years, is a former two times Australian amateur boxing champion, two times gold medalist at Australian and Oceanian amateur boxing championships. She represented Australia at the 2005 World Amateur boxing Championships in Russia. After the 2012 Australian National Olympic trials, Julie retired from competitive amateur boxing.
Julie took up running/racing just a few years ago. She has competed in various distances from short distances up to full marathon (26.2 miles). Although she prefers the shorter-distance races, she maintains that marathon running is a test of endurance and gives runners the opportunity to run races around the world. On running generally, Julie says ‘Running is a great sport and it’s so inspiring seeing runners through all walks of life and adversity competing and reaching their goals. Age is no barrier in running. Many older runners are doing amazing competitive times over all distances. Running is not only good for physical health but also good for mental health. Running is especially good for people working in the emergency services as shift work can be both physically and mentally stressful, especially in policing.’
Of her experience in running the Medieval Marathon, Julie said ‘The Medieval Marathon is a challenging beautiful course. Running through historical Kilkenny, past the castle, trails, cobble streets, countryside and finishing back in the city was an experience. The organisers, volunteers did an amazing job. The event was really well organised. The support and encouragement from the crowd along the course and camaraderie from the runners was also amazing.’
She ran a time of 3:27:02, finishing second, in the Medieval Marathon (Ladies section).
Julie will now be enjoying the rest of her holiday staying at the Ryan family home with her aunt Anne.
