Emily Pidgeon

Emily Pidgeon born 1 June 1989 in Cheltenham, to parents Stephen and Jessica,is a former UK athlete, specialising in long and middle distance events.

Considered an athletics prodigy as a junior, she is a former 5000 metres European Junior Champion (2005). She was bronze medallist in the 2007 European Junior Championships in Hengelo.In December 2006, Pidgeon, the 2005 silver-medalist at the European JuniCross Country Championships, was in the victorious junior female team at the European Cross Country Championships. She finished fourth individually behind fellow Briton, Stephanie Twell.Pidgeon holds the world record for 5000 meters for 14-year-old girls with a time of 16:24.28.

At the World Cross Country Championships in Mombasa on 24 March 2007, Pidgeon finished 17th; the second British runner and the second European.  The Great Britain & NI team finished 5th; the top European team.

Pidgeon and her coach controversially withdrew from a number of events because of disagreements with UK Athletics over training 

Having failed to qualify for the 2012 Summer Olympics, and dogged by injury and form issues since leaving the junior ranks, Pidgeon announced her retirement from the sport, at the age of 24, in January 2014.

Source: IAAF 

• 1500 Metres4:17.83Solihull 25 June 2005
• One Mile4:50.68Oxford 6 May 2004
• 3000 Metres9:06.87Twickenham 7 June 2006
• 5000 Metres15:41.00Solihull 24 June 2006
• 10 Kilometres34:28Bourton-on-the-Water 20 February 2005
• 2000 Metres Steeplechase6:37.76Altitude Potchefstroom 24 April 2006
• 3000 Metres Steeplechase 10:06.12Bedford 3 July 2005