Gemma helps heroes in Edinburgh furnace

Despite the searing heat and a chest infection Chamber International’s Gemma Price completed the Edinburgh marathon last weekend – and raised £325 for the Help for Heroes charity into the bargain.

For Gemma, 24, who joined Chamber International as an international trade administrator earlier this year, active outdoor pursuits have gone from being a pastime to a fully-blown passion. She rapidly gravitated from netball to a much more robust endurance training programme.

She began full-time fitness training two years ago, does endurance training three times a week and runs almost every day.

“Although Edinburgh Marathon is the fastest in the UK, the 27°C heat slowed runners down dramatically and became almost unbearable at some points,” she recalls.

“It was overcast when we set off but the sun soon broke through and it also broke runners’ aims of a personal best. I took on board over four litres of water on the day. Even local residents were coming out of their homes and throwing buckets of water over us and spraying us with hose pipes!”

The race was in stark contrast to last year’s which featured gale force winds and torrential rain.

Her next confirmed event is scheduled for October when she will compete in “The Major Series” which is a 12 kilometre cross country obstacle course through rivers, forests, cargo nets and muddy bogs. This will be her third time competing in this event and involves a lot of strength and endurance rather than distance training.

Next year Gemma also plans a high altitude attack on The Himalayas. In March she will take part in a lung-bursting event centred on the base camp used by climbers to ascend Mount Everest.