Some athletes have a breakthrough season. Katie Adams is having a breakthrough two months.
Since the start of February 2026, the University of York Social Work student and Vale of York athlete has lined up for three 3000 metre races and raced faster in every single one.
Her Year 3000 began at the Sheffield Steel Cup on 4 February, where Katie clocked 11:06.75 indoors. Ten days later at the BUCS Indoor Athletics Championships in Sheffield, she was back indoors on the same track and back faster than before with 11:00.79, a personal best and a new Vale of York women’s club record. She described it as a tricky race afterwards, up against the best student athletes in the country, but ran her own race and paced every 200 metre lap to perfection.
In between the track races, Katie has been quietly putting in the weekly endurance miles that underpin her progress. She’s a regular at the University of York’s training groups, and on 13 March she lined up at EvenSplits York, using the monthly 5K road race as a quality injection of over-distance aerobic work. She came away with a personal best on the road for 5K as well: 18:44.
Then came the Gryphon Cup in Leeds on 18 March. An outdoor 3000 this time, in the bright spring sunshine, Katie ran 10:49.19, another personal best, another club record, and a comfortable sub-11 time.
Three track races. Three improvements. Over seventeen seconds taken off her 3000 time in six weeks.
There’s no great mystery to Katie’s training. Those who train alongside her will tell you she brings the same energy to every session: positive, committed, and quietly determined. The Sunday miles, the track workouts, and the club runs in between.
Endurance running rewards patient athletes who can build progressively, trust the process, and who can draw on an inner strength when the going gets tough. Katie is doing all of that and she’s only just getting started on her Year 3000.
