Sheffield's new athletics 'golden girl' braced for exciting 2025
Sheffield Olympian Calli Hauger-Thackery says she is "coming in hot" for a new year of races around the globe, following a 2024 campaign that featured serious ups and downs in both sport and her personal life.
The former Hallamshire Harriers' prospect last week announced that she will make her debut at the world-renowned Boston Marathon on April 21.
It's a new challenge for the long-distance runner, although she did her homework for the event by taking part in the half marathon in the US city in November.
Her entry is a statement to the sport, after the roller coaster that was 2024.
Calli was a bronze medallist in the women's individual half marathon at the June 2024 European Athletics Championships in Rome (1:08.58) and a standout performer in the gold medal-winning team title.
She led the British squad of Abbie Donnelly (6th), Clara Evans (9th) and Lauren McNeil (17th) to the team summit. Everything seemed to be running smoothly at this point.
And, despite the fact she'd only run her first full marathon in October 2023, she was selected to represent Great Britain in August 2024 Olympic Games in France.
She was on course to become the best-known woman Sheffield athlete since Jessica Ennis-Hill.
While preparing for the Olympics, though, her life was suddenly plunged into chaos.
Her mum, Rachel, a former sprinter, had fallen ill.
The situation dominated her thoughts and Calli failed to finish the Paris marathon.
She explained at the time: "A few weeks ago when I was inching close to finishing up my training camp, which couldn’t have gone any better, I found out about my mum's cancer diagnosis.
"It crushed me in the moment because for a good bit of time we thought it could be terminal and that the cancer had spread.
"I tried to remain hopeful. Everyone told me to focus on myself and that it will be okay, but it is easier said than done.
"I did think I was handling everything as best as I could but during the wait for the results I lost a lot of sleep, I lost my appetite and it all just stacked. I slowly reached to a point of exhaustion.
"I still somehow hit every hefty session I was set and my body seemed to still be able to get on with it.
"However, when I got to Paris I became more overwhelmed and although my sessions were going to plan, everything else wasn’t.
"It turns out if you are mentally exhausted from a lack of sleep, your body does some crazy things in the marathon.
"I tried so hard to 'tough it out.'
"I fought hard but my body started to completely shut down on me, I started feeling sharp pains in my hip and I got to the point on the 17th mile where I genuinely couldn’t put one foot in front of the other.
"I started running sideways and I’m just so grateful that my husband was there to catch me at the side where I fell into a heap on the floor until the medical team came and picked me up.
"My Olympic dream might be over for now but I refuse to hide away and let this defeat me."
That hunger to bounce back became evident in her post Olympics results.
She finished second in The Big Half Marathon in London on September 1, just 21 seconds behind Eilish McColgan.
That was followed five days later by triumph at the Great North 5k (first.)
She also finished seventh in the Berlin Marathon on September 29. She was the fastest European female runner at that German event, improving her Personal Best to 2:21:24 - historically only fellow Brit Paula Radcliffe can boast a quicker time.
And last month, the 31-year-old won the women's 2024 California International Marathon.
So arrives the New Year and the chance of turning heads at Boston and beyond.
And Calli, who lives with her American husband and trainer Nick in Flagstaff, Arizona, has stated her 2025 goals clearly: "Race, Race hard, race often, race many distances, race around the world, race without limits."
On Instagram, she wrote: It’s no secret that I love to race...I love the training aspect of it.
"But what really lights me up, is getting my competitive juices flowing and testing myself, often. Racing across many distances and in some pretty cool places!
"You’ll be seeing me light it up on my many start lines this year!"
Announcing her Boston involvement, she said: "After running the half (marathon) a few months ago (there) I knew I wanted to be back to run the full.
"I have some very exciting races lined up before then but this is the one that’s getting me fired up right now."
She ended the post with the hashtag: #cominginhot