Exercise has been a ‘lifeline’, says teacher running New York City Marathon

A teacher who says running has been a “lifeline” during the “worst year” of her life will be inspiring students when she runs the TCS New York City Marathon on Sunday.

Stephanie Field, the lead teacher for maths and science at Moorthorpe Primary in South Elmsall, West Yorkshire, has been given the opportunity to run in New York as part of the Team TCS Teachers initiative.

She said the opportunity came just when she needed a boost as her father was undergoing cancer treatment.

It has also been a difficult year for her three children, Oliver, 18, Kirsten, 16, and Joshua, 12.

“It’s been a really, really horrible year. Running and going to the gym has just been my absolute lifeline,” she told the PA news agency.

TCS, which is also the official title partner for marathons in London, Amsterdam and Toronto, offers places to teachers who use activity to inspire the next generation.

Mrs Field, 44, said she “hated PE with a passion” when she was at school but went running with a friend in 2017, completing what she described as the “slowest kilometre ever”.

She took part in a local parkrun and other fitness events before joining running club Ackworth Road Runners with her husband Christopher. The couple are now qualified run leaders.

“It’s just to get out and be me,” she said.

“We don’t go out drinking. We go out running, that’s our socialising.”

Mrs Field said her father Paul Halstead was diagnosed with cancer of the oesophagus in November last year.

He had chemotherapy and was so ill he was taken into hospital on Boxing Day.

After complications following surgery, Mr Halstead was in a coma and spent nearly 16 weeks in total in St James’s University Hospital, Leeds, but is now recovering.

“I’ve had the worst year in my entire existence,” said Mrs Field, who is fundraising for Leeds Hospitals Charity.

“The care he received there was absolutely above and beyond, absolutely fantastic.

“I really wanted to recognise that.”

Mrs Field, who went into teaching after selling mortgages for First Direct for 10 years, ran the virtual TCS London Marathon in 2020 and 2021 to support a local family and also took part in the 2023 Rob Burrow Leeds Marathon.

She ran the 2023 TCS London Marathon as part of Team TCS Teachers and was thrilled to get a place for New York.

The Year 6 teacher has been showing photos and videos of New York – including the city’s Halloween celebrations – to pupils at Moorthorpe Primary which she joined in January.

“I’ve been saying this time next week I’ll be up the Empire State Building. I’m bringing in the history of New York as well as the running,” she said.

The school is in a deprived area, she said, adding: “Most of them will never get to go to New York so if I can try to bring New York to them a little bit, hopefully they will think, ‘I can remember this one teacher who did go, I wouldn’t mind going there myself’.”

Mrs Field set up a running club at Moorthorpe Primary in the summer with pupils and staff taking part in Couch to 5K on the outdoor running track.

She is the school’s designated safeguarding lead and told PA: “I’ve found a lot of children from the running group find it a lot easier to come and talk to me from a safeguarding perspective because they have built that relationship with me not in the classroom but outside the classroom. It’s a common interest.”

“The staff got a lot from it and the parents as well,” she said.

“The children got a lot from seeing them. Seeing that you don’t have to be fast and super slim to be a runner, you can do it any size, any gender, any age.”

She said PE lessons start with two laps of the track to warm up and she will introduce the TCS Mini London Marathon at Moorthorpe Primary next year.

The free scheme is inviting schools to take students to run, jog, walk or wheel one mile or 2.6km on April 26, crossing the TCS London Marathon finish line and receiving a medal. TCS gives schools £10 for every participant aged 17 or under who finishes.

Schools can also organise their own local event.

Mrs Field is also supporting plans to set up a junior parkrun at Frickley Country Park from January and will volunteer at the event which will be walking distance from the school.

“As much as we are in a deprived area, the parents are very much wanting to push their children.

“They are aspirational for their children. They just don’t always have the means to do it but the junior parkrun is obviously free.”

– To support Stephanie’s fundraising for Leeds Hospital Charity visit: https://www.justgiving.com/page/stephanie-field-1729109220007?utm_medium=fundraising&utm_content=page%2Fstephanie-field-1729109220007&utm_source=copyLink&utm_campaign=pfp-share

– To find out more about Team TCS Teachers or the TCS Mini London Marathon, visit: https://www.tcslondonmarathon.com/the-event/tcs-mini-london-marathon