Events
Women's Running Conference 2025
Event Start: 12/04/2025 10:00
Event Ends: 12/04/2025 15:00
Location
University of South Wales
Usk Way
Newport
NP20 2BP
Tickets
Welsh Athletics Affiliated Members: £10 (You need a code to get the discount, this will have been emailed to you)
Unaffiliated Members: £15
Tickets include a light sandwich buffet and teas and coffees on arrival.
Purchase your tickets here
EVENT INFORMATION
Welsh Athletics are delighted to be hosting a Women’s Running Conference, in conjunction with the ABP Newport Marathon Festival on Saturday 12 April 2025 at USW Newport Campus.
The day will be an inspiring and engaging event to celebrate the growth in women’s running and to explore specific female health topics relating to running.
Attendees will hear from experts from the fields of Strength & Conditioning, Nutrition, Menopause, Menstrual Cycles, Pre & Post Partum Running and Pelvic Health all through the lens of a female runner. These sessions will provide a mixture of the theory and how that can then be applied in practice to your everyday running. There will be an interactive guest panel where attendees can ask questions of the experts and other champions from the running community.
There will also be a selection of exhibitors hosting female specific products such as PEBE Sportsbras and NIXI Body (leak-proof knickers) as well as other running related organisations.
The event will be hosted by Welsh ultrarunner and S4C Presenter Lowri Morgan. Lowri will be joined by guest speakers and industry experts including Olympic Gold Medallist and UK Athletics President Dame Denise Lewis, former GB Athlete and former parkrun record holder Charlotte Dobbs (nee Arter) and 2023 Newport Marathon winner Lizzie Dimond.
TIMETABLE
EVENT PROGRAMME
HOST
Lowri Morgan
Lowri Morgan is a sought-after and acclaimed motivational speaker. The BAFTA-winning broadcaster, intrepid adventurer and world-class extreme ultra endurance athlete is someone who is keenly aware of the attitude and application that is needed to achieve success.
She has a coveted 6633 Ultra finish to her name (the only athlete to complete the 350 mile race in the Arctic in 2012), a top 10 overall finish in the Amazon’s 140 mile Jungle Marathon, came 4th in the toughest mountain race the Dragon’s Back Race part of the first ever female crew to complete and take line honours in the Three Peaks Yacht Race, which was filmed for Channel 4. Lowri also completed the 333, an unique running challenge in Snowdonia, which filmed her becoming the first person to run from North to South Wales via the country’s highest peaks in 60 hours soon after becoming a mother for the first time.
GUEST SPEAKERS
Dame Denise Lewis DBE
Dame Denise Lewis DBE is an accomplished broadcaster, former athlete and President of UK Athletics.
Since her retirement from Athletics, Denise has undertaken an array of television work including commentating on high profile athletics events and fronting shows such as BBC’s Secret Britain and Right on the Money.
She took part in ITV’s Don’t Rock the Boat in November 2020 and The Masked Dancer, reaching the semi-final in 2022 and previously hosted her own Spotify podcast ‘Runtethered with Google’.
She has been an activewear and Golf brand ambassador for Next since 2021, and has worked with multiple other brands including L’Oréal, Sweaty Betty, Symprove, Google, Shark Ninja, Haven and Purple Bricks.
Additionally, Denise has taken on the role of ambassador and patron for several initiatives, events and charities, notably working closely with VISA, British Gas, Breast Cancer Care and Sparks.
In March 2025, her self-development book ‘Adaptability’ was published.
Charlotte Dobbs (nee Arter)
Charlotte is a professional Welsh athlete who has represented Great Britain on the road, cross country and track.
She is also the Welsh 10k record holder with a time of 31.26 minutes and a former parkrun world record holder with 15.49 minutes.
Charlotte is now returning to running after having her first child recently.
Lizzie Dimond
Lizzie is a mum of four young children and first started running in 2017 in a bid to feel healthier and fitter. Following joining the Lliswerry Running Club she ran her first marathon in 2019 placing 3rd female and qualifying for the London Marathon Championship start.
Since then she has become an ASICS Frontrunner and travelled to Málaga for the METASPEED time trials, represented Team UK in the world’s largest half marathon Göteborgsvarvet, Sweden, and has participated in the Asics Festival of Running Night 5k in Paris as part of the launch for Paris Marathon.
In 2022 Lizzie also Represented East Wales and placed 1st Welsh Master in the Wales Half Marathon.
She most recently won the Newport Marathon in 2023 and the Newport Half Marathon in 2024. And will be travelling to Berlin later this year to participate in the Marathon .
Lauren Green
Lauren is a single mum of 3 and owner of Empowered Women Online Fitness Community.
In 2022, she went out for her first run and struggled to run 5k without stopping, but instead of giving up, she decided to keep on working. Lauren ran her first marathon in Newport in 2023 and qualified for GFA for London in 2024. In London, she got a Boston qualifying time and will be running the Boston marathon on 21 April this year.
Lauren believes we rise by lifting others, and is open with sharing her struggles and strengths as a single mum, running her own business, training for marathons and delivering online strength & conditioning sessions to her empowered community, in hope of inspiring other women to do the same.
Katie Kenward-Gibbs
Katie, co-founder of The Running Social, started running in 2019 to support her mental health following the loss of her dad. What began as a personal outlet soon turned into a passion, leading her to chase the world-renowned Marathon Majors—completing four so far!
During training for these races alongside Sadie, fellow co-founder of TRS, the idea for The Running Social was born. Their mission was simple: to bring people together through running, making it fun, inclusive, and accessible to all—a vision that now thrives through our growing community.
Lucy Bebbington-Lewis.png)
Lucie Bebbington-Lewis took up distance running in 2017 after seeking a new way of keeping fit and healthy after having a family. After accomplishing 10k, then a half marathon and finally a full marathon in her first year of running, something was still missing - like-minded running friends! And so the idea for Newport Female Runner's Network was born in 2019. Lucie is incredibly proud of the group NFRN has become and the running community it has created for women across Newport. Aside from NFRN, Lucie's proudest running moment is completing the 4-4-48 challenge in aid of a wonderful charity. The challenge put her on the injury bench for a year but was still worth it!
Suzanne Taylor .png)
Suzanne is a self-proclaimed ‘back of the pack’ runner with a big love for her running family and the wider running community. She likes to show that coming last in races doesn’t mean you can’t enjoy every minute of it! Her passion and love for the running community is what inspired her to launch the Safer Running Initiative. Suzanne is immensely proud of the initiative and how well it’s been received by the ladies, clubs and groups across Gwent.
Lectures & Experts
Understanding the Menstrual Cycle & Running (12:00 - 12:30)
Esther Goldsmith, Sport and Exercise Physiologist (Expert)
Esther Goldsmith is a Sport and Exercise Physiologist working at Sport Wales. One of Esther's main areas of work is working with female athletes within sport and in research. Esther works with athletes, coaches, sports practitioners to ensure that females are better supported, particularly around their hormonal health and menstrual cycles. Esther is also a keen runner and has a lot of experience working in athletics, although she mostly avoids the track and sticks to trails these days!
Rebecca Hudson, Sports Rehabilitation (Expert)
Becky is a Senior Lecturer and researcher at Cardiff Metropolitan University. She lectures on UG and PG degrees in Sports Rehabilitation, with a strong research focus on Female athletes. She is currently researching as part of her PhD, the impact of menstrual health on running related injuries in Female runners.
Dr Rachel Churm, Sports & Exercise (Expert)
Dr Rachel Churm is a senior lecturer in Sports & Exercise sciences at Swansea University, their research area over recent years, has focused on lifestyle changes and menopause. The session will focus on some of the key changes that women can experience as they go through the menopause and how this could impact their health. Importantly, we will also discuss the evidence to support the use of physical activity and/or running within women going through or post-menopause. Hopefully, providing some hints and tips along the way!
Nutrition for Female Runners (13:30 - 14:00)
Robyn Aitkenhead, Sport and Exercise Nutrition (Expert)
Robyn is a PhD researcher in Sport and Exercise Nutrition at Swansea University. Her research focuses on optimising endurance performance and gut health, through nutritional strategies, particularly investigating the effects of mineral supplementation and plant-based proteins. Robyn has a specific interest in female health and how that can affect performance and as a runner, is passionate about applying her research to real-world athletic contexts.
Workshops
Pre & Post Partum Running (12:30 - 13:00 & 13:00-13:30)
Megan James, Pre & Post Partum Running (Expert)
Megan is a PhD Researcher at Cardiff Metropolitan University. Her research explores return to running after childbirth through an interdisciplinary, co-design approach. Megan’s work combines areas of biomechanics, psychology and public health.
Pelvic Health (12:30 - 13:00 & 13:00-13:30)
Imogen Williams, Pelvic Health Physiotherapist (Expert)
Imogen Williams is a highly experienced pelvic health physiotherapist with 17 years of physiotherapy experience. A former athlete (long jump/triple jump) and mother of two, Imogen brings both professional expertise and personal insight to her work.
Imogen works as a Highly Specialised Pelvic Health Physiotherapist in the NHS where she specialises in treating pelvic floor conditions. In addition to her NHS role, she runs her own specialist pelvic health service at The Studio in Cardiff, offering expert care for women at all stages of life.
She is also currently pursuing a Master’s degree in Advanced Clinical Practice in Pelvic Health to further enhance her expertise.
Fully trained in Pilates, Imogen is passionate about bridging the gap between pelvic health and performance, empowering women to return to sport with strength and confidence.
Exhibitors 
More exhibitors will be announced soon.
Partners
We hope you will join us for what we promise will be an inspiring and educational event.
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