Records, recovery, and a promise to my father.

My name is Pippa Earley, founder of PACE Personal Training & Performance Academy. From a young age, everything in my life pointed towards elite sport. At 16, I became the first female in British history to run under 11 seconds in the Under-17 80m hurdles. I also set British records in the Under-17 Indoor Pentathlon and Indoor 60m Hurdles, becoming a six-time national champion.

I achieved number one UK rankings across multiple disciplines — hurdles, long jump, pentathlon and heptathlon — earning selection for England, medals at major international youth championships, and a full athletic scholarship to Kansas State University, where the Olympic Channel featured me as"Britain's newest heptathlon hope."

Behind the medals, records and performances was a battle very few people ever knew about. During my athletic career I started suffering severe anxiety attacks and developed a serious eating disorder, leading to a life-threatening health crisis. I spent four years in and out of hospital fighting for something far greater than accolades — my life. In 2022, I had to be resuscitated.

Throughout it all, my father, Aidan Chad Earley, never left my side. In hospital, when I was at my weakest, he reminded me that my worth came from who I was as a person, not from what I had achieved.

While I was still unwell and receiving treatment, I received the devastating news that he had suffered a sudden heart attack and passed away. Lying in that hospital bed, I remembered the promise I had made to him: that if I ever recovered, I would dedicate my life to helping others avoid the suffering I had faced — and to help others in the way he had helped me.

That promise sparked a determination to get well and make him proud. PACE was founded in his memory.