Forward sponsor local female athlete, Emma Cowper

As we celebrate the success of the Lionesses, women’s sport is changing beyond all recognition. While not yet on a par with the men, female athletes now have more opportunities than ever before to truly chase their ambitions. The Lionesses follow other women who have captured our imagination over the years, from the hockey players of 2016, the cricketers of 2017, to the outstanding individual performances of Jessica Ennis-Hill, Dina Asher-Smith and Emma Radacanu to name but a few.

We are all sports fanatics here at Forward. And between us we’ve tried quite a few with varying levels of success. Running and football are obvious, but how about snooker or motocross (I’ll bet you can’t guess who that was). Like many of you we have entered numerous races and challenges just to see what we can achieve. And while a podium finish might not be on the cards, we still throw everything at it, and the commitment required to finish, or break a personal best is often difficult to balance alongside work and life. We can only imagine that for talented athletes, the drive to test what is possible must be that much stronger, and even harder to manage alongside ordinary life.

And that brings us to Emma Cowper. On her website Emma says “I am an ordinary person who one day woke up and decided to try competing in a triathlon.” Obviously not quite so ordinary as us mere mortals. She first represented Great Britain as a 27 year old in 2015 at a standard distance triathlon (1500m swim, 40km bike, 10km run… those who don’t speak “triathlon”), and in 2016 was world champion in her age group at that distance. In 2017 she stepped up to half ironman (1900m swim, 90km bike and 21km run… I know, crazy!) earning her Pro License. By 2018 things were looking good… she did a full iron man (I won’t even scare you with how far that is!) and decided to go part-time at work to try and focus more time on racing.

And then with everything looking good, fate intervened. In 2019 she broke her shoulder (not so good) but found out she was pregnant (brilliant!). By 2020 and an extra little one safely delivered into the family, shoulder recovering … then you know what comes next…. The covid pandemic hit!

Enter 2021 and Emma began the journey back to full racing, working part-time, training and looking after her daughter. She broke the course record at the Outlaw X half ironman, and has followed that up in 2022 with 4th in the Outlaw Holkham half ironman in July, and most recently 2nd place in the Outlaw full ironman in Nottingham a few weeks ago.

Now the sky is the limit, and as Emma gears up for more training, more racing, reality dawns… that all costs money! So when we were approached for help by this local, talented athlete, juggling work and motherhood, to just try and see how good she could be …. Well, how could we say no? Alongside other local businesses we have chipped into Emma’s pot, and we hope it helps her in a small way to live her dream and continue flying the flag for women’s sport in the UK.

Sarah Moores, Director Forward Corporate Finance commented “I have memories of Emma far in the distance at local cross country races as I was fishing my trainers out of the mud behind, so her subsequent success as a triathlete was no surprise. I am delighted that Forward can help in a small way to support Emma, and also do our bit to continue to progress the opportunities for women in sport. We will be cheering her on every stroke, pedal and step of the way.”

Emma added “Support from companies like Forward really makes a difference to me. The funding means I can confirm and book races in my calendar, and then focus on the training… and hopefully deliver a result to make them, my family and all of my sponsors proud!”

If you are a parent balancing training with work and life, listen to Emma’s podcast here.

And if you want to help Emma along the way, get in touch with her (emma_deary04@hotmail.com), or you can sponsor her via Patreon.