Angela Walker In Conversation - Inspirational Interviews, Under-Reported News
For news lovers everywhere. Join former BBC reporter and broadcast journalist Angela Walker as she engages in thought-provoking conversations with inspirational individuals about current affairs and under-reported issues. We examine stories mainstream media don’t cover: issues of social justice and campaigns that aim to improve society and the world we live in. We look at issues around government, climate change, the environment and world around us. In this podcast, we aim to shed light on important topics that often go unnoticed, providing a platform for insightful discussions with our guests.
From activists and social entrepreneurs to academics and community leaders, these individuals bring their expertise and experiences to the table. Through their stories, we explore the challenges they have overcome, their motivations, and the lessons they have learned along the way. We examine issues of social justice and campaigns that aim to improve society and the world we live in.
If you have an inquiring mind and enjoy BBC Radio 4, The Today Programme, PM, The World At One, Panorama, Despatches, documentaries and interview programmes then this is the place for you.
Listen to be inspired and informed.
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Angela Walker In Conversation - Inspirational Interviews, Under-Reported News
THE COST OF COMPETING - An Elite Athlete's Struggle for Sponsorship with Duathlete Tamina Oliver
Imagine being selected to represent your country, to compete against the best in the world - and then needing to find the money to pay for it your self.
Tamina Oliver is a single mum from Twyford in Berkshire whose journey into elite duathlons is riddled with challenges and triumphs. Tamina shares her experience of qualifying for the European and World Championships, all while overcoming significant injuries and the struggle to find sponsorship.
In this conversation Tamina shares her journey through motherhood and injury and tells us how she balances rigorous training with parenting duties, waking up early to fit in workouts before the school run, and even cycling with her son in tow. Tamina honestly discusses the frustrations tied to the financial barriers that threaten her ability to compete.
This episode invites you to explore the realities faced by elite athletes, particularly women, in their pursuit of excellence. Tamina’s commitment to her sport is a powerful reminder of the importance of community support and the lengths to which dedicated athletes will go to pursue their dreams. If you have ever faced challenges in following your passions, this conversation will resonate deeply with you.
https://www.crowdfunder.co.uk/p/gb-duathlon-dream-world-champs-2025
https://www.angelawalkerreports.com/
A single mum who's qualified to represent Great Britain in the European and World Duathlon Championships says she'll struggle to compete if she can't find a sponsor. Tamina Oliver from Berkshire has overcome serious injury and surgery to qualify. I'm journalist Angela Walker and in this podcast I talk to inspirational people and discuss under-reported issues. Tamina, thanks for joining us. Before we get started, if you're watching this on YouTube, please hit subscribe now and leave a comment. That will enable more people to find this podcast. And if you're listening, please leave us a review. First of all, congratulations on qualifying. How do you feel?
Tamina Oliver:what an achievement yeah, well it's, it's great and it's very exciting. I'm really pleased um. I'm also quite apprehensive because, as as you know, I've um qualified on two occasions before and had to well. On the first occasion just could, could not compete because I was on crutches at the time, I had a serious freak out injury, and the second time was sort of still rehabilitating and overcoming that injury and had compensatory injuries. So I'm just hoping that nothing goes wrong this time.
Angela Walker:Third time lucky and I can actually get there. Yes, third time lucky, yeah. So what was the injury that you had that you required surgery for?
Tamina Oliver:then it was one of the main tendons in my left foot. So it was purely like a training run, it was freak accident and it just completely ruptured. So the um, the surgeons had to sort of pull the two parts of the tendon back together and couldn't quite reach. So they sort of had to make a weird bridging gap thing with with part of the tendon and um, yes, so it was quite complex and quite a difficult surgery apparently oh gosh, that must have been so frustrating.
Angela Walker:It was, it was yeah, unbearably frustrating.
Tamina Oliver:Um, I did actually, I did actually go. I went to the world championships but, as I say, I was on crutches, so, which was all the more frustrating actually, because, um, it was in ibiza that year and, uh, I knew other competitors and the person who came second I had won earlier on in the season. So it was sort of hit and miss whether I would have come second, second or third if the race had gone gone well, um, but I probably would have made it onto the podium, so, um, so, yeah, it felt pretty difficult to watch, but but also good experience to go and see kind of everything that it entailed and what, what the setup was like and stuff and stuff yeah, absolutely, and um, for those of us not familiar with duathlon, can you tell us a bit about him?
Tamina Oliver:yeah, well, I like to think of it a bit like a sandwich of um running, then cycling, then running again, so it's basically that is is a two sport event, so it's a run and then a cycle ride and then a run, and there are different distances. So when I first qualified, I did so for the standard distance and the sprint distance, but was sort of focusing more on the sprint distance, which is just slightly shorter, and on this occasion I've just gone for the sprint distance, so decided that less running would perhaps result in less likelihood of injury.
Angela Walker:Fingers crossed. Fingers crossed, I must say. Over 10 years ago I did a little bit of triathlon, Did you. Yeah, and I did a sprint triathlon. It was the swimming that was such a killer and maybe I should have stuck with duathlon, but yeah.
Tamina Oliver:Well, swimming I mean I first started after my injury in 2023. The first thing activity that the consultant said that I could kind of get back to to get fit was swimming. So I actually I did start swimming quite a lot that summer and then I took part in a something called an aqua bike event.
Tamina Oliver:Okay, and that's, um, it doesn't involve running, so it's it's basically an open water swim and then a cycle ride, but I'm not, I'm not a good swimmer. I mean I'm, I can keep going for quite a long time, endurance wise, but I'm far from elegant and far from fast and far from efficient in this event. It's a one and a half kilometer swim and I entered it the week before and it was on a sunday and it was, um, up the river ooze, okay, I can't say neots or something and uh, so it was up sort of part of the distance and then back and out of all the people, all the women competing in the race, I was last to come back on the swim, but then so I was the slowest on the swim, but then on the cycle bit I was the fastest, so I ended up in the middle of the field, but it was quite funny.
Angela Walker:It was the swimming that dragged you down Absolutely. So you're a single mum. Parenting is hard enough, as is anyway. You're also working and you're juggling this with training and an elite level of sport. How do you manage it, tamina? Yeah.
Tamina Oliver:Lots of early mornings, so I often get up at 5, 5.30 and train for sort of an hour and a half before the school run and before then working. And I mean, one of the positive things about cycling is you can get turbo trainers, which means basically you can cycle going nowhere, going nowhere. It's stationary bicycling really. Um. So I do that while while bear my son is still around and either in bed or or some dances, having his breakfast and reading his book, um and uh. And then at the weekends I, I run with him in the buggy.
Angela Walker:Um, amazing but he's seven now he's pretty heavy.
Tamina Oliver:Well, yeah, when, when we run now it's like pushing about 45 kilograms in addition, no wonder you're so fit it's good. It's good. For me it's like resistance training, yeah, um. So that's a lot of fun and he actually enjoys it, because he, he's got to the phase now where he likes to um, either listen to an audio book while he's in there, or or he gets to watch telly and that suits him down to the ground. So he, he does something and and sort of sits there and lounges while I'm, yeah, running along.
Angela Walker:So doing all the hard work. Brilliant, oh, it sounds fun. It's nice to do something together, isn't it? So it must cost an awful lot of money to compete internationally. What are the costs that are involved, then? Because it's not just equipment, isn't it?
Tamina Oliver:no, I mean you have to buy the compulsory suit, which is at the very least £200. And then the race, the international race license, and then the race entry fee for each race you do, travel and accommodation, and well, personally, I've found more recently I've had to do a lot of, um, preventative sort of stuff. So osteopathy privately, um, so that doesn't come under the health, health service, um, I mean, I I'm under an nhs, um physiotherapist, at the moment, but at some point that'll come to an end, uh, as they do um, so, yeah, lots of those kind of expenses and additional things that you don't normally think of. Obviously, as you said, the equipment and you can spend tens of thousands, well, probably more than that, on, um, on kind of good, high quality bikes, which ideally, uh, if you're competing at such a high level, you want sort of decent equipment absolutely.
Angela Walker:You want the best equipment that you can get so that you can perform at your very best. I mean, you're going to be representing great britain, so you know you need. You need the best to to show off your skills. So how do you go about getting funding then? How do you fund all this?
Tamina Oliver:well, a lot of it so far has been off my own back. Um, I mean, I have when I was racing, so I raced before um having my son. So before 2017 I was, I was in sort of professional teams, but cycling racing, not duathlon um, and that in sort of professional teams, but cycling racing, not duathlon and that was sort of covered through being in teams. But since then, I mean, a large part of it has been sort of off my own back and that's really why I need help now, because I've sort of run out of funds for this particular thing, especially in the last couple of years when it's been um yeah, a lot, a lot more because of all the preventative medicine and stuff like that.
Angela Walker:Yeah, because you absolutely have to look after your body or you won't be able to compete at all yes, exactly yeah so how do you feel when you know that, um, you've got the talent, you've got the commitment, you're so dedicated, you've you've proven that you're the best and that you've you've got the commitment. You're so dedicated, you've you've proven that you're the best and that you've you've secured this place and it's you know, money is is the sticking point. How does that make you feel?
Tamina Oliver:um, well, I try and look at it philosophically. Um, it sometimes feels frustrating and sometimes I can feel quite despondent about it, but it's a case of well, there are lots of situations that other people are worse off, and I've had the experience of trying to get into this and I've had other experiences, and actually there are things that are more important in life. My son is more important friends, family, um, but it's something I really want to do so at the same time.
Tamina Oliver:It's yeah, I'm just trying my best to enable myself to get there and to to be able to compete in the best possible manner I can.
Angela Walker:I'm certainly one who is more comfortable with very little gear and all the idea than all the gear and no idea um but I'd prefer to have you know all the gear and all the ideas absolutely, and you deserve to go because you've earned that through your dedication. Is there any kind of like government funding for people in your situation?
Tamina Oliver:no, I mean I'm going through my employer trying to get something, and I've also approached several different companies and so far not really received much of a positive response at all. So I'm hoping I mean I've set up this crowdfunding thing, which is actually a friend's suggestion, and I mean I personally feel quite uncomfortable with self-promotion and find it quite difficult, but that's where I'm at. So I'm hoping that people will sort of hundreds of thousand pounds from anyone actually, but all tens of thousands of pounds from one particular sort of source. But anything that comes from anyone is a help. And so far, I mean I've had a number of people mainly, you know, personal contacts number of people mainly you know personal contacts who have been um, extremely generous and uh sort of um helped out, helped out, donated something amazing, um, but uh, yeah, I still need quite a bit more, actually.
Angela Walker:well, I think it's brilliant and also I think you're a really good role model for um, for for young women and, you know, single mums as well, and it's good for your son to see you competing at this level. I mean, what does he think when he sees you doing all this training? I suppose he's just used to it, is he he?
Tamina Oliver:is used to it. He actually really likes it when I'm doing my turbo, because I do it often in the kitchen, so I get my bike in and put it up on the stand and in the kitchen. So, um, I get my bike in and and put it up on the stand and and he, he sort of sits there and we have a little a little rule that you can have half telly and half half reading. So he enjoys being there and half telly, half reading and um, and uh, yeah, he, he says he likes the sound of it. So, okay, um, but I, you know, I agree with you.
Tamina Oliver:I think it's really important for him to see me. It's, it's great for him to see me as a, as a mum and as a single mum doing something. That's something extraordinary. You know, it's not not what most people do, um, and I also think I think it's important for other people who are overcoming barriers and challenges and obstacles to fulfil their own dreams and desires and wishes, to see that that's possible. I mean, but it has taken a lot of hard work. It is taking a lot of hard work.
Angela Walker:I've lost my train of thought and you've and you've had setbacks, because you know, having an injury like that that requires surgery, extensive surgery as well. Um, did you ever think, oh, I just, I can't put my body through this, I just can't do this anymore? Well, I still do sometimes not because of the injury, but because it was five o'clock in the morning.
Tamina Oliver:I'm sat there on my bike thinking, oh, blimey, um, but uh, but no. No, I mean, did I ever think that? No, I didn't, actually, I've always been.
Angela Walker:I'm a bit stubborn, your focus and I wanted to ask you because I read something about uh, you were cycling up the tour de france route up the mountains when you were pregnant. Tell us about that.
Tamina Oliver:Yeah, that was quite amazing. I was six and a half months pregnant.
Angela Walker:Oh, my goodness.
Tamina Oliver:And yeah, I mean it was incredible because I was coming out of elite cycling, you know, professionally at that point, so I was still very, very fast, um, even with this baby growing inside me amazing, did it?
Angela Walker:did it put you off balance at all, actually being?
Tamina Oliver:pregnant. No, no, no. But I was very careful on on descents so I mean I'd go as fast as I could up, because, well, you can only go so fast, um, but on descents I was, I was much, much more cautious because I didn't want to risk any damage. But yes, I'd get sort of these groups of men mainly men cycling up and I'd sort of pass them and they'd do double takes. So they'd notice this massive tummy of mine. It was really funny, amazing, amazing.
Angela Walker:And yeah, you were an elite cyclist before. Tell us, was it peloton you?
Tamina Oliver:you competed at um well, it was in the in the professional tour. So the international tour, the uci tour, tell us a bit about that. It's road cycling, so that's that's mainly what I was doing. Um, and yeah, you haveotons, which basically peloton means a group of cyclists. So in a road cycling situation, racing, you get kind of these, the main peloton is the main group. So I was doing that and my favourite style of racing was you get very different routes. You get some really flat ones and lots of wind, windy sort of ones or, um, hilly ones and kind of technical descents, and I really like the hills. So hills up, hills down are great for me. Um, and actually this world championships this summer in the duathlon is, um, I'm quite excited because it plays to my strengths. It's um, the cycling route is apparently I've not I've not seen it, but apparently it's got quite a steady, long kind of drag up and then quite a technical descent.
Angela Walker:So yeah, and where is that exactly?
Tamina Oliver:that's in spain, in ponte vedra amazing, amazing.
Angela Walker:Well, you need to get there and hopefully you'll get all the sponsorship that you need to get you out there so you can uh can bring home gold for team GB.
Tamina Oliver:That's the idea I really want. I mean, I really really want to go and I do need some help getting enough money to get there. Um, and I mean, whether or not I'll get gold is questionable, but, um, I'd like to think I can get close, and you know, I'm still thinking podium, whether, whether it's gold, silver or bronze might be an option that would be amazing.
Angela Walker:Well, good luck to you, thank you, you really deserve it, because you've got the talent and you've definitely got the ambition and the drive and the commitment All those 5am starts. So good luck to you. Thanks so much, angela. Thank you You've been listening to Angela Walker in Conversation. Don't forget to subscribe, comment and review, and you can find more of my work on my website, angelawalkerreportscom. Until next time, goodbye.
