The England 10,000m runner buying her shoes on eBay
Poppy Tank won the 3,000m steeplechase title at the 2023 British Championships
- Published
"I'm self-funded so every spare bit of cash I have I'm spending it on training camps, buying shoes, buying kit, paying for races and accommodation," says Poppy Tank.
The 28-year-old from Plymouth is about to represent England in the 10,000m at the Commonwealth Games.
For the PhD student it means balancing her studies with training - and with no central funding she has had to find clever ways to keep costs down.
"I have to be very savvy with my shoes. I buy them often off eBay on discount," she told BBC Radio Devon.
"So I'm very, very good at finding ways of saving money."
Tank made her name on the cross-country circuit, helping Great Britain win team gold at the 2023 European Cross Country Championships and a team silver a year later.
She also won the British title in the 3,000m steeplechase in 2023, but had never been to a major track championships until getting the call to represent England in Glasgow this summer.
Tank has been part of the British cross-country squad
"It is a very all-encompassing experience, but when things like this happen where you get selected for your goals, I think that it really, really makes it so worth it," said Tank, who is hoping to to bring in some sponsorship to help her.
"It is so much hard work, I couldn't even begin to detail how many hours has gone into this to be honest with you."
A heavy day of training for Tank could see her do a 12-mile session before lunchtime before an hour-and-a-half in the gym in the afternoon - all while balancing her studies in ways to recycle medical implants at the University of Birmingham.
"A lot of my work involves physical research, so I have to go into the lab and prepare samples, cut up samples and analyse samples and meet with my supervisor," she explained.
"I'm very grateful because my supervisor is incredibly supportive of my running and so he knows that I need to prioritise training and stuff like that, but ultimately I still have to go and do the studying."
Tank goes into Glasgow 2026 in the form of her life over 10,000m.
She broke her personal best to finish second in the British Championships in mid-May and lowered that mark last month when she ran 32:04.36 in the Netherlands.
"I'm so excited. I know that when I stand on that start line the nerves will definitely be there," she said.
"I think that I'm really good at being competitive in races, I'm a good racer, I'm very good with tactical races and championship racing.
"A lot of championship races go out slower and they sort of wind up towards the end and I really enjoy that.
"I'm ranked probably in the second half of the field so my goal would be to just go and better that, and if you come away with a PB as well, that's always really nice."
