Emily joined Herts Phoenix Athletic Club in 2000 at the age of 9.  Prior to that she had enjoyed some success at the Watton at Stone Primary School sports days!  She started her athletics career, like many of her piers, with Sportshall and represented Herts at the NIA National Finals in 2004.  During her first couple of outdoor seasons, Emily mostly competed at 1,500m and cross country with limited success but toward the end of 2004 she concluded that she needed to change direction if she was to continue enjoying her running.  At the time, she was experiencing growth spurts and thanks to Stan Muger’s advice with her diet at this important time in her development, Emily’s strength grew steadily.  That winter she joined the sprint training group along with one or two of her friends who had also decided they wanted a break from endurance running.  The 2005 track season was a breakthrough for Emily when she started to run the 300m and sprint hurdles and by the end of that year she was placed 11th and 14th respectively in the U15 UK rankings.  It was also in 2005 that she competed in the AAA Champs for the first time.  On the back of this success Emily won the Under 18 Sports Person of the Year prize at the Hertford & Ware Sports Awards.  Moving up to the U17 age group in 2006 meant that she could combine both of her favourite events by taking on the 300m hurdles but it was destined to be a frustrating season.  The early Winter training went well but subsequent injuries resulted in 3 months lost, including warm weather training in Portugal and whilst 2006 brought some success, the strength needed to compete in this event at the highest level wasn’t there.  The following winter's training went well and the 2007 season couldn’t have started much better with a Silver medal won at the South of England Champs but then disappointment followed at the English Schools and Inter-Counties.  Emily left her best performance of the year until her last race though, winning a Silver medal at the England Athletics Open Champs at the Don Valley Stadium, Sheffield in August.  Her time in that final left her 5th in the year’s UK rankings with the top 4 times run subsequently at the UK School Games, an event that Emily unfortunately missed out on.  Having then gained a place on the Herts Sports Partnership Elite Athlete Programme, Emily workied hard on her strength & conditioning to be able to compete at the 400m hurdles in the under 20 age group.  In her first race of 2008 she ran a PB in the 400m hurdles and followed this up with a similar time the following week. However, as in her first year at U17, Emily then sustained an injury that plagued her for the rest of the season. She was delighted however to be a part of  the Herts Schools 4x100m relay team that won Silver at the English Schools Champs in Gateshead toward the end of the season. Winter training has just started again and now injury free, she is battling to regain full fitness ready for 2009. In September 2009, Emily hopes to start a degree course in Sports Therapy and is currently visiting universities with one required criteria being excellent sporting facilities to be able to continue her track & field career whilst studying.