Freya Ross, Scottish runner
Freya Ross (née Murray, born 20 September 1983) is a Scottish long-distance runner who competed in the Marathon at the London 2012 Olympics. She mainly competed in road races, but was also successful on the track competing in 5000 metres and 10,000 metres, as well as cross country running. Ross represented Scotland in the 5,000 metres and 10,000 metres in the 2010 Commonwealth Games. in Delhi in October 2010. Some of her best road racing results were from 2009 and 2010 when she won the Great Ireland Run in 2010 and the Great Yorkshire Run in both 2009 and 2010 setting the course record in 2009. In February 2012, Freya won the Scottish Athletics National Cross Country for the sixth time in seven years.Freya was the second fastest British woman at the 2012 Virgin London Marathon in her first marathon while aiming to qualify for the 2012 Olympics. She was subsequently awarded a place due to the withdrawal of the injured Paula Radcliffe. She was the first British athlete home in 44th place in a time of 2:32:14.
She has written and self published a recipe book called 'Food on the Run' detailing what her diet is like as a runner. It is a collection of some of her favourite recipes and gives an insight into the kind of food an athlete eats. It demonstrates that recipes do not need to be complicated and include obscure ingredients to be nutritious.
Freya lives in Larbert, Scotland with her husband and daughter and works as an Event Coordinator. She previously worked as a structural engineer for Cundall LLP, before a spell as a full-time athlete.
Freya received an Honorary Doctorate from Heriot-Watt University in 2014.