Becky Lyne (July 4, 1982,

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, situated south of Leeds and east of Manchester. The city is the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire and some of its so ...

South Yorkshire South Yorkshire is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the Yorkshire and the Humber region of England. It borders North Yorkshire and West Yorkshire to the north, the East Riding of Yorkshire to the north-east, Lincolnshire ...

England England is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is located on the island of Great Britain, of which it covers about 62%, and List of islands of England, more than 100 smaller adjacent islands. It ...

) is a former international

middle-distance runner Middle-distance running events are track races longer than sprints, ranging from 500 metres up to . The standard middle distances are the 800 metres, 1500 metres and mile run, although the 3000 metres may also be classified as a middle-distanc ...

from Great Britain, who won a bronze medal in the 800 metres at the 2006 European Athletics Championships.

Early life

Lyne was born on 4 July 1982 in

. She attended Nether Green Junior School where she found her love for running as part of the cross-country team. She was a pupil at

Tapton School Tapton School is a secondary school with academy status located in Crosspool, in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. It is sited next to another secondary, King Edward VII School in Sheffield, and near to Lydgate Junior School in Crosspoo ...

, which was also attended by the former Olympic middle-distance champion

Sebastian Coe Sebastian Newbold Coe, Baron Coe, (born 29 September 1956), often referred to as Seb Coe, is a British sports administrator, former politician and retired track and field athlete. As a middle-distance runner, Coe won four Olympic medals, incl ...

. Following school, Lyne studied Sports Science at

Loughborough University Loughborough University (abbreviated as ''Lough'' or ''Lboro'' for Post-nominal letters, post-nominals) is a public university, public research university in the market town of Loughborough, Leicestershire, England. It has been a university sinc ...

where she achieved First Class Honours. She completed a second degree in Spanish at

Butler University Butler University is a private university in Indianapolis, Indiana, United States. Founded in 1855 and named after founder Ovid Butler, the university has over 60 major academic fields of study within six colleges in the arts, business, communic ...

Indianapolis Indianapolis ( ), colloquially known as Indy, is the List of capitals in the United States, capital and List of municipalities in Indiana, most populous city of the U.S. state of Indiana and the county seat of Marion County, Indiana, Marion ...

Indiana Indiana ( ) is a U.S. state, state in the Midwestern United States, Midwestern region of the United States. It borders Lake Michigan to the northwest, Michigan to the north and northeast, Ohio to the east, the Ohio River and Kentucky to the s ...

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

in 2003. She joined the Hallamshire Harriers Athletics Club in 1994 and success at city and county level soon followed, which eventually led to her first international vest for England in 1997 over 1,500m at the Home Countries International. Lyne enjoyed a successful junior athletics career under the tutelage of Gordon Surtees, which culminated in winning the 800 metres at the

2003 European Athletics U23 Championships The 4th European Athletics U23 Championships were held in Bydgoszcz, Poland at the Zdzisław Krzyszkowiak Stadium between 17 and 20 July 2003. Results Complete results and medal winners were published. Men's Women's †: In the ...

Bydgoszcz Bydgoszcz is a city in northern Poland and the largest city in the historical region of Kuyavia. Straddling the confluence of the Vistula River and its bank (geography), left-bank tributary, the Brda (river), Brda, the strategic location of Byd ...

Poland Poland, officially the Republic of Poland, is a country in Central Europe. It extends from the Baltic Sea in the north to the Sudetes and Carpathian Mountains in the south, bordered by Lithuania and Russia to the northeast, Belarus and Ukrai ...

Professional career

Lyne made her first senior international appearance at the

2002 Commonwealth Games The 2002 Commonwealth Games, officially known as the XVII Commonwealth Games and commonly known as Manchester 2002, were an international multi-sport event for the members of the Commonwealth of Nations, Commonwealth held in Manchester, England, ...

Manchester Manchester () is a city and the metropolitan borough of Greater Manchester, England. It had an estimated population of in . Greater Manchester is the third-most populous metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, with a population of 2.92&nbs ...

, where she was knocked out in the heats of the 800 metres. She suffered a series of injuries over the following two seasons, but nevertheless managed to achieve the B-standard qualifying time for the

2004 Summer Olympics The 2004 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXVIII Olympiad (), and officially branded as Athens 2004 (), were an international multi-sport event held from 13 to 29 August 2004 in Athens, Greece. The Games saw 10,625 athletes ...

Athens Athens ( ) is the Capital city, capital and List of cities and towns in Greece, largest city of Greece. A significant coastal urban area in the Mediterranean, Athens is also the capital of the Attica (region), Attica region and is the southe ...

. However, she was not selected for the event due to the resurgence of

Kelly Holmes Dame Kelly Holmes (born 19 April 1970) is a retired British Middle-distance running, middle distance Track and field, athlete and television personality. Holmes specialised in the 800 metres, 800 and 1500 metres events and won gold medals for ...

, who subsequently coached Lyne during the 2008 season. After moving to

Stockport Stockport is a town in Greater Manchester, England, south-east of Manchester, south-west of Ashton-under-Lyne and north of Macclesfield. The River Goyt, Rivers Goyt and River Tame, Greater Manchester, Tame merge to create the River Mersey he ...

in 2005 and beginning to work under coach Dave Turnbull, Lyne had a breakthrough year in 2006. In June, she shot to prominence by finishing second in the 800 metres at the

British Grand Prix (athletics) The British Grand Prix, formerly known as the Birmingham Grand Prix or the Aviva Birmingham Grand Prix, is an annual athletics meeting. Since 2010 it has been a part of the Diamond League series of track and field meets. In 2020 the event was ...

Gateshead Gateshead () is a town in the Gateshead Metropolitan Borough of Tyne and Wear, England. It is on the River Tyne's southern bank. The town's attractions include the twenty metre tall Angel of the North sculpture on the town's southern outskirts, ...

, with a time of 1:58.20 minutes to become the third fastest British female over the distance behind only Holmes and Kirsty Wade. This was quickly followed up in July when she became British

AAA Championships The AAA Championships was an annual track and field competition organised by the Amateur Athletic Association of England. It was the foremost domestic athletics event in the United Kingdom during its lifetime, despite the existence of the offi ...

800 metres champion in Manchester in a time of 2:00.31. Her career highlight was achieved the following month when she won a bronze medal in the 800 metres at the

2006 European Athletics Championships The 19th European Athletics Championships were held in Gothenburg, Sweden, between 7 August and 13 August 2006. The competition arena was the Ullevi Stadium and the official motto "Catch the Spirit". Gothenburg also hosted the 1995 World Champions ...

Gothenburg Gothenburg ( ; ) is the List of urban areas in Sweden by population, second-largest city in Sweden, after the capital Stockholm, and the fifth-largest in the Nordic countries. Situated by the Kattegat on the west coast of Sweden, it is the gub ...

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. It borders Norway to the west and north, and Finland to the east. At , Sweden is the largest Nordic count ...

in a time of 1:58.45. The successes of 2006 led her to be named as BAWA Athlete of the Year alongside friend

Mo Farah Sir Mohamed Muktar Jama Farah (born Hussein Abdi Kahin; 23 March 1983) is a Somali-British former long-distance runner. Considered one of the greatest runners of all time, his ten global championship gold medals (four Olympic and six World tit ...

. The following season she was selected for the

2007 World Championships in Athletics The 11th World Championships in Athletics, () under the auspices of the International Association of Athletics Federations (IAAF), were held at Nagai Stadium in Osaka, Japan from 24 August to 2 September 2007. 200 of the IAAF's 212 member feder ...

Osaka is a Cities designated by government ordinance of Japan, designated city in the Kansai region of Honshu in Japan. It is the capital of and most populous city in Osaka Prefecture, and the List of cities in Japan, third-most populous city in J ...

Japan Japan is an island country in East Asia. Located in the Pacific Ocean off the northeast coast of the Asia, Asian mainland, it is bordered on the west by the Sea of Japan and extends from the Sea of Okhotsk in the north to the East China Sea ...

, but was forced to withdraw from the event due to a calf injury. Further injury curtailments left her short of fitness by the time of the trials for the

2008 Summer Olympics The 2008 Summer Olympics (), officially the Games of the XXIX Olympiad () and officially branded as Beijing 2008 (), were an international multisport event held from 8 to 24 August 2008, in Beijing, China. A total of 10,942 athletes fro ...

Beijing Beijing, Chinese postal romanization, previously romanized as Peking, is the capital city of China. With more than 22 million residents, it is the world's List of national capitals by population, most populous national capital city as well as ...

China China, officially the People's Republic of China (PRC), is a country in East Asia. With population of China, a population exceeding 1.4 billion, it is the list of countries by population (United Nations), second-most populous country after ...

and as a result was unable to qualify. She continued to pursue a comeback in subsequent years, spending winters training at altitude in

Kenya Kenya, officially the Republic of Kenya, is a country located in East Africa. With an estimated population of more than 52.4 million as of mid-2024, Kenya is the 27th-most-populous country in the world and the 7th most populous in Africa. ...

with the group of friend and rival Janeth Jepkosgei, but was unable to find any consistency and chose to officially retire from the sport in 2012.

Life After Athletics

Lyne now resides in

Baslow Baslow is a village in Derbyshire, England, in the Peak District, situated between Sheffield and Bakewell, just over north of Chatsworth House. It is sited by the River Derwent, which is spanned by a 17th-century bridge, alongside which ...

Derbyshire Derbyshire ( ) is a ceremonial county in the East Midlands of England. It borders Greater Manchester, West Yorkshire, and South Yorkshire to the north, Nottinghamshire to the east, Leicestershire to the south-east, Staffordshire to the south a ...

and lists her main hobbies as dancing and gardening. In 2014 she founded her own company, TrYumph in Life CIC, with the aim of helping to empower people to lead a healthy life. The company runs a variety of family sports and fitness classes for a range of ages and abilities, in addition to holiday camps for school children and corporate and school wellness programmes. In 2020 she launched her second compan
Gracefull Running Ltd
Drawing on her experiences as a top level athlete and her sports science studies, she developed a model that encapsulates key biomechanical elements of how humans are designed to move within a 'GRACEfull' acronym. Working in conjunction with

Sheffield Hallam University Sheffield Hallam University (SHU) is a public research university in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The university is based on two sites; the City Campus is located in the city centre near Sheffield station, Sheffield railway station, whil ...

, these elements were written into joint detection software which the company now uses to perform online running technique analyses and physio screenings. Working in conjunction with good friend and former rival Marilyn Okoro, she runs another arm of the business, known as GRACEfull Girls. Offering performance and well-being support to up-and-coming female athletes, they seek to nurture a healthy approach to sport for sustained success and happiness.

Charity Work

Thanks to her winters spent training there, Lyne maintains close links to Kenya through a number of school twinnings she established between British and Kenyan schools. As well as orchestrating fundraising activities, the relationships offer mutual benefits including cultural and knowledge exchange. She is an ambassador for Shoe4Africa,Shoe4Africa
/ref> a charity that helps to save and empower vulnerable women and children and donates 10% of subscriptions for her running groups to the charity.

Personal Bests

Athletic Achievements

* 1999 AAA U20 Junior 800m Champion * 2001 AAA U20 Junior 800m Champion * 2001 European Junior 800m 4th * 2002 BUCS, Bedford, 800m Champion * 2002 Commonwealth Games Heats 800m 5th * 2003 European under-23 800m Champion * 2003 NCAA Division I Outdoor Track Championships, California, 800m 3rd * 2004 BUCS, Gateshead, 1500m Champion * 2004 BUCS, Glasgow, 1500m Champion * 2005 World University Championships, Izmir 8th * 2006 European Championships, Gothenburg, 800m 3rd * 2006 Athletics World Cup, Athens, 800m 4th

References

External links

TrYumph in Life CIC

Facebook

Running Technique Workshops
* *
Shoe4Africa
{{DEFAULTSORT:Lyne, Becky 1982 births Living people Athletes from Sheffield English female middle-distance runners British female middle-distance runners European Athletics Championships medalists Alumni of Loughborough University People educated at Tapton School Butler University alumni AAA Championships winners 21st-century English sportswomen