Fiona is an elite marathon runner who holds four Guinness World Records. She also runs Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary where she cares for around 500 rescued animals both domestic and ex-farm and herself has been vegan for over 50 years.
Fiona hails from Chesterfield in Derbyshire, was educated in Oxford and now lives in Essex where she founded and runs Tower Hill Stables Animal Sanctuary which provides care and a home for life to over 500 rescued animals.
Vegan since the age of 6 years, Fiona is passionate about animals and works incredibly hard to care for all the rescues at her Sanctuary as well as the promotion of a cruelty free lifestyle which she does through her running
In her early teens Fiona developed an orthopaedic condition which resulted in multiple surgical interventions and eventually the removal of her right kneecap after which she was told she would never walk properly again – let alone run.
Determined to prove the Doctors wrong, Fiona took to running and has broken five marathon course records – and still holds four to this day – The North Pole Marathon, The Antarctic Ice Marathon, the Ruska Marathon, The Dartmoor Vale Marathon and the Essex Championship Marathon at Halstead. She has completed over 50 marathons and has a personal best of 2 hours 38 minutes.
In 2012 Fiona became the first vegan female to complete the gruelling Marathon des Sables which is described as the ‘toughest foot race on the planet’ involving running six consecutive marathons across the Sahara Desert carrying all your food and supplies for the week on your back. With temperatures going over 50 degrees this is not something for the faint hearted. Fiona has completed this event 3 times now – most recently in 2017 when her progress was filmed by award winning documentary maker Keegan Kuhn who used the footage to make the film “Running for Good” which is a feature length sports documentary about Fiona available on Amazon Prime and streaming free on Waterbear
In 2013 she became the fastest women in the history of the World to run a marathon on all 7 continents in aggregate time (total number of hours taken). She is also the fastest woman to run a marathon on all 7 Continents plus the North Pole – both in terms of the aggregate time and the elapsed days – an incredible achievement but made quite extraordinary given her disability.
Fiona also holds the Guinness World Record for the fastest half marathon dressed as an animal!
Fiona’s book – Running for Good the Fiona Oakes Story” was published in 2020 – proceeds going to the animal sanctuary.
Fiona is a patron of Freedom for Animals and an honorary patron of the Vegan Society