Motivation and hard work has made her the first to cross the finishing line of numerous races. Victoria Fiddick, one of Bermuda's most successful female runners now shares her expertise through her running classes which have proven popular, especially among the female population of Bermuda.

But success did not come easy for Ms Fiddick who started out as a complete novice about 12 years ago and whose greatest moments include winning two silver medals at the World Masters Games in Canada in 2005. "Winning the silver in 5000 metres and the half marathon a day-and-a-half later were the most memorable achievements in my career," she explained.

Ms Fiddick, who trained to become a psychiatric nurse in her native Sweden before coming to Bermuda 23 years ago took up running when a friend gave her a jogging stroller.

"I wanted to get fit and lose weight after having my third child," explained. Ms Fiddick.

"Then I saw an advertisement for the Front Street Mile. I didn't understand what an important race it was. I thought since I could run a mile with the stroller it would be a good race for me. Amazingly I managed to qualify but had one of the slowest times ever.

"Although I was one of the last runners to finish the race I was very inspired by the experience and signed up for every race I could after that," she said.

"At first I'd be delighted to be among the top 30 women. Having a positive attitude about my mediocre results probably helped keep me motivated."

Ms Fiddick contacted Steve Burgess, Bermuda's best ever middle distance runner with a 24-year standing Bermuda record in 800 metres, to get help with her training.

"Mr. Burgess taught me so much and my results kept improving. But after a while I noticed that when it came to important races I didn't always do as well as I was able to physically. It was all in my head. It seemed for the important races I couldn't perform to the best of my ability.

"Mr. Burgess was instrumental in helping with the psychological aspect of the training and that is when I began to realise how important the mental training is for running," she explained. And the hard work has had good results for Ms Fiddick who finished second in the Front Street Mile in January.

"There have been times when people have said to me 'it is easy for you'. But I don't think I am a talented runner and there is no good luck in running. It is all about hard work and dedication."

Ms Fiddick is clearly very determined in different fields. "At school I was told I was hopeless at English and would never master the language," she said in fluent English.

"When I joined in karate lessons with my son the instructor told me I didn't have any natural ability and may as well give it up. Now I've got a black belt," she continued.

"I use mental training a lot in the running groups. It has been proven that the mind is such a strong factor on how we perceive our physical ability. We may think we are tired because of what our mind tells us. But in actual fact the body may have the resources to keep working long after our mind tells us we can't.

"That is the big difference between top athletes. They are equally fit, but the winner will be the one with the strongest mind."

Ms Fiddick who had studied to become a certified personal trainer at Bermuda College had the opportunity to work for Mr. Burgess for four years.

After having taken a year off work she was asked by Lizzie Peckett at & Physiotherapy Associates (OPA) to give core muscle classes for patients with back problems.

The classes were a huge success. Many patients recognised Ms Fiddick as a champion runner. She was approached by both male and female runners, who laughingly refer to themselves as Vic's Chicks, asking for advice with their training.

Ms Fiddick explained; "It has been absolutely amazing. I have had a number of ladies join who originally did not enjoy running. One lady struggled to run for more than five minutes at the time but she was very dedicated and kept coming back to training.

"After four months of training she could run seven miles without stopping.

"Initially I would make a special effort to make the running fun. I would take the runners to different beautiful locations around Bermuda. That really worked. The runners got to see parts of the island they had never seen before and enjoyed exercising in the beautiful surroundings," she said.

"But I challenge the ladies as well. One day I took them to a beach in Somerset where we practised running in a foot of water for 45 minutes. The women did really well and told me afterwards what a memorable experience it was. We have also been training in 40 mph winds. But the ladies must like it since they keep coming back for more," said Ms Fiddick who holds several classes for male runners as well.

"Giving the classes is great. Between classes I get time to do my own training," she said.

"Some of the runners have much more running talent than I do but they had not been made aware of that talent," she continued modestly. "The sessions are carefully planned. We don't just meet up to run. Instead we do different exercises focusing on various areas of the training; such as mental training, running technique, strength training and drills.

"We also talk about the importance of good nutrition. In the mental training I use a lot of visualisation to help the runners push themselves beyond what they think they can manage.

"The hill training is especially hard but I must always make sure I don't ask them to do more than they can cope with. Having someone tell a runner she can manage a certain task seems to make it easier to accomplish. It helps focus on the running rather than asking yourself can I really manage this?

"To make it work the runner must trust the trainer and believe that she can really accomplish what the trainer tells her to do. The targets must be challenging but realistic and if set correctly should help the runner relax and focus on the task at hand rather than worrying about her performance.

"The trainer takes the responsibility away from the runner so that she does not question her ability.

"The effort has really paid off. Most ladies started training with me in September and three of them run the Front Street Mile in January.

"Now they are in full training for the May 24 half marathon."