Heptathlete Woodward ready to make Jersey history

"I'm just a Jack of all trades," jokes Lucy Woodward as she trains at Jersey's athletics track for the final time before the 2026 Commonwealth Games.

The 23-year-old is set to make history in Glasgow as the first woman from Jersey to compete in a multi-event discipline in the heptathlon later this week.

She is part of a five-strong athletics team from Jersey which sees decathlete Evan Campbell joined by sprinters Zach Saunders, Steve MacKay and Jamie Oldham.

"I don't have any standout events, I always thought if I was good enough at something it might be an easier life to specialise," she tells BBC Jersey at the FB Fields athletics track where she first started multi-eventing aged 10.

"I just think the training is so diverse, every day is different. I like that you can have one bad event and then you can make up for it and it's the most interesting event if you ask me."

In an event where being a full-time athlete is a huge advantage, Woodward has to balance her training with a full-time job as an architect in London.

It means training six days a week on top of a full-time job and using any spare holidays for competitions, but it is a life she relishes.

"I've grown up balancing this my whole life through A-levels, GCSEs, university and it just kind of becomes a part of like who you are, part of my routine," she added.

"My coaches are very accommodating and they often do very late days at the track waiting for me to finish work.

"I think the thing with me is I really love my job and I really love my training, so if you love both things just as much then the long days and lack of downtime are worth it."

Qualifying for a heptathlon at a major games is not easy.

Unlike individual events there are not many heptathlons at the required standard that you can compete in, making opportunities to reach the qualifying mark few and far between.

Woodward had to travel to Germany in May to find a suitable event where she scored a personal best of 5391 - just short of the 5400 she needed.

"Going into that weekend I was going 'I have to pretty much ace every event to get this standard and that's the only opportunity I have'," she said.

"The whole way through the competition I was like 'I did this event, now I'm recalculating my score to figure out what I need to do', and then ultimately it came down to I had to run a really fast 800m because I messed up my javelin.

"I still did a huge PB, but after javelin I was faced with the situation of to get 5,300 points I have to run quicker than 2:17 and to get 5,400 I have to run 2:10 and my PB was 2.13.

"So that is a pretty stressful environment to be in and I was running it on my own as none of the girls had a PB lower than 2:18.

"But I crossed the line in 2:11 and that is probably the most proud I've ever been of the way that I ran that race.

"I hadn't got the standard, but I was pretty sure I'd proved myself enough, so it was sit and wait and hope that it was enough."

It proved to be enough and a few weeks later she got confirmation that she would be selected for the Jersey team.

It opens up the type of opportunity that rarely comes for athletes from the island - and a first-ever major championships for Woodward.

"This is going to be huge for me, I've never stepped into the stadium full of this many people," she added.

"But ultimately me and my coach were just saying the hard work's done, the most anxiety-inducing thing was probably my qualifying heptathlon where I had one opportunity to get this score and then otherwise I'd have to wait another four years."

So what are Woodward's goals as she prepares to compete against heptathletes including double world champion Katarina Johnson-Thompson, World Championship silver medallist Kate O'Connor and 2022 Commonwealth Games bronze medallist Jade O'Dowda?

"I think I have more long-term targets - ultimately I want to score 6,000, that's a big mark in heptathlon," Woodward added.

"I want to go to the next Commonwealth Games and be more competitive and hopefully get to Gotzis which is a massive heptathlon competition.

"So I'm using Glasgow as kind of like a stepping stone, I just want to go and have the time of my life - which I think I will - hopefully get some good PBs, use the environment, use the girls, they're going to be fast to hopefully carry me to PBs.

"If I can come away with a handful of PBs and an overall heptathlon PB I'll have done my job, and I will be very happy."