Holly Campbell spent much of her youth running around her parents 13,000 acre property at Warren.

Last week she convincingly took out the NSW Open Women’s 5000metre championships in 16 minutes 53 seconds from an outstanding field of runners.

In October 2022, Holly also snared the 3000m NSW title giving her the NSW 3000/5000m double in less than six months.

Over the last seven years Holly has shown glimpses of brilliance, but injury has plagued her at times, giving her, and her coach Jeremy Roff, a lot to work around.

Her tenacity has won through and Holly continues to notch up success after success, including sometimes stepping outside her lane.

Despite 1500m being her speciality, Holly surprised athletic watchers when she mixed it with accomplished 10-kilometre specialists and qualified for selection in the Australian team for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships held in Bathurst this month.

Photo courtesy Athletics NSW

Living 60 kilometres from Warren the Campbell kids (Holly, Paige, Georgia and Lexie) attended ‘school of the air’ via Dubbo School of Distance education with the help of mum Alison and dad Richard.

Learning was by radio and then satellite which meant little face to face time with other kids. Every so often the schools would get together and it was here that Holly found her feet.

“I started running in primary school at the Western region small-schools athletics carnival”, said Holly. “It was one of the highlights of the year.”

It wasn’t until Holly headed to Sydney for boarding school that her running journey really began.

“When I moved from the family farm to Sydney for High School, I had the opportunity to try a lot of different sports but seemed to gravitate towards running,” said Holly.

High School provided Holly with many opportunities to hit the track which saw her stack up medals, attend National championships and selection for the State Cross Country Team in her last year of school.

“After I finished high school, I started to do much more structured training and improved quickly. I was lucky enough to place second in the Zatopek under-20 3000metre race and not long after I ran a PB of 4.15 for 1500 metres,” she said.

“The next few years were very difficult with injuries, but I started to race more consistently again in 2020.”

Holly tackles the 2018 Novice XC Championships. Photo courtesy of Sydney University Athletics Club

Holly then set her sights on the World Cross Country, after hearing it was to be hosted by Australia and with her coach set to work in earnest.

Despite being uncertain about the event, including the high calibre of the other runners and the leap from 1500 metres to 10 kilometres, Holly made the conscious decision to give it a go, in true country kid style, and ran in 5th, securing selection for the World Athletics Cross Country Championships, to the delight of both her and her coach.

This latest NSW 5000m title for Holly was validation for the hard work put in.

“The 5000m was great, it was meant to be a bit of a tune up for the Cross- Country Championships so the plan was to take it easy for the first few kilometres and then try and pick it up a bit in the second half.”

“It ended up being very warm and humid, so it wasn’t pleasant being out there, but I was happy with the effort. Plus, it’s always nice to get a win and a state title,” she said.

Keeping it in the family, Paige Campbell, Holly's twin sister, is also an accomplished runner having represented Australia at world-championships in cross country and the 3000 metre steeplechase.

Holly, who is 26 and holds a Bachelor of Science (Nutrition and Food Science), is now planning what is next in her running future.

“I’m a little bit unsure at this point what will be next, but I am hoping to go after some fast times overseas if I can get my body right," she said.

"I would like to try and get enough points to put me in the mix to potentially qualify for the world championships or Olympics in the next few years.”

“Really though my main goal is to just keep on enjoying my running and enjoy the places it takes me.”

Holly is passionate about running, health and fitness and encourages all country kids to keep working towards their running goals and not to be discouraged by distance.

“Growing up on a farm is a great foundation for any kind of runner or athlete. I think being able to get outdoors and be active as a young kid is so important,” Holly told Western Plains App.

“I think one of the biggest challenges of being from the country is having to afford to live away from home for training etc. I think you could train in the country, but it’s made much more difficult for access to health services and trainers, but where there is a will there’s a way. Never give up.”