Fiona Oakes is an elite marathon runner and a fulltime carer of over 500 animals at Towerhill Stables Animal Sanctuary, UK, that she founded in 1993.
Proving that vegans can be perform on a high level, Fiona has competed in over 100 marathons and finished in the top 20 in two of the world’s Major Marathon series (Berlin and London), along with winning the Main Start and placing top 20 in the Great North Run.
In 2012 Fiona became the first vegan woman to complete the grueling Marathon de Sables, a race she has completed three times, and in 2013 she won the North Pole Marathon and its ‘sister’ race the Antarctic Ice Marathon.
She now holds four Guinness recognized World Records in endurance events, including being the fastest woman to run a Marathon on every Continent.
Losing a kneecap as a teenager, causing her to experience constant pain when running, didn’t stop her from going big.
She does all this to promote an ethical vegan lifestyle and to raise awareness of her Sanctuary. Fiona is the subject of a documentary made by prominent film maker Keegan Kuhn, also known for his documentaries Cowspiracy and What the Health, who wanted to chart Fiona’s commitment to veganism because he feels her position is unique in the vegan movement.
Vegan for almost her entire life she actually cares for, on a daily basis, the animals she endeavours to protect and has a very deep and expert knowledge of what is required to do so and their behavioural traits and needs – something which the general public are often very mislead in their understanding of.
Her running resume speaks for itself but is unique in the fact that all her results have been on achieved on a total vegan diet from a very early age, so no muscle mass has been built on animal products of any kind. Basically, Fiona’s whole life has been dedicated to the promotion of veganism in a positive, proactive and peaceful way and she is living proof of it’s sustainability, longevity and viability for both mental and physical wellbeing.
Fiona is now becoming a recognized name in the world of public speaking and invited to many events and education centres – both vegan and non vegan – around the world to speak on issues surrounding her lifestyle choices. Not only what she eats but why she has chosen this path and how it not only has positive impact on her own health but that over other humans around the world in terms of more equal distribution of food resources, the climate through the potential eradication of animal agriculture and, of course, animal welfare issues surrounding it.
“It’s tempting to keep rescuing more non-human animals, yet regardless of how big my sanctuary becomes, I won’t even be scratching the surface. On the other hand, the adoption of Veganism has the potential to save far more animals in the long term than I could possibly do my entire life. I want to be a part of making that happen and sharing with the world the positivity of a vegan lifestyle for all the planet’s inhabitants, both human and non human alike.” – Fiona Oakes
Despite her humbleness, Fiona does make a huge difference with her running and the Fiona Oakes Foundation. She has inspired many people to go vegan and keeps doing so on a daily basis!
