Anya Culling, a 27-year-old elite marathon runner from Watton, Norfolk, overcame serious health issues in her teens, including a facial tumor and thyroid disease. She recently completed the Copenhagen Marathon in a personal best time of 2 hours and 34 minutes.
Key points
Anya Culling is a 27-year-old elite marathon runner.
She completed the Copenhagen Marathon in a personal best of 2 hours and 34 minutes.
As a teenager, she was diagnosed with a facial tumor and thyroid disease.
She began taking running seriously during the COVID-19 lockdown.
Mentioned in this story
Anya CullingWatton, Norfolk
Copenhagen MarathonTokyo Marathon 2026
Anya Culling is wearing an orange running vest with her blonde hair tied up and white sunglasses on her forehead. She is holding a Tokyo Marathon 2026 medal in her right hand, with a colourful lanyard around her neck and her left arm in the air in celebration.
Anya Culling completed the Tokyo Marathon in Japan last month [Anya Culling]
An elite marathon runner has told how health conditions in her teens spurred her to grasp every opportunity in life.
Anya Culling, 27, from Watton, Norfolk, completed the Copenhagen Marathon in a personal best of two hours and 34 minutes in 2023, having taken running seriously in lockdown.
As a teenager, she had been doing her GCSEs at Thetford Grammar School when hospital tests revealed a facial tumour and thyroid disease.
"The whole ordeal has made me such a strong person; it really shaped me, it made me really grateful for how amazing life can be," she said.
"I also met a lot of people in hospitals struggling with conditions far greater than mine, which made me feel so lucky for the life I've been given.
"I told myself I would live life to the fullest and take every opportunity that comes my way."
Anya Culling, a woman with blonde hair who is standing outside with her arms in the air in celebration. She is looking at the camera and smiling.
Culling came 16th in the 2024 London Marathon after joining the elite runners [Anya Culling]
What health issues did Anya Culling face as a teenager?
Anya Culling faced a facial tumor and thyroid disease during her teenage years.
What is Anya Culling's personal best marathon time?
Anya Culling's personal best marathon time is two hours and 34 minutes, achieved at the Copenhagen Marathon in 2023.
How did Anya Culling's health struggles impact her running career?
Anya Culling's health struggles motivated her to seize every opportunity in life, ultimately leading her to take running seriously during the lockdown.
Where is Anya Culling from and what school did she attend?
Anya Culling is from Watton, Norfolk, and attended Thetford Grammar School.
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From a four-hour finish in the London Marathon in 2019 to shaving two hours off her time in Copenhagen, she has earned her spot with the elite runners at marathons around the world.
Speaking at the start of a new BBC Sounds series, Anya Culling's No Limits, she admitted losing her "spark and confidence" during what had been an otherwise fantastic childhood and adolescence.
"I was diagnosed with a tumour in my face, in my right cheek, behind my eye, and it was found on the off-chance, after an eye test," she explained.
"I remember being told 'we're not quite sure on something, but you don't need glasses'.
"After lots of tests, I got a phone call like 'you need to come into hospital over the next week because we need to operate on a tumour growing in your face'.
"And that's when my whole world flipped upside down."
The tumour was cauterised and, after staying in hospital for a few days, Culling thought her health problems were over - until blood tests uncovered problems with her thyroid.
Culling had Graves' disease, an autoimmune condition causing an overactive thyroid, which can lead to symptoms like anxiety, weight loss, tremor and rapid heart rate.
"I thought 'not again, why me', why do I have two things going on while I'm doing my GCSEs, like isn't the tumour hard enough?," said Culling.
After trying different medications, she was put on steroids - which made her gain weight.
"My mindset was a real lack of self belief, I'd lost my confidence, I was really struggling with self image, I was really stressed at school, I wasn't achieving the grades I wanted to," she added.
"I was really struggling with panic attacks, just putting pressure on myself to get better."
Anya Culling has long blonde hair and is wearing a white sweater with red and blue stripes as she smiles for the camera with Logan Smith to her right. He is taller and standing with his arm around Anya. He is clean shaven, has short brown hair and is wearing a brown jumper over a white t-shirt. They are standing in front of a screen with which is showing a two-tone purple pattern.
Fellow Run Norwich winner Logan Smith is among the guests on Anya Culling's No Limits [BBC]
Eventually, she had radiotherapy on her thyroid, which effectively "killed" it, as she said, and required her to be on medication for the rest of her life.
In the years that followed, she worked in advertising in London and temporarily moved back to Norfolk in lockdown.
Having already completed her first London Marathon the year before, she chose to run in the countryside as her permitted exercise.
"It definitely wasn't for speed, it definitely wasn't training, I didn't have Strava - it was just me, my everyday trainers, wired headphones and the world," she said.
"I really, really loved it.
"The 'runners' high' is a real thing - it makes you feel you can conquer the world. You suddenly feel more positive and you have a better outlook because you've achieved something hard that day."
Anya Culling and Malcolm Metcalf are sitting in purple chairs in a TV studio with a purple pattern on the screens behind them, which is reflecting off the black floor. Culling has long blonde hair and is wearing a pink t-shirt, with blue jeans and white trainers. Metcalf is sat to her left, with two microphones on stands and a plant and table between them. He is wearing a white baseball cap, a grey jumper, blue jeans and black shoes.
Well-known fundraiser Malcolm Metcalf joined Culling for one of the episodes in her BBC Sounds series [BBC]
She joined a running club on her return to London and realised she had potential when she completed the 2021 Manchester Marathon in a "really amazing" time of three hours and five minutes.
"There's a saying called pronoia, which is the opposite of paranoia, [and means] that the world is working with you, not against you.
"It is an amazing mindset for me to have, especially as growing up I was genuinely confused why so many bad things were happening to me.
"But I just thought luck would be on my side, and if I put the hard work in I would get the rewards that I really wanted."
Culling will be taking on the London Marathon again on Sunday 26 April, having finished 71st in the women's race at the Tokyo Marathon last month, in a time of two hours and 48 minutes.
You can listen to Anya Culling's No Limits series on BBC Sounds now.
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