Iron lady Steph Geritz will tackle tough challenges on two legs – and four – at this year’s Olympian Games at Much Wenlock.

Steph, from Ironbridge, will compete in the Wenlock Triathlon – an arduous test of swimming, cycling and running – and also in the historic games’ equestrian section.

The mud, sweat and tears of triathlon is a far cry from her day job as the elegantly dressed manager of The Perfume Shop in Shrewsbury’s busy Darwin Centre but action mum Steph is a real outdoors girl.

She said: “I love being active and I’m always on the go. It’s the feel good factor of exercise that I like. I have always been keen on sport since I was at school in Yorkshire and I used to run for Wakefield Harriers.

“My husband, Gary, does triathlons so as it is an Olympic year and the Games are in Britain I thought I’d have a go at the triathlon in Shropshire’s own Olympian Games so I entered.”

Steph now faces a gruelling 500 metre swim followed by a 19-kilometre bike ride with a 7k run just to top things off but she’s confident of getting round the course.

She had a real baptism of fire earlier this year when she signed up for the Harlech Triathlon, her first attempt at the event but she proved that when the going gets tough the tough get going.

She said: “I entered because I had already put my name down for the Much Wenlock Triathlon and I wanted to see if I could do it and I enjoyed it.”

That was despite the fact that conditions were so difficult and the weather so grim that while Steph was out on the course the race organisers and the police were considering calling it off.

In the end the police took the decision to cancel the event on safety grounds but nt before Steph had made it up the final hill to Harlech Castle and the finish.

“It was awful,” admitted Steph: “There were gales and rain and I even heard that someone was blown off their bike.

“It was raining and hailing and bitterly cold. I was so frozen that I just kept going because I couldn’t feel the pain but it hasn’t put me off. I’m just hoping to improve.

“I don’t have a rigid training regime but I do go out about three times a week, running, cycling and going to the gym and I love my horse-riding, I’m what’s known as a happy hacker.”

Kevin Lockwood, Manager of the Darwin, Pride Hill and Riverside Shopping Centres, said: “We’ll all be cheering Steph on when the Wenlock Olympian Games come around.

“It would be great if she won a medal and we had the sweet smell of sporting success at the Perfume Shop in the Darwin Centre.”

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