BOZEMAN -- In late February, a Bozeman woman was running in the Olympic Marathon Trials in Atlanta. Today, she’s becoming a voice in the COVID-19 pandemic.
Bozeman’s Haley Chura is using her platform to make a short mini-podcast called IronWomen, where she features female athletes who are also experts, and some survivors, of coronavirus. They’ve received thousands of views online for what started as a small idea.
“What I wanted to do was 1), answer my questions, and 2), give these women, who are incredible humans -- they are endurance sport athletes, they are experts, they are nurses, they are doctors, they are just heroes in my mind in everyday life, but especially heroes now -- and give them a platform to maybe help a few other people,” Chura said.
Chura is a three-time Olympic Trial competitor and national champion swimmer of the University of Georgia. Twice she was invited to the Trials to compete in the 200 backstroke and just recently for the marathon.
The goal of her podcast is to first and foremost inform her listeners, which is mostly the running community, about things they may not even be thinking about during this time. For example: Is their dog OK to continue running with them? Where can they sign up for virtual races? How can you train for swimming inside your house without a pool?
However, she also wants to shine a light on a silver lining.
"I am not in any means thankful for the current situation, I wish this wasn't the case, but I do like the idea of finding some good in a terrible situation," Chura said.
Click here to listen to find the latest epsiodes of Chura’s podcast, IronWomen.
