Just three Sussex Women have achieved selection for the United Kingdom team for the Olympic Games. Brighton Ladies Sue Farmer/Allday in 1952, 1956 and 1960 in the shot and discus throws, Pat Jones from Worthing in the high hurdles in 1968 and Sonia McGeorge in the 5,000m in 1996.
Sonia Marian was born to David and Marian Vinall in Upper Beeding on 2nd November 1964 but they moved to Brighton where she attended Margaret Hardy High School and BHASVIC.
From an early age she showed considerable talent as a middle distance athlete winning several Brighton and Sussex School’s titles and gaining trips to the English Schools championships on the track as well as cross-country.
In 1977 she won her first, of many Sussex County titles when she outstripped favourite and fellow Brighton & Hove Club runner, Rosemary Wells, for the Under 13 cross-country title.
Having collected Sussex county medals over the Country and on the track as well as earning several Sussex County vests, in 1980 she finished 18th in the English Schools Intermediate (U17) Cross Country championship. One year later she improved to fifth place in the same age group and this earnt her a trip to Italy to race in the European Schools championship where she also placed an excellent fifth place.
In 1982 she moved into the Senior (U19) Age group at English Schools and she finished second in the Cross-country championships and also took second place in the 800 metres at the English Schools track championships at Birmingham in July. Nationally she was still an Under 17 and over the Country she won the Southern Championship and then finished third in the National Championship.
Come 1983 she took the bronze medal in the English Schools Cross-country championships in what was her final year in Schools Athletics. She then took a planned year at College in America but declined the invitation to stay before going up to Loughborough but did not do anything particularly special in the States.
During this period she amassed many Sussex Medals both on the track and over the Country as well as numerous appearances for the Brighton & Hove club in Southern Women’s League matches and the Cross-Country league events
She quickly settled in at Loughborough University and was quickly established as one of their top athletes and in 1985 she won her first British Universities Sports Federation titles when she took the 1500m crown and one year later she took the 3,000m BUSF title.
In 1987 she won the British Universities Cross Country followed by an 800/1500m double the following May on the track while in 1988 Sonia successfully defended her BUSF cross-country championship and made the UK team for the World Cross-country championships in Auckland finishing 48th.
1988 was an important year for Sonia as she became Mrs McGeorge when she married Chis, from Cockermouth, who she had met at Loughborough and who was also a top class British middle distance runner and a “Four minute miler”.
“I did meet Chris ‘properly’ at Loughborough though we subsequently worked out that we first met when Chris won the AAAs U20 800m Championships when they were held at Withdean and I was a medal maid!”
In 1989 she won her first AAAs medal with third place in the 3,000m track event and a busy winter in 1990 saw her finish second in the World Cross-Country trials, behind Torquay’s Andrea Wallace after a great battle over a tough wet and muddy course at Bellahouston. Just two weeks later, over a dry and fast course in the South of France she led the British runner’s home placing 35th in the World Championships. As well as finishing 8th in the European 3000m indoor championships she, later in the year, was again eighth in the European Outdoor championships over the same distance.
Also in 1990 Sonia published The Exercise Challenge, which was more a manual for teachers than a book and it was well received.
Victory in the AAAs Indoor 3,000m championship followed by seventh place in the World Indoor 3,000m highlighted 1991 while 1992 saw her have to settle for the silver medal in the indoor 3000m event after a good battle with Mansfield’s Karen Hutcheson.
In 1993 Sonia collected a couple of bronze medals in both the 1500 and the 3000 metre at the A.A.As championships and went on to the World championships in Stuttgart but after failing to get the standard in the 3000m she was added to the 1500m where she did not survive her heat.
1994 saw a tremendous start for Sonia, when at 29 years old she fought her way to victory in the National Inter-county cross-country championship over a wet and muddy course at Luton. Sonia won by just one second from fellow International Andrea Duke who was running for the North East team. In what was a particularly good year for her a few weeks later she was to finish eighth in the European Indoor 3.000m in Paris. After winning the A.A.As outdoor 3000m championship at Sheffield she finished third in the European Cup, over the same distance at Birmingham and then 11th in the European Games 3,000m at 
Helsinki. To complete the year she just missed a medal in the Commonwealth Games at Victoria in Canada, again over 3,000m.
Illness and injuries played havoc with 1995 and into 1996 and although she finished 3rd in the National cross-country championships and beat several of the selected runners for the World Cross-country championships, she had missed the trials race and the defence of her Inter-county title because of a virus and there were not any International appearances for Sonia in 95.
Sonia was pleased with a second place in the Inter-county cross-country in 1996 but she was still being plagued by illness and injury and although she missed the “Trials” she was selected for the World Championships but had to withdraw through injury. Despite these problems Sonia managed to fit in another victory in the A.A.As Indoor 3000m and second place, behind Paula Radcliffe in the A.A.As Outdoor 5000m in 15:48.33s. Having already achieved the Olympic Qualifying standard this run booked her a trip to Atlanta where she missed getting into the final.
Another victory in the AAAs Indoor 3,000 championships in 1997 was to be her final National medal and there were no more international vests. She continued to be troubled by injuries and illness and though she raced occasionally for a few more years she bowed out in 2000.
Apart from the Joyce girls from Crawley she is probably the most successful Sussex middle distance/Cross-country woman ever and she covered more than a decade of top class British athletics.
“My best performance I think was coming 2nd in the 1996 AAAs/Olympic Trials because it meant the achievement of a dream I had had for a long time and was done on the back of having a car accident (colliding with a deer) the previous weekend on the way to training so I was struggling with back/neck issues from whiplash.”
Sonia is still working at Loughborough University, with Chris, as Athletics Coach, Performance Lifestyle Mentor and Placement Tutor.
Apart from Suzanne Allday she has won more National championship medals than any other Sussex Woman.
Her best performances were 2:07.1s for the 800 metres in 1989 (9th on the Sussex All-time list) – 4:10.75s for the 1500m in 1990 (4th in Sussex) – 8:5l.33s in 1990 for the 3,000m (3rd in Sussex) – 15:29.04 for the 5000m in 1983 (2nd in Sussex) just over one second behind Monica Joyce.