Last January, two-time Canadian Olympian Lucia Stafford got a taste of the life inside one of the world’s most successful professional track environments, temporarily joining Olympic and world medallists Keely Hodgkinson and Georgia Hunter Bell at a training camp in South Africa. Less than a year later, Stafford, 27, has officially joined the elite Manchester-based M11 Track Club.
Lucia Stafford (middle) training with M11 Track Club. Photo: Harley Booth (@harleyybooth)
So far, Stafford says the transition has felt natural. “Environment and community are truly everything,” she told Canadian Running. “It really feels like I’m back in my undergrad–part of a great team environment that has really big goals and supports each other in pursuing them.”
Inside M11
The Nike-supported club is led by coaches Trevor Painter and Jenny Meadows. In December, the group travelled to Potchefstroom, South Africa, for its annual winter training camp, taking advantage of the warmth and altitude. (The city sits at roughly 1,300 metres above sea level.)
Painter and Meadows first extended invitations to Stafford and her sister, two-time Olympian Gabriela DeBues-Stafford, last fall, welcoming them to multiple camps throughout the year. In addition to South Africa in January 2025, the sisters also attended a 2024 fall training camp in the Pyrenees mountains in Europe.
Lucia Stafford and Gabriela DeBues-Stafford at 2025 Canadian Track Nationals in Ottawa. Photo: John Liu (@johnwithlenses)
Rediscovering the “why”
Stafford said the team environment at M11 reminded her why she runs professionally. Ambitious and competitive by nature, she adds that the sport came easily to her for a long time, but that last year, when her close friend and training partner Maddy Kelly retired, continuing without her was difficult.
“We really were a partnership, and even though track is an individual sport, working with her and Terry [coach Terry Radchenko] made me feel like a part of a team, and that I was pursuing something bigger than myself. It also just made it so fun.” Radchenko coached both women throughout their collegiate careers at the University of Toronto and during their professional careers with Guelph, Ont.-based Royal City Athletics Club.
Without that dynamic, Stafford no longer found herself enjoying the process, but mainly fixated on the outcome. “That’s when I knew I either needed to move on and pursue a new career, or make a big change to reconnect with what makes me love this sport.”
Lucia Stafford (second from the left), Elise Cranny (second from right) and Georgia Hunter Bell (far right) at M11 Track Club training session. Photo: Harley Booth (@harleyybooth)
A new start
“M11 takes their training and goals seriously,” Stafford said, “but they keep things light and reinforce happiness as the foundation for success.” She posed a simple question to herself: if I don’t end up reaching my outcome-related goals, will this change be worth it, and will I gain value from this experience?
“The answer was 100 per cent yes,” she said.
Stafford officially joined M11 seven weeks ago; while her permanent address remains in the greater Toronto area, she plans to split time between stints in Manchester, at training camps and races across Europe and visiting home.
The new team has brought a big shift in structure. The program emphasizes lower mileage with more frequent sessions and higher intensity; athletes complete four workouts a week, with double sessions daily at training camps. For Stafford, the routine, which makes her feel balanced and fulfilled, has been a welcome change.
“I’m training with women who are way better than me, which I haven’t done for an extended period before,” Stafford said. “But it’s exactly what I wanted, because it motivates and inspires you, keeps you hungry and humble and also gives you perspective.”
Stafford isn’t the only newcomer to M11. American 5,000m and 10,000m specialist Elise Cranny, a four-time U.S. champion and the national indoor 5,000m record holder, also announced her addition to the team in mid-November.
What’s next?
Stafford is still finalizing her race schedule for 2026, but says she’ll race indoors in Europe and has her eye on the Indoor World Championships in Poland in late March, as well as the Commonwealth Games in Glasgow in July.
M11 success
Whatever M11 Track Club is doing, it’s working. Olympic 800m champion and world bronze medallist Hodgkinson is the face of the program, holding Great Britain’s national 800m record (1:54.61) and the indoor 600m world record (1:23.41). Hunter Bell has also surged in recent seasons; the 32-year-old holds the 1,500m national record (3:52.61), set when she earned bronze at the Tokyo Olympics. At September’s World Athletics Championships, she took silver, out-leaning Hodgkinson by one-hundredth of a second.