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Nia Hall: In memoriam
A tribute: By Helen Bowman
Nia loved to run. I cannot recall exactly when she first joined Lewes AC but she must have been about 11. At the time she was part of the Brighton and Hove girls football academy. She wanted to be able to run faster.
Coached by Dave Leach she did indeed get faster, stronger, more focused and more determined. She enjoyed all aspects of running and particularly loved the muddy cross-country races. She keenly represented Lewes AC whenever the opportunity arose.
Nia competing at the 2014 SEAA XC Championships
Those that knew her well were lucky to see her extraordinary, engaging personality, the passion she always wore on her sleeve and her striking intelligence.
She faced up to significant difficulties, had the most powerful brain and achieved an enormous amount during her engineering studies at Cambridge University.
In recent years she embraced boxing where once again her focus and determination were clear to see. She loved community sport and played football with anyone at anytime she could.
She threw herself into life, packed it full of adventure and was adored.
Heartbreakingly Nia took her own life on October 13th following a long and incredibly brave battle against intrusive thought OCD. She could not endure living a life that was not full of the things she loved to do and that had become incredibly difficult to achieve in recent years. I will always be immensely proud of her. I have learnt so much from her, she was magnificent and she leaves the most enormous void.
Nia’s ceremony will take place on:
Date: Friday 6th November
Time: 15:30.
Location: Woodvale Crematorium, South Chapel, Lewes Road, Brighton BN2 3QB.
Please do join us if you would like to. We need to gauge numbers, so please let me know if you are planning to join us. You are welcome.
I recognise that this is immensely difficult and raw news to comprehend, if anyone feels they would like to talk about it with me, they are welcome to do that in the coming weeks and months. I will be back running with the Club as soon as I am able.
Helen