Major Championships Record
World Championships – 2001 16h 5000m
European Championships – 2002 18th 5000m, 2006 15th 10000m
Commonwealth Games – 2002 5th 10000m, 2006 6th 10000m
Other noteworthy performances
1996 – 34th European XC Champs (2nd team)
2000 – 30th European XC Champs (2nd team)
2002 – 14th European XC Champs (3rd team)
2003 – 5th European XC Champs (1st team)
2004 – 29th World XC Champs (3rd team), 1st European XC Champs (2nd team)
2005 – 5th European XC Champs (2nd team)
2006 – 6th European XC Champs (2nd team)
2007 – 9th European XC Champs (2nd team)
2008 – 19th European XC Champs (2nd team)
The stalwart of British distance running over the past decade hung up her spikes after the 2008 European Cross Country Championships in Brussels, after a disappointing performance but the greatest moments of her career came from this event, winning the team title in Edinburgh in 2003 and the individual title in 2004.
Yelling has been very unlucky to have missed qualification for the past three Olympic Games. In 2000, Yelling missed the 5000m standard by 1.27, in 2004, Yelling missed the 10000m standard by 0.14 and in 2008, the maths teacher missed the 10000m mark by 4.29.