Jockey finds her legs NO REINING LISA IN

There's no catching this Auckland mum, who's a winner on the racetrack as well as the road!

- Ruth Jillings

Lisa Cross will never forget November 2011 when she won the women's section of the Auckland Marathon on a Sunday and just two days later, secured a Melbourne Cup Race Day Meeting victory as a jockey.

"With the marathon, I didn't know what I had done," recalls Lisa. "It was the first time I had ever run that distance, let alone raced it. I broke the course record, and ran the marathon in two hours, 41 minutes and 56 seconds.

"Then I won riding the horse Running Down a Dream at Ellerslie Racecourse. It was my dream weekend."

While both are impressive physical feats, it's almost to be expected from the 40-year-old go-getter, who has been a jockey, a police officer and an elite cross-country athlete. She's also a busy mum-of-two, who juggles the role with her love for marathon running.

In February, Lisa competed in the World Cross Country Championships in Australia, where - despite battling a virus - she helped the New Zealand women's team place 10th in the world.

"The day before the race, I was throwing up in the bushes," tells Lisa. "But as soon as I arrived after the flight and the four-hour bus trip to Bathurst, I just started the process of mentally telling myself I wasn't sick.