When Step Reebok was introduced from the US Catherine was the first to qualify and set up classes in the Colchester area, attracting over 100 class members per evening.

After having attended numerous workshops covering all aspects of exercise and fitness Catherine decided to take her qualifications to a higher level in 1996 by taking a Health and Fitness Honours degree at UEL. Catherine passed with a 2.1 and started her personal training business.

As well as the fitness classes and personal training sessions Catherine changed her own training direction by including much more free-weights work and within a year or two found that her training weights were high enough for her to consider competing in the sport of Powerlifting.

In her first competitive season Catherine won the East Midlands and East Anglian Championships and within another year she had qualified for and won the British Championship.

In 2000 Catherine came third in the European Championships and fifth in the World, in 2001 she won the European Championships and in 2002 she won the World Championships, winning gold medals in all three disciplines as well as the overall first place. Since then she has also broken British records in two of the disciplines.

Catherine has now in 2009 decided to raise her career another level by, jointly with her partner Stuart Hamilton, launching a training provider company, Hamiltons Training, teaching YMCA CYQ courses to new gym instructors.

Catherine also enjoys off-road mountain biking, surfing, kayaking, rock climbing, playing tennis and spending time with her two grandchildren.