Victoria Tebbs edited Trail from 1997 to 2000. Here’s what she made of her time on the mag.

Outdoor headlines

20 July 2010 09:16

As part of my editorial training in 1993/4, I worked as a staff writer across Trail and Country Walking. I then moved across to the running market and became editor of Today’s Runner (RIP) in 1996. I formed a new editorial team and we successfully relaunched the magazine. This caught the eye of Trail’s publisher at the time, Karen Borsberry-Woods, and she persuaded me to join Trail.

I developed a vision for the title, brought in some new talent (in Louise Parker’s case, brought her back!) and we re-launched it with the May 1998 issue. The buzz word in magazines at the time was ‘lifestyle’ and my vision was to package Trail’s authoritative and practical advice in an exciting, sexy and accessible format. I was attracted to Trail, as I had a very clear idea of what I thought the magazine should be and I was excited by the subject matter (but had very little experience of hill-walking!). I also relished the challenge of the re-launch, and building a team where creativity and teamwork was paramount. I wanted us to have fun, while producing excellence. It was a wonderful time, as the magazine was a great success – we won Magazine of the Year at the Emap awards.

I was privileged to work with amazingly talented, wonderful people, who made my job a lot easier (two of whom are still there)!