She's the pillar helping to support one of NSW's more impressive human beings.
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The nurse and the doctor.
The one-person cheer squad and the gifted distance runner.
The partner of the man.
In Cathy Diep, Steven Chung - a Sydney doctor with a close connection to Tamworth - has found a companion committed to helping him achieve his professional and athletic goals.
![Cathy Diep and Steven Chung attend the Tamworth Running Festival on Sunday, August 6. Picture by Mark Bode Cathy Diep and Steven Chung attend the Tamworth Running Festival on Sunday, August 6. Picture by Mark Bode](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KUhQizDbwW8WqAyPP4x5yp/7f69e3e3-431b-4590-842e-b45f33a31fb1.jpg/r0_0_2658_2007_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
And on a sunbathed No. 1 Oval on Sunday, August 6, Diep watched on as Chung powered around the bend at the pool end of the quaint ground - his form good and his imminent achievement a fourth straight half marathon title at the Tamworth Running Festival.
"I'm so proud of him. He's worked so hard," Diep said later in the morning, after Chung had finished second in the five kilometre race and secured his third consecutive Triple Threat crown at the annual event.
The 26-year-old was the best-performed runner in the half marathon and the 10km and 5km races. He won the 10km and finished second in the 5km. In 2022, he won all three events.
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"He's working late-night shifts," Diep said. "He's trying to juggle his schedule with work, with training, with other extracurricular activities as well - and he's managed to actually train up pretty well."
Chung contested his first Tamworth Running Festival in 2019 when he was doing a university placement at Tamworth Hospital. He went on to work as a junior doctor in Newcastle.
Since the start of this year, the senior resident has worked in the emergency department at Westmead Hospital in Sydney.
And years earlier, Chung - who did his medical degree at the University of New England - met Diep via a dating app, the Sydney couple's first date a Christmas Eve affair.
![Chung celebrates his 10km win at the Tamworth Running Festival. Picture by Peter Hardin Chung celebrates his 10km win at the Tamworth Running Festival. Picture by Peter Hardin](/images/transform/v1/crop/frm/KUhQizDbwW8WqAyPP4x5yp/4ed1f475-148d-4144-a258-51661c769fe0.jpg/r0_0_8256_5394_w1200_h678_fmax.jpg)
"After that I think we just started to constantly go out on dates," Diep said. "And, eventually, I helped Steven move up to Newcastle for his fifth year of med [medical school]. The rest is history."
"This was just before lockdown," she added, in reference to the Newcastle move. "I got locked down with Steven."
Diep, who works as a nurse at Liverpool Hospital, said she was now better placed to support her man "a lot more".
"I think at this point we're making sure Steven focuses on his training for his ED [emergency department] register program, which might be upcoming next year," she said.
"It's a massive effort," she added. "So just making sure that he overcomes that first."
Chung said it was "nice to be moving on and stepping up" in his career, while returning to Tamworth each year was "nostalgic" for him.
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