NEWS from Orkney’s William Sichel
Orkney-based ultra marathon runner, William Sichel (61) surprised himself with a third place finish in the men's race and first over 60, in last weekend's Sri Chinmoy 24 Hour track race in Tooting Bec, south London.
William ran 117.74 miles/189.485kms in the 24 hour period from mid-day Saturday to mid-day Sunday.
“In the early hours of the race I was as low as 25th position but noticed that every hour I seemed to climb a few places as I just held a very steady pace without slowing down much. As more and more runners stopped and dropped out for many reasons I steadily climbed the rankings.”
William was using the race to practice his pacing prior to November's 48 Hour indoor race in Oslo, Norway and his conservative early pace seemed to pay dividends as he remained strong to the end.
“I just did a steady run-walk strategy from the second hour and just held it to the end. I passed 50 miles in 9 hours 6 minutes and 58 seconds and then 100 miles in 19 hours 56 minutes and 6 seconds, so I only slowed down by 1 hour 42 minutes in my second 50 miles compared to my first, which bodes well for my 48 hour race coming up in 8 weeks time. I'll be claiming my 100 mile time and my 24 hour distance as Scottish age group track records bringing my current total to 160 records.”
A quality field of 31 men and 14 ladies started the race and the overall winner was 28 year old Beth Pascal from England who covered a world class distance of 143 miles.
William hopes to high-light the benefits of exercise for the over 60s as well as raise money for the CLAN cancer support charity, with over £10,000 having been raised by William and those involved in the “Challenge William” project last year. William's dedicated web page can be found here: http://www.justgiving.com/William-Sichel
William is working on Project165.com in which he is attempting to set 165 ultra running records before his 65th birthday on October 1st 2018. His current total is 160 records
