Orkney-based ultra marathon runner, William Sichel (63), competed in the recent French 6 Day road running Championships in Privas, France, completing 395.277 miles/636.125 kms in the 144 hours to achieve 12th placed man and 2nd in his age group.
The race was mared by severe weather resulting in drastic flooding of the course such that for the first 3½ days a truncated course had to be used as the cinders running track portion of the course was underwater. With 170 runners and walkers packed onto the course this unavoidably resulted in crowding and bottle necks, which wasn’t ideal.
“The first incredibly heavy downpour started about 2 hours prior to the start and once the effects of that had all dried up a bit, after about 48 hours, then the same thing happened again and I had to leave the course for a while. This then resulted in another 36 hour period to allow the course to drain. Then we were allowed onto the full course for the remaining 2½ days during which time it stayed dry.”
William now has a 3 week end of season break to allow full recovery and recuperation after an exhausting series of races which included his 100th ultra marathon.
“Over the years I have almost always had these breaks and have felt it worthwhile although I often struggle to ‘not run’ for 3 weeks!”
William has currently set 190 running records at World, British and Scottish level, including age-group records. His shortest record is an age-group one for 30 miles on the track and his longest is an overall British record for 3100 miles/5000km on the road.
William runs to highlight the benefits of exercise for the over 60s as well as raise money for the CLAN cancer support charity. William's dedicated CLAN web page can be found here:
http://www.justgiving.com/William-Sichel
Main Sponsor Alfred Flett Ltd
