WILLIAM PLANS DEMANDING SEASON OF ULTRA DISTANCE RUNNING

Sanday ultra distance runner William Sichel (52) has a demanding season in front of him as he finalises his plans for 2006.

His first outing will be in the Czech Republic in the Brno 48 Hour indoor event on March 24th -26th.  All being well William will make his first serious attempt at some British records during this event.

April will see William travel to Lanzarote for the first time for some warm weather training.

That will lead him nicely to his second major event the Apeldoorn 24 hour road race in Holland on May 26th and 27th.

July may be one of the high points of year as William has applied to run what’s boasted as the 'hottest and toughest' race in the world, the Badwater Ultramarathon which runs for 135 miles through the Death Valley National Park in California – one of the hottest places on earth.

"Badwater can be run by invitation only so I won’t know if I’ve been invited until later this month.  There are only 90 runners invited world-wide so I’ll have to keep my fingers crossed. As well as my standard events, such as the 24 hour, I like to run a non-standard ultra as and when I can and the Badwater event has been on my list for some years now."

Finally in October William expects to compete in a 24 hour track race in Tooting south London where he began his 24 hour racing career with a victory 10 years ago.  

William currently lies 5th on the "All time" list of British road performances with his run of 153.3 miles in 2000 and is currently ranked No2 in Great Britain in the 24 hour event.

William is a member of the Orkney Athletic Club and was voted Orkney’s 'Veteran Sportsman of the Year' for the second successive year in November 2005.  He has represented Great Britain 11 times at ultra distance running since 1996.  

William set new Guinness World Records for both 100 miles and 24hrs on the treadmill in December 2002.  With his wife, Elizabeth, he runs the Orkney Angora mail order knitwear and yarn business in Sanday, Orkney.

William is grateful to sponsors: The Ayre Hotel, The Orcadian, Crantit Dairy (Orkney Ice Cream), dion_networks and Loganair.

William’s regularly updated web site can be found at: www.williamsichel.co.uk

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Comment from Orkney Athletic Club: please contact Ronnie Johnston ronnie.johnson@orkney.uhi.ac.uk

Picture attached as a jpeg.  TIFFs can usually be supplied if required.

Making contact:

William Sichel, Upper Breckan, Sanday, Orkney KW17 2AZ. Tel/Fax: 01857 600421. Mobile (whilst travelling only) 0794 128 3506. william@williamsichel.co.uk  Running web site: www.williamsichel.co.uk

Photographs:

Newsline Scotland (Press Agency). Tel 01224 594000. photos@newsline-scotland.co.uk

William Sichel, ‘Free to use’ photographs can be down loaded from my on-line photo album.  Go to: http://www.williamsichel.co.uk/ and click on ‘Photos’.

6/2/06