SICHEL TAKES ON WORLD’S BEST IN HOLLAND

Orkney ultra distance runner William Sichel travels to Uden in Holland this weekend to tackle the world’s best 24hr endurance runners in the first World/European 24hr Championships, the most prestigious event in the ultra running calendar, on Saturday/Sunday October 11th/12th.

William will be competing as part of the Great Britain team comprising Edinburgh’s Adrian Stott, Crawley’s Walter Hill and Stuart Buchan from Hull. They will face a formidable line up of 19 national teams from as far a field as Japan and Korea. About 180 runners will toe the start line of the 2.5km, traffic free, tree lined course on Saturday at 2 p.m. Runners will cover repeated laps amassing as much distance as they possibly can in the 24 hour period. Each runner will wear a computer chip on their shoe which records the number of laps completed.

“I’ve had a good build up to this event, which is my main target for the year, with some solid race performances over shorter distances plus my qualifier over 24hrs. I will need to run close to a personal best in order to finish in the top 10. The winner will probably cover over 160 miles. My best is just over 153 miles so I’m not that far away when I run the best I can.”

The last time William competed on this course the Great Britain team won the bronze medals in the European Championships in 2000.

William qualified for consideration for selection when competing in Basle, Switzerland last May when he covered 136.9 miles to finish 4th overall, his best performance for 3 years. This was considered good enough to earn selection.

This will be William’s 11th Great Britain appearance and his first as a 50 year old. He made his debut in 1996 in the World 100km Championships in Moscow and went on to earn a total of 7 Great Britian ‘vests’ at the 100km distance and now this will be his fourth in the 24hr event.

Last December William set new Guinness World Records for both 100 miles and 24hrs on the treadmill. William was voted Orkney’s first ‘Sportsman of the Year’ in November 2000. He is a member of the Orkney Athletic Club. With his wife, Elizabeth, he runs the Orkney Angora mail order knitwear business in Sanday, Orkney.

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

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: http://www.williamsichel.co.uk/

Photographs:

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

Ken Amer, Orkney Photographic. Tel 01856 873574, Mobile 07808 961780 info@orkneyphotographic.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’.

7/10/03