Sichel snatches ‘last gasp’ bronze at Austrian 24Hr Championships

Orkney’s world number one, Six Day ultra distance athlete, William Sichel, came from behind in last weekend’s Austrian 24 Hour Championships to snatch the bronze medal by a dramatic 700 metres in the final lap of this super endurance test.  William’s distance of 134.5 miles was his best for 3½ years and puts him at the top of the GB rankings so far this year.

For the last two hours William was able to increase his pace from around 15 minute a lap to 13 minutes for the tough, 1.4 mile course around the town of Worschach in south west Austria.  By doing this William was able to reel in the athletes lying in front of him.  In the early stages of the race William was in 21st place from 170 starters but gradually moved up the field as the heat wave – temperatures peaked at 32°C on the first day – and the undulating course affected many runners.

There was great excitement prior to the start as a last minute entrant was the multiple world ultra endurance record holder Yiannis Kouros from Greece.  He eventually won the race with 155.7 miles with the Ukraine’s Andriy Solodovnikov in second place and William third from 170 starters.

“I’ve never had to ‘sprint’ for the last two hours of a race before. It required a huge effort both mentally and physically at the end of a grueling 24 hours but I was so pleased to be able to do it and grab a podium position at the end.  It made it all worthwhile.  To be on the podium of a major race with Kouros was a dream come true for me and was a huge reward for my performance.”

As well as the heat and tough course William and handler Alan Young had to cope with the non-arrival of their luggage which only turned up two hours after the race had started – some 50 hours after they had arrived in Austria.

“We both had to use all our experience to cope with the stress of the lost luggage.  Luckily I always carry my shoes as hand luggage but everything else was missing.  I actually started the race wearing old table tennis shorts borrowed from the guest house owner.”

William’s next event will be an attempt on the Scottish record in the World’s longest point-to-point race - the 153 mile Spartathlon in Greece at the end of September.

William is grateful to sponsors: Myprotein, Loganair & The Orcadian

End.

25/7/07