SICHEL TAKES ON LEADING ASIANS IN TAIWAN 24Hr CHALLENGE

Orkney’s world ranked ultra distance runner, William Sichel, leaves a wintry Orkney this week to travel to the hot and humid conditions of Taiwan for the Soochow 24hr track race in Taipei on Saturday/Sunday March 3rd/4th.

Running as an individual in the second edition of this enthusiastically supported event, William will face not only the previous winner, 24 year old, local student Lin Yi-chieh (220km/136.7M) but also the leading Japanese athlete 36 year old Kenji Okiyama who has a recent 24hr best of 252kms/156M.

The event will take place on the all-weather track at the 100 year old Soochow University in the capital, Taipei. This year's race will have approx 20 starters, half of whom will be overseas athletes. The leading lady will be Helga Backhaus from Germany.

William expects race conditions to be damp and very humid with a temperatures ranging from 15 to 25C. “I have followed my usual 'heat training' programme which has stood me in good stead over the years. It involves about nine 30 minute episodes of training, in a home-made heat chamber, whilst running on a treadmill at race pace. I first used this system in 1996 and have modified it slightly over the years. It is very effective and means I am not at too much of a disavantage when racing in hot, humid conditions.”

By going to Taiwan, William hopes to gain more 24hr event experience, especially in hot conditions; to record a solid finishing distance and to have the chance to race against the top Taiwanese and Japanese runners (Japan is a fast emerging ultra nation in both 100km and 24hrs).

It is also part of his build up to the European 24hr Championships in Holland at the end of May. Taiwan is also likely to be a World Championship venue within the next couple of years probably for the 100km event.
William’s best performance last year was his victory in the Basle 24hr Road Race in Switzerland with a personal best distance of 153.3 miles, the best by a British runner for over 8 years. This headed the world rankings for some months but eventually gave William a World Ranking of No12 by the end of the season.

William was voted Orkney’s first ‘Sportsman of the Year’ last year. He is a member of the Moray Road Runners and the Orkney Athletic Club. With his wife, Elizabeth, he runs the Orkney Angora mail order craft business in Sanday.

William is grateful to sponsors Orkney Meat (main sponsor), The Ayre Hotel, The Orcadian, Crantit Dairy (Orkney Ice Cream) and Saucony UK. William also receives a grant from the Scottish Lottery Sport Fund.

26/2/01