SICHEL DELAYS START TO SEASON

Orkney’s world ranked ultra distance runner, William Sichel from Sanday, has been forced to delay the start to his competition season due to a persistent shin injury which has prevented him from reaching full fitness in time to defend his Basle International 24hr title in Switzerland next weekend.

“I was very hopeful I would be ready to travel to Basle and put up a strong defence of my title there. But is was not to be and I must be patient. I don’t train or race if I am injured and sometimes ‘time off’ is the only cure. I have enjoyed 10 years of running with hardly any injury that an end-of-season break didn’t fix. It’s my time to suffer now.”

It is very fortunate that many of the big races this season come later in the year, with the English 24hr Championships taking place in Hull in July followed by the European 24hr Championships in France in early September. There is then a big 100 mile race at Crystal Palace in London in October.

Treatment to an inflamed shin has gone well and William is confident that he will be able to compete at the English 24hr Championships in July. He has used any extra free time to reinforce his training and preparation for the coming races. He has been able to do extra sports psychology work with Swedish expert Nils Vikander and also completely re-vamped his strength and conditioning programme with the help of Dave Clarke, Head Strength & Conditioning coach at the Scottish Institute of Sport.

“Small improvements in all these different areas can hopefully lift me to even better performances in the future. My best performance of 87.90 miles during a 12 hour race in Sheffield last August earnt me a World Top 10 ranking for that event. I am now looking for the same ranking over the full 24hrs which means I have to go over 155 miles at some point. My current best is 153.30 miles”

William was voted Orkney’s first ‘Sportsman of the Year’ in November 2000. 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 sportScotland Lottery Fund.

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

Photographs:
Newsline Scotland (Press Agency). Tel 01224 594000. photos@newsline-scotland.co.uk
Ken Amer, Orkney Photographic. Tel 01856 873574, Mobile 0780 896 1780 orkneyphoto@sol.co.uk

29/4/02