Sanday’s international ultra distance runner William Sichel (48) opens his autumn campaign with a trip to Winschoten, in northern Holland, for the European 100km (62 miles) Road Running Championships to be held on Saturday the 14th September.

Running as an individual, as no UK team is being sent to this event, William will be lining up at 1 o’clock in a field of about 400 runners for the 10 laps of 6.2 miles around this picturesque Dutch town which lies just 6 miles from the German border.

William has happy memories of Winschoten as he has run there on four previous occasions with his last appearance, in September 1998, being one of his best as he won the World Veteran (over 40) Championships with one of his best ever times of 7hrs 16mins 24secs.

“Since then I’ve tended to concentrate on the 24hr event where I have had much higher world rankings than in the 100km. I am returning to the 100km event to try and build up my fitness again after losing many months with a shin injury.”

William’s last serious outing over 100km was in July 1999 when he won the overall British Championships in Edinburgh with a time of 7hrs 32mins 19secs.

“I’m not expecting to be in that kind of form at the moment as I don’t have the training background behind me. I will be happy with a good solid finish which I can then build on in my other races.”

William’s autumn campaign will continue after Winschoten with The Road Runners Club 100 mile track race at Crystal Palace in London on October 20th and finally William will make his first ever attempt at a World Record, possibly in late November. The location and event will be announced within the next few weeks.

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.

9/9/02