I have been given a message relayed from Tim (this was information he phoned through just before 10am this morning, so with about 5mins of the 24hr race left to run at the time). Please bear in mind that as I haven’t spoken to him personally and I am working only from notes, all this information is subject to confirmation and/or change.
When Tim passed on the message, William was in 5th place overall having taken a 30 min nap during the night.
More news as I get it,
Shaun
At about 12.30am (Saturday night / Sunday morning) I have just had another quick chat to Tim (while he was waiting for a massage).
Tim tells me that William’s official 12 hr distance was 114 km / 70.83 miles.
This is slightly less that the unofficial figure I reported earlier (119 km), but despite the 5km / 3.1 miles difference, the basic pattern is the same with William needing to run a positive split (see previous post) and to achieve approximately 59.65 miles / 96 km in the second 12hr period.
William is still running well and enjoying the occasional warm drink now and again.
I don’t have details of how any of the other runners are currently doing other than that the field as a whole seems to be running well and that it looks to be an enjoyable race for most of the athletes.
For the benefit of William’s many followers who are not experts on ultra-running or William’s specific performances I will just point out that while William aims to get a good distance for himself and Scotland, he did not go in to the event expecting to win the Perth race. William specialises in multi-day events and the 24hr race is not his main event (it is actually a bit too short for him), so William is simply looking to cover a respectable distance during the 24hrs and also to use the event as preparation for his 48hr races in October and December this year.
Tim is planning on getting some sleep once he’s suitably massaged, so no more race updates until some time on Sunday.
More as I get it – all the best, Shaun
While Tim was not able to provide me with an official distance figure for William at/after the 12hr (half-way) point, unofficially William would appear to have covered 119km (73.94 miles) in the first 12hrs.
To put this in context, most athletes typically run a little faster in the first half of a race and then slow a little in the second half.
If William were to follow this pattern he would wish to have achieved a distance somewhat in excess of half his goal-distance by the half way point in the race. This means that he would be looking at having covered more than 65 miles / 104.6km by the 12hr point.
If Tim’s unofficial figure of 73.94 miles / 119km at 12hrs is correct, William is running well to form and is certainly on target.
As I mentioned, most runners usually cover more distance in the first half of a race than the second. This is often referred to as a “positive split”. If a runner achieves a (roughly) equal distance in both halves of a race, this is called an “equal split”, and if a runner achieves a faster average speed / greater distance in the 2nd half than in the first, this is a “negative split” (a somewhat confusing term for those not involved in this type of sport as there is generally nothing “negative” about this!).
To reach his pre-race target of 13o miles / 209.21km at 24hrs, William would need (based on Tim’s figures) to cover a further roughly 56miles / 90km in the second 12 hours. This represents running a “positive split” and should be very achievable. Naturally if William were to run an “equal split” or a “negative split” then he would finish considerably above his pre-race target (which, while possible, is obviously not a specific goal).
I probably won’t have much in the way of updates before the closing stages of the race (or perhaps not until after the end of the 24hrs) as Tim will probably be getting a bit of much deserved rest. Tim was himself running in the 100km race in Perth today and, having not tackled the distance for four years, set a personal best of 9 hrs 54 mins 39 secs (the first time Tim has completed 100km under 10 hrs). When I spoke to Tim he was nursing a few blisters (and a beer) but feeling justifiably pleased with himself. Some people would of course be happy to crawl off somewhere to sleep after running 100km, so hats-off to Tim for managing a bit of trackside reporting before grabbing any down-time.
Tim tells me that the weather was rather on the hot side on Saturday afternoon and that personally he would have preferred it slightly cooler. William usually does well in heat so this probably won’t have had a negative impact on his performance (Perth is rather unlikely to have reached the temperatures found in William’s last race in Athens, the 1000 mile cup earlier this year) but with any luck a cooler period through the night may suit William and the other runners well.
Tim tells me that veteran Scottish ultra-runner Richie Cunningham is at Perth and turning his able hand to crewing, which I am sure William will appreciate greatly.
When I last spoke to Tim he told me that William was running well, looked comfortable and was happy to chat a little while continuing his run.
Naturally a great deal can happen in 12 hrs of running, but at present things are looking good for William.
More news as I get it
All the best
Shaun
This is from Friday’s edition on the Perthshire Advertiser :
Perth based ultra challenge
Sep 3 2010 by Gordon Bannerman, Perthshire Advertiser
THIS weekend sees gruelling ultra distance running returning to Perth, with the city hosting the National 50km and 100km championships, reports Gordon Bannerman.
The Perth Ultrafast, on Saturday and Sunday, features some of the fittest athletes around. It is based at Bell’s Sports Centre.
The venue will also host a Six Nations Ultra race luring teams from Scotland, England, Ireland, Wales, Italy and France.
The race is also open to experienced ultra runners and is a fantastic opportunity to run alongside some of Europe’s finest ultra marathon runners.
Multiple world, British and Scottish record holder William Sichel from Orkney is set to compete in an International 24 hour race.
Dundee runner Steve Mason, winner of the Perth 24-hour event in 2008, takes his place in the Scottish Men’s team with Sichel and Paul Hart, who hails from Dumfries.
Aileen Scott, a partner with local accountancy firm Campbell Dallas, has been chosen to represent Scotland ladies after being placed first lady at Tooting Bec last October in her 24-hour ultra racing debut.
Aileen told PA Sport: “I was delighted to earn a place in the Scotland team alongside the Scottish record holder Pauline Walker and her twin sister, Fiona Rennie.
“It’s great to be running at Perth and I’m hoping my colleagues from the local office are able to come down and support me at some point in the day, or night.”
Aileen covered 118 miles in her debut race and is hoping to clock-up 120 miles in Perth.
Commonwealth silver medallists Vikki Skelton and Sharon Gayter will be representing England in the event which runs from 10am on Saturday morning.
Scots veteran Sichel will find himself up against some of Europe’s finest ultra marathon runners.
Source : http://www.perthshireadvertiser.co.uk/perthshire-sport/perthshire-scottish-athletics/2010/09/03/perth-based-ultra-challenge-73103-27188974/
William will be running in the 24hr race in Perth this weekend (10am Sat 4th to 10am Sunday 5th September 2010).
As usual, I will do my best to give updates as and when possible (I am expecting an update by phone from Tim Rainey at or after 10pm; Tim is himself running in the 100km race in Perth so the exact timing is subject to how the race goes – best of luck Tim!).
I hope to have other updates before this point but please do bear with me – any news I have will be posted ASAP.
More soon,
Shaun
We plan to have limited coverage here, of the Perth 24 Hour race, thanks to Shaun Brassfield-Thorpe and Tim Rainey (who is competing in the 100km). We will have a few updates on the leading men and women as and when.
I’m really excited about getting back into competiton again following the 1000 Miles race in March.
A busy few days for me, as I’m presenting the opening lecture at the International Science Festival in Orkney on Thursday at 1230.
I have now set 32 ultra distance records at World, British and Scottish level including age groups, classic events and Guinness World Treadmill records.
My ‘Records Page’ on this blog has now been fully updated.
I’m honoured to have been asked to present the “Grimond Lecture” at the forthcoming Orkney International Science Festival to be held in Kirkwall, Orkney from September 2nd – 8th 2010.
Festival director Howie Firth provided a bit of background to the Grimond Lecture:
“The background is that we select one lecture each year as something a bit special, which has ideas in it of wider application. A characteristic of the Grimonds was that they used to open up fresh ideas on a variety of subjects, and particularly ideas which had a direct potential benefit for society. We thought that this was something that should be continued by the Festival.
Your presentation this year encapsulates some key ideas that we want to bring out in this year’s Festival – that in order to tackle the challenges in science and in society we are going to have to push ourselves to the limit, beyond the boundaries that we are used to working within in in everyday life. This is something that people sometimes say but do not follow up, and your talk will look at how that approach can be put into practice in a particular way. So we feel that this is ideal for the Grimond Lecture in the 20th Festival.”
My lecture will begin at around 1230 on Thursday September 2nd at the St Magnus Centre in Kirkwall.
RUNNING TO THE LIMIT: EXPLORING THE FRONTIERS OF HUMAN PERFORMANCE
How can you run 1000 miles in a fortnight? What’s the preparation for pushing body and mind to the absolute limit? World record-holder William Sichel discusses the science behind ultra-endurance sport – physiology, nutrition, adaptation and the importance of understanding psychological factors.
Delighted to announce that I am now working with leading sports management company, Edinburgh-based Red Sky Management.
All media and sponsorship enquiries should be directed to Claire MacDonald at Red Sky Management from now on.
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