Selection Criteria

Yesterday I found, on the England Athletics website, details of the selection policy for next year's Commonwealth Championships at 24hr.

Selection Criteria 24 Hour Commonwealth Championship

Keswick Cumbria between 17 th Sept to 20 th Sept 2009.

Up to six athletes Female and six athletes Male will be considered for selection.

A Standard (Individual) Men 225kms Women 200kms
B Standard (Team) Men 215kms Women 185kms

Selection date and considerations

The selection date will be on Saturday 20th June 2009, or shortly afterwards
Important – England Athletics will only consider performances in IAU Label Races
Athletes who wish names and relevant performances to go forward for consideration for selection should forward details by email to
Wilsonanne691@aol.com or write to Norman Wilson,61,Darell Close,Quedgeley,Gloucester.GL2 4YR by no later than 1st June 2009

Qualifying Period

1st May 2008 to 31st May 2009 it will be necessary for current fitness to be evident prior to selection and to be injury free.



After reading this, very carefully, one or two things spring to mind:

1) 225km seems to be very harsh. I've just checked and last year only five runners from the Commonwealth achieved that distance (three Brits and two Aussies).

2) It seems William Sichel was correct in that the selectors will only consider performances in races with an IAU Label.

3) Between now and the end of May 2009 I am able to compete at least three times over 24hr if necessary. My next race - Tooting Bec (London) definitely has an IAU Label.

4) How exactly would 'current fitness be evident' to the selectors.

5) I know I can run 225k. It's only 8.4 laps more than I achieved in Hull when I was easing down for the last 4 hours. See the race report from Hull for details (http://www.hull-race-report-2008.blogspot.com/).

I also found out more details of a couple of new ultra races to be held in Perth, Scotland on 13 September. Apparently Scottish Athletics are looking to stage an IAU World Championship in the next few years and these races are basically a feasibility study.

I definitely hope everything goes well for them as a World Championship in Scotland would be fantastic. For more details see http://www.scottishathletics.org.uk/index.php?p=17&itemType=news&itemId=3636

Meanwhile ... my training schedule leading up to October's race is coming along nicely apart from one question if I may: which would be more beneficial the day after a long slow run:

a) a long run of 24 - 28 miles at one minute per mile quicker, or
b) a long run of 24 - 28 miles where each mile is about 5s quicker than the previous mile
c) does it depend on what stage I'm at regarding my preparation