updates and major changes

Updated this page.

You may have been aware from reading my blogs recently that things have been a bit hectic here recently. Well things seem to be getting better but I had to take drastic action to make it happen. I think I'll be a lot happier for taking that very tough decision though.

Apologies to everyone at Otley AC - hope you understand.  I needed to make major changes to my life.  I just couldn't cope with the stress anymore.

bad weekend

Looks like John Pares had a bad run in Basel. I don't think he'll be happy with 133k. Ramona would, I think, be pleased with her 162k. Les Hill I think will be disappointed with 180k but where was Jim Rogers ...

My bad weekend has resulted in me having to take some drastic action to restore my sanity. More details another time.

The reasons for Sharon's bad run in Bergamo appear to have been of a medical/nutritional nature ... too much sodium.  Electrolyte imbalances over a long period of time when exercising can cause major problems.

chasing the distances

All the best to Les Hill, Jim Rogers and John Pares who are running the Basel 24 hr race this weekend no doubt in a bid to get a qualifying distance for the Commonwealth Championships.

As Les is Scottish and John is Welsh their performances won't effect my chances of being selected for England. Jim is English and although he had a bad run at Tooting Bec last October he is definitely capable of passing 225k to join Chris Finill, Ken Fancett and myself with the English qualifying standard.

I hope Les has a better time than his previous 24 hr race (Hull 2008) when he collapsed during the 22nd hour whilst in a good position - I don't think he ran again in that race.

Ramona Thevenet-Smith is also running ... hope she does well too.

Thanks to Nadeem Khan for posting the piece on the IAU website. I feel honoured to have my story on the site of the world governing body (I did find a small mistake when I read it but I think it's just a typo).

I certainly don't feel as if my life has been extra ordinary ... I'm just a lucky guy doing something he loves which he happens to be quite good at.

World Challenge & European Championships (again)

Yesterday I studied the results carefully and Anne-Cecile Fontaine of France had a sensational race missing the world best performance by a mere 14 metres.

Let's put that into perspective for those among us who are not ultra runners.  She ran 243.644m and the record is 243.657m.   That is equivalent to missing Paula Radcliffe's marathon record of 2h 15:25 by 0.43 seconds or missing Usain Bolt's 100m record of 9.69 seconds by 0.0005 seconds.

Even comparing it with Tomoe Abe's 100km world record of 6h 33:11 gives the result that Anne-Cecile would have been a mere 1.26 seconds behind.

Amazing

World Challenge & European Championships

When I've had the time this weekend I've been keeping up to date with the World & Euro 24 hr race in Bergamo, Italy. All the details have been on the IAU website ... the final results are here.

It appears that a lot of people ran less than expected. Stephen Mason stated that his target was 160 miles (257 km) and for the first 9 hours or so he was on schedule ... he then faded badly and finished with 133 miles (215 km). The three British women also had bad runs and none of them managed 200 km.

Possibly this was because of the warm conditions (25 decrees C during mid afternoon and 10 degrees C at night). It obviously isn't as simple as that though. Eoin Keith broke the Irish record with 237 km (147 miles). He set the previous record at Tooting Bec last year when conditions were much cooler ... brrrr (235 km/146 miles). Congratulations to him on his new record and on his sixth place finish.

World Challenge & European Championships

All the best to Sharon Gayter, Vicky Skelton, Pauline Walker, Lynne Kuz and Stephen Mason who are representing the UK in Italy this weekend at the 24 hr World Challenge and European Championships.

I believe they fly out today, the race is Saturday and Sunday, and they return home on Monday.

You can keep up to date on the IAU website by clicking on 'Live Updates' which is near the top, in the middle.

There's a good womens team going and if they all perform well they could bring back a medal ... hope so.

good press

Just read last week's Athletics Weekly and there's a very good piece about William Sichel in there - a whole page no less, including photos.

Very good it is too, and very well deserved after he beat the age group 6 day world record recently in Athens. His new world over 55 road record is 466.65 miles.

Good result William. Well done to him and his crew.

And well done to Athletics Weekly for keeping up with the ultra running stories recently.

slight changes

Hello all. Recently been in contact with Tom Meldrum (a few times actually) over the past month or two. He came first in the recent Crawley 12 hr race with 75.8 miles and he has a very good blog which I've added to the list entitled 'Other Blogs I Like' over on the left.

I've also done a minor update to the Help & Advice page.

Also, all the best to Richie Cunningham and Phil Robertson who are running The Highland Fling Race at the weekend - 53 miles on The West Highland Way in Scotland. And also to the Otley AC runners in the London Marathon on Sunday ... running 26 miles with over 30,000 other folk isn't my idea of fun but some people are apparently very good at it.

plans for next month

Recently entered the East Hull 24 hr race. I'm not planning to run the whole event as I don't think I'll recover sufficiently for the Commonwealth Championships in September which is the main target this year. I'm just planning to run 100 miles in Hull.

May looks like it's going to be very busy for me:

Sun 3 May - meeting #1 for crew of Run To London
Mon 4 May - wedding anniversary & Fay's birthday
Thu 7 May - Harrogate League race 1 in Thirsk
Fri 8 May - Torch Race (annual relay race up Otley Chevin by local scout groups - I'm involved with Otley Parish Scouts)
Sat 9 May - meeting #2 for crew of Run To London
Sun 10 May - meeting #3 for crew of Run To London
Tue 12 May - Otley AC committee meeting
Sat/Sun 16/17 May - England Ultra Squad Weekend in Gloucester
Wed 20 May - Harrogate League race 2 in Wetherby
Sat/Sun/Mon 23/24/25 May - Run To London
Fri 29 May - Keir's birthday

Mustn't neglect training although most of May is either tapering or recovering !!!

Yesterday I came across a 33 year old song I haven't heard before but which I wish I had - it's absolutely brilliant. I found it on the free DVD which came with the current issue of Classic Rock magazine. The song is Magic Man and it's by Heart. It was originally on their debut album (released in 1976) but this superlative live version is from Dreamboat Annie Live.

The version below isn't quite as good in my opinion but it's from 1977 so shows a performance from around the time it was written and recorded.

HEART - MAGIC MAN

I've known about Heart for at least 25 years now but for some reason missed this song.

Keir

For the past nine months or so Keir has been progressing towards his Duke of Edinbugh bronze award. Among other things he has been studying Latin in evening classes and training for a 5k race.

The training has taken about three months during which time he's run three or four times a week and he seems to have enjoyed it. He's certainly been committed ... going out in all weathers, including running through snow drifts on Otley Chevin when it would have been more sensible to turn back and take an alternative route.

Well the 5k race was today in Leeds at Hyde Park and he finished in 77th position with 25:24. He enjoyed himself and no doubt gained a lot of self confidence from the fact that there were 63 finishers behind him.

I'm proud of him ...

For his silver award he may train for a 10k race at the start of next year.