Marathon des Sables

Congratulations to Mike Blamires on his good run in the desert recently. I would think he'd be very pleased with his run (289th place out of almost 900).

In Stockport yesterday I was speaking to someone from his club (Neil Bant ? from Beverley AC) and he confirmed that Mike was having a good time and doing well.

Seen the blackbird about in the garden recently so the dead one I found a few days ago isn't the one who nests in our tree.

William Sichel is going well too in the Athens International Ultramarathon Festival - leading the seven day race after the third day.

Marathon des Sables

All the best to Mike Blamires as he leaves Yorkshire today to travel to the Sahara Desert for the famous Marathon des Sables stage race. That type of event is definitely not something I could do ... carrying kit, food, etc across the desert in blistering heat for six days is not my idea of fun.

That isn't to say I don't admire the people who do take part ... and enjoy taking part. I genuinely do. But I couldn't do it.

Anyway, before I get into too much trouble I hope all his meticulous planning has worked and everything goes to plan. Catch up with his progress on his blog.

Otley - home of the ultra distance runner

First of all a big well done to Phil Robertson of Otley AC who has completed the West Highland Way Race (95 miles) in just under 28 hours - an amazing achievement. He was with Paul Tranter [another Otley resident] who has now completed the Marathon des Sables and the West Highland Way Race in less than five months.

For more details about Phil Robertson see his blog at http://www.runtothehills.blogspot.com

Just noticed, on the UK Athletics website the selection criteria for the IAU European Championships and World Cup 100k to be held in Etruschi, Italy on 8 November. Basically they are only considering individuals if they are confident of a top 15 placing. This means they have set standards of 7h 05 for men and 8h 15 for women. In the last 18 months only one man and two women have achieved this (Jez Bragg, Adele Salt and Emma Gooderham).

They have also set lower, team standards, of 7h 20 and 8h 30 but, again, I think that perhaps they are setting their targets a bit high as no other British runners have achieved this lower mark in the qualifying period which began on 1 January 2007.

I wonder what the criteria will be for the 24 hr World Challenge in Korea on October 18/19.

I wish I were racing too

I'm now well into my second week of proper training and it seems to be going well except that when I'm doing a paced run my actual speed is all over the place. It'll come back with practice though.

Good to see the Barry 40 results in last weeks Athletics Weekly - one ultra race which makes the results pages every year although there should be an in depth article about this race considering the number of world bests set there over the years.

All the best to Sharon Gayter and Paul Tranter who take part in the Marathon des Sables later this month and to William Sichel who's in Athens as I write this for a 24 hr race.

In the accompanying 7 day race Wolfgang Schwerk seems to be doing very well (839k after 5.5 days). I also notice that the Italian bloke who just beat me in the London 24 hr race (last October) is also doing very well - he's in 5th place at the moment with 677k.

I'm just jealous of you all, that's all. Still, it won't be long now before I'm back racing.

Hope everything goes well with Pam Storey too and her 12 hr & 6 hr races in Crawley - wish I could be there Pam.