srichimnoy | IAN CORLESS

Read my article on the incredible William Sichel. He has been flying the flag for ultra running for 20-years. This year he took on the intimidating 3,1000 mile SRI CHIMNOY.

‘On day 19 I was 71-miles behind the target pace. I was aware of this but during the race I didn’t know this… it wouldn’t have been helpful. I needed to blank this and work on my mind. I adjusted and went into mental lockdown. I lived in the moment. I focused on each step, each minute detail and I said to myself, just run the greatest distance possible each day and repeat. Lap by lap, day by day I started to adapt and I found that at night I could speed up. After 9pm I could run, I could speed up and I could move quickly. This is coincided with the course being quieter too. The race and the other runners had written me off; they all didn’t think it was possible to pull back such a deficit.’

You can read the full article HERE

Make sure to check out RUNULTRA HERE

William Sichel 3100-mile Sri Chimnoy

Orkney-based ultra marathon runner, William Sichel (60) completed the World’s Longest Certified Footrace – the Sri Chinmoy Self Transcendence 3100 Mile Race in New York last week, in a time of 50 Days 15 hours 06 minutes and 04 seconds.

A full and in-depth interview with William will be on episode 68 of Talk Ultra available on August 22nd via iTunes or this website.

William has now run further in a single, measured race than any other Scot, any other British athlete, and/or anyone over the age of 60 – ever. In doing this William set over 50 records at the Scottish Over 60, Scottish Overall, British Over 60, British Overall and World Over 60 levels.

Finishing as the 6^th male finisher overall, William became the first person over 60 ever to complete this incredible challenge. William struggled early on and by day 19 was 71 miles behind the daily average required to complete the race in time.

He managed to claw his way back, day by day and eventually finished with more than a day in hand. This entailed running the second half of the race 3½ days quicker than the first half, a feat that had never been done before in the 18 year history of the race.

Race Director Sahishnu Szczesiul described William’s run as “the performance of the race”.

“I found the race incredibly hard – far and away the hardest thing I have ever done. I then made it harder for myself by falling behind and having to run a negative split to finish. I had to battle the heat and humidity, the noise, the unreal distance and duration. I was so relieved to finish within the time limit.”

William hopes to have high-lighted the benefits of exercise for the over 60s as well as raise money for the CLAN cancer support charity.

William made the decision 18 months ago to compete in this race as he wanted to mark his 20^th year in ultra distance running and his 60^th year, by tackling something rather special and this event seemed to fit the bill.

William will now allow time for a full recovery, both mental and physical, before returning to competition next year.

Make sure you tune in to Talk Ultra HERE on August 22nd for a fascinating interview by an inspirational and very humble, pure, ultra runner.

William is raising funds for CLAN Cancer Support and his dedicated web page can be found here: http://www.justgiving.com/William-Sichel