With Wolfgang Schwerk having finished the 1000 mile race you might think that the other runners would relax a little – but far from it.

One thing that escaped my notice earlier is that Lucio Bazzana, although a little  younger than William (who is 56) is still in the same age group as William (Lucio is 55).

This means that William and Lucio are not just battling to be the 2nd to finish the 1000 miles – they are both chasing the same M55 World Record.

Dan Coffey’s current M55 World Record stands at  a time of  14 days, 20 hrs, 45 mins.

This looks set to be broken in this race – but who will get there first? Lucio or William?

Alan tells me that it is a “Great battle for second with Lucio Bazzana. He was on the same lap as William when William returned from a sleep break.”

“But then William pulled away upon returning to the track and extended his advantage by 29km / (18.01 miles)”

So William is still in 2nd place (or to put it another way, leads the field now that Wolfgang Schwerk has completed the 1000 miles).

Alan describes the duel for second place, saying

“They are like opposites in that the Italian runs out in the heat of the day and struggles at nights. It is getting close to call but William in his last running period – in the heat and before a break – was perhaps at his best for over 6 days and may yet surprise the Italian. William is coping with the heat, with all his hot weather training and having competed in the Spartathlon twice as well as Badwater”.

Hopefully the heat training William did in preparation for the race, plus having now had 12 days to acclimatise while running, will indeed pay off. There probably isn’t a lot of difference in temperature between Italy and Greece, but it is rather cooler here in William’s home in Orkney!

Although William is holding 2nd and currently leads Bazzana, as Alan says

“…as we have said before, lots can happen in the last few days, but it will appear both Lucio and William will now achieve very good times as they push each other while going for the same World Record”.

Alan will be crewing almost constantly now so reports from him will be sporadic  but all news will appear here as soon as I get it.

All the best

Shaun

Shaun Brassfield-Thorpe – William Sichel’s training advisor – ULTRAfitnessTraining.com