A quick summary of the on-going race at 13 days / 312 hrs

2nd          #18     Sichel William – UK                  1509  km              937.5 miles

3rd          #8       Bazzana Lucio – ITA                1475 km               916.5 miles

William is 21 miles ahead of Lucio Bazanna (possibly more or less by now as William took a break having reached 1509km (leaving 100km to reach 1000 miles / 1609.34km). With a 34km lead and only 100km left to cover it would be a major surprise now if William does not achieve both 2^nd place and set a ne M55 World Record for the 1000 miles. At 13 days / 312 hrs, William has 1 day, 20hrs and 44 mins to break the current World Record. One of the biggest challenges for all the runners at this point is going to be the high winds sweeping the track –coupled with an influx of runners in the 24hr race. Nothing is ever easy in an ultra-distance race, but I’m sure everyone could do without any added difficulties at this point!

4th           #16     Dvoracek Vlastimil – CZE         1415 km               879 miles

7th           #7       Lo Wei Ming – TPE                  1369 km               850.5 miles

Vlastimil Dvoracek marginally increases his lead over Lo Wei Ming, now leading the Taiwanese runner by around 28.5 miles – but there’s still a long way to go in the race to 4^th place.

5th           #6       Okiyama Hiroko – JPN            1389 km               863 miles – Women’s no.1

6th           #10     Hausmann Martina – GER         1377 km               855.5 miles- Women’s no.2

8th          # 9       Tahkavuori Maria – FIN           1333 km               828 miles- Women’s no.3

The Women’s race is getting more dramatic as the hours go by. Hiroko Okiyama now moves into the lead, overtaking long-time Women’s race leader Martina Hausmann. Maria Tahkavuori remains in 3^rd. But it isn’t all bad news for Martina, as if she completes the 1000 miles inside 16 days she will automatically become the Women’s age-group World Record holder – because as yet no woman of her age has ever completed the 1000 miles.

9th           #13     Thanos Nikos – GRE                1207 km               750 miles

Nikos is still adding to his mileage and has reached the 750 mile mark. ¾ of the way covered, and ¼ still to go. But with only 3 days to run 250 miles, at this point Nikos would have to produce an amazing turn of speed to complete before the 16-day cut-off…

Shaun

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