Lots of email exchanges with Alan Young (who has managed to get some rest now that Tim Rainey has joined him in Monaco) so a few bits of information to pass on here.

William has been having rather a hard time throughout most of the event, not due to minor little things like running for hundreds of miles, but largely due to the conditions on the course.

Alan tells me that the “Course is much harder than in the past, and at times even more crowded.” (which is great news in terms of raising much needed money for the children’s charities involved, but rather less so for the leading runners).

The result of this is that William has been pretty much forced into walking for lengthy periods while, as Alan puts it,  “weaving in and out of the crowds”.

This is of course very frustrating for everyone in “Team Sichel” as William has the physical capacity to be going a good deal faster, but a lot of the time he is (as Alan puts it) “almost walking at a speed of about 6kph” as the course conditions often won’t let him go any faster (naturally he’s breaking into a quicker pace when he’s able, but while it is one thing to maintain a fairly steady constant average pace for hours on end, it is another to try switching between bouts of slow zig-zaging and much faster running to try and increase distance).

Despite all of this, William is currently doing very well, still in the #2 spot and currently having reduced Didier Sessegolo’s lead from 50km to 39km during the last 4 hrs. The latest figures show William having covered 416.23 miles / 669.864 km before taking a short break (so realistically Didier will probably claw back some of his lead while William is off-track).

In such an extremely long ultra-distance race, challenges for the top position can be very drawn out and are often as much a psychological war of nerves as they are a physical test of endurance. In ultra-distance terms William and Didier have pretty much been going “head to head” for several days now, and this battle is set to continue for more than another two and a half days.

Both of these seasoned athletes will be fully aware that even one particually good or bad period of running over the next 68 hours could make all the difference between winning and coming second.

It’s safe to assume that if you blink you won’t miss anything, but it is still going to be nerve wracking watching the hours tick by and the distances increase…

Watch this space!

Shaun – www.ultrafitnesstraining.com

 

lace	Dist.	Nb tour	Nom	Equipe	Cat	Pl Cat.	Dernier passage
1	722.748 km	533	SESSEGOLO Didier – (dos. 36)	PERFORMANCE SPORTS NUTRITION	V1M	1/751	123:50:03
2	669.864 km	494	SICHEL William – (dos. 46)	METROPOLE FASHION TEAM	V2M	1/416	122:45:56
3	573.588 km	423	CHEVILLON Bernard – (dos. 15)	ACM	V3M	1/152	123:57:53
4	562.74 km	415	BEAUMEL Jean Claude – (dos. 43)	ACM	V3M	2/152	123:51:00
5	557.316 km	411	HABASQUE Gerard – (dos. 26)	PERFORMANCE SPORTS NUTRITION	V1M	2/751	123:59:26
6	549.18 km	405	MIORIN Robert – (dos. 6)	ACM	V2M	2/416	123:54:44
7	549.18 km	405	BARNETT Sarah – (dos. 38)	MI	SEF	1/1199	123:59:52
8	541.044 km	399	JAMESON Iveagh – (dos. 24)	FONDATION SANCTA DEVOTA	V1M	3/751	123:59:21
9	538.332 km	397	DERRIEN Franck – (dos. 37)	MI	SEM	1/1090	123:53:12
10	517.992 km	382	FORCELLA Alain – (dos. 17)	PERFORMANCE SPORTS NUTRITION	V2M	3/416	124:01:09
11	478.668 km	353	LOQUET Patrice – (dos. 2392)	ACM	V2M	4/416	123:47:28
12	474.6 km	350	CHEVILLON Mimi – (dos. 14)	ACM	V1F	1/809	123:45:51
13	467.82 km	345	LARCHER Rene – (dos. 16)	US AIGREFEUILLE	V3M	3/152	123:53:27
14	452.904 km	334	ODOUARD Dominique – (dos. 10)	CFM	V2M	5/416	123:57:27
15	446.124 km	329	FOUNDLING HAWKER Heather Ruth – (dos. 6623)	FONDATION SANCTA DEVOTA	V1F	2/809	120:41:06
16	446.124 km	329	KLUKA Peter – (dos. 39)	CARITAS RIBEIRO MVT STE DEVOTE	V3M	4/152	123:59:01
17	440.7 km	325	BETAILLE Roger – (dos. 22)	FSN SAM	V2M	6/416	123:32:31
18	435.276 km	321	SHERRINGTON Abichal – (dos. 6808)	METROPOLE FASHION TEAM	V2M	7/416	123:55:19
19	433.92 km	320	ARZEL Jean Claude – (dos. 42)	ACM	V2M	8/416	120:35:50
20	419.004 km	309	SALILLAS GARCIA Garcia – (dos. 25)		SEM	2/1090	123:14:09
21	413.58 km	305	GILLARD Claude – (dos. 35)		V3M	5/152	123:52:37
22	410.868 km	303	DEFECHEUREUX Bernard – (dos. 41)	ECOTELEC ABYLON ROSNY SS BOIS	V2M	9/416	123:47:16
23	410.868 km	303	FOUCHARD DJEBLI ***** Annick – (dos. 1687)	MI	V3F	1/195	123:50:33
24	409.512 km	302	JEANNIN Christian – (dos. 31)	MI	V3M	6/152	123:58:38
25	397.308 km	293	SCHEFFER Christian – (dos. 5)		V2M	10/416	123:44:09
26	391.884 km	289	RUSSIAS Pierre – (dos. 4)	ACM	V3M	7/152	123:47:28
27	389.172 km	287	MARO Csaba – (dos. 33)		V1M	4/751	123:55:59
28	383.748 km	283	VOEGELI Dorothe – (dos. 6518)	CHILDREN et FUTURE	V1F	3/809	123:55:00
29	378.324 km	279	MOZSIK Jozsef – (dos. 21)		SEM	3/1090	123:36:35
30	378.324 km	279	COLLIOU Jean Claude – (dos. 11)		V3M	8/152	123:49:29
31	355.272 km	262	FLORIER Fabrice – (dos. 19)	CHPG	V1M	5/751	123:26:23
32	352.56 km	260	BOULITEAU Bernard – (dos. 32)	PERFORMANCE SPORTS NUTRITION	V1M	6/751	123:26:04
33	344.424 km	254	LANNOY Francis – (dos. 12)		V3M	9/152	123:57:07
34	334.932 km	247	JUDLIN Roland – (dos. 13)		V4M	1/80	124:01:02
35	328.152 km	242	PIERRE Patrick – (dos. 27)		V3M	10/152	123:59:29
36	325.44 km	240	RAMUSSEN Morten Emil – (dos. 29)		SEM	4/1090	123:46:40
37	317.304 km	234	NYSTROM Kg – (dos. 6724)		V4M	2/80	123:39:51
38	315.948 km	233	ESTATOF Bernard – (dos. 8)	MI	V3M	11/152	122:27:41
39	310.524 km	229	PERON Pascal – (dos. 28)	PERFORMANCE SPORTS NUTRITION	V