Before going further I will point out that all World Records have to be ratified by the relevant governing bodies before becoming official (although in a ChampionChip controlled race this should be a formality).

By the 6-day / 144hr point in the 1000 mile race, William had covered 800 km / 497.09 miles, breaking his own M55 Road 6-day record of 751kms/466.65 miles (set in Athens last year) by an impressive 49 km / 30.44 miles.

In simple terms, he added more than a marathon in distance to his World Record.

It may help to put this in context.

On the one hand this is not William’s best ever 6-day distance.

In the 6-day Road event, when William was in the M50 category (male aged 50+ but under 55) he set a British M50 Record with a distance of   809.23km/502.8 miles (in Monaco 2007).

In the 6-day Track event, William has achieved even an greater distance, setting the modern Scottish (any age range) and British M50  Records with 857.07kms /532.56 miles (in Hamm 2008).

However, to assess William’s performance properly one has to remember that the current race in Athens is not a 6-day race.

Rather than pulling out the stops and putting on a burst in the last hours of the race, William has been deliberately conserving his energy for the rest of the 1000 miles (with over 500 miles and up to another 10 days of running ahead).

In this context, setting a new World Record while on the way to 1000 miles is a remarkable achievement.

More news as and when,

Shaun

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