After 120 hours William run 657 km and is at the first Place.
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April 8, 2009 at 2:43 pm |
At 123hrs and 30mins, William has now run 676 Km / 420 Miles.
He has increased his first place lead to 85km in front of the #2 and over 100km in front of the #3 runner.
William is now less than 50km from setting a new age-group World Record (he has to beat 722km with a little over a day to go).
The current race positions for the leaders are :
Pos Bib Athlete Laps (km)
1 21 SICHEL WILLIAM (M) 676
2 18 NOMIKOS NIKITAS (M) 591
3 27 WU SHENG MING (M) 569
4 16 LEINONEN SEPPO (M) 567
5 8 BARAKONYI LAJOS (M) 561
6 11 KANELLOS CHRISTOS (M) 560
7 4 THANOS NIKOS (M) 559
8 17 LO WEI NING (M) 530
A lot now depends on William’s condition at this stage of the race. With only around a day to go to the 6-day mark (144hrs), if William is still running within capacity he will likely reduce rest times to spend more time on the track, but without email contact with the crew it is anyone’s guess as to how William is feeling at this point.
More soon,
Shaun
April 8, 2009 at 3:11 pm |
With only(!) 45Kms to the M55 World Record, William has over 20 hours to do it in. At 677Kms William is increasing his margin, so must be feeling confident. Let’s hope both he and his helpers last out!
April 8, 2009 at 3:47 pm |
Hi Peter & all,
There is an email address for the race via which it *may* be possible to send a message to William and the crew – I have no way of knowing if messages are actually reaching the crew and William as they can’t reply, but if anyone wishes to try and send a message of encouragement at this stage the email address I have is :
athens7days@gmail.com
Shaun
April 8, 2009 at 8:51 pm |
The race site has been a little slow with its updates again but at 129hrs, 30mins William has now broken the 700km / 435 mile mark.
He now has less than a further 22+km to run to set as new M55 Age Group World Record with over 14.5hrs in which to do it before the 144hr / 6-day mark.
William currently leads the next runner by 78km.
Pos Bib Athlete Laps (km)
1 21 SICHEL WILLIAM (M) 700
2 18 NOMIKOS NIKITAS (M) 622
3 27 WU SHENG MING (M) 597
4 16 LEINONEN SEPPO (M) 595
5 8 BARAKONYI LAJOS (M) 585
6 4 THANOS NIKOS (M) 583
7 17 LO WEI NING (M) 569
8 11 KANELLOS CHRISTOS (M) 560
All the best
Shaun
April 8, 2009 at 8:56 pm |
William’s margin remains steady, so he is not slowing down! The previous 22Kms took just under 6 hours. That suggests William may set the new world record at around 3.30am BST on Thursday morning.
Fingers crossed for William, and his helpers! More in the morning.
April 8, 2009 at 8:58 pm |
Shaun,
Thanks for keeping us updated. We’re rooting for William from here. Hope the helpers are holding out too.
Gill
April 8, 2009 at 9:10 pm |
At 130hrs, with 14hrs to go to the 6-day mark, William has now run 704km / 437.5 miles and has only 18+ km to go to set a new Age Group world Record – this seems likely to happen within the next few hours and I’ll keep updating as the countdown continues.
Shaun
April 8, 2009 at 9:19 pm |
At 130hrs, 15mins, William looks to be running at a good pace having now run 706km and increased his lead to 81km. Only 16+ KM to the M55 World Record.
Pos Bib Athlete Laps (km)
1 21 SICHEL WILLIAM (M) 706
2 18 NOMIKOS NIKITAS (M) 625
3 27 WU SHENG MING (M) 603
4 16 LEINONEN SEPPO (M) 595
5 4 THANOS NIKOS (M) 586
6 8 BARAKONYI LAJOS (M) 585
7 17 LO WEI NING (M) 574
8 11 KANELLOS CHRISTOS (M) 560
Shaun
April 8, 2009 at 10:06 pm |
At 131hrs William has now run 711 Kilometres / 442 Miles.
He now has only 11+ km to go to set the new M55 World Record.
His lead has now increased to 82km / 51 miles over the next runner.
Pos Bib Athlete Laps (km)
1 21 SICHEL WILLIAM (M) 711
2 18 NOMIKOS NIKITAS (M) 629
3 27 WU SHENG MING (M) 608
4 16 LEINONEN SEPPO (M) 595
5 4 THANOS NIKOS (M) 590
6 8 BARAKONYI LAJOS (M) 585
7 17 LO WEI NING (M) 579
8 11 KANELLOS CHRISTOS (M) 560
More shortly,
Shaun
April 9, 2009 at 12:27 am |
At 133hrs into the race William has now run 717 Kilometres / 445.5 Miles
There are still 11 hrs to go to the 144hr (6-day) mark and William now has only 5+km to run to set a new M55 World Record for this event.
William, who appears to have taken a short break before coming back onto the track, currently leads the next runner by 78km.
Pos Bib Athlete Laps (km)
1 21 SICHEL WILLIAM (M) 717
2 18 NOMIKOS NIKITAS (M) 639
3 27 WU SHENG MING (M) 611
4 4 THANOS NIKOS (M) 601
5 16 LEINONEN SEPPO (M) 597
6 17 LO WEI NING (M) 594
7 8 BARAKONYI LAJOS (M) 586
8 11 KANELLOS CHRISTOS (M) 560
9 12 KATSAROS ÁCHILEAS (M) 482
10 1 CHEN CHIEN (M) 464
11 14 KOKONIAS ANAGNOSTIS (M) 455
April 9, 2009 at 4:39 am |
At 137 hours william has now passed the M55 world record by 8Kms with another 7 hours still to go. He is leading the race by 76Kms. What a star! Congratulations to William and to his team!
April 9, 2009 at 7:33 am |
4 hours to go and William is now 19Kms ahead of the old record. Will catch up with William after Easter.
Must logoff for holiday (just like William!). Thanks to Shaun etc for updates.
April 9, 2009 at 10:10 am |
At 143hrs William has run 751 Kilometres / 466.5 Miles.
He leads the next runner by 71km.
Only 1 hr to go to the 144hr / 6-day mark
A new M55 record had been set, but of course technically William keeps breaking this every time he takes another step.
More shortly,
Shaun
Pos Bib Athlete Laps (km)
1 21 SICHEL WILLIAM (M) 751
2 18 NOMIKOS NIKITAS (M) 680
3 17 LO WEI NING (M) 658
4 27 WU SHENG MING (M) 654
5 16 LEINONEN SEPPO (M) 642
6 4 THANOS NIKOS (M) 641
7 8 BARAKONYI LAJOS (M) 635
8 11 KANELLOS CHRISTOS (M) 588
9 12 KATSAROS ÁCHILEAS (M) 515
10 1 CHEN CHIEN (M) 495
April 9, 2009 at 11:22 am |
At 144hrs (6 Days) William has run 751 Kilometres / 466.5 Miles
This is (approximately!) the new World Record for the M55 Age Group.
William has added approx 29km / 18 miles to set this new World Record (previously 722km) – the *exact* figures will have to wait until after the Greek race finishes as the smallest figure recorded on the Athens website is 1km (a full lap).
The race board stands :
Pos Bib Athlete Laps (km)
1 21 SICHEL WILLIAM (M) 751
2 18 NOMIKOS NIKITAS (M) 683
3 17 LO WEI NING (M) 659
4 27 WU SHENG MING (M) 658
5 4 THANOS NIKOS (M) 646
6 16 LEINONEN SEPPO (M) 643
7 8 BARAKONYI LAJOS (M) 642
8 11 KANELLOS CHRISTOS (M) 590
9 12 KATSAROS ÁCHILEAS (M) 519
10 1 CHEN CHIEN (M) 500
11 14 KOKONIAS ANAGNOSTIS (M) 484
12 19 NYSTROM K G (M) 413
13 20 SAGMATOPOULOS CHARIS (M)405
14 2 JANOSI ELVIRA (F) 402
15 10 DENG YEONG CHIEN (M) 360
16 28 YANG YU MIN (M) 351
17 26 WENNING GJUERGEN (M) 339
18 7 BACKSTROM MIIKKA (M) 300
19 3 BERCES EDIT (F) 201
20 22 SIPOS ISTVAN (M) 158
21 9 BAXEVANIS COSTAS (M) 81
22 90 GARILAS IOANNIS (M) 17
Technically there is still 1 day left to go until the end of the Athens 7-Day Ultra-Marathon. William had intended simply doing a standard marathon distance on the final, 7th, day but I will keep updating the blog as I get any further info.
More soon,
Shaun
April 9, 2009 at 8:18 pm |
William is off and running again – for him, this event has always really been about the first 6-days, but he is finishing off the 7th and final day with style. At 148hrs, 30ins, William has now run 760 Kilometres / 472 Miles and leads the next runner by 74km.
William probably has an awkward choice ahead – with 19.5hrs left to go until the end of the 7-day ultra-marathon, if William stops running at around this point (which was his original intention) then it might well still be possible for one of the other runners to catch up with his current distance and so win the 7-day race
April 9, 2009 at 8:21 pm |
At 153hrs 15mins (and with 15hrs of the 7-day race still to go) William still leads by 51km, having run a total of 779km / 484 miles.
Pos Bib Athlete Laps(km)
1 21 SICHEL WILLIAM (M) 779
2 17 LO WEI NING (M) 728
3 18 NOMIKOS NIKITAS (M) 714
4 27 WU SHENG MING (M) 685
5 8 BARAKONYI LAJOS (M) 680
6 16 LEINONEN SEPPO (M) 678
7 4 THANOS NIKOS (M) 677
8 11 KANELLOS CHRISTOS (M) 633
9 12 KATSAROS ÁCHILEAS (M) 549
10 1 CHEN CHIEN (M) 530
11 14 KOKONIAS ANAGNOSTIS (M) 500
More soon,
Shaun
April 10, 2009 at 12:49 am |
At 156hrs, 45mins into the 7-day race, William is still running, and as by my calculations, since the 6-day mark, he’s now added a further 33km (i.e. more than a marathon distance) to his total, I’m assuming that he’s decided to stick with the race until the very end.
This *may* (I don’t have the figures to hand) mean that he’s going for another M55 age group World Record (for the 7-day event).
We are all by now pretty much used to William achieving the seemingly impossible, but for those reading this blog who aren’t very familiar with ultra-distance racing, I thought I’d make it clear just how mentally tough a task William has set himself.
Going into this race, William was very much aiming to break the old Scottish 6-day record. For reasons that at this point we can only guess at, he hasn’t managed that – yet he has still achieved a new Age Group World Record for the 6-day event.
But all along, whatever distance he eventually managed, it had been William’s plan to run the first 6-days, then complete a final marathon distance on day 7 to meet the criteria for the race. And then he was going to stop.
Most of us, even those involved with William’s training, can only guess just how exhausted a runner actually feels at the end of 6-days of almost non-stop racing at the highest level of competition…
Let’s not forget that at the end of the 6-days William had run 751 km – further than any man of his age has ever run before in this time.
If he had then simply hung up his shoes and taken a very very very well earned rest, who on earth could have criticised him?
Well, actually, only one person.
William himself.
Having trained with him for a long time now, I really do have a very good idea of just how hard William can – and does – push himself.
But frankly, even I am going to take my hat off to him over his decision to keep racing during day 7.
It’s not just a question of his physical condition by this point – I know full well than he can push his blood, bones and sinews well beyond the limit of most human beings – it is more that I’m deeply impressed by the strength of his mind and spirit at this stage.
Deciding to run for 7-days is one thing (a pretty amazing one – I’m sure that respect for all the competitors in this race is near universal) – but to be perfectly honest, it is quite something else to plan on running for 6-days, fall short of your initial target, manage to set a World Record during this time, then, on day 7, when all along you had been planning on stopping at the first opportunity, to decide to keep on running regardless.
But really, that’s William in a nutshell.
No challenge is ever too tough for him. No setback will keep him down, and no achievement is enough to make him rest on his laurels.
Just when you think you’ve seen everything he’s got to give, there he is, giving it a bit more. And then some.
It’s often said that runners don’t really run against other runners – they run against themselves. They strive to achieve more than even they themselves believed they were capable of achieving. William typifies this attitude – with knobs on.
It is really no wonder that William tends to inspire both those who know him personally and those who happen to chance to come across one of his performances, because one of William’s gifts to the rest of the world is the example he sets. If you ever find yourself in a situation where you have to ask yourself “Can I go on with this?”, then remember William Sichel, the 55 year old cancer survivor who, having run for 6-days and set a World Record, still wasn’t ready to quit.
Whatever the eventually outcome of the race – which as I type still has nearly 11 hours to go – personally I think I’ll always regard this race as being one of William’s greatest achievements.
More shortly,
Shaun
April 10, 2009 at 1:09 am |
And at 158hrs, with 10 long and gruelling hours still left until the end of the 7-day race, William is still out there running.
He’s now clocked up 795 Kilometres / 494 Miles and leads the next runner by 59km. Which means that if he wants to be sure of winning the 7-day event, he still can’t afford to stop.
It seems likely that William will break the 500 mile mark within the next couple of hours. The race positions currently are :
Pos Bib Athlete Laps (km)
1 21 SICHEL WILLIAM (M) 795
2 17 LO WEI NING (M) 736
3 18 NOMIKOS NIKITAS (M) 726
4 27 WU SHENG MING (M) 704
5 16 LEINONEN SEPPO (M) 700
6 4 THANOS NIKOS (M) 691
7 8 BARAKONYI LAJOS (M) 686
8 11 KANELLOS CHRISTOS (M) 653
9 12 KATSAROS ÁCHILEAS (M) 565
10 1 CHEN CHIEN (M) 535
11 14 KOKONIAS ANAGNOSTIS (M) 500
More to come,
Shaun
April 10, 2009 at 2:13 am |
At 159hrs into the race (and one doesn’t get a lot of opportunities to write something like that) there’s no change in William’s position, and he’s still on 795 Kilometres / 494 Miles
He currently leads the #2 runner by 52km / 32 miles – a very good lead but it would not be at all impossible for the #2 to run 52+km in 9 hrs, even at this stage in the ultra-marathon event.
With a bit of luck, and the favour of the gods (both the local Orcadian variety from Asgard and their relatives up on Olympus), William will be back on the track to add a little to his total and ensure the #1 position as winner of the 7-day event – but an awful lot can happen in the last 9hrs…
This will almost certainly be my last update before the end of the race, but I’ll update tomorrow. For anyone who can’t wait, a reminder that the race positions are posted here :
http://www.championchip.gr/liveResults/2009/UltraMarathon/files/race7days_last.html
More soon,
Fingers crossed!
Shaun
April 10, 2009 at 8:29 am |
Go, William!
At the final stage when it’s only 3 hours to go, William didn’t even seem to move a step forward. Anything possibly went wrong? The Taiwanese runner-up Lo Wei Ming came even closer to William’s mileage with only 32k behind.
April 10, 2009 at 12:50 pm |
And at at the end of the 7-day race, William is the winner with a distance of exactly 805 Kilometres / 500.227 Miles.
It looks like William decided to break the 500 mile mark and, with his 1st place assured, call it a week (!).
The board at the end of the race reads (Times given being for Greece):
Ultra Marathon 2009
7days, April 3 – 10 Completed
Start time: 3/4 14:00
Finish:10/4 14:00
Pos Bib Athlete Laps (km) + (m)
1 21 SICHEL WILLIAM (M) 805
2 17 LO WEI NING (M) 789 217
3 18 NOMIKOS NIKITAS (M) 771
4 27 WU SHENG MING (M) 747 118
5 4 THANOS NIKOS (M) 735
6 8 BARAKONYI LAJOS (M) 731 156
7 16 LEINONEN SEPPO (M) 710
8 12 KATSAROS ÁCHILEAS (M) 603
9 1 CHEN CHIEN (M) 572 400
10 11 KANELLOS CHRISTOS (M) 560
11 14 KOKONIAS ANAGNOSTIS (M) 500
12 20 SAGMATOPOULOS CHARIS (M)490
13 19 NYSTROM K G (M) 468
14 28 YANG YU MIN (M) 452
15 2 JANOSI ELVIRA (F) 436 156
16 10 DENG YEONG CHIEN (M) 404 217
17 7 BACKSTROM MIIKKA (M) 351
18 26 WENNING JUERGEN (M) 339
19 90 GARILAS IOANNIS (M) 0
20 9 BAXEVANIS COSTAS (M) 0
21 3 BERCES EDIT (F) – GUEST 0
22 22 SIPOS ISTVAN (M) 0
With a good win and a new M55 World Record for William, there’s not a lot more to be said other than hearty congratulations from everyone on William’s home island of Sanday in Orkney, and a big pat on the back for Marja and Alan who have managed to steer William to victory with a hard and long week of crewing.
William and his wife Elizabeth will now be taking a well earned holiday in Greece – they’ll both need it.
More race details will appear here on William’s return – and then he’ll have the joy of getting back into training for next time. The fun never ends with ultra-endurance competition…!
Thanks to everyone for their enthusiastic support throughout the event – and best wishes to the Hardus family.
Bye for now,
Shaun
April 10, 2009 at 1:33 pm |
Many congratulations William. Have been following your progress and found it very exciting. First time I’ve been able to do this! Love to you both. Have a lovely holiday. Speak to you soon. Am very proud of you.
April 10, 2009 at 7:55 pm |
Well done William on an amazing win and a new record. It’s been great “watching” the race progress and I can only imagine what you went through. Well done to the crew as well, Alan must have been behaving himself…?!!
April 11, 2009 at 9:14 am |
Well Done William -a great achievement. Love and best wishes-little bruvver Stephen and family.