dion_networks renew

The Dundee-based firm of dion_networks have renewed sponsorship for 2007.  They specialise in Trekking/Travel Consultancy; Course Measurement/Design and Coaching/Sponsoring Runners

28th January 2007: Talks & Presentations

There is growing demand for my talks and presentations.  I have recently given a talk on motivation and goal setting to patients of the Ayr Spinal Care Clinic – part of the extensive Glasgow Chiropractic practise.

I have also done a general talk about the Badwater Ultramamrathon to the pupils of Sanday school.

20th January 2007: Coach moves

My coach and advisor since 1996, David Murrie, has relocated from Paisley University to Valdosta State University in Georgia, USA. Thanks to email we can continue as before.

18th January 2007: Airline Partner Renews Sponsorship

Excellent news that Loganair – Scotland’s Favourite Airline -has renewed sponsorship for 2007.

4th January 2007: Short listed as “Citizen of the Year” for 2006

Following a readers poll by the ‘Orkney Today’ newspaper I am one of five people (the only sportsman) to be nominated as Orkney’s “Citizen of the Year” for 2006.  Voting is now open until the middle of February with the result and presentations being made on February 28th.

1st January 2007: Pro with amateur income

Huge amount of time and effort now going into my efforts to find some major sponsors.  For years now I’ve funded myself from my own pocket plus help from some excellent local sponsors for which I’m very grateful. 

Essentially, for a long time now I’ve been a professional athlete with an amateur income. 

Now that I’ve truely shown my worth, I want to get a level of funding which can match my ambitions in the sport.  This is especially true with regard to funding the expenses of support crew who are essentail for maximum performances in the long ultras. 

A minimum of one handler is needed for 24hr and 48hr events with two required for Six Day races and three for Badwater.

My aim now is to find one or two main sponsors to provide a level of financial support that matches my aspirations in this amazing sport.

1st January 2007: Optimism for New Year

I’m full of optimism for 2007 after an amazing 2006. Some new races, record attempts and barrier breaking performances are what keep me excited.

27th December 2006: Back into training

I’m now well back into training following my end of season break.  Resumption of training has gone well although it’s always painful as muscles and joints get used to the intense form of training I use especially with the weight vest running.  I’m very gradually introducing some elements of plyometric training into my schedule which I think will strengthen my fitness in the future.

5th December 2006:  Six Day Recovery

Recovery is going well from my incredible Six Day run.  It took me almost a week to start feeling normal again due to lack of sleep.  I hadn’t experienced sleep deprivation before – now I have.  I had to take pain killers for about 5 days post-race due to deep leg and joint pain but that is now well past.  Muscle condition is amazingly good and I had massage two days after the race and my masseur was amazed at how good my condition was.

I am now into my three week end-of-season break during which time I do no running.  I do race walking, turbo training, aqua jogging etc but no running.

29th November 2006:  Huge feature in The Herald newspaper

“478 miles in six days for world-best run”.  Read it here and part two is here

26th November 2006:  Result: Monaco Six Day road race

Final result: 1st place, 770.247km/478.60 miles. World’s Best for 2006. Amazed and flabbergasted to have made such an incredible debut in the Six Day event.  Completely stunned.  Need to sit down for a few days to take it all in:)))

15th November: Monaco Six Day Race

For event updates and a few race photos go to this page Monaco Six Day

The intention is to update twice a day starting on Saturday evening.

 

12th November: Sporting Honour

At a reception prior to Friday’s Orkney Sports Awards ceremony at the Pickaquoy Centre in Kirkwall I was delighted to be honoured by the Orkney Islands Council.

After my Badwater performance in July they wrote me a congratulatory letter and stated that the Council would like to recognise my sporting achievements and contribution to sport in Orkney in general.

I was presented with a lovely cut glass crystal block engraved “Presented to William Sichel by Orkney Islands Council on behalf of the Orkney community for outstanding achievements in sport.”

My wife Elizabeth was presented with a lovely bouquet.  A lovely gesture and a very proud moment for us both.

5th November 06: Six Day debut

Excitement building now for my Six Day debut in Monaco starting on the 18th November.  Detailed planning is now being finalised with my handler Alan Young. A lot of unknowns but we have sort advice from far and wide and are quite pleased with our plan so far.  A huge entry has been accepted in Monaco with about 40 athletes in the line up so far.

This site will be updated twice daily (Monaco Six Day) with my distances and a short report in the evening.  Photos will also be sent to a seperate photo page.  More details to follow.

26th October 06: Recovery

Had a very quick recovery from the Tooting experience.  I got an irritated stomach at about 11 hours into the race which caused vomiting.  Nausea was well controlled with antacids but I had to slow down too much and missed out on the qualifying marks this time.  The selection window is open until March 2007 so I may go for them in the Brno 48 hour indoor event in March.

16th October 06: Results

William has finished in 14th place, out of 43 in the field. He was 3rd man over 50, and he ran 109.9 miles.

9th October 06:  Sri Chinmoy International 24 Hour track race, Tooting, South London Sat/Sun October 14th/15th. Start 12 noon.

This event has attracted a good quality field of about 45 athletes repesenting 7 nations including the home countries.  I am attempting to get the UKA qualifying distances for next July’s World 24 Hour Championships in Canada.  Individual 234km and team qualifier 225km.

Thanks to Orcadia Design this site will be updated during the race with my distances.  Some race photos will also be uploaded to this page

1st October 06: Great Preparation for 24 Hour

September has seen an excellent month of good training for my 24 Hour event in Tooting south London on October 14th/15th.  Excellent recovery from the Badwater triumph has enabled a good progression into hard training for Tooting.  I am extremely strong and robust and recover well from ultra-marathons.  I feel I am getting the benefit from my 12 year involvement with the sport.  I am able to compete relatively frequently and am not completely ‘wiped out’ when racing the long ultras.  I am still producing lifetime bests on training runs despite now carrying over 4.2kgs in my weight vest.  All this at the ripe old age of 53 today!

1st September 06: 10 year battle with stomach problems ‘now over’.

Following my Badwater experiences I believe that my 10 year struggle with stomach problems in long ultras is now over.  Ever since my first 24 Hour race in October 1996 I have had problems with nausea and vomiting in long ultras (24 hours and over).  Even in my big performances of 240km/149 miles (1998) and 246kms/153 miles (2000) I suffered with nausea and vomiting.

It has been a long and frustrating journey to the current position where I can announce that “I now know what is going on.”  I stuck with the 24 Hour event as my main event because I have always known that this was the event where I was able to be truely ‘world class’ and two performances have already demonstrated that. 

How have I solved the problems?  A long and painstaking process of gatheirng data and experiences from many 24 Hour races and then consulting with people knowledgeable in a number of fields.  The whole process was speeded up two years ago when Alan Young offered to travel to all my races with me to act as handler and gather all data from the race in meticulous detail for later analysis.  This pin-pointed a number of issues which have been addressed.

What were the problems? 

I was taking in more calories – in all form – than I was able to process.  I have discovered that I need tiny amounts of energy (less than 100kcals/hr) in these long races as I am very highly adapted to fat metabolism. 

My fluid requirements are low, even in the world’s hottest race, 800mls/hr was enough. 

The final piece of the jigsaw was the discovery that I suffer from ‘acid stomach’ during long ultras which must be addressed otherwise I am overwhelmed by nausea and vomiting.  Easily corrected by very small pieces of solid food per hour and/or an antacids such as TUMS tablets.

I now believe that I can “focus on the running” in future events knowing how to handle my stomach.  The coming years are going to be an exciting journey and one I have been waiting for, for a long time!

17th August 06: “Desert Braveheart”

Huge one and a half page feature in The Daily Record (one of Scotland’s biggest circulation daily papers) last week. Read it here.

Upgraded web site

Many thanks to Orcadia Design for the fully professional upgrade to this site – now even neater, smoother and faster uploading than ever before.  Johanna really is a whiz with web sites and if you need your own site upgrading or need a new site – anything from a single page to a complete on-line shop – then Johanna is your lady.  Thanks Johanna.

5th August 06: Brilliant recovery

Excellent recovery from the battering of Badwater.  Even my bad toe is coming on well and not interfering at all with resumption of training.  A good media response to my performance with some great follow-up media coverage which is good for the sport in general and the event in particular.

29th July 06: Triumph in Badwater

Hugely successful run in the Badwater Ultramarathon.  Faster ever run by a British competitor in the 29 years of this event.  Also beat two respected former winners Pam Reed who DNF’d and Dean Karnazes.

Meticulous planning and preparation paid off handsomely.  Crew were fantastic – we were all Badwater novices but what a team effort! Sincere thanks to Alan Young, Tim Rainey (both from the UK) and Mark Williams a Brit based in San Jose.

26th July 06: Badwater Results

William has set a new British record for the Badwater Ultramarathon! We are pleased to announce that William finished the race in 7th place overall out of 85 starters and 67 finishers, in 31 hrs, 36 mins and 12 secs.

18th July 06: Badwater – Race Updates
My start time is Monday 24th July 1800hrs (6pm) UK time

Mobile phone coverage is very very patchy and unreliable in Death Valley and surrounds but where and when possible my crew will text my progress back to this site via Orcadia Design.

The race also boasts an excellent web cast which will probably give more reliable information as they use satelite phones and the internet look here: http://www.badwater.com/2006web/

20th July 06: TV Feature

A film crew will be coming out to Sanday tomorrow to film a piece for Grampian TV on my participation in the Badwater Ultramarathon.

19th July 06: Badwater Final Preparations

Many many people have asked ‘When are you leaving for Badwater?”  Well I fly out of Sanday on Thursday 20th July and then leave Kirkwall on the 7.30am flight on the Friday arriving in Los Angeles on the same day!  Yes a very very long day.

All preparations have gone well and I now have just 4 more sauna sessions before I leave.  Training has been good and I am fit, have no injuries and have a good race plan and excellent crew.

4th July 06: Garden Party at the Palace of Holyrood, Edinburgh.

Elizabeth and I have been invited to the Royal Garden Party at Holyrood tomorrow afternoon which will be something different and give me a short break from my preparations for Badwater.  We then return to Holyrood again the following afternoon for our daughter Bella’s Duke of Edinburgh Gold Award presentation.

21st June 06: Badwater Ultramarathon

All focus is now on the my first attempt at the Death Valley race 135 miles almost to the top of Mount Whitney.  Extra heat training has begun and this will intensify for the last 3 weeks before the race.

6th June 06: Recovery & follow-up

127.3kms/79.1 miles was my final distance distance in Apeldoorn as I was too sick and nauseus to carry on.  Obviously very disappointed but some good has emerged as I consulted the experienced race doctor and asked him to examine my race plan for clues as to what had gone wrong. 
Following analysis it has emerged that I might be very sensitive to stomach acid excess which may be inflaming the small intestine early on and later causing acid reflux causing nausea and vomiting. 
Small changes to my race plan including having small pieces of solid food hourly and starting this early plus the use of an antacid should solve the problem.

27th May 06: Apeldoorn Race Updates

14th hour, 127.3 km, 6th place, but very sick.
12th hour, 115.8 km, 3rd place.
10th hour, 100.8 km, 2nd place, but sick.

26th May 06: Apeldoorn Race Updates

8th hour: 82.6 km, 3rd place.
6th hour: rain stopped, 62.8 km, 3rd place.
5th hour: still very wet weather, 51.2 km, 5th place.
4th hour: very very wet weather, 41.3 km, 6th place.
3rd hour: very wet weather, 31.4 km, 7th place.

23rd May 06: Race Updates

Thanks to Orcadia Design and Alan Young 4 hourly updates will be posted to this site during the course of the race.  Most of the updates will appear on the site during the evening.

19th May 06: Dutch 24hr race

I have had an excellent build-up to the Apeldoorn 24hr road race 26/27th May in Holland.  I am fit and in good form for this major race, one of the best 24hr races in the world and being run for the 27th time.  Will leave home on Wednesday afternoon and meet handler Alan Young in Aberdeen ready for our onward journey to Holland.

18th May 06: Magazine articles

I have been asked to become a regular contributor to the “Multidays” running magazine which, as the name suggests, covers events from 24hr upwards incl 48hrs, 6 and 10 day events and’ journey runs’ across countries and continents.

6th May 06: UKA issue 24 hour European and World Championship criteria

The governing body for athletics in the UK – UK Athletics -have issued selection criteria for the European 24hr Championships being run in Italy in September and next year’s World 24hr Championships which be run Canada in July.  Full details here

There is very little time for anyone to go out and achieve the standard for September but good notice has been given for the Canadian event.