William Sichel, 54, Scotland’s leading ultra distance internationalist, ran away with the Hamm 6 Day track race, held near, Dortmund June 29th to July 6th. William ran a third consecutive personal best distance, by over 30 miles, recording 532.56 miles for a 6% improvement over his Monaco victory last November.
This distance gives William the overall Scottish 6 Day record (Modern), the Great Britain Age Group record and is the second best performance in the World this year overall.
All meaningful opposition had evaporated by the end of day one when Germany’s leading athlete Wolfgang Schwerk decided to withdraw. William went on to win by over 172 miles from the 2nd placed finisher, Trond from Norway.
“I was disappointed when Schwerk withdrew as I had gone to Germany for a head-to-head with the world leader but this wasn’t to be.”
Asked what the future now held for him at this event William responded:
“I really believe now that the sky’s the limit and a distance in excess of 600 miles is in me. The ancient record set in 1882 is now well within my grasp as well. The scale of my improvement is unprecedented in this sport and many more records are now at my disposal.”
Runners battled hot weather in all but two days with temperatures in the 30’s being quite the norm. During the final 18 hours the athletes had to run additional distance as a flash flood damaged the inner lanes of the track turning them to sludge.
As usual William is indebted to his crew members Alan Young, Tim Rainey and Marja Trimbos without whose help his performance would have been impossible.
Website: www.williamsichel.co.uk.
William competing in the Hamm 6 day track race near Dortmund, Germany
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