ULTRA RUNNING

RADLEY College will host a ‘groundbreaking’ week of ultra marathon events starting on Sunday.

The British Ultra Fest combines six-day, 48-hour and 24-hour races for the first time in the UK as runners put in thousands of laps around the school’s 400m track.

Organisers reported 65 athletes had entered the event with two weeks to go, with Radley teacher and England ultra marathon international Paul Fernandez set to compete in the 24-hour race.

In modern times only two other six-day races have been staged in the UK and it was at the Gateshead track between October 13 and 19, 1990 that James Zarei became one of the very few runners to break 1000km.

To date only five other athletes have exceeded this distance.

The British Ultra Fest will be started by Zarei, whose amazing performance in 1990 came up tantalisingly one mile short of the British record of 623 miles set by George Littlewood in 1888.

Competitors in the six-day race include the 2013 French Ultra Festival champion, Didier Sessegolo, Japan’s Kenji Okiyama, Scotland’s William Sichel and Great Britain’s own multi-record holder Richard Brown.

Christian Ritella, from Sweden has run over 700km in six days and Christine David, from France, achieved over 773km in 2005.

Liz Bauer set a new record for running 100 mile races in the US in 2012, finishing with 36.

The 48-hour race will be only the fifth such event to take place in the UK in modern times, with the last being in Blackpool in 1989.

Radley’s 24-hour race provides the first opportunity to make Britain’s 24-hour squad for the World and European Championships in 2014.

The six-day race gets under way at 12noon on Sunday, the 48-hour event on August 15, followed by the 24-hour contest a day later.

  • ABINGDON’S Suzanne Beardsmore overcame stomach problems to win the 40-45 ladies’ age group title in the Race Walking Association’s National Long Distance Championship on the Isle of Man.

Beardsmore finished 17th overall and fourth lady in the 100-mile race, clocking 21hrs 47mins 16secs.

“This is the hardest thing I have ever done in my life,” she said.