There’s a Buzz about 100km again. Part 2, Great Britain.

Performances by Alexander Sorokin and Jim Walmsley in the last 18 months have created a buzz around 100km as an event again globally. The annual Anglo Celtic Plate has also seen a resurgence in standards in Great Britain too.

The best in-depth field in Britain for a road ultra for many years.

0831This years British Championship event ,incorporated into the Sri Chinmoy 100km race at Perth on April 3rd, saw the most in-depth field assembled for a 100km race in the Great Britain for many years and a corresponding surge in the performance levels . 

In this blog I take a slightly in depth look at some of the possible reasons for the current Buzz around 100k again in Britain, with observations from a couple of the key players.

A full race report I wrote for the Scottish Athletics website  HERE

The Anglo Celtic Plate and the British Championships.

The Anglo Celtic Plate or ACP as it is known was first run in 1995. It is an annual home countries International with a key aim of giving athletes from the four home nations of Scotland, England, Wales and Northern Ireland, together with The Republic of Ireland, their first taste of International competition while also acting as a possible springboard to the full GB team. It often, but not always, incorporates the British 100km Championships.

In the previous 27 editions of the Anglo Celtic Plate, there had only been 11 sub 7 hr clockings by the men and 3 sub 8 hr clockings by women. All of a sudden 7 men and 3 women are nailing it in the same race !! What is going on !!

The conditions and the course

In what were near perfect conditions in Perth, as has been said previoulsy,no less than 7 men broke the magical 7 hour barrier and  3 ladies the magical 8 hour barrier, with a string of personal bests throughout the field.  For perspective 7 hours for 100km is an average of 6mins 45 sec per mile (4min 15sec per km) and 8 hours is an average of 7 mins 43 secs per mile(4 min 50sec per km).

The course in Perth is a help. It is pretty much pancake flat with a very small rise at the North end of the 2.3 km lap and a gradual dip as you approach the city side or South end.

Race day temperatures were perfect for ultra running. An early spring day in Scotland showing temperatures of around 8 degrees at the early 7am start and rising to around 12/13 degrees towards the middle of the day .The wind also pretty much zero for the first few hours but with a freshening breeze in the early afternoon. Drizzly rain arrived around 9 hours in which affected the slower runners for around an hour, but then disappeared .

Good level of competition.

The Anglo Celtic Plate has relied on the good will of a few selfless volunteers to be staged every year. Individual or clubs, sometimes with help in kind from the home nation federations, have ensured its continuity. In recent years URAG the Ultra Running Advisory Group within British Athletics and the Anglo Celtic Plate Association , a loose affiliation of keen individuals and key endurance figures, from the home nations and Ireland have coordinated the event.

The Perth race also acted as the GB trial for this years World  100km Championships which are being held in Berlin at the end of August. The first two men and women subject to achieving the time standards of 6:45:00 for men and 7:55:00 for women would achieve automatic selection, with possible team places up for grabs too. There is no doubt that this, along with encouragement of the various home nations selectors and team managers also helped several runners prioritise the Perth race over others for the early part of 2022. In the end the first 4 men and women at Perth who achieved either the individual or team qualifying standard, set by British Athletics were selected for the Championships.

With it being one of a handful of certified 100k course in the British Isles ,Irish runners also target it as a way of laying down qualifying standards for their own National team.

Much has been written across all athletics disciplines on whether lack of races during covid had meant runners getting in hard long training blocks along with, in many cases, more  adequate recovery than usual. Although runners did have the added strain of dealing with Covid restrictions ,they also did not have the added pressure and strain that comes with regular racing and were able to concentrate on the “train, recover, repeat” mantra over several months

Statisticians overview

Renowned  ultra statistician Andy Milroy on seeing the results from Perth was moved to comment , “That is amazing.The Anglo Celtic Plate has rarely had this depth of field if ever. You probably have to go back to some of the classic London to Brighton road races to find such an in depth level of performance in a road race in the UK”. 

NOTE Prior to the recent ultra boom on the trails, The London to Brighton, a 54 mile route on the roads from Big Ben in Central London to Brighton seafront, was the UK’s premier ultra race ,targeted by all of Britains best ultra runners every year. The race was started by the Road Runners Club in 1951 And was held until  2005 when for a variety of reasons, the increase in road traffic , and recruiting new younger volunteers to help organise it, being the main factors it was no longer staged.

Those Shoes?

Any other factors ? Ah yes, Those shoes ! “Super Shoes” seem to have been discussed to distraction on many other blogs and podcasts with enough material for another blog as to how much difference they make in ultra distance races. Our contributors below mention it and , I might get round to that separate blog in relation to ultra performances sometime in the future.

Thoughts from others

So what do two of this years experienced competitors in this years race at Perth feel about the reasons for such an in depth race and the general 100km scene just now 

Rob Turner’s Thoughts

Scotland’s Rob Turner is probably one of the most consistent and experienced 100km runners in Britain in recent years. He has competed for Scotland 5 times in the Anglo Celtic Plate, recording podium finishes on 3 occasions, with one victory in Wales in 2017 second place at Perth in 2019 and third place at Perth in 2016. He competed for Great Britain in the 2018 World 100km Championships in Croatia.

“Although numbers competing in 100km doesn’t compare with the huge numbers taking part in trail events, 100km on the road has definitely become popular in recent years, both generally as a credible challenge for anyone, but also as a credible and logical challenge for faster marathon runners.You now have men and women looking at 100k as an event in its own right.

You just have to look at the top guys this year and most of them have minimum sub 2.30 marathon speed and several even sub 2.20 speed ,which with the right training adaptation can be easily transferred to the longer distance. The Anglo Celtic also has the added incentive of giving runners a chance to earn a home countries vest and even aim for a GB vest too.

Although we do have stand alone world championships at most ultra distances, it would be great to think an ultra event could make it into a major championships like the World’s or Commonwealth’s to reflect the wider interest.”

More knowledge and expertise

“I think standards have improved over the last few years as there is so much more knowledge out there now .There is much better information on fuelling and nutrition even compared with 5/6 years ago when I stepped up to Ultras.This applies not just to in competition fuelling, but coping with the extra day to day nutrition demands of a tough training block, that even a slight increase in training requires.

There is also a better coaching knowledge of what training works for a successful 100k on the road , both generally and with coaches and athletes at any level being able to monitor key personal indicators week by week to assess how an increase in workload is working for a particular athlete” .

The Perth Anglo Celtic Plate Course

“For me Perth, is a great venue. It definitely has PB potential for any aspiring 50km or 100k runner. It’s fast and flat and this year you had almost near perfect conditions which helped.(Authors note:Rob set his own PB here in 2019 when he ran 6:51:49) Having ten to twelve guys going in to the race all potentially capable of going sub 7 was also huge as a large group set a cracking pace from the gun, and the momentum was set from the early laps

Organisation

The organisation at Perth is second to none too. I think the fairly short lap (2.38k/1.5 miles) is a help too. You get a real lift every time you come though the tented area at the start /finish zone. It also enables you to refuel as required

Rob’s thoughts on any shoe benefits?

“On the super shoes front, my take on them are that they provide me no additional speed in terms of raw speed.  I have ran in super shoes and old fashioned racing flats for interval and tempo workouts with no significant differences when compared under similar conditions and routes.  However, what I did say was that I do get a recovery benefit from them.  Long run recovery is much quicker, speed session recovery is much quicker than say using a traditional road shoe.  Having said that, I also felt the same when Hoka first appeared on the scene.  I am not a speed responder in these shoes, but I am a recovery responder and believe that these shoes have extended my “career” at this level of ultrarunning.”

THE GB International now experienced volunteer and administrator

Hilary Walker, was one of Britains ultra running pioneers through the 1980’s and 1990’s .She competed for England in the ACP and for Great Britain, both at 100km and 24 hours on numerous occasions, She also set many records and claimied a victory on the Classic Spartathlon race in Greece.

Hilarys Full DUV Ultra Bio can be found HERE She is currently secretary of the International Association of Ultra runners, is an experienced British Athletics “Off Track Official” and was official race referee for the championships at Perth .

“I reckon covid countermeasures has some bearing on the step up in performances. Its not only our recent 100K performances but we have been seeing improvement in standards throughout athletics and indeed other sports. I think the focus on training rather than racing during covid lockdowns has just as much influence as improvements in the technology such as shoes! 

In particular for Perth, the athletes also enjoyed some exceptionally good conditions and it has always been one of the faster courses for the ACP – I have also wished that I was still running ultra myself when we first came to Perth as I could see/feel that it is a good course. – as well as well organised of course!

A third ingredient is competition! There is nothing like having a number of well matched athletes running to incentivise performance improvements. 

So, components are…….fast course, perfect conditions on the day, focus on training through covid restrictions; improved technology ( shoes etc), excellent competition and competitive supportive atmosphere!!”

Thoughts from one of the Champions

Jo Murphy in running 7:41:12 this year, as well as winning and lowering her own PB of 7:50:58 ,set when finishing second in Ireland in 2021, also obliterated Emily Gelder’s long standing course record of 8:00:30 from 2011

The course at Perth

“I have to be honest and say I am biased, but I love running at Perth. Yes, I live not far away which makes it a very local event but the North Inch Park loop is just perfect for running good times. Its a flat course and this year the conditions were near perfect.”

“You and your team also put a lot of effort into the organisation to make the event work smoothly and create a real buzz, not just amongst the ACP teams ,but all the runners in the open race and the 50k race too. All the support crews, as well as looking after their own or their teams runners, are also so encouraging of everybody too.”

Lure of a vest

“The lure of a National vest for all the home countries is a definite boost to help get so many talented runners in one race competing against other. Although other races can be competitive, this as good as it gets in Britain and you just have to see how the results reflect that. You rarely get so many athletes at the front of a race finishing within a few minutes of each other in a trail race.

Although most of us love running on the trails for miles too, I find I am well suited to the regular rhythm of road running. 100k on the roads is a separate and different challenge to more uneven nature of the trails. At elite level , experienced marathon runners used to hard sessions and races on tarmac can maybe adapt easier. You never know till you run one though, but I would encourage anyone to at least think about giving a road ultra a try, especially on a loop course like Perth and the other Anglo Celtic Plate courses, where regular support makes feeding easier and where the supportive atmosphere is such a boost.”

Those shoes

“I know people keep going on about super shoes improving times , but I have been wearing carbon plate shoes in races for a few years now and I am still improving, so although they may have some effect, I would like to think , my own training is the main reason for making me faster too. One benefit I do find is I recover quicker from long races when I have been wearing the super shoes.”

Buzz around 100km Globally

If you haven’t caught up with my blog on the Four fastest 100km times of all-time, you can find it HERE

If your inspired by this or think someone else you know will be , please do what you have to do by way of sharing, signing up to the mail or RSS feed or leaving a comment below. You all know how these things work by now :-)You can also follow me on twitter and insta @tarittweets 

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More knowledge and expertise

“I think standards have improved over the last few years as there is so much more knowledge out there now .There is much better information on fuelling and nutrition even compared with 5/6 years ago when I stepped up to Ultras.This applies not just to in competition fuelling, but coping with the extra day to day nutrition demands that even a a slight increase in training requires.

There is also a better coaching knowledge of what training works for a successful 100k on the road , both generally and with coaches and athletes at any level being able to monitor key personal indicators week by week to assess how an increase in workload is working for a particular athlete” .

If your inspired by this or think someone else you know will be , please do what you have to do by way of sharing, signing up to the mail or RSS feed or leaving a comment below ..you all know how these things work by now `;-0)You can also follow me on twitter and insta @tarittweets