Comparing British 24-hour records
In Comparing British 24-hour records, the analogy of waiting for buses, ”You wait hours for one, then two come along at once,” could be applied to the men’s 24-hour record.
Matt Field recently set a new GB 24-hour record of 281.303 km or 174.793 miles at the Gloucester 24-hour race on 24/25 August 2024.
Before February 2023, the British 24-hour record had stood for 41 Years. Dave Dowdle had set the GB record back on 23rd May 1982, when he ran 274.480 Km/170.553 Miles. At the time, his distance also broke the existing, men’s World Record.
Now, in the space of 18 months, it has been broken twice.
Dowdle’s World Record would be broken just a few months later when the Frenchman Bernard Gaudin ran just 235 metres further, recording 274.715 km, at Niort in France, on 14th November 1982.
However, Dowdle would enjoy being GB 24-hour record holder for the next 40 years despite the best efforts of a few excellent runners.
It was not until 26th February 2023, when Robbie Britton, with his run in Turin, would relieve Dowdle of the mark. On a short road loop, he achieved 277.439 km//172.392 Miles, bettering Dowdle’s distance by just under 3 km or 2 miles. At the time, jokes were made that his mark could also last for many years.
Matt Field from Wem in Shropshire, a relative newcomer to ultra running, obviously didn’t get that memo.
Just 18 months after Robbie Britton set that distance, on the weekend of 24th /25th August 2024, at the Podsmead track in Gloucester, Field ran 281.303km or 174.793 miles, pushing the record up by almost 4 km.
What is even more extraordinary is that Field only ran his first ultra race the week after Britton set that record in February 2023,
You can read more about Matt Field in my chat with him HERE
COMPARING Britton’s and Field’s Distances.
In Comparing British 24-Hour records of the two record runs, the figures speak for themselves in many ways. With the two respective records being very close, you would expect to see similar hourly splits.
Expressed as an average km per hour, Britton averaged 11.55 to Fields 11.72 km\s per hour.
Both averaged around 12.00 km per hour for the first 12 hours. Britton 11.98 Kph Field 12.10 Kph
Although we don’t have access to a breakdown of Dowdle’s record run, in 1982, he ran an average of 11.43 km per hour.
Looking at 6-hour splits, we can see that although they were within just over a km of each other at halfway, Field maintained and increased his pace slightly in the third quarter to 18 hours. In the last 6 hours, Field was to be the slower athlete while still maintaining comfortably over 10km an hour.
Britton noticeably slowed between 12 and 18 hours, then proved strong and sped up on the last 6 hours. Probably realising Dowdle’s record was slipping away but still in touching distance, Britton ran more distance in the last six hours than Field achieved.
BRIEF HISTORY OF THE MEN’S GB 24-HOUR RECORD.
Looking at a brief history of the GB 24-Hour Record, interestingly, only nine athletes have held the record since 1879, approximately 140 years. George Hazael was the first recorded GB 24-hour record in 1879 with 133 miles set in the frist day of a 6 day race. In 1882 Chares Rowell surpassed this with 150 miles. Comrades Marathon legend Arthur Newton improved it by a few kilometres in 1931.The UK Road Runners Club staged several 24 hour races in the 1950’s through to th2early 1980’s. This gave an opportunity to Derek Reynolds, of Blackheath Harriers, to improve Newton’s mark by just over 2 Miles in 1953. It would be 20 years before Tipton Harrier, Ron Bentley, improved the record beyond 160 miles in 1973. Prolific racer Mark Pickard, of Epsom and Ewell Harriers, was to improve it by over 2 miles (3.2 km) in 1981. This was also a Road Runner’s Club event. Dowdle then addedapproximately 11 km (7 Miles ) in his record run the following year. Robbie Britton and Matt Field have made further advances.
I am indebted to Andy Milroy for the historical records of the distances by Charles Rowell and Arthur Newton. Also to Mark Pickard for pointing out some discrepancy’s on distances and dates, and the 1879 distance by George Hazael.
We should aslo mention that the Women’s British 24-hour record was broken in 2022 by Jo Zakrzewski. She ran 247.984 Km /154.090 Miles, improving the distance Lizzy Hawker had set in 2011, at the Commonwealth Ultra Championships in Llandudno, by 908 metres.
What could the future hold for British and world records?
The last few years has certainly seen the 24 hour event take on a resurgence in interest.
Both the men’s and women’s World Record’s have been pushed out in recent years.
Aleksandr Sorokin breaking Yiannis Kouros long standing mens mark in 2021 when he recorded 309.399 km/192.251 Miles, at the Pabianice race in Poland. He then raised that to 319.614 km/198.598 Miles in the following year, when winning the IAU European Championships at Verona.
In the last 7 years the women’s World Record has been bettered five times.
Poland’s Patrrycza Berezknowska led the way when bettering Mami Kudo’s 2011 mark of 255.303 km twice in 2017. In April 2017 she ran 256.246 km in Lodz, Poland and then surpassed this when winning the IAU World Championship in Belfast in 2017, with 259.991 km.
In the next two years, Camille Herron was to rewrite the record books twice, recording 262.192 km/162.918 Miles at Phoenix, in December 2018, and then running almost 8km further with 270.116km/167.842 Miles at the 2019 IAU World Championships in Albi, France.
Fast forward to the next World Championshps at Taiwan, in December 2023, and Japan’s Miho Nakata, in a very tense finish, recorded 270.363 Km /167.995 Miles. A mere 247 metres further.
The next IAU World 24-Hour Championships are set once again for Albi, in October 2025.
Who is to say, whether in that competitive arena, both the World and British records will be challenged.
ALL TIME GB 24 Hour records.(updated at 6th November 2024
You can read more on the progression of the GB 24-hour record HERE
You can read Robbie Britton chatting about his record run HERE
You can see the full World all time 24-Hour rankings HERE
Big thankyou to Robbie Britton for providing stats from his record run in Turin.
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Adrian Tarit Stott.
The author is a former GB 24 hour ultra international with over 100 ultra race completions. He has also been involved organising ultra distance races for over 30 years. Still an active recreational runner, he is currently a member of UKA’s Ultra Running Advisory Group (URAG) and part of the selection and team management for both Scottish and GB ultra teams.He is also a freelance writer in his spare time, contributing articles and reports to several websites and magazines including Athletics Weekly and Irunfar.
