24 Hour running is a unique physical and mental challenge. Going faster does not mean finishing sooner because the clock stops exactly 24 hours after the start and success goes to the athletes and teams that have covered the most distance. Runners are also kept to a relatively small loop, so that support is always close at hand, and running round in circles for such a long time is not to everyone’s taste!
Having said that, 24-hour running is really thriving at the moment as more and more of our talented ultra-runners take on the challenge. Ten years ago, if you made the qualifying distance you were in the team. These days we have much more depth and can select from a bigger pool of athletes.
2022 and 2023 have seen a step up in performance around the globe and the British women’s record fell in Verona in 2022 (Joasia Zakrzewski with 247.984km), and Robbie Britton set a new British men’s record in Turin in 2023 with 277.439km.
Across both World and European competitions, the women’s team have taken two silver and three bronze medals; the men have won gold at World and European level as well two silvers and a bronze. Outstanding individual achievements in the last 12 years include:
- Emily Gelder – World bronze and European silver in Katowice, Poland in 2012
- Sharon Law – European bronze in Steenbergen, Netherlands in 2013
- Robbie Britton – World and European bronze in Turin, Italy in 2015
- Dan Lawson – European gold in Albi, France in 2016
After a two year hiatus, due to the pandemic, the European Championships in Verona in 2022 saw British teams set new best total distances, unfortunately falling just short of the medals with 4th place for both men and women.
We will send six men and four women athletes to the World Championships in Taipei in December 2023, and confidence is high that we can break into the medals.
It looks like there will not be a European championships in 2024, but endurance athletes who like an extreme challenge may like to enter one of the established UK 24 hour races in 2024 (Battersea, Belfast, Crawley or Gloucester). A qualifying distance at one of these events could see you in a GB vest in the next World Championships in Albi, France, in 2025.
Interested to know more? Contact johnpares@gmail.com