Andy’s bittersweet Scottish bid to break British record
Andy is one of Britain’s great endurance runners, representing Team GB and Wales at events across the world including the Commonwealth Games.
But there is one thing he still didn't have on his glorious CV – the British record – so he made the long journey north for the weekend's Sri Chinmoy 50k Ultra Race in Perth.
It turned out to be a dramatic day, which didn’t quite go to plan, despite an another exceptional performance from the evergreen veteran.
“I went up there to try and break the current British 50km record which was held by Welshman Dan Nash at 2:49:01,” Andy explained this morning.
“I heard that Ronnie Richmond was doing it too so we agreed to alternate a lap at the front each to guard us from the wind. A lap being 1.5 miles.
“We were on schedule for the record all the way (21 laps) and after 19 laps I started to pull away from Ronnie. I thought he was done so I just cracked on.
“I didn’t realise though he had a second wind and came past me with 200m to go and went on to get the British record in 2:48:25, and I came in eight seconds later in 2:48:33, which is 5:25 per mile).
“I’m absolutely delighted as my plan was to beat the previous record, but a bit gutted I didn’t win in the end.”
It promises to be another challenging year for Andy who shows no sign of slowing up.
“I’ll be doing Windermere Marathon in May as part of the build-up to the Comrades Marathon in South Africa in June, which is an 86km race where 23,000 people will be running! An incredible race and I can’t wait to take part.”
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