Occupation: Civil Servant

Home Town: Originally from Exeter in Devon but now reside in Stourbridge in the West Midlands.

Runners Questions

What is your running background? Retired from all sport around 15 . Never was a runner at school. Took up running in 2006 when cajoled into running a 10k for charity.

When did you first start running Ultra marathons and why? After running a 10k I wanted to do something else but running a marathon didn’t really inspire me. My Dad ran two of the early London Marathons and I remember him saying that after his second one he had no desire to do another one but he mentioned these races called ‘Ultramarathons’ and he may do one of those (He never did). This must have stuck in my mind as when I was searching on the internet for a new running challenge one of the first things I typed into Google was ‘Ultramarathon’…..this opened up a whole raft of races and I was intrigued by the huge number of races there were. My first event was a LDWA event around 2 years after running the 10k. I kind of skipped the half marathon and marathon distances and went straight in with a 40 mile event.

When or where (at which events) are we most likely to see you? I race long only a couple of times a year at most and prefer single stage longer races. I can usually be found on a canal either running or crewing but also run shorter more hilly races. I also run a lot of cross country in the winter in local leagues.

What are your personal key running achievements to date? Finishing the first LLC130 and finishing the ‘easy’ Cockbain event.- the C2C. A well paced 2.57 and a few seconds at London this year.

What was your hardest race experience? Having to drag my left leg for 4-5 hours through Newcastle to finish the C2C. One ankle was the size of a grapefruit!

What events do you have planned for 2015 up to Spartathlon? London Marathon (never done it), GUCR

What is your typical race strategy for an ultra? Big fan of run/walk.Start steady and minimise drop in pace so I am hopefully passing people all the while. Minimal time spent at checkpoints or with crew.

What does a typical training week look like? 4-5 runs a week, anywhere between 40-80 miles a week depending on the event I’m training for. Runs are a mix of speed and hills . Back to back long runs usually spread over 3 days, clocking up around 50ish miles

What one tip would you pass onto people running an Ultra marathon for the first time? Know you are going to finish before you start the race.

Can you tell us one interesting fact about yourself? I can drive a tractor

Spartathlon Questions

Have you taken part in the Spartathlon before? No

What are you looking forward to at the Spartathlon race? The whole experience..the camaraderie, the mountain, the final right turn for the finish.

What are you not looking forward to during the Spartathlon race? Nothing. I can’t wait

How will you prepare specifically for the Spartathlon race? Just more miles on the road. I’m believer in training on what you’re going to race on. A bit of speedwork and long up and down hill sessions to prepare the quads for a bashing.

Will you be bringing any support crew to the race? No