Hello, its Paul here posting the March 2017 team update.

British Spartathlon Runners

The draw has now been completed and the 2017 British Spartathlon runners have been announced. Congratulations to the following list of people who have secured places this year.

Marco CONSANI
, Nathan FLEAR
, Ian HAMMETT
, Cameron HUMPHRIES, John KNAPP
, Dan LAWSON
, Sarah MORWOOD, Fabio RIZZO CASCIO, Ali YOUNG, Ian Thomas
, Jamie Holmes, Paul CORDEROY, Marcel MCKINLEY
, Richard POMEROY
, Stephen SCOBIE
, Darren STRACHAN, Jon PANTER
, Matthew BRAND
, Laurence CHOWNSMITH, James ELLIS, Paul STOUT
, Richard HEATH
, Katharine GANLY
, Sarah WILLIAMS & David BONE.

The full list of runners of all nationalities can be found here and the waiting list can be found here

We also have a rather large list of UK runners on the waiting list in case anyone’s circumstances change, so there will be a full UK team this year.

British Spartathlon Team

For those people who have secured an entry this year, welcome to the team! It’s probably worth reminding everyone what the British Spartathlon Team is all about.

Firstly, this is very much an “unofficial” team, a more accurate term would be British Spartathlon ‘representation’. If you have run the appropriate qualifier, secured a place via the Spartathlon entry system and are a registered UK entrant then essentially you are part of the team.

The ‘team’ aspect and website were established to provide a focal point for British runners at this fantastic event. Our intentions are simply to ensure that British runners and crews represent themselves well during the event, build some team spirit and national pride alongside other countries and competitors. In addition, this also provides an opportunity for runners and crews to ask questions and get to know each other. Part of the enjoyment of the event is the week of the race itself getting to know and mixing with other crews and competitors from different countries.

In order to ensure that British runners are recognisable, we aim to supply some kit for runners through sponsorship. Please take a look at some of the photos and galleries on the website to see what we have done in the past and how good the team has looked.

We would ask that everyone involved gets into the spirit of the event and helps each other out. From my own personal experience when I first ran the event in 2013, my luggage was delayed and I was faced with tackling the race without some spare kit/headtorches and supplies (thankfully I packed trainers and running kit in my hand luggage). However, the other British runners rallied around with offers of spare kit etc so I could tackle the race. Fast forward to 2015 and we had one runner who completed the race who required some medical attention. One of the medics at the finish area spotted the group of British runners in our team kit and alerted us that one of our own was feeling unwell and I spent a couple of hours sitting with someone in the medical tent just to make sure that they were ok as the didn’t have their own crew. Getting to known people and helping them out when needed is encouraged as you never know when you may require some assistance yourself!

The other ‘request’ is that you take this event seriously and ensure that your training and preparation is sufficient for an event of this nature. The finishing rate for this race is no more than 50% and we would love to have a year when we have a full complement of British finishers.

The team is currently organised by Rob Pinnington who has been the driving force behind the team over the past couple of years and takes a lead on raising sponsorship and organising the kit. James Ellis who will be running the event for the third time in three years who is the teams PR guy and myself (Paul Ali) who runs the website and manages the teams twitter account.

We are pleased to say that work is already underway with sponsorship and kit design and further details will be shared over the next couple of months.

Website

If you haven’t looked through this website in detail then please take the opportunity to look through this resource, this will hopefully provide some answers to questions you may have.

We have plenty of race reports and blogs linked to on the website here from both finishers and those who have not been successful so its worth a read through these in advance.

For newcomers, there is a handy Runners FAQ document here.

If you want to engage in further discussion then please feel free to join the British Spartathlon Facebook group here.

Runners Profiles

For those people who are running this year, we would like to add a ‘Runners Profile’ on the website (You can read last years team profiles here). Please note there is no obligation to supply this information at all.

If you are willing to let us know a bit more about yourself, then would you please email the britishspartathlonteam@gmail.com email address with answers to the following questions and also include a couple of ‘running photos’ of yourself.

Your Name:

Occupation:

Home Town:

Twitter Account: (If applicable)

Website/Blog: (If applicable)

What is your running background?

When did you first start running Ultra marathons and why?

When or where (at which events) are we most likely to see you?

What are your personal key running achievements to date?

What was your hardest race experience?

What events do you have planned for 2017 up to Spartathlon?

What is your typical race strategy for an ultra?

What does a typical training week look like?

What one tip would you pass onto people running an Ultra marathon for the first time?

Can you tell us one interesting fact about yourself?

Have you taken part in the Spartathlon before?

How did you get on?

What tip would you pass on to those taking part for the first time?

What are you looking forward to at the Spartathlon race?

What are you not looking forward to during the Spartathlon race?

How will you prepare specifically for the Spartathlon race?

Will you be bringing any support crew to the race?

Note: We would also like your email and mail address so that we can contact you about the free kit donated by our sponsors. These will NOT be published!

Finally

Good luck with your training over the next few months!

Paul