Great Britain and Northern Ireland team results from 2021 IAU 6H Virtual Global Solidarity Weekend

Great Britain and Northern Ireland, team results from 2021 IAU 6H Virtual Global Solidarity Weekend

For the 2021 IAU Global Solidarity Run GB&NI decided to celebrate 30 years of sending athletes to IAU Championships by asking for applications from athletes who had previously represented their country. So on the weekend of the 20-21 there was a varied and experienced group of athletes, mostly based in the UK, but also in Spain and Australia, all set out to enjoy six hours of running in their local areas.

As an unranked event, we encouraged athletes to focus on the enjoyment, challenge and larger picture of training and racing we hoped to see in 2021, but some just ran around in circles as much as possible too. The competitive mentality will always be there! From tracks, to parks, up and down hills…ney, mountains, along trails and through thunderstorms and flooding, our GB&NI athletes ran together, virtually, and as a team.

For the women there were three athletes posting oner 70km with Samantha Amend making the most of her local track with a 79.66km outing as part of her build up to the Centurion Track 100. “Thank you to the GB team and the IAU for the opportunity,” said 24hr runner, who is “not one for virtual, however this one had purpose and was worth 6hrs of running!”

Amend isn’t the only athlete preparing for the Centurion event at the end of April, with both Rob Payne (82.17km) and Grant MacDonald (75km) will both be toeing the line for the 100 miler. Hopefully MacDonald has less issues with his gels being pinched by local walkers during the real event.

Lincolnshire based Payne felt “it was a great event to bring runners together and give focus during strange times.” The 24hr runner, who was selected for the cancelled 2020 European Champs “ran as many local routes as possible in the 6 hours to remember a friend I lost recently who I shared many of these routes with.

“One of the routes was a hill reps session, that felt pretty stupid at mile 40,” he laughed. “The beauty of a virtual event was that a lot of friends could come out and support on the way.”

Scottish athletes Jo Murphy (78.68km) and Jo Newens (74.23) both ran solidly for the full six hours and made the most of a bright and sunny day up north. It seems the normal Scottish weather had made it’s way to the other side of the globe.

Jo Zakrzewski fought against flooding and thunderstorms in Australia to clock 68.1km of training, just a short time after winning the celebrated Six Foot Track ultra with a splendidly paced race.

GB 100km athlete Rob Turner “Really felt that we were part of something much bigger than our own shores,” after seeing everyone posting on social media across the globe. Turner set an FKT for the East Lothian Coastal Path, but felt he could go quicker if he possibly stopped for less photos.

Sophie Mullins, Holly Page and Andy Symonds all went for hillier routes, with Mullins choosing the famous Spanish road cycling climb Puig de la Llorença to go up and down the tarmac. Page and Symonds, both fantastic ultra trail athletes, got out into wilder terrain and made the most of their Solidarity Runs.

Sharon Gayter, the most experienced of our contingent, is a former record holder for the LeJOG running he length of the UK and first represented GB & NI way back in 1994 and “chose to wear my first and oldest vest from 1994 when I first represented Great Britain over 100km”.

Fellow LeJOG athlete and former European 24hr Champion Dan Lawson spent his run covering 74km as part of his training for the Thames Path 100 miler at the start of May.

Ollie Garrod and Dave Andrews, who were both part of the August 2020 event, chose run around local parks, with Garrod using Bushy Park in London for his outing this time, covering 82.56km and the furthest of our bunch. “It sets things up wonderfully for a couple of April marathons” said the 2:57 50km runner.

Andrews, who has been focusing on the 24hr discipline, clocked 79 km himself and is planning on running some loops again several times this year.

Last up Craig Holgate, who has represented GB&NI over multiple disciplines, most recently the 24hrs and Kyle Greig, Scottish trail runner with a 6:54 100k from 2019 and a popular Tartan Running Shorts podcast, ran 76 and 82 kilometres respectively.

Results

Women

Men

Robert Britton

Team Manager