Andrew Davies cemented his position as one of the world’s top 50 endurance runners with a brilliant effort in the Swiss/French Alps.
Newtown College Campus lecturer limbered up for November’s World 50k Championships in India with a fantastic 36th place in the gruelling OCC race, the inaugural UTMB World Series Finals that featured 1,729 runners from across the world.
Andy ran the 55km, which has more than 3,300m of elevation, in five hours and 28 minutes which placed him second in the competitive 40-45 age bracket. His time would have landed a top five overall last year, so it shows just how much quality was in this year’s field.
“I had some good up-hills but I need to do a lot of work on the downhills. I lost quite a bit of time on those,” Davies told us.
“It was an amazing atmosphere and experience and hopefully I’ll come back again. The legs aren’t too bad at the moment, which I’m quite surprised. Recovery time now though!”
The race went through Champex-Lac, Switzerland, and on to the finish in Chamonix, France, taking in some of Europe’s most breathtaking scenery.
The men’s race was won by Norway’s legendary endurance ace, Stian Angermund in a time of 4:42:40, and South Africa’s Toni McCann finished in 5:18:21 to take the women’s title.
Andy will now turn his attention to November’s World 50k Championships which will be held in Hyderabad, saying that he is targeting a sub-two hours 50 minutes time.
