Winter 100 2014 Preview

The penultimate race of our 2014 season is upon us, the 3rd edition of the Winter 100. With it's new home in the middle of October, the conditions this year should in theory favour faster times, however race day in 2013 was blessed with cold, sunny and crisp weather through the day allowing for some very quick early pacing from the leaders. That gave way to some monumental blow ups later on in the race! 

This year we have very strong fields in both the mens and womens races. Below is a quick preview of some of those, as always this is just an off the cuff and very brief insight with factual errors possible, even likely. Feel free to add comments to this and help us expand on the story.

Mens

Ed Catmur: 
Ed has taken home winners trophy's from the W100, NDW100 and TP100. He won this race in 2013, setting off at a blistering pace running a sub 3 first marathon, before later slowing and almost allowing a chasing Matt Winn Smith a glimpse of the lead. As Ed is wont to do however, he kep going and even pulled something back in the final few miles to come home in a time of 16:05. He's raced an incredible amount this year and has been first to admit thats' taken its toll on his results on occassion. Which Ed will we see next weekend?

Marco Consani:
This years Lakeland 100 winner, Marco has taken his running to a new level in the last couple of years recording some truly world class performances. Over 24hrs last year, he ran furthest of any GB runner clocking 248km at Tooting Bec. Earlier this year he ran 145km in 12hrs at Crawley and set a new course record on the Glasgow-Edinburgh Double Marathon in 6:19. An experienced international, you might argue the predominantly flat track of the winter 100 will suit him. Look out for Marco to be up front from very early on in the race.

Matt Winn Smith:
Matt took 2nd place to Ed in 2013, running 16:40 for 10 minute miling on the nose. Whilst he was pleased with his effort, the best thing was the closing pace he was able to produce, giving Ed an initial scare before the leader was able to dig again and find a little more to take it home. Matt was crowned Double Ironman World Champion this August and trains in all three disciplines to an incredible level. Look out for him to go faster than last year. 

David Ross:
Dave is an ever present on the UK marathon scene and has undoubtedly seen an improvement in his performances over the last 18 months across all distances. Able to knock out a 3hr marathon week in week out, he's also produced his 2 best comrades times of 10+ runs in the last 2 years, and set a massive 100 mile PB at the SDW100 earlier this summer running just under 16hrs. He literally only needs to finish the race to be under Mark Fox's Grand Slam record of 83:32, with 53:21 Dave's total time for 3 100s in 2014. An astoundingly consistent level of performance. Of course Dave will be most worried about fending off those behind him in the Grand Slam race this year, but he has an almost 4hr lead on second place Jeremy Isaac. Dave has also recently finished the Wasatch 100 in the US which will give him 5 100's in 2014. Dave's biggest enemy is his own pacing. He runs from the front and very hard indeed. For a long time that led to blow up after blow up, but this year something has changed and Dave has managed to hold on better towards the back end of events such that he really is in contention. 

Duncan Oakes:
Duncan won our NDW100 in August, just 2 weeks after placing in the top 10 at the Lakeland 100. In fact he has raced 4 100 milers since June including the SDW100 and the Cotswold Way Centuries - placing in the top 10 in all 4. As a result he may not be quite as fresh as some of the others but he proved at the NDW100 that he is able to compete irrespective. It will be fascinating to see what he can deliver here.

Ryan Brown:
Ryan hasn't raced much at all of late. Having won our inaugural SDW100 in 2012 in 17:04, he suffered an injury which left him on the sidelines for a long time. He recently turned in an Ironman PB however, well under 10hrs. He could be the dark horse here. Who knows what he might be able to put out on the day. 

Paul Radford:
Paul has picked up back to back 2nd places at the Ridgeway 85 in 13 and 14, running 15:30 and 14:14 this August. He is no stranger to this trail and can hold a terrific pace over the long stuff. Will local knowledge play in to his hands here....

Others to look out for: TP100 2nd place finisher (2013) and 2014 Viking Way Winner Luke Ashton. NDW100 3rd place finisher Jeremy Isaac. 2012 Caesars Camp 100 champ Warwick Gooch. 

Women

Debs Martin-Consani:
Debs' list of accolades grows with each passing year. She prepares meticulously each time she races and as such has some of the most consistent results of any female ultra-athlete in recent years. A member of the GB24hr team, Debs's best as a national team runner is 220km, but she showed that she can do it over shorter time frames too this year, after she ran 129km in 12hrs at Crawley in April (a British best). She then went on to win the Lakeland 100 this July. Previously Debs has also won the Thames Path 100 (2013) and perhaps most memorably the Grand Union Canal Run outright in 2012 with a women's course record of 28:01. As a Centurion Ultra Team Runner she will be looking to take home her second Centurion trophy and a third 'double win' for the Consani family in 2014 to boot. 

Sarah Morwood:
Sarah has had three particularly outstanding results this year, a win at both the Thames Path 100 and South Downs Way 100's, and an 11th female placing at UTMB in August. She's learning each time she runs the 100 mile distance and as such could make for an incredible race between herself and Debbie. Certainly Sharon Law's record could be in danger if both push the pace all day.

Wendy Shaw:
Wendy strung together some records that may not ever be broken at Centurion events. She placed on the podium at all 4 of our 100s in 2013, with 3 more top 5's before or since. After coming unstuck with just 4 miles to go at the NDW100 she will be hungry to avenge that and much like Dave, to finally break her run and take her first win.