News

03/09/2019 00:00, In Blog / Road /

The IAU 50Km World Champs has got to be one of the best experiences of my life. Having arrived home in Cardiff and slotting straight back into the reality of work, it’s very hard to believe that it wasn’t just one crazy dream. Prior to the championships, the thought of getting a medal hadn’t even entered my head. So to come away with an individual bronze, a team bronze and a British record to boot is something that I’m still trying to get my head around!

- Dan Nash, 50km World Championship Bronze Medalist

Dan Nash made his GB vest debut in his first Ultra race last weekend at the IAU 50km World Championships in Brasov, Romania. Before this event, Dan had never run further than a marathon and on his first outing over the 50k distance he broke the British Record, bringing the time down to 2:49.01.

Dan, who ran a new marathon personal best of 2:18.51 in Brighton earlier this year, said:

"Come race day everything went perfectly. I ran 5:23 for the opening mile and it felt like I was jogging. I ended up leading the race for much of the first 15 miles. After that the South Africans, who were the pre-race favourites, began to start throwing in surges. I kept getting dropped from the lead group of ten but then they would slow up and I would re-join them again. This happened all the way up until the last 9 km lap where a Spaniard, the eventual winner, put in a massive effort which completely blew up the field. I was in 7th at this point but I still wasn’t feeling too bad. Those who had tried to go with the Spaniard were now starting to suffer and one by one I began to pick them off. With 5Km to go I realised that the next guy up the road was in 3rd place. I told myself that it was now-or-never and put in everything I could. I managed to run the 30th mile in 5:03 which was enough to move me into the bronze medal position! I was hanging on for dear life for the last mile knowing that I had a medal to defend. It was only when I crossed the finish line and stopped my watch that I realised that I had also broken the 34-year-old British record!"

The 25-year-old finished 3^rd to take the bronze medal but he also picked up a team bronze after the other three GB runners finished in the top 20. He said:

"It was my debut 50Km and my debut representing GB too and I couldn’t have asked for it to go any better. I’ll be taking a week off now before building back up for an Autumn of cross country, 10ks and maybe even some indoor races. The current plan is to then run my first London Marathon in the spring. Ultimately the aim is to compete in the marathon at the next Commonwealth Games. Maybe after that I’ll do some more ultras!"

Photo from IAU News (@iaunews)