This December 10 of our best ultra-distance runners will head to Taipei to compete at the World 24hr Running Championships, where competitors run as many laps of a 2km loop as possible in one day.

The team is part-funded by UKA, but needs to meet the extra financial requirements themselves, covering items such as flights and accommodation for the athletes and volunteer support crew.

They have set up a CrowdFunder here where you can donate to support the team. A smaller team, both in terms of athletes and support crew, will be travelling to Taipei due to the increased cost of the Championships being in Asia, compared to Verona, Italy for the European Championships last year.

In the 24hr format race crew make a significant difference to athlete team performance and each of the volunteers will be crewing two athletes during the race, managing their fuelling, hydration, cooling strategies and more. With the race likely to undertaken in warm and humid conditions this becomes even more vital.

Rewards in return for your support

The crowdfunding has been set-up with a reward system for certain amounts, including 1-1 consultations for your own running, pacing for your key races and even a motivational talk for a business who wishes to make a bigger contribution.

Everyone who donates £5 or more will be entered into a draw for prizes donated by the athletes themselves, including Centurion Running Training Packages created by Robbie Britton, a sauna and run session with Dan Lawson and nutritional products from Precision Fuel & Hydration.

The support crew, early hours of the morning in Verona, in a rare break between athletes running past. Photo: Paul Magee

The team intends to compete with the very best

John Pares, Commonwealth 24hr Champion and current team manager said “this current team is one of our best yet and, coming off excellent performances at the European 24hr Championships in Verona last year, will challenge for team and individual medals in Taipei. The athletes who compete for GB&NI are some of the most dedicated I know and any help people can provide is greatly appreciated.”

“24 hour running is an unforgiving discipline” says current British record holder Robbie Britton. “The time, effort and toll it takes on your body is huge, all to see how far you can run in a day. The fact we are allowed to send six male and four female athletes is key as any number of things can derail your race over those 24 hours and UKA have allowed us a greater team size because we have agreed to find the extra funding ourselves.”

Photo: Paul Magee

If you would like more information on the team, the athletes or even to interview some of our runners to help spread the word then please do get in contact with Robbie on Robert.britton@live.com

Crowdfunding link is at this link and please do share on your own social media to help spread the word.