I am Simon Prytherch, a Welsh ultra runner and coach living in North Oxfordshire. This site features articles, events and reviews about training, coaching and racing.
Ultra marathons are any race over 26.2 miles (marathon distance), but I specialise in races of 100 miles or more. I coach athletes of all abilities, whether you are progressing towards your first half marathon, working out how to transition to ultra-marathons or want to podium in a 145-mile race.
My Recent Running History
| Date | Name | Comment |
| Sep 2019 | King Offa’s Dyke Race | 10th 74:55:25 |
| Jul 2019 | Endure 24 Leeds | 3rd 125 miles |
| May 2019 | St Illtyds Ultra (50k) | Winner 05:08:19 |
| Apr 2019 | Coventry Way Challenge (40 miles) | 06:23:00 pb |
| Jan 2019 | Training in Iten, Kenya | High altitude training |
| Oct 2018 | Abingdon Marathon | 03:14:05 pb GFA |
| Oct 2018 | Centurion 100 Grandslam | TP100, SDW100, NDW100, A100 |
| June 2018 | South Downs Way 100 (SDW100) | 20:49:14 |
| Sep 2017 | King Offa’s Dyke Race | 185 miles – tough! |
| Aug 2017 | Canalslam (GUCR, KACR, LLCR) | 7th place |
| May 2017 | Grand Union Canal Race (145 miles) | 11th 33:24:00 |
| Aug 2016 | Leeds Liverpool Canal Race (130 miles) | 6th 31:01:00 |
2019 Goals
- Finish in the top 5 at the Grand Union Canal Race (GUCR) ACHIEVED Finished 5th man
- Finish GUCR in under 30 hours MISSED
- Improve my pb at GUCR ACHIEVED Finished in 31 hours 29 minutes
- Finish in the top 3 at Endure 24 Leeds ACHIEVED
- Finish in the top 3 at King Offa’s Dyke Race (KODR) MISSED, 10TH POSITION
- Finish in under 70 hours at KODR JUST MISSED, FINISHED IN 74:55
My goals were tough in 2019, so glad to be able to achieve 50% of them.
2018 Goals
My goal in 2018 was to finish the legendary Spartathlon (read my report here) and get a Centurion 100 mile Grandslam buckle by completing Thames Path 100, North Downs Way 100, South Downs Way 100 and the Autumn 100. I achieved the Centurion Grandslam, but had to pull out of Spartathlon after 121 miles. Although I did complete the Grandslam at Autumn 100 two weeks after the Spartathlon DNF and then miraculously I ran my marathon pb one week after that.
How I Started Running
I have always been active but mostly in the mountains, walking, climbing and snowboarding, but in 2010, when I was 44 years old, I quit smoking and started running regularly to get fitter. My 10-year old daughter, Polly, came to live with me and I wanted Polly to feel secure that her remaining parent was not going to die anytime soon.
I soon started entering half marathons. Back then I said that anyone running marathons or longer is totally mad, so I would never run anything longer than 13.1 miles. But, in May 2013 I ran Edinburgh marathon and found I still had the energy to walk and maybe run afterwards. I wanted something more…
Ultra’s
So in 2015 I ran my first 100k and first 100 mile race, Cotswold Way Century a very hilly 102 mile race from Chipping Camden in Warwickshire to Bath in . In 2016 I finished the Grand Union Canal Race (GUCR), 145 miles from Birmingham to London and Liverpool to Leeds Canal Race (LLCR), 130 miles over the Pennines. I realised I enjoyed and had some natural ability for running these 100+ mile races.
In 2017 I came 7th in the Canalslam (GUCR, KACR, LLCR), finished King Offa’s Dyke Race, ran my marathon pb of 3:19:19 at Abingdon Marathon and ran over 2017 miles from 1st January to 31st December. I ran my Spartathlon qualifying time of 33 hours and 24 minutes in GUCR in May 2017.
Follow me on Strava to see my training and races
