Albion Running Present: An Evening With UK 24-Hour Record Holder Matt Field – Fri 24th Jan

Doors 6.30pm. Starts 7.00pm. Adv ticket £15. On the door ticket £17.

Way back in 1982 Dave Dowdle ran 170 miles in 24 hours around a running track in Gloucester to set what was then a world record. It was the British record for an astonishing 41 years until Robbie Britton ran 172 miles in Turin, Italy in February 2023 to set a new UK best. The UK record had been on Robbie’s radar for some time and through a huge amount of trial and error involving pacing, nutrition and many other factors he had finally overtaken Dave’s historic effort. Dan Lawson had come very close to the mark at the European 24-hour championships in Verona, Italy the previous year with team-mates Danny Hawkins and Paul Maskell also getting within sight at the same event.

It was thought that one of these runners might be the one to overtake Robbie’s new record if Robbie didn’t better it himself first. With astonishing advances in 24-hour running in recent years, including Lithuanian Alexandr Sorokin setting an incredible world record of 198 miles, it was thought that this time the UK record would be broken much sooner. However, what nobody saw coming was Matt Field’s incredible run at Gloucester in August 2024.

Matt had shown a lot of talent as an ultra-runner, having taken up the sport just a couple of years previously and picked up wins at Chester 50 Miler and Gloucester 24 hour track race with a 2nd place at the highly competitive Thames Path 100 Miler. His winning distance of 146 miles at Gloucester in 2023 showed he had some real talent for 24-hour racing, but could anyone really have imagined what would happen the following year? He ran a race for the ages to record 174 miles, setting a new UK record in the progress just 18 months after Robbie Britton had finally bettered the record from 1982. On January 24th you will have a chance to hear about how it happened, what it takes to run such an insane distance in 24 hours and just how much further Matt believes he might be able to go. Not one to be missed!

Half hour interval at 8pm with free snacks and a chance to win some cool running-related prizes.

There is a licensed bar serving alcoholic drinks, teas and coffees.