William Sichel, the Scottish ultra-distance runner from Sanday in the Orkney Islands, has designs on the nation's oldest athletics record, writes Doug Gillon.

They bred them tough back in 1882. That's when the Scottish six-day record was set, at 567 miles, by George Cameron in New York.

He was a pedestrian from Glasgow who ran under the name Noremac - his own name spelt backwards.

But Sichel has designs on his time. "I'm going to have a go at the six-day record, at an event in Hamm, Germany, from June 29 - July 5," he said.

That record was set indoors, but the race in Hamm is outdoors, and he acknowledges that his efforts are slightly weather dependent.

Sichel improved his six-day best to 502 miles in Monaco last November. "The weather deteriorated badly over the last two days, and I reckon that was good for 30 miles," he said yesterday, "but it is not beyond my ability."

A former Scottish table tennis international, he has been running ultras for 14 years. He holds the Scottish 48-hour record and was world No.1 at six days in 2006.

The 54-year-old father of two daughters is fascinated by the notion of exploring the frontiers of human performance.

In 1997 he was diagnosed with testicular cancer, and had the left one removed. He was running within a fortnight and inside 10 weeks finished eighth veteran, competing for GB at the World 100k championships.