10 questions
and we find that the OCREC winner also has a weakness too (just one)
Our 10 questions to Jonathan Albon, the OCR European Championships 2017 absolute winner, from 30 June to 2 July in Holland, who won a double gold medal in the Short Course and the Standard Course.
Jonathan is an all-round athlete who enjoys competing in obstacle racing and skyrunning most of all. Crowned the OCR World Champion in 2014, 2015 & 2016 and having won the 2016 Skyracing Extreme World Series, he has seen much success within both sports. With an appetite for adventure and pushing his limits who knows where his sporting pursuits will take him.
The UK obstacle runner, who lives in Norway, answers to us coming back from a holiday in Valle d’Aosta.
How did you start to run OCR? What’s your sports background?
“In 2011 I entered winter Tough Guy in the UK. This was my first obstacle race and from there I started entering more and more. Before this I only ran every now and then, my main sport growing up was skater hockey (like ice hockey but on roller skates)”.
What do you like more about this sport?
“I like that every race is different and therefore fun/interesting. I also like that the fitness required is very balanced with good speed/endurance as well as good strength required”.
What about your training plan? How many hours per day do you train and how?
“I train something between 15-25 hours a week depending on the time of year and what races are coming up. This is mainly running and bouldering but I use a lot of cross training including cycling, circuits, swimming, snowshoeing and cross-country skiing”.
The weak point of Jonathan Albon is…
“I am a poor swimmer and lack good technique, when doing a triathlon I am usually very far behind after the swim”.
Your motivating factor during the races or your hard training?
“I enjoy pushing myself to find out how fit I can be, hopefully I would be doing this with or without races”.
What did you enjoy more and less about OCREC 2017?
“I enjoyed the string of technical obstacles, the long rope traverse really pumped my forearms which made the following grip strength obstacles challenging without slowing down to allow some recovery.
I didn’t much enjoy the crazy start through the ditches, I was stuck somewhere around the back and then got caught up in a stampede of crazy people that started way too fast”.
Will you partecipate in OCR World Championships? Who are your mains competitors?
“I plan too. In the last years, it has only been Ryan Atkins that can nearly keep up, who knows this year though”.
In Italy OCR is growing only in the last years. To motivate people to try it, what would you tell them?
“I would say have fun in everything you do. If you make training fun you will do more of it and therefore get better. There are lots of different ways of training, you just need to find the ways you enjoy. This is why I go bouldering more than do circuits”.
Which tips would you give to competitive athletes?
“Pace the race well, starts to obstacle races are usually far too fast and this can ruin many peoples race. I would also say work on your weaknesses but this can be very hard to do”.
Do you know an Italian OCR? Would you like to run one?
“I have never run an Italian OCR, I have run a few skyraces in Italy and really enjoyed visiting. Maybe one day I can try an obstacle race there”.
