Hawkins stars in Italian jog

“The human spirit is indomitable.”

So said Roger Bannister, the first person to run a sub-four minute mile.

Newbury Athletic Club’s Danny Hawkins, who finished seventh at the International Association of Ultrarunners 24 Hour European Championships race in Verona, Italy, embodies that indomitable spirit – even if the two men’s events are 164.8 miles apart.

He covered an astonishing 265.3 kilometres (165.8 miles) at an average pace of 8:41 per mile, finishing as the second fastest British athlete on his international debut.

The result was a huge personal best for Hawkins, who rockets up the UK all time performance list.

“I’m really pleased, I had a plan and stuck to it, in the end I got a good result from it,” Hawkins said.

“It’s quite easy in a race like that to get carried away, it was a long and fast race.

“If that happens, it’ll all go wrong about 16 or 17 hours in, I know what that can feel like.

“I didn’t have a clue how high I’d finished.

“I knew I was overtaking people at the end, but I went from the middle of the pack to the top end pretty quickly.”

Hawkins didn’t start running until 2017 – prior to that, he’d boxed with Thames Valley Amateur Boxing Club, but made the switch to ultra-marathons when he realised “eating pizza and running was acceptable”.

“It’s all about discipline and nutrition,” he said.

“There’s a lot of training that goes into it, but I wouldn’t say it’s any different to training for a marathon, there’s only so many hours in the day.

“All I want to do is run far, it’s actually easier than you might think.”

As he’s progressed, Hawkins has teamed up with coaches to help him develop in this most extreme of sports – first, he partnered with Paul Stout before working alongside Wendy Whearity.

Of course, when it comes to the event, Hawkins relies on his legs and, above all else, his mind.

“I’ve got a coach that comes with me, then we’ve got a team of people that look after us throughout the 24 hours,” he said.

“I was very fortunate, I spent the first hour of the race on my own and then I teamed up with another British runner and we spent almost the whole race together, we bounced off each other.

“There were a lot of highs and a few lows, you’ve got to grind them out and make sure you’re still running through them.

“I never once thought about stopping because I love doing it.”

Which is a good thing, as Hawkins insists there wasn’t too much to keep him occupied when it came to the surrounding area.

He said: “Verona’s beautiful, but we were on the outskirts in an abandoned industrial estate, it was a dump!”

Hawkins will now have around a month off before he returns to serious training and has his sights set on next year’s World Championships in Taiwan.

Who knows what he might be able to achieve there - a lot can happen in 24 hours.