Walden and Highfield Prepare for Marathon Season
World number 20, Ricky Walden and rookie professional, Liam Highfield warmed up for the marathon snooker season ahead by taking part in the Potters ‘ARF’ Marathon in Stoke last weekend.
Both players recorded PB times for the distance with Walden clocking a time of 1 hour and 53 minutes with his younger rival claiming the first victory of the season, beating that time by five minutes.
Three-times world champion, Ronnie O’Sullivan has a well publicised interest in road-running which seems to have inspired the younger generation of snooker player to value physical fitness as a key part of their training regime.
In fact, last November Walden completed the gruelling New York Marathon in four hours and seventeen minutes.
Walden, the former world under-21 champion said, “I get a great sense of achievement finishing a race like this and the training is a perfect escape after hours on the table.”
Bagillt’s Walden and Highfield, from Stoke-on-Trent are managed by Chester based firm Q Manager Ltd and are looked after by Lee Gorton.
Gorton told Global-snooker.com, “It is good to see a healthy rivalry building between the two. Ricky is obviously the senior guy having had success in Shanghai in 2008.
The preparation has gone well and both players are looking forward to the increased tournament calendar Barry Hearn has presented, which will see them competing week-in-week-out.
I believe that there will be a trade off between them of Ricky’s experience and Liam’s excitement that will help them both to achieve good results in the coming season”.
