Pictured above: Jeremy Bragg of Drivers Jonas Birmingham competing in the Commonwealth Mountain and Ultra Distance Championships in Keswick.

Jeremy Bragg, senior project manager at Drivers Jonas' Birmingham office has won two gold medals representing England at the Commonwealth Mountain and Ultra Distance Championships in Keswick.

The unique event brought together three separate disciplines - mountain races, the 100km road race and the 24-hour race - for the first time, and tested athletes to their limits of speed, endurance and mental strength.

28 year old Jeremy, who regularly runs to work in Birmingham's Colmore Business District from his home in Warwick, won the 100km race (62.2 miles - the equivalent of running over two marathons back to back), with an impressive time of 7:04 minutes.  With English competitors also securing second and third place in the race, Jeremy took home gold medals for both his individual and team effort. 

With the Championships coming at the end of a long and tiring race season, Jeremy came back from some difficult spells in the first half of the race - when he was as far back as 8th position - to pull through the field in the latter stages, eventually taking the lead from England teammate, Matt Giles, with just 5km to run.

"I had very heavy legs early on and for long spells of the race I wasn't sure I would have the strength to finish, let alone compete for medals", commented Jeremy.   "I managed hang in there until the crucial latter stages and in the end I just about had enough strength to pull ahead and take the race with just over a one minutes lead."

With an average pace of 6m48s/mile over the 62.2mile course, it's an incredible achievement for Jeremy who only took up running seven years ago.  Unsurprisingly Jeremy's training regime is extremely intensive, typically involving two sessions per day, a commitment which his employer, Drivers Jonas, actively encourages:

"Drivers Jonas are very supportive of my running commitments and allow me flexibility around races to get the necessary training in to compete at the highest level and to properly prepare for races," added Jeremy.  "I have yet to decide on my plans for 2010 but I've got my eye on some of the national long distance trail records such as the Pennine Way or Coast to Coast, to add to the West Highland Way record I set in 2006. I am also keen to run for Great Britain again and bring my 100km time down. But there is plenty of time over the autumn and winter to rest my legs and think about that!"