Meet Alastair Stanley: The Virtual Club’s first global winner

Alastair Stanley. Remember the name. Earlier this month Bloomberg’s Alastair Stanley made history by winning the first ever Bloomberg Square Mile Relay Virtual Club race, the Global 1 mile race.

London based Alastair is a software engineer for Bloomberg’s news product. His team builds tools for the newsroom whilst looking for ways to improve the quality and efficiency of Bloomberg’s news production.

Alastair made his debut at the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay London 2018 race but missed last year’s event through injury. “The Virtual Club was a great way to get back in the game despite lockdown”, Alastair explained.

“I was made aware of the Virtual Club through the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay e-mail list and other members of Bloomberg’s running community.”

Alastair in action at the Bloomberg Square Mile Relay London 2018.

Alastair recorded an impressive time of 0:04:56 to finish top of the field from runners around the world that took part in the Virtual Club’s maiden race.

“It was a little different not to be able to chat to my team-mates and the other competitors at the finish line. But I really enjoyed the opportunity.”

On to the big question now… How did he manage to record the race winning time?

“It was a quiet, straight section of a cycle path near my girlfriend’s house that I’d never actually run on before”, Alastair explained.

“My girlfriend and I are both primarily track runners and prefer training on grass while the stadia are shut, but I skipped our regular Sunday mid-day session to record my mile. I could have chosen a better time of day, though, as I came back with a sunburn!”

The Virtual Club has given corporate professionals across the world the opportunity to get and stay fit against the backdrop of restrictions brought about by the pandemic. But Alastair’s motivation has been closer to home…

“I’ve been lucky enough to be in lockdown with someone who’s also passionate about sport, so we’ve motivated each other to keep training. That said, we’re definitely not doing as much running as we were before lockdown started.”

“The Virtual Club came along at just the right time for me to set some new goals. It’s been relaxing to take a break from competing but I do miss it. I’ll be keeping an eye out for more Virtual Club events to shake things up, especially with how easy it was to take part.”

We get the feeling this won’t be the last time we see Alastair on a Virtual Club podium.

To find out more about the Virtual Club and to register click here.