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Trail Running in the Olympics, Singletrack Events Takeover, and 4 Peaks Recap | Episode 82
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In Episode 82, James, Brodie, and Jess cover a massive week in Australian trail running. Jess shares her Kosci 50km training update (plus some broccoli-sprout science), Brodie dives into weighted uphill training and his return from injury, and James reflects on progress in his own recovery.
The crew unpack the latest news shaking up the sport — from Salomon backing the Olympic bid to Singletrack taking over Running Wild events — and what it all means for the future of trail running in Australia.
They also recap all the action from Four Peaks, including standout performances from Lucy Bartholomew, Demi Caldwell, Ian Best, and Kate Avery.
Tune in for the biggest stories, insightful takes, and plenty of good banter from the trail.
Results:
- 4 Peaks (VIC)
- Portland 3 Bays Running Festival (VIC)
- King Of The Hill BYU (VIC)
- Bare Creek Trail Run (NSW)
- Kunanyi Trail Series: Knockers & Knockers Sport (TAS)
***Don’t forget, use code PEAK at https://bix-hydration.myshopify.com/en-au for 20% off Bix products, exclusive to PPP listeners!***
Thanks for tuning in to Peak Pursuits!
Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
Follow Brodie: Instagram | Strava
Follow Jess: Instagram | Strava
Follow James: Instagram | Strava | Website
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
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Transcript
Introduction and Jess' Return
00:00:00
Speaker
Music
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Peepershoot Podcast. This is episode 82. My name is James. I'm joined this week again by Brody. Brody, I think everyone's going to get pretty sick of our voices by now. yeah um And fortunately, we have Jess on after a week off.
00:00:22
Speaker
Jess, how's ah how's the last couple of weeks been for you? Yeah, really good. um Just getting back into the swing of everyday life, working and running and balancing everything, feeling pretty tired, but getting into a routine, which is nice.
00:00:38
Speaker
I've got a couple questions. So have you, Gnomeo, how many times you tried that? um I've only tried it once before a run.
00:00:50
Speaker
um It's kind of, it's quite difficult to take before a session because you've got to take it three hours before. Yeah. So I've been doing morning sessions. um So I took it for my long run on the weekend because I was driving um to Kosciuszko, so I had time.
00:01:07
Speaker
But um otherwise, you can also take it before
Broccoli Sprout Supplement Discussion
00:01:12
Speaker
bed. Like it says you can take it one hour before bed for a recovery. um I've done that a couple of times and like, I don't know if it's placebo, but like I feel like I sleep pretty well and wake up feeling pretty good.
00:01:23
Speaker
So... Have you read into much about what it's about? um Sort of. I just know that it's made from broccoli sprouts. um Like the ingredients are very simple. It's literally broccoli sprouts, lemon and like sugar or something.
00:01:39
Speaker
um And they must make it with like a cold press juicer or something. um Not me already thinking about how I could make it myself.
00:01:50
Speaker
Yeah. hey i've heard of and I've heard of some people talking about trying to make it themselves and I think it's <unk> fairly difficult to make on a small scale yourself.
00:02:00
Speaker
Yeah, probably. Because you probably need a lot of broccoli sprouts. Yeah, yeah. I do eat a lot of broccoli, so, you know. um But, yeah, no, I think
Jess on the COSY50 Course
00:02:12
Speaker
it's mainly designed to buffer out the lactate, but I don't know, like, the chemical processes or anything like that.
00:02:19
Speaker
So it's kind of like a organic healthy version of and bicarb that hopefully doesn't ruin your stomach. I don't know if it's an alkaline like bicarb, which is what counteracts the lactic acid, but I know it is one of the chemicals that's found in the broccoli sprout that is used.
00:02:39
Speaker
So I'm assuming it's some kind of base that neutralizes lactic acid. Yeah. um Yeah. right Freddie, have you tried it yet? I haven't. I haven't. i am I got my hands on some. so But I also want to do it on like a harder session, although most of my sessions feel pretty hard at the moment, so maybe I could have.
00:03:00
Speaker
But I wanted to do it on a session that it felt like I could actually see if I noticed an effect. Like I've heard a lot about it in the last six months. um So, yeah, and I'm interested to try it.
00:03:12
Speaker
It's an interesting one because it's a yeah that it's one of those products, I guess, similar to Bicarb that's fairly expensive. um and you get the most benefit out of probably using it consistently in your training. So, yeah, I don't know the utility of, like, who can who's actually going to be able to afford to use it and like what level of athlete is it actually beneficial for. um That's probably my main thoughts.
00:03:37
Speaker
um So, yeah <unk>s yeah, I think it's something that's potentially worth trying and then and then seeing what it what it what it feels like. um Yeah. And yeah, I'm interested. it I'm interested just to try it, even if it's just once.
00:03:52
Speaker
Yeah, like I guess, Jess, you feel like at the moment your limiting factor is recovery and kind of time? Yeah, I think so. Yeah. yeah So from that that perspective, anything yeah that potentially does help it is probably worthwhile within the reason. I haven't really done sessions that's probably your best indicator like whether it's working. Like I haven't really been on the track.
00:04:15
Speaker
um I think, yeah, like tempo and stuff, I'm not sure if it would actually, you'd actually notice it. um maybe on a heel session um it'd be interesting but
Brody's Training Techniques and Trends
00:04:24
Speaker
yeah definitely some more um trials before i have a verdict yeah no hasn't done anything weird to your stomach no it's been fine and i've got a terrible stomach so yeah yeah it's definitely a different a different um i don't know the exact like way that it works but it's a different ah pathway to what blackup is um so so people use both ah in conjunction um i think like especially the bit where you're saying you're using it before bed i've i've heard people using it that way as well and i think it's it's quite a strong sort of like anti-inflammatory type uh cool that's that's the reason i think that it's useful for that like an anti and and i think the other part is sort of like an antioxidant like it so it fits into like similar category as like
00:05:11
Speaker
I don't know, you might see people at the moment looking at currants is one of the black currant extract. Modex is another one that comes from some I think this fits into a similar category to those ones, but it's interesting because it is also, talk i don't know the pathway, but they're talking about that sort of lactic buffering effect. And I don't know how an antioxidant, anti-inflammatory type process would do that. So I don't know much about it, but they've definitely done some,
00:05:41
Speaker
some research behind it. If you go to their website, you can sort of see there's a few studies that they quote um that were probably done by the company, but like there is, they have actually done some research in into it. and And there's definitely people on the the world level that are saying that it's working for them. Like the one that jumps out is Andreas Armgren, the Swedish guy who's had an incredible season this year.
00:06:04
Speaker
um he also He also said in his sort of summary of the season that it's one of the first years he hasn't been injured. so We've got to remember this is a one percenter, but yes, it might have some utility.
00:06:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Just reading through the website about how I'm not going to go into it because it's got words I can't pronounce, but you know it's definitely interesting. Yeah. yeah and So I just, it looks very much like your long run up at Threadbow area. It looks like you're very much training towards end of season goals. Yeah.
00:06:36
Speaker
Yeah, I've pretty much decided that I'm running COSY50, which is exciting. I really like the course. It's really fun. I think it suits me pretty well. um And it's just beautiful out there. I hope we get a nice day. There's still some snow, which is kind of fun as well. I was like kind of um tussing and like tossing up whether I should actually go out there because I knew there was still snow on the course. um And I'd never run on snow before and I'd heard like people saying it was like not a good idea. So I was like, oh, yeah.
00:07:09
Speaker
I don't know. And then I decided I just wanted to make most of a really nice day. um and it was so fun. I really loved running in the snow. It just reminded me so much of like running on sand in WA. It's pretty similar to that, I reckon.
00:07:26
Speaker
Going up to the summit, was that was the cheese grater exposed up there? Yeah. yeah oh There was like stretches of 100 metres of snow every so often, but the cheese grater was mostly exposed.
00:07:39
Speaker
And then once you got like right to the top, I kind of just like took a shortcut up the snow, which was really fun, and just like slid down on the way back. Yeah. This lava map has like the winter one and it's like covered in snow. makes It look like most of it makes makes it look like most of your run was in snow.
00:07:57
Speaker
Yeah. It was pretty cool. It's so bizarre like feeling hot but also like being in snow. Yeah. And I was like filling up my bottles with like melted snow, which is so nice. That's cool. Very cool.
00:08:11
Speaker
And so feeling good getting back into it all? Yeah. Yeah, I feel pretty good. Just like the usual tiredness from – like work and everything like that. um But yeah, no, the body feels pretty good. So I'm happy. Sweet.
00:08:25
Speaker
The 50K, Jess, the from what I can tell, the course similar. Like you would have done in the 30K last year, you did the whole, like you that whole 30K is within the 50K. So it's just like a bit extra of what you did. It's a bit extra at the start and then the finish.
00:08:41
Speaker
Yeah, there's a little bit extra at the start just on the road, I think. Yeah. And then it's pretty much the same up until you get to Threadbro and then you do the Eagle's Nest c climb and descent, um which is probably the more technical part of the whole race. Yeah.
00:08:56
Speaker
Yeah. I think that'll be the hardest part. It finishes with the climb as well, which is quite hard, like compared to, yeah like, I guess you run up the valley, but it's got like a big climb that you have to do in in the back half of the race. Yeah, I think that'll be pretty hard. And like running up the TVT is all sort of like gradually uphill.
00:09:13
Speaker
And then once you've done that, you get to like these massive stairs, like, which I think will sting the legs quite a bit. But at least I know what I'm in for now. Yeah, it looks like a good run.
00:09:25
Speaker
Up or downhill? um There's big stairs at the start of the uphill. And then in the descent as well, there's some kind of annoying little stairs where you can't really like fit your whole foot on the stairs. So it's a little bit technical, but it doesn't go for too long.
00:09:41
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah. should be good and and that's your uh your instagram post from from the long run which looked yeah like a great day what's the the breaking limits athletes and the nq allowed that you've tagged in there uh that's just a brand that sent me those sunglasses um i
Brody's Return from Injury
00:10:01
Speaker
think they're based in melbourne they've just like started out so um yeah i rated them they're pretty they're pretty affordable i think they're under a hundred dollars um and they're doing like a two for one at the moment um and i thought they were like i've tried oakley's and stuff before they're probably not um as good as like polarized ones but like just as like a cheap pair um they're pretty good yeah yeah it's weird nice it's weird seeing you not in those like little i know
00:10:27
Speaker
Yeah, I think they're probably better sun protection, to be honest, like the full wrap around the side of the eyes. Yeah. nice Less fashion, more safety. Yeah. yeah They look pretty fashionable.
00:10:41
Speaker
I quite like them. Well, yeah, they're fashionable for our era, James, but just not the current era. don't don say stuff like that made me feel yeah when i when I see sunglasses one of the things I see and realize that I actually am quite old because i the the the small sunnies they're not from my era it's going to walk out your Ray-Bans put your aviator jacket on settle in before we go to your week this week I've said offline i missed the fact that you started doing some weighted uphills what's yeah what's going on with that
00:11:19
Speaker
uh i guess a few things one thing is like i'm always reading new stuff always trying to see what what the the world of trail running is is doing um as many people would have seen heard i think since ub there's been a lot of chatter about uh what scott johnson does with his athletes he coached ruth croft and um tom evans to a double victory at utmb um and one thing he talks a bit about is this sort of muscular endurance and one way of working on that is uh
00:11:56
Speaker
doing something that puts a ah lot of load on the muscular system, but not as much on the aerobic system. So you can do it for a longer period of time, but you get a really strong muscular endurance stimulus.
00:12:08
Speaker
yeah So one, I wanted to try that I'm also thinking like I do coaching, obviously. So it's sometimes I'd try some things that I might want to introduce into my coaching as well. And I try it with some of my athletes as well, but like I'm a good ah N equals one that I can do some experiments.
00:12:24
Speaker
Um, And I thought it was quite relevant for me coming back because i can only do so much running. um Whereas ah from a bone point of view, it's that sort of impact force from hitting the ground while you're running and walking is obviously a lower load.
00:12:43
Speaker
um So, yeah it gives me an opportunity to still get some training in um without loading
Balancing Training and Recovery
00:12:51
Speaker
the body. And also like my legs at the moment, my fitness feels quite good.
00:12:55
Speaker
I think. ah But my muscular system is getting used to running again. So I'm trying to sort of speed it up with with a bit of that. um So yeah, i' done I did a lot of strength while I was in Europe.
00:13:07
Speaker
A lot of max strength work, like I really built up my strength in my deadlift and my squat and progressed that over time. Still don't lift as much as Jess, but I'm getting there. hey But like, yeah, I really focused on sort of working on that. And I think like from a periodization point of view, it makes sense to sort of build that max strength and then you can sort of work, go into some endurance stuff. So I'm still touching on the max strength, but um yeah, it makes sense to,
00:13:34
Speaker
translate that into some endurance work as well so yeah i guess there's a few reasons i like it it's it's fun it's actually quite hard um what i was going to ask i do you feel if scott talks about the fact that yeah the the localized muscular fatigue is going to be your limiting factor not your aerobic system like you're you're just going to not be able to go any harder because your legs are cooked is that what it feels like On the uphill treadmill, ah I can get it to 15%. So it's not super steep compared to I think some people do it.
00:14:01
Speaker
I've seen Mike Carroll doing it on his jimmied up treadmill at home to like 22%. um And I think you can get and for treadmills that go steeper, you could do it steeper.
00:14:12
Speaker
um And I walk as quick as I can, but it's nearly like i feel like I feel like it could be steeper or I could put a heavier weight on. Like I don't feel like... the i don't feel like the the muscular endurance was sort of like the limiting factor i wasn't building up heaps of fatigue but i also was pretty gentle i didn't want to push it too hard too fast so i'd probably look at adding some weight to it or potentially looking into finding somewhere where i can tread to a treadmill that goes a higher gradient but probably realistically be higher weight i started with
00:14:45
Speaker
eight kilos i have a 10 kilo vest but i took some of the weights out um because i wanted to get closer to 10 of my body weight and not go too overboard um but now i've done it a few times i think maybe i could i could because you can only walk so fast i was probably walking as quick as i could walk um so after that i'm running and that's i can't run on it because i'm umm um i'm trying to do that as a not running stimulus um So yeah, for me, I think I might try and add some weight. I actually did this week.
00:15:16
Speaker
I did the stepper, which I've done a lot in the past, the stair stepper. I did that with the weight vest on. And I've always found that quite hard from a muscular endurance point of view. Like I think that's actually really good training for that sort of thing. Yeah.
00:15:32
Speaker
and adding the weight made it even harder. So half an hour was actually pretty tricky. um But again, I found in the past with the stepper, you can only go so fast, like I can only step so quickly, um that actually putting the weight on meant I stepped a bit slower and it nearly felt better, but I still felt the same sort of stimulus.
00:15:51
Speaker
So yeah, I'm going to play around with it a bit ongoing. um I've only did like max like 45 minutes, whereas I know like I know like Charlie's doing maybe up to like two hours. He was sort of mentioning earlier in the year and and he's working with Scott or or one of Scott's coaches.
00:16:08
Speaker
um And yeah I think Mike does it for a long time and and Ruth and and and that were doing it for long periods of time. But I also get really bored on the treadmill.
00:16:19
Speaker
Even if I'm watching something, it's so much, it's nearly more boring to watch a TV show while you're on the treadmill than it is to sit down and do nothing and watch a TV show, which doesn't make any sense because you're doing more things. But I don't know what it is about it. i feel more bored and i can't concentrate on the TV show. or i don't know what it is, but yeah, I'll have to that. you think that slight level of discomfort that you're in as well? Potentially. And so, yeah. mim And maybe when I'm watching TV, usually I'm on the couch, so there's no discomfort.
00:16:51
Speaker
Just getting a nice massage. Do you coach yourself, Brodie? uh so i was trying i did start to get some coaching from chris jones who um some people may have british guy chris jones british guy chris chris jones he's uh he's an he used to be an orientator so i know him from those days and i really like following chris's uh instagram over the last couple of years he talks a lot about his training if you're interested he's a good person to follow because he He gives weekly recaps similar to, I guess, what we do on the podcast. um
00:17:25
Speaker
But, yes, obviously I was injured and whatnot and and had some issues there. So I haven't got a lot out of Chris so far. And now that I'm just coming back, I'm just focusing on getting, once I get back to a ah good rhythm, I think I'm going to go back to him and say, okay, now you can actually coach me because I can train.
00:17:40
Speaker
um yeah but But, yes, he doesn't specifically do that. But he does he does a lot of work on the stepper. And he also does a lot of work on the bike. He did a blog post about his prep for OCC.
00:17:53
Speaker
For those who don't know, he was fifth, I think, maybe in OCC. At one point, he was second, just behind Jim Wormsley. So you may have seen him if you were following that coverage. He did one quite hard bike ride every week, which was a non-running stimulus. But again, it's another way of getting muscular endurance without smashing your body through a run so yeah yeah I'm sure he'll be on board with the ideas yeah well if you're sort of setting it yourself like how are you balancing the weighted hiking with um gym return to running and yeah yeah you still on the bike as well
00:18:29
Speaker
Not really on the bike, um mostly because it's a time thing and I'm quite busy now I'm back. Like I love riding, but I'm back and I think I'll try and do some more over summer, but I haven't done heaps yet.
00:18:41
Speaker
um I'm still working quite closely with Lockie. Like I think... in this period where it's more of a rehab return to run and Lockie does my strength work that it's a nice, ah he's a nice person to work with at this stage. So he's, I'm sort of suggesting and he's giving feedback and we're coming together on a plan. Like obviously I am a coach, so I can somewhat self coach, but I don't want to do this 100% by myself. So yeah, I've been getting some guidance with,
00:19:08
Speaker
with that from Lockie and that helps meshes in the gym work and that sort of stuff. He's, I haven't really talked to him much about the muscular endurance. That's a little side project I'm doing. So let's hope he doesn't listen to this. But yeah, i again, like I said, I've trained for many years. I coach, so I know,
00:19:25
Speaker
I go to something across it. And for me, the main thing that I want to keep across is the running volume and that sort of thing. And and that's what we've been discussing and and coming up with a plan with what's a good amount.
00:19:37
Speaker
Do you feel like you're removing, say, and typical strength sessions from the gym to replace them with this more muscle endurance work? are you still lifting heavy plus this?
00:19:47
Speaker
uh i haven't i i sort of wanted to lift heavy at least once a week and probably still maintain two whereas when i was in europe i was doing probably close to three because i was doing it nearly every second day um except for like i sort of did three in a week pretty much every week um so i have planned to reduce it a bit but even then i've actually been a bit sick or not really sick but like on the edge of sick and for me ah find that ah heavy weighted resistance is actually the thing that makes me most sick.
00:20:18
Speaker
More sick than going out and doing a zone two run. Probably an interval session will be the same, but I don't usually do interval sessions when I feel like I'm on the edge.
00:20:29
Speaker
um So it's the same with that with gym. I usually avoid gym when I feel like I'm on the edge. And even last week I did a long run and then I did gym in the evening. um And then the next day I was a little bit sick again. so It could have been the combination of the two, but it it has been something in the past that has been a stimulus. And I think it's because it like it is quite stressful on the system. um it is Whilst so it doesn't get your heart rate up for an extended period of time, it is sort of spikes and it is quite still quite stressful.
00:21:00
Speaker
um So, yeah, I don't know if there's any science behind that, but that's definitely something that happens to me. So usually when I'm a bit sick, I try and I do more activation gym work, which I was like,
00:21:11
Speaker
Muscular endurance fits in that category. My heart rate's not bonkers or anything. um And then just run sort of zone, no no harder than zone two. So yeah, I have only done about one gym session a week. And even then, like this week in my training, I did a long run on the Sunday and I did the longest run I have done, um and I was pretty domsy afterwards. So I decided, actually, I messaged Lockie and said, is it worth doing a gym session? He said no.
00:21:40
Speaker
So I haven't done a heavyweighted, well, like I wanted to, but it was a good time to actually go, actually, is that a good idea? When you have doms, like, is it a good idea to add a strength stimulus to that, especially a heavy strength stimulus?
00:21:53
Speaker
And probably not. So, yeah, I haven't been in the gym as much, but again, I'm sort of, doing a bit more of other stuff, and I did a big block of it, then I'm not too worried about that.
00:22:04
Speaker
um But I'm hoping over the coming weeks I sort of get in for a heavy session at least once a week. Yeah. No, it was interesting, like, how you do manage that balance to kind of build it up. put the strength into maintenance, it kind of sounds like, and then like let yourself focus on here.
00:22:19
Speaker
You're also back to sessions. like I'm not not picking a hole in this. I just kind of i feel like this has been quite a quick... and so know Four weeks ago, you finished your return to run. 75, what, a week and a bit ago on the trails? And now you're ah two hours on the trail, and then you're hills and tempo today. Yeah, so I'm playing around with a few different stimuluses and going off feel a bit. like I guess in this whole...
00:22:44
Speaker
rehab i haven't had any symptoms at all in my foot at the fracture site like i've had some symptoms in my foot that have been ah in other areas but more like that sort of general soreness and whatnot with the body getting used to running again um So yes, we're doing, it has been pretty aggressive, but in in in the context of it not being too serious, the actual initial injury um in terms of being sort of like a low risk area with low grade bone stress um and the fact that I've had no symptoms, I'm sort of pushing it a little bit. But even then, like I wouldn't have done on the weekend, I did an hour 55.
00:23:25
Speaker
um It was supposed to be an hour 45. I stretched it a little bit, but I'm supposed to be running two hours this weekend. So I wanted to, my brain in my brain, I wanted to get a little bit closer to two hours and we got back to the car Just the way we got back to the car was 1 hour 55. So I went, you know what, ah I'll stop there and that's it.
00:23:44
Speaker
um That one was a risk probably. but ah in these And I probably wouldn't have done it if I wasn't trying to do these couple of races. ah But yeah, I think it was a ah sort of safe-ish risk.
00:23:58
Speaker
know If that makes sense. yeah um and then And then the other bits of intensity has just been a bit of a test, really, is trying to get a little bit more force going through the Achilles. Because obviously in a race, it's not a session, but I have to put a fair bit of, I'm still going to have to be putting force through the Achilles more so than just a normal zone two run, which is what I've been doing most of my running.
00:24:16
Speaker
So I've been testing out getting a little bit of that stimulus into the Achilles without being too risky. So on Friday, did two lots of five minutes at like low threshold, heart rate, sort of high tempo, but at 345. So it's not super, super fast.
00:24:36
Speaker
And I've also been doing them in my plated shoes so that the force going through the metatarsals is a little bit less because that bit of the shoe doesn't flex. yeah ah So you're still getting the impact, but you're not getting as much of the impact and push at the same time.
00:24:51
Speaker
So it was sort of a gentle way to do it. And then today, yeah, I did some... hill the sort of like extended hill strides and then again 10 minutes of tempo um to put a little bit through again um yeah and it's for me it's more through the achilles but also like umm doing I'm doing jumping in the gym. I'm doing hops.
00:25:11
Speaker
like that' That's more forceful than just normal running. so like i've already ah I've sprinkled that in for a fair bit over the last five, six weeks. so um yeah it's It's probably pushing the barriers of what's risky, but...
00:25:30
Speaker
given what i yeah Given the journey so far, I'm comfortable with it. um Again, that's ah i'm I'm playing with those variables a little bit more than what me and Lockie initially decided.
00:25:41
Speaker
But I also don't want to harass Lockie every day saying, hey, look, I'm thinking of doing this because I do have a bit of a knowledge of the area myself and obviously a physiotherapy background. So I do have some knowledge of, I'm not as experienced as Lockie in this specific area, but I do have some knowledge of what what is okay.
00:25:59
Speaker
Yeah. And it felt good afterwards? Felt good. Yeah, yeah. Actually, today was great. my um I did 30-second heel intervals and, like, didn't notice my Achilles at all. Like, i generally at the moment feel my Achilles a little bit on and off throughout a run.
00:26:14
Speaker
And during the heel intervals, not at all, which is, I don't know why. um i was wearing plated shoes again to to offload the risk on the bone, which may increase the load on the Achilles to some extent.
00:26:24
Speaker
But, yeah, it seemed to like it. um They felt really hard. Yeah. I was like, what the hell is this? like yeah It's this funny distance that you get to the top of the hill and then like two seconds after you stop, like it hits you like a wave. like Your heart rate's still going up and you sort of get you feel the worst like two seconds after you stop.
00:26:45
Speaker
yeah um Yeah, it's really interesting. But yeah, I enjoyed... doing that and getting a little bit of that. But I sort of see that it is an extended stride, so nothing too serious or too crazy.
00:26:56
Speaker
And it was walk-down recovery, so it was pretty gentle. And it looks like the tempo afterwards was for like pretty relaxed. Oh yeah, heart rate was great actually. So the other day I did 345s and my heart rate was probably into my low threshold zone, more like 170 to 175. And today I was struggling to get up above 165, which when I did some testing in 2022, the top my zone 2 was 164. that's only really zone 2, low zone 3.
00:27:23
Speaker
like that's only really high zone two low zone three and I was running at 3.45, it felt very comfortable. So yeah, it's good that's a good sign that the fitness is okay.
00:27:34
Speaker
yeah I think the leg conditioning might be the issue, but yeah, we'll see. I'm feeling more and more positive as the days go on. I was quite scared about the prospect of trying to do the two races, but i now I'm actually quite confident.
00:27:47
Speaker
So yeah, we'll see how the weekend goes and I'll report back. Yeah. Are you pulling up pretty good from the long runs? Yeah, yeah, that was actually really good as well. So Sunday i did, yeah, like that hour 55, we did about 900 meters of vert. We had a really good group. It was so fun.
00:28:04
Speaker
I would try to push the downhills a little bit because I know that my legs haven't had that stimulus. um And, yeah, I had some dobs in my quads. ah But Achilles, yeah, pulled up really good. And I'm not using anti-inflammatories,
00:28:19
Speaker
to um which is good. And I think, like, that influences potentially the bone stress earlier in the year if you're using them really extensively like i was probably using them a bit more than i'm comfortable with um and and during this whole rehab i think i've taken them once uh just to try and settle down some more like i can tell when it's the burst is inflamed and it's a bit red hot and nearly feels like you could put ice on it if if it's like that and i hit it with an anti-inflammatory it usually settles down overnight so i've been using them well i've only used them once so um
00:28:53
Speaker
Yeah, it's it's definitely the best it has been in a rebuild. I've still got a long way to go, but um yeah, I'm enjoying it. And like, it's nice to be out there thinking, ah like not thinking, oh shit, how's it going to feel? Like I know that it's going to, I'm going to feel it every now and then, but like I've been enjoying my running, which is great.
00:29:12
Speaker
When we spoke about this a while ago, and obviously we were in a pretty similar boat with the whole not running thing, you were kind of like, you're just excited about getting back to it and this kind of gratitude for the fact that you could just run, doesn't matter about the competition.
00:29:26
Speaker
Are you still able to remember that? you still feeling that? Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah. No, I'm... i'm i One of my friends posted an Instagram from a trip that we did last year when I was doing recce for Trophy Akima and we did it over three days.
00:29:42
Speaker
That still is one of the best running memories. Like it was only last year, but like out of all of my running over so many years, it's one of my best running memories of all time. and It was not a race. So like I think having those constant reminders that you love running for other reasons other than racing is very useful.
Governance in Trail Running
00:30:00
Speaker
Yeah. I'm glad glad to hear it. Have you had anything else going on your week outside of the running? I've been busy. I've been very busy. I did listen to your interview, the Autra interview, and I had a lot of thoughts about that. But um yeah, is look, it it's great that Autra is invested compared to ah couple of years ago where they may have been less invested in trail running. They seem to be keen.
00:30:27
Speaker
They're very interested in doing something in the space um have some thoughts about what if what they're doing is the best things first like i i agree with some of the things you were saying in that my personal opinion is governance or gaining governance is the number one ah thing that we need to do to continue to improve trail running in Australia because someone was having this conversation with someone and I'll steal their words as I said we don't need to grow the sport the sport is doing pretty well we probably need to consolidate professionalise organise the sport that's what we need to do
00:31:05
Speaker
So um I think that's probably my focus. And I know Gary said a few times that they're the govern they govern trail running. They don't really, unfortunately. They're a great advocate for trail running.
00:31:18
Speaker
And I think we need to work to the point where Autra is governing trail running. But if you ask the government, the Australian Sports Commission, who governs trail running, they'd probably say no one.
00:31:31
Speaker
Or they'd say Athletics Australia does. so Yeah. They govern ultra running. I'll give them that because they do have responsibility for that. But they're not quite at the point where they're governing trail running. And for me, that's number one. We need to work with AA to figure out how that works because everything comes. I'm not just talking from an elite side.
00:31:51
Speaker
Yes, obviously, we're concerned with the elite side here. But It's also memberships, getting a way that we can get money, regular money into the sport.
00:32:02
Speaker
um We can get memberships through Ultra, but it's sort of like a It's an advocacy group. So it's not it's not quite the same as being you have to get a membership because if you have to get a membership, you get a lot more memberships.
00:32:16
Speaker
So, yeah, that's sort of my main thoughts about it. But I'm really happy Gary and the and the group, they're doing so much work and their heart's in the right place.
00:32:28
Speaker
So I think it will work it out, I think, over time. um But, yeah, it was it was a good listen. Yeah. Sometimes I was like, ah, but, um, Yeah, I think we'll get there with time. I'm glad to hear it. If you haven't listened to that and you're wondering what the hell Brodie is going on about, I'm not going to go into it. go Go back and listen to the interview because it is interesting and it does it does impact the entire field because we're talking about like activations, volunteers, race directors, like everything is involved in this whole thing. And as I was looking at some of the 2032 campaign stuff and like Ortra is a national body, that's kind of what their thing, but there's even in there, they missed the word governing.
00:33:07
Speaker
So it's like, that's the thing. That's where we need to get in there. And it is just a part, it's working with Australian athletics. So hopefully we will see that coming to fruition or at least on that development pathway over the next 12 months. But agree, Brady, with what you said at the end, like in terms of people that we could have trying to do that, I really do believe that Gary and his team have the complete right intentions and the passion and the motivation putting in the work to get us there so it will be interesting to see what happens because obviously there's a lot talk about the sport at the moment yeah yeah and look there's a lot of there's a lot of focus there's a lot of interest there's a lot of potential in the sport so i think like i i like to compare it to something like soccer or like football everyone who participates in that sport is a member
00:33:54
Speaker
yeah Not every, like what, 2% of people who participate in trail running are a member. I don't know what the percent is, but it's a much lower percent and it's not everyone. So if we want to become a sport like that, it obviously is much more financially sustainable to be a sport that has genuine revenue from memberships.
00:34:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And an Ortra can actually do some of the work they want to do. They can't do that without money. That's the that's the bottom line. But to get money, sponsors, but really there's the membership and or or being at least being in charge is important, I think.
00:34:33
Speaker
Yeah. yeah I think it's going to be fascinating how that does trickle out into the state bodies and then how what race directors are going to get involved with it. And we're going to go into later about the news with Sequel Track taking over running well, but like there's a lot of movement in the sport. is a lot, there is a lot of growth. i think I think the 2032 document was saying something like the ITRA saw like 20% increase in numbers year on year for people that have completed an ITRA registered event. So that's like a huge growth for a sport to go through.
00:35:01
Speaker
um And that's inevitably going to have a lot of teething issues. And think one of the questions is like, are we almost going too fast to keep up? and be able to have everything in place to support it and kind of keep it controlled as opposed to just going chaotic which and that's when you end up with people just starting an event and they don't have enough water on course or they're not marking it and someone hurts themselves they don't do medical properly like there are a lot of things that we need to have in place so that there's a ah clear structure framework policy guidelines you have to follow to in order to be a coach to run an event to host even a group run because most group runs aren't insured
00:35:38
Speaker
And that's like, if you go out, the person who organized it, the person and put that that message out is technically liable. So there's all these things that I think we often don't think about um that um'm yeah I think will be interesting to see how that comes over the next. ah Yeah, we can we I think like we're we're pushing, but we also have to appreciate it. It's not going to happen overnight. It's a five-year, 10-year thing. These things take
James' Cycling Adventures
00:36:00
Speaker
time.
00:36:00
Speaker
But yeah. um ah yeah my main thing was like, I think the first step is we need to, we need to work with AA and are you were sort of pushing that agenda a little bit as well, James. And yeah, maybe, maybe we'll see that happen.
00:36:13
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I think we'll probably stop there. Cause you can tell, it doesn't take very much for us to kind of go go on a bit, but it's just because we love the sport and we want to see it in the right direction, going forth in the right direction. But I said, we'll come to a bit of a discussion about that anyway, later on.
00:36:28
Speaker
um and Anything more from your week? No. You got to give us your update now, James. Yeah. So I, I'm still getting there. Like I think last week when we have the results?
00:36:42
Speaker
I don't think, no, I didn't have the imaging at this point last week. So we had the imaging back. Pretty sure this is right. Ready? Correct me if I've already said this. Um, and there was like very, very, very mild bone stress still evident. yeah like I think, I think you said that. Yeah. did that Yeah. Cool. So we, we delayed it another two weeks.
00:37:00
Speaker
um But really double down the strength. So yes, some pretty pretty heavy leg sessions, kind of example of being the gym three days a week and then on the bike a bit more. I'm really starting to enjoy the gravel bike. um so like the where Where our house is, is right onto ah and a range called Nail Can and that's pretty...
00:37:20
Speaker
like it's pretty steep to get up to it's great to run but kind of the most gentle gradient is maybe 10 and a lot of the hills are closer to 20 and i just and I don't know how my seating position isn't quite right or I just don't have power up on the bike it's really hard like I'm in my lowest gear trying to get out up that hill and kind of yeah struggling to keep the front wheel down and then the back wheel slips and just have very little skill on the bike which is quite fun because I'm noticing like quite big gains as I'm doing it and now I'm actively looking for a bit of single track as opposed to trying to avoid at all costs because I'm worried about hurting myself but um yeah i think it was kind of four four rides during the week sort of nothing super long more because of time like I would have liked to have got out for three or four hours on the weekend but I headed down to king of the hill the backyard ultra and just yeah I only had about the time of an hour 45 but
00:38:13
Speaker
the um yeah it's it's good to move like at the end of the day the reason why i love trail running is because you're that environment and you get to go out with nature and um um i i really like running with people like it's probably my main social thing but also love running by myself and so the gravel riding by myself has um almost been good because i i don't want to i don't want the pressure somebody else riding around me to play around with with the exception of shift like we went out for a ride after she finished work on friday and that was really nice just sort of pottering around um had planned to go to a place for dinner afterwards but they closed they said they were open very sad was looking forward to that we went somewhere else but that is the worst thing that can happen to you when you plan and you go all the way to the place and google maps told you it was open it's not open
00:39:00
Speaker
yeah yeah and even like i messaged i messaged them i got a reply back and they said that they'd had some staff sickness so they couldn't they couldn't open so like fair enough but it's uh yeah we the the corner the good gravel riding is about uh 25 or 35 minutes away from where we are so we went to the 25 minute away one which is just small town called chilton but there's this winery and they have a like a restaurant that's only open friday night so we're kind We'll get back there.
00:39:24
Speaker
but But it's getting there. I'm definitely – I was at King of the Hill Saturday, Sunday. And that's – actually, I'm going to check. I think that's still it's still going the last time I looked at it.
00:39:37
Speaker
They're up to – How how far is the loop there that they're doing? It's not the standard loop, is it? No, so it's about 4.4K and it ends up about 300 meters of elevation, but it's done in two two main climbs and then one small climb, but it's just... Wait, there's 300 meters in yeah sorry and And you're not on, i think I think the thing that really gets, obviously there's the typical backyard ultra challenges of managing sleep, your food, your hydration, when do you sleep, staying cool. Like this was the first hot weekend as well. So I think Saturday was 25 and Sunday was 29 or something like that. And it's just on an open faced hill. So you're just super exposed.
00:40:17
Speaker
Yeah. But the hill itself is just a grass paddock. So there's cowhoos and there's random rocks and there's no, there's no trail. So you can't, you every step kind of counts a bit more. And so I think that's kind of just beat people up a lot more than you would expect. Like I know training for it, the guys I had were doing a load of elevation, a load of repeats, but everything was on trails.
00:40:39
Speaker
And I think that was like a mistake is that we actually had to, we should have sought out a non-unformed hill. need to get into some orienteering, I reckon. Yeah, yeah. like It would probably would be that kind of thing. and it's And it's even like, so one of the guys who rolled his ankle at 17 hours in and you're kind of going into the middle of the night, you can't see properly.
00:40:59
Speaker
yeah. Small things that you could potentially have at least helped control. But yeah, they're on, there's two guys, Blaine Burke and Peter Babis. They're on lap 82 and they're still going. Bonkers.
00:41:11
Speaker
Because is a Backout Ultra like a 6.4? Yeah, it's whatever works It's 6. something. It's like 4.12 miles or something like that. It works out to be 100 miles every 24 hours is the way it's done. like four point two what four point one two miles of my that it works out to be a hundred miles every twenty four hours is the yes Is that... Those courses are generally flat, yeah? Or like close to flat? Typically, you're like pretty flat. Some go through like some farm area, but they're normally on trails and they're normally pretty flat. Like you're not getting more than... But they might have like 50 metres. 50 metres at most.
00:41:45
Speaker
Yeah, okay. So like... If you count the 300 is like three, like, i don't know, I like using the 10% rule is a very rough one, like say you can add a K for every 100 meters of the.
00:41:57
Speaker
um So it's it's the same probably as a back out ultra or maybe a little harder. Plus, it's probably harder a between laps because you're doing the descents.
00:42:08
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. I think it's it's the descents a lot more than the climbing. Like, yeah, you yeah ah you don't have to hike hard to get it done. You only have to really run the flats, but it's just the descents that are taking it out. But I don't, like these 82 laps, if you were 8, 16, 24, you're looking at like nearly 2,500 meters worth of climbing and descending so far.
00:42:29
Speaker
And these guys are still going. And Blaine, when he runs off, if you look at their socials, like he looks great. Like it's just. They really need to give it, they really need to split the prize money into like first gets most of it, second gets something.
00:42:44
Speaker
Yeah. Like it's, I don't know It's an interesting ethical question because would would you, you just worked your ass off to win 25 grand. Second, second's so close usually and it helps that person win to some extent. So I don't know.
00:42:59
Speaker
Anyway, I wouldn't be doing it for 25 grand anyway. Yeah, like and a typical backyard, the number of laps you do matters because it can be your personal record. You could go for the world record if you feel go. But like the number of laps doesn't matter here, except for the fact you've got to do more than one more than the person behind you to win the cash. So like the assist doesn't matter.
00:43:17
Speaker
You just have to beat them. So anyway, it was fascinating to see both the guys that I had doing it invented it for next year. So it like clearly was interesting for them enough to want to recommit. ah But so that was, yeah, that was Saturday, Sunday. And then I just got back from, I had Monday working and then um was like on the computer and then went down to four peaks today to catch the final day.
00:43:38
Speaker
Cause it's only about 75 minutes drive away, which was very wet. absolutely yeah we it looked wet it looked wet yeah but good good to see it's do some some good racing um which we'll talk about as we get to the to the results but yeah so i'm monday next week i'll start the turn to run i'm i'm very excited i'm very ready for it so yeah working with the same physios before Yeah, so Luke, who's the Cairo that I work with, still yeah using him. This time, this time kind well, sorry, last time, he took me through the return to run.
00:44:16
Speaker
And then I was going overseas. I got back in touch with Tim Locke, my kind of normal coach. And we were going to start out once I got back from overseas. But, i yeah, the reoccurrence happened just just when I got back. So this time, going to get Luke, because he he also does coach, to...
00:44:33
Speaker
obviously do return to run but then probably do my next six months because we know that I'm still going to be in a compromised state for probably probably the next 18 months so just to make sure that something that might seem kind of like absolutely fine he might see and issue with and so that he kind of has control and from from my perspective my like I still have a whole bunch of goals I have my my personal running events I want to do performance standards I want to try and get to but I don't care about hitting them in 2026 I just care about yeah yeah getting back to it being healthy and kind of yeah trying to set myself up so that I can train properly again without worrying that my leg's just gonna go yeah cool yeah that's like a good plan I agree it's sort of like I think that like the whoever is doing your rehab is is like it's a good idea to work with them for a while even once you get back to sort of normal running because
00:45:28
Speaker
yeah they they they've been there on the journey and they're usually good at that load management stuff you you probably want to be at a stable load before you sort of look back to your sort of normal running coach yeah no I agree and like Luke's obviously spent a lot of time working with me now getting through this and ah big part I think I think of coaching in general but like I trust his advice like I know that the reason why it came back is not because theres anything to do with him and it's only partly to do with me getting a bit excited and doing rich too much in the mountains like it's because of um um a more like underlying issue there um so like yeah i i trust him and and as a coach he is good as well like he has a lot of success so most it will more be a bit like you with um with lockheed brady was like kind of i'll probably suggest things especially once we get through this initial stage um to see like
00:46:20
Speaker
If I do up, if I'm on the uphill treadmill, does that mean I could maybe bring back something a bit sooner than we're doing on the flat or can I do stuff on the stair climber or like doing intensity on the bike with that kind of stuff? So like just seeing what, what I can play around with, um, without taking any unnecessary risk.
00:46:36
Speaker
So we're getting there. Definitely getting nice. Awesome. A quick break in the show to thank Bix. Bix has just come out with their 30 gram gel in two brand new flavors. This is a new gel, new flavors. You've got the choice of the salted strawberry or the berry. The salted strawberry is also packing 300 milligrams of sodium as an increase, whereas the berry has 200 milligrams. Both make them perfect for the conditions we have in Australia, whereas most gels on the market do not have sodium within them.
00:47:05
Speaker
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00:47:20
Speaker
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00:47:35
Speaker
And with that, let's get back to the show. So already alluded to it, well a couple of news things, which we'll see how we're doing with time. okay okay um The first one, we don't have to a but down to go back big into this one, but I just thought it was interesting. we We didn't get to it last week, but that was the announcement that Salomon is sponsoring the Olympic Games.
00:47:57
Speaker
bid campaign um so working towards trail running in 2032 they've sort of made this yeah big thing we saw it at the golden trail finals where they had some banners out um putting it towards it and like it's interesting obviously it makes complete sense because if it is going to be in the olympics it's most likely going to be the golden trail style format sort of 20 25k flower petals so it's better to watch it potentially could also fit like a more of a mountain running whereas like a classic horse up down potentially if they're going to have a couple of A couple of options in there, but and there's so much conversation about whether this is good for the sport or not.
00:48:31
Speaker
And I'm just curious to see like what are both of your opinions, if you even have one, about whether whether the sport should be trying to get into the Olympics, whether it should be trying to do it in the timeframe it's doing it, like if not later, or or any like yeah it's potential worries you have. Brodie, I feel like you'll have a decent opinion on this one.
00:48:54
Speaker
What are your thoughts? The Olympics is a funny one because it's like it's still got so much relevance at the moment even though like like the Olympics is born out of being the pinnacle event for all the sports that nearly existed at that time and then over time you obviously can't add every new sport to the Olympics.
00:49:12
Speaker
So you've got a bunch of sports that are not in the Olympics and then you've got those Olympic sports and But the Olympics is still so important that government funding and all of that sort of stuff is still focused on the Olympics.
00:49:25
Speaker
um So, yeah, it's an an interesting type dilemma. Like, I think I don't see the Olympics going anywhere. The Commonwealth Games might be a different story, although it sounds like it may be turning around and will continue. I don't know.
00:49:41
Speaker
um But the Olympics doesn't appear to be going anywhere. um So if that's the case, then I think it's like if we want to see trail running, particularly I think it's probably useful for a but for what we're talking about before where we're looking to organize and professionalize the sport in sort of,
Trail Running in the Olympics Debate
00:50:00
Speaker
I guess, bring it out of the purely private domain into more of the the public space.
00:50:05
Speaker
Yeah. So the Olympics is a good place to start that ah because then i don't know i don't know about how other countries work, but at least in Australia, a lot of our sporting focus is on the Olympics. So it could help with that process, I think.
00:50:21
Speaker
um And if there's conversations happening with AURA and AA, mean, AUTRA and like if the Olympics is part of that conversation, then it opens the doors for trail running to be part of the performance program within AA. Whereas at the moment, trail running isn't within the performance pathway of AA because it's not an Olympic sport.
00:50:41
Speaker
So it definitely would have its benefits from that point of view. Like, I don't think it's going to change much of what's happening with all the private events. Like, I don't think it's going to take away from UTMB, Western States.
00:50:55
Speaker
Like it's not going to change those things. It's just going to be an additional thing that people might focus on. um So I can't see, i I don't know, I haven't thought about it heaps, but I don't see many negatives to it being an Olympic sport.
00:51:11
Speaker
It's sort of like a foot in the door and we can develop it to what we want it to be within the Olympics after that. But if you can get your foot in the door with with this, ah then, yeah, even if it's not the traditional, everyone's favorite trail running events, if we can get the foot in the door, then maybe over time, we can, those formats can change. Because you see that happening in other sports, the formats of the actual events do change. So, yeah,
00:51:36
Speaker
Yeah, I can only see it being a positive. Solomon working with it, I don't know like i don't know the intricacies of that. um I guess it brings some weight behind it.
00:51:47
Speaker
Solomon is a bit of a powerhouse in trail running from the past. I don't know if it's, yeah, hopefully yeah obviously that helps. Yeah, it I think the Salomon aspect probably legitimizes the campaign a bit for a brand to say, no, well we're we'll pump in a lot of money to try and help support this and we see the ah advantage of it.
00:52:08
Speaker
um I think that's, yeah, I think that's really kind of where where that comes from. and they probably are guessing as well connections and um conversations that open, that doors are open because of having a brand like Salomon.
00:52:21
Speaker
helping out. I'm sure it's going to be there. Jess, do you have any thoughts about the Olympics? Yeah, um I think it would be really good for the athletes, especially in Australia. Like, um yeah, it would just mean that it would make it a lot more accessible for people to, like, get treatment and, like, have a gym to train at and, like, physios and all the different support that Olympic sports get with their ASC. Yeah.
00:52:54
Speaker
um But, yeah, I also kind of think, like, the image of trial running doesn't really fit in the Olympics. Like, i don't know, I'm struggling to imagine it in the format that we kind of do it in now. What about the, like, mountain running disciplines at the World Champs? Could you see them fitting? Yeah.
00:53:20
Speaker
Yeah, I could see that fitting in for sure. would agree though. I can't imagine an 80k trail race at the Olympics, although they do have quite a long cycling race. So maybe, I don't know.
00:53:33
Speaker
I think the conversations that I've, of the the content I've heard around it is that they're really looking at that maximum two, two and a half hour window from a broadcasting perspective. So similar to what you'd get in the marathon, but like the, the, the My worry is that if it goes in and talk about like the elite and the athletes support perspective is that the support is only going to be for the athletes that want to to commit themselves to an Olympic style campaign.
00:53:56
Speaker
And so if you want to be 100 mile athlete, no funding. But if you want to be a sub-ultra golden trail Olympic style athlete, funding. And you have to kind of tick these boxes from a qualification perspective that means that it's it's hard to dip in and out of yeah like being that kind of athlete. don't know if it would be exactly that way. Like it might, but... um Also, like if you look at athletics, for example, like obviously there's the Olympics, yeah but there's also funding towards world champs.
00:54:27
Speaker
um And whilst the world champs has the same events as the Olympics. um Yeah, I wonder if even just, yeah, even... even though if the World Chance Trail running had different events to the Olympics, whether you would still be able to be part of a performance program. That would be interesting to see what would happen there because potentially then there's still that still that avenue to be getting performance support even if you aren't doing the Olympic discipline.
00:54:53
Speaker
But I don't know how that works in other sports. Yeah, you you wouldn't. ah Basically, the way it works is that... Jess knows this. She works at the AIS. Yeah.
00:55:05
Speaker
Basically, like the like whoever is the governing body will decide on like the benchmark events, and they all have to like they have to prove that these benchmark events align to the Olympics. like The Olympics is basically like...
00:55:21
Speaker
the golden nugget of everything. That's like where, yeah why we have the funding. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Yeah. So like I, I've, I and don't like having broadcasting opinions without kind of looking into it a lot. And so I like, I've tried to consume everything I can find about it. One of the interesting ones, like his Jim Womsey's interview with free trial where he kind of,
00:55:44
Speaker
essentially said he thinks it's going to be incredibly bad for the sport. But some of the examples he used, were he he said that if you look at the sports in in the Olympics, outside the Olympics, they seem to be pretty unhealthy from a funding and athlete support perspective.
00:55:56
Speaker
um And so that the they're struggling to become fat professional sports, even kind of to a degree, look at track. Like there's not actually that much money if you're not the top, top tier of it.
00:56:10
Speaker
But then he- Yeah, there's no funding if you're a- let's say a 50k road runner even a half marathon road runner you'd have to be a you'd have to be doing one of the olympic disciplines as well exactly and then but then he he also then used examples of sports like tennis was definitely one maybe even golf about being healthy sports but they're in the olympics they haven't li like they still have so it's but because they they might have come to the olympics after they were professionalized maybe yeah which ah kind of like my
00:56:40
Speaker
I feel like it's probably a good thing for the sport, but I don't know if 2032 is too soon. like i don't know if we have to sort the professionalization of the sport out first. Yeah, but I guess there's already people there's already people getting kind on contracts and that sort of stuff already happening and growing.
00:56:55
Speaker
There are, but like even in the three years, four years that I've been like really listening to the sport, the contracts average has shifted up a lot, especially when you look at the States. But then you hear about contracts in Europe and they're like fractions of what this similar level athlete you get in the States. So countries are getting it and brands are seeing value in athlete marketing,
00:57:17
Speaker
in that country, but not worldwide. And I think that's kind of the issue is that it's unfair to create an Olympic sport if there's not a somewhat equitable worldwide support for that sport.
00:57:28
Speaker
Because you're just to have yeah the US runners or maybe the French runners or the whoever are going to come in and they're bet they're the ones that their governing body cares, the governing body has a lot of funding, therefore they're going to win. um Which I know is the case in most cases, but just feel like i feel like we're just not mature enough to get there. But...
00:57:45
Speaker
Yeah, and it's also interesting, like, day if we get into the Olympics, does the growth in contracts and that sort of stuff stop? and does it And does it go backwards for long-distance athletes? Yeah. Because it's not an Olympic sport.
00:57:58
Speaker
But then does the brand even care if you're in the Olympics? Because you can't brand yourself. or you can do is wear the shoes. True. It's the whole world champs debate of like, you you know, you're probably not going to pick up a sponsor just because you got in the world team because you can't show any anything of them.
00:58:12
Speaker
You've got to wear your black hat and your average uniform. and Yeah. I kind of imagine it it would be like the marathon. Like, I don't think brands really care too much about the athletes that are doing the Olympic marathon. They care more about the ones that are doing the majors.
00:58:28
Speaker
yeah because they get more exposure from the kit that they're wearing. Yeah. Yeah, it's interesting. Yeah. That's why, like, I don't I feel like it's a fun conversation to have for people because everyone's got a different perspective and see it from different angles.
00:58:42
Speaker
But it's, ah yeah, i think especially given that, like, it's our country that's really spearheading this. And so I feel, like, somewhat responsible to have the conversations.
00:58:54
Speaker
a Yeah. Yeah. We're the little people, though, in trail running, so maybe we should shake them to it. be beneficial for us, but it hurts the Americans.
00:59:08
Speaker
Yeah, we'll take it. Just more domestically, did you guys see the announcement about Singletrack taking over the Running Wild events in Victoria? Yeah. Yeah, i thought that was that was crazy. That came out of nowhere from from like obviously he had no idea what was happening. And I was like, whoa, that's big news.
00:59:25
Speaker
Yeah, it's because it's really now in Victoria, you've got single track, rapid ascents, tour the trails, trails plus. Those are like the the organizers, like the ones that have multiple or series or stuff. But it's very much narrowing down in terms of the options. I obviously have a connection just to single track from working with them a couple of years ago. And um I asked Nigel Preston, who's one of the race directors, to to give me a call and just kind of chat through it this morning. and What he's saying is that, and you can see it in the post, that they're going to have their four
Impact of Running Wild Acquisition
01:00:00
Speaker
pioneer events, Hounslow, Rollercoaster, GPT, and Buffalo, and the production value is going to stay what we know single track events to be like, sort of the UTMB equivalent level of you're getting a really high level, very marked, but
01:00:16
Speaker
big event village, all that kind of stuff. And then the running wild, are going to stay a lot more grassroots. So ah essentially but a smaller team can operate them. It's like one van to set up, take away. So it's actually viable because I can't, having been on the other side, there is no way that you could add another six um of Buffalo and make it feasible for the year. Like you'd be so busy. a big expansion Yeah. and if that was doing like looking across to the i i think the biggest example is era viper running in the states and they have i'm pretty sure they have ah more than one event every weekend so they have like 55 or 60 trail events across the year some of them are massive like javelin that was on last weekend and some of them are your tiny grassroots local trail marathon sort of thing and
01:01:02
Speaker
It seemingly works really well over there, but I know that there's people worried about yeah it's losing the grassroots, the price is going up massively, it's just becoming like big business. Not that Singletrack is really big business, but um it's just interesting reading the comments. But it seems to be overwhelmingly a lot of support. it that Personally, it definitely puts these events a bit more on my on my mind than they were previously.
01:01:27
Speaker
yeah i guess je you're just kind of in cameras, you' maybe not to too busy, focus with this stuff. But what what are your thoughts seeing Singletrack taking over the events? and I think it's exciting. Yeah, I think, um like, I actually think, like, overall as an overall um kind of pro for the sport, like, I i feel like the way that single track managers events is really good. Like, their social media is awesome.
01:01:54
Speaker
Their coverage of the race is really good. And, like, I don't know to what extent that they'll be, um like, hopefully they'll use some of that in these events. And I think that'll be really good for the sport overall, um just to, like,
01:02:06
Speaker
promote more more awareness about more races, which will ultimately, like, get more people signing up and just grow the sport more and more. um Yeah. Brody, do you have any thoughts on it? Like, do do do you have any concerns his hearing Singletrack taking over? Like, personally, when I heard it, I didn't have any concerns.
01:02:25
Speaker
ah can see where concerns could come with increase – like, obviously, the Singletrack product is different to the Running Wild product at the moment. So – um that could If they were trying to do the same thing, it could lead to an increase in the and entry cost because obviously it's a different experience.
01:02:42
Speaker
um So I can understand those concerns. But they also seem to be doing it in quite a good way in terms of Paul Ashton, who was the... owner slash race director they're sort of keeping him involved at least for the handover period um yeah for the 2025 2026 events kind of i'm guessing through ah what would alpine be the kind of last one in the early part next year maybe wilson's prom yeah i don't know when the when the exact swap's happening yeah but um
01:03:15
Speaker
Look, like, I don't know the intricacies, but if Paul has, like, he he would have had to have the conversation and agreed to this, and it looks like he's he's obviously going to be on board next year. So, like, he was, to some extent, the like, obviously there's ah there's a team around him and that sort of stuff, but he he was the essence, part of the essence of those events, and if he trusts Paul,
01:03:40
Speaker
that that that that can go on with single track, then then I think then it's probably a good thing, really. Like if he if he feels that it's appropriate, he's the one who knows those events inside and out and how they work.
01:03:51
Speaker
um So, yeah, I think it's a good it's a good mix. Like one of the very first trail races I did when I started focusing on, like when I went, oh, maybe I should try some trail running a bit more seriously. Like I'd done some races before, but one of the very first ones I did was the Mount Buller one. Totally.
01:04:09
Speaker
So yeah, I think these events are really cool. um And it's definitely, it's interesting. It's definitely put them back on my radar as going, oh, maybe I should do one of those ones. So I think maybe it will revitalize them a little bit as well um yeah to some extent. So there's a positive there. Obviously the people who attend a lot of running wild events currently, they might um be like, well, we don't need, they don't need to change, but yeah,
01:04:35
Speaker
There's beginning and an ending to everything or a transition in everything. So yeah, from my perspective, it seems okay. But again, I'm not across every potential ah issue, I guess.
01:04:46
Speaker
But um' I was excited to see it and I'm excited to try and get to one of them next year. Yeah, I think what you said there is the important thing is that Paul Ashton has entrusted the series that he's created to the hands of Singletrack. And at the end of the day, that's going to be kind of the biggest tick of ah of approval in my mind. that he must have been happy but about the direction that he thinks Singletrack will take it in.
01:05:09
Speaker
And so, yeah, of course, there's going to be options. Like maybe we see a date change. Maybe we see distances taken away or slightly altered because it makes more sense in the eyes of Singletrack. But like the Buller Skyrun is like a really fun December event. There's not obviously that many December events because this everything starts to get really hot. I was there last year.
01:05:28
Speaker
um And then like Alpine Challenge and Wilson's Prom are pri like two of the most iconic events in Victoria, if not potentially in Australia. so It will be interesting to see what single track are able to do with those. Like the ah Alpine Challenge, Myla, for example, is an incredible course.
01:05:44
Speaker
It's normally played with a few issues with weather from fires or from snow or whatever it is. But it will be interesting to see how those two I think I'm particularly interested about because both of them, whilst they have been Like they're not really in areas that you would say is grassroots trail running. Like the other ones more fit the bill of the grassroots trail running event. Whereas these two were being run as a fairly low, not a low level, but a low impact or a low, not ah not a high profile event.
01:06:16
Speaker
um but they have potential to be quite a high profile event. So it'd be interesting to see what happens over time is maybe one of those or one of the other races is added to single tracks, more high profile events over the time. And Wilson's prom is one that's particularly exciting. I guess they've got to work with parks and that sort of stuff. But,
01:06:35
Speaker
it it jumps out at me as something as cool as the Grampians as being yeah some iconic. It's, it's really iconic. It's an iconic place ah in Australia.
01:06:46
Speaker
Um, And I think it's probably under known a lot. I don't want to like make mass tourism go there, but like it's a pretty cool place. think you're right.
01:06:57
Speaker
Yeah, there's already a lot of people going on there. um But yes, I think yeah it's quite cool to see what could happen to those events in terms of just maybe getting a few more people along to them and um and that sort of thing.
01:07:12
Speaker
Yeah, and it potentially also keeps these events alive. Like you don't know if Singletrack weren't happy to take it or maybe Paul's like, no, I'm done. Like I've had my time with these. So yeah, it's been very interesting see how, especially through 2026, 2027 season,
01:07:29
Speaker
what changes and what this impact might have or might not have on the racing calendar do we see elites targeting these for now different reasons or are these just very much kept as that grassroot style of event that's more for the local the local person or the person that's done alpine challenge for the last five years and is just going to keep keep turning up because they love that place yeah i know there's already locals like elite locals that go to these races and do them so like ke kelly's done a fair few of them in the past i think um And I think you will get some more at least Victorian elites interested in going along to these events because they they know single track and that sort of thing. So not saying that Running Wild was run poorly in the past, but it's just saying that people know single track quite well and they may have never heard of Running Wild and it might help more of those people get into these events to some extent.
01:08:20
Speaker
I wonder if they are, as Nigel said, going to keep these more grassroots, a bit more minimal in in how they're they're marked and how they they're they're set up. If people will go to it expecting the Buffalo or the Grampian style event and be like, oh, hang on a minute. so What's going on?
01:08:35
Speaker
Could be interesting. It might be an interesting hand of a period. But i like i when I saw it, I was quite excited by the idea of it. Yeah. Definitely. All right.
01:08:46
Speaker
Let's move on to the results. I'm going to start off with four peaks. Brody, I'm assuming you were following this pretty closely over the weekend. Yeah. so It was good to see. i so I'll start off with the men's overall and we can talk about the individual days.
01:09:01
Speaker
But Ian Best took out the overall win, 514.58. He was in overall first last year before taking a wrong turn on the final day that cost him that win. So it's good good to see him come back.
01:09:13
Speaker
Matt Crean, second, 527.51 and taking out the M40 to 49 age category, which I know he'll love me for that one. And then in third, Marietta Kaiser, 531.51, who is a Swiss orienteer living in, think, Queensland.
01:09:30
Speaker
um on it for yeah he He smacked everyone up at the Australian Champs as well. So I wasn't there, but... I wouldn't have smacked him up. another he's He's pretty decent. Yeah, he did pretty well up at the Australian Champs. I haven't actually met him, but um obviously decent runner.
01:09:45
Speaker
yeah From the men's side, day one through four, Brodie, was there any any particular performance that you were like, wow, this was not very noteworthy? Yeah, it was interesting. It was a bit like... um I like, you know, what people have run in previous
Four Peaks Race Highlights
01:10:00
Speaker
years, you've got the Stryver. Like um'm i' I've I've I love watching four peaks and seeing how fast people are running and that sort of thing. So it's exciting.
01:10:09
Speaker
um It probably surprised me on Buffalo Day that the two guys were out the front by themselves, Ian and Michael. I probably expected them be in front, but I thought maybe the rest would be slightly closer.
01:10:23
Speaker
But then again, you don't know what people are doing if they're doing all four days, not not sort of throwing everything at the... at the first race. um But yeah, it seemed like a good run. It looked like Koerner's had a bit of trouble. once it got into like the more technical stuff, he sort of lost his rhythm a little bit. So yeah, it was interesting to see Ian come out on top there. And then like in feather top,
01:10:43
Speaker
um kern has ran really quick um yeah super fast i think he was about a minute off the what is documented as the course record uh by john winsbury who i think coaches some uh act trail runners yeah he's just roan's coach Oh, cool.
01:11:01
Speaker
Yeah, So ah he currently had the – well, he still has the course record, um but Koerner's got really close to it um and closest closer than anyone has been in years, and he won by about four minutes or a bit over. So that was impressive.
01:11:18
Speaker
I guess a little bit unsurprising because I think we know that Koerner's, once he can get into a good rhythm, it's not too technical. He's got a really good engine. He's got good mechanics. he's his pretty he's He's pretty short, small. So like he flies up these things.
01:11:33
Speaker
um yeah So yeah, I thought that was really impressive time. um And then yeah, Hotham is Hotham. I don't think I had anything specifically to say about that. And the Mystic course has actually changed since when I did it. So I don't actually know what's a good time, but it looked like Ian Best and Toby Lang had a really good battle, a really good back and forth, which was pretty cool to see.
01:11:55
Speaker
Yeah, Ian was saying that they swapped positions about five times and it wasn't until it finished with like two short punchy climbs and Toby was ahead at that point. and Ian saw him hit the climb and just stop and he was like, all right, I've got Yeah, because i was I was quite interested that if they were so close back and forth all day that Ian took it because Toby is an orienter. I know he's generally fairly decent at downhills, whereas I would have thought Ian was stronger on the climbs. But I think As orientiers go, actually, Toby's a really good climber and maybe not as strong on the descent. So they're probably actually quite evenly matched.
01:12:29
Speaker
And maybe some of Ian's endurance tipped him over at the end there, four days of running and then, yeah, a massive massive downhill and then having to climb is pretty tough. Yeah. It's interesting with Toby because as well, he missed, is it day two, ah think?
01:12:44
Speaker
Yeah. Toby, he ran IB. If people have heard of that, it's in Canberra. It's like with ANU, they drop kids out, sorry, not kids, the uni students out in the middle of nowhere pretty much and they've got to find their way back to Canberra slash a specific point, um but they don't have a map or anything. They've got to like figure out where they are based off landmarks and they don't know where they're dropped essentially.
01:13:05
Speaker
Yeah. But they run like 100 Ks in that. I think Toby did like 98 Ks. And that was only two weeks ago. And he's fairly young. um So I think he just, I saw on his feather top day, he said maybe he still hasn't recovered from that. And he's been pushing it pretty hard.
01:13:22
Speaker
He's been doing some questionable things in training, Toby. I've seen them.
01:13:27
Speaker
Toby just got called out so that's that's that's maybe why but yeah I think he needed to have a bit of a rest um but he's come back strong on day four yeah the only other one I want to give a quick shout out is um of the boys I coach he won the under 18 category Ryan Miller that's SJ Miller's son so he's only 15 wanted to take on all four days and uh Yeah, smashed it, especially day two. Again, that kind of more runnable terrain. um Yeah, just wanted to give him give him a quick shout out. I don't think he listens the podcast, but to on the the female side like, I don't know why I ever doubted that it would.
01:14:05
Speaker
I know she's just like on a tear at the moment. I'm loving seeing her just jump into these events and just like the general fitness she's got and the fact that she ran down every day.
01:14:17
Speaker
So she didn't just do the uphills. She then jogged back down again. Like not necessarily like... She ran down on Hotham. She... Oh, did she run down didn't see that one. She run down on the... I saw she run down Buffalo and then you sort of have to run down or out on Feathertop. But Hotham, you have the option to not.
01:14:33
Speaker
Yeah, so I think on Hotham, she did an extra loop. um yeah okay Whilst I'm searching that one, I'll read out the results. So Lucy took the win, overall 559-20, which would have placed her seventh overall, um including the men's field.
01:14:51
Speaker
Demi Caldwell came second, 627-28. Courtney Ellis came third in 638. So that's a name we didn't really talk about in the preview. She looks like she comes from a triathlon background okay and was very, very close with Demi. like They were a minute apart day one. Demi had the... wit over Courtney Courtney then took two and a half minutes out of Demi on day two Demi takes two minutes out of Courtney on day three so very very close and then 10 minutes on day four and that's just classic four piece like it that is why this event is so epic because you don't get it in any other race there's this like toing and froing day to day um yeah it's so special in the trail running world so yeah I love seeing that stuff because it's like oh who's going to come out on top and you're like oh how much time am I and
01:15:40
Speaker
Yeah, it's pretty special. Yeah. So that was that cool to see. And also she came fourth in the end, Emily Bartlett, that he had a cracking final day. And again, an an example of as soon as she was saying, after as soon as you put the downhill in, she got pretty happy.
01:15:53
Speaker
um But just went from kind of being a few minutes behind Demi each day to only being a less than a minute behind on day four. So finishing really strong. Jess, seeing the the results from the the ladies, what what were your thoughts?
01:16:07
Speaker
Yeah, I thought um Lucy was just amazing. Like, it's – I haven't really seen her race much in Australia um since I've been in trail running.
01:16:17
Speaker
Yeah. um So, just, yeah, growing so much, like, appreciation for her strength. um And then also, like, just Kate on day two, like – crazy like because I spoke to her before the race and she wasn't sure how it was going to go she hasn't been doing much steep stuff yet um in her return from pregnancy and She just absolutely crushed her. Like, I'm so scared for her comeback. Yeah, yeah, yeah. As a male and not needing to race her, incredibly excited to see her return. Because, like, she she took, what, a minute 19 out loose. You still have to race her, James. She might be, like, if you're in a race with her, you'll be racing her.
01:17:00
Speaker
I think we're 1-1. he's only a I'm taking that. I'll leave it there. I was going to say, I think she's coming for me, James. Yeah.
01:17:12
Speaker
And like you look at watch it how the times she used to run when she was younger on on the tracks. She was so fast. Quicker PBs than most of the boys' field, I think. Yeah, 100%. I can't remember the exact time. I know it's 15-something, isn't it, for her five k Yeah, I think so. And think a 10K is in the 31s maybe, or don't know if I'm being, it is. Yeah. Okay.
01:17:34
Speaker
So like just such such a class runner and it's just exciting to see her like obviously, not obviously, seemingly coming back really well from pregnancy, performing well on this uphill.
01:17:46
Speaker
We saw a run really fast at rollercoaster. So yeah, I'm definitely excited to see how Kate's going in 2026. Kind of really building a lot of strength from 2025. The thing that really excited me the women's field, it was super deep.
01:17:57
Speaker
um often I would say overall it was probably maybe deeper than the men's field even. Like you had Emily Bartlett there. Courtney Ellis was there. Like Kate came in and ran that day. You had Kelly running. SJ was in two days as well. s SJ was running two days. i was going to say there's some people missing from this overall list. yeah The women's field was...
01:18:18
Speaker
Crazy. It was really deep. Yeah. And it's, I think it's, it's, it's interesting as well as talking to everyone at the end, like people aren't that beat up and it, it sounds like a lot. And I think it potentially, it might be tomorrow.
01:18:31
Speaker
They might be, yeah but I think it may be testament to the time done on day one, especially if you haven't done the full four days before, you're not going to floor yourself or, most likely trying to save yourself for the rest rest of those days. But yeah, potentially like it is more attainable than people think it is to take on all four as long as you have to. Cause they're uphill races.
01:18:50
Speaker
Um, they are more, they're hard, but you can do them. If you do them at your pace, they're doable. And they're like, as we said in the preview, like when were talking about it last week, they used to, at one point they had mystic first, which is, was brutal because obviously we know that downhill does smack your muscles up a bit more.
01:19:08
Speaker
Um, Whereas now I think you've done three uphill days and yes, you have to jog slowly down on Feathertop, which is which is tough. But um yeah, I think it's definitely doable.
01:19:18
Speaker
I reckon some of them will be sore tomorrow because of Mystic. yeah But yeah. and And the conditions. Very doable. Yeah, the conditions today as well will probably not have helped how sore people will be because it was so wet and so sloppy.
01:19:34
Speaker
um People, they definitely, they made the course um a bit safer this year, which is what made it a bit longer. So there didn't seem to be any bad injuries in Mystic, whereas I know last year they they did have one one in particular from just one of the steeper sections. So it's, yeah, I know it made me being there like, oh, I think this is actually pretty attainable for, but anyone to go and do like, as long as you train for it, like you train for anything else, but you don't have to be an elite to really enjoy four days at four peaks. I think you can be anywhere in that pack and, and have a really, really good day.
Race Results and Performances
01:20:05
Speaker
Other races that will obviously, I mentioned, it's not really a race, but I mentioned King of the Hill already. I'm just going to refresh in case they've. No change. They're that base degree. So Peter and Blaine are just battling it The Portland Three Bays Running Festival, there's three road distances and then they have a trail 60K.
01:20:23
Speaker
So that was won by Benny Wallace in 5.43.58, Liam Prescott in second, 6.12.28, and then Liam Hildebrand 6.21.02. And the women's side, they all finished... in six twenty one o two and the women's side they all finished Consecutively, Tess Lyon in 7.13.36, Sabrina Sherman in 7.27.11, and then Leah Plantevin in 7.30 dead. It's always satisfying when someone gets like zero zero, just like a perfect time.
01:20:52
Speaker
I'm getting real insight into how my brain works there. ah The Bear Creek Trail Run was also on up in New South Wales. This one had a 20k and a 12k. So James Stainstreet took out the win in 20k, 126.26. Stephen Brown, 127.03. And Alexander Matthews, 127.17. So very close racing, less than 50 seconds separating the top three there.
01:21:16
Speaker
um In the women's, Jasmine Carey, 148.08, Chloe Brault, 157.07, and Odette Duchesne in 157.26. six um And the 12K looks like a bit bit more of a casual one. And then I like this name, Dan and Tassie, the knockers and knockers sport.
01:21:36
Speaker
The... Pretty short, fast events. We saw a couple of familiar names there, though. So Andrew Gaskell took the win in David second, Luke Budd, good to see Andrew back on the field. you much about this event, Brody?
01:21:54
Speaker
good to see andrew back on a field do you do you know much about this event birdy I don't, um but David Bailey rarely gets beaten, so that's ah especially over a short distance and if it has some descending because he's quite good at descending. So, yeah, that's a good run from – like we know Andrew's obviously a quality athlete. He's been known to do probably longer races.
01:22:17
Speaker
Yeah. um But, yeah, that's it it's a good run from him to to be ahead of David in in a race like that, I reckon. Yeah, when i when I clicked on the results, I was surprised. I fully expected it to be the other way around. I wouldn't have thought that David would, especially Andrew not being that far off, pretty big run.
01:22:34
Speaker
It's, yeah, very impressive. And on the women's, again, familiar names, Maggie Lennox took the win in 101.49, Grace Lennox 105.16, and then Bella Connolly in 108.39. So, yeah. grace linnox in one zero five sixteen and then bella conolally in one oh eight thirty nine so Some good good tight racing over there.
01:22:53
Speaker
Yeah, so this one's a – the reason it's called Knockers is it's because it's around this Knock Lofty Reserve, which is like this local reserve on the edge of the mountain. um But they do this nice – it's quite steep, as is most places on the edge of the mountain.
01:23:06
Speaker
um So it was, yeah, 12K with 480 meters of climb, but I guess a bit more runnable. um It looks like David went off course a little bit and then had to sort of catch back up and then and then couldn't and then had burnt too much energy.
01:23:20
Speaker
But, yeah, cool racing. That's right. Yeah. Yeah. Good to see. Obviously it's you ah never want anyone to go off of course, but it's a credit to him for getting back on and still pushing one, one assumes hard to the ah finish there.
01:23:34
Speaker
you want do the listener question from James? ah Maybe next week. sorry James. Yeah. yeah
01:23:43
Speaker
Well, ah and some i'm I'm curious who's actually going to answer this because James probably had people in mind when he answered like you, me and Vlad. And now it's for completely different people. But James, we will we will we will come to that one.
01:23:54
Speaker
um it has it's not it's not It's not super time dependent. I'm still thinking, James. i'm still I'm still working through. I'm not ready to answer yet. And then coming up, it's a pretty big week.
Upcoming Races and Personal Plans
01:24:08
Speaker
um Obviously, GPT is probably the the one that's getting most attention at the moment.
01:24:13
Speaker
That starts on Thursday. So for me, one of the interesting storylines there is Lucy backing up straight after four peaks. After seeing her run, I have no doubt that she'll be absolutely fine. I'm just going to stop doubting her.
01:24:24
Speaker
It's just easier. She ran pretty quick today, though, which is pretty hard downhill. So i'm I'm not going to doubt her, but I'm just going to say that's going to be hard to recover from.
01:24:35
Speaker
Or did she? You never know. Maybe she was just- Well, she was only like eight minutes behind the fastest men, so it's pretty close. ah maybe Maybe Ian should have been checking behind him if she wasn't- Yeah, exactly.
01:24:47
Speaker
yeah that's It's going to be fascinating. Again, i'm just but I'm personally curious what it's like. like The World Trail Major doesn't mean anything and just seeing what the the outcome is from this weekend.
01:24:59
Speaker
Triple top, mountain run. Brody, are you doing this? Yep. ah you are That's it. That's me going to get down there. ah been a In the past, it's been sort of like an unofficial and Tasmanian Championships because all the best trail runners go there. I don't know what the field's like this year, so yeah we'll see what happens.
01:25:17
Speaker
But it's it's such a cool event. It was initially ah started by like the Lions Club. So it has like a real, has like a very it's a very grassroots type of event, but on an extremely technical and tough area. So it's it's an interesting mix, but it's a very cool event.
01:25:36
Speaker
Awesome. Then we got the Budi Coastal... Budi or Budi? Budi. think Budi, but I don't know for sure. I'm sorry, whoever lives up there. Budi Coastal Run.
01:25:47
Speaker
i like I had a quick look to try and find any start list or participant list for these, and I can't i can never find them. um But they are sold out, which i think is pretty cool for an event. like It's one of the questions that someone raised to me is that, do we really need all these trail events? And the answer is probably yes, because there's a limit to how many people can go on any trail. so that i think is it is that one run by the same people that run coastal classic i think it might be i can't answer um max adventure is the is the company but yeah they do they do a really good event so if it's there i think it is the but maybe there's another one in that area but i've definitely heard of that one whilst i'm reading the rest i can have a quick quick search for me uh over in wa we've got boo die boo die is how you say
01:26:28
Speaker
Have you just asked, how do you say this? Yeah, I just said Buddha pronunciation. It's the name. The name is it? Well, sorry, this is AI overview. So please don't cancel me if got this wrong.
01:26:38
Speaker
um The name is an Aboriginal word for heart is the name of the national park on the central coast. Wonderful. Sounds very nice. um Over in WA, the Feral Pig Ultra, um which again, i doing big putting together, this ah this looks like a pretty decent event, Jess, is that?
01:26:57
Speaker
Yeah, it's a pretty big one. um Yeah, not as big as like Margaret Over Ultra, but a lot of people get around it. It's on um the Bibbulmun track that's closest to the city, so around Kalamunda.
01:27:09
Speaker
um Yeah, pretty nice, like hilly, rocky kind of technical terrain. um Yeah, I've run a lot around there. i really love it. and I miss it. ah I'll come to that one in a sec. Then up in Queensland, you got Mount Glorious Mountain Trails. We've got the Southeast Queensland round three at the Namimba Valley.
01:27:31
Speaker
And then back in Vic, we've got the Marysville Marathon, which I think I'm just acutely aware now for events that have a lot of distances. But on the Saturday, they have a 7K, a 14K, and a 100K. And on the Sunday, they have a 4K, a 10K, a half marathon, a marathon, and a 50K. So if you want to do it, they have it, but maybe except for the 50 mile, which is a distance that um I really will want to see more of. um But yeah, so plenty plenty going on this week and starting only, we're recording this Tuesday, starting only in two days' time. So exciting weekend of watching going on Brody what what's on for you for the rest of the week yeah um headed down to Tassie Thursday um the triple tops is like from you can travel from Launceston which is where I grew up and my family lives so yeah I'll be based out of there for a few days so doubling up visiting home and doing the race while i'm there so yeah looking forward to it lovely Jess what's your week look like
01:28:26
Speaker
um Yeah, pretty good. I'm heading up to Sydney on the weekend um for my grandma's 80th. So that should be fun. And I'll get a run i'll get a runin with Juliet while I'm up there. that'll be nice.
01:28:43
Speaker
Ah, cool. Very nice. And I've actually got a weekend at home, which is very nice. had had had Had a lot away and got a lot away. So it is frantically packing up the house. we've We've decided to book movers to do it because it's just a little, it's just going a bit too much, but it's still four weeks away. But I know that's going to come up very, very quickly. So a few more rides, few more gyms and then get back into it, which is exciting. Nice one.
Conclusion and Listener Engagement
01:29:10
Speaker
Cool. Guys, thank you so much. Fun as always. Thank you. great rest your weeks and everyone listening, thanks so much for tuning in and we'll see on the next one. Yeah, catch you soon.
01:29:20
Speaker
Thanks, guys.