Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Ultra Trail Kosciuszko 2025 Preview
471 Plays1 day ago
In this event preview James and Brodie are joined by Kellie Angel to talk all things UTK as we prepare for the showdowns happening this week!
Hear detailed breakdowns of the course and fields, including our predictions on who will come out on top.
Looking forward to what will no doubt be some great battles to close out the 2025 season!
Thanks for joining us on Peak Pursuits! Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod and share your thoughts, questions, or your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
James: @coachjamessieber
Brodie: @brodie_nank
Kellie: @kelemmo
UTK: @ultratrailkosciuszko
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/tropicana
License code: MFJHTO0ZMVHA84WI
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Event Preview
00:00:20
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Peak Pursuits podcast. Today you're joining us for the Ultra Trail Cozzy Osco preview. I'm joined as always by Brodie and today we've got a special guest in Kelly Angel. Kelly, thanks for coming along to do this with us.
00:00:33
Speaker
No worries. Thanks for having me guys. Brodie, how you doing? Yeah, pretty good. Pretty excited to chat about another field. This is, i think going to be our last preview of the year. Is that right?
00:00:45
Speaker
It's been a fun year. Yeah, there's not really a lot on in December. and like In Victoria, I think there's Buller Sky Run. That's the only one that really shouts out from a trail perspective. I'm sure there's probably less going north because it just gets so hot. So yeah, no, it's been ah been a fun year of previews. I haven't actually looked at our preview score to see who's winning at the moment. We'll have to do the yearly recap.
00:01:06
Speaker
I think you've probably won, but um yeah, it's been fun talking about
Yearly Race Reflections
00:01:10
Speaker
the races. This is one of the Things that I wanted to do the most with the podcast was sort of talk about trying to build some hype around some of the big races. So, yeah, it's been um it's been fun to chat. um Hopefully people enjoy listening. And we've got one one to go. And we've got Kelly on. So we're finishing with a bang.
00:01:29
Speaker
Definitely. It's been a fun way to get to know. Like, I feel like going through the the list of names for Cozzy, as we'll get through, there's a lot of names we've seen throughout the year. You really know their stories now from having to look into these people probably three times throughout the year. So it's been fun. It's it's good to do. and i think we've both made some very questionable choices about Pozzy.
00:01:49
Speaker
Have to have something in
Coarse Consistency and Challenges
00:01:50
Speaker
there. Definitely. So before we get into the fields, I think the the first thing that stands out to me about COSY this year is the fact that it's actually the same courses, give or take a couple of little things maybe. But when I was looking across the, like we're going to we're going to focus on the 50k, 100k and 100 mile for the preview, all of those seem to essentially be the same to last year. So not that...
00:02:13
Speaker
Comparing times is everything. Obviously, last year, the 100 mile had the lightning storm interruption for a couple of hours, but they sort of took that off the time. So I think you can take the times pretty much as as is. so But it is nice to actually have that kind of point of reference now. if not Not a brand new course. We sort of know what people are in for. as Yeah. And people that are returning, I think have that leg up that we wouldn't tip. We haven't really seen at COSY that much.
00:02:40
Speaker
Kelly, on this sort of course, like you've you've been here, was it 2022 you were here? twenty Yeah, it was the first year. I did the 27K. I think it was one of my first races back postpartum. Yeah.
00:02:53
Speaker
Do you feel like COSY as an area is one that the course knowledge is really valuable or is it this a course you think you could just kind of turn up to? To be honest, I ah don't know the area very well at all. That was the first time that I'd ever been there. So, um yeah, I mean, I think course knowledge always helps a little bit, um just knowing knowing the terrain and and what you're in for a little. Like that year, effectively, it was a downhill course when you looked at the profile, but it definitely didn't feel like that when you're out there. so Um, yeah, I think course knowledge definitely helps. Um, and also just knowledge of the elements, like the weather can change so quickly up there. I remember doing a, a photo shoot for Hoka before that race and were in our summer gear in singleton shorts and it, there was 30 centimeters of snow. it was absolutely ridiculous. And I was just there for for Costa Cozzi last weekend and um and they called an inclement weather finish for that. So, um yeah, anything could happen. So did they they didn't go to the summit last firm on this weekend?
00:03:56
Speaker
Some people did. um Some people didn't. So they had multiple storms roll through with some snow and hail. um And we were there, some members of the public had to get rescued as well. So there was ah there was a lot going on. But my runner, Jamie, um yeah, he he finished at Charlotte's charlotte's Pass because as the wind was just getting too crazy up there. Yeah. Looking at the, obviously it's still long range, we're recording this Friday, i guess six days before the 50k starts and at the moment Thursday looks quite nice, sort of sun and cloud, the weekend does not, it kind of looks like there could be a lot of rain but the lows are down sort of minus three and that was just in Threadbow. So it could be another very interesting weather year up there.
00:04:39
Speaker
Oh, for sure. And it's not just the temperature. Like I think when we were there last week into the night, it was 11 degrees. um Like the car was telling us 11 degrees. It was freezing though. The wind chill was just a whole nother level,
Weather and Gear Strategies
00:04:52
Speaker
whole nother factor. Yeah. It's one of the, if you're in that scenario, do do you try to go, okay, the second you feel yourself getting a bit cold, you layer up or do you feel like you've attempted to just wait that little bit longer?
00:05:07
Speaker
I think you need to be proactive. And I think we really saw that looking at UTMB this year with all of the Aussies that I think really tried to muscle through it a bit and and then it was too late. So, you know, my advice is definitely be proactive with it. And if you if you're a little bit hot, that's okay, um you'd especially if you're heading up the mountain or you're heading into the wind. um Yeah, you need to get onto that early.
00:05:31
Speaker
definitely Brody have you had any thoughts on on this year as a high level as you've been looking through things Not too much. Like just, yeah, it's interesting. It's cool that the courses are now a bit more stable. Like obviously it took a few years to figure out what what works well. um And I think, I don't know, I always enjoy races where you can sort of look at previous years and and benchmark a little bit as as an athlete myself. So um I think that's, yeah, that ah that's cool that they're sort of keeping that as constant as possible. Obviously it's a very changing environment up there. So they've they've had to work with that.
00:06:07
Speaker
um But, yeah, no, I'm excited. it's it I think your question about, like, how much you need prepared, like maybe for this one is, like, one of the ones that you need to see the terrain the least.
00:06:19
Speaker
um The elevation profile probably gives you quite a bit of information about what what you've got coming at you. um But then again, as Kelly said, like, it's always – Like when you're deep in a race and you see something you've seen before or you know what's coming up, like I think that can help a little bit. um So, yeah, there's obviously the benefits to getting out there. I don't think it would be big difference between those who have been on course and those who haven't.
00:06:44
Speaker
Yeah.
100 Mile Course Details
00:06:45
Speaker
Yeah. And I think that just looking again at the, the one hundred mile course at the moment, the thing that kind of strikes me is that it's not from a train perspective, there's nothing crazy challenging about this, but it is just how exposed you are for so much of this race that really, as you say, Kelly, if, especially if the wind is high and there's rain is all sleep or snow coming in, you could see your day goes sideways very, very quickly. Yeah, for sure.
00:07:08
Speaker
Cool. All right, well, let's get into it. All right, let's start with the 100 mile. um From a course perspective, as you said, they're they're all sort of using the the same parts of this, so which is which is nice. So the 50K is the last 50K of the 100 mile course. The 100K is the last 100K of the 100 mile course now.
00:07:26
Speaker
ah The 100 mile, I think the other thing that I think it was the first year, 2022, when they started this, ah the 100 mile. And I think it's the the trail that went from Perisher to Krakenbach where the tube is, that area that didn't exist from memory. And they had to take, they went across the the lake on boats. Yeah. I feel like it's, that was a nice novelty, but it's good to see, given this is this this is a by UTMB,
00:07:50
Speaker
it's obviously taken a bit more so serious now, the fact that you haven't got to get a boat to make the race go well. But it starts starts at 3 a.m. m in Jindabym, which for the the winners, i think last year, sam Harvey won in 16 and a half hours. So meaning he does finish in ah at a nice time, hopefully on on the same day. But then most most people are going to be finishing this sort of between 3 and probably 10 a.m. m on on Saturday. So it's...
00:08:19
Speaker
I guess it means that they're not on the high country area, which is really from kilometres. I've gone on to gone on to the 100k course there. ah From sort of 56 through to 114. So people shouldn't be up there too much through the middle of the night, which will be be good. But it's a nice start. It's just a long...
00:08:42
Speaker
long and nice kind of undulating trail by the river and then it's the Threbo Valley track. Have you, well, Kelly, you definitely have. Brody, you've run on the Threbo Valley trail before?
Trail Highlights and Challenges
00:08:53
Speaker
Yeah. yeah hard Kelly, how do you find running on that trail?
00:08:56
Speaker
it's It's quite flowy, um but as I said, like the year we did it, it was it was downhill, but it was just, it was up and down the whole time undulating.
00:09:08
Speaker
um So it didn't feel easy, put it that way Bro, do you say the same? Yeah, and I think like the way that they do it is the uphill way. Yeah. So I think it like it looks, if you look at it, um even with the elevation chart, it doesn't look like much. um Particularly, I think you nearly need to nail it. it You need to look at it in the 27 to like actually see that there's a bit of a gradient because on the other maps, it doesn't really look like one.
00:09:35
Speaker
Yeah. But it is it is a bit of a – it is sort of like ah a very subtle climb. I don't know what it would be. It's probably like 3% or something, 3% to 5% or something like that. um So I think it's it's harder than it looks and you can run relatively fast.
00:09:50
Speaker
ah Like the runnability is decent. So, yeah, it's – it's pretty tough to some extent like you can i know in the 50k a few years ago when i was looking at running i didn't end up running but i like we're looking at the paces that people were running on that section and it's really fast so they're really putting out some power but it is hard because you are actually going uphill a little bit so yeah it's it's a It's an interesting part of the course because you can you can move quickly, but you can probably also burn a few too many bickies, especially with the the finish of the everything but the 27 having those climbs in the back the very back half of the race. um
00:10:30
Speaker
If you go too hard there, you could suffer a lot up the last climb. Yeah, yeah i think i what i was going to say is that the first, ah essentially the first 20 or 30k of it, when you look at the course profile, it really doesn't look bad and in the slightest. But having run on those trails over Christmas last year, it is really zapping of energy and there are like yeah the average gradient might only be three five percent but there are these like little steep inches that maybe only go for 10 steps 15 steps but they do take it out of you so i think that it would be be very easy if you're running this miler to use up way too many ah too too many bickies in that first 30k um and then all the high countries kind of yeah it's going to make it feel a lot harder but
00:11:13
Speaker
But overall, of course, I think the profile does does kind of run you through pretty pretty well. And then just finishing with that last push. But we'll kind of go into bit more detail for that when we get to the 50K. I'll start us off with the women's field.
00:11:27
Speaker
The standout name, to me, I'm sure probably to both yourselves as well would be
Women Contenders: Steph Austin and Claire O'Brien-Smith
00:11:33
Speaker
Steph Austin. So she's had a really good year so far. Like you've got six foot track, Hounslow and then Booty Coastal run all first places in 2025. Last year she was second in the Cosi 100 mile and then she was also second in 2023 in the Cosi 100 mile and then first in the in 2022. So talk about someone that knows this terrain based on every variation of every course here, apart from the boat year in 2022 for 100 miles. So she spent a lot time on course going through Strava today.
00:12:09
Speaker
racks up the pace. think it's been sort averaging 180, weeks, 3,000 meters, sort of 16 to 19 hours worth of just running in there. It's pretty impressive. And I think that if Steph is turning up...
00:12:22
Speaker
healthy and ready to go on this start line I think it's going to be very very hard for anyone else to to take it to her Kelly you're nodding along there you obviously you agree with that look Steph's a machine um I saw her last week crewing for for Costa Cosi as well so she's been in the area very recently um yeah I'm excited to see what she can do um and obviously with so many seconds I'm pretty sure she's she's pretty keen on a first definitely Yeah, yeah. And Steph is always able to run. I feel like I i think there's a lot of times where I've been like, oh, maybe it's too hard for Steph to run this weekend after racing last weekend and she still pulls something crazy out. She's done it time time again. So I think um even if she's – it sounds like she's been training really hard, but um a bit of a rest going into this one and she'll probably be flying.
00:13:14
Speaker
Yeah. And it's easy to to forget as well that last year, women's winner was Sabrina Stanley, who's one of the best at the 100 mile distance in the world. So yes, she was an hour and a half up the road, but it is Sabrina. So I think the think from memory, Sabrina came either third or fourth overall, right right around Nigel Hill, who's often winning me these distances. just like with Sam Harvey in there and Sabrina, it really took the level up a notch.
00:13:42
Speaker
The other name, i think second kind of for me would be Claire O'Brien-Smith. We saw i have a a good day at UT 100 Mile. Reading back through her post on that, I think ah it was very much like she wanted to get to the start line, get to the finish line and then ideally be a top 10. And she tipped all those boxes. Still didn't seem...
00:14:00
Speaker
as happy as as she possibly could have been. Brody, you probably have a bit more of an insight into how she felt after this one, but she's also and another one that's had a third in 2023 in the 100 mile at Cozzy and then a second in 2022. So a lot of course experience ah ah over here.
00:14:18
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know for sure if she is. So with all these names, we're saying we're going off a ah list from UTMB Live combined with the website. She's on the UTMB Live page, but not on the on the UTK website. So she might be one that's not coming and maybe signed up a while ago and isn't.
00:14:37
Speaker
um I should know, but I haven't spoken to Claire for a while. um If she is coming, I agree. she's She's very good over this distance. I think UTA, she was pretty happy with the the first half and maybe not so happy with the second half. um But I think, again, she was happy to just sort of push through and finish that one. And she did tick all the boxes she was aiming for. So, yeah, if she is coming, I think she'll be able to sort of take that step up from from doing UTA and ticking the boxes of just sort of getting around and getting it done um and to sort of to maybe even push a bit more. But, yeah, I'm i'm not 100% sure she is or isn't coming.
00:15:17
Speaker
Right. It always makes it a bit easier for us here. Other names on that list, Brodie, is there anyone that's kind of jumping out to you? The person who's been. out to me is Christy Laurie. Sorry, I jumped in there. I was going to say, Kelly probably know these people much better than me. um Yeah, look, Christy an amazing mum from Perth. I first met her at Buffalo this year as I was vomiting my guts up going up Dingo Ridge and she was still running up Dingo. Like it was amazing to watch her pass me at that point and and finish super strong, I think, in fourth.
00:15:53
Speaker
Um, she also won transcend 65 and the um So, yeah, I think she's ah in for a really good race.
00:16:04
Speaker
Is this her debut at the 100-mile distance? so like She doesn't have one on UTMB, but she may have done one that's not a UTMB. Not sure. Yeah, okay. it could be because I think that's why she's she's sort of showing up as someone who doesn't have points in the 100-mile distance. yeah um So it could be a step up for her. But a good one a good one to do is a step up to the 100-mile distance probably, I'd say.
00:16:27
Speaker
Yeah, I think so for sure. Yeah, she doesn she doesn't have 100 mile on ITRA either. And there's a kind of the two we can go off. Otherwise, it's going through every single race's results ever to try and find more. 200k races this year, though, I guess, and and Transcend. So she's done a bit.
00:16:46
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And when you think about Steph versus Christy, do you think that that's the kind like a competition there? Or do you do you feel like Christy's still going to be that little bit behind? I'm not sure. i think they're completely different runners. So it'll be interesting to see how they bring their different strengths into it. Yeah. yeah It's an interesting question with the 100 mile here because it's definitely not, it's not the most challenging 100 mile course you're ever going to find. It's probably a nice way to step up into that distance, especially if you are,
00:17:13
Speaker
confident and experienced in the 100k and whether whether this course is one that if you're debuting at 100 mile it's not going to matter too much like the distance is obviously new but it's not as big of a jump and that therefore that person might be able to outperform a typical debut um it's yeah it's definitely going to be it's going to be an interesting interesting question um that Kelly going back to yourself is there any of the other names on the field that jumped out to you um I think you said Emily Brunt isn't running I think so. Yes.
00:17:42
Speaker
Yep. um And then there's Jess Schluter. Yeah. Yeah. And she she always puts out a really consistent um consistent performance, so she could be up there somewhere as well.
00:17:53
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. No, I was seeing her, had a couple of good miler finishes, my second at Brisbane and an eighth at Tarawara, so definitely got the experience at the distance. The only other name that I saw, but Sarah Parkins has a third at Tarawara 100 mile this year. DNF'd at Cozzy last year, but then has another 10th at Tarawara in 2023, but has some some good results not not a name I'm particularly familiar with and I can't find out much about her either so it kind of going into bit of an unknown but definitely another name that could quite easily surprise us if she's had a good year since Tarawera coming third there is definitely a good indication of performance for sure cool Brodie anything else in the women's field
00:18:39
Speaker
now No, not for me. I think like one question that we definitely raised when we were at GPT or doing the GPT preview, sorry, was how this was going to impact the cosy fields and vice versa. And I think just looking at the names in the women's field compared to the GPT field and even in the men's field here is that I do think that people have either chosen one or the other, obviously, and that has potentially diluted both. like I think both fields had a few good names, like really good names. And then it was kind of without sounding mean a bit of a drop down.
00:19:07
Speaker
Um, and I think we'll kind of, we've seen that across here, like there's some very good runners in the field. Like e everyone's obviously done very well to get themselves ready for these positions, but it is, I guess at the hundred mile when you can't do that many of them, it is a bit of a shame. We have two such big ones so close together.
00:19:21
Speaker
fish It's been, I mean, November in general has just been absolutely wild for races. So yeah. Yes. I feel like I've been all over the country quite. All all right, Brady, you want take us into the hundred mile men?
Men Contenders: Mike Carroll and Robin Fournier
00:19:35
Speaker
Yeah, so in the 100 mile men, um happy to see an Australian on the top top ranked. Happy to see Mike Carroll on top ranked. I'm big fan of Mike. um He was, what was he, is he first? Second, sorry. Second at UTA.
00:19:52
Speaker
Yeah, 100, okay. Earlier in the year. um We had a chat to him after that one earlier in the year, which is very cool. But he's backed that up with ah some very two very impressive runs over shorter distance, ah first at six-foot track in quite a quick time, 329 there, and then ran a big course record at roller coaster, 46K, coming first there as well. So he's looking like he's in pretty good shape. um And we know he can run the 100k distance and he definitely pulled off a ah good 100k at UTA earlier in the year. So I think um he's going to be hard to beat in this field, even though he does have some some strong runners behind him. Yeah.
00:20:39
Speaker
Yeah, I'm excited to see what Mike can do. um Probably after that, um I think you were saying off air, James, that you think Eric Concher, who's been to this event a few years in the past, he's from France, he might he might he looks like he might not be running because he hasn't been doing that much.
00:20:57
Speaker
ri yeah So he he was our UTA 100 mile champion. And back then my notes for his training was just like he's doing 20 hours a week. It was like 12 hours of running plus loads on the bike.
00:21:08
Speaker
And recently he running his running has been, I think it's averaging about 50, 60 Ks a week. he had He did some events in October, but it was the masters, which he won like masters, 5,000 meters, eight k cross and 1500. And then there was like a big drop off after that. So I was wondering if maybe something got flared up.
00:21:26
Speaker
around then, he's still doing a lot of riding and he's got a lot of running years in his legs. So maybe he still turns turns up. But I just, ah if he turns up, we're definitely not seeing the UTA version of Eric. It's not going to be his best version. Yeah. And in this field, he probably needs to be his best version. I'll go through some of the other people that are,
00:21:45
Speaker
Pretty impressive. Robin Fournier from Switzerland. Now, he has the third highest UTMB index, which i I don't know how this happens because he has some really good results from some European races.
00:21:57
Speaker
um But it must yeah it must have something to do with the times and whatnot. But this probably the big one was this year. um He was 23rd at UTMB, which we know is 23rd.
00:22:08
Speaker
highly competitive. um I guess that race does have a lot of attrition, a lot of the the big big names drop off, but still finishing 23rd in UTMB. I think anyone from Australia would be pretty happy to say that. So I think that's a pretty impressive place. He also had two other races. ah He had the 110K in Tenerife earlier in the year where he was sixth and the Eiger Eiger,
00:22:37
Speaker
trial sixty nine k He came eighth there, so that's another sort of UTMB race. um So, yeah, we know those European UTMB races are pretty packed, so being in the top ten is pretty impressive. And then 23rd in UTMB, I think, yeah, that's ah that's a solid performance. So I imagine he'll be ah challenger. Yeah.
00:22:58
Speaker
be interesting to see how he travels and how he comes across and races on the Australian trails. um what he yeah did he Did you see his results? I thought that was a big one that jumped out at me. Well, as actually, this is a note I had on on Mike's training as well, and I think this is just – We don't know what goes into the UTMB index. We don't know if they're waiting and everyone's pretty sure they're waiting by UTMB races stronger than non-UTMB races. yeah And so like you look at his ITRA score and it's 20 points higher than his UTMB score. yeah on On Mike, his roller coaster run that was a 334, so 46K, 2200 meters, that scored But then score from which was meters scored
00:23:43
Speaker
Now, to me, it's two very different performances and not the way that it's been pointed there. So I think it is definitely a cult of this system, unfortunately. But yeah, it's going to be he's going an interesting one. He also does this thing called Ultra X, which looks like they're kind of stage race trail distances and up to the so two hundred and fifty k um He's the Ultra X world champion from last year.
00:24:05
Speaker
So distance wise, this is hey very much in his wheelhouse. When I was looking through his training, the only thing that just like stood out to me was the fact that he doesn't do a lot of volume, but he does lot of intensity. So I would say his training looks more like he'd be turning up for the 50k than the 100 mile. But you never know. But with people we don't know, that might just be the way he trains. That's what what he's worked out works best for him. He might be coming off a much bigger, he probably is coming off a much bigger volume block for one of the Ultra X races or something previous in the year. So yeah, yeah that worked at UTMB, that'll definitely work at UTK. that was exactly. It's the sort of 100 mile race where that sort of training is probably most likely to work.
00:24:48
Speaker
Yes. And actually, that's when when we get to Morgan Glazier, that was something I'll bring up for him. But when we spoke about attrition rates at UTMB this year, anybody that got to the finish after the weather that they had, I think it really says a lot. And it also says that he will know how to look after himself. So if they do get smacked by some pretty adverse weather up there, I'm pretty sure he'll be he'll be fine. He's from Switzerland, so I'm sure he's he's spent a lifetime dealing with that. So yeah, he will he'll be someone who'll be well.
00:25:15
Speaker
And that might be part of his UTMB result from this year, why he sort of had had such a good high placing. Yeah, I think he's going to be a one to watch. Another one, as you just mentioned, from overseas, ah Morgan Glazier from the United Kingdom. We saw him...
00:25:32
Speaker
At roller coaster, we talked about him, about GPT. um I sort of lost what happened to him at GPT, but I've just checked he had a pre-race withdrawal. and i don't know if you know anything about that, James. who he The day before the race, he went to hospital with suspected chickenpox.
00:25:50
Speaker
ah Turns out it was just an animal bite or an insect bite, but it obviously gave us similar symptoms, and but he was taken to Melbourne. So by the time they knew that he was fine to race, he couldn't make it back to the start line from what I could tell from his Strava. So okay like he seemed to be taking it pretty well in the sense that his priority was being healthy and he was like, I'd much rather miss the start line and not have chickenpox and just have an animal bite that we don't get in the yeah UK and it's giving me a reaction. Yeah.
00:26:18
Speaker
Yeah, his have you looked into his driver at all since since the GPT? haven't
Training Insights and Strategies
00:26:23
Speaker
looked at it since GPT. He's literally been in St Kilda, just running easy, steady, some sort of up-tempo work and no hills.
00:26:33
Speaker
So... mark clearly banking on the fact that he put all these hills in his leg beforehand, but I looked at this and I went, I can understand doing a lot more speed work because cause he's going to be faster than, than what GPT would have been. But to me, you probably need a little bit of hills to be in your system still, just especially when you're talking about this distance. So yeah, I, I think the Morgan's like, if you look at his past results, he, he surprised himself with his Centurion of this South Downs way results. I think he's even said himself like an hour faster than what he thought he was going to do. Um,
00:27:05
Speaker
I think that we'll probably see him in that top five, maybe top eight position. But I think like the the strength of this field and with some of the guys in here, if they have the days that they potentially can, especially like Vlad, as we'll get to, it could be a but little bit too quick for him. But that said, he was doing 40-minute steady on the flats at 330s, saying that this used to be marathon pace for him. So he's clearly in good shape because three thirty s is roughly 230 marathon pace. And if that's now slower than, he's not moving badly.
00:27:35
Speaker
yes Yeah, yeah, yeah. Well, you keep pre-empting me because the next person I was going to talk about was Vlad Shachov. Vlad has done this race, but don't know if he's done it every year, but I definitely think he's done the mile or at least a couple of years. I actually was one of his paces one year that he unfortunately had to pull out, but... um Yeah, I think he' he he knows this race, he knows this course and if anyone's been following Vlad, it looks like he's been training really well and he has been putting out some pretty interesting video content as well if you want to head across to his page and have a look, which is which has been cool. I've been enjoying sort of seeing some of the stuff he's put together. But yeah, he seems to be in
00:28:20
Speaker
ah fairly good shape. i can't say I've been watching closely for the last couple of weeks, but some of the stuff I have seen pop up has been has looked has looked pretty good. Yeah, 24, 23 and 22, all in mile. What I think was nice to see about his more recent results is that he DNFs in 2023, but then came through in 24th for 2024, which by all means is not the day that he is capable of, clearly, because he's come second in 2022 as well. And we know the quality of Vlad, but I was glad to see him finish it because I feel like it's very different coming into this year off the back of two DNFs than...
00:28:58
Speaker
just one a year ago or two years ago. Yeah, yeah, definitely. I think he's, I think if he can pull it off, we always say this about Vlad, if he can pull it off, he'll have a, he'll have a really good run, but he hasn't,
00:29:11
Speaker
He hasn't quite nailed his pacing those. I'm not sure about 2024, but I know in 2023 he's probably out a bit too hot. um So, yeah, we'll see see how he goes this year. um I think if he gets it right, he will be very competitive and he could even give Mike a run for his money on a really good day.
00:29:30
Speaker
um So, yeah, I think it'll be it'd be interesting to see how that plays out. But alternatively, if it goes out really fast and fly deep, Vlad will probably go with it. So there's a risk that he does sort of blow up somewhere in the race. So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how that plays out.
00:29:45
Speaker
um I think it'll be a really interesting dynamic in the 100 mile with those runners in there. Yeah, I think we with what shape we've seen Mike in, might my assumption is Mike will be the one taking out.
00:29:59
Speaker
And i I honestly think at the moment, and anybody in this field that goes with Mike is in trouble. I just think he's he's in such good shape right now. And he's but he's pretty smart. Yes, like Eric beat him at at UTA. But yeah, I think that on this course, and Mike's Canberra local, so he knows his area. it's probably Unless Mike goes out conservative, I think anyone with him is going to have a hard time keeping up. Yeah, yeah.
00:30:24
Speaker
Those were the main sort of five or four, if we rule out Eric, that i was I was looking at. But I think there is some others in the field that I'm a little less familiar with. One of them that's got quite a high ranking is Aaron Smith.
00:30:39
Speaker
um It looks like, ah yeah, he's had a spattering of different results over the last few years. Maybe the best is... Brisbane Trail Ultra, 110K first last year. It's a pretty decent time on that course as well, I think. 11.50. Yeah, do I don't know much about Aaron.
00:31:02
Speaker
Yeah, Aaron's a friend. Met him through Sarah Jane Miller. They used to train a lot together. You know when you know someone that has so much potential and they've just never quite lived up to it yet?
00:31:16
Speaker
Like aaron could Aaron could be the guy that takes it to Mike, but i just he just hasn't been able to put it together yet. And it's more for training active and keeping his body healthy. So he's been battling, he's like openly battled this Achilles stuff most of year. So that's why he hasn't had many results from this year. Julian out was like ah a holiday where he just decided very, it sounded like very last minute. He might've had it the for a while to jump in one hundred hundred And he wasn't,
00:31:42
Speaker
um and he wasn't I think it was probably only maybe three or four weeks ago that he fully committed to this. So um very, very strong runner.
00:31:53
Speaker
But yeah, we'll see. he He definitely could be a surprise podium. Like he's already, he's had a sixth here in the past. Yeah. The other name that I think on paper maybe you wouldn't pick, and but it's a guy called Luke Nichols.
00:32:08
Speaker
What stands out to me about Luke is that he has his best races at the 100-mile distance. So he came second at Hossie in 2024, so last year, and a seventh at UTA. He's had ninth at Buffalo's 100K this year, um but it seems to be whereas as it goes longer, Luke does better. Yeah.
00:32:26
Speaker
ah Again, it could be you never want to write someone off that's come second. Oh, yeah, sure. In this exact race. I think that last year we saw… going to give him a shout-out, by the way. Last year we saw such a big DNF rate because they've stopped for two hours. People's bodies just shut down. People's minds shut down. And to actually be somebody that got to the finish and in still a very good time, I think he was 18 hours or so, it's… ah yeah Definitely bodes well. He has a recent DNF at UTMB, so hopefully that's kind of put a bit of fire in him to get to the to the to this finish line again. Yeah, cool.
00:33:03
Speaker
Awesome. Should we do some tips? Yeah. Kelly, I'm going to come to you first for the the women's field. We'll go for the podium. i've got going for so Yeah, I think Steph will be hard to beat. Yeah.
00:33:17
Speaker
And second and third? God. Yeah, it's great. um I think Christy will be up there and and probably Jess will be up there somewhere. Yep.
00:33:28
Speaker
Brady? I'm going to steal Kelly's picks and then you can't use them, James. So I'm going with Steph first, Christy second and Jess third.
00:33:40
Speaker
Are we assuming that Claire isn't racing, Brady? I'm assuming that she isn't, but I i don't know if she is. mind she may She may well be. justm I'm not sure she is.
00:33:52
Speaker
Okay. Well, in that case, I'll i'll go Steph, Christy, and then I'll go Sarah for third. Okay. Nice. Men's field. Brady, you take this one. Yeah, I think i I'm going to struggle. like I think Mike will be very hard to beat, so I'm going to go with ah Mike first.
00:34:10
Speaker
Ooh, this is a hard second and third, I think. I'm going to pick Robin second, just I think like he's sort of mountain experience and whatnot. And then I'm going to go Shatrov for third. Nice. Kelly? I'm a bit too vague with all of these athletes, but I'm going to go Mike for the win. All right. And then I'll go i go Mike, Morgan, and then Luke. right right rate the lower period experience I feel like Morgan not being able to get to the start line GPT is clearly fit for that distance. I think it's going to bode well.
00:34:47
Speaker
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, yeah whereas most gels on the market do not have sodium within them. What Bix has done here is take the recipe for the gels that work so well, that 1.8 ratio that is very, very friendly on the stomach and added a soft, subtle, but very tasty twist that you can dial in your race day and your training nutrition to that extra fine detail.
00:35:27
Speaker
As you know, bix has been supporting the show from the start and it literally helps keep the podcast coming to you every week. So if you want to support the show, level up your own nutrition game, head over to the Bix website, use our brand new code PEAK, P-E-A-K for 20% off at checkout. And with that, let's get back to the show.
00:35:44
Speaker
Cool. Alrighty. Let's move down to the one hundred k women's field. Now, Brody, you just had a chat to Sophie on the main show. So if you're listening to this one then you want to have an insight into why I think she's going to do really well, go back and listen to that that episode.
00:35:58
Speaker
But she comes in top ranked by UTMB, just had first at Great Ocean Trail Ultra off the back of second at Rollercoaster 23K, which that really impressed me. I think that show, like when someone's in 100K training and they can come second, very, very close behind Demi in 23. That's very impressive. And then a third at Hounslow Marathon. Aside from UTA, she i've got she's got first, second, third, second and first. So second at Buffalo Marathon and first at Archie 50K. She's had a very good year.
00:36:25
Speaker
And... yeah I really want this to work for her so she can kind of crown that whole thing off. But regardless, I think it's already, she can go into this knowing she's already had a great year, which I think is quite powerful, quite confidence inspiring.
00:36:37
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. i'm still I'm still holding to, like I've trained with Sophie a bit and I think she has had an incredible year. I still think she could have an even better race. So like, I'm like, I'm waiting for, and you know, it's hard for that race to actually come about and it might not happen this year. might not happen next year, but like she, yeah, I think that actually roller coaster was, yeah, like you said, being able to run that fast over a short distance while you're training for a much longer race, I think bodes really well to be able to be able to do a really quick time on 100k course and she's got the the sort of volume to back that up so yeah I think she'll be
00:37:16
Speaker
pretty hard to beat in this and I think she'll run a really quick time as well. But I think she's just keen to get out there and execute a good race and be happy with what she does without sort of putting too much pressure on the time or anything like that. She just wants to focus on the process, I guess, which is a good way to approach it as well and I think she'll probably have a really good race because of that. Yeah, definitely. And I agree. I got in trouble a little bit for saying this last time, but I do think they're still better in Sophie. I don't think we've seen the best from her yet. I think that was maybe taken in the fact that I was taking away from her past results, but it was not taking anything away from what she was doing. Yeah, we said that and we didn't mean it that the past results weren't good. We were just saying that we think there's even more there, which is, it's a compliment.
00:38:02
Speaker
And she's had a third here already back in 2023 in the 100K. Yeah, she knows the trail. Familiarity, has that confidence. found it interesting, Brody, when she talking about the fact that she did go and do threshold testing, ability testing, and that sort of recalibrated the fact that she was maybe overrunning, especially at UC 800.
00:38:19
Speaker
So she's kind of using more of that heart rate cap this time. So... If that works, it definitely like the principle obviously is very sound to do that. And I think if you're somebody that works well with numbers as opposed to gets absorbed by them, that could definitely be a good a good approach for her. is Yeah, definitely her mindset. But she she she really stands out. I think that it's going to be fun to watch how she goes. And yeah, she can just kind of keep it keep it more focused on fun and not on a time or a place. It's probably going to work very well for her.
00:38:50
Speaker
The next name for me, I'm really curious to see how she goes, is Buhar Bali. She just came second at Blackhall did CCC this year, but has third last year in but has third last year in the 100K. She was two hours behind abby Hall who won and 90 minutes behind Juliette Sol. But both of them, obviously obviously Abby is now Western States champion. So she has gone on to do some very, very impressive things this year. And Juliette's also having a good year as well. So
00:39:21
Speaker
I think she is someone that she's very confident that at this distance, she's on Brisbane, Tauera, Brisbane again, all of the 100k, 110k distance. So we know that she's moving well over this and her time at Blackwell was fast as well. So I think she's definitely someone that I'm expecting to see with Sophie probably the whole day. She'll be definitely one to watch.
00:39:46
Speaker
um One that was jumping out at me who I think, again, it might be her first over a hundred k so it would be interesting to see how she goes, was Kobe Munro.
00:39:57
Speaker
um she we talked about her a little earlier in the year because she came second outright in the 50k of uh the guzzler so yeah i think that was a that was a pretty impressive and 50 50k 2000 uh sorry with climb in so yeah quite a quick time over that distance. So I think she's definitely one to watch, but she maybe doesn't have the the ah ah the experience over the distance just yet based off UTMB results. I'm not sure if she has anything on ITRA.
00:40:32
Speaker
Yeah, is the same again. I'm pretty sure this is her debut. And I was looking at her Guzzler result. Like it was from an an index perspective was a massive jump up from her, like her other results. And again, you never know really what's going in behind these, but she's had 25th at UTA 50k this year and then 19th at Cozzy 50k last year. But yeah you never know if that was all out for her or whatever's going on but she ran a four minute course record faster than Risha Lewis who a lot of these names are more Queensland or North New South Wales focus
Promising Debutants: Kobe Munro and Justin Grunewald
00:41:03
Speaker
Lydia O'Donnell Sarah Perkins who's in the 100 mile fields like a lot of very good women have run up there and she beat some of them by 20 30 minutes on this course so i Couldn't find, again, she's another one I couldn't find much more out about her.
00:41:18
Speaker
um But i think she could definitely be one that if the distance goes well, we will see up there. She's clearly very, very fast at the moment. The other names that kind of stood out, Jay Bucklow.
00:41:31
Speaker
She came third at roller coaster this year. Probably not the day I'm guessing that she wanted she was about 12 minutes slower than she ran last year. But she did that off the back of a really good run at surf coast 50k she also came fourth in the 100k at cossey last year so familiarity on this track um if if roller coaster wasn't indicative of her form then i think we could expect to see something good if roller coaster was in her form then i think she probably will be a a bit further behind where sophie and buhar and potentially kobe will be but yeah um definitely hoping jade's got something strong Yeah, I train, sorry, just to jump in there. I train with Jade sometimes, but um I know she's she's started a new job and and has had a lot ah of other life stuff going on. So it'll be interesting to see, um yeah, where where how she can pull that off with all of the the rest of the life stress, I guess, that comes from.
00:42:23
Speaker
with managing a family and and trying to work and do everything. Yeah. Yeah. No, and please just cut me off at any point. It's good. would Those are the bits that we can't see on Strava, so it's useful in stats. But yeah, it's in anyone's in any anyone's training, like pretty much most of this field, the people we're talking about have jobs and lives and families. so it's yeah Yeah, we don't really know where they're at with those things in their life because, like, sometimes those things are you're managing fine and then sometimes you're super busy with all of those things. So it can be, yeah. yeah
00:42:54
Speaker
The other names that stuck out for me, Anna Pillinger. Yeah. um She's always really consistent um and often on the podium. She won Gone Nuts 100 earlier in the year um and ate that UTA. Yeah.
00:43:07
Speaker
um and Trail Fest she won. i don't know what i don't know that race, but I saw that on her her list. um And also a bit of a dark horse that I didn't see in the um in the elite field listed Marnie Ponton.
00:43:25
Speaker
She is running the 100k. Yeah. So I'm really excited to see how she goes with this. Yeah, okay. She... Yeah, she's had some amazing performances at Comrades. um When she's training for something, she puts a lot into it. um Yeah, i'm I'm really excited to see how she goes.
00:43:46
Speaker
that's yeah but that That's a very interesting thing. I think this is probably a course that suits that kind of skill. I think so, yeah. yeah I'm glad you missed it.
00:43:57
Speaker
For those who don't know, Marnie Ponton, possibly more well-known in the running world, not the trail. Well, definitely what more well-known in the running world, but sounds like she's done Comrades, which is, that's road, but it's an ultra distance.
00:44:11
Speaker
I think it was 18th this year or last year. I think she's done it maybe the last two years. can't remember, but yeah. Yeah. Yeah, um yeah that's that's really impressive. I just also pulled up her world athletics profile and her 10K in 2021 was 32.51 and the marathon in 2021 was 2.31. So yeah that's probably comparable to some of the times that the men in the 100K race could do. So, yeah, I think is it would be interesting he if she can transition it to the the hills and the trails. But, um yeah, she's at least got that ultra distance experience.
00:44:48
Speaker
totally yeah yeah i think she's also yeah i'm just trying to confirm it um yeah she's also got the australian 50k road record in 315 so knows knows the ultra distance already granted this is little bit of a well and obviously with comrades um this is going to be a step up in distance even from comrades but yeah that's that's a cool storyline i like that one yeah Very fascinating. um Only other name, Charlotte Lomas. She had a sixth at UTA 100 mile this year. That was very much a big jump from her previous results that we've I've seen. um But if that is, again, if she's carried that form through, um could be ah could be a known name to to get a podium potential at the 100K.
00:45:38
Speaker
Anyone else, Kelly, that you noticed there? No, that's all I've got on my list. Cool. Brodie, do you want to take us for the men Yeah. So ah the top two people who ranked I'm not super familiar with um on the in the men's side. So we've got Justin Grunewald from America. He runs.
00:46:00
Speaker
He is Amanda Basham's partner. Ah, there you There you go. She didn't run it last year, did she? Not I'm thinking different Americans. um plan yeah There's too many of them. They're all very good.
00:46:16
Speaker
um Yeah, cool. So he's he's coming ah across ah from America. He's only got two results ah from this year and unfortunately both of them are DNFs. So um I don't know exactly what his his shape is like. I haven't stalked him on Strava, um but he was in 2024, so at the end of last year,
00:46:39
Speaker
He was, well, in earlier 2024, he was first at the Desert Rats 50K and then he was ninth at the Javelina 100 mile in October last year, which is a golden ticket race. So it's pretty competitive. um So, yeah, he's some recent, those are his most recent results. um But, yeah, James, have you done a dive on him?
00:47:01
Speaker
Yeah, so for the US, Ultra Signup has a lot of results. Not every system uses them, but he's actually had a very busy 2025. So it yeah yeah original it' just just highlights. It would be amazing if we just had one place worldwide all of these results. um Like the...
00:47:18
Speaker
D-U-V, Ultra Statistics is pretty good. There's a German library of it, but they have basically any ultra performance is on there. ah But he's had a first at the McDowell Mountain Frenzy 50k, which is a bit of a back... Sorry, that was to finish for 2024. It was a bit of a backyard 50k, but definitely a competitive one. A first at another fifty k in Colorado Springs in May. A second at Lifetime. Lifetime and the people that run Leadville, a um Then he got third overall at Leadville, second in the men's. So that would have been second behind David.
00:47:50
Speaker
Granted, a long way behind David Roach, but still second. And then he's then gone on. That was only August 16th. By September 27th, another 50k came second. And then another 50k the next day first.
00:48:04
Speaker
What? So he runs 350. I don't have the stats of the course in front of me, but he runs 357 for and the next day backs it up with an another
00:48:17
Speaker
So, yeah. um So, yeah. So, Justin, I think when I look at this list and taking nothing away from the rest of the guys in here, but Justin is a very clear favorite to me. Like you can see that in his UTMB score and the recent results. like There's yeah some very good other guys, but it's a bit like comparing Caleb was for the GPT field.
00:48:37
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. If there was like Australia's best 100K runner racing, the do you think that he the sort of caliber that would still be ahead of them? No, put Mikey Demorantes into this field and I'm backing Michael. Okay.
00:48:55
Speaker
So he his d he's very good, but he' if someone has a really good breakthrough run, potentially they're close to him or potentially they can knock him off. yeah Like in in the States, and this is going to sound really harsh, it's not meant to, he'd probably be like the third tier of state of runner at the elite level in the US. Like you've got like the Calebs and the Gyms and stuff.
00:49:14
Speaker
yeah And you have, if you listen to like the Boulder Boys, like the Seth Rollins, that bunch, probably second. And then, gra you could probably say Seth may be up top of now. And then there'd be the people like Justin, who are very, very, very good runners and have, when they have a day,
00:49:28
Speaker
they definitely like can jump up, but most of the time they're probably coming more that fifth to 10th in, in the big fields, not third to fifth or first to third. Yeah. Interesting. Yeah. i really hope he doesn't listen to this podcast. It just say just to shows that the, like the,
00:49:47
Speaker
like America does have a lot more people than Australia, but um they're also maybe the depth of trail running or the depth of top level is is quite big as well. Yes, yeah okay. yeah We also have another international runner who, like you said, the rankings start to drop off a little bit, although the Australians who have run maybe just don't get as many good ranking races potentially. So I'll be interested to see. I think the Australians might be a lot closer to this gentleman who is from France. His name is laurus lassuri but he's still got some decent races uh he just in october ran le templier 100k uh which is sorry the 100k distance which is 80k um he came 12th there um but that's quite a competitive race in in the European season. So I think that looks like a decent result. And he did the 80K in seven hours and 19 minutes. So like you're definitely moving. like That is a quick course. um I think there's probably a bit of it on road as well. But, um yeah, it's fast.
00:50:52
Speaker
There's still a quick time to cover eighty k in. Yeah, he he's interesting because he has never raced outside of his French. He's had one race on ITRA in Italy.
00:51:03
Speaker
And outside of that, I can't find a single result for him outside of France, basically. So clearly here to get his ticket to CCC. by But know here on holiday yeah like it's it's it's not easy to race the other side of the world. Like that's one of the things that when you do speak like that can hold Australians back going across to Europe is the fact that you've got to perform in in a different time zone, different culture, different terrain.
00:51:28
Speaker
So not that the terrain isn't probably going to challenge him here, but we'll be interested see how he's able to translate his quality across to here. Yeah, but maybe it's his best chance of getting a sort of direct entry to UTMB compared to trying to do one of the ones in Europe. So, yeah.
Australian Men in 100k Field
00:51:42
Speaker
It it it it definitely is, yeah.
00:51:44
Speaker
It's a good way to attract people to come and race in Australia at least. So, yeah, that'll be cool to see how he shapes up. But if he does, he is going to be up against a field of, ah there's a lot of depth in this ah race with Australians, um all who could, I think, potentially be competitive with Loris.
00:52:03
Speaker
um So, yeah, I don't think he'll have it easy. um I'll just run through some of them. So we've got Chris Lenkick. Chris is the one in this field that I probably don't know the best, although I know the the name. um You got to got some stats for me, James?
00:52:19
Speaker
Yeah. So chris Chris is actually the one that I probably have. like He shouldn't be a dark horse at all because he's won Cosby in 2023. Yeah. but from ah ah He won the miler. That's why yeah I definitely know his name.
00:52:33
Speaker
He's kind of like he's one of those names where we probably don't read him out from a results perspective too often, but he's always there. So he was 13th this year, but then third at six foot track. um He's at a 13th at Cozy 100K in 2022 as well. so sort of performances have been increasing. But yeah, I think Chris is somebody that I didn't see even at 68th UTMB this year, I don't see very many DNFs. So that tells people he knows, understands his body, knows how to race, how to get these things done. So he was, he was one that, well, there's one other name, um but he was one of my two that I think would be, I wouldn't be surprised to see them on the podium, but you wouldn't necessarily pick them.
00:53:10
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. And not a bad time for UTMB either, running 26 hours 45. Like that's a time. um Bryce Turvey is the next highest ranked. ah Bryce, I know he ran GPT, was second there last year. That's where I know him from. But this year he was sixth in Transcend sixty five k um So that's yeah his most recent race. After that, there's Jack Brand who ran quite an impressive race, I would have said, at ah this at Buffalo earlier in the year, the 42K. He was second place there.
00:53:50
Speaker
um after I think his his most recent race before that is doing Buffalo in 2024, and he took like 40 minutes off his time. So, um yeah, I don't know much about what his race was like in 2024, but he definitely had a really good run this year um to finish second behind Mikey.
00:54:10
Speaker
um So he's ah he's another one to watch. ah Gerald McPherson, who we've spoken about a few times, i was actually talking to Gerald. He was ah running triple tops. the other weekend there's a bit of a just a training training run um he's done a few different things this year uh most recently he was first at the lonely mountain ultra 32k he was third at houndslow marathon he was third at buffalo marathon just behind jack so he's definitely going to be one to watch he seems to be
00:54:46
Speaker
training well he was happy with how his training was going um and then yeah there's so many names here Liam McKenzie who recently ran in uh South Korea in one of the sky running races he then did a marathon the other day the Queenstown marathon um ah I'm really i'm i'm interested by Liam because from what I can find, he's never done more than marathon distance. I was wondering if he had run a hundred k before. yeah Although he would have done some really long enduro stuff, so I'm sure that won't be a problem. I think most of the trail races I've seen him do have been 20 to fifty k races. and mostly in that sort of 20 to 30k is what I've been because I've raced with him many times or looked at like he's been doing races that I've been looking at or like I'm very familiar with his name. um
00:55:38
Speaker
He's done a lot around that distance. So, yeah, it'll it will be I think maybe a jump up. But like Kelly said, he might have done some longer stuff in the sort of he's an obstacle course racer. So I'm sure he's done yeah longer distance events as well.
00:55:54
Speaker
Yeah, but yeah, I think from a purely running perspective, it's definitely curious. The the longest thing I could find that he's done is Brisbane 60K, which is a fast 60K. Took him sort of six hours, came third. So yeah, I think Liam stands out to me as the outside of Justin and without knowing anything really about Loris.
00:56:13
Speaker
Liam stands out as probably the highest quality athlete in this field, but just going into a complete unknown from a running perspective, basically. He's probably done this duration. He can definitely... is Yeah, well, I don't doubt he'll be fine over the distance. um But yeah, I'm very, um he's he's intriguing me for this race. I think jack Jack's one that I'd like to know more about because he did a lot quite a few years ago. Like he's done he's done a hundred k before in Alpine Challenge back in 2017. And then there was a huge gap to Buffalo 2024.
00:56:44
Speaker
four And yeah, the the Buffalo course this year probably did run 15 minutes, 20 minutes lower. So that's like an hour improvement on his time from last year. And he has been, he's been training quite well. One of my friends is like one of my running, my orienteering friends live with Jack and and he is a very like talented runner, I think. But he maybe just hasn't.
00:57:07
Speaker
ah trained as much but he's been training really well I've seen he's been training with Charlie quite a bit so um yeah I think he's been putting in the work so it would be interesting to see he's probably the one I think is the most likely to challenge um but yeah there's a lot there's a lot in there that could challenge so I think the is going to be a really good race because there's a lot of guys that are around the same level um and yeah hopefully one of them can take it to Justin yeah Yeah, was having a look at his race view and he's sort of a, Jack's like a 31-30, guy, so he's got some good speed.
00:57:43
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, he's a talented runner, i think. Other...
50k Race and Women Competitors
00:57:51
Speaker
Other name on this that's a very talented runner who genuinely could come second in this field if it comes together for him is Jono Gillard.
00:58:02
Speaker
So he's he's a local, well, he's in Canberra now, but he's a local from to me from Aubrey. He has done one hundred k before. He did when he was 19, he'd be 18 or 19. He did the Shreve Chimnoi 100k, which was the Aura National Champs that year. And that was 3000 meters, and it took him 10 hours, 13. That was his first time at the distance, first time going ah into an ultra, I think. i don't think he ever did anything like that. um he we spoke about him for Rollercoaster, but he did he had an eighth at Buffalo 20K, really bugging his ankle or that, had to take most of the year off from there, took a wrong direction at Rollercoaster, was running right behind... um ah
00:58:45
Speaker
He was running around Tom Banks. So right up there and then somehow managed to just go straight and ended up at the bottom of the Dandenongs. um And then he's just come first at Stromlo 30k in a fast time. So just tuning himself up. But the thing with Jono is he's never actually strung together training. Like there's always been something that's come up. So you look at his job graph and it's actually consistent for 12 weeks, which him, like when you talk about natural runners, he's this sort of guy that at 17 could run a 15, 30, 15 flat 5k. So just a very quick runner.
00:59:17
Speaker
um So yeah, hey if it comes again, if he if he can put it together on the trade and i think if for him not getting too excited at the start, like not trying to go with the guys at the front, he could, he could have a really good day too.
00:59:29
Speaker
Yeah. I think that's probably a lot for that. ah Uh, I think that there'll be someone who doesn't go with the people at the start that comes through the field because 100 k's is a long way and um it's going to probably get get going pretty quickly. And if someone is a bit like runs their own race and and looks after themselves, then I think we might see some people come through at the end.
00:59:52
Speaker
Strikes me that Gerald is probably the one that I would say is most likely to do that. Just seeing how he ran at Hounslow. Yeah. Smart dude. He's a doctor, so you know he knows what to do. Yeah. like I wouldn't be surprised to see him outside the top 10 at the 30K mark, mark, and just come through into third or second even.
01:00:11
Speaker
um or it Justin kind of could not have the day and they there could suddenly... I think the thing is if justin something goes wrong with Justin Greenwald, you're going to see somebody that hasn't had a performance on this scale yet have a day, which is going to be really cool.
01:00:24
Speaker
Yeah, even then, like people, people there is that... there is that um probably second and third those tickets to CCC up for grabs for ah any of those guys we just we just called out so yeah that's pretty that's pretty cool like it's not this 100k is probably a bit weaker than we've seen in other years but it's like it's still going to be such a good race and i'm I'm really looking forward to seeing like who can nab that ticket because I'm assuming a few of those people is that that's what they've got their eyes on definitely yep Sweet.
01:00:52
Speaker
Anything else, guys, before we do predictions for the Nope. All right. Women's. i I'll go first is this time since i came lot went last last time. um I'm really interested by Marnie now.
01:01:08
Speaker
Yeah. It's really thrown me. i I'm still going to back Sophie on this and this field. um I just think with like the the terrain perspective and and having not looked at anything Marley's doing in training, she may be smashing the trails and it's going to be all all good. but Yeah, like Marnie would definitely be the fastest by far, but I think she'll probably more likely go out too fast, if anything. Just, yeah, as a guess. So especially the way that the 100k starts. So going to take Sophie for first.
01:01:41
Speaker
um I'm going to put Kobe in second and then Marnie in third.
01:01:48
Speaker
you want to go next, Kelly? oh Yeah, I'm really tall. Or can just a winner if you want. I think I'm going Marnie for the win, Sophie and Anna. Cool. Yeah, nice. I think if it was a 50K, I'd be picking Marnie.
01:02:03
Speaker
But I think, yeah, I think the 100K throws some different things in there. So I'm going to pick Sophie, but I still think Marnie will have a good run. So going to go – actually, going go Kobe second and Marnie third.
01:02:14
Speaker
Brody, I feel like there's going to be people back. Did I just pick exactly same as you? Yep. i wasn't I wasn't listening to you on purpose because I didn't want to copy you yeah so I'm going to pick Barney second, then Kobe third, then I'll swap it.
01:02:26
Speaker
The thing is there is, there is literally no reason to pick Kobe in this top three. She's debut has had like one very, very good run and you've decided to copy me on it. And I was like, I feel like there has to be a pick that's completely left field just in case. So I think we're probably doing Buhabali a disservice in this as well, not but not putting hair. Hey, I was the one that was talking Kobe up in the preview bit, so that's why I was going with her. I didn't even listen to your pitch. It's nice to know you're not listening to me. It's all good.
01:02:57
Speaker
I didn't want to be influenced by your picks. yeah All right, let me let me do it again. All right, we're going Sophie, Marnie, Buhabali. Final answer? Final answer. Cool. If he does well now, I'm going to be annoyed. ah Okay. Men's field. do you want to take us on that one? You can pick first or podium. Yeah. Look, I think probably Justin for the win.
01:03:20
Speaker
I'm not really sure about the rest, but I think that Gerald will be up there somewhere as well. Yep. I'm going to go Justin for the win and then I'm going to go Jack second, Gerald third.
01:03:33
Speaker
Interesting. Yeah, I'm not sure about this one. It's so it's really hard with someone like Loris who we just know so little about. There's a lot of good domestic results in France, but 12th at the Templier is very good.
01:03:47
Speaker
um I'm going Justin for first, then Gerald second and Loris third. Nice. Cool. Alrighty. The women's fifty k field.
01:04:00
Speaker
This is a sick field. The big one. This is like going on on live trail when I opened it up and you look at all the names on there. It's like, wow, this is this is cool. Like this is the race for me at Cozzy by quite a long way. and We've got some standout names, some and some good international names, but just like it's a kind of who's who of women's 50K distance rally in here. So I'll start us off.
01:04:28
Speaker
A name that is completely new to me, um Andrea Colbein's daughter. She came 13th at Worlds, long course. Kelly, do you know anything about her?
01:04:38
Speaker
I do not, unfortunately. She just came 13th at Worlds. Her last five races in Iceland, she won. She came 6th at the European ah Champs in the 58K last year. She came 35th at the short course at Worlds in 2023.
01:04:56
Speaker
Very, very good athlete and is clearly in good shape. at Worlds is is great. And being Iceland, she'll be very very good on technical terrain. Not that that matters for here, but that would have definitely helped her at Worlds.
01:05:13
Speaker
I am really fascinated by how she is going to go against these next two athletes. So the first one is Lucy Bartholomew. We've said her name a lot recently. Just came off a very, very impressive run. Second at GPT behind Fuzhou.
01:05:27
Speaker
First at four peaks that same week, the one one day's rest. First at roller coaster in a 20-odd-minute course record and then seventh at UTMB prior to that. i think I think we might have said this in the GPT, but I'm just really loving seeing Lucy race in Australia.
01:05:41
Speaker
It's really cool. And it's been quite hard to put finger on where she's at because she's always racing internationally and the level is so high. So you see her come or even a seventh you're like, oh, it's very impressive UTMB, but what does that mean over here? And now we're seeing her set down these times, race the girls we know, and it's very, very interesting to see.
01:06:00
Speaker
The other name who I think is going to push both of these ladies is Melissa Hauschildt. She is two-time 70.3 world champion, the Ironman.
01:06:11
Speaker
um She has done a few trail races. So she had a first in Noosa, 25K, a first in Sydney, 30K back in 2022, 2023. But more recently, she had first at Rainbow Beach Marathon, which is one of the Queensland, so I think Southeast Queensland trail series. seven minutes ahead of Beth and nine minutes ahead of Zoe Manning.
01:06:32
Speaker
so So anyone that's putting seven minutes on on Beth and nine minutes on Zoe, and Zoe's in a very good form at the moment, um yeah, i'm and knows how to do this sort of distance, this time on feet. So yeah, I think she's she's one that, when I first looked at this list, I was like, oh, and I know that name from somewhere. And then I started looking to her results. was like, oh, wow. Okay, this could be interesting. Yeah, I hadn't even, I hadn't got down to her name, James, because she hasn't done that many and that many races. So she she doesn't have the the ranking scores of the other ladies. But like, yeah, when you say that, and I'm looking at all the other people in this field, this race is.
01:07:13
Speaker
Just bonkers. I think we said this about um maybe the GPT 100-mile men's was like maybe the deepest field we've seen in a while. And like this for a women's field, not only deep but just like the very best nearly as well. Like it's just crazy how that, yeah, especially in a race that has other distances, um this 50K field is is, yeah, it's going to be an epic race. Getting in the top 10 will be an achievement.
01:07:41
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. There's not, there's not many women in the country at the 50 K distance that we're missing. We're probably talking to one right now that would be great in in in this field, but there's, I guess if, if Paige was running 50 it'd probably be a bit a bit of a step up in distance, but that would be really interesting to add her into that mix. Obviously as Sim was healthy, her being back in this mix, um, not, not that she'd probably say this course suits her skillset, but she Sim's just sim So she can definitely do that. But yeah, there's we we are talking about essentially the best of the best in this country and then a bit of New Zealand as well, which is very, very fun. We've got another international in the field in Marcella Vastanova. Marcella's performance at GPT was...
01:08:25
Speaker
a bit surprising and I thought she'd be further up, a bit be a bit closer. She would she came fourth, but she was think nearly 40 minutes behind Lucy and about 50 minutes off Fuziao. So i don't know if it was the terrain, the travel, maybe that's just the level that she's that she's at and it just says something for what Maggie, Lucy and Fuziao were able to do.
01:08:44
Speaker
um But i did I did think she would be further up especially like a 53rd in the short trail champs and maybe there was just fatigue off the back of that still but it's cool to see her theoretically on the start list staying over and committing to a bit of a longer period in Australia and I feel like the three weeks between GPT and Cozzy is long enough to freshen up and get back in ready to fight again And they're both very different races too. So I think, yeah, I think running this after doing a more technical GPT is not a bad thing. Yeah.
01:09:19
Speaker
So I'm not going to go through the the details of all these ladies, but i'm just going to throw out these names because we'll be here all day if we go through these all. But – Juliette Sol coming back. She had a second at COSI 100K last year. Demi Caldwell, she's on an absolute cracker of a year. And she's had a fourth and a third in the 50K before.
01:09:39
Speaker
Got her own Jess Jason coming back off Worlds. Listening to her talk about the work she's doing with sports psych, the way she's able to approach the start lines, the techniques she's put in place. Like,
01:09:50
Speaker
Anybody that's able to unlock their mind like they're able to train their body is scary to me. And I feel like that's what Jess is really starting to do this year. And we know how good of a runner Jess is. So she can turn up the start line with a mindset that supports that. It's yeah, we we definitely haven't seen Jess anywhere near her best yet.
01:10:09
Speaker
ah From New Zealand, you've got Hannah Wall. um Then we have Ludo. I feel like Jess mentioned something about Ludo. I did send her a message. Ludo is running, yes. She's running, So she's like seven months postpartum now. so i'm really she's had some really great performances. I'm really excited to see her step up the distance again.
01:10:28
Speaker
Yeah, so and her third at rollercoaster and then talking to her after rollercoaster, she came onto the main show to help recap that. And I was like, that was a much faster time. She ran she ran under two hours on that course, which is very, very good. And then, yeah, a previous first in 2022 in the miler here and the fourth.
01:10:47
Speaker
um And then any any other name? Brittany Harrington that Kelly, maybe you're more familiar than me. This is a name that Shiv pointed out. Okay. So Shiv saw her name was like, Oh, I haven't seen her do anything for a while. And I looked into her and I can't find much at all, except for the fact that she came second at six foot track, only 14 minutes behind Steph this year.
01:11:08
Speaker
Yeah, wow, that's really impressive. That's very impressive. So she also had a first at Stromlo 30k last year. But that definitely is not an exhaustive list of the names on there. I'm thinking about the potential podium names, and I've still put down about 10 different women.
01:11:22
Speaker
So this is really cool. Like if if you if you want to expand on any of the people i I mentioned there, like I don't want to do them disservice by not going into the detail, but there's just so many. Just confirming that Cecilia Matters is running as well. Okay. I've known Cecilia. Yeah, that's off the back of of Worlds as well. a start Really strong performance there. And I think if you look in that ranking and that if anyone looks at the UTMB or the UTK site, um Cecilia's like ranked below because she hasn't done a 50K race.
01:11:51
Speaker
yeah But her UTMB index is still really strong. She's sort of like on the equal with sort of Jess and Demi. So the races she's put together on longer distances have been super impressive. So, yeah, I think a shorter one, yeah, it'd be interesting see how she goes stepping down distances. I guess she trains a lot at that level, so it's different to stepping up, but it is still, guess, a challenge in itself. But, yeah, she'll definitely be in the mix, I think.
01:12:22
Speaker
For sure. Yeah. Any other comments on those women, Kelly? and anyone any Any interesting dynamics that you see or like approaches that you think that, is it is there anyone that's a clear like gonna go hard, might take a risk?
01:12:37
Speaker
I don't know. I think, yeah, like you guys have said, there's there's so many great women that, um yeah, anything could happen out there. um And it it'll be really interesting because it is going to be more about speed rather than um having the technical skills. So um and that's who can hold on for that long. So, yeah, we will see.
01:12:58
Speaker
Another name actually that I have left off there, but I probably should have just looked at. Her name is familiar, but not the results. Alice McGushen. Looks like she spent a lot of time over in the UK and in Europe. So a lot of her results are from there. um And more recently, she came second at Kananyi in the 66k this year.
01:13:16
Speaker
But there's a lot of very long stuff. there's a lot of very technical stuff. um Not a lot of the shorter ones, but... Yeah, could be and ah it could be another name to to watch out for just has so many names. i like I think we will see Andrea and my guess is Lucy going if Lucy's legs have have come back to her, which doesn't sound like they ever left, to be honest. And then it's just going to be it's just going to be interesting to me who's going to who's going to take a punt and go with them, who's going to play like their own race.
01:13:46
Speaker
I think Demi will give it a really yeah good track. She's had some great performances and I know she's been up there training on course as well. Yeah, I feel like to me Demi's the one in this field that has nothing to lose by trying to see what she's capable of. 100%. And I think she's she she knows that. She's willing to learn. And, yeah, it was it was an awesome to see her at four peaks and just taking it all in her stride and giving things a crack. So, yeah, excited to see how she goes.
50k Men's Race Contenders Discussion
01:14:13
Speaker
Awesome. All right, Brodie, 50K men's. Yeah, so the 50K men's not not quite as stacked as 50K women, um but we do have some strong – leading men are probably yeah one of if not Australia's best trail runners getting back on the trails Mikey Demiantis so that's going to be really exciting to see he's um Had a baby recently, which is congratulations, Mikey. He's got the dad strength. ah I'm not exactly sure how he's training and everything's going. Obviously, he's had some other priorities over the last little bit, but we know Mikey's such a talent. So, yeah, it'll be cool to see him back on the trails. um He's going to be up against Ben Duffus from Queensland, who
01:14:59
Speaker
We do mention quite a bit on especially some of the Queensland races. He's had some really good performances over ah maybe the 20 to 30k distance up in in Queensland this year, and he seems to be in good shape. So, um yeah, 50k, he's not a stranger to. So, yeah, I think he could run with Mikey. I guess it depends what Mikey's...
01:15:22
Speaker
fitness is like Ben might even be able to run over the top of him um but I think those two will have a very good race um and then probably the next next best in in that field is ah Billy O'Meally, who ah maybe hasn't had the season he was wanting. He had a red-hot crack at UTA earlier in the year. I know he had some some sort of high hopes for that one.
01:15:47
Speaker
he unfortunately rolled his ankle at the Hounslow 17K, but he was out there. started off hard with with Charlie and Leo. So, um yeah, I'm sure he'll be out there ah having a good crack. It'll be interesting to see if he tries to go with the other two guys or whether he sort of runs his own race and and and just goes for it.
01:16:08
Speaker
individual strong strong race. But um yeah, they're they're probably the three that that jump out. There's also Jack Ferris, which I don't know off the top of my head, but he has run UTA earlier in the year, the hundred k He came 11th.
01:16:27
Speaker
um and he's done UTA 22. twenty two He's done COSY 50 in the past. He did that in 2023, so when it was a slightly different course. He was 11th then. So, yeah, he might not be quite on the same level as the other guys, but um maybe if one of them doesn't have it,
01:16:45
Speaker
have a day he might he might sneak through yeah i think the other name on there is jack harris oh i miss jack yeah like we we we previewed him for gpt didn't end up turning up um just coming got a top 100 at the world for new zealand in short trail um it looks like he's been putting some really really impressive results in new zealand and why he would have got on on the on the team um had a sick for tower era 50k this year as well. So has has some good wheels and in that field to come there. So and yeah clearly decided not to do GPT in favor of Kozzi.
Race Predictions and Speculations
01:17:19
Speaker
I think that in this in this field, it's probably a that there's a battle for first and then there's probably a battle for third. And he's definitely- I guess that he may not be coming to this one either just because- the people who are on the UTK site seems to be slightly more up to date. Like there's some people who aren't on that site that are on the UTMB live, like Simone, who we know is not running. So yeah, he's not on the UTK site, but he's on the UTMB live, which makes me think that maybe he's not running, but um yeah, he might be. And if he is, I think him and,
01:17:50
Speaker
Billy O'Neill might be a good match. So it could be a good race for third. But, yeah, not quite as deep as the the women's field, but still some high-quality names there.
01:18:02
Speaker
Very nice. Yeah, was having a quick look through Mikey's Strava and he's definitely training. um He looks like he's moving well. Probably I've seen him in better shape, which makes complete sense. But then he also said he had gastro on the 19th, so two days ago.
01:18:17
Speaker
So that could also explain. He was good enough to go and do a session on yesterday, the 20th, so that it didn't hit him too hard. So I feel like if you get hit by gastro, there's no way doing a session the next day. But yeah, still putting in good long runs, good volume.
01:18:33
Speaker
So I think that over this, i don't know, over this distance, I would would' definitely preference a 90%, I don't know, would I? 90%, 95% Mikey against Ben, but then matt Ben's in good shape. That's a good question, yeah.
01:18:47
Speaker
Yeah. like It was his guzzler time that we thought was very impressive. was only one minute off his course record back from 2021. Yeah. So i think that 128 versus 127 or saw something like that. So yeah, he's had a great race with Leo at UTA. so that will be that would be a fascinating one.
01:19:06
Speaker
um Who, don't know, Brody, you gone first for the women's picks? No, I'll go. Oh, I got the hard one. Yeah. ah Knowing nothing about Andrea, of i think she probably just, if she's sort of hung on to the same, well, even some of the shape that she had at Worlds, um I think 13th at Worlds is just, that's a really high level.
01:19:33
Speaker
um But Lucy's also on a very high level at the moment. So, yeah and, oh, that's tough. um I think I'm actually going to pick Lucy first and then Andrea and then
01:19:54
Speaker
I don't really know Melissa that well. i I think she sounds like she could be very, very good, but I'm going to go with Juliet. Okay.
01:20:06
Speaker
doesn Kelly? um Yeah, it's a tough one. i think I'm going to go with Andrea for the win, also based on that world's performance. That's pretty amazing. um Lucy's going to be right up there and um I think Demi. Let's go Demi for third.
01:20:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think i've got to agree with with Andrea. As good as form as Lucy is in right now, and she may be able to disprove us, but think Andrea first, Lucy second, and then I've kind of already called this one and said Melissa for third. So I do, I think though that Demi is going to be within a couple of minutes of Melissa in fourth. Hmm.
01:20:45
Speaker
Hmm. um Yeah, so. All righty. And then in the the men's, I'll take this one. I think it's too too too tricky. I think I'm going to go with ah Michael De Morantes to take the win out.
01:20:58
Speaker
I think it would be followed very closely by Ben. think Ben's probably in, at least the last i we've seen of him, probably in better form for himself than Mikey is probably in. um And then if we're going to go with Jack Harris isn't on the start line, then I'll take Billy for third Yeah, cool.
01:21:14
Speaker
I think I'll, just so I'm different, i'll I'll go Ben first, Mikey second, Billy third. Kelly? um Yeah, looking forward to seeing a little fight between Mikey and Ben. So I think Mikey will probably end up on top, maybe. But I would really like to see you Ben have a good crack. yeah um i'm I'm not familiar with the others, so I'm going to keep it at that. It's a tricky one doing the pics because it's like you want like emotionally you want these people to have a day.
01:21:44
Speaker
But yeah, cool.
30k Race and Listener Engagement
01:21:46
Speaker
Guys, that is the preview done. like there is Obviously, there is the 30k as well. The reason why we're not previewing that one is just the the depth of those fields. UTMB is literally like their preference is ultras. So that's where they put the focus in.
01:21:59
Speaker
um But we do. yeah We have Henry Huggman, returning champion and Kay Avery on the start line, which would be really cool for the women's fields to see her and see how Sari Leavitt goes against her as well. But yeah not Not that we're purposely ignoring them, and it's just from the preview perspective, they don't quite have that same depth that the other fields do, especially i not the 50K women's field does.
01:22:18
Speaker
Kelly, thanks so much for your time to do that. It's been great to have you with us. No worries, guys. Thank you. Brody, have fun as always. Yeah, it was good fun. Good to end the year, and yeah, I'm really looking forward to to UTK, particularly that 50K women's race. Like, I think it's just going to be really cool. So I'm looking forward to watching the splits next week.
01:22:40
Speaker
Definitely. And if you've been listening to us this whole way and you disagree with our picks, which is probably very likely for some of these, let us know what you think. I'm always interested to see what other people might have little insights into into there. And as always, if you do enjoy the show, consider sharing it around. If you tell one person about us, it makes a really big difference. We enjoy doing this preview, so we don't really need any... um approval that they they are working well for the rest of the show it is is it good to know that we're we're on the right track and we're we're giving you guys what you want to listen to so yep thanks so much for listening again Kelly Brady thanks so much i'll catch you guys next time yeah thank you have good one