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Episode 21: UTMB deep dive, Meet Maddy Reynolds, and Aussie Skyrunning Team Preview!
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Welcome to Episode 21 of Peak Pursuits, your ultimate podcast for everything trail running in Australia. This week’s episode is hosted by Sim Brick, Brodie Nankervis and guest host Maddy Reynolds! The team brings you a short interview with Maddy complete with a brilliant trail fail story; before diving into a review of all things UTMB, covering this week's Aussie results, and a quick look at the team for Skyrunning World Champs coming up next weekend!
Start - 25:00 :- Meet Maddy + Maddy’s OCC Recap
First up, meet Maddy and hear about her start in trail running during covid, her quick rise to some incredible results on the trail in Aus and her recent move to live in France. We also get a full run down of Maddy’s day coming a brilliant 31st female at OCC, complete with how she got lost, her favourite parts of the course and how it felt to be out there!
25:00 - 43:20 :- Brodie/Sim Update
We then get a very quick update from Brodie as he leads into the VK at Skyrunning World Champs next week and hear from Sim about her week of two halves with some big runs followed by the biggest downfall of being a traveling coeliac athlete. The roller coaster continues in a if-you-don’t-laugh-you’ll-cry kinda fashion!
43:20 - 50:00 :- Trail Fail
Maddy brings us a whopper of a trail fail this week with the story of a ‘short’ run in Italy that ended with being driven home in a Police car, and Sim embarrassingly manages to fall into an electric fence.
50:00- 1:20:00 :- UTMB Recap
In our race results segment, we first of all cover all things Aussie UTMB results before running through the overall results and giving some of our performances of the week. With so many to choose from the team have some good stories from the top end of the field and further back!
1:20:00 - 1:25:30 :- Weekend Race Results
We then cover a couple of Aussie races that went down over the weekend:
Coastal High Fun Run: https://results.sportseventservices.com.au/results.aspx?CId=16287&RId=6381
Cape Pallarenda Fun Run: https://my.raceresult.com/256324/
2:25:30 - End : What’s coming up
Lastly, we do a quick run through of the Australian team for the Skyrunning World Championships next weekend which we will dive deeper into on next week's ep, before highlighting the upcoming trail races around the country and what is coming up for us.
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!
Sim: @theflyingbrick_
Brodie: @brodie_nank
Maddy: @maddyreynolds98
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter
License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
Transcript
00:00:07
Speaker
Hello and welcome to Episode 21 of the Peak Pursuits Podcast. My name is Simone Brick. I am coming to you from Font-Roumot in France. This week, I am joined by regular host Brody Nankervis, who I believe Brody, you're currently in Spain. Which town?
00:00:26
Speaker
I mean, they'll bow and I think they prefer to be called as the Basque Country here rather than Spain. So we might call it that. Yes, definitely Basque Country. And we have a guest host this week who's going to be joining us for the whole pod. And we are so excited about that because she was in and amongst the action at UTMB week running OCC. And that is the one and only Maddie Reynolds. Hi, Maddie.
00:00:52
Speaker
Morning, Sam. Thank you so much for having me. It's really cool to be here with you this morning. Oh, this is going to be fun. This is definitely going to be fun. We've got a plenty of stories to tell. Obviously, lots of results to go through for Aussies and globally with UTMB. That is definitely going to be the flavor of this episode.
00:01:11
Speaker
And we're going to start with getting to know Maddie um and how her race went down before we go through the rest of the results. There's other results, obviously, from Oz because trail running still continues the other side of the world, even on UTMB Week.
00:01:26
Speaker
And we've got the Sky Running World Champs to preview, which come up next weekend. So big pod coming at you. But to begin with, Maddie, we need to intro you to everyone. So first of all, you are from, or you were in Sydney, but currently living in France. Tell us that story.
00:01:46
Speaker
Yes, um it's been a bit of a journey. um So my name is Maddie Reynolds. um I am a trail runner from Sydney and I've been running with the on team for about half a year now. um But I, like Sim said, kind of relocated to the Pyrenees in France about four months ago, which has been the most incredible journey. But my my kind of experience with running has been very rapid. um I only really started running over COVID actually. I hated running around. um My dad was a pretty good 400 and 200 metre runner in his day and always tried to get me into sprinting um when I was in high school.
00:02:32
Speaker
um but But I hated it. I was so intimidated by the track. um I played heaps of tennis growing up as a kid, so I was always pretty sporty but never really running. um And then it wasn't until COVID hit that I got into running with my housemates, who I lived with at the time.
00:02:50
Speaker
there was really nothing else to do so we started doing little 5k runs around our neighborhood and one day we woke up and decided that we wanted to tick off some crazy bucket list item and so we planned to run a marathon around Sydney Harbour literally having only run 5k beforehand Was this solo? Like not an actual event? You just wanted to go run it? Yeah, not an event at all. ah It was just my housemate and one of my housemate's boyfriends who decided to do it with us for moral support. um Our parents freaked out when we told them. um my My friend's dad thought we were crazy and thought we were going to destroy our bodies. He took the day off work
00:03:36
Speaker
and went to this um like nutrition store to buy us all these gels and electrolytes and he mapped out checkpoints along the run that we'd organised. No way! He was hilarious. He drove his little car around Sydney and would stop his car and then run out with a tray of gels for all of us and go, girls, rehydrate like gel, nutrition, food. It was hilarious. um But we finished. We finished. I've never been in so much pain in my life.
00:04:05
Speaker
um my My housemate, I think, kind of went down the road of that was the most ridiculous thing I've ever done. I never want to run again. And I went on the opposite side of the spectrum and became obsessed and um tried to find a running squad that I could join to take it more seriously. So I discovered Run Crew.
00:04:25
Speaker
which is my squad that I'm now a part of back in Sydney. I'm coached by Benny Saint who is, in my opinion, just the world's best coach. I love him to bits. We have an awesome relationship. um He's currently coaching me via correspondence whilst I've been in France.
00:04:41
Speaker
um But yeah, he's from the Blue Mountains in Sydney, so he does a lot of runs um around the mountains up there. So he was the one who kind of opened the door to a trail running for me. um So I started doing some some Sunday long runs in the Blue Mountains and kind of fell in love with it. um and then Yeah it's so beautiful around there I mean it's very different to running in the Pyrenees and running in the Alps but it's beautiful in its own way um and so he encouraged me to sign up for a trail race so I signed up for 6 foot track which was my first trail run.
00:05:20
Speaker
um And it was one of those runs where I had no idea what I was doing because it was my first time. I was just running and chatting with everyone. I was having big old chin wags with all these guys at the front.
00:05:34
Speaker
And then we're going up one big hill and one of the boys turns around to me and he goes, sweetie, I think you're coming fifth. Like, you might want to stop talking and try and take this seriously.
00:05:46
Speaker
So I was like, cool. Cool. So I think we were halfway into the race at this point. And I was like, oh, well, maybe I should start running. ended up coming second in that race. um that's I can't remember who came first that year but that's kind of like I guess what introduced me to the world of trail running and I was like oh maybe I can do this like it's it's really fun um and Yeah, then got selected for the World Champs last year um to represent Oz. We went to Innsbruck, and that just opened my eyes to running in Europe, and I became even more obsessed. um I was, throughout all of this, working as a equity research analyst, um equity trader at Goldman Sachs, which is a big New York investment bank.
00:06:35
Speaker
um and was kind of just yeah getting really burnt out by the lifestyle of trying to run and also work a big corporate job. So in April of this year, I quit my job and decided to move to France, um where I've been living in the Pyrenees. It's been the best training ground. um Very cool to train for UTMB, which we will, I guess, talk about a bit later on. For sure. But yeah, it's been so much fun. I don't have any intention of coming back to Oz anytime soon because I'm in love with the mountains here.
00:07:09
Speaker
home What a ride woman. Like that is, that is fairly meteoric meteoric for like, like first, uh, trail race and come in second at six foot track is nobody's louch. I do have one curiosity. What time did you run that marathon in off zero training? I mean, it wasn't exactly zero training because I had been with run crew for maybe, uh, three months at the time. So it was a little bit of something, something. It was a little bit of training. Um, Oh.
00:07:41
Speaker
This was two years ago. Maybe it was like four hours and something or other, four and a half hours. Nice. That is that is a shows why you're an ultra runner in the making, my woman. like That is crazy, but awesome at the same time, because the fact you were out there for that long and fell in love with it. I think it says a hell of a lot. I'm a sight of a punishment.
00:08:06
Speaker
Yeah, clearly. Very, very clearly. So, yeah, damn. So cool. Don't just sit still and slow early on in this journey, which is so damn cool. And then, and world champs, you did the short trail and in Innsbruck? Yes, although I don't really think it's a short trail. It's still 46k. Yeah, I know. It's still bloody long for a short trail, hey, but how did that one go?
00:08:29
Speaker
Um, that was not quite as successful. I had a bit of a rough start to the race. I wasn't even a kilometre in to the run and I started getting awful pain in my legs. They both started cramping.
00:08:44
Speaker
right in a way that I've never experienced cramps before. But I've flown all the way over to Austria and I felt like I had a big team rallying behind me, so I really tried to push through. i like I've never run in so much pain in my life. It literally took me almost two hours to run the first 10k and it wasn't that steep at the start so it just goes to show how slow I was moving like people on the side was so nice in in the crowd who were passing like magnesium tablets I was like crying it was awful
00:09:18
Speaker
Oh, no. But i I kept pushing through and finally made it to the summit of the entire race, which was about 40k into the run, I think. It was the final aid station um at the very top of one of the mountains in Stubei or Tyrol. And once we got to the top, we were told that the race had been terminated.
00:09:43
Speaker
Oh, you were one of the people that got stopped. I got stopped. I've never been so upset in my life. This massive electrical thunderstorm hit the mount the mountain that we were on. It was bizarre because when you're that high up in the Alps, you can have one mountain that's blue skies and sunny and then the next one where it's like full torrential rain and lightning and thunder. so yeah we were I was doing the climb up to the mountain and it started getting so cold and dark and I remember having to pull out my raincoat and I was just like, I need to get to this aid station at this particular time because for me, because I was going so slowly, it then just became a matter of trying to get to each aid station before the cutoff.
00:10:27
Speaker
yeah yeah I had literally a five minute buffer to get to this aid station before the cutoff and I was timing myself and this this hill to get up to the final aid station was so steep and so I was like sprinting it with my poles like I need to get to this aid station and then to get there and the team manager Aaron Knight was there and had an emergency space blanket ready for me and was like Maddie I'm so sorry but The race is terminated and all I had left to do was a six kilometer downhill into Tyrol. Damn, you've been getting all the experiences in your very short time trail running, the chasing cut-offs, the thunderstorms, the race cancellations. the Wow.
00:11:11
Speaker
Hopefully no more more craziness, smooth sailing. If there's one thing I can guarantee in trail running, it's that you'll still experience craziness for years and years to come. like it doesn't It doesn't ever end, but you rallied really well after that because I'm not sure what you did between then and Ultra Trail Kosciuszko, but I got to meet you on the start line of Old Trail Cosiosko later that year, where i was I was in no shape to be on the start line. And you clearly were, because you went and won the thing to qualify for OCC this year. And you did it in Style Woman. You just looked like you were having a blast the whole time. I loved it. Like, I've never been so happy for someone crossing the finish line. That was epic.
00:11:54
Speaker
Oh, yes. Well, it was awesome to meet you that day as well because we were standing on the start line and I felt like I was chatting to a sister that I'd known for ages. All the photos of us giving each other big hugs and I had people at the end being like, oh, you and Sim, that was so sweet. It was like, actually, I met her for the first time at the start line. Yeah, pretty much. But we are birthday twins, so there's something there. True. We are birthday twins.
00:12:21
Speaker
Nice. So bringing us full circle to where we have been this last week. That qualified you for OCC and obviously you've made the move to France. Everything's been a bit chaotic with life, but you made it to the start line and made it to the finish this time. yeah how long ah Tell us about the OCC and UTMB experience.
00:12:43
Speaker
Oh, it was the most beautiful experience. it It beat all expectation. I think I'm still trying to gather my thoughts a little bit and trying to piece together the day in my head. um It was my first time racing an event at UTMB and actually my first time in Chamonix too.
00:13:00
Speaker
um I expected the atmosphere was going to be incredible, but I don't think you can truly grasp how inspiring it is until you're actually standing on that start line, rather than just watching it through the screen of your TV, which I'd done for years. um The energy is electric. like I felt like I was running on cloud nine all day. There were so many people cheering. um My mum and my grandma flew all the way over from Australia to watch me race, which was so special.
00:13:31
Speaker
um I had a close friend from London that flew in as well. There were so many Aussies on the course cheering. Sim, it was so nice to see you as well and give you a big high five. And of course, like I had Bass who I've been living with.
00:13:46
Speaker
in France over there as well to support me, which was very special. um But the course is beautiful. Man, like it has a bit of everything. um It kind of kicks off with an a very fast start, which I think we all expected. um It was a very stacked field this year on both the men's and the women's side, actually.
00:14:08
Speaker
But everyone flew at the start. I remember looking at my watch and we were doing like 3.30 pace at the start. I was like, oh my goodness, I've got seven hours of running left. Like, I can't do this. Yeah, it starts on the road in Osier.
00:14:23
Speaker
in Switzerland, um and then leads on to a really nice smooth, vulnerable trail up to Champalak. But it's actually quite a punchy little climb to start off with. So people were were moving on that climb. um But once you get up there, it's a really nice flat section around the lake before you've got the first climb kind of up to La Geette. And that kind of takes you into about 19k of the race.
00:14:50
Speaker
and then you get a bit of a nice flowy downhill into triant. It starts a little bit technical, at least at least for me. I know you and I have a different version of technical. Yours will go. Well, it can't get any worse.
00:15:07
Speaker
um But yeah, once you get down into Treont, you've got the second climb that starts up to Colder Barn. And for me, this was definitely the hardest part of the race. um I think it's the hardest part for everyone almost. That climb is a beast. It's a beast. And also we did it. I reached Treont kind of like in the middle of the day. And it was really hot on the day that we ran OCC, like to the point where the race organizers actually initiated the um the heat weather gear. So we had to carry two liters of water instead of one litre of water. um So I knew Colder Balm was going to, so sorry, I knew, I knew Treont was going to be an aid station where I had to take a bit of time um to make sure I was hydrated and refilled bottles and try and cool my body temp down by just like splashing as much water as I could all over myself.
00:16:01
Speaker
um But despite the heat, I actually loved this climb. It was my favorite part of the run as well, which sounds a little bit crazy. But doletto then my coach was sending me my so my race stats about you know how many um people I pass at each checkpoint. And I think I pass 73 people on that climb alone. Nice. I was powering up it. I i loved that section. um But once you kind of reach the top of that climb, there's a four kilometer section that is actually really technical. I think even for your definition, Sim, it's pretty technical. like it That's like a gill deposit section? Yes. yeah Yeah. They take you on the lower trail of a gill deposit, not over the top, ah down into Latua. Yeah.
00:16:47
Speaker
Yes, that's right, which I actually don't think was included in the course from last year. I think that was a change from... There was a very slight change of that technical section was still there, but it was shorter last year. So that was some of the course change to why it was longer this year.
00:17:03
Speaker
Yeah, okay. um But after you've finished that section, then you've got the really nice downhill into the tour, and then Argentina, which are two beautiful towns. um I know you you stayed in Argentina whilst whilst we were in... um Yeah, yep, I was down there and got to meet your grandma and mum. Why not? We went with her. We were all waiting for you. That was fun.
00:17:23
Speaker
Yeah, bless. It was nice to see them there, actually, because once you get to Argentier, you've got the final really big punchy climb to get up to Lufrege, which is a very steep ski slope section where you've just got to run up a, it feels like a VK at that point. um It would, yeah.
00:17:45
Speaker
But then once you reach that, you've got the nice downhill into sham and then you finish in the town. um And man, coming down that finishing shoot is a very special moment. Like I was getting full shivers in my body going down that finishing section. It's it's amazing. Yeah. But yeah. yeah The, um, the entire atmosphere, and I will say I was at that finish line quite a bit for a lot of the races. And it was spectacular no matter who was coming down the chute. Like yeah the amount of noise people were making for people hours and hours and hours behind the leaders was pretty special. Um, but I, um, so I was obviously there on the day I was cheering along, um, and tracking everyone and the start line, pretty damn cool to be at, but then
00:18:31
Speaker
I saw you after the first climb after the first big climb in Lajette. And seeing you coming around already at that point, you could tell who had gone sort of too hard up that climb or who was really suffering in the heat. And so many people ahead of you were coming through looking like absolute death, like heads down.
00:18:51
Speaker
soaked in sweat, really not looking good. And you're like, oh, you're about 20 k's in, this is not a good idea. And then you come around the corner and you're giving the shuckers, you're like screaming and saying hi and giving high fives. And I'm like, oh, she's good. Like it was chalk and cheese to a few of the people around you. But I would love to hear the story of why I then didn't get to see you in triant.
00:19:15
Speaker
because I was waiting for you and you never came. at Well, you did come, but just after I'd already left. What the hell happened? woman Oh man, my sense of direction is shocking. And I've actually i'd done a race recce of the entire course. So i it's that makes this worse. It makes it worse. And to be honest, it's actually impossible to get lost on a UTMB course. Like it's so well mapped. There were flags everywhere.
00:19:40
Speaker
and people standing everywhere. So it was very difficult to get lost. But um yes, I managed to get lost. I'm going to blame it on you, Sin, because you gave me a pair of shocks headphones. and They're the best invention ever. But also, I think they got me a little bit sidetracked, because I was like running down this beautiful stretch of trail, jamming out to this song. I think I was singing along to um Sexy and I Know It by Red Food. Oh, nice. Yep.
00:20:09
Speaker
So there was no one around me really, I was kind of like running by myself at this point, jamming out to my music. And I think I missed, well I did miss a turn that was supposed to take you down to Treont, it was like a little um switchback. But I missed it and I kept going straight.
00:20:26
Speaker
tip like Thankfully, I don't think I went for that long. like i I could have gotten a lot more lost than what I did. I think I was running for about five minutes in the wrong direction until I saw this sign that said, Shampay Luck. and As soon as I saw that, my heart sank. That's where we'd come from. and I was kind of like looping back in the same direction. so I stopped and I was like, oh my gosh, this is not the direction I should be going in.
00:20:52
Speaker
I freaked out, I got my phone out, I was calling ah was calling Bastion so and i'm and my parents being like, I'm lost, I've no idea where to go. And they were trying to calm me down on the phone. um And then thankfully I saw these um ah hikers that walked past me and I stopped them and I was trying to ask them questions of like, where where do I go? I think I'm lost. And they didn't speak a lick of English.
00:21:18
Speaker
So I was like, And everyone understands the acronym UTMB. So they pointed me in like the opposite direction and were like, that way, that way, that way. So I quickly turned around and went back. um Man, my heart rate spiked at that point though. like I think if you look at my stats on my watch, it's like a massive, massive spike.
00:21:39
Speaker
um But I think in total, I probably only lost about 10 minutes. and i god yeah yeah Based on the people around you, I did have a quick look at that just to see um the effect. And it was, yes. Anyway, from eight to 10 minutes based on who you were um at Geontwith versus at Triontwith. And then you made all that time up and more, I reckon, on the next climb. On the climb. Yeah, pretty much. So I reckon you nailed it. And ah we you came across the line for 31st place, which is Oh, is it 31st? Did I have that right? It says 30th at one point, and then I think it went back to 31st. I'm telling myself 30. Seven hours, 16 minutes and 47 seconds, which is bloody fast. like You had a damn good day of it, and it was such a hot day. there was It was a war of attrition in many ways for so many people, because there was a lot of people not having a good day out there while you were having a blast. so
00:22:38
Speaker
It was very cool to see. um And yeah, I suppose well done. But Brody, you've just been quiet this whole time listening to Maddie's escapades. Any questions? um Yeah, I was just enjoying listening. Maddie, um over in France there, are you doing any work or have you stopped work for the moment and just focusing on the running?
00:22:58
Speaker
So I do have a working visa. um I have a one year working holiday visa. So technically I can legally work, um but I haven't really um been very inspired to find any as of yet.
00:23:10
Speaker
i think I think I will probably have to start switching on a bit in that department and finding some work because I don't want to be tapping into my savings that much. But no, so far I've just been enjoying my best life in France. I've been travelling, seeing as much of France as I can. um I've been going to a French school to try and learn French, which has been incredibly unsuccessful.
00:23:34
Speaker
um It's the hardest language. It's such a hard language to learn. The pronunciation is so hard. um Yeah, it the the way that they conjugate sentences in French is so different than what we do in English. um So that was, French school was taking up a bit of my time actually. I was doing an intensive course in Toulouse, which went from 9 a.m. to 12.30 every day, Monday to Friday. um So that was good because it actually stimulated my brain in a way that running doesn't, obviously. um But I think for the rest of the year, I will,
00:24:11
Speaker
Just continue to travel and have fun and then I'll probably start looking for work afterwards. um In terms of what work, I don't really know. I don't really want to go back to finance and working for a bank or but working in a corporate office. Fair. I'm not missing that life in the slightest. I don't miss the 5 or 4.30am wake up to try and get my training in before I start work.
00:24:37
Speaker
Um, but yeah, we'll see. You never, you never know where the world takes you. I mean, I wouldn't have thought that I'd be even in France if you asked me a year ago. So we'll see. Very cool. It's very cool. yeah Absolutely living the life, which is a sure um is a lot of fun and really good to see. Really, really good.
00:24:59
Speaker
Well, I think we will, we're going to circle back to UTMB in the results section of this, um, this episode. So there's plenty more UTMB chat coming for a lot of the other Aussies as well. Uh, but Brody, you want to give us just a real quick, um, update on, there's been almost no running from you this week as you recover from chemo, but how's the, uh, sky running course looking? Yeah. So this week I plan to have like just a full week off, um,
00:25:27
Speaker
I wanted to have seven days off continually, but then just where I was logistically meant that I had six days off and then and then did the um course recce for the VK course at the Sky Running Champs, which is this coming Friday. um So yeah, it was nice. Just relaxing, did some walks, did some sort of just some traveling around in northern Spain, so just did some touristy things, um relaxed a bit, and the body seemed to come through. I actually got a little bit sick, um which I don't know if it was something like sitting there before chemo, and then that made me sick, or if I'd just pushed my body so hard that I got sick afterwards, I'm not sure. But um yeah, so it was sort of a good week to have off anyway, meant and I didn't have to try and push, ah try and figure out if I should run or shouldn't run, I'd already decided not to run. so
00:26:17
Speaker
That was quite nice. But yeah, the course is looking quite, quite good. It's really narrow, which is quite interesting. um I think sometimes the VK courses ah can be a bit sort of wider and maybe they're on like parts of it or on a ski slope or something like that. But um yeah, a good portion of this is really quite narrow. So I think it's going to be an interesting race.
00:26:43
Speaker
um and maybe people going really hard at the start to sort of jostle for position. So it's um in the north of Spain, near a town called Ogrida, up ah this mountain called Moncoya. It doesn't go to the summit, it goes to like the smaller summit. um And it's, as sky running would suggest, it is relatively technical actually for sort of uphill routes.
00:27:09
Speaker
There's lots of sections across like um small small rubble or like small boulder fields. And then there's a good section at the start in the forest, which is really nice. So yeah, it's quite interesting. I took my poles to have a look to see whether that would be a good idea to use poles. I think it's probably a bit too technical to use the poles. I just felt like I was not using them very efficiently. Yeah. um and it's they're a bit of a faff to get in and out, like in a race like that, that only goes for 40, 45 minutes. They're a bit of, like if you're running UTMB and you're going for 100Ks and yeah, you can put them away and get them back out and put them away and get them back out, but in a short race like that, you sort of don't want to waste time or mess up your rhythm. No, you're not. Putting them away, so it's, yeah, I think I'll probably go no poles. But yeah, I'm really excited. i did i went
00:28:09
Speaker
sort of a little bit harder from the start, but I hadn't really warmed up. I just sort of wanted to sort of get a feeling for doing the first bit, maybe what it will sort of feel like on race day. I didn't go super hard and then about halfway up, I sort of eased off a little bit. I did the, I think I did the whole thing in about 54 minutes.
00:28:31
Speaker
i So yeah, I think it'd be interesting. Like I did the KMR in, 44 minutes, so I'd like to get a VK PB. That's about where my head's at at the moment in terms of like, I'm feeling really good for this race. Like I'm really excited. I'm not stressed at all. um I'm just excited to see like where I can end up and what time I can do. So yeah, it's quite nice. ah i'm I'm enjoying the feeling of how this race is feeling in my head at the moment. So yeah, we'll see. I'd like to go close to 40. So maybe we'll see. the The fastest on Strava at the moment
00:29:07
Speaker
Uh, there's a segment is 40 minutes. Um, so I imagine the top guys would probably go sub 40, but yeah, I don't know where I'll sit somewhere in the low 40s. Hopefully. You and your Strava segments again, you never, you never don't know what those are today. Oh, well, this one's like part of like the course record. You got to know where you got to know how fast people would do and what fits. And like, it's as a data. I like just, I just like having the data, how useful the data is. I'm not sure.
00:29:36
Speaker
Yeah, I just, I only live a look at it afterwards when it pops up on my Strava. Never before. But, uh, no, it's good. Good. Giving you something to chase. And yeah, we'll, uh, we're also going to preview the, um, sky running team at the end of this episode just quickly so that we can keep an eye for next weekend when all of that goes down in Basque country.
00:29:56
Speaker
So exciting times there for and another World Champs, another big weekend of trail running. um for For my update, geez, it's been a week at two halves. Monday was both mine and Maddie's birthday. So I actually had a big 30K thing planned, but anyone that listened to last week's pod will know that my Sunday became a hell of a lot longer than planned going up to La Junction.
00:30:21
Speaker
And so when ah when the offer was of just doing the Peak Pursuits UTMB Shakeout, which shout out to everyone that came along because that was a hell of a lot of fun in UTMB week. And I've never run in a group of so many Aussies in ah overseas. So that was bloody cool. um But yeah, we did that. And then, true spur of the moment, me and Maddie decided to just have an adventure of a birthday and go up to at 3,800 meters across to Italy on the cable car. And yeah, it was just in many ways a rest day um that ah was an absolute adventure and massive pizza for dinner. I think I've like, I would be knocking on the door of the most food I've eaten in one day that day and I've bloody loved it.
00:31:05
Speaker
If there's ever a place to eat a birthday cake, Sim, it's on a telecabin going over to Italy looking up at Mont Blanc. That was the best carrot cake birthday cake I've ever had in my entire life. That was pretty good. Birthday cake at about 4,000 meters altitude in a cable car was definitely the highlight. It's going to be hard to top this for our birthday next year. What are we going to do? I know. I know. I know. It's got a lot to live up to.
00:31:33
Speaker
so It'll be good. But um I did get out for that loop. I was going to do a slightly shorter version because I know no longer felt the need to make it exactly 30Ks for my 30th the next day. And that was an adventure. if i On my Strava, people can see the videos of what the loop I did. It was Montbouette, but I started in Valorcine and went around into Switzerland for a bit. and There's lots of ridge running. There was a fair amount of scrambling and like trying to pull yourself up the side of a cliff on ropes. There was one section I got to that I had to pass a group of like five or six people on um
00:32:09
Speaker
this uphill sort of climb section with the rope. And every single other person had protection, like they had a harness and they were clipped in. And I just, they were French and they looked like they actually had like the official Mont Blanc kind of gear on. And so I was like, oh, is it possible to pass without protection? And they were like, if you're confident, go. And I'm like, okay. So not sure I was confident after seeing everyone else, but then in the end, it was totally fine.
00:32:36
Speaker
Like I've been on worse with a lot less protect with no protection as well. And, um, yeah, it was not too bad at all. So that was a hell of a lot of fun. And my favorite part of this one, which I actually did on purpose. Um, so from the top of Montboet back down into the town is 9.4 K with like 1800 meters drop. And it is almost entirely technical. Like it is, there is not a single bit of it's being smooth. It's your, your brain has to be on.
00:33:05
Speaker
you're rock hopping constantly downhill for like nine and a half K. So it is my kind of heaven here. um And so I wanted to get some downhill leg conditioning and I kind of just went, okay, go continuous as possible within reason. I did stop at the halfway because I didn't have any water left to fill up some water.
00:33:23
Speaker
And then I got rocks in my shoes twice. So I had to sit down and take my shoes off bloody twice, which annoyed me. um But the ah yeah, that was good because I could feel my quads a hell of a lot by the bottom um because I haven't just haven't done a continuous downhill that long in a while.
00:33:41
Speaker
So that was my my big bit of conditioning for that day. And getting to the end of this day, I think I calculated in the previous seven days, I'd done over 7,000 meters up and down and close to 20 hours of running. So I was pretty tired um and very much looking forward to a few chill days. So I did not do much.
00:34:05
Speaker
in the coming days because it was kind of just cheer squad mode and in UTMB and some easy running to actually try and revive me. But on the Thursday after watching OCC um and seeing everyone coming to the finish and a good old ice cream with Maddie at the finish line, um I, this day was crazy. This just shows travel sometimes. I started the day in Switzerland in Orsier. I then was spent most of the day in France drove, called a bus back to Switzerland to then fly to Barcelona and arrived in a hostel in Barcelona at midnight that night, which is about as hectic as a travel day gets, especially when it was bloody hot. So, yeah, don't recommend, but we got there um because now I'm currently in Font Rameau, which is only like a two hour drive from Barcelona Airport, hence why flying into there to get here.
00:35:02
Speaker
which has been the other half of the week and has not been perfect by any means because day one here was Friday. um But I'd found a tiny little trail race called Trail Des Marous on Saturday morning, um which in hindsight was a great but horrible idea um because I'm at about sleeping at about 2000 meters here. And I feel that, and I always feel that. And then to add insult to injury, I didn't know this at the time, obviously, but it was my first morning waking up here and I was like, Oh, I've got a bit of a headache. I feel a bit off, but
00:35:42
Speaker
I'll jog to the start line, see how this goes. Jog to the 8Ks to the start line, and was definitely not feeling um great, um but was just trying to do the whole thing that runners do, where you're like, No, no, no, we're good, we're good. I knew it wasn't nerves, because I was treating this like a session. And i when I say it's a tiny race, like there was maybe 50 people running the thing. Like it was tiny.
00:36:03
Speaker
So, but then we took off and I like, my guts had already been horrible before the start and we took off and there's a section of this race that is over 50% gradient. Like there was a climb we did, I think, so it's 12 K's total with like 700 up and down or 600 up and down, but over half that uphill was done in like 500 meters.
00:36:28
Speaker
um So we kind of just ran to the bottom of this climb and then it was hands on the on the um terrain in front of you trying to drag yourself up kind of climb. And I was dizzy. I was nauseous. I was just hardly moving. I kept stopping just to let people past. And it was like I reckon from the time time I got to the bottom to the time I got to the top.
00:36:53
Speaker
like three quarters of the people running I had let past. And I was not feeling good at all. I stopped at the top to drink some Coke and some water to see if I could make myself feel any better. But then that backfired on me. This is just a trial of errors. That backfired on me because I started to run downhill and the shaking in my stomach meant all of that came straight back up. And I was like, okay, something's actually wrong here now. Please just get me to the finish. I was 5Ks in knowing that mostly just dissent left. um And then this was where everything like I actually started laughing out loud at how
00:37:31
Speaker
ridiculous this was because about 500 meters later on a technical part of the downhill I kicked a stump of grass it wasn't thankfully a tree root this time but I went flying flipped onto my back onto these prickly bushes that I still have a rash from all down my back and the way I landed flipped my feet over my head into an electric vent and honestly at that point like the only reason I kept going to the finish is because being a tiny baby race, I could, I was still like, third place was only ah like 50 meters ahead of me. And I was like, screw it. Just like, there's a prize at the end. See what you can get and keep running. So I jogged.
00:38:13
Speaker
Like I've never moved so slow on the flat. I walked the flats, jogged the downhills for the rest of this bloody run. I think it took me a whole hour and a half to cover the 12K and I never want running to feel like that again. So anyways, very long story short, um I'm Celiac. the night before I thought the dinner was a little bit iffy and the French guy spoke no English whatsoever promised me everything was song gluten and I don't think it was at all because I have felt sick since so we're not in a great spot as of this morning right now but also still got my long run done just very slow yesterday um and I will power through because I know this will last about 72 hours of hell
00:38:58
Speaker
And then I should bounce back okay, hopefully. um But there's my my another roller coaster of a week. They never end at this point for this trip for me. What's the Viking Fompo Sim? Are the trails beautiful around there? It looks stunning from photos that I've seen.
00:39:18
Speaker
Yeah, like it's interesting because coming here from Chamonix, you're a bit like, ah it's not underwhelming. I'm not going to say it's underwhelming at all because all mountain places are incredible. um But it's no shame in terms of what I love. And I think for me at the moment, I haven't actually managed to to get out to explore much. um And like even where I ran yesterday, I drove down to the lake that a lot of the marathoners train around to run like flat and easy because it's all my brain could manage and it was raining and cloudy. So I was a bit like, oh this is uninspiring, flat running in the rain.
00:39:56
Speaker
um And we had the best weather in sham as well, like the whole UTMB week. We just got so lucky with the weather. yeah yeah Yeah, you did. But yeah, no, definitely not. There was a massive storm here last night, though, which I'll take. But of course, it's absolutely beautiful. I'm looking out my window at some insane mountains, as usual, that I'm probably not going to get a chance to explore, unfortunately, not on this trip. um But I'm staying in an elite altitude training center.
00:40:24
Speaker
that is pretty damn cool because every single day I've managed to get in the sauna and ice bath. um There's a gym here. There's a track here. There's apps. There's like doctors. There's physios. there's All my food is cooked for me, which as I've already learned comes with its cons for me. um But it's a pretty damn cool setup. And as long as I am now pedantic about making sure I choose very, very safe looking foods in the ah in the restaurant,
00:40:52
Speaker
I think I'll be fine the rest of the time and love it here. But yeah, it's pretty cool. But yeah, that's it. I think that set up, Sim, is that something that anyone can just organize or is it something that you had to like access differently?
00:41:10
Speaker
No, anyone, um as far as I'm aware, anyone can organize it. I essentially just emailed them. I told them like what sport I do at what level. um So like you tick boxes of whether you're a national, international, like, but I have a feeling anyone really could come as long as they have space. um It's like a, you get for me, it's a basic single bedroom with everything you could need, but in a very small space and then um Yeah, all services included other than like massage and stuff, but the ice bath, the sauna, everything is included, which is, and the food in the price, which is not expensive, which is lovely.
00:41:45
Speaker
But, yeah, I just had to email them. They send you a contract of thing. And then it's pretty cool because when you arrive, you get this full booklet and it says, athletes Simone brick on the front and like it's a key tag to get you in all the doors and everywhere. And it is a school as well, though. um So the school went came back after summer break today.
00:42:06
Speaker
So I woke up this morning and went down to breakfast to school kids absolutely everywhere, which is another interesting experience to just feel like you're back in high school um a little bit, but boarding there. um But no, to eat honestly at a brilliant set up and there's photos of all the Olympians and Paralympians and sport people all over the walls. So it's a pretty inspiring place to be.
00:42:28
Speaker
in terms of training and I can see why so many people come here to train because it's a, yeah, it's a damn good setup. That's for sure. Highly recommend Brody. You want a training camp? Come here. Sounds cool. Which actually I should, he gave me, he gave me shit for um not giving him a shout out, but it's Leo Peterson that actually got me onto this place because him and Will Atkinson are booked in to come of join me in like six or seven days. So ah um they're the ones that got me onto here. so I think I'm going to come and join you soon. I'm going to come and hang out for the party for a bit. I was going to say, Maddie's going to come too. So we're going to have at least four Aussies in the fast comes. We'll have five Aussies here all at once, which is going to be hella fun. So
00:43:10
Speaker
Exciting times ahead. Things are going to look up and hopefully my travels at least continue having their good weeks in amongst the bad weeks. But moving on, I reckon, because we've all been chatting for quite a while on our updates. I know this is going to be funny because Maddie, you've bought us a trail fail for the week. So let us hear it. What is your trail fail?
00:43:35
Speaker
Look, um my trail fail is very unconventional, but I think, um as we've already discussed with my very poor navigational skills, it probably comes as no surprise that my trail fail is a function of my very poor navigational skills. um And in my defence, this trail fail happened in Italy, where I had no idea where I was going, and as we all know, I'm sure Strava route suggestions can sometimes be a little bit sub-optimal.
00:44:04
Speaker
yeah So my trail fail happened um about a year ago now. This is um August of last year. I was doing a big hike in the Dolomites with 12 school friends from Sydney.
00:44:20
Speaker
which is beautiful for anyone that hasn't been to the Dolomites, highly recommend. It is the most gorgeous area in Italy. But after we finished our hike, which was about seven days, we decided to go to Lake Como to treat ourselves to a little relaxing moment by the lake. So we pick up a car, drive to Lake Como and um drive up to our Airbnb.
00:44:42
Speaker
which the location is kind of crucial in the story because it wasn't located on the lake, it was located like way up in the mountain. So we had to drive like 20 minutes up this super steep hill to get to our Airbnb. So we arrive at the at the place and All the boys that I'm staying with are like, okay, let's pop open some beers and start getting some dinner ready. It was kind of late in the afternoon. The sun was setting. Me being the crazy trail runner that I am was like, no, no, I'm not sitting around and having a beer. I want to go around and explore the area. So I whip up a Strava map on my on my phone and find a little loop that kind of circles back around to our Airbnb all up in the mountains. So I don't have too much like uphill downhill to deal with.
00:45:27
Speaker
Had about 40 minutes before the boys were like, dinner will be ready, you should be back in 40 minutes. Okay, it's a lot of time. So I go out on this run, and the trail is beautiful. I'm taking photos with my phone, getting a little bit sidetracked, and then I turn around this corner, and I've somehow managed to get all the way down to the bottom of the lake.
00:45:52
Speaker
i You would think, Matty, there's a massive downhill. Like, how did you not realize you were running downhill? And I actually don't know, like to this day, I still don't know how I got down to the bottom of this hill. But here I am standing at the bottom of this hill and I start to feel raindrops on my skin. And then I'm like, oh no, this is not good. And then next minute it starts pouring with rain, lightning thundering. And then to make it worse, I get a call from Nick, one of the boys in the house. And he's like, Maddie, we're getting a little bit worried. It's been an hour. Where are you? Dinner is ready. Like, are you going to be home soon?
00:46:28
Speaker
I put into my Google Maps like how to navigate the way back up the hill and it says it's going to take me an hour and 30 minutes to get back up this hill. And then I look at my phone and I've got 1% battery left. I don't know where I'm going. I don't know how to get up to this freaking Airbnb. It's lightning and thundering. I think a thunderstorm is about to start and it's an hour and a half to get back up to this hill or this Airbnb where I'm staying.
00:46:55
Speaker
I had no idea what to do, and there was nobody around. Like, I'm in the middle of in the middle of nowhere. Thank goodness this police car drives past, pulls over to the other side of the road. I think the police officers are trying to find a place to get dinner or something. I bolt over to this police car, and they spoke not a word of English, but I'm showing the two of them this map on my phone, being like, I need to get to this point. This is my Airbnb. Can you please drive me?
00:47:24
Speaker
I'm somehow convinced these two might I add really hot Italian police officers ah to give me a lift all the way back up the top of this hill, which took them 20 minutes driving. They saved the day and it was hilarious because I arrived back at the Airbnb. All the boys are sitting on this balcony and I get out of a police car and they're all looking at me like, Maddie, we've been in Lake Como for a whole five minutes And you've got arrested. Like what is going on? Oh man. I made it in time for dinner and they cooked a really yummy like vodka pasta from memory and I had an afro spritz and then I felt all good again. Oh man. but um yeah It was an adventure. I reckon the most trail fail part of that is how you manage to run downhill for so long without realizing you're running downhill.
00:48:17
Speaker
Yeah, and I also hate running downhill, so you would think I'd be like, why am I doing this? Yeah. That's the sort of thing I would do, because it's fun. I know. I know.
00:48:29
Speaker
Maybe I am a downhill runner after all, Sim. It's in you somewhere. It is definitely in you somewhere, and we're definitely going to unleash it over time. But that's a good one, man.
00:48:40
Speaker
that is ha Yeah, definitely not going to top that one this week, although my you kind of do I was going to say, yeah, my submission to trail fails this week is falling into an electric fence um because I'm not sure anywhere else where that's going to happen.
00:48:55
Speaker
so um Do you get electrocuted? so you know it like i like It was one of those moments where, because my feet flipped really quickly, it was like they sort of hit the fence and bounced off. and i was like whole holy like it really like i don't it I've touched an electric fence before because I've been dared to touch an electric fence, and it's like really not that bad, um at least for this electric fence because it's just designed to design to sort of deter the animals, I believe. but It didn't seem that like crazy bad, but also it was just a bit like, of course, of course. So the adrenaline got me back up and moving. I got a bit of a surge of energy. So, you know, nothing like overcoming a bonk by getting hit by an electric fence. Oh, I know. I know. So thankfully, thankfully where it like, where it hit was like halfway up my carbs. And so it was, and I bounced straight off. So.
00:49:51
Speaker
It was kind of, and it was an odd one, but man, like, I don't even know how I ended up where I was. It was like five meters off to the side of the trail. But you know, when you fall, when you're flailing for a bit before you fall, and one of those ones. Anyways, embarrassing moments on the trail, but.
00:50:09
Speaker
Let's take it to the less embarrassing moments because we had some people that absolutely ripped at UTMB weekend, and I want to give a shout out to as many of them as possible. So we're going to take you through. I've just tried to scroll through the results, get a lot of the top Aussies, including top Aussies in age categories and the like, because there's some pretty damn cool results that we've got.
00:50:34
Speaker
And I'm going to take us through UTMB. Brody, I'll throw to you in a second to take us through some of the other ones. um But this is just the Aussies we're going to go through first. um And in the one and only UTMB, were you there for this finish, Maddie? I was not, sadly. I'd already left that that afternoon, so I missed the final. But I watched the start. Yeah, nice. Nice. I saw the end of CCC, which was very, very special as well.
00:51:01
Speaker
Yeah, cool vibes. Very, very cool vibes. Well, in UTMB, the top Aussie, as I'm pretty sure she has been for the last probably few or definitely last year in this year, is again the one and only Lucy Bartholomew who ran 22 hours, 55 minutes.
00:51:18
Speaker
for 10th place, which is the same place as last year. But Maddie, I think you were saying it was an hour and a half faster than last year. Yeah, I was chatting to Luce and she was saying that she ran almost an hour and a half quicker this year, but got the same place. oh wow So I think that just goes to show how amazing trail running is becoming. Like it's competitive. People are getting so much faster, both on the female and the male front, like We were talking some about how Katie Shire just shattered the record yeah as well this year for UTMB by 20 minutes. yeah it's It's getting, the level is getting crazy. Oh yeah, for sure. And in typical um Lucy style that I've seen, she's like just always there or thereabouts in the top 20 and makes her way into the top 10 later in the race because she's able to just grind out the same pace and ah always makes her way up there. So yeah.
00:52:12
Speaker
Top Aussie again and an absolutely insane performance for the the field that it was and just it was very close as well um for the for the distance in the last few in that um top 10 so yeah well done Lucy bloody cool again and not too far behind her about 35 minutes back we had Matt Korean and so he was 68th male in 26 and a half hours which I'm pretty sure this would be his first go at UTMB Brady Yeah, it's his first, um first of the full loop, I think. He's done yeah CCC last year.
00:52:47
Speaker
Yeah, nice. Well, yeah, bloody cool performance um on that front too. And I'm going to say for this for the Aussies though, this one was all about the women because we had four women in the top 45. So shout out to Hannah McCray, who ran 28-41 for 23rd female. Charlotte Lomas ran 32-55 for 40th female, and who everyone heard from and met last week, Claire O'Brien Smith.
00:53:15
Speaker
ran 33 hours and 33 minutes for 45th female. So that, um like, I reckon that's pretty cool, having four Aussies names up there in that top 45, which, and the final, world final is ah some pretty big results. um Quick shout out to Sam Williams in 28 and a half hours as well for the second Aussie male in 114th and Ryan Tompkins in 29 hours 19 as the third Aussie male across the line for 135th. And then I'm gonna give a massive shout out to Michael Sullivan, who he finished in 39 hours, 40 minutes and 37 seconds to win the 65 to 69 age category. Which if I'm still if i'm running a sub 40 hour UTMB at 65 to 69,
00:54:05
Speaker
Like, that's the frickin' dream. That's crazy. So well done, Michael, winning that age category. um And my last little shout out is just for the the most bang for buck mountain time people, because UTMB alone is a massive effort, um and getting to the finish line is huge.
00:54:26
Speaker
And we had a few Aussies just beating the cutoff at the very end. So the um Aussie that got the most mountain time out there was Salvatore, Febo in 45 hours, 49 minutes to finish.
00:54:38
Speaker
A female was not far up front of you in front of him, Julie Sager, in 45 hours, 45 minutes, so just four minutes up the road. um So they were both maybe half an hour inside the cutoff. And I just want to give a special mention to Janet Smith as well, because she was the only one of the Aussies that I could see that she was timed out at Fleugere, which to me is just brutal. She got there in 45 hours flat. um And I think she needed to be there in 45, in 44 hours, 45 to not be cut off. And I can only imagine making it the whole way around that loop to Fliget with like six Ks to go and then getting timed out.
00:55:24
Speaker
Just, yeah, anyways, to me, the thought of that is brutal. Uh, so Janet, we are sending love for sure. Cause that's huge. You did all the climbs. Exactly. Like you've done all the climb, just not quite all the descent. Um, so yeah, it's almost a complete loop. Ugh.
00:55:45
Speaker
but the demons of that one's gotta be huge. So yeah, Brody you wanna take us to TDS unless you have any other further mentions for UTMB. No, I don't think so. um Yeah, so we had TDS earlier in the week. So we had two two runners that or there may be the top Sorry. um So we have Oliver Pacool. He came 255th in 32 hours and 49 minutes.
00:56:18
Speaker
um And Cecilia Matus, unfortunately, had a DNF at 90Ks due to some nutrition troubles, but I think she was moving pretty well earlier in the race. She was in 23rd when she dropped, so yeah she was right up there. But but thank yeah, we had no female finishes in the end for TDS. Yeah, OK. And then in CCC, so this was on the same or finished on the day when UTM is started.
00:56:48
Speaker
um So it's the 100K version ah in the men at best runner was Rhett Gibson in 14.06 for 77th. Unfortunately, Ronnie Spark had to withdraw at 71Ks, which is a bit of a shame for him.
00:57:08
Speaker
um And then in the women, the first ah woman Australian to finish was Olivia Hulbert in 17 hours and 20 minutes for 56. And unfortunately again Anna McKenna.
00:57:22
Speaker
had to withdraw at around 80Ks. So yeah, sort of just showing how tough this event is and how sort of just getting to the finish line is is part of the ah challenge. Yeah, yeah. And I tracked their results in there. Going down. Yeah.
00:57:39
Speaker
Yeah, I chucked them Ronnie and Anna in there because they were our top-ranked Aussies going in, and I was tracking them and cheering for them all day. um But yeah, unfortunately, lack. And that's sometimes the way, of obviously, as well, when you're um pushing the limits and racing these things, it's kind of and even more likely to walk the line of going a little bit wrong as well. So yeah, huge efforts by both of them. And they were both moving and well early. Yeah, definitely. I don't know what the data is, but it seems to be the races where you see the most people withdraw, almost of the most of like the the top people withdraw. There's a lot of people pulling out left, front and center. Yeah, there's a lot a lot. Yeah, and CCC, I think particularly, I saw a lot of people drop.
00:58:20
Speaker
um So it was, I think, a tough, tough day. um And then in OCC, so the 50K version, um or slightly more than 50K version, in the men we had, like, Turner,
00:58:37
Speaker
He was the best man. He ran 5.57.19 for 29th, and it looked like he had a really good run. I had a little chat to him. He said that um it was the best race he felt, the best he felt in a race this year. um So yeah, it's great to have that sort of come through on the day that counts. And then a shout out to Jay Dean as well, who ran 7.29.43 to come 94th.
00:59:06
Speaker
um And then in the women, um we had Maddie who ran an amazing race. She ran seven hours, 16, 47 for 31st or 30th, we'll say 30th. And then a shout out also to Lou Clifton who ran eight hours, 56 for fourth in her age category of the 50 to 54 year old. So awesome run by Lou as well.
00:59:34
Speaker
We did also have um ah Lauren Rook, I should have put in there. She came i yes for the female. um Yeah. And I think I saw on Lauren's Strava or so one of her social medias, she had it was a bit of a journey to get there. She's got a young family and like jet juggling all those bits and pieces. so she Yeah, she got sick on the week off. She was happy with how she ran.
00:59:56
Speaker
Yeah, she had a sinus infection and wasn't sure she was going to make the start line week off because she was meant to come to the ShakeOut, but then obviously didn't want to get anyone else sick. And yeah, to see her run that day was um pretty cool knowing what she'd been dealing with the week leading in. Yeah, so she'd done awesome there. um And unfortunately, Kate, who we spoke about last week, also running a sort of ah Aussie that we claim um she had to withdraw early on.
01:00:22
Speaker
had a tough day, just didn't, unfortunately, um was wasn't feeling great on race day. um And she made it to 24K, so about halfway.
01:00:36
Speaker
um yeah Yeah. And um I was with Blocky Kate's husband in the car and we were sort of obviously tracking her along and waiting for her at that point. And um ah well, just before that point when she let us know that she was going to pull out at the next aid station and ah it was heartbreaking. Like as always, when you've got a close friend that is, you know, has put everything into one race and that's the way it goes with ultra running is like you' you're fully targeted on one day.
01:01:03
Speaker
on one big race. And she's been overseas building to this for quite a while. She had ah a really rough race last year. um And so obviously, like, could have continued, but also went, Well, I've Death March this thing in last year, I've done the thing where I finish at all costs and kind of was like, I'm not about to do that again, which 100%, she shouldn't have. um But Shout out to Kate cause I think she ah she did put this on her so on her um social so it's no um no secret. But yeah, just the nutrition and everything wasn't happening with the guts and that is are purely because being a female ultra runner sometimes, the timing of the day of the event,
01:01:41
Speaker
does not line up with the cycle well. And you can put all the training in you like, and but you cannot control what day the race lands on. And sometimes that lands on the day that you're you just not going to feel good whatsoever. And if you add in heat and trying to get nutrition in for a 57K,
01:01:59
Speaker
Like, it's honestly one of the most heartbreaking reasons for a race to go wrong, because she was fit, she was ready. um There was nothing else wrong with her. It's just that one day, like the day before or the day after probably would have been a lot better. But yeah, that's ah how it goes sometimes. So yeah, she was not alone, though. There was a lot of there was a lot of attrition in this one as well.
01:02:22
Speaker
um people were blowing up left, right and center because it was very hot and being 57 K in shorter distance, they're racing hard. So yeah, but um yeah, some really, really cool Aussie results, obviously. And I loved seeing so many people out there and there was a lot of,
01:02:40
Speaker
um Aussie cheering on course. Blake bloody like he surprised me when I was out on course and he came breezing past like well before I expected him at one point. So um he yeah he got a great big scream from me at that point to everyone around me is entertainment. um But to just give the overall results, which both of you have in the back of your mind. I'm about to ask you what your overall performance of the weekend is and your underrated performance of the weekend is. um But UTMB, the Big Dance 176K, I loved this. It was won by Vincent
01:03:18
Speaker
boula bu yeah I'm gonna hope that they've pronounced that right. um in I think this is about the third fastest time ever, 1954-23. And he's, well, he's unsponsored because he works full-time, but he does work full-time in shoe, as a shoe, like he's the one behind the shoes that Hocka make. um So the shoes he was wearing, he was pretty much like part of making them.
01:03:45
Speaker
ah So he works for Hocka, but is is not a sponsored athlete because he works full time for them and came out and won the thing in a damn fast time. And he's French, which is the the French always love, obviously a French winner. um Second place was also a Frenchman and that was Baptiste Chassang in 20 hours and 22 minutes. And then in third, which this was really cool to see too from Ecuador,
01:04:12
Speaker
was Joaquin Lopez in 20 hours and 26 minutes. So only four minutes between second and third, which was damn close. um There was a lot of big names pull out um fairly early, Jim Walmsley, Matthew Blanchard. um And I can't remember who else, but there was a couple others um that Yeah, as always, UTMB takes a few souls. And then on the female side, Katie Scheid, as Maddie already mentioned earlier, broke Courtney DeWalt's course record by 20 minutes or 21 minutes or so to run 2209.31. For a long time, she was on um track to break 22 hours, which would have just black.
01:04:55
Speaker
It's just insane that women are at that level now um and Katie is leading the way. In second place, after coming through the field in like, it was really cool to watch Ruth's um sort of splits and track her position overall as she moved up through the day.
01:05:11
Speaker
say Ruth Croft came second in 22 hours 48 minutes and in third for her second podium at the event was Marianne Hogan in 23 hours 11 minutes. So yeah some cool runs what was your both your run of the day in UTMB? I think for me mine would have to be Tony Macan winning CCC She is like the most inspiring person ever, I think. like This was her first time racing that distance. She was the winner of the race that I did OCC last year and set a new course record with that last year too. um She wanted to step up and do the CCC distance this year.
01:05:55
Speaker
And she she was so controlling over that race. She basically led for the entire thing. um And watching her race is pretty special. I was standing on the finish line as well. like I was right at the end where the finishing shoot is and saw her come in and saw her being interviewed. and she just She's the most beautiful human and it's so nice to see her pull through and get a win like that. um I think she's she's just dominating the sport as well over that kind of shorter distance. I think she's kind of setting the new trend, like Katie is setting the trend in UTMB. She's kind of leading the field in, not that CCC is a short distance by any means, but it's shorter than TMB.
01:06:35
Speaker
yeah um yeah wow she She's such a dominant force in trail running at the moment as well. um yeah and the short go. My underrated performance would have to be, do you know Abby Hall, the Adidas Terrex runner? Oh, I definitely know the name. Which event did she do? She did UTMB. I think she might not have won it before, but she's she's definitely
01:07:06
Speaker
um one of the top runners in the US, s um and she's she's done very well in it before. ah But basically a year ago, she was just on a training run um back home in the US and had a really bad fall and broke her broke her leg a year ago.
01:07:27
Speaker
um ended up having a very bad blood clot in her leg. um She's done a lot of podcasts about it, opening up about her her struggles with the injury. um But she's been out for the longest time with this terrible pain in her leg. um And she came 31st this year in UTMB.
01:07:46
Speaker
which is just amazing considering her training or lack of training really um and just ah ability to push through. she She also had a really big fall in the race and fell onto her ribs. um So I think it just goes to show, you know, these athletes are pushing through some serious stuff, you know, like you're going deep into the pain cave in races like UTMB.
01:08:11
Speaker
ah yeah So I think the fact that she could she can come come away with a place that's, you know, inside the or top 30 in the world still after having gone through so much. Those are the kind of stories that are so inspiring. Right. When you when you hear the struggles, like I think every athlete has struggles going into races and every athlete has their own adversity that they're trying to get over. She's just kind of, I guess, quite vocal about it on social media. So you're aware of it.
01:08:39
Speaker
But by no means would she be the only athlete that has overcome adversity going into races like that. I'm sure there's plenty of them. So yeah it's it's pretty cool and inspiring to hear stories like that, I think. Yeah, for sure. 100% is. And actually on the topic of ah during race injuries, Marianne Hogan broke her finger think around the course. I saw that. She had to get it seen by a doctor and then still marches on for third place. like yeah while That was bloody cool to see. I love that story.
01:09:08
Speaker
That is so good. Um, and actually while we're on the topic, because you did an awesome throw to it for me, I may as well, I'll also quickly run through the CCC results because Tony, as you mentioned, absolutely blitzed it. And I love Tony. Like, um, I was lucky enough, which I'm going to say this is a claim to fame now after everything she's done, which is, she's incredible. Me and Tony shared a, shared a room for Siesen Isle the first year I did it in the elite hotel. It was just me and Tony in the room. And honestly,
01:09:36
Speaker
I hadn't met many people at all in trail running to that point. And she hadn't done OCC or UTMB or anything. So this was back in 2021, I think. And she was just the loveliest, like the best person you could imagine to her be bunking with in the elite athlete hotel. And then to see where she's gone since, I'm like, Oh my gosh. Cause I didn't know who she was until that point was bloody cool. But ah yeah, she won in 11 hours 57. In second was Martina Milnacic.
01:10:05
Speaker
in from Poland in 12 hours 11 and in third was Rosanna Buchauer from Germany I think in 12 hours 16 and then in the men's side at CCC Hayden Hawkes got the win which yeah this was a bloody cool finish to watch in 10 hours 20. Peter Frano which is another name I know from Golden Trail back in the day which is just so cool to see him get up here for second place in 10 hours 27. He's from Slovakia. And he beat Adam Peterman for who came third. And it was only like 90 seconds or so between the two of them. Like it was close between Peter and Adam. um So that was really cool to watch. Shout out to Dan Jones, Oceana legend from New Zealand, who came fourth in 10 hours 36 for CCC. ah And
01:11:01
Speaker
The last final that there was on, which was OCC, which as we have already mentioned, took out a lot of people and early leaders blew up and all sorts of stuff happened. But Eli Heming got the win, which damn cool to see. um Remy Bonet, who everyone was tracking um to see how he went for his first 50K, he took a bad fall, which forced him to withdraw. Unfortunately, he was right up there until that point. ah But he withdrew in the end. But Eli, as someone who was spectating the race in Argentina, Eli comes through Argentina and as the lead male, everyone goes absolutely wild. And then there was this really sort of awkward moment where everyone was waiting and waiting and waiting for second place because he had a 10 minute lead going through Argentina into the final climb. And then I'm not sure if anyone's seen the footage of Eli up the climb.
01:11:53
Speaker
But he is in all sorts. He is hiking up the climb. He'll take a few steps. He'll stop and vomit. He'll keep going. He'll stop and vomit. And he just keeps going and trying to get up the climb. And in the end, he won by, I think, like two minutes um from Francesco Poopi. So that last, from Argentier, the last 12K or so, I think it is, um from Argentier to the finish, Francesco did it eight minutes faster. But Eli had just put such a gap on the field, he was able to hold on.
01:12:23
Speaker
And then Brody's fave coming through the field as usual for a podium was Antonio Martinez Perez. Brody, you called this one last week, um five hours 17, another two and a half, three minutes back. um So good call. I'm glad he came through for me. But yeah, it's pretty impressive. He's been in the top three the last three years. um I think Francesco was also second last year. So those guys are very good at. um Yeah, they're good at that distance. They're good at that race. and um Yeah. Yeah. It's good to watch. On the women's side, um this was a bit more of a one-woman show for quite a while because she was in the lead for so long. And it was Miao Yao from China um that got the win in five hours, 5403. And six minutes back then was Judith Vida in six hours and five seconds. So just over that six hour mark,
01:13:18
Speaker
And in third Clementine Joffre in six hours and two minutes. So from there, it was much closer on the women's side because I think between. second and then like 10th was only like another 10 minutes or so. So yeah, it was super close. There was just women, woman after woman after woman. There was a bit of a sprint off between Sarah and Caitlin for fourth and fifth. There was about 30 seconds between the two of them. So very, very cool to watch. um And now since we've gone through all the results, Brody, your run of the week weekend. Yeah, I don't know. There was like so many, so many good ones. I think like,
01:13:57
Speaker
the thing that The thing that hit me so hard, and I hate to pick a winner, but the thing that like I remember feeling like, wow, that's crazy, was um was that was the the men's winner of UTMB. I forgot his name again. Is it Vincent? Yeah, Vincent. It was Vincent. Yeah, and i I went on a deep dive and was like trying to find out about this guy because like no one, like he's sort of such an unknown.
01:14:20
Speaker
his utmb ranking was so low compared to the guys he was racing against maybe that's because he hasn't done as many races but yeah it was just so crazy to see some someone like uh unexpected that much i think um come in first, um let alone sort of just get a good placing in possibly the biggest race of the year and also run the third fastest time. um I thought that was just crazy and and reading some of the interviews like he like he developed shoes for Jim Walmsley um and he train like he sort of looks up to Jim and Tim Tolson and he was on the start line with them but I think he was expecting to be back quite a bit, not expecting to be
01:15:05
Speaker
up the front. um So it was just, yeah, I think, I think there'll be some good like interviews to come out of it because I don't think he expected, I think he described it as an A plus plus plus plus plus plus day. So yeah, it's pretty, young I thought that was pretty crazy. Yeah, for sure. That was definitely like, even as he's running across the line, I'm like, hang on, who is this? That's just got the best of all these people. But what's your underrated performance of the weekend or story of the weekend if you've got any?
01:15:34
Speaker
Yeah, I've been trying to think like if I have like a underrated performance, like I think there was a lot of people I was following along. Um, I don't maybe know then the runners as well, but the other one that really jumped out at me was, um, you were mentioning Peter Frano before. Like it sounds like he's a, well, no, he's run golden trail on that before, but he, he, um, was leading really early on. And I was like, Oh, who's this guy just out in front ahead of like all these, these heavy swingers like Hayden Hawks and Peterman and Dan Jones and lots of other guys that ended up pulling out. Um,
01:16:10
Speaker
And he dropped like 12 places on the big climb up to Grand Colfer it. And then, and then he just came back. Um, so I thought that was, that was another really crazy run. I'm not sure it was like an under, I don't know if he's, it sounds like he sort of deserves to be up there as well, but it just like how it happened, I think was, was pretty crazy. like you You say that, and like 100% he does, um but at least from like the times I've seen him back, and this was a couple of years ago now, like he's come, he came third at the world champs, the long world champs in Westbrook. And that was the, that was the biggest result I think I remember from him. um
01:16:53
Speaker
in, because the last time I sort of raced near him or like was in a similar race to him was the Madeira Golden Trail World Series final. And there he came like 21st out of 30 guys. So like he was, he wasn't one of the people at Golden Trail that were near the front by any by any means. um And like he was there, but he was, he was not in the top 10 at any of those races. And then I think when he came third at World Champs and then he would think it was maybe seventh at CCC last year. um So like he got in the top 10 and I was like, Oh yeah, this is cool. But to see that progression then from seventh last year to second this year and like leading early. Yeah, just as someone that's seen a little bit along the way, that was cool to see.
01:17:38
Speaker
Cause yeah, he wasn't, ah he wasn't making waves in golden trail, but then since moving to the longer distance, he's just been nailing a lot of it. So, um, but if you look at his UTMB index, he has almost no firsts. He's got a lot of seconds and thirds and, um, like he has, he has a couple of firsts at some of the, some of the sky running races for sure. Cause he does sky running as well. But yeah, a lot of the bigger ones, he's got seconds and thirds galore. So I look forward to the day he, he um,
01:18:07
Speaker
gets a win anne for sure. But my run of the day has to be Katie Scheid just because I freaking love that woman and watching her out front all day. Like even early on on the coverage where it's like she's doing going up the first climb next to Jim Walmsley. And I'm like, this is cool. Like it's just the women and the men getting closer and closer to just completely mixing it together over these distances is forever exciting as a female in the sport.
01:18:34
Speaker
um And then this is by no means an underrated performance because I think people rate it quite highly, but also I was just being out there on course and seeing people throughout the day. I want to give a massive kudos to Sarah Alonzo just because this was her first Race of this distance she looked like she was having a ball early on which is the right sort of like just her attitude towards it early on looked pristine because it was It was a case where being the longest distance. She's done like this It's all too easy to take off too hard and not know your limits but to to be up the front all day, you know first one here and I still come away for fourth with like not much of a gap up to the podium. I definitely rate that one highly and I think Sarah killed it for her first attempt um at this distance. And then on the Oceania side, seeing Kaitlyn Fielder as the Kiwi come top five again, like I think she's never not come top five at this race and done it four times. So the true technician of OCC.
01:19:37
Speaker
was at work again. I think that's a good wrap-up. I hope you guys are you guys reckon there are any more stories. I mean, I think that song's an up-sim. Pretty extensive recap.
01:19:51
Speaker
Ah, yeah, well, you've got to, you've got to do it justice, right? There was just a lot going on um and so many cool people doing the things. But we've been going for a very long time already. And I'm very thankful that you're still here with us, Maddie. So we are going to breeze through um the next little bit of just running through. There was two smaller races in Oz that I still want to give a shout out to, because just because they happened on a UTMB Week doesn't mean they weren't some pretty cool results. So ah Maddie, are you willing to take us to Coastal High in ah Queensland?
01:20:24
Speaker
Sure thing. um So Coastal High Fun Run was, there were two events. The first one was a 50k with 1952 meters of um elevation gain and loss. On the female side, um we had Buhar Bali who came third overall. Amazing achievement.
01:20:47
Speaker
ah in five hours and 14 minutes and 58 seconds. And then we had Megan Brown um with five hours, 47 minutes and three seconds. um And then Eleanor Stevenson in third with five hours, 51 minutes and 46 seconds. And I think from a post from Eleanor, this was her first time racing a 50K as well.
01:21:10
Speaker
Yeah, definitely one of this sort of distance. I can't remember if she's done a flat 50K at some point, but that definitely this is her longest race. um she's She's stepping it up and she's done really, really well here. um And I tried to do some research research on Buja as well. She's Spanish, seems to be living in Oz because she's got lots of Aussie results, but she's from Spain and she looks like an absolute powerhouse on the trails. Lots of winds left, right and center up in Queensland.
01:21:37
Speaker
Hmm. Yeah. Well, we will take ownership over her. Very good. ha Exactly. um On the men's side as well, we had it Tobias Chapel who did it in five hours and eight minutes and 50 seconds. um Michael Fenwick with five hours, 14 minutes and 35 seconds. And then Anthony Gordon, five hours, 20 minutes and 48 seconds. So all very close on the men's side, actually. Yeah.
01:22:04
Speaker
um Then the second race was a 28 kilometer with 1182 meters of um vertical gain and loss. Female side, ah we had Anna Mossbauer with three hours, 14 minutes and 25 seconds. Hailey Gossman with three hours, 29 minutes and 43 seconds. And Amanda Short with three hours, 35 minutes and one second.
01:22:35
Speaker
So all, again, pretty close results on the female side too. And and then for the males, we had Leigh Bauer with two hours, 29 minutes and five seconds. Zach Neuscham with two hours, 33 minutes and 22 seconds. And Brad Edd with two hours, 43 minutes and 11 seconds. So lots of really cool results across the board.
01:23:02
Speaker
Yeah. And also that's some pretty punchy races. Um, I'm not entirely sure where these are run, but 28K with over a thousand up and down is, uh, it's pretty good for us. I reckon. Yeah, that's punchy. Definitely. And those are some good times for that distance and terrain too. So yeah, well done to everyone there. Uh, I'll quickly take us to our second race of the week, which was the Cape Palarenda Trail run. This is up in Townsville.
01:23:29
Speaker
So I have no idea how hot it was, but I can only imagine pretty hot. And from what I could see on the course, there's a and at least finishes on the beach ah so with some sand. So anytime anyone's running on sand, they get massive kudos from me because it is not ideal. um But on the male side, there was definitely a performance of the day here because ah Max McDonald ran three hours, 33 minutes and 26 seconds to win by over half an hour.
01:23:56
Speaker
which I reckon like to be at the front pushing all day clearly, like that, that's a bloody good run. So well done, Max. In second place for the men's was Fraser Sweeney in four hours, eight minutes and 16 seconds.
01:24:09
Speaker
And in third, Michael Wooster, 4 hours, 17, 12. On the female side, ah we had another female coming third overall, and that was Ruth, oh, I forgot to put her surname. Ruth Eagles, I think it was, um in 4 hours, 15 minutes, and 1 second. In second was Liv Compton in 4 hours, 26, 33.
01:24:32
Speaker
And in third, Hannah Cook in four hours, 33.03. And just quickly, there was also a 21K half marathon here for them. And that had about 550 meters up and down, still had the beach. So um yeah, some rough terrain, but in the men's, this was super close. um So Scott Headley got the win in two hours, zero minutes and six seconds. In second was Giles Smith in two hours, two minutes and 22 seconds.
01:25:01
Speaker
with a sprint off because in third was Kyle Ambrose, only seven minutes, seven seconds back, geez, not minutes, in two hours, two minutes and 29 seconds. So nice little sprint off there. And in the females, Carmen Ritter got the win in two hours, seven minutes. Brittany Hutchinson was second in two hours, 16. And Vanessa Kennedy third in two hours, 20.
01:25:23
Speaker
So well done to everyone at those events. And yeah, the ah that that that's it for the Aussie results for this week. But Brody, you want to just quickly run us through next week, you're going to be at Sky Running World Champs, and we are yet to do a preview of the Aussie team. So just run through the names for us and we'll ah we'll get get to know everyone in deeper um deeper info info next week when we we haven't already been going for so long and we can give them the time they deserve after the race.
01:25:54
Speaker
Definitely, yeah, so there's ah three races. um So there's the vertical kilometer, the sky distance, which is 37K with 2,500 meters, and then the sky ultra, so the longer distance. So essentially like a short trail and a long trail, the sky ultra 70K with 4,300 meters.
01:26:18
Speaker
um And yeah, it's the Sky Running World Champs, so Sky Running being its own sort of organization, a host of World Champs every two years. um In the VK, we have um four men and one woman, so we've got David Bailey from Tasmania, Ian Best from Canberra, Andrew Hagler.
01:26:42
Speaker
down from Tassie as well, and then myself. um And then Ursula Adams is running the vertical K, I think Ursula's from Queensland. um Then there's the option to do both the VK and the sky. There's like a combined result as well. So we've got a few of those people backing up from the VK and also running the sky distance. So Ursula, David, and Ian are all running the sky distance as well. um And then we've got some additional people who are running just the sky distance. um So in the men, we've got Blake Hose and Daniel Trevena. And in the women, we've got Georgina Campbell. And I thought I saw another name, but I'm i not sure.
01:27:28
Speaker
Uh, Jessica, no, yeah. like i that but I don't know if it's the same person anyway. Um, yeah I think it's, I think it's just Ursula and Georgina are on the start list. that Yeah. Okay. Cool. Um, and then, and then the ultra distance we have, uh, three men and one woman. We've got Madge Bachhausen, uh, Owen Davies and Matt Dunn, um, and Nicole Patton running that race. So.
01:27:55
Speaker
Yeah, we've got a team. I think there's some Kiwis as well that are on some of the information that we that we've received from the team. So I think they're sort of um sort of ah combined forces a little bit with them. um So it's good to see a few of them at this champs as well. And yeah, we'll see how it goes. Report back next week. Yeah, awesome. Yeah, woulla we'll give all the results for everyone next week and um yeah, massive shout out to the team. Go go let Rip because it's going to be like sky running so much fun, so, so much fun. This is one I was very, very tempted by, but wasn't sure how my body would be for the distance. I didn't want to enter, but I'm very jealous again now. So enjoy all of those people. and
01:28:41
Speaker
to give us just a quick rundown of what's going down on Aussie soil next week. It is a big weekend um because there's some pretty damn cool races going down. Our very own Jess Jason is going to be going in a very competitive Hounslow Classic. We will give a big rundown of that one next week and hopefully have Jess back on. She couldn't make it this week because she's doing the move to Canberra while trying to get ready for this marathon. So shout out to Jess in the chaos.
01:29:06
Speaker
ah There's also Coastal Classic. That's a brilliant 30K along the coast, the east coast of Oz. The Great Island Trek on Magnetic Island, which just sounded cool because it's on Magnetic Island, so I had to put it in there. Kadamba Half Marathon, which I've done before and I'm going to call it pretty much the most brutal half marathon you can do because you run down Kadamba for 10K, turn around and run straight back up the way you came for 10K.
01:29:32
Speaker
So yeah, that one, just because of the way it is down then up on the exact same trail as an out and back does your head in. i reckon um So yeah, we call to get the results from there. Sturt Gorge Trail Run, part of the Trail Running South Australia series is also on and the Whitsunday Trail Fest on the Whitsunday Islands, which again, just sounds like a best destination race. So good luck to everyone there.
01:29:59
Speaker
But that's us pretty much done for this week. To round us off, Maddie, what have you got coming up? You're currently in Mallorca without luggage? Oh, yeah, it's been a bit of a nightmare start to my holiday. um But i I am in Mallorca. It is beautiful weather. It's sunny. um I think it is the perfect way to recover from a 50k rum. So I plan on plonking myself at the beach, drinking a few cocktails.
01:30:23
Speaker
um And then we'll resume training when I join you in Font Remo, which I'm very excited about. But next big run for me probably won't be until October. There's another big race really close to home now, actually, in the Pyrenees called Le Tomplier.
01:30:40
Speaker
So it's a 35k distance. um It attracts a big crowd as well. ah Lots of elites will hopefully be there, um which I guess is what it's all about being over in Europe, just racing against the best athletes in the world and seeing how I can shape up against them. So I think that one is also supposed to be a little bit more runnable in its profile, which I'm very excited about because I'm a little bit over all the technical runs in Europe.
01:31:06
Speaker
You'll get used to them. yeah bro yeah you're out You're not in the right place for not wanting technical runs. Aussie's wearing a set for that, man. I know, I know. You've got to put yourself in the uncomfy zone to overcome it and feel better. Are you going to get better? It will, it will. and ah For you, Brody, obviously it's all systems. Go get ready for this VK. and her keeping your body good for that and fresh, but it sounds like you're excited. So that's all going to go well. Yeah. Looking forward to it. I had, um, head down towards where the race is in a couple of days and then sort of just staying nearby, but yeah, just jogging out this week, pretty much getting back into a little bit more, um, movement again. Um, so looking forward to that and yeah, looking forward to having another crack at the course would be, um, good fun, I think.
01:31:53
Speaker
Nice. Nice. Well, good luck for it. Yeah. You're going to smash it. I have no doubt because this is your jam. You'll be good. And yeah, for me, I'm in font. I'm in an elite training center. I'm going to, my plan is to train the house down, which out without actually training the house down because my race is now less than two weeks away. um But yeah, we'll see. I've got to let my body recover first. So ah yeah, just typical old training, being joined by a few Aussies over here and Maybe next week we can almost do an in-person podcast with Aussies, which will be a bit of fun. um But thank you everyone for listening. This has been episode 21 of the Peak Pursuits Podcast. Thank you for bearing with us while we are give you the rundown of everything that happened and ah tell you a few stories. We hope you enjoyed.
01:32:38
Speaker
And Maddie, you might have gotten yourself a job from time to time because this was so much fun with you on here. Thank you. Oh, I had a blast soon. Thank you guys so much. Thanks, Brody, for having me as well. It's been so fun chatting with you both. It kind of just feels like a big chat with two really old friends. So thanks for coming, Maddie. Yeah, pretty much, pretty much. But without further ado, thank you for listening. This has been episode 21 of the Pickers Use Podcast, and we will speak to you next week.