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Episode 29: Busted Ankles, Race Choices, and APTRC Recaps.
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Welcome to Episode 29 of Peak Pursuits, your ultimate podcast for everything trail running in Australia. This week’s episode is once again coming at you from three different locations as it is hosted by Sim Brick, Brodie Nankervis, and Vlad Ixel. The team talk through their recent races, their overall thoughts on the asia pacific trail champs, and plenty of tangents along the way to covering some results from the week.
Start - 31:30 :- APTRC Recaps
Hear all about the APTRC from Vlad before he recaps his unfortunate DNF in the Short trail due to a rolled ankle, then hear Brodie recap his 6th place finish in the 2 Peaks SkyRace at the same event
31:30 - 59:45 :- Sim Travel/Race Recap with Discussion about choosing races.
Sim then recaps her runs at the GTWS final and then recaps her lessons from a rough overseas season that she will take into next year, before a discussion begins about trying to choose races to do when there are so many on offer.
59:45 - :- Race Results
We then cover a few Aussie and International races that went down over the weekend:
APTRC: https://smartlive.smartchip.co.kr/id=202450000176
Great Ocean Trail Ultra: https://tomatotiming.racetecresults.com/results.aspx?CId=16&RId=29721&EId=2
Backyard World Champs: https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/e/2PACX-1vQeFQKht6ubs8DY-hihRnYTq0e3kNI0tMfdooG47qUkJ_Pg3TQMer2_2K5PQxyFvf4P4KcgaE1RQL0M/pubhtml
1:17:00 - End : Listener Questions and What’s coming up
Lastly, we do a couple of quick listener questions before wrapping up.
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: @brodienank
Vlad: @vladixel
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter
License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
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Transcript
Introductions and Recent Travels
00:00:12
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 29 of the Peak Pursuits Podcast. My name is Simone Brick, finally coming to you from Melbourne back home. And I am joined by Vlad Exel, also back home in Perth. How are you going, Vlad? Hey, Sim. Yeah, going well.
00:00:30
Speaker
Good, good. And the intrepid traveller of all of us, because he seems to never come home, is Brody, who I believe you're in Cambodia at this point. Yes, I'm in Cambodia, last leg of the journey. So yeah, home in 10 days. Get back on next Friday, November 8th. So yeah, I'm pretty excited to get home. But yeah, enjoying a few days of heat training on the beach maybe for a bit of it. um So yeah, it's going to be ah last leg.
00:00:59
Speaker
Yeah, good fun. Very good fun. Well, I think we've got a couple of race recaps from you two to get through, and I can give a very brief rundown of the crapshoot that mine was. ah um But Vlad, I want to start with you, um if
Vlad at Asia Pacific Trail Championship
00:01:16
Speaker
we can. You were at Asia Pacific Trail Running Championships. First of all, just what was it like being there in the opening ceremony and being with the team?
00:01:25
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, now the town itself is a bit weird, especially because I was there a week early, maybe Billy and Blake did a couple of runs and spent a bit of time on the course. I pretty much saw the whole course, um which the course is pretty beautiful. Like, you know, it's ahs it's a nice mix of a bit of everything, which actually I thought that would suit me. um The town itself was super weird because It was literally like one hotel worked one was abandoned one work one was abandoned and then like prices of hotels were like super cheap like you can get a room for like twenty five thirty dollars a night so it's like this really weird town we can walk on the main street in the middle of the road and there were no cars um so that was weird and then
00:02:10
Speaker
Probably like three or four days before the race started they started building this massive expo city like it was a utb event so i thought wow it's probably gonna be a big event um and i think in the end they did probably have two thousand people all up with the nine peaks race and and there were in the Asia Pacific Champs and the Sky Race, but it felt still super empty. Like the Expo, we had a big stand there and it was just super empty the whole time, um which is weird. I felt like people were just like get their bib and then just like... go out go go back to their hotels and maybe a lot of them didn't even stay in the town they stayed at the biggest city which was like 10-15 minutes away so yeah that was really strange that such a big expo village but not so many people
00:03:02
Speaker
um but yeah opening ceremony was those like yeah pretty pretty nice I mean not not as big as obviously the world champs different vibe but not that many athletes I think we're all a little bit disappointed that they didn't do the the country parade like you know when you kind of walk in with your team on the stage where they introduce you they did it like just one person like a flag barrier which was a little bit strange I think like it it was freezing cold so it's probably like you know with the windshield probably like seven or eight degrees and everybody just wanted to get out of there get some food and get out of there
00:03:41
Speaker
and and the food buffet was was out within like two minutes, everybody ran, grabbed as much food as they could and there were no there was no more food. um oh the yeah but yeah otherwise the race itself yeah i mean i i think that i started quite well like i was feeling really strong i was holding back um so pretty much i ran with stingray and was with him at the top of the second climb so that was just before that long descent into eight station two where i saw brody and
00:04:13
Speaker
I kind of knew there was going to be like a 6k technical downhill and I thought, alright, I'll just hold back here and um you know push from A2 and that's a bit like you know probably the easier part of the race from that point. but Yeah, ran and then twisted my ankle. Felt pretty bad, but I thought it might be able to keep going, but I still had like 2 or 3K of that technical downhill and I twisted a few more like little bits, like few like smaller ones and I thought, I'm just losing power in that foot. Got to the aid station, got on the flat road for literally about 15 meters and I was like, that's way too painful.
00:04:53
Speaker
I took my shoe and sock off and it was pretty much like I had a golf ball in my ankle. So yeah, pretty disappointing in that sense considering that you know the Australian team did so well and um I couldn't really contribute to that. and We finished third in the in the team standings for the men's short distance category. but Yeah, I felt like I could have at least helped a little bit if I were to finish. So yeah, a bit of
Race Reflections and Ankle Injury
00:05:21
Speaker
a shame. But at the same time, I've been kind of reminding myself that I've done over 100 trail races in the past 10 years. And this is only the second time it's ever happened to me. First time actually happened in the beginning of this year, but it happened like 1k from the finish. I was able to to kind of run on adrenaline. This time with 20k to go, I thought there's no way I'm going to
00:05:45
Speaker
Um, go through that pain. So yeah, a little bit disappointed, still happy to be part of the event. You know, this is the first one. I always said that this is going to be as, as easy as it gets. And we kind of saw that with the level of runners that they show up a lot of good runners, but obviously it wasn't super deep. Um, so yeah, I'll be disappointed, but it's at 37, you know, at 37, I feel like I might be able to to, um, be on one or two more teams. So yeah, mixed feelings for sure.
00:06:17
Speaker
Yeah, I can, it's, it's just never how you want anything to ever go. Um, I think the fact that you have been so lucky and the fact that you can see that straight away is like, that's a good thing to hone in on. It doesn't actually make it any less annoying or disappointing or like you, you, you invested a lot in one race, um, and to not get to the finish that hurts.
00:06:39
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, in my head, I was like, I just did like 12 races in Europe in 12 weeks. i I would have been happy for that to happen in one of those races and not in this race. But yeah, that's the way it is. Maybe, you know, maybe it happened because I was holding back as well. I was kind of like thinking that as well. Maybe I should have... pushed a little bit more and you know when you kind of run on technical stuff sometimes going slow you kind of like become like too careful and and too scared and yeah and you know like fluent through the trial so maybe that was that was the problem as well but yeah overall pretty lucky if looking at the big picture
00:07:21
Speaker
Yeah, yep. And I actually think you're, you're definitely onto something there in the way that um most of my problems on a downhill will come if I'm trying to take a downhill easier um than the natural, your natural sort of flow. um In a way you're holding back, holding back kind of, you hold tension in different areas of your body then, then maybe what your body's used to. um So yeah, but um ah Watching the live stream, you were definitely looking strong. So I look forward to ah the next race you get to you get to finish strong with. um how did How was it for chatting to the rest of them about their races? Like, do you got any any inside goss from the rest of the team? Yeah, I mean, I think b Blake was super surprised. I was there at the finish line and I think he finished, he was happy, but like it did not know that he was third. So he thought he was like fifth or sixth. Um, but then like literally five minutes after it, like, you know, we're kind of like, now you were third and he's like, no way. And he's just like started celebrating five minutes after he finished the race, which was, um,
00:08:24
Speaker
Yeah, which was kind of nice to see. I mean, Billy, I think um didn't have the best race that he was hoping for. He definitely looked a bit disappointed at the finish line. I didn't have like a crazy amount of time to spend with the team after the race because um Matt Ramson, not a bad runner, was getting married the next day. So I literally got on a flight two or three hours after I finished the race, well, after I pulled out of the race and flew straight back to Perth, landed, came home, had a shower, and went to his wedding. So i pretty quick turnaround. Definitely did not help the ankle.
00:09:01
Speaker
um hankle Yeah, wasn't looking wasn't looking too good. But yeah, feel I feel like Billy wasn't too happy. He did finish ninth, which is, um you know, a great result. And, you know, I was just telling him, like, look, you're only 25. Like, I only started running at the age of 25. So you're gonna be fine. Like, you're gonna do well. um This is a really good result, even on a bad day.
00:09:22
Speaker
like this is as as an amazing result. I think Charlie was a little bit disappointed as well. He's obviously in an incredible talent and and a hard-working athlete, so I think he was a little bit disappointed. Still finished six or seven so still an incredible result right so but I mean there is also that feeling that you kind of yeah maybe you finished high on the ranking but you didn't have a good day or the day that you were hoping for so you could still be a bit disappointed so that's that that's the feeling that I got with Charlie and Billy I'm sure that we'll get Charlie on the post um
00:10:00
Speaker
Post-race episode trail to Korea so show you share a bit more about his experience I wasn't too far off him. I think in the thing in the In in the race I could kind of see most of the time um And then even a date station. I think I came two minutes behind him so probably wasn't having the best day, but he just pushed through it and and got the result and I Yeah, I'm still happy that the team still finished third in there and the team classification. So that that's a positive. Yeah, definitely. Definitely. And I feel like we may as well, since you've just spoken about the race, quickly just touch on what those exact results were now anyway. um So for the guys, we had Blake Turner come third in pretty much four hours flat.
00:10:50
Speaker
ah Charlie ended up in eighth in 406 and then Billy was ninth in 415. Unfortunately, DNF for you, but that's all right. There'll be plenty more to come.
00:11:01
Speaker
and then Trish McKibben in the women's, she came fifth, which I like this because Blake came third in four hours flat and then Trish, our first female was pretty much one hour, five hours flat. Nice little, oh my gosh, my brain has just gone wild. It's a synchronized finish. Yes, that's the word I was, synchrony is the word I was looking for. Anyways,
00:11:26
Speaker
Jess, Jason was seventh um in five hours 10. I know talking to Jess will get a bit of her rundown. She's gonna jump on with the ah road to South Korea crew and give a rundown of her race. She did take a wrong turn. um And looking at her Strava, it was a decently sized one, unfortunately. So she thinks she lost at least the spot there. um But I still think that's a massively strong run by our very own Jess. And you ninth was Sarah Ludoichi.
00:11:53
Speaker
um in five hours 23. And then we also had Lauren Rook running and she came 10th in five hours 38. That was for the short trail. We had less people in the long trail, but people will know Mikey. He came third and or what was it? Seven hours 44. And then in the women we had two, we had Cecilia Matus in fourth and Kelly Angel in ninth. So top 10s all around for every single one of our Aussies. And that also ran into the under 23s where we had Zoe Manning actually take the win in the females.
00:12:31
Speaker
with Amy Stockwell coming sixth, and then in the men's, Ethan Pink second, and Toby Lang third. So strong traveling in the under 23 as well, and then Brody.
Brody's Two Peaks Sky Race Experience
00:12:44
Speaker
Brody ran the, what was it called Brody? The Two Peaks Sky Race? Yeah, um yes, yeah, my race was called Two Peaks Sky Race, so it was held the day after ah the short trail on the same day as the long trail.
00:13:02
Speaker
um Yeah and it was really cool. I was very excited. I got to um i got to crew and and um help out the team in the short trail on the Friday and I'd been a bit stressed in the week and just a bit anxious. Lots of things adding up to make me a bit of a mess midweek. So actually getting out there and watching these guys race and that sort of got me pumped up and hyped to race again. So I was really happy to be able to do that and it was awesome to be part of the team. It was a shame that I was Where blood had to pull out but um, yeah, it was nice to it was nice to support the team coming through that checkpoint and and see all their amazing results So and then and then I got to go out there and and get on to some trials myself. So yeah, it was cool It was ah a really cool experience. I enjoyed it a lot. Yeah, that would have been fun um Having the getting the vibes with I do prefer doing crewing and stuff the day after my own race I must admit rather than day before
00:13:54
Speaker
But um yeah, usually usually I would. But I don't know if for some reason, like it was very easy. Billy's parents shared out to them. They drove drove us out to the checkpoints. It was very easy. Like I sat in a car and then I sat at a checkpoint. So it was still pretty cool day.
00:14:08
Speaker
um So yeah, it was it wasn't too much stress and and I probably needed it to be honest. So yeah, it was good. um And then yeah, the race was, it was tough. um Similar to Vlad's, like it was really quite varied. But being the sort of sky race, they'd sort of tried to find the steepest, most technical parts of this mountain range that they could. Um, and it was really tough. Like the first, the first three K had about 950 meters of climb in it. And, and there was about one K, about one K of that was it probably even like a bit over a K of that was probably more like 10%. So the rest of it was like 40, 45%. Like it was.
00:14:54
Speaker
it was yeah it was really tough climb um and then there was some some crazy descents in there as well um so yeah it was an interesting one I was I was thinking like what Vlad was saying before about taking it sort of holding back a little bit on the descent and I sort of thought about doing that but again yeah I think that does sort of mess with mess with you. So I was sort of just trying to flow down at my own normal pace. But given that I usually descend pretty quick, I was a bit worried that it would beat me up. um But I think it's pretty good training to be able to climb, de descend climb dec descend, climb, descend, climb, descend and be able to back up after
00:15:28
Speaker
previous descents and I actually managed okay. I'm pretty sore till today, three days after. um But yeah, the descents I was pretty happy with, the climbs less happy with, um but that just shows that I've got a bit of work to do. um The guys I was racing, there was four four guys that were I guess probably three of them that were some of the best sky runners in the world. So they were like, they just dropped me so fast at the start. um And they can just climb this stuff really quickly. ah was probably ah i was ah I was on par with them on the descents, a little bit slower on the flattish parts of the course, but I was losing
00:16:12
Speaker
heaps of time on the on the uphills so yeah good to know that there's probably a bit of work to be done there but um yeah the descents at least i was keeping par i just got on the last descent um I got second just behind Rui Uida, so I was pretty happy to be um only be behind one guy because it's the same last descent as the as Vlad's race. So they'd run about an hour, an hour and a bit longer than us. So they're probably a bit more tired. um But it's just good to see comparatively that descending is not an issue, but I can work on the climb. So it's good things to take away. Yeah, nice. That's really good. And yeah, you came sixth in the end, was it?
00:16:52
Speaker
Yeah, I actually he ended up fifth, the French guy, he was actually an under 23 runner and he had a really great race. He beat me by seven minutes, but unfortunately he made a wrong turn at the end and um it didn't really add any distance um for him. ah He maybe got a descent that was slightly less steep, but I don't think he actually would have gained any time, but they have to that had to give him the time penalty because he made a course error.
00:17:21
Speaker
And it was a significant error. It wasn't just like cutting a corner or something. it was It was like a big deviation. So they gave him, they decided to give him a time penalty. So I ended up being bumped up from sixth to fifth overall. Top five, very nice. Yeah, top five. It was definitely like a a weighted field. The top, probably the the top four guys were really good. um Even then the top two guys were about 10 minutes ahead of the third and fourth who were also very decent runners and then I was another I think I ended up about just under half an hour behind the top guys so they were just they were flying and most of that they gained on me on the climbs but yeah it was a top heavy field but I was still happy to to beat to beat a few people I was trying to I think we spoke about on the podcast there's a ah Russian runner ah in the in the women that's been
00:18:16
Speaker
ah She's been demolishing the women when she races, she's won five five races out of five um and she beat a bunch of the guys at Thailand and Vlad was telling me that I had to beat her. I was i was ah head to head with her all day and all I could all i could think was Vlad's Bloods voiced in my head saying you got a beta If she would she would fly past me on the uphill. if She was such a good climber um And then I would yeah catch up to her on the downhills and luckily it finished with the downhill and I I passed her with about 3k to go or 2k to go So I just managed to be a couple minutes. Yeah, and and at the same time I was actually chasing her and
00:18:56
Speaker
um And I was running really hard to try and catch her because I knew she wasn't far ahead. um And just as she came into sight on this big road downhill, the same one that Vlad and the others had, um it was ah I saw Peter Frano as well. And I was like, great. Two for the price of one. And I snuck past him as well. So that was nice as well. he's ah He's a decent runner, but I think these races are a bit shorter than him. He came second at CCC, but I was speaking to him at presentations. He said, I just haven't been running very well since CCC. was sort of like he wasted ah he used all these He used all his energy there. I think he was happy with it, but he's been struggling since. So he was supposed to run in Malaysia, but his head at home. So I think that was a cheap win over him, but I'm happy to take it take a scout. Yeah. Yeah. At the end of the day, you are he's on the start line. You beat him. It's all good.
00:19:45
Speaker
um yeah say not was It was a good result to see and that's your last race of this trip, yeah? Yes. Yeah. Yeah. So it was sort of and and the other thing was that that I do like that was part of the issue of the week before I was thinking just trying to figure out if I'd made the right decision, even though I couldn't really do much about it, um whether I should have run the sky race or the short trail. But in the end, everything worked out well because I did want to use this as a build race towards GPT and my Achilles handled it quite well and it's pulled up pretty
Brody's Reflections and Future Plans
00:20:16
Speaker
well afterwards. So I'm feeling pretty confident now heading towards GPT, which was probably more of a focus in the sky race.
00:20:22
Speaker
um yeah And this was a good, so it was about, I did three hours 20 and I'm expecting to do some time between four and a half to five hours at GPT. So it was a nice field race towards that. um And then yeah, GPT will be the end of my season. um So yeah.
00:20:39
Speaker
it's there It was a good experience. I really enjoyed it and it was awesome to be there and watching the team. I would have loved to be in the team, um but being there and cheering them on and and helping out at this supporting and stuff was just as good and and it gave me a lot of motivation for world champs and future Asia Pacific champs as well. I think like I was saying to some of the team, like we came Well, the overall team score got a bit weird in the end because we didn't have three in each category. But we were good enough to compete for probably second this year overall as like second best team. Japan probably had the upper hand on us. um But I was we were sort of saying that if we can send a team as strong as this with a few extra runners, we should be aiming to compete for the top. win We should be trying to win Asia Pacific Champs next time. Like I think that's something that we can
00:21:32
Speaker
realistically do and it's a good springboard towards WorldChamps. So yeah, I've come away from being there as really motivated and excited. So I guess that's good as well. Yeah, real good. Real good. um Just before we leave off, Asia Pacific, what were your overall
Asia Pacific Trail Championships Outcomes
00:21:48
Speaker
takeaways? um Vlad, I'll start with you for like pros, cons, where you think it's going.
00:21:53
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think, um, I think there's a long way to go. So I have a committee subcommittee meeting today, um, with our trial and we're going to discuss a couple of things, but we definitely, you know, I'm talking about the Australian side of things. There's a, there's a long way to go. Um, I think that, you know, little things that we can improve on will make a big difference. Um, not just by making it easy on the runners and the team, but also.
00:22:22
Speaker
you know, by getting more runners and the best runners ah in Australia to show up to those events. um So I feel like, yeah, I think that ah hopefully we we, you know, can do a better job as a team, you know, in the big picture, uniform travel, support and all that for the world champs and next Asia Pacific champs. I feel like this was a great step, you know, step forward.
00:22:50
Speaker
Um, but definitely a lot more work to do. You know, I feel like has to be a bit better organized. I feel like, you know, as a team, it was a little bit all up to Kelly Angel, um, as kind of a team captain while she still had to race. Um, you know, we, we were the only team I'm pretty sure that didn't have a representative with us. And that meant that, you know,
00:23:15
Speaker
Me and kelly had to go to the tech technical meeting and and you know kelly had to do a lot of um like the admin stuff which is fine but also as she was racing that was would have been a bit of extra stress that she didn't need um obviously like you know well down to her to You know getting everything organized in the end and looking looking after the team. um But I feel like yeah we would definitely need somebody out there to kind of help us out because in the end of the day things don't go to plan and you need somebody to kind of like try and solve them on the go. And yeah it was a shame that Kelly had to do all that solving.
00:23:56
Speaker
like two or three days before a race. yeah I think from the South Korean side of things, I had to add a quick call with the with one of the organizers. She obviously apologized that things didn't go to plan um from not having coffee for breakfast um to yeah some of the food not being not not having enough food, not having like, you know, different food options. um I think it was, yeah, so like our hotel rooms, there was only like one bed in each room that you were supposed to share with another person, which, you know, it's not really the way to go. So they put like a folded bed, which wasn't comfortable. So some of the runners on the team had to like try and find solutions to that.
00:24:42
Speaker
um I shared a room with somebody from a cow which I don't really mind but like yeah I mean I think that You know, some of those things can be improved. um You know, I feel like they did some good things. I feel like the live coverage was really good and that that was a big step. The big investment from their side, but an important one. um There was an ITRA meeting that kind of me and Kelly were supposed to go to or invited to go to as the team captains. But because I was racing like the next day,
00:25:20
Speaker
And after already spending you know an hour and a half, two hours at the technical technical meeting, I was like, I don't think I can go there. But the meeting was about really getting the whole region behind, getting trail running into the Olympics, into Brisbane, because obviously um Brisbane is in the Asian Pacific region, so they were trying to really get as much support from each nation and pushing to towards that, which I think it's a good thing. Obviously, some people might not see, but I feel like that's a good thing. That's a thing that I track and stand against UTMB and
00:25:57
Speaker
no I mean I love what you can be doing but we don't want to monopoly now sports or having two or three good solid players in the mix is really important personally um and then on a positive note it was great to see small countries show up in a chat with with With some really small teams that kind of show up, even Macau, you know Macau is not a ah running city, even though it's so close to Hong Kong and they do have a lot of trails. It's more of a road running um running community there, but they still send a team of four runners.
00:26:30
Speaker
um And I feel like yeah in two years time this event will be big because travel is a bit cheaper except for if you're from Australia and New Zealand um but yeah it's got the potential to be big and we saw Hong Kong send a really really big team get a lot of um Good coverage back home so you know from being on the newspaper and stuff like that in Hong Kong and and on TV um To a lot of publications taking this story on of a big Hong Kong team coming over I think that was really good to see and hopefully you know some smaller countries in Southeast Asia and Asia and Trail running could be a sport that they can shine in. you know um Obviously, it's pretty hard to do well in in some of the established sports um like swimming and athletics and stuff like that. But for a new countries, trail running could be a sport that they can do well in. um so yeah It was nice to see 22 countries show up to that event. I did not think there'll be that many, to be honest, when they announced the event. That was a positive overall. yeah I think that this is just going to get bigger and bigger. and
00:27:38
Speaker
Yeah, encourage any of our listeners who might be thinking about joining an Australian team. Um, if it's for the world champ, but for the Asia Pacific Trail champs to put their name down and, and yeah, be part of this whole team event, because it is a bit different than racing for yourself. Yeah, a hundred percent. It is. Um, yeah, I w I was definitely getting FOMO from the team aspect for sure. Um, for like the fact that you're you're there for.
00:28:06
Speaker
for other people as well as yourself. And um it it the live stream was very good investment by them for at least um the diehard fans that we're gonna be watching. There was a lot of Aussie support on the live stream in the chat. It was really cool. It was very, very cool. I think that was the most comments because I was watching the live stream a little bit to sort of keep track of where people were for for the um but the aid station and stuff. and and And then we were spectating by watching it as well. And yeah, there was a lot of Aussies on there, which was cool to see.
00:28:35
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it's definitely going to help shape um where the sport goes in the region, which is very cool. And yeah, try it all again. Did they announce where the one is in two years time, like they do at World Champs? No, actually, i was that's what I thought they will do in the closing ceremony. I wasn't there, but I kept an eye on it on social media, but they didn't.
00:28:55
Speaker
You know, I haven't got, I don't know. Well, I shouldn't say that, but, you know, Hong Kong would definitely be pushing for it. Um, but yeah, I hopefully they'll announce it soon. So we get excited. I think it's up for tender at the moment. And then I was talking to Billy and he was saying to potentially Australia is going to look at it in two times, maybe in the lead up to the Brisbane Olympics is sort of like a springboard type thing.
00:29:25
Speaker
Potentially we might see it on our shores in the next little bit before Vlad gets too old. He might be able to be the race. Well, yeah, I was going to say if it's in Hong Kong in two years, I hope it is because we've got the secret weapon of Vlad running on essentially almost home trails as the mozzie. Yeah, almost. I mean, I did leave Hong Kong in 2018, so it's been a while. I know, but you were there for a long time.
00:29:49
Speaker
I mean like even going to this race and seeing all the pictures of the stairs I was like yes yes yes stairs obviously all the trails in Hong Kong are stairs pretty much well half of them so I was really excited about that but did not help in the end which is a shame but yeah I have a feeling like you know Hong Kong would at least push for it I don't know if they will get it but um them sending a big team. Hong Kong being such a central trail running hotspot in Asia for so many years and then um came the protests in Hong Kong in 2018 and COVID really kind of you know Hong Kong ah lost a bit of ground and momentum in being that kind of leader and in I feel like you know back in 2015-16 it was like the second or third Germany. A lot of runners used to come over for races
00:30:38
Speaker
There were good races, prize money, big events. Now it's kind of dropped off a little bit um because of you know a lot more races happening, but it just feels like it's not that...
00:30:50
Speaker
trail running central anymore. So this can be a way for them to push forward towards that. I'm sure the government will support it because they know how much tourism money trail running does bring to Hong Kong. um And they do have a budget for that. So yeah, I think that Hong Kong will be pushing hard for that. And yeah, I guess if it's not in Australia, I would like to see it in Hong Kong, but wherever that would be.
00:31:15
Speaker
still hopefully, yeah, we'll put my name down to be a part of it. Like Brody said before I get too old. Yeah, you just run the long trail. You'll be right. We needed more people in the long trail. Yeah, very true. Very, very true. Well, we'll try and watch that space to make sure we stay on top of if anything's announced when it is announced. um And yeah, it looks really
Simone's Racing Season Challenges
00:31:40
Speaker
cool. So I suppose i can we can move on and I can give a very brief um update on the end of my, um see well, it's not even the end of my season. My season feels like it's just beginning, but the end of my trip, I don't even remember when I was last on, was it a few weeks ago? um But a Golden Trail final um was very, very cool to be a part of, that's for sure. um It was very cool having more Aussies there. We had of our little Aussie team going and um I will say,
00:32:14
Speaker
that the organization kind of messed up a little bit in the at the ah team presentation. There was no Aussie flag for them. It was quite sad. um So they got to go up on the stage but not hold the flag up.
00:32:25
Speaker
um But yeah, the ah the how my sort of races ended up is we ah we had the prologue um where the, we had everyone finish the prologue actually. So Leo and Toby did quite well. I did not, well, my race for that one, six and a half K, not my forte.
00:32:46
Speaker
um not by a long stretch of the imagination, especially against sort of um the calibre of people that were there and in many ways, Golden Trail. it's It's just been cool to see the growth of it because I was at the final a few years ago now and there was not, like there was, it was really, really, as Brodie probably just described that race, the Sky Race, top heavy.
00:33:09
Speaker
where there was really, really good runners at the top, but it just was nowhere near as deep as it was this year. um This year, it felt like a world champs on steroids standing on that start line. And the prologue was just sort of a um ah window into that. um The Yeah, the level of competition it was because there was just finishes every few seconds um in the end and every second mattered. and For my race, i like I didn't have things go quite to plan in the last week where I i did the session um where I raced essentially where I ran the prologue hard um one week earlier.
00:33:47
Speaker
And in that one, I did roll my ankle. It wasn't too bad, but I did roll my ankle um enough for it to swell up and also pulled my calf a little bit. um So that was probably just the sign of um I'd put in a few good the couple big weeks of training up to that point. um And then, so from the Thursday before the prologue, so one week out, I actually Well, the Friday, technically, I did some easy uphills and a hard downhill, but I um actually didn't do any hills from that point because my calf couldn't actually get up the hill very well. and So come to the start of the prologue, I was very much in not the mindset you want to be in, of I have the next race in two days, I just want to get through this and not fall, not injure myself.
00:34:32
Speaker
And trying to run a very hard six and a half K where every second matters while having a very conservative mindset doesn't bode well for running very fast. um So yeah, ah just the in the end, that was all me. That was all mental. I was kind of finished the prologue going, well, I made it through. My legs aren't beat up at all. But I'm also like kind of annoyed that that wasn't as fast as I would like to be able to be go.
00:34:59
Speaker
um But yeah, we got through it and it was cool to then wait around for all the other Aussies. um I know Maggie, ah she did very well. Honestly, I have so much respect for that woman because um people that do follow Maggie Lennox, and I'm not sure if I've mentioned it on here, but she is pregnant and she was running pregnant at the time, which on these sorts of trails,
00:35:22
Speaker
um Yeah, I just, but she was taking the downhill, she was besting the uphills and taking the downhill was quite conservative, but she made it through the prologue. Fine. um And then we all got to watch the guys go around on the Friday before our race Saturday. um For me, my race, I don't need to go into it too deeply other than to say that it was very, again, I was trying not to think about it, but it was very badly timed with my cycle and um The race went off fine. I went off and was like very, very happy with the first climb, which went took about 40 minutes or so. And I was in like just the conga line of people going up the climb where it was just constant stream of people. um I was getting all my normal nutrition in up till that point. And then about 15 minutes into the first descent as I'd i'd passed quite ah i'd passed a few people, I was doing my normal descent active, catch as many people as possible.
00:36:18
Speaker
and got about 15 minutes in and every single thing I'd taken in so far came back up. um And yeah, essentially from there I was trying to stay positive and trying to get food in and trying to get nutrition in and got in nada. um So I think from looking at my bottles at the end and how much I'd gotten in, I maybe got in about 200 mil and 15 grams of carbs over almost three hours of racing. um So it was a bit of a mess by the end. And I knew early on that I was going to be limited by how much I got in. So I slowed down, tried to manage. And by the time I got to sort of halfway and realized it really wasn't going to go.
00:36:59
Speaker
well for me. um I kind of flipped mindset and went, i'm I'm not about to just suffer my way through for a mediocre result and absolutely hate life. So I think I confused a few people as I ran past in a very far back position, but was smiling my way along the trail because I was kind of like, I'll just get my way through, enjoy the views. It's not going to happen today for a good result. And um that is what I did, but I still ended up a pretty big mess by the end. So shout out to Katinka, who was there, injured, unable to run. um But she really helped me out in the last couple of Ks when I couldn't see the ground properly because I was dizzy and dehydrated and a bit of a wobbly mess. And she was pointing out fences and tree roots and stuff to me so I could actually
00:37:45
Speaker
get to the finish line um but yeah not how you want to end a trip not how you to be fair, for the entire trip. I would want a trip to go race-wise, but we learned a lot, had a lot of experiences. I've come home feeling pretty fired up and overall actually quite fresh. So in the last week, I've had a 140K 4,000 metre week with the intercontinental flight in there somewhere. So we've get to hit the the finish line. ground running back in Oz and I'm kind But of yeah, looking at it not how you wanna end all a trip, not how... as just like,
00:38:16
Speaker
It's over, turn the page. umm I'm finally home. I probably should have come home a couple of months ago ah ah what if I wanted to like actually, I don't know, perform. um But yeah, that's ah my rundown of that race at least. It was, ah yeah, interesting. I was going to ask him, what's the, obviously, like you said, it it was a bit of a bumpy season.
00:38:40
Speaker
overseas to say the least. um what's your What's your main takeaways from that? I know you've sort of posted a little bit on your socials about how you feel about how it went and and what you might do in the future. but and it What's like the biggest takeaway from your experiences over the last sort of three three months?
00:38:57
Speaker
Um, I think the, well, the biggest takeaway is just that I personally, for me, a three month trip away from home and trying to perform is not, is not the way to go. Um, and I kind of in some ways knew that, but I thought that this, what go around being my third go around would actually be like some things were so secondhand nature and like, I could, I can navigate the travel and those sorts of things. But I think just because I have such a good setup at home now and I'm I really have a bloody good life here that I found myself far too many times kind of feeling very stupid for the fact that I was overseas doing something that I love doing and I was loving it but also kind of going I wish it was shorter um and wishing I was home which you don't
00:39:45
Speaker
like, oh, damn, did I feel like a, I don't know, you just feel like you're a horrible human being for being overseas, doing something bloody cool, but wanting to be home. um And so yeah, biggest takeaway is just that in future, the things that I'll definitely do differently is that my trips are going to be limited in length, um for sure, because trying to back up week after week. um And if things had have all gone right, like it would have been probably totally fine. But um in hindsight, there's a few things that completely rocked me. And the first one was just that what happened at Tatra after six months of focusing only on that race.
00:40:22
Speaker
um That was probably my downfall in that it felt like that just pulled the carpet out from underneath me like two weeks into the trip um and then also I went over to this trip like I didn't do Asia Pacific and I didn't even nominate for Asia Pacific because.
00:40:38
Speaker
like, oh, and I still have to remind myself this, like four months ago, I wasn't sure my body could handle the distance. Like my hips still weren't in a good way. And I was still very much rebuilding and unsure what my body would be able to do. And so I had thought I was playing the safe option of going, well, I'll go do Golden Trail because they're all shorter races.
00:41:00
Speaker
And in my head, it was like, well, a 23K at the end of the season um is better than racing the 40K at Asia Pacific, thinking that it was going to be a while yet because it's been almost 18 months, two years of my hips not being good. So when I found myself then in Chamonix earlier um in this trip and I was doing five hour run after five hour run. And the longer I ran, the better I felt again. I kind of also entered this mental state of what the hell am I doing? I don't actually want to do these short distance races. um I'd rather do long distance races and or longer distance. um And it felt like then, like the season, the races itself, they weren't ones that excited me.
00:41:44
Speaker
like Headlands and Mammoth in the US, they are not my wheelhouse. um But at the same time, they're a good challenge. And so it just felt like from that point on the trip was like, just doing things for the sake of them being hard, rather than the sake of me wanting to do them.
00:42:00
Speaker
Um, which you learn a lot from and I did hard the way the hard way for sure. But I'd already mentally pivoted to the fact that, um, which I don't think I've even said this on the podcast yet, but when we get to, um, talking about training in future, it'll be obvious that I'd already signed up for Thailand hundred K in December. Um, and that excited me a hell of a lot law more than anything I was doing. So what does that mean about next year? You still going to try and do some golden trail races?
00:42:29
Speaker
I think so. um So the thing that I love about Golden Trail um is the fact that you're on a start line against the best and a lot of the best. And I know that's a hard place to be. I've been on enough of them before. It is daunting. It is scary. But at the same time, it is sort of where you learn the most or where I've learned the most at least. It's given me so much I stand on so many other start lines now with so much more confidence. um And I know it's pushed me to um increase my ability and all sorts of things. So because I was even talking to Laura Hamilton about this, it's like you can you can rock up to a whole bunch of start lines in Australia or cherry pick in some ways to like, stay within your comfort zone that and there might not necessarily be less competitive start lines, but at least ones within your comfort zone where you know you're going to do well.
00:43:23
Speaker
And you have this certain idea of your capabilities and what you need to do in training and those sorts of things. But putting yourself out there against people that you know like people that are a lot faster or better at the exact race that line you're standing on um gives you other ideas of sort of where you can improve and teaches you a lot more. So for next year, um I am doing Thailand 100K with the aim of qualifying for CCC.
00:43:50
Speaker
um wi which does that have the downside of pretty much ruling me out of world champs because there's only a month between the two. So we can probably have a discussion on the choices there because they're partly support led and where the sport puts its focus and
Simone's Future Race Aspirations
00:44:08
Speaker
its money. um But that is the aim of that one. um But it does still allow for the the Asian trip at the very start of the year for Golden Trail. I can still jump across, do two Asian races in Japan and China um to start the season.
00:44:26
Speaker
um And it's it's an easier one in the way that if they go well, you might I might do the third race to continue on because it's possible to do CCC and two months later do the Golden Trail Final. um um If they don't go well, I go get a couple of races and learning experiences in Asia and I'm back in two weeks.
00:44:45
Speaker
um So my overall plan, yes, it would still include a couple at least. um Maybe, maybe the three that's required for points and then the final. But overall, my goal would be that if I get into CCC, I will be putting every single egg in the CCC basket for myself. It's currently where my thoughts are at, at least. Have you ever... Yeah, it's definitely... Sorry, you go for that. No, you go.
00:45:13
Speaker
Tim, have you ever thought of doing um sky running instead of golden trail in terms of like, like everyone know you as being a crazy good down healer and really good over technical terrain. um whereas we know the mostly the Golden Trail races like some of them obviously this year were quite technical like that one and Kobe did look pretty crazy um and and look like it would suit you but like overall the SkyRunner series looks like it would suit you better and and like you said the depth of Golden Trail is probably
00:45:44
Speaker
It is definitely bigger, but there's still some really good runners in that SkyRunner and potentially there's usually like, you're just in a different spot. Maybe you're in the, you're in the sort of third to 10th position instead of the fighting for a top 30. But like in my mind, SkyRunning looks like a potentially better option. I know they're looking for more Asia races and I think maybe the first one will be in Japan in around May next year.
00:46:10
Speaker
Um, yeah so yeah, I don't know. I just like, I, I know you've been involved in golden for a long time. Um, but to me, I just think but it just looked to me. Skyrunner looks like something that might suit you. Have you ever thought of doing more of that series instead?
00:46:27
Speaker
100%. And that is where the sort of decision point is coming in now. um i was like my so My year this year was never meant to be the races that I ended up doing and it was never meant to exactly go like this. So um yeah, it's it's fine how it's ended up. But um that would be the exact reason I would choose the Asian races.
00:46:47
Speaker
um the Asian trip for Golden Trail is that Kobe, 20K, 2000 up and down, it's essentially a sky race. That's about as technical and steep as you can get some of them. um But yeah, it's definitely something I've also and am continuing to look into because um their Sky Running World Series has a lot going for it in the way that there are so there are so many more races. like That is why you do get some Sky Races that are let a lot less deep than others, for sure, because there's there's just so many options, um which is really good. Do I think that that is actually something that I will be A, better at and B, probably enjoy more?
00:47:29
Speaker
Yes. So it probably sounds a bit stupid if I don't do it now. um Because, yeah, so and this is, and I suppose this is a side of the sport that I've always found quite difficult. There is that many different options. um And am i I aware of the fact that I've done Golden Trail quite a bit now. I kind of love the races and hate the races at the exact same time, obviously this season. It's like I'm that i'm that competitive person that goes, but I haven't had the result I know I can have yet. and it's It does my head in at times. um At some point, you do end up bashing your head against a brick wall and being your own worst enemy if you keep chasing the same thing.
00:48:10
Speaker
but Unfortunately, Golden Throw is is not only like, yes, you will get better at the races, but it's also getting deeper and deeper and deeper. So your position's always good. It's nearly your fighting or losing battle, even if you are getting better. I reckon, I reckon. um But this is where i'm I'm more than happy in some ways to leave.
00:48:30
Speaker
It's hard to do this because you never guaranteed things. um But I'm more than happy in some ways to leave the next season a little bit more open in the way that i part of me still wants to just do that Asian trip in April as the start of kind of getting back into racing after this December, because I do need a long break of just training.
00:48:48
Speaker
um And if if for whatever reason, those races don't go to plan, goodbye, Golden Trail for the entire year. Like I'm not going to think about it again. I'm not going to go do any more races. And I would probably, because sky running doesn't end until November. Um, that would be when I started looking at.
00:49:04
Speaker
sort of sky running races, and I'm still already am. I will say that the other main reason, and to be fair, this somewhat maybe speaks a bit more even to me than um just doing Golden Trail, is that if I can get a start at Zagama, that is a dream race of mine, like lifelong dream race of mine.
00:49:24
Speaker
and it's hard to get a start. But for as long as it's part of the series and you're if you're racing the series and do get offered a start, um that might be what pulls me. And that being said, like there is probably, a wise person would probably say that there's probably many years to come where I couldn't do that. So yeah, I suppose everything feels a bit messy right now. It's probably not even the right time to be thinking.
00:49:50
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Too much about next season, exactly. um But yet like i get yeah, i main the main goals wind up and you can, um you can just, those other races are more support races rather than the main goals. Like you've got the, you've got the overall, the overall structure there already in terms of the Thailand race and then looking forward hopefully to CCC. And and now the stuff can be sorted out later, I guess.
00:50:14
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, it can. um And I'm definitely still looking at a lot of things. And I did make a list, um actually, it was funny. So one of the things that made me my me mentally pivot in a big way um while I was overseas is when everything hit the fan at Tatra, and then I was starting to really enjoy my long five hour runs and stuff again, I made a list of all my goal, like my dream racers bucket list. And it was very different to what I was doing at the time, like,
00:50:43
Speaker
They're all things like Diagonal Dafu and UTMB and Tekema, a lot of the sky running races and a lot of the much longer stuff. and And I've spent a lot of years trying to learn the craft in the previous times and sort of doing things in some ways the hard way so that I can learn as fast as possible. And now I do feel like I'm at the stage where I'm like, okay, it said it's time to really start ticking off these goals and standing on start lines where I'm like, no, I'm here to be competitive, and I'm here to be competitive in a um in ah in a very good field, but in something I know I'm good at, as opposed to going, I stand on a lot of golden trail or shorter distance start lines going, I'm just here trying to be as good as I can be at something I find really hard, um which is a very different mentality. So
00:51:35
Speaker
Yeah, um we're working towards that. jews I'm used to my life being pretty frickin' messy. ah So I feel like I'm in the mess of it trying to figure it out right now. But um yeah, what are your thoughts, Vlad? You've been doing this long enough. I feel like you're the wise head.
00:51:51
Speaker
I don't know if I'm that wise, but I don't know. It's hard to say because just listening to you now, it feels like you want to do the longer stuff. And yeah, like Brody said, you probably do better in sky running. You'll definitely do better in like longer races naturally um because they're a little bit less competitive. And yeah, I guess going to golden trail and and fighting for 30th is not easy as well. Like it's, it's obviously just so competitive at this point that it is so hard then.
00:52:21
Speaker
to go all in is you just have to be good all around. Like you have to be a good uphill runner, you have to be good on the flats, downhill. And where like with the other races, you can be a little bit more forgiving and have a better result. So that that's the question is like,
00:52:37
Speaker
Is that golden trail, I guess, kind of like publicity or golden trail coverage of being part of that golden trail family as important to you as probably better results in in in a UTMB Thailand or a lot of the sky races where you'll be fighting for top three for sure, top fives.
00:52:57
Speaker
um And I mean, SkyRaces also have good prize money as well at the same time. yeah so Yeah, I think my actions already speak to that in the fact that no, because in the lead up to the final, I was still trying to chuck in 100K training at times. um And I wouldn't do that if my goal was the Golden Trail. Like that's just my actions already. And what I want to do speaks louder than anything there.
00:53:22
Speaker
um I just, I feel like I'm in this spot where I'm not, I've never been in this sport to be comfortable, I suppose. And so I, no matter what I'm doing, I want to, I'd always want to have the races where I'm confident and, um, I can compete and do all those sorts of things, which I have coming up and I'm so excited about them. Like I've got triple top GPT and Thailand and I am.
00:53:48
Speaker
I've never been like, well, I shouldn't say never. For this year, I am feeling raring to go. But I also love the discomfort of the more competitive, the top of the the top of the line kind of things that um that comes with that. And yes, yes, I do want to get that at Sky Running as well. and i think next year, there's there's every chance I will um just do a complete pivot. Like my mind is not set up on anything just yet. um But yeah, it's it's interesting how many different things come into decisions like this, because, um yeah, like World Champs is obviously there as well. Would I love to be able to do World Champs? Like, obviously, that's a privilege in itself, you get the team thing. And part of me feels incredibly selfish to stand here and say, Well, I'm i'm going to go do CCC. But it's a
00:54:38
Speaker
there's a lot of things that come into that decisions when your, your finances and just lifestyle are reliant on the sport as well, and doing well in the sport and competing. And yeah, it's, it's such a juggle um at the best of times. So one World Champs years when um there's, there's so many things clashing and moving towards each other, it's, it's bloody hard to find your way through it all.
00:55:06
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, I think it comes down to, yeah, I guess, you know, having your sponsors happy as well. um Obviously, they support you financially. So you got to make sure that you're on the same track as them because I feel like, yeah, in many ways, that could be a bit more important than than being at the world champs where, unfortunately, at this point, it's it's a self-supported trip.
00:55:32
Speaker
with I guess more pride on the line or you know kind of personal goals rather than goals that will move you forward in sponsorship or getting new sponsorships. you know Great results in World Champs don't always mean sponsorship or better deals where good results in UTMB pretty much always mean better deals and and better sponsorships. So yeah, in that sense,
00:56:02
Speaker
Yeah, I think yeah.
Balancing Race Goals and Sponsorship
00:56:03
Speaker
Yeah, there's so many things to consider because obviously there's what you want to do, where you're going to do better and what your sponsors, you know, where they mark where they want to spend their marketing dollars. um Yeah. You know, so yeah.
00:56:17
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely a tough one and yeah, it's tough. It's a shame because obviously if you were making millions of dollars, you probably could, you know, be a bit more flexible and do some more things that you would like and know that yes, I can still pay rent, but when you just, you know, struggling to kind of pay rent and stuff like that and You kind of, yeah, you're dependent a bit on your sponsors, which yeah, it's not a bad thing, but yeah, just finding that balance between what you want, what the sponsors want and um what you're kind of passionate about as well. Yeah. Yep. I think about that often of like, what would I race if I had all the money in the world? okay And to be fair, I like a good portion of what I do is already there because I would still want to go experiences, experience
00:57:03
Speaker
the start lines I've been on. like there there's like There's nothing like them. um That Golden Trail final running down that starting shoot, oh my goodness was I thankful to be there because it was the most competitive start line I've ever stood on by far, um which was bloody cool to see. But yeah, it is um someone did also recently put it to me when it comes to sort of the World Champs UTMB comparison in terms of support, how much it costs for athletes to get there.
00:57:33
Speaker
um in terms of whether you've got Federation support or um sponsor support. um Someone did compare it like the it' is same in the marathon. ah matt ah Best marathoners will go make a lot more money out of a New York or a Chicago or a world marathon major and skip the world champs that year.
00:57:50
Speaker
Um, to do so because that's not where the support comes from. Like you, you see that reflected in the team center world champs in a big way on the roads as well. So it's not just a trail running thing that for sure. Um, but yeah, it certainly, certainly throws some, uh, some mental challenges in when I'm trying to figure out a year and which way you want to go. And, uh, yeah, it's a interesting world.
00:58:16
Speaker
Yeah, anyway, it's good problems to have and, and I'm sure you're kind of, yeah, you aren't young enough so you'll be able to slowly solve them over the years. A hundred percent. I do look at it as I've got a lot of time left too. So like, um, yeah, just trying to make the most of the opportunities I've been given so far and, uh, yeah, be very thankful for them while also protecting, being able to have a few more in future. But, um,
00:58:41
Speaker
Yeah, we should, uh, we should get moving on to, um, unless Brody, you've got anything else to add. Brody, are you going to put your name down for world champs? I think so. Yeah. Yeah. And then the other thing I've taken away from this year is, um, yeah, the sky running races for me are the ones that I really enjoy. And, and, and what I'm getting out of track racing at the moment is.
00:59:04
Speaker
Like obviously you have to balance that sponsor sponsor thing. But for me, i'm I'm sort of keen to sort of just race in the races that I enjoy. And and then I'm very motivated to try and represent Australia at World Champs and and and see where those races take me as well. So yeah, I'll be putting my name down. um We'll see what exact distance. I'll probably aim for short trail at this stage, but yeah, we'll see what will happen between now and then.
00:59:31
Speaker
Yeah, I don't know if it's that short without amount of elevation. yeah Not very short at all. Yeah. ah Fun. The joys. Cool. Well, getting on to some other results for this week. um We've already been through the Asia Pacific Trail Running Champs, although Vlad, did you want to who won?
00:59:53
Speaker
Do we want to run through the winners? um Yeah. So we had Stingray that won the male short trail um from the Philippines. The Philippine teams ah also did like really, really well. It was really, actually really nice to see them. Did they come second overall in the full overall? Yes. i trying i did Yeah, they did. They did.
01:00:17
Speaker
I think I'm in a side note when you were kind of calling out the results. If the juniors would have been counted in that overall, which I think they should be, I think we Australia would have actually won um because we did so well in the juniors. But we didn't have a team in the out, did we, in the long?
01:00:36
Speaker
no No, so we only had one in the long and male and female, but I'm saying like the junior results weren't um calculated for the overall team championships. So I think like, even if they go by the top nine results, right, if if the juniors would have been included, then we would have um One overall because we would have had a first place in the junior but female second place in the junior male third place and fifth place in the straw trail and third and fifth We had a third third and ninth. Sorry third and ninth. Yeah. Yeah. Oh, no, sorry third and sorry fourth. Did you say they can't
01:01:20
Speaker
Yeah, sorry, she got four, sorry. So yeah, that would have been that would have been an overall win, I think. yeah so Yeah, it's a shame. for Regardless, we would have come second if they took the top nine results, we would have come second, but we didn't get counted in the we didn't get counted in the overall team competition because we needed to have another category where we had three runners. So we had three in short men, short women, but we only had two in long women. So we immediately just got discounted, um which was a bit of a shame that we couldn't field a three in any other category. Because if we had, we probably would have come second. um But yeah, that's just learning for next time, I guess.
01:02:01
Speaker
Yeah, but yeah, sorry, going back to the short trail. Yeah, Stingray, John Ray, solid runner, really good downhill runner. I think he smashed that one downhill that everybody struggled in. He did really well. um I think it's really good for him because he's been working so hard, having some good and bad races, and finally had like a breakthrough a race where He actually put everything together. He didn't start too quick. um And then, yeah, Cohen from Japan was second. Blake was third in the females. Takako Takamura.
01:02:41
Speaker
I have the drift open name. um Yeah, she won. She did really well. I think she's a quality runner for 436 or super quick time. Yeah. So she, um this year so far, she was 16th at Sierzanal. Oh wow. Yeah. And she was, so she was really high up in Golden Trail standings and that's why it kind of surprised me.
01:03:03
Speaker
Like she would have maybe entered the final in the top 20 or close to, but skipped it after Tatra didn't go to plan and Tatra got cancelled. Either that or she just decided that this was more important to her than Golden Trail. So she didn't run the final? No, she didn't run the final, which would have been outside the top 30 in Golden Trail, which she would have been guaranteed a spot in. Yeah, a bunch of the Japanese men did run the final because I saw the guy who came second, Koken, he ran Golden Trail final and then some of the guy runners and maybe one of the long distance runners as well also ran Golden Trail final. There was a group of them there. Yeah, I'm just checking out to make sure I haven't got that wrong. But no, because I remember she got taken off the results, which means she mustn't have been there.
01:03:57
Speaker
and because she would have otherwise been in the top 30. Well, she's definitely had a great run on there in Korea then, so maybe it was worth it. Yeah, I think we man broughtie me and Brody were talking a little bit about like Rui from Japan who um chose the sky race over the shore trail, for example, the Asia Pacific Trail Champs, where you would have had a pretty big chance of winning the whole thing, um which was a bit strange. um yeah Considering that I see a lot of the Japanese kind of being pretty team orientated, very patriotic. Yeah, that was really strange.
01:04:36
Speaker
There was a couple of them that were there, but not racing the Asia Pacific champs. Did really need more points for the overall to win the overall first guy running though. Potentially, but I don't think he's in really with a shot for the. Yeah, it's pretty far away. Yeah, it's pretty far away. Because that would make sense to me. There's a big prize purse at the end for that.
01:04:57
Speaker
as yeah and There was another Japanese runner who came fourth, who he came third at the Sky Running World Champs. So he's a also a very decent runner who I assume would have done well in either short or long trail. What was the prize money for the Sky Race?
01:05:13
Speaker
it was less than the It was less than the Asia Pacific, so it was €1,000 for the win versus €4,000 for the win in the other races. said yeah It wasn't a prize money per se for that individual race, but maybe something to do with the overall season. Yeah, or maybe they just did not put their names down, or maybe they were too late. you know Yeah, it kind of got me thinking also when we were talking about the world champs that we don't have like any dates um in Australia for for the selection or selection races where the race is literally like 10 months away. Yeah, that is the other thing that makes it hard in some in so many ways when you're planning seasons and stuff.
01:05:54
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, because unless it really come out like early in November, which is few days away, it's really cutting it close to like planning a trip to Europe, which, you know, from Australia is not, you know, it's not a two hour flight.
01:06:10
Speaker
um So yeah, a little bit strange that that's not out. I might try and ask them today in the meeting. I was going to say, aren't you going to a meeting later on? Yeah. um like I mean i ah thought it was going to be a little bit more about Asia Pacific and how we can improve um you know for next time, but I'll definitely bring that up because that's um that's cutting it close. Well, we we talked about New Zealand already announcing it.
01:06:35
Speaker
you know, a few weeks, few a month. They already had their trials. Yeah, they already had their trials. Yeah, while we haven't had any information about the race or who's even taking it on, is it AA, is it a like Athletics Australia or Otra? Yeah, a little bit strange. But I mean, you know, obviously I feel like, you know, Otra is a volunteered um organization, which makes it tough because, you know, yeah we all want to help and see the sport moving forward, but it also requires a lot of work. Like, you know, it's, it's not just like, you know, good intentions will get you there. It just requires a lot of admin work, a lot of logistics, um, a lot of planning to make this all work. And I'm not sure, you know, just having volunteers or mainly having volunteers is the right answer. And.
01:07:27
Speaker
You know, kind of, I am going to be talking about that, that I feel like, you know, our role as, as the committee or subcommittee is to come up with ideas to get more members and with that member, member signups, um, you know, to use that to actually employ people that would work full time on this whole project, which currently I don't think they do, which means that everything is just a bit unorganized, a bit slower. um There's a lot of good intentions. like I feel like you know we all want to help, we all want to see the sport move forward. But in the end of the day, we all have full-time jobs, we all have you know families and and things to do. And it's it's hard for me to put five or 10 hours a week you know towards this um every single week. But I definitely can commit one or two hours a week. But that's definitely not enough to to kind of
01:08:21
Speaker
you know move this whole thing forward because it does require a lot of work. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. For sure. Well, hopefully it comes out soon. But back to results. Just since that's what I know, a little bit like that. I think we're after the first lady in the short trail. You've got second and third still to go. Yeah, prior Rai came second and Hoka and Nikama third.
01:08:48
Speaker
yeah Long trail.
01:08:52
Speaker
Min Kyu, which um in the men's, won it. I've raced him a few times, I think. He's getting older. He's probably around my age as well, so he did really well. He was with Salomon for a while, then North Face. I'm not 100% sure if he races as much um anymore, but definitely a solid win to take that out, representing China, which didn't have a really big team there.
01:09:13
Speaker
um So yeah, well done to him. Hiroki Kai, second place is that YouTuber guy from Japan. He did run it didn't run with the camera. um I think his YouTube channel is all in Japanese. um so But yeah, pretty cool to see him. From what I heard, he's a 215 marathon runner.
01:09:33
Speaker
um which yeah solid, solid runner races a lot. Did you say he ran with a camera on the race day? Yeah, so he had one of the 360s on his head, actually, in the finish line. Nice. Yeah, I'm pretty sure there'll be a YouTube video out of it. Yeah, I mean, it's probably in Japanese, but yeah, it's a pretty... It's a character, it's a fun guy, he's always smiling and happy. I've seen him in a couple of races, but yeah, incredible runner at the same time, but doesn't take it too seriously. It looks like he's just out there to have fun.
01:10:06
Speaker
A lot of talent. My key finish there did well. I think that, you know, it kind of probably was hoping for a better result is is obviously super talented and push through even when things didn't go a hundred percent. I think same. You can help me out with the women's winner and pronouncing her name.
01:10:28
Speaker
Oh, gosh, I didn't have it open. Hang on. Yes, I do. Yes, I do. ah Pronouncing her name. um Hang on. I can edit this anyway, but I do have it right here. Oh, come on. Load. Here it is. ah Because she is pretty famous. Oh, Fujiao Jiang. Yeah, she does a lot of races, right? She does. So Fujiao, she ran 100K a week earlier, I think. Yeah, I was going to say. The UTMB won in China.
01:10:56
Speaker
Yeah, she did the UTMB 100K and then came out and won this. And like how hot tea is also um she like she's no slouch that she's beaten. and She actually won the Thailand 100K. That's one of the reasons I know her name very well, but she came across and won.
01:11:12
Speaker
UTA 50 in a very, very good time as well. Not this year last year, I think it was, um who came second. And then it was Yuri Yoshizumi in third um for that one. But yeah, Fu Zhao, she's incredible.
01:11:27
Speaker
Yeah. ya I don't know which one you're supposed to pronounce first. I will say that. And then the order, I'm unsure of, but. Yeah, I feel like she's been around for quite a while. I mean, all again, I've seen her in so many races. She used to come to Hong Kong quite a bit. Sponsored by Hoka, right? Been with them for quite a while. Yeah. Yeah, it seems like- She's second at Western States this year. So she's- Yeah, she was second at Western. Yeah, wow.
01:11:53
Speaker
Yeah. So yeah, it looks like the top, the top runners in the 80K were actually like really good runners. um Then it kind of obviously wasn't super deep, but the top three or five were very, very high quality runners. Yeah. Yeah, for sure. Um, moving on to the next results, which is closer back to Oz. Um, Brody, you've got great ocean trail ultra. Yes. Yeah. So this one's a race that's just been re renamed. So it used to be great Great Ocean Walk Ultra. Now it's Great Ocean Trail Ultra. And is this done by our friends that do Warby Trail Fest as well? Is it the same? Yeah, Tour de Trails now. Tour de Trails, yeah. Chris Ord, who people can go back into his episode. Yes, yes, yes. So Chris, ah fantastic race organizer. So his back, he's taken over this one. um So they had a 45K and a 100K race.
01:12:53
Speaker
In the 45K, in the females, we had Allie Patterson in first, in five, 48, 23, Holly Morton in second, in five hours, 50, 42, and third was Kylie, me, and in five hours, 52. So like, that's four minutes between the top three. So that's really cool to have a race that's that tight.
01:13:15
Speaker
In the men, Tim Goddard actually got quite a big win. He ran four as 13. In second was Rob Stilwell in 4.42 and third was Ashley Harding in 4.46. Shout out to Ash because I coached him and it's his first race back after a long injury. so Nice one. Good to see. Nice to get a top three. and Fantastic. yeah out And in the 100K race, so Nicole Patton was first in 10 as 54, Sue Forsyth in second in 1154, and Alexandra Knights in third in 1238. And then in the men, Ben Burgess was first in 9 as 26.
01:14:02
Speaker
ah Second was Thomas Miller in 1107 and third was Jaden Halcott in 1111. So it looks like Nicole actually came second overall there as well, which was cool to see. And a pretty quick time from Ben Burgess, it looks. ah I think someone was telling me he's um run a few races this year and he's looking pretty good. Nine hours 26 seems pretty fast for 100k on that sort of terrain.
01:14:28
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it's not the it's not the fastest, you not the slowest terrain. like It's um and very coastal, so yeah that's a bloody good run. Very good run by all of them. Cool. I do have just one other set of results I'm going to go through, and that is from the Backyard Ultra World Championships, which was also the World Team Championships, which I don't know if either of you paid too much attention to this, but I was having a lot of fun tracking out Aussies as they just slowly tracked down the United States. So how this worked is that every country had, I think, 15 runners they start with, and then every single person and every single time they complete a yard, you get a point. um And so, like, obviously, the longer people stay in, the more points they accrue, but the longer you've got more people, um it's easier to get ahead. And ah towards the back end of this race, we had um the U.S.
01:15:23
Speaker
quite a long way ahead of us just because of the they had a pat ah quite a few more runners than us for a while there. But our last two Aussies just kept going and kept going and kept going um to score nine, they finished together the 95th yard, which that's 95 hours, and that put us into second place ahead of the United States after tracking them down for quite a few hours just with two runners.
01:15:51
Speaker
um So we finished on 971 to there, 969. And that was um Ryan Crawford. He stopped after that 95th yard that got us into the second place. And then Phil Gore kept going for a 96th. So Phil was our top finisher there. um We also did have two of our Aussies looked like they stopped together at 82 yards for our sort of equal third place. um And then overall, the Belgians wiped the floor with everyone, ah because after every single other country and person had finished, they still had four runners left. um And they had then one runner drop out at 100 hours, and then three runners together all broke the world record to 110 hours.
01:16:34
Speaker
And then they all stopped at the same time. So there was no last one standing. ah But also on the women's side, the world record went down by quite a ways to become now 87 Hours by Megan Eckert.
01:16:46
Speaker
from the U.S. So I was having a lot of fun tracking this and just watching the Aussie slowly, slowly reel in the United States was a lot of fun um over many, many hours as these things pan out over. um Now, I do realize this is very slightly backwards, but I've just had a lot of fun chuckling to our Instagram um where people have sent in a few questions. and I saw you laughing at that before. I was trying to figure out what you were laughing at.
01:17:14
Speaker
it's all that that Well, the last two are exactly pretty much the same wanting Vlad to justify running on his ankle after only two days. ah Everyone saw the picture of it. Yeah, I don't know. It looks really, really bad. It's swollen, but I'm getting older, so I don't really have time to rest. I've got to keep training. No, I'm kidding. it's yes um Yeah, it looks really bad, but I've got like not much pain when I run. So I feel like nothing's not broken. So, um, I had one day off and yeah, it feels like it's, it's, it's obviously I'm not going to jump on like technical trails straight away. I'll probably stay on the roads for a few more days, but yeah, I was surprised by, you know, how quickly he'll maybe was jumping on the plane straight away and, and flying for like, how the would that heal it?
01:18:06
Speaker
I don't know, maybe extra. Yeah, exactly. More swelling because of the master healing. yeah ah yeah oh good Yeah. You should do a trial on that and see if that helps people when I'm playing after an acute injury. I reckon. Oh my gosh. Well, you are the master healer Vlad, that's for sure.
01:18:27
Speaker
Yeah, I mean, Nokon would have been pretty lucky. So yeah, not sure. It just feels good. So I'm running on it. I mean, if, if I think anything would have been broken, I would have felt it by now, but yeah.
Social Media Surge and Listener Questions
01:18:39
Speaker
Yeah.
01:18:39
Speaker
Yeah, fair. I did get like yeah i mean i got to mention that I got like at least 500 messages on Instagram. That story was seen by over 40,000 people. so ah like ah everybody yeah I've never seen any of my stories explode that much. I think and youly everybody was just sharing it.
01:19:01
Speaker
Yeah, I tried. I spent like an hour just replying to saying thank you and I'm all good. But yeah, that story exploded and everybody was sharing it. Yeah. Well, I will say there's a couple of listener questions we're going to get through another week when we haven't already been going a while, but I'm going to quickly, quick answer. There's a couple to do with APTRC or Asia Pacific Trail Champs.
01:19:28
Speaker
um Less fun one, but also interesting one. It would just give us a quick fire of if Asia Pacific Champs was to be held in Australia, where do you want it to be?
Best Location for Trail Championships in Australia
01:19:41
Speaker
Well, I think it needs to be in a place where Australians would have an advantage. um So I don't know if that's like Brisbane because that's humid, um where most of Asia is humid. It's a tough one.
01:19:55
Speaker
Maybe like somewhere sandy. I don't know. Cause, um, yeah, could I think Asian, like there's a lot of islands in Asia that have a lot of age. I think they want, they want somewhere with them, probably some mountains. I guess maybe, I don't know. I feel like bright would be quite a good location because you can have a few different races there or like in somewhere in that Valley in Victoria. I mean, think about it. Yeah. Think about it from the point of view of where we would have the biggest advantage. Like, yeah.
01:20:24
Speaker
I don't know what that is. I don't even know where that is though. Probably a pretty very good marathon runner as well. Flatlander. Yeah. but and Oh, Flatlander. I'm not sure that it was... No, actually actually, that would be it. I reckon if if there was an Australian one, we'll get a lot of Australians. And obviously, our depth in road running is insane. So if the trail would have been like a bit flatter, we'll get some really good runners joining and then we'll probably do the best, I guess. Yeah, interesting.
01:20:59
Speaker
Interesting tactics. I'm just going to say that for me, if there was a championship, I want it to be in Tassie because I like their trails. Yeah, well, Lincoln says that ah Hobart's the best place that would in Australia if we were ever to hold a world champ, so maybe. For the fact that there's ah there's a sort of city right there at the bottom of a mountain, it might be that might be the case. It would be cool. look I feel like that would also work. You could make Kanyani mount kenyani good work quite well. but Yeah.
01:21:26
Speaker
Yeah, I think it could for sure. But realistically, I think it'll probably it'd probably be in Brisbane if we were if they were using it as a sort of a pivot towards the Olympics. That's probably most realistically. um Yeah, that is very true. Hadn't even thought of that. There'll be a team full of Queenslanders. We'll just put Queenslanders in the tank. Yeah, but sounds
Karaoke Fun and Episode Wrap-Up
01:21:49
Speaker
good.
01:21:49
Speaker
ah The only other very fun one that comes from Asia Pacific Champs was hearing the story of the karaoke machine in your room. ah Alistair Richardson wants to know what your Brody, what your go-to song on the bedroom karaoke machine was. So you can actually figure out how to work it.
01:22:05
Speaker
um because it was a lot of Korean instructions and it got a bit confusing. So we didn't actually partake, unfortunately. But we did get to listen to a lot of other people doing karaoke. And we had the fun game of like, you could hear it like very faintly. And you had to like, try to pick when they were singing a song in English. Like I heard the frozen song once. I heard it just beaver song once. So yeah, that was that was good fun. But yeah, hotel was cool. We played some, played some pool, ate some ramen.
01:22:33
Speaker
It's a good hotel. Nice. Nice. Well, on that note, we've been going for long enough. um So I'm going to tie it up here, and I'll say that everyone else that sent in a question will get to them next week. um There is some a couple of really cool ones in there. So thank you for that. um I'll put up another post, and we can we can keep them reeling in, and hopefully,
01:22:55
Speaker
um I feel like this episode was a bit of a ramble in the end, but we got somewhere, somewhere hopefully. And um you enjoyed, hope you enjoyed listening. And this has been episode 29 of the PicoSuits podcast. We will speak to you next week. See you guys.