Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
2025 Wrapped Part 2: Season Of The Year & Race Of The Year | Episode 90
60 Plays1 hour ago
Episode 90 of Peak Pursuits delivers the second half of a comprehensive wrap of a massive 2025 for Australian trail running, as James, Vlad, Brodie, and Sim hand out their end-of-year performance awards.
In Part 2, the team debates the standout seasons of the year and the best race battles that 2025 delivered!
The team then end with some quickfire discussions on global runner of the year, favourite gear in 2025 and more.
What do you think? Were we close or did we miss something? Let us know!
***Don’t forget, use code PEAK at https://bix-hydration.myshopify.com/en-au for 20% off Bix products, exclusive to PPP listeners!***
Thanks for tuning in to Peak Pursuits!
Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
Follow James: Instagram | Strava | Website
Follow Vlad: Instagram | Strava
Follow Sim: Instagram | Strava
Follow Brodie: Instagram | Strava
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
Recommended
Transcript
Welcome and Episode Introduction
00:00:00
Speaker
Music
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 90 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. This one is the second half of the end of year episode that was recorded just a bit before Christmas.
00:00:20
Speaker
So you're going to hear the best overall season, male and female, and then some of our best race battles. So the closest races before we do a few quick fire questions.
00:00:33
Speaker
And just a reminder, this episode is brought to you by Bix and you will hear the winners of our Bix Salty giveaway about halfway through this episode. So without further ado, I hope you enjoy and i hope everyone listening has had a very Merry Christmas and is getting set for a brilliant new year.
Beast Award for Male Performances
00:00:53
Speaker
Moving to award number three, which is the Beast Award, and that is the season of the year. I feel like we've already had a few chats, um courtesy of James not liking one-off performances apparently, about seasons that people have put together. I'm going to start on the men's this time.
00:01:13
Speaker
Why not switch it up and go male season of the year? So who put together... eat Like in my mind, yes, the whole year, but it can be like, and this is partially because I wish like Aussie trail runners had more of a chance to take a shorter, not like really solid season there. Like it could be sort of a three to six month period going on.
00:01:37
Speaker
of like that was their season um because everyone deserves a time to have be unfit um and it doesn't need to be the whole year they've put together. But think of like a three-month, six-month or the whole year period um who had an epic season on the men's side.
00:01:57
Speaker
um Brodie, who you got? Well, it's tricky. um Like you can look at it so many ways. Like someone like Billy who raced a lot, so he hit a few ones but he didn't hit them all. um ah Like Charlie, we haven't talked much about Charlie but he first year being sponsored by Terex and and and did lay down some solid results across the year, cap like finishing with the the Cape Town race. um Probably the ones on Like Mike Carroll would have won this for sure he'd finished his miler, like if he hadn't got injured in in the UTK miler for me because like he was he looked like he was on one there as well but unfortunately pulled out for injury.
00:02:39
Speaker
And like if you look at his whole year and you add the miler, if he did manage to keep going, i think he would have won this for sure and I think he still has a ah good case.
00:02:50
Speaker
um And then like I think Ben Burgess, like... I think he, it was really cool to see him sort of like put everything aside for a year and and go all in on trail. And I think watching, following his progress, um he sort of didn't didn't miss. Like he may have not like had the most amazing performances in everything, but he was very consistent. um I think, yeah, all the way through to Worlds, um I think he he did really well. So Yeah.
00:03:20
Speaker
there's a few of them there. I don't know who to pick from, but maybe Ben or Mike. yeah it's I think one thing that Charlie did is he kind of – I was thinking about Leo quite a lot, but then Charlie beat him pretty well at Hounslow 17th. Yeah.
00:03:43
Speaker
and because I feel as though not so much Mikey, because he did canyons, but he's also had He's had quieter parts of the year because they've had their first kid.
00:03:54
Speaker
yeah He then had come back for Cozzy. Going by your logic, Sam, which I completely agree about, like he's had like some build periods where he's performed really well like at Canyons and then he's had a quieter time and then he's building or building at the moment. um But Charlie's kind of getting almost punished because he's raced a lot overseas and we're sort of almost missing it. But he has had...
00:04:16
Speaker
a very, very impressive season when you go through, um what's the one did the start the year? ah The really cold one. Grandsville Cania. Grandsville Cania, yeah. like he Granted, it wasn't his best day on there, but still ran very well.
00:04:30
Speaker
And he also won Buffalo 20 in the lead up to that in a very competitive field. Yeah, and yeah and and and and another great race. And then it's gone Broken Arrow, Hounslow, and then Cape Town. So Charlie has put in a really good year, like a really great year. think someone I actually hadn't thought about, but you talking about them then, Brady made me think about them, is Thomas Banks.
00:04:52
Speaker
like when you actually think about what he's done this year in and he yeah keeps choosing the most competitive racers to go and put himself into. And yeah, he's not won anything and he's he's hit the podium sometimes, but he stands out. Ian Best has had a very strong year and he's ah he's finished it very, very strong. his His performance at GACR was really impressive. His performance at... um at Worlds, a bit of Skyrun just now, four peaks taking out the win, and then a bunch of VKs. um and And the same goes for Fabilia as well. like he's
00:05:24
Speaker
kind of He's got the advantage of his race so much that you can pick the good ones, but he's also missed quite a few. And I think if he hadn't have had some some of those lower ones, I would probably put him first here. But...
00:05:35
Speaker
for me, it's bi's Ben Burgess. When you look at someone who's purposefully built himself up to a certain event and then performed on the biggest stage, like getting it right, being the first Aussie, coming top, I think it was the 49th, so getting a top 50 as well at at Worlds. Um...
00:05:52
Speaker
And then shut shut himself down and by his own emission is unfit and did Bulliskyron and got beaten by Lucy. But like you ignore that part of it because from ah they not an event event in Tassie.
00:06:05
Speaker
Kunanyu. No, not Kunanyu, sorry. The one before. um It's this it's it's the it's the the walking track that you can only have like 65 people on. Overland. Overland. So he started at Overland, I think it was third or fourth. And like that's his only real, I'm not not i' going to call it bad, but less good run. And then since then, it's just it's just kept building and building and building.
00:06:26
Speaker
Course record, Kunani had that first at Grand Raid, 40k, and then Worlds. I think to me that stands out as, like I'm definitely waiting somebody who's performing on the bigger stages to to put a whole season together. Nice.
00:06:38
Speaker
Very nice. I think that was, you've mentioned almost everyone, everyone else is going to mention, which is great.
Female Season Highlights
00:06:45
Speaker
Vlad, who are you giving the season to? I'm going to go with Leo only because his season was like very focused on to that golden trail ticket and he got it and raced well in Italy as well. So I think, um, yeah, I think he just had like a pretty good season in the way that he did really well in the races that he did do on, on, on the trails. He's done a couple of road races that he did well at.
00:07:11
Speaker
Um, he came third at the, Point to Pinnacle and Tassie, which technically could almost be a trail race as well. um And then obviously I had the disappointment of not making the the team.
00:07:24
Speaker
And I think there was a bit of fire in his belly and ran some really good races. Yeah. I think he's one where that's almost like the, it's not even actually really a shorter season went by the time you put in um Golden Trail. But when you think of Kunani backed up with um the Coastal Classic, it's not Coastal Classic, Coastal Ascent into BTU, into UTA 22, that period of those four races, especially with like he took his own course record at,
00:07:57
Speaker
I think both Kununyi and at BTU compared to last year. um His race with ben with all of the guys, but with Ben Duffus at um UTA 22. And then, yes, he was beaten by Charlie at Hounslow.
00:08:11
Speaker
But for me, it's like if you put that that whole goal of his season, um ah as you've said, Vlad, like at the start, it was tailored and he nailed it um when it comes to that. So for a season, yeah.
00:08:25
Speaker
yeah um yeah i think yeah leo probably suffers a little bit from recency bias because he's like best part of the season probably was that that early apart although his golden trail may have been great it's just again it's hard we we had to find it hard to contextualize that golden trail result again um it might have been as good as his stuff at the start of the year but it's less obvious than winning uta and winning all of the golden trail races Yeah, yeah, yeah. No, very fair. Do you have any runners-up, Vlad? um Probably Billy. Again, only because he had a couple of good races literally from January till November. So it was a um a lot of racing, a lot of solid races. Yeah, a few races that he might have didn't fully perform to his abilities. But, like, yeah, overall, like starting in January um with a good race in Hong Kong and then his highest ITRA score,
00:09:18
Speaker
in italy in november um it's a pretty solid year very very fair brodie uh wait did i already do this one oh Yeah.
00:09:29
Speaker
My bad. i was like not to go into my I was about to go into my things again. I was like, wait a minute. ever yeah not No, that's me. I was looking up race results because when you were mentioning um in my head, this is just my head getting caught in it a little bit. But when you're mentioning um Leo's results in the start of the year, part of me was like, oh, yeah, we mentioned Thomas Banks and who did have a brilliant season for this for a season. But Leo was 13, 14 minutes ahead at Kunanyi at the start. yeah Yeah. And then I just look at that. I think Thomas is is more of a breakout, but like, yeah and yeah yeah so he's very consistent across the year, but he like, yeah, he didn't quite, but probably because of the people who was racing, but that's part of like showing exceptional performance is across the years.
00:10:12
Speaker
He probably didn't have those results. yeah Yeah, I think honestly the only thing that lets Leo down all year is Hounslow. Like if he had got Charlie. um But up until that point, it felt like he was unbeatable um over the distance. i think it's – and not something that i've actually thought about, but it's an interesting question of, do you put more weight on somebody going like, all right, I'm going to focus on the 20k distance, like like Leo has, or somebody that has, and nails it, or someone that puts a bit more range and maybe misses a couple of the performances, but has like showed up more range? like does that Is that a better is that and any better of a season?
00:10:49
Speaker
I don't have an answer to this one. I'm just thinking... Neither do I. It's different approaches. But I do have a lot of respect for someone that has like a target and they go for it and they nail it and like they just stay focused on task. Different ways to approach a season, I guess.
00:11:05
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, um because, yeah, I think everyone's kind of already spoken through and nailed it, but um my top three um for the men's would be Leo, Ben.
00:11:17
Speaker
And, again, it's hard to pick for me both Charlie and Mikey, um but then, yeah, I don't know. There's too many there's too many people. but for me,
00:11:31
Speaker
winner for me actually is Leo for performance but Ben for like, I don't know if you want to call it watching um or like following along or like just what he's been able to achieve throughout which is why I am very actually glad that Ben Burgess just by 1% did actually win the People's Choice on Instagram um from everyone by 1% over Mikey.
00:11:59
Speaker
um So he's done well there. um for that So I don't know who I actually have come up with there, but do we have a consensus? I think i think Ben sounds like maybe. Yeah. I didn't pick him, but like that's probably the most consensus we can get.
00:12:19
Speaker
Yeah, and Ben's also, and this is ah this might come across wrong, it's not intended to, I said, Ben also has performed on at the World Champs. He did put that performance out there, um which Leo didn't get get the opportunity to, but I do think that if we're weighing up a season, that counts.
00:12:35
Speaker
Yeah, you know. So you're what you're saying, James, is if Charlie wants to win the Trail Run of the Year, he has to go to World Champs next time. Yes, yes, I'm saying that.
00:12:49
Speaker
Thank for listening, Charlie. Take that down, note that down for 2027. I love it. I love it. um Moving on to the women's, in some ways, I think the consensus here is going to be pretty easy to come by. However, honourable mentions, runners-up, top three, definitely worth the discussion because there's some people that have had some incredible seasons. So... Do you mind if I go first on this one? I was going say go, James, you're ready. I can see you. You're like... Yeah, so when we first started chatting about this on our group chat, I said, it's the Lucy show. She's put in such an impressive year, especially the last this year.
00:13:29
Speaker
But then going back through Beth McKenzie's year... a she's also performed on the international stage at a very high level and she's had a very consistent year. She beat Lucy at UTA. you Lucy came like granted. She was coming off the flight after pacing, um, uh, at Coca-Dona, but she's got like, Beth had a second there. She's had a second at Javelina. She had a second, second or third at Tarawara. Um, she's put in like, she had a bunch of other, like more local races as well. Like,
00:14:01
Speaker
Yeah, it's easy. I think it's, again, like i said, it's kind of easy to get shadowed by by the quality of Lucy's back end of the year. And i still i still
Trail Run of the Year Discussion
00:14:09
Speaker
think Lucy does have have the the season. But Beth, for me, is a much closer second than I originally thought she would be until I kind of reminded myself of everything that she's done. That is like when that is very true when you look at earlier year, like season yeah um side of things. yeah um Yeah, I would say Lucy didn't have as good a,
00:14:31
Speaker
start to the year but she had a very strong middle to end of year i guess yeah well lucy started yeah like you out at um tarawera uh that was her first result which i guess it just comes down to how do you individually how do we rate a season like are we as sim said okay are you happy to just take a a three month window in which case you go lucy from utmb and then winning or coming first australian everything in the back end of the year that she's gone into setting course records along the way or do you look at the entirety of the year and go well yeah but beth has put together a better 2025 from start to finish and that's that's just yeah that that that's that's an open question that doesn't again doesn't really have a lot of that as well where she can fit yeah yeah
00:15:19
Speaker
Yeah. From start to the end of the year. Saying it out loud. Yes. Yeah. Like I feel, I don't know if I'm saying this actually, saying it out loud, I'm almost starting to lean towards Beth, which well were yeah losing the other one That would track with what you've said for everything else where you're more impressed by the whole thing, the whole season yeah yeah as opposed to just one part. So that would track. Yeah. Then I, we have one yeah, no, I think, I think it's fair when you're talking about Javelina, Tauera, UTA and i I classify UTA as, as a new international race. Like we did get more internationals there. um Like it was one and came third with with international athletes for UTA 100.
00:15:59
Speaker
I think the other honourable mentions that though i definitely have to go, like Lucy would be a very, very close second. Demi Caldwell has put together an incredible season and like we've seen her go from strength to strength through that season. Steph Austin has had, like from six foot, Hounslow, Lee Myler first and then Sophie Broome.
00:16:18
Speaker
for me as well is one that was, I don't know who I'd put third in this thing because of Archie Buffalo. Yes, she had a DNF at UTA, but then she came back for Hounslow, roller coaster, and then won at Cosby 100K.
00:16:33
Speaker
So Sophie's also put a very impressive season together. I love all those answers. um Definitely. Brodie, what two you got? I think James just said everyone. so did Did he mention Nicole Patton?
00:16:48
Speaker
No, I didn't. I was just thinking Nicole and she like, I don't know what Nicole did. I'm trying to remind myself what Nicole did at the start of the year, but she obviously had a very good world chance and then ran GPT. She started with winning.
00:17:00
Speaker
She won KMR. da yes That was like the first big thing that we saw her in. And then yeah, Worlds and GPT and GPT was her debut as well.
00:17:11
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. So I think she's obviously had, she's had a very good season. um Maybe she's raced a little bit less. She also ran the UTA 100. She was six there, so a decent race. She also ran Oscars 100 and won that. So yeah she has had some a lot of impressive individual races as well. So yeah, she's she's probably an honorable mention. I think it's hard to, like Lucy and Beth, those two, like they had different seasons. So it's hard I guess it's hard to compare. um
00:17:45
Speaker
I don't know. I don't think I... I think it's hard for me to go past Lucy's like back half of the year. Like it's just been pretty incredible to watch this last month. And then you put that on top of UTMB. Um,
00:17:57
Speaker
So yeah, maybe I'd have to go with Lucy, but Beth's season, obviously, the whole year, Beth's year is probably better. So I guess it depends what you how looking at it.
00:18:07
Speaker
can I was going to interject. So I've just looked up Beth's um indexes on ITRA, and I find this quite interesting. So her best result was Javelina, and she scored a 778. Lucy's best result at Pula Skyrun scored a 778. Yeah.
00:18:24
Speaker
yeah And then Beth has also come in and taken, like she got a 774 from Tarawara and then another 700 plus from UK. And yeah most we also forgot life forgot, Beth did CCC as well.
00:18:39
Speaker
Probably not the day she hoped there, but yeah. And if she would have had a good result in CCC, she could have been up for like the best season worldwide, not just in Australia.
00:18:51
Speaker
Yes, yeah it definitely. She had a good day in CCC. that's absolutely meaning it The more I look at it, the more impressed by her year I am. Yep. It's ah yeah yeah. She's done a lot. and yeah on big stages.
00:19:04
Speaker
She has. And it's funny, yeah, I yeah hadn't even twigged until we just went through it then. But um Vlad, any people to add, thoughts to add? No, I mean, I think the only way that Lucy wins for me is just that seventh place in UTMB and, you know, with the weight of that race, I think that just gives it to her, together with obviously all the other results. But, yeah, if Beth had a better result in CCC, that would have been a clear winner. Yep.
00:19:34
Speaker
Yep. Very nice. Sim? I'm going to agree with everyone's honorable mentions. Like watching Sophie over this season, she's just been in every single competitive race that there was to run, um which is going to be obvious when we go to the best races of the season. um yeah, what Nicole's put together.
00:19:53
Speaker
Beth and Lucy are the top of the two um there. If you're looking at the whole year, it's Beth. If you're looking at the back end, it's Lucy. The only one more honourable mention, and this is mostly because this one was part of the People's Choice. It was sent in a couple of times was um Holly Ranson.
00:20:10
Speaker
And I do know that she's more been known. She came second at the 24-hour show. world champs, so not trail, but she did that in a year where she did win, well, she was eighth at Tarawara 100k, which she was, yeah, ahead of what, she was right up there with everyone. She was ahead of Anna McKenna and a few other very good names that we know from around Oz. um And then I think she was, yeah, she won Margaret River Ultra. So they're just giving the results that she has had from on the trail, which was then paired with her 24-hour because she has come second in the People's Choice. um However, the People's Choice is Lucy Bartholomew. I'm not sure that was yeah ah ever going to not be the case.
00:21:00
Speaker
Yeah, well, we didn't put Beth in the People's Choice, so hard to compare the pair, I guess. we We didn't. However, she wasn't sent in in the questions.
00:21:12
Speaker
Yeah, so that sums up the people's choice. But did we come to a consensus on our choice? Is it Beth or Lucy or is it both? i don't know what our consensus was.
00:21:24
Speaker
I'm happy to come around to Beth. James has convinced me. ah just ah I just can't believe, like I can believe i'm saying it because the season is incredible, but you like what Vlad said, like ah a seventh UTMB is so impressive, but i just I can't look past Beth's consistency of results.
00:21:41
Speaker
And to also get second, to have Lena in your first hundred mile, which I'm pretty sure was faster or just off the previous course record. Like it's just the fact that Tara Dauer ran an hour faster than her, but Tara Dauer set like 45 minutes off the course record.
00:21:55
Speaker
So yeah, I know it's a good, it's good year. It's hard. We don't, ah do we have to come to a consensus? No, we don't have to. Not necessarily. I guess if, if like this is an aside, but if Beth was eligible for Western States, she would have got a golden ticket at Tarawira and then she would have got a golden ticket at Javelina. So that's pretty impressive.
00:22:16
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Which, i we yeah. good That's a whole different story. But yeah, that's more just just showing the competitiveness of those two races.
00:22:26
Speaker
one thing I will say is if you are interested in learning about why Beth can't go into states, she's just put out a bunch of stuff on Substack, which is, like she's gone into lots of detail it. It's really open and honest. Go and read that and get and get the context from there because it was, yeah, it's fascinating to to look at it and and heartbreaking at the same time.
00:22:45
Speaker
Yeah. And getting it straight from the source is always the way to go. Yeah. um Great. Okay. Okay. I think we're up to the final one. um I think we've made it so far. Final category.
00:22:58
Speaker
Final category, final award, and that ah is the Pursuit Award um for the best races, like the closest, the most nail-borders, or the ones where it was just like the battle was on.
00:23:11
Speaker
um Starting with the on the men's side, um I'm actually just going to read out some of the ones that we've got and then anyone can add in ah other ones that they can think of. um First one that comes to my mind, ah Leo versus Ben at UTA 22.
00:23:29
Speaker
ah Neck and neck, five seconds in at the end together the whole way. or oh I don't know how was, a maybe five seconds, maybe more, but close at the end. um Toby Sparks versus Nathan at Roller Coaster. Charlie versus James Barnett at Buffalo twenty k And then UTA 100, the combo of Mike Carroll, Rhett Gibson, Matt Crean and George Murray all running near each other all day.
00:23:57
Speaker
um Any more to add and who's your pick, Vlad? Mm-hmm. it's It's a tricky one to really choose ultras for this category because by definition, it's going to get more drawn out and we don't see too many pace changes. I can't remember how UTA really played out.
00:24:15
Speaker
I don't think there were that many place changes it in that. They just sort of stayed pretty close together. Do you guys remember either? I think they ran together early and then and then they sort of, maybe one of them, or maybe Rhett went,
00:24:29
Speaker
off the front a little bit and then they they got back to him. I can't remember. Or it was maybe one of the non-Australians. And then I think Mike got in front and then I don't think there was i don't think it was coming i don't think there was any back and forth after that. But I may be remembering it wrong.
00:24:43
Speaker
I don't remember it being a good battle anyway. No. i can back up the race I also struggle with if it wasn't a battle for first, like there will be incredible battles for 10th and 15th down the field that we just never pay attention to. So to me, it kind of has to be a battle for the win.
00:24:59
Speaker
um So I think personally, Toby versus Nathan roller coaster and James versus Charlie at Buffalo are the two that stand out the the most. um I probably like Both of them, jane were James and Charlie, were worked together at the top of the first climb at Buffalo, but they were quite significantly behind Patrick Clark. um And it wasn't until, I think, along the river that Charlie eventually got rid of James. So that would have been in the last K and a half or so.
Personal Race Highlights and Bix Salty Giveaway
00:25:28
Speaker
um But the same for Toby versus Nath. It wasn't until the final... climb back up towards um the start finish area that nath did actually manage to get rid of toby for that whole race as well so and i i'm just i can't yeah i think pretty sure that's probably the same story as leo and ben at uta 22 i think well i think leo oh yeah no you're right i don't i think they ascended the stairs together yeah yeah yeah <unk>s something There's something about the race on Ferber that is just like in my mind is I never want to be in that position where I'm racing someone really hard on Ferber. It sounds so dramatic. But yeah, I think all those three races were probably similar in terms of how close they were.
00:26:14
Speaker
Yeah. And which one do you choose? That's the question. I think for me it's the fact that Ben and Leo were together like the whole time and then speaking to both of them, it's like you've just got the mind games of being in sight and together like the entire race, which I don't know if that was the case with like Charlie and James or... they Charlie and James were together essentially the entire thing. Oh, they were too? Okay. I think those three races all very similar. um So it's pretty cool that we had those three matchups that were so tight the whole way.
00:26:48
Speaker
Which is like, that's the great thing about this like 20k distance. The fact that we're talking about an hour and a half, an hour and 45 is worth of racing and that it's just, it's separated by 10 seconds. I think for me it's probably between Charlie and James and Leo and Ben because they're the two that were in the sort of deeper fields as well. So, like, that battle was within a much deeper field.
00:27:10
Speaker
So, like, UTA 22 had that probably... I think there was probably... maybe five to ten guys together at the bottom of Kadamba. um So there was that added added atmosphere of additional people and the same with Buffalo, if you throw in, like it was pretty tight.
00:27:27
Speaker
ah There was um Andrew Gattenby and Patrick Clark was leading on the first climb. So like, I think if you add those to those two races, they get a little bit more from my point of view. But, um yeah. it's ah So ive I've just pulled up all three results, and the closest gap was Nathan and Toby, which was four seconds.
00:27:48
Speaker
And then again Charlie beat James. That was probably the closest sprint finish, wasn't it? Yeah. Like Charlie beat James by 10, and then Leo beat Ben by 12 seconds. But then if you look, like looking at – at UTA, it was Leo, Ben, Nathan Pierce, Ian Best, James Barnett, Corey Arkin, Zach Newsham, Henry Hugman, Madge, Backhausen. It's deep. And then the same for Buffalo. was Charlie James, Andrew Gatby, Blake Turner, Billy O'Mealy, Patrick Clark, Macri, and John O'Gillard, Hayden Barnett, Sam Hopper. So whereas you don't have that depth, you've got Thomas Banks, and then it...
00:28:22
Speaker
it really drops off from the names that we know roller coaster um yeah i feel like given it's uta it's probably leo and ben especially that you said it's it's like that stares to finish off knowing the the history of that event the competition level yeah there's just something about a finish an uphill finish like that compared to a sort of a flatter run in that i don't know just it just has this, ah I don't know, more drama to it for me. But, yeah, so i mean I'm picking the UTA 22.
00:28:55
Speaker
Yeah, being at the finish line, looking at the tracker and going, they're at Ferber steps. Yeah, who's going to come first? It was a really exciting finish line to be at because we knew they were close together. um But, like, who's going to who's going to come up Ferber first?
00:29:08
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. We'll give it to them. UTA. Yeah, give it to them. Cool. UTA. Done. Okay. That one was a little, maybe a little easier if actually, not really. Yeah.
00:29:19
Speaker
nothing's easy about picking any of these things. But on the women's side, um the four main ones that we could come up with, ah Buffalo Marathon, then on the women's side, um which was, yeah, Mia v. Sophie v. Julia.
00:29:35
Speaker
ah Sophie v. Demi at RollerCoaster 23K. Hounslow Marathon, again, Steph v. Julia v. Sophie. um Sophie is a...
00:29:46
Speaker
ah has been mentioned many times here, hence why I was like, she's just always there. And then the women's UTK 50km, which was one that was sent in as a people's choice that I didn't track much. So someone might need to give me some context on who that one was. that's the That's the field of the year for me. And I guess the racing maybe was slightly less exciting because it's over 50km, but it was the it was like the women's field that was most competitive, everyone on the same start line, I think, for the whole year. so
00:30:16
Speaker
It definitely was a great race. Yeah, it was it was the most competitive women's race of the year, I would say. But I wouldn't say it was the best head-to-head because it didn't – the only thing that changed in that field after maybe 10K was Melissa dropped out.
00:30:30
Speaker
but Yeah, and it might be something to do with the course. Like it's maybe like a little slightly less exciting or i don't know if it's because it's the distance. But yeah, it didn't – like the field was – it was still really cool to watch, but there wasn't as much sort of back-and-forth movement maybe.
00:30:46
Speaker
o Yeah. Okay. So, and then James, have you got these, I'm trying to get the results up to see what was going on. Yeah, I just brought them up now. So think like the race with, well, I've Hounslow in front of me. So, yeah, Steph Austin, and this is a marathon that takes five and a half hours. So Steph was 529, Julia was 533, Sophie was 537. But there were points where, like very late in that race, where the gap between Steph and Julia closed from two and a half minutes to one minute and it looked like Julia was going to get it. And then Steph got it on that last bit. She managed to open up a lead. Julia and Sophie were constantly back and forth and they were constantly like one to two minutes behind
00:31:26
Speaker
steh So although Steph stayed at the front, she was getting very, very much caught. And that second to third did change quite a bit. um The other ones that were... The 23K at roller coaster between Demi and Sophie were separated by a minute 20 at the end. yeah the The other ones, both the Buffalo the buffalo twenty k Laura Gillard was winning that until about 5K to go when Bridget Lund came past and she won in 207.43. And then Demi came past Laura with about 300 meters to go to come second in 208.42. So a minute back. And then Laura was third in 208.55. Yeah. Yeah.
00:32:06
Speaker
um that yeah And then I was actually looking up at this earlier today. With um Buffalo Marathon, at Clear Spot, um the top three were separated by 30 seconds, 40 seconds. I do remember Buffalo Marathon being very close. Because I was emceeing at the finish line and we were like tracking the the times and we were getting some information from different people as well that were just out on the course. I think maybe from you, James, about who was in front of the bottom of the descent.
00:32:38
Speaker
yeah Because, yeah, that was quite tight um and it was a bit of like, oh, who's going to come in first? So I think that seemed like a good race. Very much so. So, yeah, well, especially for the closeness and the back and forths in who was leading because there was back and forths, especially up until that clinch point of clear spot where it was like they are all there now, like coming through because it was what – Yeah, 3, 17, 48 and it was um not Mia that was leading, it was Sophie.
Favorite Gear and Nutrition of the Year
00:33:09
Speaker
um Yeah. and then But then Mia was in second, 30 seconds back and then Julia, have I got that right? Yes, it was Julia. and No, Julia was second, 3, 18, 20.
00:33:23
Speaker
Yeah, do julia Julia was was so seven seconds ahead of Sophie the top of Clear Spot. Sorry, not Sophie, Mia. Mia, yeah, okay. yeah Yeah. Essentially still like all just running through and going, okay, whose is it? Now, yes, it did separate a little bit from there, um but it's like you just had no idea who it was until that point. Yeah.
00:33:45
Speaker
And even then it didn't separate by much because the three of them at the end were what, four five minutes um max. Yeah, five and half minutes. Yeah. Yeah. I think for me it's that one, um but I wasn't.
00:33:59
Speaker
I didn't see. Oh, actually, no, I saw Hounslow as well. But for me, I think it's Buffalo. Yeah, for me, it's Buffalo, but it's actually the 20K. Fair. The fact that, yeah first first through third is separated by a minute and 22, and that whole entire podium also changed within that last 5K of that race.
00:34:16
Speaker
um So that's that's my one. Fair. Brody, which one? Oh, yeah, one of those two. Maybe the marathon, only because I was there emceeing and actually following it, whereas I don't think I followed the 20K as closely.
00:34:32
Speaker
um so yeah, that's probably more a personal bias rather than actually the race. Yeah, probably similar for me too. Vlad? Probably the marathon, only because I just went right now and had a look at some of those runs on Strava.
00:34:45
Speaker
um It's been pretty impressive. Yeah, they they were like, they were also, they they were very impressive times within that race yeah as well. um Yeah, and the field just even further back was so deep. Like behind there, you you do have so many really good runners um yeah going. now I will happily concede that we we can choose the the the the marathon.
00:35:10
Speaker
Yeah, nice. Awesome. We got there. Okay. that's our top four That's our four main awards, um which is a bit of fun. um However, I did want to, this is completely bringing it back just for fun here, of Brodie, what was your best race of the year?
00:35:27
Speaker
Closest race. My closest race. What? Yeah, yours. We chatted about it beforehand. This is just making you say UTA. Yeah. Oh, you just want me to, oh, wait, I was actually wanting to talk about this before and bring it up as the best male race of the year, which was UTA 11. But you guys didn't agree that that was. is it personally my best race, best race racing?
00:35:51
Speaker
Yep. that what is that what you're asking? Yes, your best race and closest, which is just UTA 11 some kids. Yeah, you you just wanted me to talk about the kids race.
00:36:02
Speaker
Pretty much. That was actually a very good race. So i'm I'm not ashamed to say that I really enjoyed racing UTA 11 and those kids were very fast and kids are going to go out really hard. So I was in about seventh until about 2K, about three or 4K even probably. So yeah, that was that was my best race experience. And yeah.
00:36:24
Speaker
Yeah, that' was good. Very nice. Vlad, just quickly, because you had a few good battles this year, but one that comes to mind is you and Toby Sparks at UTA 50. Would that be your closest battle or was there any others that you had? You had a lot of races, obviously. Yeah. yeah probably as a whole race yeah definitely otherwise me and blake are the world champs we were together for a big part then he dropped off and then it came flying by me in the last two or three k um yeah which was yeah pretty fun but yeah i guess with toby was a bit more of a proper race when we were together all the way till pretty much when we saw you that those stairs
00:37:05
Speaker
um which, yeah, it was pretty painful to try and push with that finish line there. Yeah. Yeah, it was definitely fun. You looked like you were hurting, which actually that's a name that hasn't got a mention yet and I want to give a shout. Blake Turner.
00:37:19
Speaker
um He did have some incredibly good results and one that and it's another one that it's a weird one because it comes to mind, but we were talking a lot about Billy.
00:37:29
Speaker
Both him and Billy were having blinding runs, but he was ahead of Billy at Wandi before taking that wrong turn. But just how fast they were moving through that course. But then also being at the two races at the start of the year that Blake ran at Malaysia and Ueda, he did incredibly well in the fields that he was in at that point too. um And then at Welds. So I just wanted, like, just came to mind. We hadn't mentioned him, but I'm like, he had some damn good stuff going on. throughout the year, which no doubt there's a few more in there that we've missed.
00:38:03
Speaker
Okay, Bix winners time. First of all, thank you to everyone that entered our Bix Salty giveaway. And just as a reminder of what the prize is, we have two lucky winners winning for themselves and a friend, a box of the Bix Salty carbohydrate mix, which each serve 36 grams of carbs and milligrams of podium So all of the good stuff you need to keep going.
00:38:30
Speaker
And our lucky winners, winner number one is David Bartlett, who won for his also for his friend Jamie Black. And winner number two was Matt Smarilli, who won a box also for his friend Simon Pham. So congratulations to those four lucky winners. You will hear from Vlad in your Instagram DMs. So watch out for that there. And if anyone out there is disappointed that they didn't win on this go round.
00:39:03
Speaker
Keep listening. There might be more that come up in later episodes. But also don't forget we do have how our exclusive discount code p e a k PEAK.
00:39:15
Speaker
If you use that at checkout for 20% off your own Vicks Nutrition. So you can stock up for yourself for the new year. Thanks everyone that entered. And to matt to our lucky winners, may these fuel many happy runs.
Best Global Trail Athletes
00:39:30
Speaker
Awesome. Awesome. Well, that's the main awards. I have three quick fires for everyone to finish us off. Um, I think only three. Um,
00:39:41
Speaker
promise we can keep this one short. um And the first one is, Vlad, I'm going to go to you first because this is, I feel like, your wheelhouse. And you can combine it. It could be kit. It could be shoes. But your favourite item, trail running gear, nutrition item, something for the year that came out. You stay on top of the the new stuff a lot better than a lot of us. So what's your favourite 2025 edition? Yeah, so this is where I got caught last year. so I remember you asking what's the best pair of shoes that came out last year and I could not give you an answer.
00:40:15
Speaker
No, you couldn't. And will struggle to give you an answer this year as well. I think that the only shoe that I really wanted to try um but couldn't get for a long time um it would be the coast Mount to Coast H1. So that's the shoe that I really wanted to try. I didn't try it, but from the outside, I want to give it that award because I'm really hoping that's going to be a good shoe because I've spent a lot of money on shoes.
00:40:41
Speaker
Like no joke, I've bought at least 20 pairs of shoes this year. A lot of them are the same ones, but I've also bought a couple of trail shoes that have become my walking shoes now. So Yeah, I'm not going to give an answer to that one because I don't have one really. um I want the h one to be that one and hopefully I get a pair next year. Theoretically the H1. I've never tried them on.
00:41:08
Speaker
So the H1, they just arrived. I haven't haven't had a chance to them for a run yet, but putting them on, the thing that really stood out to me is how light they are for what they are. And the it they're a really good fit. The phone feels fast. It it feels like a lighter version of the and a bit less aggressive of the Prodigio Pro. um yeah I'm guessing it probably feels pretty similar to what the Norda 005 would if if you've had that, um which is a very expensive shoe, but lasts a long time. like The H1 is interesting because...
00:41:38
Speaker
at the start of the year, the Jamil Curry did like 750 miles in that shoe doing his Chipotle challenge and the shoe held up. So if you're talking about spending money and getting good, good performance for a long time, like the whole thing is that it's more, it's the same performance as Piba, but it's more durable. So it's, yeah, fits well. It's very comfy.
00:41:56
Speaker
I can give you that much. There you go. At the same time, I can say, I can say that i wanted the normal, the new normal, the version two, um, to be a success and a bought a pair and,
00:42:08
Speaker
They weren't that great. I've tried the rider belt, which, you know, is is like there's a big hype behind it in the US. um This running belt that can fit a bit more than a normal running belt and didn't think it was that great. um So, yeah, I was excited about a couple of things, but...
00:42:29
Speaker
they didn't end up being that great. i feel like that raid belt has got a lot of attention. Have you tried it? I haven't. One of the guys I coach has got, ah he was using the naked belts and got the raid belt and said he he he liked it. But it's also, it's a lot more expensive, I think, than what than the naked belts are.
00:42:48
Speaker
but it's a lot heavier and it's a lot like there's a lot more fabric there so it's like an extra three or four layers on like your hips which i thought it was a bit strange but i just don't know why like for me i can hold liter my phone snake bandage gels in a in a naked belt and it feels fine um like i think if you had a smaller waist or like if it might feel a bit more heavy to carry that much but The naked belt is just so good and it's not it's pretty cheap for what it is. I've had mine for five years. Yeah.
00:43:19
Speaker
yeah So a couple of things did disappoint me. But yeah, you're right. I do try and stay on top of it, but I've also been disappointed a few times this year. Fair. I love the answer. It was a three-piece of gear that he liked and three things he didn't like. now I'm going to go with one, sorry. Ivo SL shoes. Yeah.
00:43:38
Speaker
at road shoe but by far the best shoe that I've as a daily trainer that I've had in a few good years um and quickly is my favorite shoe and I do a lot of trail running in it as well like Perth trail running um so like gravel road trail running but yeah that's a really good shoe I've bought six six pairs of them they have probably five or six of them this year so yeah I would say that's not trail running specific but yeah my gear of the year Nice. I like it.
00:44:09
Speaker
I like it. It's interesting. um James, you've ah you've tagged along on Vlad's stories there, but what is yours? I think for, if we're talking about shoes to me, especially when I think about the number of people that I coach that I've put into shoes, like as in recommended and and you know that it's going to be safe. Um, the last sportiva prodigio pro is one that it's last was either has typically had a very narrow fit to it, but for this one, they have definitely opened it up a lot. And like, I i can't fit last sportiva was typically, um, I could fit into the prodigio and the prodigio pro is a lot more comfortable.
00:44:43
Speaker
But it's like the upper, the way it holds your foot on technical terrain is great. You you use a lot of these super shoes in the upper and you go on a camber and the upper doesn't hold your foot very well. um And then the foam is really responsive, but it doesn't have a plate, which I personally like. So it gives me confidence on the technical stuff. And then, yeah, i so far I've probably, don't know,
00:45:05
Speaker
30 to 50 people um that have asked and kind of gone through the the typical questions of what you normally run and what what you like, what you looking for that have tried it and not a single person so far has come back and said that they don't like that shoe. So I think it's it's a pretty safe safe one to to go for apart from Vlad, but didn't turn to him. That's a nice walking shoe for me now.
00:45:25
Speaker
I don't think there's really anything from the super trail shoe side of things from a plate that's really stood out as working for... A lot of people, like I just think that a lot of them are still way too heavy for what they're for what they're trying to do um or just want to try and kill your ankles.
00:45:41
Speaker
um There's not really anything, like I'm super intrigued by the radical airflow top from ACG, from Nike. Like I don't know if I could ever physically be caught dead wearing that. I would probably mean- They're doing a singlet, but they're doing a singlet and a t-shirt as well.
00:45:57
Speaker
Yeah, like I think that I'd need an incredibly aesthetic body to feel comfortable wearing wearing that one. um But yeah, and there's nothing really else from like a tech perspective that's come out this year that it feels innovative or has particularly changed the game for me.
00:46:17
Speaker
Fair, fair, which is why mine isn't exactly tech. I'm going to jump in here. um I haven't had a huge chance to test out much anyway, but mine is for me personally, figuring out high salt um and how much it helps and figuring out some of the higher salt products I can use during um during races because I feel like before all of this, that was already a game changer for me.
00:46:42
Speaker
in this year that only happened in this year for me. So that was, for me, that's SOTY for the 1,000 milligram sachets. However, not to take away from Vicks' new salty stuff because I haven't tried it yet, lad, but... It's a different product. It is. It's a very different product. This one that I'm talking about is purely no carb. It's just a whole heap of electrolytes all in one. And because of my electrolyte needs that I figured out only this year, that was the absolute game changer for me in 2025.
00:47:18
Speaker
yeah Actually, see there is, just but um jumping off the back of there, Sim, and this is, Vlad, you with Bix do do this, and I think there are a couple of other brands that started to do this as well, but sodium in your gels, I'm really behind that because i have an incredibly high sodium and sweat rate, but I don't always want to just be drinking incredibly salty water, and I been and and i hate taking salt tablets because i just drop them everywhere. So I'm really appreciating that companies are putting so some level of sodium into their gels i think that's a really really good i don't know and this i don't know if that was bix the first one to do this that you know of or is this just something that you've realized works i know that sis came out after our gel with them they have one with electrolytes now yeah but i don't know i know anything the last month yeah there's i don't know too many gels that have electrolytes in them only because i really think that a lot of brands
00:48:13
Speaker
um The main target is Northern Europe and the UK, which are massive, massive markets um where you might not need those electrolytes. So yeah, that's the reason that I think why gels wouldn't have electrolytes in them because I don't know how come they don't. Yeah. And when I'm like, when when you're thinking about, from my perspective as a coach and sitting down with my athletes and trying to work out like how they can get their needs together. And if if they just have to take one product,
00:48:41
Speaker
that can cover a couple of bases in that sense. That's great. Like I don't necessarily always love having your carbs in a drink and also attached to your sodium because the concentrations can get really hard to get right. But just having like a couple of hundred milligrams in a, in a 40 gram gel, I have really, ah really appreciated. And it's been been something that is generally, it's not meant to be a plug for Bix. It's something that I've been using a lot more with my athletes this year is those, those gels. Um, so whether it was yourself, Vlad or someone else, i think that's a really nice addition to the market.
00:49:10
Speaker
Yeah, we love our sodium. um Brodie, have you got anything? ah Dare I say rehab equipment? I've only run in Solomon's shoes, so I don't have a wide variety of shoe choice. ah I've tested a lot of different shoes, but i did really like the gravel shoe.
00:49:31
Speaker
but Sorry, I was goingnna up update i was going to jump in with a quick question there. um
Anticipations for 2026
00:49:37
Speaker
James, ah sorry, Brody and Sim, are there any shoes that you're excited to try next year? That's
00:49:48
Speaker
<unk>s a great question. I have to think on it. There is a few I've thought about. The thing is, like, I don't know, like you guys have said, there's none that are, like, really, like, whilst I've been limited to wearing Solomons, there's nothing that's, like, really jumped out at me and I've gone, I really want to try that thing.
00:50:10
Speaker
um me I think, yeah. As Vlad's alluding to, maybe. I might not be running in only Solomon's next year. um But, yeah, I'm also probably interested in in running in a few of the road shoes from some of the brands and and testing out that sort of stuff because that's actually, like I was actually getting to that, the gravel shoe or the Aeroglide, are the new sort of Aeroglide Aeroblaze that had changed the foam in them for Solomon this year and was actually a decent road shoe, whereas for a couple of years I haven't haven't really loved the road
00:50:41
Speaker
choose um But I think, yeah, those updates to those models are really good. And there's like a gravel version of the Aeroglide that I've really liked. because it's got a bit of a tread on it so you can go on trails but it's a nice sort of for me a little bit of foam which has been good for my Achilles so yeah I've enjoyed that but yes but I'm enjoying I'm i'm excited to try some other I'll go back to some of my old favorites because i've I've run with Solomon for three years now so I haven't run in the shoes that I used to run in and obviously there's been a massive change in in road running shoes in the last three years so I'm excited to try a few different things. And I think that that makes it really tough if you do some running in AlphaFly or the our phrase the Puma R3s and then you go and run in most trail shoes. You go like, how are they so heavy compared to the road super shoes? yeah um And I sometimes run with like proper road super shoes on the trails only because I want to feel light and quick and i don't want heavy shoes on ah on my feet.
00:51:46
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. so I guess that's the thing with trail running is like I'm not um there's nothing in the there's nothing that I'm super excited about trying because the other shoe that I actually enjoyed and I probably will run in a bit next year anyway was the Pulsar 4 which was the new version of the Pulsar. It's not soft which I was like a bit a bit hesitant. I thought I might not like it as much because the other Pulsar is the reason I like them because they were softer than most of the other Solomon shoes. But I really like the Pulsar 4. I'm not sure what it is about it but um it feels like i get really good energy return from it so i think for a technical race i'll probably still utilize that one a little bit but i'm excited to have a bit more variety um so yeah that'd be good but the one thing the other gear thing that i really enjoyed and i i can't remember if i used it in previous years but the solomon handhold bottles are fucking amazing i love they are very good i agree yeah i've run with two at gcr
00:52:39
Speaker
It's a great way to get like your, if you have like a minimum liquid requirement, it's quite a good way to do it because you can have a liter on your hands and like, and then another maybe liter in your belt or your pack or whatever it is. So yeah, I found them quite good.
00:52:53
Speaker
For races that don't have a high mandatory gear requirement, but you're going to have to carry a lot of liquid, whether it's just a long distance between aid stations, whatever it is. like I've done that in the past and use one or two handhelds plus couple of bottles on your belt and they just pack up so small and they're gone. um i yeah I've been doing a lot of my long runs with like a belt ah that carries my gels and my phone and then handholds that carry my liquids. Yeah, I currently can't go out the door without liquid, um even on my 30 minute runs. And therefore, one of those handhelds has been coming on every single 20 to 30 minute run, because I don't survive that even without it.
00:53:30
Speaker
So one other thing that I have tried this year gear wise that I'm very a very very impressed at. I don't love the fact that I'm saying this, but there's a brand in the States called Terragnota who have kind of gone about it a really different way. And they're very like very open about the margin where it all comes from. The gear is really cheap. You have to obviously buy it from the States. So that's why i don't love it because you're adding to the carbon emissions for that product. But I've bought, i haven't got to try this yet on a run, I've bought their, their seven liter pack, which I would say is nearly, it's nearly the quality of Salomon, maybe Salomon a couple of years ago, but for half the price, if not more than half the price.
00:54:10
Speaker
And then their shorts that have a built-in belt are probably the most comfortable pair of shorts I've ever used. And they're, I think they're like $40. Um, they're, very similar to the shorts. The belt probably isn't quite as strong in its carrying capacity and I would probably love another inch on the shorts.
00:54:31
Speaker
But that's like that that would be my only critiques for it. But for the price, um the quality is is incredible. So like if you got a bunch of people together and you you did one big order um and you you just got got the shipping, like I would definitely say they're a brand worth looking at. Yeah.
00:54:48
Speaker
yeah Nice. Nice. Good stuff. um That wasn't so much of a quickfire question. We kind of went a little bit haywire, but we got there. We got there. This one might do the same thing, but I promise this is the second last. um The last one, if if anyone wants to think about it while someone else is answering, is actually going to move into what we're looking forward to in 2026.
00:55:09
Speaker
But um this one, and I do actually want the off the top of your head, not super be detailed, but going global, who was your favorite or best in your mind, male, female of the year? Trying to not go too detailed on the twos and fros, but I want the subject
Podcast Reflections and Storytelling Impact
00:55:29
Speaker
subjective version here. So there's need to-
00:55:33
Speaker
Of the year, like overall of the year. Choose either. You can choose one, James. You can choose. You can very, very much choose whether you go for someone that's the most standout performance for their whole season.
00:55:49
Speaker
um Does anyone have one to start? Male think on the women's side, i would choose Katie Scheid. yeah From Hard Rock into Sierra Zanelle, into Worlds and a bunch of other stuff that I'm probably forgetting. But off the top of my head, that's probably the most impressive female.
00:56:07
Speaker
And then male is probably... a ah I'm going to split it short trail long trail because I can't decide. it would be Elazina Lazowie in the short trail or the sub-ultra distance and then it would be Francesco Pippi in the ultra distance.
00:56:24
Speaker
Nice. Yep. Love that. but Brodie? I think Francesco Pupi for me for, um yes, I'll just choose one. um But yeah, I think his season was pretty pretty impressive. His run at Canyons was pretty crazy. And then he was like, no, I don't want to go to Western States. Not yet. I'll go next year.
00:56:45
Speaker
So I thought that was pretty cool. Like he had his plan for the season and he, And he did it. um So, yeah, his was a great season to watch. And in the women, I don't know. James puts a good case forward. But, you know, I'm going to use my orienteering bias and I'm going to go with Tove for winning. Damn.
00:57:02
Speaker
I was going to going to go. Just because I want to prop up orienteering a little bit. So well done, Tove. But honestly, and I think Katie Scheid was a pretty crazy performance. Tove for the one-off performance of female. Yeah, for a one-off, you can't look past Tove. And technically, she didn't do one-off. She did two. She did the exact same race, what, like a month before.
00:57:24
Speaker
um But, yeah. She did also win the Orienteering World Champs. Yeah, but it doesn't count. No one cares. Show running podcast. Oh, nice. Vlad, who you got?
00:57:36
Speaker
I'm going go with Tove, but I'm also going to go with Remy Burnett for two reasons. Obviously winning the world champs uphill, like literally a few months after a few um few weeks after after his injury um and then breaking the world record in the VK as well, which, um yeah, I think...
00:57:58
Speaker
is obviously an incredible performance. Yeah, I think i performance-wise, I'd be hard-pressed to choose between Canyon's Pupi... Canyon's Pupi, Jesus. Pupi's Canyon, sorry, and Remy's VK World Record. Because he took... The the amount of time he took out of a of it is like, you wouldn't just go and see someone taking a minute and a half or whatever it was out of the 10K World Record. Like, that would be... Well, if you did, you would be, it's like I happen in the half marathon. There's a lot of accusations going around. So it's, yeah, that it it's it's different sports really at that point in my mind. Yeah. as I thought it was pretty cool. Like it was good to see him rocking out to world champs because um like he wasn't there at the other two. And like he just showed how dominant he is at that uphill type of racing, which I thought was was cool to see. And like a nice comeback story as well. Yeah, very, very much so. um
00:58:47
Speaker
You've kind of stolen some most of mine um in Tove and Remy. I was going to very much so for their the world's uphill, just watching it. I was like, yeah, Remy's remy's here.
00:59:00
Speaker
No one's getting ahead of him at this point at all. He runs faster up that hill than I like doing an easy jog. Oh, I know. But he's going uphill at like 10, 15%.
00:59:11
Speaker
um i One person that I loved following their season, um mostly a bit under like left field but also then at World Champs, Fred Trunchand.
00:59:24
Speaker
um I think he had a rippy. Another orienteer. Nice. Another orienteer. Yes, I'll give you that one. and When was the When's the last time he actually did an orienteering race? is is he like Is he still competing or is he trail runner? I think the French team got annoyed that he kept getting named in teams because he wasn't doing any orienteering, but he was still going to some of the international races. So then I think he sort of got not pushed out, but like they said, you've got to commit a bit more if you want to do the races and he went now and did trail running.
00:59:51
Speaker
yeah I think Fred's win at world champs definitely went to the surprise performance of the year for me. ah guess We've seen him put in some great runs, but there that was I did never pick Fred to win that.
01:00:03
Speaker
and I know Frederick quite well. like I've spent a bit of time with him when he came to Australia and that sort of stuff. And I thought he was i thought his career was sort of like on the downtrend. And he just, yeah, he he definitely proved to me that it isn't. like That was an a really good race.
01:00:19
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. probably should mention Ruth as well for winning UTMB. Yeah. And literally just coming out with a solid season in year after year for the last 10 years.
01:00:32
Speaker
Oh, yeah, definitely. um And then this is, again, a little bit of bias but also following her along um throughout the whole season, Madalena Floria. But honestly, one of my favourite ones for her was ETC and watching her just mow through the men's field um because that was the one where – and if you took I chatted to her afterwards and she's just like – That was one of the best races, but also like the most fun because she was just like, how many of these guys can I beat?
01:00:59
Speaker
And she got pretty high up there, um which on a very short race that normally the differences are quite big. Yeah. that was just yeah really cool to watch so for the and for the whole season like she she put it together in a very good way um but yeah tove and madalina on the women's side for me and remy and like francesco puppy as well um would be there for the men's um i love the fact that we haven't even who said jim's name
01:01:31
Speaker
Oh, true. Jim, gosh. He had the highest score for any man male performance, I believe, at World Champ. Yeah, yeah. um True, actually. This is why I was like, top of your head, um because there's all there's there's hundreds we could mention. So moving right along, um because Trail Runner of the Year is going to handle that a lot better than we just did, but there's our subjective views on the whole thing. um Awesome.
01:01:59
Speaker
Moving on, 2026, what we are most looking forward to. Give me your, like, personally, what you're most looking forward to within your own running. And then in the globe, it could be in the Oz scene or the global scene, like, externally, what what you're most looking forward to.
01:02:17
Speaker
Brodie, I'm going start with you. I'm not sure if you've had much chance to think through. Oh, that's Oh, really? Why? I've got my, don't worry, I've got, while I'm talking, I'll think about the second part. I'm most excited about ah getting back to running a decent amount in training and not thinking about my Achilles. And so that's that's number one. But I feel like I'm very much on that trajectory at the moment, like I've had some good weeks. So, um yeah, I'm excited to get out in the mountains and get back to what I enjoy doing without thinking too much about what hurts. So that's...
01:02:49
Speaker
what I'm looking forward to. and oh this is the one i don't know what I'm looking forward to. There's going to be a lot going on. um I guess no world champs next year, but Asia Pacific's on at the end of the year, so that'll be cool to watch. I'm sure there'll be some Aussies going overseas, but I think there'll be some great domestic racing next year um because, yeah, I don't know, it's heating up. There's going to be a lot going on.
01:03:20
Speaker
um UTA being a major again, that'll be good to watch. um Yeah, there's ah probably some some specific people that we've talked about that I'm really excited to watch. Like I'm excited to see what Lucy does.
01:03:31
Speaker
I'm excited to see where Toby Sparks takes it. I'm excited to see what Billy Curtis does. He's already sort of announced like roughly what he's doing next year. I'm excited to see how Kate and Ludo come back from pregnancy. So yeah, that's going to be...
01:03:47
Speaker
There's a lot to watch. Brodie, what's Billy said he's doing? Oh, he's got like a whole calendar. You can have a look at his – maybe he put it on one of his Strava posts. I'm not sure if it's on Instagram, but he's doing like Transvolcania. He's doing – no, Transgran Canaria. He's doing – He's doing a few races in Europe and then he's coming home and then he's doing some races in ah Asia, I believe.
01:04:09
Speaker
But, yeah, he's got a lot going on. Yeah, sick. And he's spending the winter over – he's over in Europe at the moment. So if you've seen, he's in Montenegro at the moment. I think he's moving to Bulgaria next maybe or he's he' bouncing around a little bit. But he's sort of full-time athlete mode.
01:04:25
Speaker
Nice. Sick. That will be called a cool to see. Very, very cool. James, what you looking forward to? very much dittoing Brody's answer here. um Hopefully not having a broken leg would be lovely.
01:04:38
Speaker
um And i think like for anyone that's gone through any injury, the biggest thing is having trust and confidence in your body again.
01:04:49
Speaker
And especially having it come back the second time and knowing that there is more of a genetic like reasoning to it all um i think just yeah getting back to a point where i can train and not be paranoid that my leg's just gonna break basically um because it does it weighs on you and it it does you lose connection to the thing that you you want to do the most so Yeah, getting getting back out there. um like And and it it sounds corny, but personally coaching as well. Like i've I've loved being at the events of my athletes this year. So doing within reason and not overstretching myself because it's easy to to say yes to being everywhere, um being at some of them.
01:05:33
Speaker
ah In terms of the sport, I think I'm excited to see what someone like Charlie is going to do with his second year, well, his like first full year working with Scott, his second year with Adidas, just seeing what that development looks like and Like, I think that we, it's, it's, I think we, we have the potential in Australia now in that we could see podiums, if not better at races like OCC in the next two to three years. So just seeing the evolution of that, and if that is, is going to be, be the case and just more people giving the opportunity to, to commit to it, um, potentially like some more brands supporting athletes as well, and just opening up pathways there, uh,
01:06:17
Speaker
I'm very excited by Autra's saying top two at the national champs for both the short and long for Asia Pacific. So I'm hoping that we're going to see it at the Snowys 50k and at Buffalo hundred k deep fields. i think that's one of the things that stood out to me this year is that we were seeing deeper fields, not just the top two or three, but like you looked at the cosy women's 50 K and it was incredible to see that. Um, and some of the previous Brody and I did, that we were just going through his names like, wow, this is this is awesome to see. So more of that and hopefully even bigger and deeper and more competitive and more fun for us to get completely wrong on a previous show.
01:06:55
Speaker
sort of ah Love that. You've still got to get your revenge there too, James. so Exactly. that You've got your work cut out for you. Nice one. Nice one. Vlad, feel like you're you're in touch with everything globally, usually. Yeah, even though, yeah, I'm... Like, you know, um on on the on the scale of things, I think that racing in Australia is becoming more and more competitive and I think I'm pretty excited about being a part of it and also watching it.
01:07:22
Speaker
um I feel like the level has obviously been growing with every year and and I think next year we're going to see some really competitive races in Australia, like UTA again being a major. I think a lot of internationals are goingnna ah going to travel for that and, you know, just pick up pick up like, you know, the level up here and they will help the sport grow here.
01:07:42
Speaker
um i think personally I'm excited about doing a 100k race. Last one that I finished was in 2015. So hopefully I can, you know, complete a 100k race next year.
01:07:56
Speaker
um Also personally, I'm pretty excited about the little run club that we've started here. I think that with Beaks has been you know nice to grow the company and grow the products and develop all the products. But also now we have a bit more of a community base with a basic um run club. But it just created a bit more of a community feel and connecting to more people, which I haven't really had for a while.
01:08:25
Speaker
um So, yeah, I think I'm really excited about that just continuing and hopefully growing as well. Very nice. Very nice. um Who's the top people you're following, top people to watch? I think, did you say something earlier?
01:08:38
Speaker
Someone earlier? I can't remember. Oh, internationally? don't know. Internationally or but or Aussies? Like Aussies you're most looking forward to following along? definitely Toby. I think that Toby's. Oh, yeah, that was one.
01:08:50
Speaker
Yeah, I really think that, like I said, like he's super talented. I don't think he's fully committed to trail running this year. I've had a couple of conversations with him and It did like you know a big Europe trip. They did some guides, some cycle, like long long bikepacking.
01:09:06
Speaker
um So I think if this year he can really stay focused on trail running, he's going to have some really, really good results and hopefully he's going to race a bit internationally. But I think that he's going to try and um hopefully make the Asia Pacific team. So we might see him race very soon. um But yeah, I think internationally there's so many good runners out there.
01:09:29
Speaker
um Yeah, so a couple of good races coming up. Yeah, which actually I am keen to see what happens with um the massive prize pool at Broken Arrow. um or Yeah, that will be interesting. with that and That's more on the on the global scene. um But yeah, I suppose for myself, it's interesting. i The thing I actually look forward to most is just getting normal weeks of training and like the almost not not normal weeks of training in the way of like being able to do it.
01:09:59
Speaker
But almost like that feeling of have everything but sort of being settled and in a rhythm. um I feel like I haven't actually had that for quite a while despite and even with everything that's gone on um for me health-wise. So I am slowly getting answers. um But I do actually have a few very cool things booked in which I should hopefully get to, um one being a two-week trip to the Simpson Desert where I will run the Simpson Desert Ultra for fun. um It's more of a two-week four-wheel drive trip. That's just something I'm massively looking forward to, to see more of Oz. And then um no idea if I have a spot yet, but my like big halo of a thing that I'm looking forward to in 2026 –
01:10:48
Speaker
hopefully landing myself a spot at Trofeo Kima, which has always been like one of my dream races. And I'm like, if I've got till August body, we can do that. um so ah like for me, that will, if I can just get to that one thing, for me, it would be like ah a very cool year.
01:11:08
Speaker
um So i think I'm looking forward to simplicity and just working towards one really big thing, um which will be cool. And then Aussie scene, very, very keen to see how the sort of selection process and everything um continues to develop and improve for things like Asia Pacific. I do feel like in any given year, you do get an idea um of where things are moving for sort of, say, the next world champs, et cetera.
01:11:36
Speaker
um Like it gives you an indication of things moving forward. So um keen to follow along that. And otherwise, yeah, it's just the fact that the races are all getting more competitive. They're getting deeper. um And I'm hoping to see that continue. And as we as people hopefully have figured out or ah as they listen to all of these awards, like we have so many young talents coming through.
01:12:01
Speaker
um, that are just getting started. Um, so very keen to see where a lot of them move to and go, um, over 2026, but yeah, in terms of single races, I think Aussie wise, um, I'm keen to see the championships and then the whole Asia Pacific team, um, how that all goes and then, um, uh, complete blank, but UTA. UTA. I can't believe I blanked on UTA.
01:12:32
Speaker
um Yeah, they're probably be the biggest things in Oz. Sweet. Okay. so one One quick fire that I just want to throw at you guys. I did this think it's going to take very long.
01:12:45
Speaker
Looking back, this is all of your first four years and the first my first 10 months or so on the podcast. but So looking back at 2025, Sim, what's your your highlights from the podcast? oh very good question.
01:13:00
Speaker
Highlights from the pod. um I think it it it'd have to be some of the, um like, the interviews, like, that... either you've done or or we've all done um on the main show, like straight after some of these races, like having that immediate access to hearing the stories of what went down in races that you either weren't at or in more depth, um getting to hear those stories, ah that would, yeah, but I can't, that there's a few I can think of, but like, yeah, getting to hear things more as they're happening as opposed to not either not knowing or it having to wait so much longer um don't know if that makes any sense but yeah yeah there's like an immediate post-race feelings that yes we've sort of missed out on in the past yeah like you only hear on a private like a conversation of you asking someone how's it gone but it's not been online um yeah flad what about yourself
01:13:58
Speaker
I think all your interviews, James. it' um I've literally listened to all of them and I'm not sure if I'm listening to Diary of a CEO or Picked the Suits. But yeah, well done on all your interviews. I think that you bring ah a fresh point of view to a lot of them.
01:14:17
Speaker
um And personally, I've really enjoyed your interviews and i know there's a lot of cool ones coming up, so I'm really looking forward to them as well. thank you appreciate that made me blush a lot yeah Brie please don't say me I i was gonna say me okay good and I actually thought of you I really enjoyed doing a preview episodes so that was probably my highlight um but I also have really enjoyed
01:14:47
Speaker
And hopefully people are enjoying like the, we've sort of changed the structure a little bit in like the last six weeks with having the guest um host on. I've really enjoyed that. um And it's meant I've had more weeks off and I've got to listen to more podcasts as well. So that's been good. um And yeah, that's probably, that's probably my two highlights.
01:15:08
Speaker
yeah Yeah, it's been fun the last however many weeks we've been doing it, six, eight weeks of having that guest host in and getting a chance to and share some of those more immediate reflections on races and getting, not just like interviewing them, but actually getting some of the awesome personalities to shine through and to partake and ask us questions. And i feel like that's kind of put a new lease of life into it, like really elevated it, at least from like from my side, listening to the podcast as well. I've really felt that. Yeah.
01:15:36
Speaker
the I think that the the in-person one we all did at UTA podcast was was really fun. The post-race where we all sat in the same room and I think Sim took about five hours to edit out that one because everyone's mic recorded everything. That was the worst editing job of my life.
01:15:57
Speaker
So yeah, that
Interviews and Runner Stories
01:15:59
Speaker
that definitely stands out. And then, yeah, like oh well the the first one would be getting to come onto the podcast and then having access to to do those interviews. And some of the people I've enjoyed or like all of them, it's been with is like the...
01:16:12
Speaker
listening to Charlie and Mikey rick out their races and with a very fresh, but they so used to really dissecting it and like hearing the way that they break down their races may really opened up my, my thinking to seeing how, yeah, how they do it. And just hearing some of the stories, like I still can't get over Andrew Gaskell being lost in the jungle for, can't remember how long it was, but like,
01:16:35
Speaker
But when you start researching somebody and then that pops up, you go, surely not. like I've got the wrong person in here, which is, yeah. And it's, it's been, you do you do realize how how we've got some incredible runners in the sport, but just some really beautiful humans as well, which is exciting. And I think it's good to have those people that are role models. Unfortunately, you're stuck with the five of us on the podcast, but there's some good people out there.
01:17:00
Speaker
We'll try and share
Listener Engagement and Future Plans
01:17:01
Speaker
as many other voices as possible still. Yeah, we're rotating them through now. Yes, exactly. On that, ah you are listening to this at the start of 2026 and what we are hoping is a very big year for trail running, for us, for the podcast and just for everyone listening as well.
01:17:19
Speaker
But your feedback is always, always welcome. Like we are... evolving constantly um as we've recently tried to sort of shift things around and make it so that hopefully the listening experience is um more enjoyable for yourselves. But if you have people you want interviewed, if you have questions you want sent in, if you have just ideas that you think would improve the podcast or things you even don't like, we're open to all of it. Send us through the messages or you can comment on things on Spotify. you can um There's many ways to reach us. Easiest one probably is Instagram at peakpursuits.pod. But we are more than welcome more than happy to be shaped by the people listening.
01:18:00
Speaker
um And we do have a few cool things coming up that we'll announce throughout January that we're going to get into in 2026. It feels weird saying that. My brain just almost said 2025. So, yes, thank you so much, everyone, for listening.
01:18:19
Speaker
Vlad, James, Brody, thank you for what has been a very fun episode and recap. Jess,
Conclusion and Gratitude
01:18:26
Speaker
we are thinking of you as you are enjoying, i believe, some camping time and family time around Christmas. um And, yeah, that's our 2025 wrap, 2026 prep, and here's another prep and um here's to another year of podcasting guys and i really hope we do this at the same time next year and three out of the four of us don't say the thing we're looking forward to the most is just training really exciting that's true let's not be so broken next year guys yeah yeah and hopefully we've we've all gone to uh 2026 of the year yeah yeah we will have all crude and crude or paste vlad at states when he gets his golden ticket as well yeah
01:19:11
Speaker
Definitely the plan. We've got to make that happen. Awesome. Well, peace out, team. I think that's ah that's a wrap. And thank you, everyone, for listening. We will speak to you, well, for us right now from when we're recording next year.
01:19:24
Speaker
Yeah. Thanks, everyone. Thanks, everyone. Catch you.