Transcript
Speaker: Hello and welcome to the Peepsitch podcast and the 2026 Four Peaks Bright Alpine Climb preview. You're with myself, James Sieber and Brodie as always and this time for the preview we are also joined by frequent collaborator on the show show now, Kelly Angel. Kelly, thanks for doing this.
Speaker: Hey guys, no worries. Thanks for having me. And a finisher of the Four Peaks, which is an achievement in itself. a finisher finally 2025 i got to do all four yeah it's uh it's definitely one of those events we're saying if we got started it's one of the most iconic or like longest standing events we have here in the country and that's why i we want to do a preview of this one today to really try and shed a bit of light on what is one of the only true mountain running tests that we have over here brodie this is definitely like a passion area of yours so it's exciting to see some good names from orienteering and trail coming across this year
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. it's ah ah it Four Peaks is one of the first events I knew of as a trail runner um back when I was sort of starting to get into the sport, maybe in 2021, 2022.
Speaker: At that point, it was also being taken on by orientator, now the race director or an ex-orientator, Rob Preston. He's the race director now. Yeah. He sort of like, it had always had good orienteering representation and I'd been to it before that as well back in the teens. Um, but yeah, it's such a, such a special race. I think special for a number of reasons to one, because it's so old, it was first held in 1979. So it's been around for a really long time. Um, there's not many other trail races in the country that can sort of boast about being around back then. um
Speaker: Two, it's one of the only mountain running races in the country. And three, it's one of the only stage race type of events. So it ah ticks a few different boxes. um And it's such ah it's it's held in Bright, which I'm sure a lot of our listeners are aware how special a place Bryce is for trail running and being in the mountains. So...
Speaker: Yeah, it's a very cool weekend, a long weekend of running. um And yeah, i'm looking forward to seeing what happens this weekend. um ah Like you said, a lot of orientiers have gone to this ah this race over the years, visiting orientiers from overseas as well. um And yeah, this year is no different. We've got a bunch of orientiers, but also bunch of trial runners, including podcast-owned Vlad Ixl coming across.
Speaker: I'm excited to see how Vlad goes. I think this will be his first time in Bright. So I think you'll ah it'll be in for a bit of a treat. Kelly, the your experience from last year, finally get to do all four days.
Speaker: What stood out to you most about actually doing the back-to-back days and the events themselves, how they kind of go day one into two three, four, et cetera? Yeah, look, i I had first been to to Four Peaks ah probably maybe 2013, like it was years ago. There's little photos of of young little Kelly and Tegan when we first met. um And so I'd been hanging out. We'd been back quite a few times um but only managed to to get one or two races in. So i was so excited last year to to do all four and I got the flu the week off but I tried to ignore it and I was still determined to do all four races.
Speaker: Um, it's, it's really challenging backing up day to day. um I remember taking my, ah borrowed the, the um, inflatable boots from my Mayo use them every night to try and recover. um unfortunately it took me a lot longer to recover from the flu and that was not a good decision. I don't recommend doing that. Um, but it was really fun backing it up day to day and, um, you know, you, you're competing against similar people most of the time. Um,
Speaker: ah you know if they've if they've done all signed up for all four events. And um so, yeah, it's it's a great community vibe and everyone goes back to the pub for a beer and yeah.
Speaker: i think that's the thing that struck me the most having I've been at the event a bunch of times I've only ever run one day of it but it is that kind of community collaborative element to it where year after year you see the same people going there and ah I'm sure it's true for when matter where you are in the pack and then afterwards everyone's like debriefing having a chat chilling at the top trying to get off the mountain as fast as possible in some cases Brody is that kind of what it felt like the years that you've been there yeah i've been there a few times just to as training races just to run ah some of the some of them individually like i've done one i've done buffalo a fair few times i've done buffalo feather top combo and i've also just done the all four in one and i don't know it's it's one of the coolest trail running experiences i've ever had i love the stage racing vibe
Speaker: um in terms of like the inter-race sort of dynamics. Like you've got the dynamic within each race but also between the races, which is very cool. um So it's super fun. And I think it's fun for everyone at at all levels, like at the elite sort of like the back and forth between the different days. and then And then like Kelly was saying, you're running with a huge number of people, um even the people in the mid and back of the pack, they're running around the same people each day so they can have a bit of fun with that as well. So Yeah, I think i think that is is pretty cool. And unlike maybe other stage races, although it's still really hard because it is really hard, but I guess they're a bit shorter um even though they've got a lot of climbs. So, yeah, I think it's it's hard, but it's achievable, um especially if you pace yourself well. Yeah, you know you know, everyone's got different tactics going into it too because – Some people will choose a couple of days to go hard and and another days just to do it. um So you don't really know how everyone's tackling it. And um you know there's hikers as well. So just like you said, Brodie, everyone can can get involved in and enjoy it in different ways. Brodie, when you think to the first three days, being the three vertical days, Mystic Day 4 is more of a classic up-down style race.
Speaker: Given that they're all uphill, do you see any significant difference in which day would would favor a different type of runner or any different areas where you can remember back to being like, okay, this is a good area to push or need to hold back? Yeah, that's the thing, like it actually is very varied um and it does. It does. Each course is varied to other courses and also within the races, there's different parts to it. um So, for example, like Buffalo is probably like the slightly more technical one and has a section after you cross the road. um the The last section, which is up across the granite, the granite slabs, anyone who's run Buffalo knows that section. That's quite technical. uh even though you're running uphill it's it still is technical and it brings in a different challenge um feathertop has a more gradual first uh I don't know what that is 10k maybe to the hut and then the last section is like very steep so I'd love to see this like and I think we've seen it a few times with maybe two or three athletes um going really hard all four days um but I'd love to see like a field of like 10 to 20 people um going hard every day and like the different tactics that come out. um
Speaker: Yeah, I feel like there's a lot of different different ah opportunities for this sort of event in the future as well where you could get some team racing or something like that potentially if you had enough numbers. Yeah. yeah it's it's very cool the races are all different um and then you finish with mystic which is much nicer when than when they started with mystic i can't remember which year that was but it was brutal because you got the doms after mystic and um and then had to run uphill for three days i do remember that It's just a ah brutal way to start four days four days worth of of racing. And it's going to be interesting this year. One year I came to day four and it was Buffalo. I just ran Buffalo and everyone else had run Mystic on day one. It was a good year to run one race.
Speaker: Boost the ego a little bit there. It's going to be interesting as well because we don't have two on the men's field, especially two names that have been coming back year after year in Macri and Ian Best. And those guys have been pushing themselves right to the the limit the limit. As we're going to get to shortly, we definitely have filled their shoes or at least it looks like we should be able to with it. But it will be great if we actually get the dynamic of people pushing all four days and we see some essentially sprints to the line, which has happened more than once on these events.
Speaker: In terms of the event itself, Brodie, as you said, this is one of the most historic races that we have in the calendar. It's one of the very few true mountain running events that we have on the calendar. What is it about it that you resonate and enjoy so much?
Speaker: Like I feel like it's like one of the events that like is like the true character of trail running without all the additional bells and whistles and additional stuff fluff that's built up over the years, which is great in its own respect. But it's like this is this is the true roots of the sport in terms of it's you're out there. Like I feel like they were timing with a stopwatch for a few few too many years maybe. um Like it's very bare bones you're out there.
Speaker: In the old days, you just rocked up and I think it's 20 bucks to enter enter on the day, on the morning, and you could start at whatever time you wanted too. So it was it was very relaxed, but. Yes. Yeah. And as as races go, it is still pretty chill on a multiple of those fronts. Like it's still pretty cheap. I think you can still start at any time. They sort of recommend anyone who's racing for the overall win all start at the same time at a designated start time. I think it's eight. Um,
Speaker: But yeah, the the the vibe is very different to maybe some of the other races. The racing is still very ah high octane at the top end, but you've got ah lots of people out there just enjoying it and and trying to finish the challenge of finishing all four days. um And like you said, people afterwards hang around having a chat at the brewery in the evenings. Like it's just, it's trail running to its core in my mind in terms of it's like you're out there enjoying the mountains and then you're sort of engaging with the community having fun with your friends chatting about the the races afterwards over a beer or or a pizza so it's just like yeah for me it's like peak trail running from an experience point of view kelly would you agree with that i what what was the draw for you to to really want to get all four days done as you did last year
Speaker: Yeah, just the challenge of being able to back it up day after to day and um even little things like like the the jog back down Feathertop is just really nice to to cruise down with everyone and, you know, no one's generally not not racing that part. so you've done the hard work and then you can can relax and and get back down.
Speaker: um Yeah, it's just a nice weekend away. Yeah. it's It's definitely one that I think if you listen to this and you haven't made it up for that that weekend, even if you're not in Victoria, so you don't get the long weekend and just get it to day one and day two, it's definitely an experience. It's unique. It's something that we're going to see this year as well. The weather plays a massive factor with the fact that you're up into the high country. We're not really that far out of winter, even though it feels like we've been out of it for months.
Speaker: And it's it has just got such a nice, like authentic trail running kind of low-key vibe, which is pretty rare to find these days. As I just been mentioned as well, the weather, I don't know if you either of you guys have had a look at it, but it is looking interesting, shall we say, for the first two days.
Speaker: what Especially Saturday, wet and pretty windy. The good thing with Buffalo is it's you're pretty protected, so there shouldn't need to be any real change there. but if that carries across to day two i do wonder if we're actually we're not going to see a feather top summit this year which is always a risk but it would be a shame it a shame yeah i've been there plenty of years where we've had to stop at the hut and it is it's a shame so you keep going and sometimes they've cut it in the middle of the race we we've gone up thinking that we're going all the way up and then you get there and they're like no you're done like oh
Speaker: Oh, that's it. and even even even been times where they can let a few people through and then they have to call it and be like, actually, no, we can't let anyone through. And there's like 15 people went to the top and the rest go to FedHut. That's even more disappointing because you race to the top, but your time counts from FedHut.
Speaker: Yeah. yeah yeah but most Most disappointingly, like that one is the one that I think like if you talk about the course records on probably both the men's and the women's sides, I'm not sure as much about the women's side, but it's probably the course record that's like closest to going down. Last year, Michael Kernaghan was maybe about...
Speaker: 30 to 40 seconds about 45 seconds off it um whereas the other records are like pretty crazy um both on the men's and the women's side so yeah i think maybe because we haven't seen that one finish as much that we haven't seen those results uh come across maybe in when people have been in their best we've had the best runners there in their best form um so yeah hopefully the weather clears so we can get get everyone across the finish line yeah feather the top ah We would be good. And especially, I said, we the course records that we have were supplied to us by Ian Best, who's he's our resident historian for Australian mountain running for Buffalo in the men's. We have Paul Craig at 54.08, which I struggle to say that without like, yeah, choking up a little bit. It doesn't feel real to me, but I just must have been unbelievable. Yeah.
Speaker: And we are saying, as you said, it was often hand-tyed, it's back in the 2000s. But you look at Paul Craig's resume and you can see why he potentially could definitely run something like that. John Winsbury, as you said, 113.29 up Feathertop, where Michael Curnahan was 114.19. So definitely got very close. And then Mystic has changed so many times that we don't actually look at that. Paul Craig also holds Hotham at she has all the records from 2009, 68.05 for Buffalo, 122.26 for Feathertop, and then 137.39 for Hotham.
Speaker: And I said, we've had some pretty pretty fast women try and get that for reference last year. Kate Avery took on Feathertop and she ran 128.29 with Lucy Bartholomew just behind her in 129.48. So still six minutes back off what Hanny ran, which You can see Kate maybe this year getting downside closer to that if she was going to be there. Unfortunately, we're not to have Kate, which would be cool. But yeah, it's going to be interesting to see if anyone gets close. I do think that Feathertop 1, if we can get a summit and the weather does hold off, we might be seeing a good crack on it with some of the, especially the guys that are in this field this year. So...
Speaker: Any other comments on the course, the history, the weather, reflections on there, Brodie? I was just thinking about Mystic last year was really wet.
Speaker: um So it was really interesting to see um people who were, you know, experienced trail runners knew how to tackle the downhills in that weather because it was really slippery and, and you know, the rivers flowing down the creeks. um So that can have a pretty big impact as well.
Speaker: Yeah. feel like, was it last year that Ian, I think Toby Lang went out really hard in Mystic, who Toby's going to be back this year. And i think Ian took him on the final climb. It was e yeah dealing with the weather, dealing with the fact that you've actually got a classic style course was, was what decided that. So yeah, no, it is. I think it's fun to throw in that element of a like more classic trail race at the end of, the end of this and separate, okay, who's not just a good uphill runner, who's actually a good trail runner.
Speaker: Brady, anything? should we get into it? No, not really. I guess we didn't actually talk about the what the distance of the four races, so I can run them down quickly before we jump into the runners. So it starts day one, Mount Buffalo ah starts at Eurobin and finishes at the Chalet. So it's 10.5, 1,050 metres of climbing. Mount Feathertop starting in Haritville, finishing at the summit, 11.8 kilometres with 50 metres elevation.
Speaker: ah fifty metres of elevation Mount Hotham, again, starting in Harrodville, finishing at the Diamantina Hut. i probably said that wrong.
Speaker: Diamantina. Diamantina. There you go I think I didn't realize there was an N in that. Anyway, um that's ah where the road is off the where the Razorback starts. So that's where the finish of that one is. And then the Mystic is sort of around the Mystic Hill area. um I think it's changed a fair bit over the time. I don't actually know the current course, but, yeah, it's sort of on those... On those slopes ah where Buffalo goes up, Buffalo 10K and all the Buffalo Stampede courses, but it's off the face off the side face there, I guess.
Speaker: Yeah, it starts from Nightingale's. Yeah, Nightingale's in Wondeligong and, yeah, sort of makes its way optimistic if, yeah, comes around, but it stays stays all on that face. Yeah. it's that sounds like it's going to be a really cool change because i started at the oval and like it'd be cool to finish it the 19 gales and have a cider and it sounds like there's a kids race there as well um through the orchard yeah when the weather's nice it's a really nice finish last year was a bit sad because it was just bucketing down and people just wanted to get out of there they were freezing
Speaker: Yeah, fingers crossed for this year. But yeah, so that's the four aces. No ah mean feat. You can stop at the top of Buffalo and Hotham, but you have to run down off Feathertop. So it does add a little bit of an element to it there. So yeah, it's ah it's a challenging four days, but um a doable four days.
Speaker: And I'd definitely say if you're someone that hasn't done Mystic last year, there is a GPX file on the website and I would definitely download it because mistakes have been made coming into the finish because you essentially start and finish the same way, but there is one difference.
Speaker: And I know in previous years people have gone, they finished the way they started, which is not the correct way. So if you are listening, just make sure you you have a check of that. The rest of them are incredibly easy to follow because you just go up the one trail that goes up and you keep going until you can't go up anymore. And that's basically so sums up four things. Okay.
Speaker: Let's start off with our women's fields. Kel, I'm going to come to you first. Who do you have a eye on? Look, I think it's a pretty good year for anyone to give it a crack.
Speaker: Um, I think there's a lot of races on at the moment. We're pretty saturated. um And so i think we're missing a lot of the competition that we would normally see. um But there are a few few contenders. i think the main one that stands out is Tori Thomas, who's a, I think, 48-year-old local mum who's actually been a Comm Games mountain biker in the past the looks of it. and has had some great results this year.
Speaker: um ah where Came second at Razorback thirty seven k earlier this year. And she's also come second and third overall at Four Peaks in 2023 and 2024. So, yeah, eyes on twenty three in two thousand and twenty four so Yeah, Tori definitely comes in with the most experience on this course, at least that that we know of and the names that we've been able to see. And her times are also really strong up here. she She was those years where she's come second and third. She's been putting in some really fast time, especially her 2023 year. So it's going to be exciting to see how Tori does. And she's been at a lot of our local Riverina events this year.
Speaker: specifically and has been pushing SJ really hard. It's been not too far off Ellie Jackson, who is a name we're starting to learn is is quite good in this mountain running space. So I'm excited to see Tori come back onto a start line. because I don't think I've seen her do anything since Baranduda Riverina, which is in June, unless I've missed anything. So good to see Tori jumping back into something.
Speaker: And then i think there's a few orientiers who i do not know, I might let Brodie speak to these, but Ney Shingler, Grace Crane, and Justine Hobson. Yeah, so there's, like as we were saying earlier, there's ah always been a lot of orientiers head to this race over the years. um So it's sort of just like continued as a tradition. um So yeah, this year, ah sort of like the cream of the crop, I guess, in terms of the best orientiers in Australia on the women's side. um Both, ah yeah, Nia Shingla, Justine and all and Grace, all three of them have been world champs reps in the last two years. Erica Ennerby, who is also... running also at world champs this year so um very good orienteers um probably do a little less maybe trail running compared to some of the some in the men's field that we will talk about um but yeah that some of them have done it before i know nia's done it i think james you're saying she has finished it is that right and eric has done yeah at least some of the races before
Speaker: So Nir, I've got as coming 12th day one last year, eleventh day two last year, and then 14th on day four last year. And then she's also had a sixth day one 2024 and a seventh on day two 2024. So she has the most familiarity with this course. And I saw that Grace has also done triple tops back in 2022. So not
Speaker: Yeah, grace has been Grace is one of the sort of older athletes. She's um been competing for a very long time um and she was in made a return to World Champs after having some kids ah last year. She had three three daughters and then she made her way back into the elite ranks and she ran in the World Champs last year and she's very competitive at the sort of top level in the nation in Australia, often winning or on the podium.
Speaker: um And I think she'd be familiar with a a bit more trail running maybe than the others because the others are a bit younger. um And, yeah, her partner, Matt Crane, has run four peaks before. He would have been in the mix maybe in the podium back in the 2018, 2017. He's good friends with Sam Burrage and they used to race a bit. He's a bit more broken than Grace is. that Grace is still crushing it. Unfortunately, Matt's not running as much, but maybe he's coming down to do one or two or look after the kids hopefully.
Speaker: When you're looking at these names, Brady, and considering the fact that they are at least entered into all four days, how do you think, yeah although those four ladies would go backing up, uh, day one into day four and and which courses they might suit?
Speaker: Yeah, like I said, the the Justine, Nia and Erica are younger runners. i'm i'm not I'm not sure how they'll go back to back. I know Nia, like it sounded like Nia skipped one of them last year and that's generally how some of the younger volunteers have come to this event for a bit of fun and to enjoy like it is off-season now, I guess, for orienteering. So it's something fun to do in the off-season. So I don't know, one, how seriously they'll be taking it, two, how well they'll back up. But and I'm sure um as they get older and older, that that they're all in their sort of getting into their early to mid-20s now. And I think they're going to get stronger each year. um I'm guessing that the...
Speaker: The earlier races might like be they'll start step maybe start to ah find the later races a bit harder, although Mystic probably suits the Orienteers quite well in terms of the steep downhills. So, um yeah, it'll be interesting. i'm I'm not exactly sure how it will pan out. it bit It might depend a little bit on how seriously they're taking it. It's to exciting to see and it's always impressive when we see the orientators line up to four peaks and we get a glimpse of their capacity because it's normally pretty impressive and it's definitely been fun to watch over the years.
Speaker: The only other two names have looked at from past results, Yanni Cornthwaite came seventh here in 2022 and Tracy Austin eighth in 2023. So it's...
Speaker: Going to be, as you say, Kelly, I think it's it's a year for somebody to be able to really make a mark and put something in quite impressive. We have seen that in past years. Off the top of my head, 2023 comes to mind when Ellie Jackson took the win overall here. And it can be fun to see who can put it together day after day because it's so it's one thing to run a fast Buffalo. It's a very different thing to run a fast Mystic after Feathertop and Hotham thrown in there. yeah Yeah, and um we know that, you know, there's a lot of people that just sign up for one or two races. So um there's a couple of names that stand out, but we just we don't actually know which race they're running. um So there's Nadia Federova, who is a local DTR runner. um I think she was injured earlier in the year, but it does look like she came second in the Buffalo 10K, and she's also um been doing lots of high rock stuff and is an age group champion, I believe.
Speaker: um So she'll be one to watch out for. Yeah, from what I can tell, she did the whatever the slam is, the the grand slam, the slam that doesn't have the 100K in it.
Speaker: The grand slam. The slam. That one. yeah And she also came fourth in the marathon. So she came second in the 10K, fourth in the marathon, which the marathon had a decent field for sure. So i think maybe she was a i think she was up against Sophie b Broome in this ah Grand Slam, and I think she got the best of her, if I remember correctly, because I was following that with Sophie. So, yeah, she's she's definitely got um some good pedigree.
Speaker: Yeah, she was moving as well. So 4.22 on the marathon course after the 10K and the 20K in your legs is very impressive. So yeah, exciting to see which see which one Nadia comes up today. We also have Patricia McGibbon coming back to do day one and day two. Unfortunately, most people around the country don't get that long weekend. And so that's why we do see just a couple of days, but exciting to see how Trish goes getting back into racing and coming back onto course.
Speaker: Has she been before? Because I feel like she was asking me all about it. um Interested, but I can't remember if she's actually been. I don't think she has. might be her first crack at it.
Speaker: So it'll be really good see her. Yeah, she's run GSCR. She ran GSCR last year and she nearly beat me to the top. So I think she'll be pretty good if she's running Feathertop because she ran a pretty good time up there last year, I reckon, in the middle of GSCR. Yeah, I don't think she ever has. Trish is, I coach Trish, and so she's, say, definitely building back. is bit of fun, a hard hit out.
Speaker: First time since, what's Hut to Hut, I think is the first kind of bigger race. She did a local relay in Canberra through winter, but this will be the first time we kind of see her back onto one of the more key main races and then as we're building up looking more towards next year so just exciting to see what Trish does and get a hard hard fun race out there awesome it's very strong uphill Yeah, yeah.
Speaker: Chris is, yes. it's It's very impressive. Cool. Anything else from the women's fields? think that's all for me. Let's move across to the men's. And the first name I want to talk about is he is our only returning winner for Four Peaks. And I really want to talk about him because he just took down Brody's time at the Macedon Walking Track FKT. Shouldn't be giving us any air time at all.
Speaker: Should be giving this so much at a time. So this is always always fun. it's um But a name that we would probably have have missed quite easily, but ah first in 2018 when he came first, first, first, and first.
Speaker: And then clearly in some decent shape. I know, Brady, that wasn't like a 100% race effort, at that FKT for you, but still ah still a decent push. I think it was a training training run for him. Yeah. Which is even more disappointing. Yeah.
Speaker: It's quite exciting to see a name that we haven't seen, at least that I could find since back then. So it's, yeah, I always find it fun when we when we we get some more obscure names come back into it, especially when we we are talking about such a competitive men's field. That was really all I wanted to say there. just wanted to really put that one... I haven't mentioned Yeah, but fair enough. yeah Nathan that's a mathan Lawson, he is an orientator as well. He was ah he was here in 2018 and we have this coaching residence program where we get your ah European orientators come across and they do some coaching and they get put up ah by sort of like a host family. um So he ran it when he was over here for that. And he's recently just moved to Australia. So um like literally like a few months ago. so exciting to see him here. He's been on the World Champs team for Great Britain, which is probably like slightly stronger than the Australian team. um we Definitely stronger in the in the in the forest and probably a bit stronger in the sprint orienteering as well. And I think he was...
Speaker: i'm I'm trying to get the result up, but it's not loading. Maybe 14th at the World Champs when it was in Edinburgh in Scotland. um So a very high quality runner. And he also runs for ultra Europe.
Speaker: um So yeah, he's a good runner. He grew up doing fell running. So that's ah he's very good at running uphill. um So yeah, he's he's definitely going to be hard to beat. But I think there is a few people in the field that probably could take him on.
Speaker: Yeah, came 15th at that Edinburgh World Champs and looks like 25th back in 2021 in the Czech Republic. Yeah, nice. This is me trusting Gemini's response. so take Yeah, that's correct. You know, the orienteering ranking website is notoriously slow. I've had it loading for two minutes, James beats me to my own stats. So thanks, James.
Speaker: Yeah, i'm I'm here to forget to say people's names but to help with stats. That's my job. Beautiful. Yeah, yeah. So he's he's a definitely high-quality runner. um So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how he he goes. But, yeah, like I said, there's a few people in that field who could take him on ah ah There's a few orientiers as well that we can get to afterwards but probably the big – Biggest name, I guess, is Pat Clark, who's off the back of winning roller coaster last weekend. Incredible uphill runner. We know how good he is. Won the VK Youth Champs ah World Skyrunning Youth VK. um He's been known to lead out races up big climbs with the best in the field, including Charlie Hamilton and Nathan Pearce and and those sort of really good climbers. So,
Speaker: yeah I think he will be a force to be reckoned with in an uphill, mostly uphill racing. um But yeah, I don't know. What do you think? Do you think he can do you think yeah he can ah take it on, Kelly, James?
Speaker: Kel? ah ah Look, I don't know enough about him, even though he's a fellow Hoka teammate. um But like he was flying last week when I ran past him a few times at roller coaster. So um yeah, let's wait and see.
Speaker: I think I'm fascinated to see what Pat can do. He's got a couple of VKs or at least one VK near where he lives. I've seen him take on a couple of times. I think it's like a but slightly loose variation of that. But he also did that right after roller coaster on Sunday. So he he went and ran, won the race, backs it up. And that one was up Northwest Spur, which is in in bright as one as the the other climb that goes up towards Feathertop that they don't do in four peaks. But...
Speaker: I, yeah, i'm I'm fascinated. I think that if we're talking about somebody that could take down one of those course records, I think that day two, if we can go to the summit, he definitely has that capacity. He's he's very fast, very fit, like massive engine for a young guy. so and clearly loves going uphill.
Speaker: And um as as as we're speaking, Ian Best is actually replying to me and saying that he he reckons he can beat Ian up any of those climbs. And Ian's run some pretty fast times up there as well. So I think he'll be he'll be a fun one to watch. And I think he'll also add a really cool dynamic of just pure aggression to all these days, assuming he's doing them all, which will hopefully... He's got that youthful confidence. Yeah, yeah. And if anyone knows Northwest Spur...
Speaker: it is a tough climb so that's pretty impressive that he backed that up last week yeah yeah he just whenever i go through perhaps strava it just looks like he's having so much fun with it which is really cool like he's doing a decent amount of training he's jumping in some some fun events some ones that look a bit more structured some of them like he just kind of looked fun and then you see those kind of backup days which whether they're on the plan or not he definitely seems to enjoy them so i'm excited to see him i i hope he's doing all four days because i'd love to see what he could do across all four days as well and that cumulative time yes mystic keeps changing but hopefully it is locked in a bit more consistently now and then we can actually see how it goes but seeing how he does and when we compared say day three to what the likes of macrian has done up there kind of hand will be interesting definitely definitely anyone you got some other people you got your eyes on james
Speaker: Yeah, we've obviously mentioned already Oren Vladixl is coming across. This is his sort of big tune-up weekend as it builds up to Asia-Pacific as well.
Speaker: It was meant to come ah over to Bright for Buffalo, got sick right before this year. And I'm really excited to see how he does. He got a treadmill around Christmas and has been doing a lot of uphill running ever since. So I think he'll be very well trained for this style of race. But I also think that you put put Vlad in against someone like Pat and maybe Pat on day one can run away from Vlad but I'm really curious to see how that dynamic changes on day two day three but also I definitely wouldn't put anything past Vlad he still does the track sessions with the young guys over in Perth so he's used to chasing some 18 year olds around track I'm sure he can do it up a hill as well definitely yeah I think like like you said he's been doing a lot of uphill work when I've run with Vlad and he's been very good uh, in the uphill and like, uh, like, I don't think I'd be able to compete with that, but like I've been in the mix in, in this four peaks before. So I think Vlad will definitely be in the mix. Um, he's a strong uphill runner. Um, and then probably, yeah, a couple of others. He got Hector McGivillery.
Speaker: definitely said that wrong. Mac Gillyvree. why did i give him Why did I decide to read that one out? That's a good question. he was he was ah six at the Donner Double earlier this year, which again had people like Pat Clark running in that game second. So he would have been about six.
Speaker: ah seven minutes behind eight minutes behind pat there he came fifth at the foothills 14k kenyani mountain run which was the australian champ so he raced against toby lang who's in this field there um we haven't seen him race since then so i'm not sure if he's been injured or just been having a little bit of a break um but yeah i think he'll definitely be in the field and then the person who probably bridges the gap between the orientiers and the trail runners is the person who is doing the most of both which would be Toby Lang. um Toby has he's preparing for the Asia Pacific trail running no yes am I getting this right? Yes.
Speaker: yes Yes, I don't know why said scared myself there. Yes, he is. He is. He's doing the, yeah, because we had him on the podcast recently. He's doing the under-23 race, so this will be a bit of a tune-up for him.
Speaker: He was second at the Mountain Running Champs earlier in the year, which was an up-down course behind Michael Kernaghan, behind David Vernon. He beat Michael Kernaghan there, so. um Definitely good at the up-downs, but he's also a really good climber. So um Toby will be one to watch, and I think we'll be giving it at his all. It sounded like, based on the podcast a few weeks ago, he just has done the IB, but he is in pretty good shape at the moment. He took... this Strava crown off Marty Dent at Black Mountain, which I think he'd been searching to try and get for many years. um And Marty Dent was very good in his peak um when that was back when he was off the back of his Olympics. So, um yeah, I think Toby will definitely be in the mix. I think he'll be one that will try and match it with Pat Clark. Whether he can is ah another question. I'd like to see him go for it. I think there's going to be a lot of aggression at the front of the men's field.
Speaker: Yeah. What do you think about using this weekend like Toby and Vlad are as a lead up for a race like Asia Pacific? So I guess at the end of the year, COSI doesn't really line up as much, but you could definitely use it for that.
Speaker: Kelly, what's your your thoughts on using this format for that? Oh, look, i I think we know that there's not any massive climbs at Asia Pacific champs. So yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, it's ah it's an interesting one. I mean, it's being uphill, it's not going to completely smash your body like um a lot more up-downs would. So from that perspective, um I don't think it's too bad. But um yeah, it's not it's not overly specific for the Asian civics. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah, I wonder if we'll see, like for Vlad, it probably makes sense because he's doing short trail, which like doing four days, he'll probably accumulate about the right amount of distance and a bit more vert. um For the Pat and Toby who are doing the shorter race, I wonder if we'll see like maybe by day four comes around if they're sort of not in the hunt for the win slash podium, maybe we'll see them.
Speaker: not run mystic. That would be something I would maybe suggest if I was coaching someone in that position because if anything's going to hurt you, it's going to be mystic. As Kelly said, the other ones are uphill. um You have to run down off Feathertop, but you can take it as easy as you want. I'm pretty sure one year I ran Buffalo Feathertop and then ran Triple Top the following weekend and I was okay. So it's still three weeks to Asia Pacific or four weeks.
Speaker: i For now, through three three weeks, maybe three and a half weeks from the end of the racing. um So, yeah, Mystic is probably the one that's most likely to bang them up. But yeah, I guess we'll see.
Speaker: There is like whilst it is very hard, you are sort of recovering between each day as well. So, um yeah, it's an interesting one. Remember but to go jump in the river. Yeah.
Speaker: Yeah. it's One time that ice baths are definitely a good option. And I think that it would be interesting to see yeah if Toby and Pat do do all the days, because the other other way to look at it is Mystic is probably the closest in specificity to what they're going to come across at age specific. So do you do day one, day two, day four?
Speaker: Or do you do day one, day four? Like it's, yeah. Whereas I'm glad because it gives us time to talk about. Hopefully they do all of them because from a isolating on this event perspective, it's going to be great to see them all go out. And and I do think it's be fun with a,
Speaker: the approach of toby and pack going at it seeing seeing how that drags the rest of the field across and hector just to answer the question he has he did do a race over in japan he did a 29k race looks like he's been trapped been traveling a lot a lot lot of time over in nepal and japan as well So from what I can tell, Nostrava has only just been getting back into things, sort of maintaining whilst he was away, but not with any significant focus. And also they were at however many thousands of meters for a lot of it in in Nepal. So it'll be interesting to see how he comes in. I think it was really his run at Buller where he was sort of he was second to Ian on that day that put him a bit more on our onto our mind and into our attention. So cool see if he's able to
Speaker: to come back up a name that i'm excited excited to see on this list is tim lock enjoying the fact that tim has going to make the trip down for the blue mountains to do this we have we don't see tim race a hell of a lot anymore but has had some incredible finishes over the year he has a second this year at jebelani 45k ninth though from tower 20k he did dnf uta one hundred k And from speaking to him, training is starting to go well again. And I'm excited to see what he could do. he's definitely not somebody that you would write off in this sort of race, even if he doesn't go in for these this short of an event very frequently.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah. i don't I don't know Tim that well, but his results are pretty good over the years and and like his UTMB index is comparable to most of the field. So if you go purely off stats, then he will be in the mix. Yeah, and I think Tim is, again, if we're talking about backing up all four days, do I think he can outrun Pat Clark to the top of any of these climbs in isolation? No, but he definitely might be there as as we go through. i think him and Vlad, I see in both of those buckets. So the guys that have got a lot of training underneath their legs have been around it for for years. And Tim is also very dialed. He's he's ah ah a very good coach.
Speaker: um And yeah, we're excited to see what he does. Definitely. And then, ah yeah, we've got a bunch of orientiers running as well on the men's side. um Again, many ah Australian reps, been at World Champs last couple of years. Leith Soden, recent winner of the Oceana Championships, which is a very impressive race there, so he's in pretty good shape. Killian Weimar, David Stocks, Ryan Stocks. I think Ryan did the IB, so maybe he's... Maybe I think he was in Toby's team. um He might not be as fresh. ah Matt Doyle, who ran it a fit a few years ago, is one of my good friends. um He'll be loving that I mention him. I'm not sure he'll be in the mix. But like a good and adding to a good depth of runners in in that men's field, I think there's going to be a good 10 runners um ah sort of battling it out with maybe three three to five at the at the top end, um which is very exciting. Would you say, just looking at past results, Leith is probably the one that will be the most competitive into this field?
Speaker: Yeah, like a lot of these runners have not done that much trail running, apart from maybe Ryan Stocks, but he's done a lot of sort of longer stuff. um These are the guys that are very focused on orienteering, whereas you sort of get some like maybe like the Tobys and even the Me's that have sort of split split focus a bit. um So they're definitely doing this as more of an off-season and they wouldn't, necessarily have trained specifically for this but uh leith does have a very good engine um and yeah i think based off the previous results he's the one that's going to be most likely to do there but i think the difference between orienteering and this ah sort of four peaks races for people who haven't done a lot of sort of normal mountain running like someone like nathan who grew up mountain running um a lot of the australian's orienteers maybe not have and i think the thousand meter climbs
Speaker: are the things that become a bit tricky at that point compared to like they're probably very good over a sort of 300 meter climbs or some undulating courses that sort of thing um but it's the the long sustained climbing that's maybe not very specific to our interior.
Speaker: Cool. It's going to fascinating to see how that all plays out. The only other name wanted to give a shout out came sixth at Four Peaks in 2025 and has had, I reckon, the busiest at least start to 2026 was Sav.
Speaker: ah He's still been out throughout the whole year. I think we call him out like every week. He's just adding. That's why he's doing Four Peaks because it's four races. He's like, how many races can I do in a year? Yeah.
Speaker: ah And I know we called him out for an event recently. I couldn't find it on ITRA or UTMB yet, so I couldn't remember which one it was. But to start off the year, he had a second at Kukunda 21k, a second at Mount Boerboer 44k, first at Warburn Trail Fest 27k, a first at Run Taraboga 42k, a first at Wilson's Prom 27k, and then the 18th at UTA 50k. So bear in mind, UTA is in May and all those events happened before May. So it's more than ah an event a month, including two marathons in there.
Speaker: I also feel like he's continued at that trajectory with like the trails plus events and stuff that don't always like pop up there. I think maybe it was the Mount Macedon one or maybe it was surf coast or like, I swear he's at everything.
Speaker: Yeah. I think you're right there. It's, um, which if you're a race director and you listen to this, please put your events on intro. It makes my life so much easier. And it is, it is really simple. It's free. I'll show you how to do it. Very grateful. Thank you. And the athletes are very grateful.
Speaker: Yeah, and yes, yeah I'm very grateful. Definitely, definitely. So yes, so but yeah as i said, he also had 15th, 8th, across last year to finish 6th overall at 4 Peaks. So not to be written out and definitely in a better shape than he was back then, as long as he's got some legs underneath him still from this year. And and that's sort of where that like racing parts are really fun. Like, yeah, there'll be at the the, like I said, there's going to be that sort of three to five, maybe at the front racing for the win each day or for the podium each day. But there's going to be like both in in the men's field and the women's field or just in the midfield. Like there's going to be people being like, I came six yesterday. I'm going to come fifth today or I came 10th yesterday. Like now I'm going to gain a couple of places and come eighth. Like it's, It's very cool that back-to-back racing and I think like someone like Sav is going to sort of fit into that mix really nicely. And you can see, ah you say you came six overall, but none of the placings were six. So you can still um you can still have a very good overall result if you're sort of just in the mix every day.
Speaker: Yeah, yeah his his only only sixth was at Mystic. So yeah, 15, 8, 8, and then six. So yeah, you can if you can put some consistency of of good results in there. And i think, as you said, it's great. You could be fighting to make the top 20 or top 30. It's a unique the thing about the stage race format that you can you can really have that focus regardless of where you are in the field, which I personally really enjoy, especially if you're a competitive person, but you're not fighting for the win. You can keep fighting for whatever position you want to get to.
Speaker: Wonderful. Guys, that is the field for the men and the women's. Kelly, anything you'd like to leave us with for four peaks this year or thoughts in general? I guess just that there was a couple of single race entries for the men as well. So Gerald McPherson and Etienne Blomstein-Jones might be standout names for those. Again, we don't know which races they're running. Saw Gerald at the Beechworth Beer Run a couple of weeks ago and um it was his birthday. So he was just having a nice cruisy day out, but um he's always generally up there.
Speaker: And Etienne's one of the OGs of mountain running, so it's good to see him still kicking around. Like he's been he's been doing mountain running before anyone else knew what mountain running was. So good to good to have him there. um And then, yeah, one other single entry, Ben Butler, also running, who's also running Asia Pacific.
Speaker: um He's coming back from an injury, so he's I think he's he's just going to be doing Buffalo, um unless he he' less he's lied to me. But, ah yeah, we're only doing Buffalo is the plan. um Like you said, James, Mystic probably would have been better, but Canberra's working. Not a public holiday in Canberra on the Tuesday.
Speaker: yeah nice exciting well hopefully if you're listening for the first time you are now excited by four peaks you can follow along and the great thing again being four days is you can actually follow along from the live results perspective thanks kelly for coming back on to help us preview this course and shed your experience we really appreciate it no worries always good to be here brodie fun as always Yeah, I'm looking forward to watching my name drop down the leaderboards on these segments even further. So it should be a good good weekend of Strava sporting.
Speaker: I think I'm outside the top 10 on everything now, so it's not even that big a deal. Yeah. It's been a ah year of that, I feel like, for you, which it'll come back. We'll get there. Yeah, Chris Myers took a segment off me the other day. I thought that was quite rude. He's here for GVT. He's just come and pinched it.
Speaker: I ran in the Dandenongs with some of the guys on the weekend and, yeah, apparently you did one of the the um old golden trail loops in the Dandenongs and took out a lot of a lot of segments. So apparently Josh and Ash werere were planning on going out there and taking them back.
Speaker: yeah That's great. Good on them. As it should be. Good on them. yeah all right thank you guys everyone listening if you are racing good luck and if not hope to see you there at a future a year we'll see you on the next preview which will be for gpt next week yeah busy busy
