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Hounslow Classic Preview
419 Plays2 days ago
Hounslow Classic is just around the corner, and our friends at SingleTrack have assembled a stellar field of Australia’s best trail athletes to battle it out in the blue mountains this weekend!
James and Brodie dive into the course and discuss the fields in both the 17km and 42km. There will be some fierce battles across all races, what are you looking forward to?
***Don’t forget, use code PPP 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!
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Transcript
Introduction & Marathon Preview
00:00:17
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Peep Pursuits Podcast. My name is James Sieber and I am joined here with Brodie to preview the Hounslow Classic Marathon in 17k which will be happening on this weekend the 14th of September. Brodie, I'm excited to get into this one. It's a really, really strong field. how How's life treating you over in Europe? Yeah, it's pretty good.
00:00:38
Speaker
um It's pretty good. i'm in I'm in Spain at the moment so it's nice and sunny here. I'm not sure it'll be sunny up in the Blue Mountains this weekend. um But, yeah, I'm really excited about this one. It's going to be ah good race. We probably haven't seen um ah super competitive race with lots of good runners at it um for a few months. We've seen lots of, like, great performances at individual races, but this one's assembled – really strong field across all the races. So yeah, I'm super excited to watch, watch this one and some, some really good battles, uh, down to happen.
Weather & Course Conditions
00:01:12
Speaker
Yeah. I realized that the last one we did at least was UTA back in may. And I feel like after Buffalo and Kanani, and then we had the, um mountain champs, it kind of came came quick and it yes it's definitely it's definitely been a while. It's been fun to look what people have been up to over the last few months.
00:01:30
Speaker
And also i had a just had a quick look at the weather since you mentioned it. It's actually meant to be very nice. at the moment. So yeah sunny, about five and a half degrees when they start and about 15 degrees at 11am, which for the marathon could definitely get pretty toasty down in the valley, but we'll, which we will talk to a bit closer. now this isn't a course that I've got too much experience with. I did give Tim Locke, a local up there, a call to ask for a bit of insider knowledge. So I don't sound quite so clueless with, with the course, but you do have a little bit more understanding at least of the seventeen k
00:02:05
Speaker
Why don't we start there and kind of give us a little bit of a rundown from from what you know, and then we'll get into the fields. Yeah, so I haven't um haven't run the course before, but I've run on a lot of the trails before and probably linked up maybe 80% of the course.
00:02:23
Speaker
So, yeah, like I said, I haven't run it, but I know sort of what they what they look like. So it starts, don't know if this is the start, finish point, pulpit rock, is that right? It's, yeah, there's, can't remember the name anymore, but there there's like a little car park area and. A little reserve there.
00:02:40
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. Yeah, so the bit around there is probably the one bit I haven't been, but I know the course starts from there and it it heads towards, essentially the course goes from there and it heads across the top of the cliffs to the Grand Canyon and then does a loop around the Grand Canyon and then returns.
00:02:56
Speaker
um So the Grand Canyon is like this, it's quite but a touristic area Canyon, one of the ones that has like a track all the way through it. um And it's pretty popular for hikers and people visiting the Blue Mountains. um But it is, yeah, it's quite a cool little loop. um And then the stuff across the top of the cliffs is...
00:03:20
Speaker
You would think if you look at it on Strava, it looks like, oh, yeah, it's just out and back across the top of the cliffs, but there's a lot of up and down
Technical Challenges of the Course
00:03:27
Speaker
um between sort of different ah going down through the little gullies that are created where the watercourses come off and dip down over the cliffs. So there's there still a lot of climb.
00:03:38
Speaker
up and down that the smaller climbs but it is fairly undulating and I have a feeling that most of those climbs as throughout this 17k are stairs and the descents the same so there's a lot of stairs um one of my athletes was up there or couple of my athletes up there checking the course last week and just said it was stairs everywhere so um There's a lot of stairs when it when it is up and down and then the flat bits actually between can be pretty quick. The trail's pretty nice. Like it's not it' not super rocky or anything like that. It's like pretty smooth underfoot in a lot of places.
00:04:13
Speaker
um So, yeah, it's it's I would say it's like fairly quick out to the Grand Canyon apart from some sort of steep, sharp up and downs. And then the Grand Canyon loop itself, I would say, is pretty slow, um having been down there a couple of times.
00:04:29
Speaker
it's i've walked it and and you sort of jumping and sort of climbing over boulders and doing those steps from the blue mountains that are sort of like boulder to boulder to boulder or they're flat but they're like you're still skipping across a little bit um and it's quite twisty and twerny as well so yeah it's not super fast i don't think the rhythm through there is is really quick um But I think the to and from is probably fairly quick.
00:04:55
Speaker
So it's got a lot of variability, this course. It's quite but an interesting one. um So you've sort of got to use all your tools as a trail runner um to be able to tolerate it. And it's not just whoever's quickest over 17K.
00:05:10
Speaker
You have to be able to have those other aspects, um which is, yeah, it's a really I think it's really good course for it for that sort of distance. um It's got a bit of everything in it.
Women's 17k Contenders
00:05:20
Speaker
That's something that Tim was really highlighting was that it's a very hard course, both the 17 and the marathon, but even the 17, you look at it on paper, it looks like it should be something you can find a rhythm, but because of the steps, because there's some low hanging branches, you're constantly twisting and turning. It's really hard to find that rhythm and,
00:05:35
Speaker
It's going to suit the person that's used to running over or around terrain like that. The person that's maybe coming more off the roads, but could could struggle and specifically could could feel that that physical fatigue from all the stabilizing and change of direction, but also could get that mental fatigue of having to concentrate and think about where your feet are going and dodging stuff. And that could play part in the last few K when it's a question of who has got those wheels to push to the finish and who's been able to save that little bit of energy to have that dig. But it's definitely a course that does play into a very multifaceted runner. You need to be fast, but you also need to be technically good.
00:06:14
Speaker
Although there's no big climbs, which... for some of the guys in the field specifically, I think is a disservice to them and and potentially could stop them from having a ah great day as we've seen in the past.
00:06:26
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. And I think is that if you look at the course stats, like 830 meters of climb, if you put that in, like I'm just thinking like a race in Europe or something like that, the winning time is probably going to be, if it was Australians, just Australians, not mechanical Europeans, maybe something like seventy five
Men's 17k Contenders
00:06:45
Speaker
um if it was a standard ah course or 75 to 80 and I think that the ah fastest time is maybe year around 85 an hour 25. Ben Lawrence ran 86.48 last year.
00:06:55
Speaker
ben st lawrence ran eighty six forty eight last year Yeah. So it's a bit slower than what you would expect just off the stats. And that's because of the, the stairs, the twistiness, like all of that sort of stuff that means like, it's not, it's not just like a pure running race. Um, even though trail races aren't always like that, but it's not just hard ups, hard downs. It's a, it's twisty, it's turny, it's stairs.
00:07:19
Speaker
It's yeah. want It's got it's got a, it's a trail runners race. This one for sure. Definitely. Which is good to see. It's what we want on a trail running podcast talking about trail race.
00:07:31
Speaker
yeah I mean a real trial trial runners it's a trial runners trial race Yes. Yeah. No, then there's definitely, there's a lot of those and hybrid road to trail style of events at the moment, which are great.
00:07:42
Speaker
They have a different, different challenge to them, but it's nice to see something that really is going to challenge a complete trail runner. Yeah. Even if you compare this race to like Buffalo, it's a very different race.
00:07:53
Speaker
ah Buffalo, i would say is, it's obviously it's it's more of a mountain race to me. It's, it's how good is someone at climbing and descending and, and their pure sort of running power over those sort of changes because it's not super technical um most of the way that race. There is sections, but most of that race is pretty runnable.
00:08:12
Speaker
So um compared to that, I think this one will slow people down a lot more with the stairs and and that sort of thing. Oh, definitely. And if you do think about what Buffalo... should have been this year before they had to reroute because of the um plantation works is that's got very, very little technical running in it because you get up to up to clear spot, come down a fire trail, a tiny
17k Race Predictions
00:08:33
Speaker
bit of single track and eventually just shoot fast into into the finish. So that one is, yeah, very much a ah mountain style, smoother.
00:08:43
Speaker
This one is kind of the opposite of that. Yeah, yeah. So it's cool to see See one like this and something one like this that will have like a very good competition tackling it as well. and And people, athletes are very different strengths and or different characteristics, which I think is going to be really interesting to watch.
00:09:03
Speaker
Yeah. Speaking of, I'll get us started on the women's field for the 17K because there's there's two names that really stand out, but we also have two two returners from the top three from last year. So the returners, we have Sarah Leavitt, who won last year, and then Monica Luderich, who came third last year.
00:09:24
Speaker
But thrown into that mix, we have Bridget Lunn, who won Buffalo twenty k this year. She then missed UTA 22 with bit of an injury, just came 18th at National Cross. But when we're talking about people coming at it for different different directions, I feel you've got Sarah, who's the local. She knows the course. She's been very, very good on that terrain.
00:09:45
Speaker
ah She's won Mount Solitary this year, which is it certainly a technical course. Third at UTA after winning it last year. And then, yeah, the kind of... yeah not of the side of the spectrum but Bridget who you look at her training recently has been very cross-country focused so she's going to be good on undulating short sharp punches but there's not a lot of hills in there so it's going to be interesting to see whether the the flat speed and cross-country speed that Bridget has versus the specific strength that Sarah has where the two of them are going to meet in that battle
00:10:17
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's going to be really interesting. And even Monica as well there, who who obviously came third last year, um has some experience with the course. so I think that's going to be the key thing there. And ah it could fall either way with Bridget and Sarah.
00:10:31
Speaker
Sarah lives up there. She trains on this stuff a lot. She'd be very familiar with going up and down stairs. um And I think that something like that can help. be the undoing of someone who hasn't done a lot of stairs um and we always talk about stairs for uta actually think for uta it's nearly less of an issue when we talk about most of the field because
Marathon Course Analysis
00:10:53
Speaker
it's so it's you you're tackling the stairs at much slower or the way people talk about the stairs is oh you have to go up so many stairs and you have to go down so many stairs whereas this race is you need to attack stairs with speed which is very different i think and um
00:11:09
Speaker
That could be the thing. Like, Bridget's in great shape, which is awesome to see. um But, yeah, I think I nearly have to back Sarah on this because, like, I think – The stairs aspect of that and Bridget being fairly new to trail running um I think might make it a bit tricky.
00:11:25
Speaker
But, yeah, like we said, there's a lot of running from the start out to the Grand Canyon and back. Even though there are some stairs, there are still sections where you can can pick up speed and maybe that's ah that's enough. and Or maybe Bridget's been smashing the stairs. I don't know. And she's she's very good at that. So I guess we'll see.
00:11:42
Speaker
I saw Bridget's cross-country time it is roughly a obviously not completely flat and that was I think it was 37 30 give or take so she has some real speed over over non-smooth terrain at least but Sarah also she just won a the mudgy half marathon in 83 minutes so it's not like she doesn't have any speed to come at it with. Yeah.
00:12:07
Speaker
And I think that what you said about how the Grand Canyon section kind of flows through is it sounds like something that would be very easy to fight against. And that would really burn matches early as opposed to someone like Sarah that's used to that terrain. can probably flow through it and stay relaxed and not, not a kind of beat the body up quite as much, which not saying Bridget would, but coming from camera where you don't have this style of terrain, it's certainly more likely.
00:12:33
Speaker
Yeah, I think that's one of the most underappreciated parts of trail running in general, um probably because it's the hardest to quantify is like how much does familiarity with a specific terrain or technicality, how much can you save on efficiency if you're very good at that?
00:12:51
Speaker
And what level of of sort of just running power can you then beat um who's going through that terrain with with not that efficiency? So, yeah, it's so hard to put your finger on that.
00:13:04
Speaker
and And it can be, I think, also it's very different for different individuals. um some who aren't Some people who don't have a lot of experience on certain technicalities actually pick it up really quickly.
00:13:15
Speaker
Some people don't. So it's... um Yeah, it is the beauty of trail running and that is quite unexpected in that. But it is also the beauty in trail running that if you train on specific terrain and you're good And you can can be – it's not just running, which which is cool.
00:13:33
Speaker
um ah It's the part of trail running I really like probably because I'm not a super strong runner and the technical aspect is my strength in trail running. So, um yeah, this is a race that I really like to watch because pure running – the pure running The people who object who we say are very good at running in general, and going to talk about that in the in the men's as well, um they will also be very good in this, but I think they come closer together, which is really interesting compared to just racing each other on a 10K flat road.
00:14:05
Speaker
it's It's an interesting question there because you then think about, okay, if you just have more speed, like if you're put comparing in the women's say a 37, 10K to a 39, then if you're running at the pace of the slower person through more technical terrain, because you are going easier, does that mean you're able to deal with the fact that you're less comfortable with the terrain without spending a disproportionate amount more energy?
00:14:29
Speaker
Yeah. kind of how How much can that fit? That's the thing I think we don't know is like what what level of maybe if you're running at the slower speed of the other person, you're actually burning the same amount of energy because your efficiency, you don't have that normal running economy that you do on the road.
00:14:46
Speaker
You've got a different running economy, which then you may be are burning more matches, even though you're going slower than you feel like you could go. Or like that slower pace actually still feels hard for you because you're not as familiar in that specific terrain.
00:14:59
Speaker
So I think, yeah, that's where it becomes, that's where I think this, this fact is really interesting because it's, it's really hard to put your finger on and it doesn't have a, it's not as objective.
Women's Marathon Contenders
00:15:10
Speaker
But I think your efficiency through this sort of terrain, even if you go slower than your fastest speed, you might still be burning the same amount of energy as someone else in their force.
00:15:22
Speaker
be in the same position. That's why I love trail running because it'd be so different if you're just talking about a ah half marathon on the road. it's It's pretty straightforward unless someone has a bad day, you know who's going going to win.
00:15:32
Speaker
But this is great. Some people might say that it's a good thing that on the road we know who's going to win whereas in trail running there's too many factors and you don't know who's going to win. But yes, that's why I love it and it'll be every different person will enjoy different things.
00:15:46
Speaker
Certainly. Personally, I think that what is what makes a complete athlete. It's the person that can show up, can deal with the conditions of the day, can have thought about the training properly and be specific to it, but also know themselves and their body and what they can do and where they can push and where they can't. And yeah that's why I love trail running. once ah Yeah. ah One other I'll throw in there.
00:16:06
Speaker
um i This is very biased because I've got a few athletes that I coach and we'll we'll get to them in the men's race as well. But i have ah one of my athletes is running the female race, Emily Sorensen. She's an oriental senior representative at World Champs. So she's she's got um good ability in the oriental scene. She's doing the 17. She's done...
00:16:30
Speaker
Eurabilla before in SA, which is 56. fifty six Okay. Came second there behind Lauren Rook a few years ago. So, yeah, she and she trains a lot on the trails. And I think the 17K maybe be a bit – she's probably better at longer stuff maybe.
00:16:47
Speaker
um But, yeah, I think she might be in the mix for definitely maybe fighting for the – maybe not fighting for the win, but hopefully fighting for the top three. Okay, exciting. It's always nice when you've got a name that you haven't heard of before or making a a switch or a push from a different sport. That's going to be ah a fun one to watch. In the men's field, Brady. Who we do picks?
00:17:08
Speaker
Oh, okay. We do top three? Yeah. Yeah, I feel like I can't just jump on your bandwagon there of of choosing Emily. So ah I'm going to go with Sara to win it.
00:17:23
Speaker
I think having that course experience and just the local knowledge, looking at her Strava, she's been on the course load. So I'm struggling to go past there. ah do think that Bridget will be there I think she'll take it out.
00:17:35
Speaker
I think she'll probably be leading at least until halfway through the Grand Canyon section. And and I think that's where Sarah will make a move. um And then I'll go with with Monica to back up her third from last year with another third this year. She was right behind Jess Ronan in 2024. And we know Jess to be ah very strong 20K runner. So she's clearly clearly got some wheels, even though we haven't given her too much airtime. So I'll go with that order.
00:17:57
Speaker
Yeah, okay, cool. Well, I think I'm going to have to follow you there after I've been talking so much about how important technical ability is, so I'm going to go with Sahara as well. um But I think, yeah, Bridget's running great shape and like being able to run 37-minute 10K on cross-country is definitely showing some some strong running ability. So I think I'll pick her second as well. and I'm going to go different. I'll pick Emily for third, to Emily Sorensen for third.
00:18:24
Speaker
Cool. I like it. you want to take us away with the men's field? Yeah. so the men's field is ah is quite deep. It's probably the one of the deepest fields, maybe the deepest field for the the weekend.
00:18:38
Speaker
um We've got a lot of guys running um and there's some really interesting names here and I think there's going to be some really good battles. So I'll start with probably, I guess, the...
00:18:50
Speaker
the headline name. So you got two people that really jump out at me. um we got Charlie Hamilton, who we know from, we've talked about Charlie a fair bit on this. Everything.
00:19:04
Speaker
folkpi A bit of everything. But just this year, I guess, ah he was first at the Buffalo Stampede back in end of March, but that race was really competitive there. So it was a strong win.
00:19:19
Speaker
um Also won last year, UTA 50 is probably one of the big ones. He'd been overseas run Transvolcania this year, travelled around for a bit, is back, been training.
00:19:32
Speaker
um Yeah, I think Charlie, he's got
Men's Marathon Contenders
00:19:35
Speaker
really good – we know how good Charlie is. So, yeah, it would be interesting. He did start in the shorter distances.
00:19:43
Speaker
He's probably gone up to longer distances since then. But, um yeah, he still trains a lot of fast speed and works on on his speed, and I think um he'll still be very good over this 17km distance.
00:19:56
Speaker
So he's probably one of the big ones. And then the other the other big headline, I'd say, is Leo Pedersen, who has been um he's been dominant this year in the races that he's run. um He won the Golden Trail National Series this year.
00:20:13
Speaker
he Did he win all the races? think he did. Ooh, he won all of them. He won
00:20:23
Speaker
He won BTU. And I'm pretty sure he won. I know, Koerner's, he wasn't at Donner Double. He wasn't at, he wasn't at. Yeah, so he won all the races he did run. He's also had some really impressive races on the road, recently picked up a Brooks sponsorship, um seems to be running really well and good shape at the moment. So, yeah, I think yeah Leo is probably my other ah big pick there.
00:20:47
Speaker
um I guess maybe we'll start on that conversation and then we can we can go to the rest of the field. But just between those two... What do you think? Like, what's your, I think that's ah that's a great matchup. And from what I can tell, Leo is running from his Instagram. So yes um that's great to see because it looked like he was maybe in Font-Remo for a moment there, but I don't think he was. Yeah.
00:21:09
Speaker
Yeah, think I think unless he made the world's fastest trip to Font, he did not go over to Europe, which I i know was definitely concerning myself and Joe Dorff, the race director, when ah i was asking him who's going to turn up.
00:21:21
Speaker
But it's good to see Leo in the country, definitely. Yeah, before we do, do you do you know anything about the makeup of his Brook sponsorship? Is it a road-based, trail-based mix of...
00:21:34
Speaker
don't know. i haven't actually spoken to him about it, but it might be, yeah, maybe we can get him on and have a chat at some point. um But yes, no, I don't know. I assume maybe it has aspects of both. Like he was running the Sydney ah marathon last week, um which I imagine was part of, maybe part of that contract or at least part of his his ah partnership with Brooks.
00:21:57
Speaker
um He actually ran in a soup. So he hasn't blown himself up completely because he did went for the fastest marathoner in a suit um rather than sort of absolutely go full out.
00:22:08
Speaker
So he he hasn't blown himself to bits in Sydney Marathon. So I think hopefully he recovers quickly and he's still in shape for this weekend. It's definitely a good way to get a bit of attention on you, isn't it? Run a marathon in a suit. If you're new to a brand, you want people to pay attention to your food your shoes.
00:22:24
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, yeah. it's been interesting I've heard some some ah commentary on the people ah going for world records in Sydney Marathon that was not so favourable. But um I think, yeah, if you unpack why Leo did it, I assume he – a It wasn't a huge goal of his. And and and for someone who at his level, if you're going to run a marathon, you want to have done the big prep for it.
00:22:47
Speaker
And I think his decision, well, his involvement with the Sydney Marathon appeared to have come quite late. So it looks like he's just sort of gone out there and had a crack and done something fun, which I think is which is all right. and And Leo wouldn't have done it for the accolades. He would have just done it because it was something funny to do, I think.
00:23:03
Speaker
Yeah. Oh, definitely. I think it's easy to read into things more than just go out and have a bit of fun fun with it. Yes, running a 230 marathon for fun is pretty impressive and maybe not what most people can attain to, but for him, it's definitely not ah an all-out effort. i just I hope he had something underneath that suit that was bit of chafe protection.
00:23:22
Speaker
Yeah. but
00:23:24
Speaker
The reason the reason i asked about Brooks, I think it's really interesting because we haven't seen Brooks in the country, at least to my knowledge, from the trail perspective. And they have just or they are being released in the next sort of six months, a new super shoe, which is definitely getting a lot of attention for the trails and making a push in their global trail athlete roster. So hopefully something exciting for the sport and potentially some future opportunities maybe down the line with ah with a new brand
Marathon Race Predictions
00:23:50
Speaker
over here. But to actually answer your your question, I think The Leo-Charlie battle is something that I'm certainly not alone in having wanted to have seen in a while.
00:24:01
Speaker
And when we were talking about before about people coming from a ah trail direction versus a a road direction or at least a smoother trail direction, that's definitely, the in my mind, the Charlie versus Leo equation.
00:24:13
Speaker
And I'm just going fascinated to see how both of their current fitness translates to ah very fast 17K. Charlie, yeah, coming down from Transwalkania, 70K.
00:24:26
Speaker
His long run yesterday was 33. He was 1,600 meters. So he's clearly training for some longer stuff. And what what shape that's going to show up with on the weekend.
00:24:38
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. it's going to be interesting. I think Charlie is still like on the – on the running side of the run slash technical ability. So I think him and Leo actually pretty closely match in that regard, but we do know Leo from running a lot of road races. So I do agree with you there. um I'd be interested to see what Charlie could do if we put him in a road race.
00:25:01
Speaker
um He definitely runs some pretty fast sessions um where he's run say 15, 20, 15, 30 in a session um where I've gone, okay, be interesting to actually see what he could do if he ran a 5k. Yes.
00:25:14
Speaker
yes So I think Charlie definitely has wheels. um So I don't think Leo, it compared to maybe the women's, I don't think Leo can like get away from him. And I don't think Charlie would let him get away from him on that top section. It's just about maybe how many, how many pickings does he burn and and how much can he gain back in,
00:25:33
Speaker
in the Grand Canyon or, yeah, it's that race is, I don't know how it's going to unfold, but, yeah, I really hope it does happen. They both get to the start line on on Saturday or Sunday, I think it is, um because, yeah, it's going to great battle. I think Leo in the past, his descending has been a bit of a weakness for him in in some trial races.
00:25:54
Speaker
I know maybe at the Golden Trail final last year he found that a bit tricky. um compared to some of the best euros but that's compared to some of the best euros so yeah Anything could happen, I think, in that in that race. But I imagine, my guess is they will run head-to-head. Like, I don't think one would let the other one go.
00:26:13
Speaker
No. And when I was saying about the direction, it's very much looking at their current training. And Leo is a lot more road-focused and flat-session-focused than Charlie. As you look back at Charlie's last last three ks have been so last three long runs have been thirty three thirty four k fifteen hundred meterss over technical terrain. So I think when it comes to that question of who's going to use the least amount of energy over the Grand Canyon's terrain, I would put my money on it being Charlie.
00:26:44
Speaker
Is it going to be enough to make a difference on that course? Well, we're going to have to make a pick soon but i'm I'm
Reflections & Excitement
00:26:50
Speaker
honestly I'm not sure and I still think that Leo must have some form of chip on his shoulder from from the world selection so it's you've got something really big to to to run for you never know what's going to happen yes yeah I think that's that's a going to be really interesting little battle but we probably should give some time to to the others because there is some there is some really Strong other runners. so Like I said before, um I've got a couple of athletes running, so I'm a little bit biased. But Callum White, um who's part of the single track trail team, he's running.
00:27:25
Speaker
ah He came third at roller coaster last year. and i think and not exactly sure where he was at Buffalo, maybe just outside the top 10. um So maybe not his his greatest his greatest day there, but he is a really strong runner. He comes from an orienteering background, so that technical side of things, um but he does have the pure speed. so I think He could be in the mix. I don't think he's quite on the level of those two guys, but I think he'll be, yeah, I guess maybe we're talking about the battle for third between the rest of these runners, and and I think he'll definitely be in it. The other one is Alistair George, who's been up in the Blue Mountains the last few weekends checking the course, getting on the terrain. He's from Sydney, so he's run on a lot of that sort of Sydney sandstone type terrain before, even down in Sydney they had similar-ish trails.
00:28:14
Speaker
um So I think he will handle that. quite well, so I think he's also in the mix. um We've got Patrick Clark, who we spoke about ah and maybe a month ago, we got a gold medal at the VK in the youth sky running champs. He was first up the climb in Buffalo Stampede ahead of Charlie, um ahead of James Barnett.
00:28:37
Speaker
So an incredible climber. um Like you said, maybe doesn't have this course doesn't have a big sustained climb like that, but it does have the big climb out of the Grand Canyon. So maybe he's he still in the mix with those those those guys at that time.
00:28:52
Speaker
um Henry Hugman, who was two-time podium ah in the 17K, he's Blue Mountains local. We know he knows how to run up there. um Who am I missing? Billy O'Meally, also part of the single track trail team. He's been overseas doing some training, some running.
00:29:11
Speaker
It'll be interesting to see how he comes back. He was fired up about ah UTA this year, didn't quite have the race I think he was looking for, so I'm sure he'll be back to mean business. um So, yeah, there's there's a lot of guys going for that ah third place.
00:29:27
Speaker
Yeah, what do you think about ah those runners? What do you think? who Who's in the mix the most or anyone else they've missed? I think what you've done there is highlight how competitive this field is.
00:29:39
Speaker
Yes, we probably are talking about two names for the first and second, Charlie and Leo. I do think that give it another couple of years and Patrick Clark, we will be having a very different conversation about him.
00:29:50
Speaker
Does this course suit him enough with the shorter climbs, even though there are a couple of longer ones? I don't think so. And I just don't think he has the the outright speed yet for for competing against Charlie and Leo.
00:30:02
Speaker
Henry's probably the one that I've got my eye on, just having that local knowledge. He is quick. He hasn't had the days he's probably capable of Buffalo and UTA this year. So certainly someone to someone to watch there.
00:30:15
Speaker
The other kind of cool storyline that we're not talking about people that are going to be likely competing for the win here. But there's three names which are some older hands at the sport. You've got Stu Gibson, Dominic Perry and Andrew Lee. Now, depending how long you've been ah around and looking into it, these these names may not ring too much for a bell, but obviously,
00:30:38
Speaker
All you have to do is go to their ITRA account, look at their name and scroll down. And it is incredible to look at. It was just wins across all the biggest races in Australia, um even some overseas as well. It is spectacular to watch. Now, yes, these guys probably aren't quite in their prime. I think they're all in their late 40s to mid or maybe late 30s to early forty early 50s, sorry, got there. But yeah, it's...
00:31:06
Speaker
It was good fun looking at these names. Joe Dorff highlighted these and looking through their history, specifically Stu, going back to 2010 and there's races at Marathon des Sables. There's a lot of Berkman de Hotham, North Face 100, which is now UTA 100.
00:31:23
Speaker
It's quite quite something to look at. Yeah, Stu's a bit of a legend in trail running from Tasmania. Yeah. everyone Everyone knows this too, and he has a a bunch of like fastest known times across Tasmania as well.
00:31:37
Speaker
um But, yeah, he it he's a legend. um Really nice guy as well. But, yeah, I'd be interested to see how that battle goes between those three. Like who's training the most still, who's who's kept their fitness the most.
00:31:51
Speaker
um That would be fun. It's nice to have those little battles within the race as well and those storylines which make these these events really special. Definitely. And it's like Andrew Lee, he's been racing this year.
00:32:04
Speaker
um He stepped into, well, he did UTA 100. So he's been there and he was at Buffalo Marathon. He came 22nd. So he's definitely moving well still. And he's in the, i don't his exact age, but ITRA has been the 55 to 59 category.
00:32:19
Speaker
And Stu hasn't had anything pop up from an ITRA side in the last couple of years. But 2023 he got a seventh at cosy 27 and a fourth at canani 25k so even only a couple of years ago moving very well and it was 2017 that he had a result prior to that one at least on this system so yeah and it's just going to be a few fun names to follow whilst we're also following the the fight for first yeah definitely is yeah who's your who's your pick then or do you want me to go first this time i think you went first last time yeah you you take this one
00:32:52
Speaker
All right, I'm going to – oh, this is hard. The one-two is very hard. i think I think I'm going to back Charlie um just with his sort of focus maybe a little bit more on the trails at the moment.
00:33:07
Speaker
um He's got – he's just – he's such a good trail runner. He's very good over this short distance. Yeah. He's obviously training pretty hard now. I think he's got some races coming up overseas later in the year. um Yeah, I think he's going to be hard to beat. But look, Leo could have just as easily win. But I'm going to put Leo in second.
00:33:30
Speaker
um That'll put some more fire in Leo's belly to win, no doubt, if he listens to this. And in third place, I think I'm going to pick – oh, that's even harder.
00:33:42
Speaker
ah I'm going to pick Callum White for third place. Okay. Interesting. I like the idea that you think Leo cares enough about our opinions to give a fire under his belly, but I'll take it. Slash listens to the podcast. At least that way we get away with it because i'm I'm going to do the exact same thing. I'm going to put Charlie first, Leo second, but then I'm going to go for Henry Hugman to take third. Nice.
00:34:07
Speaker
Cool. I just, ah feel like you can't, you can't, can't overlook local knowledge on a course like this. And, and it's not like we're talking to somebody that hasn't, hasn't got experience pushing to podiums. So he's had so far, he's had ah two thirds, 2023 2024. why not make three? and twenty twenty four so why not make it three Yeah, yeah. i not I'm not sure the 17K has seen a field like this one, but I hope, um yeah, I think Henry's definitely in the mix there. And like you said, that local knowledge, I think if it's going to be beneficial anywhere, Blue Mountains is one of the places where it is very beneficial. Even just running, myself running UTA 11 against some Blue Mountains locals earlier in the year and and being like, oh, wow, this this is hard to run really fast over. Like the terrain,
00:34:52
Speaker
When you're running a short race like 17K, you have to run quick over the terrain and it's really hard to do it if you haven't if you haven't done it before Yeah, definitely, definitely. All righty.
00:35:03
Speaker
Let's go to the 42K and I'll kick us off with the women. As I'm doing so, course, so it's essentially start – You get back to ah all viewer state, which is where we're trying to remember the name for the start.
00:35:20
Speaker
And then it's going to drop down into the the gross value after running along the along the top for a bit. It's when you look at the profile of this course, the second half of the marathon makes the 17k look essentially flat it's really really quite incredible it's roughly 2500 meters of climbing as we said it's a lot of stairs none of it is particularly easy going um and it's essentially just it's a course that really suits again i'm going say ah a well-rounded trail runner like you can't
00:35:56
Speaker
You can't hide if you're not a good trail runner on this sort of course. Yeah, definitely. And even even to some extent more so because there is that, if we're talking about the whole package of trail runner, there's the massive climb, ah sorry, the massive descent, massive climb, massive descent, massive climb. There's two big climbs as well and two big descents, which I think the big climbs and descents are nearly something even more reminiscent than technical terrain of a trail runner.
00:36:26
Speaker
So, yeah, I think this course is. it's ah it's a real deal course. It's tough. Yes. So, yeah, I think it's, it's yeah, you've you've highlighted that quite nicely there. Yeah. rights and from speaking to people, like this was, a lot of this was in the UTA 100 mile for the start of their their course. And I know that this caught a lot of people by surprise by how different this side of the valley is compared to the the rest of the UTA. And and it, it,
00:36:55
Speaker
it took quite a few victims with its challenge so again trail a true trail run to get excited about and certainly around this sort of area thinking from houndslow down down south into vic where towards where we are it's definitely one of the more challenging races especially at the marathon distance yeah definitely and i think like the big two the big descent after about what's that going to be 20 20, 25 K and then a big climb back up the other side.
00:37:23
Speaker
Um, it, at that point in the race, i think is like, like you might get through it, um but that like how you tackle that section is going to determine how you finish the race because then just in the last, say, five to seven Ks, you've got a big downhill and a big uphill. And that big uphill, particularly to finish, I think, yeah, it's so such an important part of the race um and you could you could suffer a lot there or you could gain a lot of time there. um And I think, yeah, those two
00:37:56
Speaker
times when you go down through the valley. um ah Yeah, it it makes the race so interesting and and it's definitely something you have to think about and and plan for. um So, yeah, it's a great course.
00:38:10
Speaker
And speaking again to Tim Locke earlier, he said that once you drop down into Govert's Creek um and you come down from Perry's, drop into the creek and you're going to start pushing up towards Lockley's pylon, apparently that ascent, which will then later be a descent, is incredibly exposed and the heat really pulls down there. So...
00:38:30
Speaker
When I mentioned that by, think it was by 11 o'clock, it's 15 degrees, having started at five and a half, it's pretty safe to assume that it's still going to be 10 degrees or so when people hit there. And if it naturally holds a bit of heat too, and you're exposed,
00:38:45
Speaker
given that we're we are already 23, 24K into this race, somebody that's spent a few matches early and hits that doesn't really account for it. It could find that come that final climb, when you're coming back out of the valley, you really are struggling. And from From what I understand last year in the men's race with ah Michael Dunstan and Mikey DeMuentes, Michael and Mikey were together for a lot of this and it wasn't until sort of that that first big climb but then more so coming back up to Perry's on that final ascent where
00:39:20
Speaker
coming back up to perry on that final ascent where Mikey really put the gap into Michael and ended up I think nearly 20 minutes ahead by by the end after running a lot of that course together.
00:39:31
Speaker
um Again, it comes back to I think Mikey was probably doing it a touch easier than Michael for that same speed at that point. But you really do have to manage yourself and make sure that you aren't you aren't overdoing it in that early section, aware of what the conditions are going to be like, aware of the terrain and and so save a bit for that final climb.
00:39:46
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, definitely. All right. Shall we get into the contenders? because Because look, this ah well the women's field particularly, I think, has got some big names in it.
00:39:57
Speaker
Yeah, really, really impressive field. I think actually, i just want to give a quick shout out. This is nothing, no affiliation to them, but Joe at Singletrack, he does a very good job of putting together ah the fields.
00:40:09
Speaker
And it's testament to the fact that we can't do one of the previews outside of UTA for Singletrack events without taking about three outs. Yeah, I just wanted to just give Joe specifically a shout out because he's we we did try to have him on for this. He's been doing a lot of trail maintenance work down in the Grampians for GPT in a couple of months time. And then he's got the race directing of this event. So he he couldn't quite make it work.
00:40:32
Speaker
sir But yeah, Joe, well done. We're very, very impressed. And thank you for giving us a lot lot to talk about. first First of which, Steph Austin. So she's just coming off six foot and a win last weekend.
00:40:47
Speaker
And i i know it's Steph, I feel like you can, she will definitely be able to do this, this, this backup. I was questioning sort of what, she would be like over this side of terrain but then I remembered that she did also come third at the downhill VK at KMR at the start of the year so if you're going to go fast downhill on that you can't be yet adverse to technical running she's got an incredible backlog of results but I think that's whenever I see Steph's name on a start line i get very excited Yeah, I think it' it's going to be good. And, like, we'd probably think, oh, six-foot track this weekend, that's maybe a bit much.
00:41:23
Speaker
But Steph has done this time and time again and has backed up quite well. So we know that she actually can back up and and run again. um So, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how much six-foot takes it out of her.
00:41:35
Speaker
um But I think she'll still be very competitive, um yeah would be my guess, on the weekend. Yeah. Now, Sim, Brodie, you will have spoken to her more recently than me.
00:41:51
Speaker
How do you think she's feeling for this one? So, yeah, I feel like awesome that Sim's running this in terms of for the race. Yeah. So Sim won't mind me saying this, but I don't know if it's the best choice for her, but you we know Sim. She loves being out there and amongst it and the opportunity to be part Hounslow when usually a lot of this time of the year she's overseas or she's recovering from a race or she has a really important race coming up.
00:42:16
Speaker
very close. um She doesn't hasn't had the opportunity to run Hounslow before. So I think when she saw the opportunity, she jumped at it. Obviously, we know Sim, ah for those who listen to the podcast, you would know that she was supposed to be running CCC about I guess a week or so ago um but unfortunately she had a bit of a roller coaster of events when she came to Europe and and she didn't quite make that start line so I think she's keen to use some of the fitness that she had built on the on the lead up to that and she hasn't actually lost as much as she thought and she's keen to
00:42:53
Speaker
to get out there and give it a give it a go. I think she'll be pretty hard to beat on this course. Yeah. um But I also think there's so many talented ladies out there that she could maybe even end up outside the top three.
00:43:05
Speaker
So it'll be a really interesting to see what actually happens there. But I think she her fitness looked like it was in a really good spot um when she was headed over to Europe.
00:43:16
Speaker
um And she, by all accounts, says that she doesn't feel like she's lost heaps. and She's sort of been getting back into it the last couple of weeks. um So, yeah, I think she will be she will be a real contender. And we know how good Sim can be when she hasn't raced so much and she hasn't raced a lot recently.
00:43:35
Speaker
So yeah you that's what I tell her every time and maybe she shouldn't do this one so she does her other races later in the year really well. But like Buffalo Stampede, I mean not Buffalo, um Brisbane last year when she hadn't raced, she's came down from injury.
00:43:49
Speaker
um She had an absolute blinder there. So, yeah, I think she could. have a really good race. But we'll see what happens again. I think over this terrain as well, Sim is on her day in Australia, pretty unmatched across this sort distance especially. So yeah, if she's coming in ironically with a bit of freshness, ah not necessarily voluntarily, but I think she is she is going to be really hard to beat.
00:44:15
Speaker
There's two other women's names that specifically shout out to me, although it is amongst a much bigger field. Uh, first one is Julia Anderson, who we saw, she came second last year at the 42K.
00:44:29
Speaker
She just got beaten by Jess, Jess Jason, and was leading a lot of this race. So you're coming back a year later and and, and prior to this, from what we can tell really has had very little trail experience coming more from triathlon.
00:44:44
Speaker
You're coming back to Hounslow a year later. She's come third at Buffalo forty two k this year. She knows this course. She probably made a few mistakes last year, potentially, that she will have learned from, or just even that course familiarity will give her that extra edge.
00:44:58
Speaker
But I think that she's she's going to be really fascinating one to to watch and probably isn't afraid to take it out fast either. And the other name is Sophie Broome, who until she had a DNF 100 year,
00:45:10
Speaker
this year was having a great start to the year. She had first Archie 50k with a course record taking it off Kelly Angel and then had a second at Buffalo Stampede 42k behind Mia Noble who's going on to represent the world's team.
00:45:25
Speaker
Sophie being British couldn't apply for that. So assuming, I spoke to Sophie afterwards, i don't I don't think there would be any particular injury coming off that. Looking at her Strava and her training, it's been very impressive.
00:45:39
Speaker
Looking like she's moving very well. So I think those ah those are two names that to me, as you said, if if Sim isn' and isn't in the strength that we're used to having her her in, would very quickly knock her off the podium.
00:45:51
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah, like I think Sophie um would have been – she was disappointed about UTA for sure. So she'll be should be keen to come back from that, some some redemption in the Blue Mountains maybe this weekend. And like you said, she was having a great season. And and I think from what I can see, she's had some pretty good training after UTA as well. So I think she'll be in a good spot um to be very competitive.
00:46:16
Speaker
um And Julia, yeah, like I don't know if maybe when she ran this last year how much trial she'd done, especially like this course was sort of throwing in the deep end. um yeah So she's experienced the full course. She might be, I don't know how many of the other girls she's racing against have actually done the full course before. So even though she's maybe less familiar with, she's sort of less known to trail running, she might be one that has the most experience on this specific course.
00:46:44
Speaker
um So, yeah, I'm really excited to see how that goes down. um Those, yeah, probably those four are probably some of the bega biggest names, but there is there are some others there as well. Caitlin Howlett, second at GPT two years in a row.
00:47:01
Speaker
um She did do Hounslow last year. She was eighth. um But we do know she she can run run really well. um Maddie O'Donnell stepping up to the 42K distance. She's been documenting the journey. It's been really cool to watch, follow along. If you haven't seen any of that, head over to her social. She's been sort of documenting the journey and and talking about mental health as well. So it's it's really cool to see that and I'm excited to see how Maddie goes. She's been living up in the Blue Mountains.
00:47:34
Speaker
um for a while now. um So I think, yeah, she's she's got the local knowledge. um And, yeah, we also got Danielle Vanderpool as well from, I think she's from South Australia. She yeah was at World Champs in 2023.
00:47:50
Speaker
She was seventh in the Buffalo Stampede Marathon this year. So is there's so many like return matchups here. Sorry, I also missed Melanie Townsend who was eighth at Buffalo Stampede Marathon. So, like, these ladies have all run against each other this year. A lot of them have raced each other.
00:48:05
Speaker
um And then yeah back in it again, like it's it's so cool to see this same sort of core field across multiple races, um which we don't often see a lot in trail running. But this female a contingent in the 42K is probably the best example of these ladies going – going having a race a few times this year actually it's pretty cool and it's great to see that we're actually getting this coalition that's the right word of uh top end men and women at events this year and that it's it's not we're not just talking about one or two names that are going to be fighting for first ah we have depth across this entire race and we are and we're seeing that that across the board at the key key races which is
00:48:52
Speaker
It's great to see and and and seemingly just from following along quite closely, it is lifting the entire field up. We're talking about people that are having quote unquote breakthrough years and performance levels that, yeah, I think like it really opens up the potential that some of these names we're talking about, someone like Caitlin,
00:49:11
Speaker
could very easily just have that next step and suddenly pop in as a real contender for that podium. She came, yeah, that sixth class, yeah, I think the two two things you mentioned there, the production quality of Maddie's videos is very, very impressive and it's great to see like quality content coming out at that level in Australia and it's been really, really good to watch and a very very meaningful core purpose as well behind them and just a little funny note danny vandyhill she's currently over at in um it and in kenya with her coach which you never know that might be the secret sauce that i should not have said sauce that might be the secret that could get you that next that next step too yeah yeah um it's gonna be it's gonna be great do you think you can pull it you can pick a top three yes i think i can sorry i'm laughing at myself that was really bad
00:50:07
Speaker
Alrighty, I think we just we just saw the the form that Steph is in with six foot. I didn't look at her time this year compared to her time from last year, but I know that she was she was well ahead in first and she has she has that repertoire of experience and long distance running in her legs that mean that she can probably quite comfortably back up six foot inter into this. So I'm going to go with Steph Austin to win.
00:50:37
Speaker
ah really I'm going to put some Sim second. I really want her to have have a good run and enjoy this and also to be able to display the fitness that she clearly had before a couple of sort of yeah bad bad bits of luck into CCC.
00:50:50
Speaker
And then I'm going to go with Sophie Broome. for third. I think she's just at this 50k distance and on this type of course as well, that's going to really suit somebody who knows their body, knows how to race and has a lot of strength in that back end. I think that is Sophie down to a T. So I'm going to go go with Sophie, but I think it's going to be very, very close between that top three.
00:51:12
Speaker
Yeah, I think it's going to be close in the top. Yeah, five, six. Like, it's it the that you're going to be able to – I think that the the difference between first and sixth or seventh is is not going to be a massive margin as maybe it has been in previous years or in other races.
00:51:28
Speaker
um yeah it's a hard one ah like Steph I think is is is a good pick but i also I think like most of the time she's backed up from some of the times when she's backed up from races she hasn't been racing against super competitive fields so I think I think if she hadn't run six foot I would have really put her up there but I think like even though she can back it up I can't be the best thing for the best performance so I'm gonna I'm gonna actually leave Steph out of the top three I'm gonna go with Sophie first like I think she
00:51:59
Speaker
she's got some fire, she's going to have some fire after UTA. um She looked like, me and you were talking about how good she was going to be at UTA and I think she did have that day, you know, but she just it just didn't happen.
00:52:12
Speaker
um So, yeah, I think she's... especially i don't know what other racing she's been doing, but maybe this has been more of a focus um since that time compared to say Sim, who she has focused elsewhere and she's sort of just doing doing this one because it works well.
00:52:29
Speaker
yeah So I think Sophie's my pick for first. I'm actually going to pick Julia for second because I think I, ah yeah, second last year behind Jess who ran quite well there, third Buffalo earlier in the year. I think she's seemed to be getting more, better and better every race.
00:52:44
Speaker
um And then I'm going to pick Sim third. But Sim, feel free to prove me wrong if you listen to this.
00:52:52
Speaker
I think that's good. would love to see Sim win as well, but I think objectively that's my three. Yeah. and We have to... differ at some point and we've we've currently agreed on the first and second place for both the men's and women's 17k so that's a very very different podium um and you did make me rethink where i put sophie there but i've said it so i can't change men's field brodie when you take us away with that one yeah so the men's field um i'm probably less familiar with these runners although they all do look like i know of them and i know some of the events they've done in the past so
00:53:26
Speaker
Yeah, I guess, I don't know, I can't pick a like a headliner out of this one compared to what I could do for the other ones. um But maybe that's just because they're all a bit more even.
00:53:36
Speaker
um Probably one of the big ones that jumps out at me, or there's two ones that jump out of me when I first look at the list is Tyler Windham, your mate from Albury-Wodonga.
00:53:49
Speaker
um Tyler, ah again, probably didn't have a great last race at UTA. um I'm not sure if he's raced since then. I think he has done it. We talked about him doing that marathon ah event where he ran a very quick half marathon in the marathon.
00:54:07
Speaker
Yeah. Bet he hasn't done anything else since then. So he ran, he ran that pub to Pelican marathon, which essentially it's, it's a road race, but it's, it's on a bike path. And the first half marathon is a net downhill. Uh, but I think he came through the half and around 71 and then just started cruising in for a two 30. Um, the, he then did another local race, quote, quote 25 K, which was early August.
00:54:35
Speaker
Tom Dade came up and won the 50 and just like motoring along, moving, moving very, very well. I think he jumped, i think he he signed up the Friday night, turned up Saturday morning and won the race quite quite comfortably, but but moving moving very fast on on that terrain and and looking strong. It's,
00:54:56
Speaker
Tyler's one where you just look back at his training and he's due to have a day at some point. like yeah and and I know and know his mentality.
00:55:08
Speaker
He's not someone that leaves his performance in his training. he's He's very diligent and purposeful with what he does. um So ah do ah do think that when he has that day, it's going to be a real step up.
00:55:25
Speaker
Is the Hounslow course the day for him to have that day? i don't think so. Yeah, okay. Yeah, yeah. And he ran last year, is it maybe, and he didn't have the best day? I can just see him through his notes here.
00:55:39
Speaker
He came from memory, he came in with ah maybe a tip post or tip ants, something around around that lower leg with an injury and it flared up pretty quickly in. So i think he he walked it in for about eighteenth Yeah.
00:55:53
Speaker
Okay. So, yeah, Tyler's, like you said, he's on for a day. Maybe this course isn't the one, but maybe it is. We don't we don't know. Like you said before, this could be he sort of, ah when we're talking about Caitlin, like sometimes it all sort of lines up and and someone will have a really good performance.
00:56:11
Speaker
um Apart from Tyler, we've got yeah Gerald McPherson, who was third at the marathon at Buffalo Stampede this year um behind Mikey.
00:56:23
Speaker
and who Jack Brand was second there. So it's a very strong run. It's a good field. um Quinton Gill ah was third at the this race last year, the Hounslow Marathon.
00:56:37
Speaker
He was the Cosi Myler champ in 2024. ah He's a local. He did UTA Myler. Where was he there? Was he?
00:56:47
Speaker
was second. Second, yeah. So he's... He's been doing longer races recently, but before that, I remember racing Quinton myself back in a few years ago. So he has done a bit of shorter racing and he's very good over that distance as well. So I think he'll definitely be in the mix.
00:57:05
Speaker
um Jared Owens, another one that jumps out, he was ah third at Buffalo 100K last year. He won the Grand Slam at Buffalo this year, so he did the all three, did three days of racing instead of focusing on just one, um and he was first at Oscars.
00:57:25
Speaker
100k earlier in the year so I think he's probably done longer stuff this year um and maybe in the past as well but it isn't a short race the 42k here either so yeah I think he'll definitely be in the mix There's some really interesting names here. I think the storyline across the men's 42K is, as you said, there's no clear favorite to me.
00:57:48
Speaker
You've got Tyler who is, he's just like, he's a machine. he has, as I said, when he has a day, we're going to really notice it. Quinton, he did the monster last year, so he did the 42 and the 17.
00:58:01
Speaker
And I think he came third in the 42 whilst doing then the 17. So Quinton's in a very, very good shape for this this course. He's local, UTA. i think that...
00:58:12
Speaker
Even though he did step up to the 100 mile, he will happily say, and he did say on our post race that it was a his body wasn't ready for it yet. He had a great, I think it was 120 or 130 and then he just didn't have the legs yet.
00:58:25
Speaker
Um, and he wasn't planning on stepping up to a hundred mile yet anyway. For him on this course, it's a bit of the same story as with Henry and with Sarah, that they just have the local knowledge. They know exactly this terrain. They know how to flow through it. They know how to be efficient.
00:58:41
Speaker
They know how not to panic. They know where it's going to be hot. So that equates for a percent, multiple maybe. Is it enough? We will see.
00:58:53
Speaker
Speaking of Tim, Gerald was his kind of one one that he was was very interested in. If you look back, 2024, I can't remember exactly what happened there, but 2023, he had a bunch of other really good 50K results.
00:59:06
Speaker
Buffalo, 42. Maybe not the one on paper that you would pick, but training down in in Hobart, he's definitely used to the more technical style terrain. So for somebody to come here who's not a local, he's probably going to be the most suited to it.
00:59:18
Speaker
um The name that is interesting is Ben Butler, who is a 19-year-old. He came second behind Jared at Oscars 100. He then came fourth at Buffalo 100 behind Tyler, what, a month later?
00:59:34
Speaker
think five weeks. He has been up on the course doing some training and looking at the way that he's moving through, unless he is really pushing in his training, he's very good on this terrain and that could be something. Plus he's coming in with the the naivety of being 19, not being on this course, but knowing that this is a step down in distance for him from Oscars being a a very technical 100K, Buffalo being a fast 100K with a good amount of vert in it. So yeah, Yeah, it's one of those fields where you where nothing shouts out at you, but you know it's going to be it's going to be a good race. And ah my guess, I think, from seeing Jared race in the past is he's someone that will come through the field, whereas probably Quinton and Tyler will take it out. I don't know what Gerald and Ben's psychology will be a like in this field, whether they'll let it go and see if it will come back to them, but it's going to be fascinating one.
01:00:28
Speaker
Yeah, it's it' interesting to see Ben 19 with all those sort of long races this year. um So maybe coming back down to the 42 potentially will suit him even a little bit better um then than the 100Ks.
01:00:41
Speaker
um Another young guy running as well, I don't know the name, and apologies if I butcher the pronunciation, Tianming Weith, or Weithai, I don't how to say that last name, sorry.
01:00:56
Speaker
um um We don't actually have any results, but ah Joe has added him to the list. I don't know if you know anything about him, but he's only 17 years old. Described as a young gun by Joe, but I don't know what races he's done.
01:01:11
Speaker
So i can't I can't speak to what races he's Last year... He finished in a time of six hours, which was an hour and a half behind Mikey.
01:01:23
Speaker
But as you just pointed out, he's very young. So one year more development at his age could be an hour and an hour would have would have put him on the podium.
01:01:33
Speaker
So... yeah It's a name that i i don't I don't know. I'm not familiar with. that i'm not i'm not kind of Thank you for trying to pronounce that one and not me. ah yeah it's he he he could He definitely could could feature. It's just a case of okay what what has that year of development been.
01:01:52
Speaker
I'm assuming that he's he's got to be local if he was if he's running that area at that age, maybe Sydney based. If I've got the right The right guy. Yeah, it does say under 18.
01:02:06
Speaker
So he actually looks like he started with some really long races. So in 2022, he did the Surf Coast Century 100K solo. And then in 2023, he did BTU Ultra hundred and ten k And at that point, I guess he would have been 15, 14, so quite young. So maybe he did it with a family member or something. Yeah.
01:02:28
Speaker
yes Since then, he seemed to have dropped the distance a little bit, which in my point of view is great to see and work back to that longer distance. But he has run to ah two 20k races this year. So he did Buffalo 20k. He came 21st and that was a pretty packed field. So I think that's...
01:02:48
Speaker
That's a good result. it' Maybe about 20 minutes behind Charlie or maybe a little bit less. What did Charlie run? What did Charlie run 150 there? Maybe it's 15 minutes.
01:02:59
Speaker
um And in he did UTA 22, which again was a very packed field, and he came 28th there. So um he's been in the mix a little bit. He's been at least racing racing this year on that shorter distance. So...
01:03:16
Speaker
He's meeting it halfway for the marathon. Like you said, a lot can happen in the year when you're that young. Maybe he can take 20 minutes off his time and and that does put him a lot closer to to the front, takes half an hour off, even closer.
01:03:31
Speaker
Yeah, so yeah it will be cool to see how he goes. that Just a quick look. Charlie ran 141. Okay, so he's there. Yeah, those guys were so fast.
01:03:43
Speaker
Yeah, still. He finished just behind Jared Owen. Granted, Jared was going for the Grand Slam, but Henry was 17th, Declan McKenzie was 16th, and we're only talking...
01:03:56
Speaker
four five minutes at that point so yeah definitely definitely moving well but probably probably well honestly I don't know I'm gonna say probably not on the podium but could could very well surprise us it could very well improve his position from last year easily I think which was 18 so yes good luck uh and the last one just to give you a quick shout out um bit of a legend of the sport well known in the area mark Green um the body mechanic. um He had a lot of really good results in his heyday. He won Kepler. He was in top five at UTA multiple times.
01:04:33
Speaker
um So, again, more on the theme of the Stu Gibsons and Andy Lees, Andrew Lee, having ah Mark in the 42. But that's not saying he couldn't be still in the top top five or top ten. No, definitely not.
01:04:49
Speaker
All right, Brody, do you want to take it away for the men's field? Yeah, all right. I'm going to go with – oh, this is hard. I'm going to go with Gerald just because he's Tasmanian and I reckon that will suit this sort of field.
01:05:02
Speaker
He's had a strong run in the math on there and I think it's a bit slower than – in sort of speed-wise the buff this race compared to the Buffalo Marathon. And I think just guessing that might suit him better.
01:05:15
Speaker
um so I'm going to pick him first. I'm going to go with Tyler second, and I'm going to go or Jared third. like it. Actually, Ben third.
01:05:26
Speaker
You're up. What do you think? Oh, this is this is a tough one, actually. And you've your picks have thrown me a little bit ah because it's not not necessarily what I was thinking.
01:05:37
Speaker
I think what i'm what I'm going back to is is Charlie is running high threes for 50K on the UTA course. and And this run is being won by Mikey Demuantes in 425 on a marathon course. So this this acts more like a 60K than it does a marathon course.
01:05:56
Speaker
And so I'm going to be looking at who's a bit more trained for that style, of course, at the moment. I think that seeing how well Ben moved across that terrain, he's definitely going to be interesting to watch.
01:06:10
Speaker
But I'm going to put Jared first. Then I'm going Quinton second and Ben third. Yeah, okay. Nice. All right. Well, yeah, I think that's the thing with this race is like the 42 out of all of them is probably the most wide open, I think, for...
01:06:26
Speaker
anyone to be in that top three so yeah it's an exciting one to see what will happen and it's it's probably a day that i think we'll see especially in this men's 42 i think we'll see some people that start at the front really start to trail off whether it's just they haven't managed the conditions or the course that but it's going to suit some of the more experienced heads and and the people that are probably stepping down in distance more than stepping up is my thought yeah yeah yeah definitely yeah Yeah, I would agree with that. um It's a longer race.
01:06:55
Speaker
It's a longer 42.
01:06:59
Speaker
Definitely. Okay, Brady, we've made it. Well done. Thanks for that. No worries. Thank you. And it's yeah, it's been cool to recap it. nearly is Nearly as exciting as watching the race, but I'm i'mm going to be excited to compare our predictions to the race results on the weekend.
01:07:16
Speaker
Yeah, I have a feeling this may be one that, especially for the marathon courses, we we may get quite significantly wrong, but... Only time. as As always, as always. yeah Yeah, I can't say we're very good at this whole guessing game. Neither of us do particularly well, but we will see how this one goes. Brody, thanks so much for the time. It's been great to catch up and to do this one again. We've got a pretty busy back end of the year with other events happening. So that we'll have a few more chances to see who can suck a bit less at picking winners, but and enjoy the rest your time in Europe, mate. And thank you for the time.
01:07:49
Speaker
No worries. Thanks, James. Great to chat again.