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Quinton Gill Post-Race Interview: 2025 UTA 100 mile
366 Plays6 days ago
We’re joined by the UTA 100 mile 2nd place Quinton Gill to unpack his race from start to finish.
Hear how it played out, what shaped their performance, and where they’re headed next. Enjoy a front-row seat and an inspiring look into one of this year’s standoutpodium battles
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Thanks for tuning in to Peak Pursuits! Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
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Transcript
Introduction to Quinton Gill's Background
00:00:15
Speaker
We are joined by Quinton Gill, the UTA 2025 100 mile second place. Quinton, thanks for coming on. How doing? Yeah, I'm doing great, man. It's ah been a massive weekend, but thank you very much for inviting me on the podcast. it's ah It's an honor to be here and be able to chat with you. You guys have been doing some amazing things within the trail world, so thank you very much.
00:00:38
Speaker
We appreciate Thank you. Thank you very much. You will be a new-ish name to the podcast. You're definitely the first time on the show itself. So if you could just give us a bit of introduction for who you are, obviously you do come with a bit of an accent and just kind of, yeah, tell us a bit more about you. Sure.
00:00:54
Speaker
yeah on the Yeah, I guess I'm the crazy Canadian who's living up in the Blue Mountains now. i've I've kind of been all over Australia, different parts. I was central Queensland for a couple of years teaching, moved down to the Gold Coast when I met my partner and we've now made the decision to be up in the Blue Mountains to pursue trail running.
Transition to Trail Running
00:01:16
Speaker
And as a coach myself, I figured this was an amazing place to, um you know, pursue that career and become a better coach and get involved within a wider ah community of trail runners, which the Blue Mountains has ah really strong depth up here of runners. So it's ah it's been amazing the last maybe...
00:01:36
Speaker
ah I think we're at eight or nine months just to be up here and to be a part of it. And it's obviously a beautiful place in Australia as everyone just got to witness this past weekend. And so, um yeah, we're we're very happy up here and everything is currently going very smoothly. And um other than that, I've been personally trail running um for I mean, I've been running on the trails and enjoying the trails for the past eight to 10 years.
00:02:03
Speaker
um But as far as starting to take the sport seriously and put in serious time and miles towards the sport has been probably the past two and a half years. Before that, I was actually a Spartan or obstacle course racer.
00:02:16
Speaker
That was kind of what I was putting some time into, um, just involved a little bit less running mileage and a little bit more on the strength and, uh, hit type workouts and stuff. So, um, yeah, it's been a ah really good transition.
00:02:30
Speaker
just decided to trail run because I realized that of Spartan race and what I love the most was just being in the mountains. So the more of that I could do, yeah the the better. And so that's where I am now, literally living in the mountains and soaking up as much of it as I can.
Building Up to the UTA Miler Race
00:02:44
Speaker
ah love it. sounds pretty good. What brought you over here in the first place? um To Australia? Yeah. Yeah. um i Actually, it's it's a weird story. It's so like I probably wouldn't be here if a couple of things had changed. And um I had a friend from uni back in Ottawa who said he was going to go do his teaching degree in Australia.
00:03:04
Speaker
um It was at that time only a one-year program and it was two years in Canada. And so i was like, well, I can get it done in one year, cost the same price, come back. i was like, cool. So we went we shipped over.
00:03:16
Speaker
did the teaching diploma. And then I was a week away from leaving the country. I was on Rotnest Island and I can remember it clear as day. i was about to jump into the ocean. I got a call and they're like, Hey, um do you want to work at Blackwater?
00:03:31
Speaker
And I was like, where is that? They're like, Oh yeah, it's a, it's a town in central Queensland. We've got a PE job here. i was like, is there a national park nearby? And they went, yeah, the Black Lion Tablelands. And I was like, see you there.
00:03:45
Speaker
And, That was it. And so I called my mom and I said, I'm coming back to Christmas, but I'll be heading back to Australia after that. So um yeah, that started the journey. And from there, it's just, I don't know, things have happened. I've met good people and it's, yeah, started to feel a little bit more like home.
00:04:02
Speaker
Wonderful. Looking at your results and correct me if I'm missing something here, but until COSI 100 last year which you won, everything else looked like 50K or shorter. Is that right?
00:04:15
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. um yeah Before 2023, I had no trail running plans in my mind of anything. it was like I think I entered a couple ah UTA in 2021 just because it was ah near a Spartan race that I did. and i was like, I'll go jump in and have a crack. and see how I go. And there was a couple like Brisbane Trail Ultra, same kind of deal. And then um it wasn't until 2023 where i decided to, yeah, step into this world of trail running off of a bunch of injuries. And just, yes, everyone has kind of experienced. I was kind of going through a rough patch with having this roller coaster of injuries. And so ah kind of actually started from the ground up and from almost zero K a week, I restarted all of my training completely.
Race Day Experience
00:05:03
Speaker
And from that point, it was all with the mindset of, I just don't want to be injured. And so I was like, if I'm coming into this new sport, I need to start the new sport as if I don't know anything.
00:05:14
Speaker
And that's what I kind of did and just built my mileage up across the years up until this point of where I'm at now. um And the goal with it too in my first year was that um first year of trail running, the goal at the end of the year was to build up to 40 to 50k and to run a 50k.
00:05:30
Speaker
The next year it was to build up but to probably to about 80 to 90k and run 100. And then the year after that, this year, it was to build up to a miler. Now I did the miler halfway through the year, so the plan got shoved a little bit. um But there's some reason for that, which we might go into as we go through this.
00:05:50
Speaker
Yeah, well, when we were doing the preview show, the elite list, it had you in two events, the 100K and the 100 mile. So originally, this was not going to be the plan.
00:06:00
Speaker
No, so um so the plan for this year was i was going to do UTA 100, and that was going to prep me for the Chiang Mai miler at the end of the year. So that was a major at the time, and that was the one where I wanted to give myself the best opportunity to qualify for UTMB next year.
00:06:18
Speaker
Um, so was like Chang my miler. If I finished top 10, even if I don't have a good day, I felt comfortable that I could hopefully sneak in a top 10 position, um, there. And so that's why that majors caught my attention. So i was like, cool, I'll do that the end of the year.
00:06:32
Speaker
But then they introduced the miler here ah yeah where I'm living and I'm like, man, like that's just the the perfect race for me. It's probably not the perfect time of year.
00:06:44
Speaker
And I would have definitely liked to do it at the end of the year. I felt I would have been probably a little bit more prepared. um But that being said, having the logistical knowledge that I had of this course and having probably ran the entirety of the course,
00:06:57
Speaker
Um, at least, well, some parts five, six, seven times, you know, other parts at least two or three times. Um, I just knew that logistically I was going to be so prepared and that would maybe make up for some of the fitness that I didn't have or wanted to have to have the race that, you know, I could have, I could have had.
00:07:15
Speaker
Um, and so, yeah, I ended up going, well, save money from going to Thailand. Let's do it in my backyard. Let's get that miler done. And so I upgraded and found a ticket last minute, uh, to the miler and,
00:07:27
Speaker
yeah, and got it done. Well, that leads us and very nicely in because anyone being local is always going to be at the advantage up there, especially knowing the the addition to the 100k, that first section for the miler, which having spoken to Meg already today, she seemed to love feeling very comfortable in the technical terrain.
00:07:49
Speaker
I've got to imagine the same is for you. Can you take us through like the start through that first forty k or so section? Yeah, I mean, i honestly do think that that first 40k was probably my favorite part of the day. Number one, the start of the race was, I don't know if Meg talked about it, but the start of the race was was so cool out there in the Grand Canyon.
00:08:10
Speaker
Like there was something there was something in the air, maybe it was because it was the first UTA miler. It was ah kind of an iconic moment, but there was something floating around in the air at that start line that just felt really cool and really powerful.
00:08:23
Speaker
And I think it was you know had a lot to do with where you are. in the gross valley it's a it's a beautiful place it's a treacherous place there's you know a lot going on out there and um after we did that section through the grand canyon um which is that's the part of the trails that i run probably every second day so like it's yeah like i i literally see those trails every single day and so i was so comfortable on them but they had these guys you know that playing the didgeridoo up on the mountains and stuff like that and i was like it was Oh man, it just set me up mentally in such a good space coming through that section, being so comfortable that it was my backyard. And I think the, the tough thing for me in that section though, was that I was so comfortable and I knew out of the people there, I was going to be the most comfortable.
00:09:09
Speaker
So it was kind of how far do I take it? It's only the first 30, 40 K of the race. Right. And I knew that I could run a lot more efficiently than probably a lot of these guys.
00:09:20
Speaker
Um, Not necessarily because I'm fitter, but just because I know the terrain, I know where to push, where to pull back, where to make those decisions. And so that was the tough thing going in. But I was like, you know what, just trust the body, find that easy pace that you do day to day in training and get through that first 40K up to the majestic with, um you know, enough legs to still run down narrow neck at a good pace.
00:09:43
Speaker
And yeah. Even though I did run very comfortably, that section takes a lot out of you. Just even just the mental capacity of having to being so switched on to make sure that you don't trip over, hit a root, hit a rock, like to do that for five hours, I think through that section, it takes
Competitive Strategy and Challenges
00:10:01
Speaker
a lot of you. I found myself coming to the end of Bruce's trail and coming up over that last, they call it the the hidden track up Bruce's, which is like a very technical through the bush section.
00:10:13
Speaker
And I found out coming up onto the flat roads and I almost felt felt mentally drained. Like it wasn't like I was physically drained, but I just felt kind of mentally exhausted. It felt like a big teaching day. It was really weird.
00:10:25
Speaker
And it took me a couple of kilometers to just kind of shake that out of the system and get back into that proper running rhythm again. um And, but luckily we had some of that through to hydro majestic and stuff. So Yeah, it was ah it was ah it was a very tough section, but we had a couple people that were not too far up in the front that kind of were in a pack. There was Will Corlett, who's you know he's a young runner, but he's going to be a fantastic runner if he keeps ah putting in the miles and the effort that he's doing.
00:10:56
Speaker
He was with us through the section, but I could tell that he was kind of running my race. Yeah. not choosing to run his own race. And I think that's where in these milers you do end up getting very caught up. Vlad Shatrov was not too far behind, I think, too, coming into Perry's. and um And then as we went out to the Fortress Ridge section, once we had gone down into the valley and back up, there was a big pack of about six people um in the back there, maybe only two, three minutes behind me that I could see, and they were all flowing together. And so, um yeah, the the first...
00:11:29
Speaker
front of the bit was just literally just focusing on yeah running my own race not worrying about what anyone else was doing and how fast they're running or what they were uh how hard they were pushing and just getting to that hydro majestic uh at the pace i knew i could sustain and at this point was eric concy who's the eventual winner was he anywhere in your vicinity Yeah, so he was... um i saw them... So on the Fortress Ridge section, after we had gone through lock Perry's and Lockley's, there was that little out-and-back Y-shape section. so
00:12:04
Speaker
add And that's where you could kind of see people twice at that point, because you'd pass back against them. And he was... you You knew he was moving well just because when I first passed the group, um he was in the back of the whole pack.
00:12:19
Speaker
And then by the second part of the Y where I saw them again, he was like three or four people up. And so I was like, and it's funny that um in that moment, I had, I'm a very, I like to research the people I'm racing. So whenever go a race, I like to know, you know, how they're training, where they train the things as much as I can, because in races like this, that are that long, little things can make such a difference. And if you understand, you know, where people's strengths are, right, where you know, they're going to push hard, where, you know, maybe that's not their strong suit, whether they've actually been putting in the work or not. So if it's someone that, you know, if they've been putting in high mileage, you're probably not going to break them.
00:13:00
Speaker
but if they've been putting in you know some tough weeks you might be able to break their spirits on certain sections and i don't know maybe that's a little bit cruel about of me but i think it helps you so much in these long races and funny enough eric concy was one that he was the main guy on my radar um he was the guy after i looked at his training and if anyone decides to look at his training he's an absolute freak he was bringing in like but like 180 kilometers of running like 400 kilometers of cycling and i was like that's that scared me i was like this is the guy who's going to be my like he's going to be running me up the guts the whole time um and i knew that if i couldn't break him at some point that he wasn't going to slow down and so when i saw him starting to pick through the pack i was like okay here we go i was like he's coming yeah
00:13:50
Speaker
No, I love this. This is great. This is like, this is racing, right? You're trying to win. So therefore you, some people do that based on feelings, but if you're an analytical sort of person, you'd like to know this stuff.
00:14:03
Speaker
That's how you're going to, you're going to overcome someone that might otherwise beat you um on a normal head to head. That's brilliant. and The rest of the field, was there anybody else at that point or in your research that you were also keeping ah an eye on that you thought was going to feature?
00:14:18
Speaker
Um, there was a lot of people who look pretty like the biggest thing that like I personally look for is people who are consistent through their races and their runs and their training. I think in the long runs, consistency is key. And that's why i was like, he's the man who's going to go. Cause you could see how consistent his training was.
00:14:34
Speaker
You could see that he'd had some consistently strong performances through his races. Um, and so you knew that he was like, even if he had a bad day, he'd probably still be closer somewhere up there.
00:14:46
Speaker
Right. Yeah. Um, And so there wasn't anyone else that there was obviously people who I was like, you know, if they had a good day, they could definitely be out of my league, like a Vlad Satratrov, right? Like if he, if he comes out there and he has his perfect day, he would be a very hard man to beat.
00:15:03
Speaker
And you You can see that just in the way he's running. And I saw that in a certain sections, a couple of sections out there when I did see him, like he he's a fast runner. And so if he's able to put it together, he would definitely be someone that I, you know, I wouldn't personally have the fitness to keep up with.
00:15:19
Speaker
Interesting. Interesting. Okay. So we've got through that first section. You're essentially now from a terrain perspective, it kind of levels the playing field. There's no longer got that, that advantage. And some of those faster guys can start to start to put the wheels down if they haven't spent too many trips up to that point.
00:15:38
Speaker
It looks like though you stay in first essentially all the way until Echo Point near the Fairmont aid station. and so were you running around people this whole time? Did you have your own kind of gap there?
00:15:52
Speaker
um Yeah, so that that was that was where I started to build some confidence. And I think it was almost i think I was almost alone for too long. Okay. Almost got a little bit complacent and it almost would have been nice to feel like some people were pushing me a little bit.
00:16:07
Speaker
Um, because yeah, ah Eric had caught me through hydro majestic. We got to the narrow neck at the same time. um and he, he dropped the comment and we we're chatting. He's a, he's a good guy. Um, we were chatting along the way and, uh, dropped the comment of, yeah, I'm going to stop and change my shoes. And I went, well, I'm not stopping to do much then.
00:16:27
Speaker
Um, so we got in there and, uh, And that was just what the thought I had in my head. I still made sure I got all my proper water and I took a ah minute or two because that was kind of the big fuel up for me at Narrow Neck before we were going to be out there and I wouldn't see my pit crew until about 90 So that's almost 40 kilometers I'd seen the pit crew.
00:16:46
Speaker
um So I did have to take my time make sure I had all my fuel and stuff. um But when I got in, I ah tried to do it as quickly as possible and just got out onto an arrow neck and tried to just jump into as good of a running rhythm as I could and just hold it because I knew that this next section um up until fog, you know, was very runnable. There was some technical downhill stuff, which suits me well.
00:17:07
Speaker
um And so I actually feel like I ran narrow neck really well and I was very happy with that and and I didn't
Overcoming Setbacks
00:17:14
Speaker
overdo it either. And I was able to maintain that pace. The downhill off foggy knob, that was ah that was so interesting. um it was I'd never done it before because it's ah it's a track that you're not allowed to do in prep for UTA.
00:17:29
Speaker
um But it was just it felt like it was a downhill that kept going uphill. And I was like... going on here like every time we went down and it was either super steep and then it was like uphill and then it was down and it was up and i was like are we even getting to the bottom of this mountain right now um and uh that was yeah got through that and then the rest of it was yeah fire trail and road to get all the way through to Um, the six foot inbound and i and I got there and I'd actually pulled some time, I think on, on Eric, considering we, he only left about 30 seconds after me. I think by the time I got to six foot, I had put another four minutes on him or something like that.
00:18:08
Speaker
Um, and I felt really confident through that section. And that was kind of the goal of the day was to run a little bit stronger through that section. but And then when we got to six foot track, I think that's where I got a little bit complacent.
00:18:21
Speaker
Um, and I still felt really good. Um, my energy levels were high. Um, But I think I was also having not ran a miler. was a little bit scared to push too hard, um not knowing what was coming from the back. And it it was probably a good thing that I was a little bit cautious.
00:18:39
Speaker
um But through six foot, I was like, the goal is is to run everything. like And I'd never hiked anything up until that point. The goal was just in my mind was no matter how slow it was, was I was not going to hike at all.
00:18:54
Speaker
Sorry, so that's including some of the climbs in that first section. You ran everything. i hiked maybe 40 to 50 steps up Perry's. and no Wow.
00:19:05
Speaker
um And like I said, though, this running pace is not like proper running. It's like bouncing, using the fascia system just to be efficient. um And so it is like some people could hike as quick as I was running up it.
00:19:19
Speaker
But... that in my mind it was actually saving me energy because I was utilizing tension in my body in the fascia system rather than just having to destroy the quads hiking or glutes and stuff. And so um yeah I actually think it was a huge success in my day doing that because, yeah, and i like I said, there's parts of Lockley's. It's just too technical to actually be able to run it.
00:19:42
Speaker
it was almost harder. Um, so I'd hiked a couple steps here and there up, um, Lockley's, but yeah, hadn't, other than that, I hadn't hiked a single part of that day up until, um, up until Nelly's Glen, which was about 110K in. Um, um,
00:19:56
Speaker
seven k n a hundred and ten k and um And through the six foot track, that's where Bridie jumped on as my pacer. And she's a legend. She's such a positive spirit and she's keeping me distracted. And so that was really good to have. But I think I did get a little bit complacent because in my mind, I started to think like, oh, I'm four minutes ahead.
00:20:19
Speaker
they're probably hurting. We're so deep into the race. So if I just keep running, i should be able to keep that gap, right? As long as I don't hike anywhere and I can just keep some sort of a run, um then I should be able to maintain that gap. Sure enough, we got to the end of that loop.
00:20:34
Speaker
And Bridie looks around, she goes, you got company. I was like, shit, I knew it. And wow I could tell I just, I was still running everything and I was still moving at a strong pace, but he was moving just that tiny bit stronger. So it was 16K and he pulled in, yeah, three and a half minutes across that 16K.
00:20:51
Speaker
So it just means he was running that tiny little bit extra across that whole distance, right? um And he closed that gap, which is good on him. And then, um so we got into the aid station and that was the point where Nellie's came. And so because I had actually run a little bit less than i probably could have through that six foot track section. Um, we, I put on a hit and I was like, maybe I, maybe some chance I could probably break him here. And so we, don't, yeah, it still blew my mind, but, uh, we actually got into some pretty decent paces going up to Nellie's. It's like a slight incline the whole way.
00:21:30
Speaker
um And we were, yeah, dropping five-minute Ks on like a 5% type grade kind of thing, which for that deep into a race, like it was – we were moving well up those. That's fast.
00:21:43
Speaker
But he just held on. Like he just was right there. And then I even hit Nelly's, and um I could see he was maybe going a little bit slower, and I was just trying to put a crazy power hike on just to get up as quick as I could.
00:21:57
Speaker
um And he just held there. Didn't just – Kept right on. And so when we got to the top of that, I was kind of like, okay, this is where his fitness comes in.
Reflections and Future Plans
00:22:05
Speaker
Yeah. and So you're trying to put this move on and you're not breaking him. What, aside from realizing how fit he is, what's running through your head at that point?
00:22:14
Speaker
At that point, it was like, okay, the guy's not breaking. um I just got to sit with him then. It's not about like, I'm not going to continue to put, right? That just be silly. I'd blow myself up. So, you know, you take the chance, right? You shoot the shot.
00:22:27
Speaker
You see, if you know, if you can get out of sight of him, it might break the spirits and give you that chance to take the lead and move on. Um, but that wasn't happening and I could tell. So it was like, okay, let's just flow with him and stay with him and, you know, kind of set the tone and share the tone. And that's what we, we kind of started doing from there. And that was from the top of Nelly's to the aquatic center. We just kind of ran together and, uh, we weren't really battling. We were just flowing together off each other.
00:22:53
Speaker
um got into the aquatic center we refueled still feeling really good at that point um and then same thing we just took off together and we were chatting a little bit and you know we started kind of getting um into a groove together I guess at that point yeah right and up to this point and I guess and and future as well but nutrition and hydration what was your strategy and how close were you able to stick to that Yeah, so um i was I started off actually in the first six hours. I was taking in ah about 140 to 150 grams per hour of carbs.
00:23:27
Speaker
It was very high amount. It actually ended up being too much. um I didn't get any nasty cramping or stomach issues, but I just could feel like it was too filling for me, and it just didn't feel as pleasant.
00:23:41
Speaker
So I got to, um i can't remember what age station it was, um maybe narrow neck and I said, Hey, let's just drop down the amount that I'm taking back to kind of one 20.
00:23:52
Speaker
And honestly, I think because the effort was a little bit lower than the hundred K that I'd done at causey, think the 120 was really nice for that effort.
00:24:03
Speaker
I feel like it Aussie, I actually could have taken that one 40 and would it have been all right. Um, and I actually ended up getting close to one 40 at causey. um but I think it was just the lower effort that required. It was just the one 40 was too much for that effort.
00:24:16
Speaker
And we're seeing this quite often now where people are upping their carb intake, but not adequately upping the hydration or they're just not, they're not meeting that requirement. Um, I think it is a lot, a lot higher than people do realize. are you very conscious, consciously like looking at your hydration through this?
00:24:34
Speaker
100%. Yeah. Like if you're, if you're taking in all carbs and you're not drinking enough water, things are going to turn south very quickly. Um, and so, yeah, I'm, I was, yeah, I i was taking a high amounts of water, like my, my kind of mindset for me and I am a high sweater and I've done tests to figure that out. So I do need to take a lot of water. Otherwise I just won't function at well. Um, and so, yeah, my, my minimum in these longer races is I'll take a liter with me every hour, no matter what.
00:25:01
Speaker
And then if I'm feeling like I'm needing more because it's a hotter day or whatever it is, I'll make those adjustments. Right. But it's I set the baseline for myself that I take a liter every hour and I need to get that in just to make sure.
00:25:13
Speaker
Okay, so it sounds like maybe maybe except potentially extending yourself a little bit too much trying to break Eric in the lead up to Equality Center. But you know, and i but aside from that, pacing, fueling, hydration, everything sounds really good. In terms of setting yourself up for your first miler and discovering what that last 60 actually means, you're in a really good place.
00:25:34
Speaker
no As I said, you're running with Eric through Echo Point towards Fairmont, and that's when the gaps then start to open. So what what happens there? Yeah, it was, you know what, I look back on it and i at first thought that, you know, just didn't keep up, just didn't train. But I actually think I lost a little bit of a mental battle with myself. So when we came, was probably hundred and twenty k in now.
00:26:00
Speaker
um And we've descended down giant stairs. I was actually in front a little bit and I was actually feeling a little bit better than him going down. And I knew I had a section coming up that I was very confident in.
00:26:11
Speaker
And so I was actually ready to... Yes, flow really nicely. And as I'm going down the stairs, my head torch starts to die. And so, okay, shit. All right.
00:26:22
Speaker
um I've got a backup. I was like, it's all good. I'll change it at the bottom. I'll get a little bit of a lead on them and then I'll change it. So I just kind of sent it a little bit faster down giant, put like 20 meters on them, get to the bottom torch goes out completely. It's pitch black. I'm like, okay, okay.
00:26:36
Speaker
Get my back out. out This is a you know a lack of preparation thing for myself. um I didn't know how to work that hedge torch. So I put it on my head and I turn it on and it's the dimmest, crappiest light I have ever seen in my life.
00:26:52
Speaker
It was like I couldn't hardly see the rocks in front of me and we're now in the bottom in this forest and it's super technical and it's muddy and it's wet and I can't see anything. And Eric had just passed me and I've got this terrible light on And so I was like, ah no. I was like, here we go. i was like, this is it.
00:27:10
Speaker
And so I start running and I'm like trying to play at the buttons. I'm trying to like take my other head torch out and like put like a double light kind of thing and make some sort of weird, get more light on the trail.
00:27:22
Speaker
And I'm doing this for a while. And so I'm in that section, I would have easily lost five minutes right there. Like that was it. Like I could, you could not run down the earth. You don't have enough light to see your, your feet in front of you.
00:27:33
Speaker
um and so by the time I pressed the head torch, I realized that, um, there was a more powerful light and it was like a double click and I just didn't know how. And then boom, light came on and I was like, okay. I was like, that's good though.
00:27:48
Speaker
But by that point, I felt a little bit mentally defeated now. And I was like, I've lost this gap I've worked so hard for. You know, it's, we're deep into a race. You're never feeling the best. Right.
00:27:58
Speaker
And so I think I kind of just got a little bit complacent there and almost lost a little bit of a mental battle still moving. All right. Like I'm definitely not like fatigued over fatigued or my guts are hurting, nothing like that. Legs feel all right.
00:28:12
Speaker
But I think I just kind of got into too slow of a pace. Cause I just felt a little bit mentally defeated from that moment. Um, and I think when you're deep in those races, your brain's fatigued as well. Right. And so the choices that you make become affected and how you process things become affected. And so I think, yeah, that just all compiled and yeah. And that's where he opened up that five minute gap at Fairmont kind of thing.
00:28:35
Speaker
Right. yeah And you obviously didn't have a pacer with you at this point. No, cause I, cause I would, I knew I would want a pacer for the end. And so I wanted to give Brydie a rest. So I said, I'll go for the next 20. And then if you feeling okay, you can hop on for the end.
00:28:49
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. Wow. What a time for it to happen. Yeah. Yeah. Okay. so it ends up being just under a 50 minute gap. Yeah.
00:29:00
Speaker
Did you feel like the wheels fell off or did you just never quite switch back into that full race mode? Um, no, because it with the wheels didn't really ah explain what happened. Um,
00:29:13
Speaker
We got to Fairmont five minutes behind. was like, yeah, cool. ah Got to QVH seven or eight minutes behind, something like that. um So we were moving. He wasn't moving that much quicker than me, really.
00:29:25
Speaker
And I still felt really good through those sections. I felt all right. couldn't. didn't, you know, you're tired, but I didn't feel like overly tired or anything like that. Like I'll still move and still running everything, you know, maybe only hiking stair or two here and there, like still running them.
00:29:40
Speaker
Um, and then i got to QVH and they go, Hey, he's, uh, yeah, eight minutes in a head or whatever. Ben had started the timer for me and I could see it was like eight and a half minutes. was like, okay, cool.
00:29:53
Speaker
I'll fuel up. We'll give it. I wasn't I think, like I said before, I was a little mentally defeated. And so I think my drive for winning had definitely dimmered and kind of died a little bit.
00:30:04
Speaker
My body still felt all right, but my passion to win had kind of died. And um I then asked the question of how far is third? And they go an hour and 20 minutes or something. And I think in retrospect, maybe I shouldn't have.
00:30:21
Speaker
But I'm glad I did in the end, because the moment I started descending Kadamba, at first I was like, you know what, I'm going to have a push here and see if I can you know get some good running legs. This is my strength.
00:30:33
Speaker
But then I then i had a really bad pain in my knee. It's not like muscular pains, things like that. My MCL started absolutely screaming at me, like in a bad way. And I was like, the last thing I want from this race is to come out with an injury and not be able to do the thing I love after this.
00:30:49
Speaker
And I think that's what was sitting really heavy in my head. And so it was good that I had... the knowledge of how far third was because then I could conserve my body from that point. And that's kind of what it went into is it wasn't that I couldn't have ran faster. I definitely could have.
00:31:05
Speaker
It was more of like this knee is not feeling good and I don't want to blow it up and destroy it and not be able to train after this. um And so it just, I just kind of went into like super slow downhill running, got to the climbs and just started power hiking at a decent pace but just getting through it kind of thing cause I knew if I if I moved at a steady rate that someone who's an hour and 20 minutes back in a mile is not catching me kind of thing and um and that was kind of yeah how it how it all played out okay so reflecting then now looking back are you pleased with how the day went
00:31:41
Speaker
Oh man. So pleased. Like over, like it's, I never imagined I'd get 120 K in and feel as good as I did. Like, just like, I was so worried about that back half. And so, uh, cause I know how bad I felt at the last 10 K of causey.
00:31:58
Speaker
Right. So I was like, you know, to get 120 K and still feel like I had life and energy and, uh, was running all right. It was, I was so happy with that. Even 140 and i was still super happy with that. And, um,
00:32:11
Speaker
Would I made a couple of decisions differently in that last 20? Honestly, probably not. I think racing is fun and I love racing and to win would have been awesome. But um to not be able to train and run after that is is not worth it for me.
00:32:25
Speaker
And so um i'm I'm happy with the decision I've made because I think my body's pulled up a lot better because of it rather than trying to hammer that downhill and just, you know, hurt myself, get to the line.
00:32:37
Speaker
Yeah, so the body but is feeling okay? Yeah, it's feeling it's feeling much better. And the MCL thing that I was worried about seems, knock on wood, to to be all right. So, yeah. Great.
00:32:48
Speaker
No, it was cool to watch. You were definitely on our radar. You did have Chris McAuliffe coming up behind you, which is not and something people would really want. If there's anybody that was going to close that gap, Chris is probably one that could, but you still finished 35 minutes clear of him and you punched the ticket to UTMB.
00:33:08
Speaker
It's pretty impressive. which And also you look at The UTMB score, your points was only about four points lower than what you scored for Cozzy and you're saying that you you essentially hiked it in for 20k. So it shows that your performance was a real level up there.
00:33:24
Speaker
Yeah, I felt so much fitter. Like if I would have gone to run the 100K, which was my original plan, like having gone through one hundred k in that miler, feeling as strong as I did, i was like, I could have had ah a much better performance in the 100K at UTA than I did at Causey for sure.
00:33:44
Speaker
Yeah, great. Which i sets you up with confidence for whatever's next, which is there anything on the plan yet? Um, you know what, i'm I'm going back to an old, um, an old, uh, the old stomping grounds of my first year being in Australia back to, uh, the Blackall 100 in Southeast Queensland.
00:34:04
Speaker
Uh, it's, uh, they, it's, it's a cool course. It's a race I've always wanted to do. um and yeah, I want I want to go up there and try and set a really fast time in that hundred and just do the best possible time that I can on that course.
00:34:19
Speaker
but I'm assuming Chiang Mai is now not going to be on the cards. No, no, no. We're staying stay in in Australia. Wonderful. All right, Quentin. Well, congratulations again. Thank you for coming on. It's been great. I feel like I was really living that with you, just with slightly less sore legs now.
00:34:35
Speaker
So thank you for that. And we'll catch you next time.