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Episode 57: Ueda SkyRace Recap with Blake Turner!
274 Plays16 days ago
Welcome to Episode 57 of Peak Pursuits, your ultimate podcast for everything trail running in Australia. This episode is hosted by Sim Brick and Vlad Ixel with guest host Blake Turner as they recap the wild race that was Ueda SkyRace!
Hear about how Blake and Sim managed the technicality and steepness of the Japanese terrain, and just what it was like tackling a race this wild. With 3100m of gain and loss over just 26km, there are plenty of stories to tell!
We also get to hear how Vlad is feeling before racing UTA50 before covering some awesome results at Transvulcania, Margaret River Ultra and Stromlo!
Transvulcania: https://transvulcania.livetrail.run/
Margaret River Ultra Results: https://bluechipresults.com.au/results.aspx?CId=11&RId=1845
Stromlo Results: https://au.srichinmoyraces.org/canberratrailruns/previous-results/2025
***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!
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!):https://uppbeat.io/t/mood-maze/trendsetter
License code: K08PMQ3RATCE215R
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Transcript
Introduction to Peak Pursuits Podcast
00:00:08
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 57 of the Peak Pursuits podcast. My name is Simone Brick coming to you back home from Melbourne and today I'm joined by regular podcast host Vlad Ixl over in Perth. how are we doing Vlad? Yeah, not too bad. Just so getting ready a couple more days till my flight to Sydney for UTA.
Travel Excitement for UTA
00:00:27
Speaker
So pretty excited.
00:00:29
Speaker
Yeah, you and me both. I'm getting on a plane again very quickly and it'll be good to see everyone there. It's going to be a
Blake Turner's Return to Australia
00:00:36
Speaker
fun weekend. We've got more coming up on that soon, but we are lucky enough to also be joined by someone who I just got to travel with and that is the lovely Blake Turner. Hey, how are you going?
00:00:47
Speaker
Good to see you again. Good to see you again, Tate. Good to chat with you, Vlad. Good to be back in Australia on home soil. Yeah. How was the trip home for you, Blake? Yeah, it was perfect. It was, yeah, not exciting all.
00:01:00
Speaker
easy to hear it. Yeah, it was a day flight, 10 same time zone, Qantas, perfect. Yeah, straight back into it the next day, work, so yeah, no issues.
00:01:11
Speaker
Yeah, was going to you had a quick turnaround, so I felt for you. No, it was right. Oh, but we survive.
Experiences at Ueda Sky Race
00:01:17
Speaker
Awesome. Well, coming up in this podcast, you're going to hear myself and Blake recap what was one of the most wild experiences of my life, I'm assuming of yours too, Blake, in the Ueda Sky Race that we both raced, geez, a week ago that feels like a lifetime ago already.
00:01:35
Speaker
um And then ah we'll hear Vlad's final experience. right week before he's running UTA 50, yeah? I've not got that wrong. Good. yeah Just checking you weren't dumping another 100K on us there.
00:01:50
Speaker
Wouldn't surprise me. um So, yeah, a fun-filled pod there. Then some cool results from both Oz side and overseas to cover. But to get us started, Blake, what was that race that we just did?
00:02:05
Speaker
i It was fun. It was fun. Like the whole time, i was I was loving it. and then Like not at how ridiculous it was, just like how fun that type of sky running can be.
00:02:17
Speaker
And that's, I suppose, why we did it. Like it was different, but everyone was out there having a good time and no one got hurt, I suppose, was the main thing. That is definitely the main thing.
00:02:28
Speaker
What were you thinking the day before when, okay, to paint the scene for everyone, we're sitting in the opening ceremony, which I must say, I've been to a lot of race opening ceremonies and this one was awesome. They had cheerleaders out. They had traditional music. They also had a DJ that was actually a decent DJ and just put on a show for us, which was lovely.
00:02:49
Speaker
But in the race brief, What was the count on how many times they told us that A, we could die and B, someone did die on this well? Yeah, it was a bit unsettling. Like we kind of knew it was dangerous and the exclamation points or other danger points, but that was where you could die and you would die if you fell over and rolled off.
00:03:09
Speaker
That's what he said. um And someone did die. And we're like, we don't need to know this. It's not necessary. Like we we're out there to have a good time, you know, run as fast as we can. But it was unsettling. and Everyone just kept turning to each other and looking at each other and saying, like, is he for real? Like, is it that dangerous or or what's going to happen out there? So we didn't know. We'd been on course, I suppose.
00:03:30
Speaker
But when you're racing, it's a different story. Yeah, I just found it, yeah, I just found it very, I suppose, interesting. Some of it was also the translation um because there was the Japanese speaker and then there was someone translating into English for us. But I just loved the blonde, if you fall, you die um quote that came from the translation.
00:03:51
Speaker
um But it would no one got hurt. It was fine. And um honestly, it was I never even felt I was having blast out there. I never felt out of my um comfort zone ah exposure-wise personally.
Race Strategy and Recovery
00:04:04
Speaker
i can see how you would if you took a wrong step and you all, like, stumbled at all. um But I was taking the whole smooth is fast, no, slow is fast, smooth, smooth is fast approach on the board.
00:04:18
Speaker
people saying yeah i didn't feel like when you're racing it's completely different feeling as to like when we did a course check um and i'm like this is i'm gonna die but during those sections during the race day they kind of flew by and you get into your rhythm and you don't feel as uh exposed as you might if you if you're super wary about it you know but if if you're in the zone and you just click into that race mode it it's um it's not as daunting yeah How was your recovery after the Malaysia race? Because obviously it did like a fairly long race a few days before.
00:04:52
Speaker
that That was actually pretty slow. I had pretty heavy doms in the calves and quads. Yeah, it took a while to come around but to get my legs back under me.
00:05:05
Speaker
ah But to in saying that, I went out with Sim on the Tuesday. She's like, I'm going for a course, Rekki. I'm like, oh, how far are you going? I've got 45 minutes in the program. She's like, oh, you know, like 10K.
00:05:19
Speaker
Anyway, two and a half hours, three hours later, we're on the course. And to be honest, I didn't feel them at all. So I think getting that movement in the legs did help because we had that day we missed with the travel, as we spoke about the other week, where we, so it's two days I didn't run after the race.
00:05:37
Speaker
I think it would have been helpful to run on the day or the the second day after to kind of get the legs moving, but I didn't get that. come But come race day, because we had that extra day um on the the Sunday race, they were fine. So I felt like night and day, the start of the Uedo race compared to,
00:05:58
Speaker
Penang, the legs and everything in general. I find that surprising because I suppose in some ways I felt good on the start line. I actually felt really good on the first little small climb and first small descent.
00:06:10
Speaker
And then it was about halfway up the long climb, which is so close to the start of the race. We're not far in at all, like 4Ks, because you do 1,000 metres vert in the first 5Ks of this damn thing with another 250 downhill well.
00:06:23
Speaker
in that five k as well but I just found that I got just purely from the length of the climb, I got about halfway up that first long climb and my legs felt similar to how they felt in the last hour of Malaysia already.
00:06:38
Speaker
um And ah it was just the length of the climb that seemed to be getting me but because i I recovered as soon as it was downhill. But how did your legs feel on that longer climb? It was odd. they My legs felt strong all day.
00:06:54
Speaker
it was yeah it was weird like i felt like i was hiking a lot but they felt strong like i could hike with power and purpose you know what i mean not just dawdling um like i did i wasn't moving at lightning speed but i was also didn't feel devoid of energy like sometimes in malaysia like you would just be sapped and i just felt like you were just pulling yourself up that a sense even though they weren't as bad as the weekend but Yeah, it felt strong. And even at the end, I had some legs still on the last ascent. So it was good outcome.
00:07:22
Speaker
Yeah, awesome. Awesome. Well, to run us through, Vlad, actually, watching some of this race or watching back some of the um videos and things, what are your initial questions, having not been there?
Technical Challenges at Ueda
00:07:35
Speaker
How did you survive? Um, but no, I mean, obviously it looked like a super tough race in a way that you would have to do a fair amount of hiking. Um, a lot of technical stuff.
00:07:46
Speaker
Um, but yeah, I guess also coming into this race, being a little bit more competitive than the Malaysia one. Um, And then I guess and obviously your legs, no way they would have been 100% recovered.
00:07:58
Speaker
um Did you both go into the race with like, as long as I do as well as I did in Malaysia, I'm okay? Like, or were you going to like, I better get some points on the board here?
00:08:09
Speaker
um You know, there's not many options to score points if you want to do the whole series. If you live in Asia and you're not racing in Europe. Yeah, yeah. For me um i I could feel in the days leading in, like I knew I wasn't going to have as much energy in me for this race. Like I think that's a given in some ways. You've just raced five hours in stupid humidity. Like that you're not recovered in seven days. so and it is a more competitive race. So I think for me when I was looking at it, I kind of knew that top five was more my aim on this one.
00:08:42
Speaker
It was a case of, like okay, top five gives me – good points, a good back-to-back, I'm going to call that a solid result. Is it what I would necessarily want to be doing in a race like this? Like I would have, I wasn't in the end, like us the people in third and fourth, they were still like 10 minutes ahead or more, 15 minutes ahead almost, um but they were both together.
00:09:05
Speaker
And they were kind of who in my head I was chasing down. i didn't have the legs on the day to do it. And to be fair, a part of that, I also knew going in that checking the course, i was i was smoother and a bit faster over the parts of the course I checked, which was most of the course, thankfully.
00:09:21
Speaker
But I just found, especially watching some of the girls pass me when they did pass me, it was always on the really stupidly steep uphill, technical. Like it wasn't, actually I wouldn't even call it technical. What would you call that climb at the start, Blake, where you're just going up dirt?
00:09:36
Speaker
Okay. Where you're hanging. Who knows? What do you call it? just straight up a mountain? um yeah yeah what else What else do you call it? It's not really a path. It's kind of like, all right, we're going to get to stop the top of the mountain. are we going to get there?
00:09:48
Speaker
Straight up there. And that's what it was. Yeah. I just found myself way out of my depths in terms of going, I'm trying to pick where the hell do I put my feet? What do I do with my hands on this sort of terrain? I've never been up something like this before.
00:10:01
Speaker
Like I've done the Rocky. I've done the you feel like you're kind of rock climbing mid-race and the like steep as like the same sort of terrain we were on which was the dirt but like not quite so steep so you still almost feel like you can run or hike really well.
00:10:16
Speaker
This one felt like you were actually going up a wall of dirt. And i I found that section there, I lost so much time. I just watched people disappear ahead of me.
00:10:26
Speaker
um And I just, but that was purely just felt like I was figuring it out for the first freaking time. I didn't know what to do. um yeah And then I was also freaking out about the thought that we had to come back down that at the very end. Yeah, it wasn't like there was like a well-worn path, whether there was like footholds or steps up either. yeah it It was, as you say, just a dirt hill or slope.
00:10:47
Speaker
um And you kind of had to get your footing in there, almost like kicking your foot in sometimes to make your own foothold and grabbing whatever you could to pull yourself up. But yeah, if you weren't versed on that terrain, I don't know who is, but maybe people that live there. But yeah, it was it was definitely you lose a lot of time.
00:11:05
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. So I found, yeah. And I, knowing that at least some of the terrain was more like that, Takako, obviously I, there was almost a guarantee she was going to be well ahead and out of, it she's won the race like four, five times before she's got the course record. And I think this is a course that a hundred percent, and just having run the course once before you'll go faster the second time.
00:11:25
Speaker
And then you'll go faster the third time because you know how to race, where to push, what the terrain is. So um it's almost like, and even talking to Iris in the lead up, it was like, okay, Takako kind of is just going to have this unless something goes wrong, which it's a course where that can easily happen as well.
00:11:42
Speaker
um I kind of knew that she was going to be well ahead and then it was, who am I racing a little further back? And, and Most of them were unknowns except Iris.
00:11:54
Speaker
Iris is a lot better and a lot more versed at backing up long races than I am. She is so used to it and she's amazing at it. And I was asking for all the tips, but she pretty much just said, you'll get used to it. Just do it more.
00:12:06
Speaker
And I'm like, great, this is super helpful. um So, yeah I think just when I was looking at it, when you're talking about points going in, i kind of went, if I can be anywhere near a third, I would be beyond over the moon.
00:12:21
Speaker
But top five is my goal, which I suppose worked for and against me because once I knew I was in fifth on the day, I kind of just went, sweet, this is my spot and set stayed there because it was ah it was a course. i don't know if you found the same, Blake, but once you found your spot because of how technical it was and then you don't want to take risks because for me I was like, hey, I'm in top five.
00:12:42
Speaker
I don't want to fall now and you almost subconsciously are a little more cautious on the downhills and a little less willing to bust your gut on the earlier uphills because it's like, but there's so long to go, so much technical terrain, so much can go wrong.
00:12:57
Speaker
it feels It feels like it's just one of those courses where, yeah, things could turn in an instant. Yeah, on that, um I had, I wasn't really, I always with with was with someone most of the race.
00:13:11
Speaker
um And I was in the same position for most of the race, but it wouldn't be the same people. So someone would overtake me, someone had dropped back, and we'd be, I would always be seeing new people in front of me or behind me. So we would, it wouldn't be the same people would be leapfrogging each other all the time. So someone would come out of nowhere, all of a sudden, he's sprinting up this like 30 hill hill and like they were dead about three K's ago, like not moving and they would just fly past you.
00:13:37
Speaker
And then you'd have to wait another like half an hour. And then they'd be like walking down this technical part of the downhill and you'd overtake them again. It was just a bit of an odd race in that regard where people would just get these weird spurts of energy and just all of a sudden start flying up a hill.
00:13:51
Speaker
I don't know if that's the Japanese way of doing it, but yeah, it was a bit different. It was good because in Malaysia i had no one all day and it was a bit of up, like not the result I wanted. I wanted,
00:14:03
Speaker
top three in Malaysia, which I think was quite achievable, ah going into it, didn't have the day and then backing up the next week, I i was lacking some confidence, I could say going into these races, um being at home in lacking in my training in my and where I was at, and not knowing i was ah like I wasn't at my peak going into these but thinking yes, I could still compete at the top end.
00:14:28
Speaker
um And then after Malaysia, I'm like, all right, okay, something's not right. I'm a little bit off. And then just reframing to Japan saying, all right, top five is where I want to be. I think I can do it from seeing who was coming.
00:14:41
Speaker
It's just a matter of who turned up on the day on the Japanese side that weren't announced because obviously they're going to be some good athletes that aren't and on the elite start line.
00:14:52
Speaker
You never know. So all week I was a little bit, all right, like just see how you go, run your best and you should go right. But come race generally i assume the Japanese are going to go out like the clappers um as hard as they can and then you just start reeling them in as the race goes on.
00:15:10
Speaker
But unfortunately that doesn't happen. Yeah, wow. nice race yeah So what, well, I feel like it did happen for me um in some ways, which I'll explain in a second, but what position do you reckon you were in, let's say at 5k? So we've just done a VK um with some downhill and it's like the first long climbs done before we have a ridge run and down into the a longer descent.
00:15:34
Speaker
What position do you think you're in at the top of that climb, which is what I would call early climb? a 10th, I think. yeah Okay. So you were near about the same, which is yeahp which is that that ah that to me is cool and but also kind of wild because from my experience, um I was in like third or fourth at the bottom of that long climb after the first up and down.
00:15:58
Speaker
um And by the top, I was also in, I'm going to say, 9th. I just had people passing and on the second half of the long climb, um I just had people passing blasting past me. I had a few Japanese women, three or four of them go past and also the under 23.
00:16:15
Speaker
um I was with the under 23 runner Nicola for quite a while and then she passed um as well. So by the top, I had a number of Japanese women that had honestly gone past me like I was standing still on some of that uphill.
00:16:28
Speaker
and But then um over the course of the ridge, by but by the 11K, so over the next 5K on the descent, every single bit of descent I would pass one back.
00:16:38
Speaker
um But also just being a female in a mixed race, I got to see the male carnage a little further behind you. And so i reckon the number of men ahead of me at that climb and then the whole rest of the race, like I still saw some of what we all sometimes associate Japanese racing with of people going off hard and dying.
00:17:01
Speaker
because the number of men I passed that were standing still, standing on the side, walking along with their head down the back half, or just moving really slow.
Mental and Physical Race Dynamics
00:17:11
Speaker
And you kind of just want to check on them to make sure they're okay.
00:17:15
Speaker
There was a lot, it felt like at least. um But for me, in terms of women, I think by by the 11k point, which is the bottom of the first descent that we had, And I was in sixth, but then about 500 meters later, one of the women that was ahead of me was coming back towards me on the trail, not looking good at all.
00:17:34
Speaker
And she was DNFing. So then I was like, okay, I'm in fifth. Can't see a woman ahead. Can't see a woman behind. And it stayed that way for the next three hours or three and a half hours. So I, on the whole, felt like I was almost solo, right?
00:17:49
Speaker
that entire time where there were times in this race, Vlad, you would have been on climbs like this as well, where you get to the bottom of a climb and it's actually quite clear above you, but there's switchbacks and you can see people on the switchbacks at times, but someone that's seven switchbacks ahead of you might be 10 minutes, like, cause they're quite steep.
00:18:08
Speaker
And like they're quite high at times. And so I kept looking up the switchbacks, just hoping to see one of the two females that I was, because I knew Iris was well ahead. It was Sazuha, the Japanese and Nicola, the under 23, that I just kept every corner. I was looking up, hoping I would see one of them. And then there was every time it opened up to a big gap where I knew I was seeing quite a few minutes ahead and I just saw no one.
00:18:33
Speaker
It was like, what i it just sapped me a little bit. Like you just get into this mode of then going, well, I'm not going to catch them on this climb. I also found the descents in comparison to the, they were just so short.
00:18:45
Speaker
So in for for instance, the last climb, which was the longest climb of the day, took me, I think, 45 minutes. The descent was less than 15. for the same distance.
00:18:56
Speaker
So as someone that's a descender, it's like, I reckon, what are you, the time ascending versus descending on this course was astronomical. So there would be times we're doing a half hour climb and then descent to the next aid station was eight, nine minutes.
00:19:12
Speaker
And then you do another 25 minute climb and you descend for seven, eight minutes again. So I just found, yes, I would pass the men that passed me on the climb that I was lateroing the li leapfrogging a little bit with um at times on every single descent. So I'd get past a few people.
00:19:28
Speaker
And then by the end, I was also passing people on the climbs because I'm just that steady Eddie thing. But yeah and Did you find that the descents also just disappeared real quick, Blake? Yeah, it was definitely a climber's course. it It favoured the stronger climbers. Then the descents, like 600 metre descent, like before before you knew it, it was done. And you're like, surely I haven't dropped 600 metres.
00:19:49
Speaker
And you had. And it was just like in the blink of an eye, they were gone because you're concentrating that hard about, okay, don't fall, don't fall, go as fast as I can. It just flies by and you just you just lose the elevation so quick.
00:20:03
Speaker
Like, it's easy to do. And then you get to the bottom and you're at an a station you're like, oh, that was easy to turn around. and then you just try and slap the legs back into life. And then guess we're going straight back up again. And then you just get your head back together ah to power up.
00:20:16
Speaker
But with you, I think on a course like this, if you didn't have anyone in front of you to kind of like, all right, that's someone that's someone to chase. It's hard to to push that mindset of, okay, push, because otherwise you're in a hiding for nothing exactly what you're saying, because it's such a big margin to make up on the, on the ascents. Like if someone's, if I could see someone ahead of me, I'm like, all right, that's it. I'm to, I'm going run everything that I possibly can.
00:20:40
Speaker
then you catch up to them and they're like, all right, that's good. and Now keep pushing. then they just overtake you anyway. But at least they had the motivation to keep, moving as quick as you could, even though and was still slower than I wanted to do.
00:20:52
Speaker
um yeah You just just kept pushing those little bits of runnable, like three steps run, four steps run, whatever you could, yeah. Yeah, which I found easy on the very last climb because um so this course had but five, six climbs or so, but there was a section in the middle that was the most technical. You kind of went up, down, up, down, up, down about three times.
00:21:11
Speaker
um Every single one of those up downs, I did so the ups, I did solo. So I had no one ahead of me and I was just trying to, do that whole, I've got like two, three hours left of this race.
00:21:22
Speaker
How efficiently can I get to the top sort of thing with no one to chase down? Like I didn't even have men at that section because not enough had died off yet. So I was just in this little no man's land of, Yes, I would catch up to a few people on the short descent, but then once I'm ahead of them, I'm ahead of them and up I go up the climb.
00:21:39
Speaker
And just if someone was ahead of me, they weren't visible for those three because they were shorter. But then on the last climb I did find I had men and I was chewing into them and chewing into them and going, oh, maybe I'll maybe i'll see a woman soon.
00:21:53
Speaker
But I also had the same thing going on where I'd look back. You'd look down the switchbacks and see if there was anyone there and there was no one. And so, yeah, I definitely found it on that, in that instance, like this race was really mentally, like I wish, I wish I still, I feel like when I was younger, I 100% was the person that had the drive to just nail myself to a wall every single race and go, i don't care if there's someone ahead, someone behind, I am going.
00:22:19
Speaker
But when, and A, there is a decent amount on the line and it feels like the risk is not necessarily worth the reward pe ah or the yeah the risk you're taking for the rest of the season. But also it was just like, yeah, and I didn't know how much, it doesn't feel like there's as much to gain um from completely destroying myself for probably not finishing any higher in the race than I did.
00:22:42
Speaker
Um, so yeah mentally that one, like, as you said, we both got to the end of going, that felt so much slower than I expected it to be. i was a solid half hour behind where I wanted to be, which is a long bloody time over, it's a minute a K over this damn race.
00:23:00
Speaker
Um, But at the same time, I think just the terrain, you still had fun. I had so much fun out there. I would do it again in a heartbeat, but I just don't know how to actually, and Vlad, I don't know if you've ever done any races that have quite, like not quite so much elevation, but just so much up, down, up, down and and that sort of thing. But I just don't, I don't know how to switch into the full-on race mindset in these ones where it's not necessarily deep enough to have someone to chase the whole time.
00:23:29
Speaker
or back and forth with I don't know it's an interesting mindset yeah i mean I don't think I've done anything close to that amount of elevation for such a short race but I was um I was gonna ask you do you have you done a race that is similar in any ways um before or was this like completely out of oh like so far away from anything you've done before I think for me it was no. i haven't done anything like this before because everything I've done that is has a lot of vert and I've done big vert races. I've done some uphill races in Italy and last year I did some stupid vert uphills.
00:24:09
Speaker
But I've never done anything that like there was just so much up, dan dan down, up, down. And that just completely changes the game. It's not a send it to the top knowing that all you've got to survive is one downhill.
00:24:22
Speaker
Like because the only other proper sky race I'm going to say I've done, think, from me like I've done Strunda, which is a typical straight up, straight down. Absolutely loved it. You can kind of get to the top and as a downhiller go chase. Just just send it and see who you get.
00:24:38
Speaker
And same at Dolomith's Skyrun. So, but again, they're, they're the same distance with less vert and it's all in one go, one up, one down.
00:24:49
Speaker
So no, I felt having done it now, like I had one idea of how it was going to feel and having done it now, it was completely different to how I thought it was going to feel. It just felt like, like honestly, for me, it felt like I was constantly just battling an uphill.
00:25:05
Speaker
And then within a few minutes of realizing you're going downhill and you're navigating a downhill and catching people, you're back uphill again. So what about you, Blake? Yeah, I haven't done a great deal of European sky running races, which I suppose the real sky running or the South American ones.
00:25:20
Speaker
I've done a lot back in the day of the Australian, ah what do you call it, circuit. They had, so on the website, they had their series of races in New Zealand and Australia. And I did those for a while and they're not really, I wouldn't call them sky running, but the closest one I've suppose would be I've done the Wandi cross before, which is four climbs potentially three and a half.
00:25:44
Speaker
know yeah Pretty much back to back to back with a little bit of a a link up in the middle, which is probably the closest one in this part of the world. I think that would have it. It's obviously not the same elevation, but that is the same. It's up, down, up, down, up, down.
00:25:59
Speaker
um Probably only thing similar I could think of and almost some state but some steep terrain there too, almost the same as probably Ueda. Yeah, um but that's about it. Unless you really go and follow the,
00:26:12
Speaker
the circuit, you're not really going to get much like this unless you go hunting for
Skyrunning Series Insights
00:26:17
Speaker
all these kind courses. But even at the same time, this race is the race with the most elevation gain and loss per kilometre in the entire Skyrunning series.
00:26:25
Speaker
So yeah it's like it's already the gnarliest series and this like that how many times did the race want to tell us, we are the race with the most elevation, we are the steepest race in the entire series of the steep series of trail running?
00:26:39
Speaker
So hope we didn't make it easy on ourselves. Yeah, I suppose doing heel repeats up a VK, I know. But then even then you're getting the long descents. It's not being broken up by the short, sharp descents, the short, sharp ascents, you know, yeah. be fair, I was actually doing a lot of that in training in some ways. Like I did three goes of bloody mega sore, but I had quite an interrupted um illness, few other life things go on in the build that meant that the one time I was meant to do it,
00:27:07
Speaker
As a session, I didn't. And I think I'm i'm quite comfortable navigating the up, down, up, down terrain easy. um i think what I found hard is it's a different ball game again when you're trying to go hard up, hard down, hard up, hard down, hard up, hard down, yeah over and over and over. think the hardest – yeah, sorry, you're right, keep I was just going to say just the fact that there was there was one section of maybe 200 metres of actual flat running in between one of the downs and one of the ups.
00:27:39
Speaker
The rest of the time, it was quite literally like you'd been sending a downhill, you do a yeah U-turn and you're hiking. No break in between whatsoever. That was the hardest part.
00:27:49
Speaker
I suppose it'd be difficult to train, but you could, is running as fast as you can downhill as you can and turning around and straightaway running. running as hard as you can uphill because that's what you were doing. You didn't really get a chance to like, I have that little transition points between down and up, which you normally do.
00:28:06
Speaker
You were straight into the ups like, and the legs, that was for me the hardest part to kind of navigate was because it took me a while to get the legs back around to start climbing again. And that was the most difficult part is the first few hundred meters of the ups.
00:28:22
Speaker
ah The legs just did not want to power because you you're you're pounding them going down that steep. They just didn't want to produce the power, I felt, to propel you up the hill again straight away. It's almost like you needed to sit there for a minute, take a minute, like, you know, regroup and then start again instead of just going straight away. Yeah, I think I never realised how much those little flat bits between down and ups are actually really good.
00:28:44
Speaker
Yeah. Really useful in running. get your legs back under you when you can just turn the legs over a little bit and get, I don't know, what's in the legs, but make them feel like they're running again and then and then off you go.
00:28:56
Speaker
Yeah. Which one other question I've got for you, Blake, which I didn't actually get a chance to ask you is how did you find nutrition on this course? Yeah. ah It was a little – I approached it a little bit differently this race than Penang. Penang was perfect besides one gel short because I think we went a bit longer than we thought we going to go. um This race I took a bit of powder in my water too. So I took 30 grams.
00:29:24
Speaker
ah took thirty grams ah one full bottle at the start, ah one empty bottle with 30 and then one at the aid station with 30. And I think I took 120 grams in the first hour, yep which I hadn't done before.
00:29:38
Speaker
I didn't really realize it either. So I took two gels and a bottle before the first aid station, the VK. So we're hiking up a hill, but we're not, I wouldn't say it's full intensity.
00:29:50
Speaker
um And then I think I overdid it in that first hour. And then I just had a period in the race of where I kind of, I stretched and then I stretched my nutrition out a little bit to try and feel like I could consume a bit more.
00:30:05
Speaker
And then I would eat when I wanted to, or like have nutrition when I wanted to, as opposed to the last race, the plan was it worked every 25 minutes or whatever it was, gel, gel, gel, gel. gel Whereas this race, because I think I overdid bit at the start, my timing was out.
00:30:22
Speaker
So I had a bit of a period in the, and second third where I was a little bit spread out um in nutrition yeah um I don't think it affected me too much to be honest because I was getting enough in but it was a bit spread out if that makes a difference did you take any nutrition on on any of the downhills though uh no way yeah i was gonna say I couldn't No way.
00:30:47
Speaker
it It was not what for what purpose? ah well To drop it on the ground and squish it everywhere? That's what I would have thought. I just found even the ridge, like the longer, I suppose it was about 6km worth of downhill.
00:31:02
Speaker
um like flat actually we looked at it and it looks like on the map that you're going downhill and then what did we say it had like another three four hundred worth of up yeah it was deceptive de that matter right ye but i found that just because on that ridge every bit of up was actually quite hands-on with the ropes and stuff because that was the other thing this course had ropes on like so much of the course and And I was using them.
00:31:26
Speaker
And I just personally, like I'd still got for me 70 grams of carbs an hour in on the lower side, but pretty good for me at this point, um just because of the stomach troubles I've been having. But I just found that I had to absolutely mow into my nutrition on the less technical, less steep uphills.
00:31:45
Speaker
and just survive everything else because I was either using my hands on a rope to get up or you're trying to survive the bloody downhill. You're not about to get any bottle or any nutrition out on any of those downhills.
00:31:56
Speaker
And then also throw in the fact that I just found the the number of ups and downs, like I couldn't really fuel on the transition points. So when we'd just gone from down to up, stomach wasn't feeling great.
00:32:09
Speaker
When we'd just gone from up to down, stomach wasn't feeling great. So I just found i had to, I made use of all the windows I could and it worked actually reasonably enough. um But I just found I just had to, I only fueled on the middle portion of every single climb essentially.
00:32:24
Speaker
Yeah, that's correct. Yeah, me too. I think I managed to still get in just under 85 grams an hour on average per during the race, which in hindsight is a decent amount, but 100%, could only get it on the mid portions of the climbs too because otherwise you were blasting the downhills or you were kind of exerting too much on the ups.
00:32:47
Speaker
Yeah, so there was only certain points. You couldn't just, yeah, time it exactly will meet exactly like another race. You couldn't just time it on the on the minute every time you wanted to do it. Yeah, he just got it in when you could get it in, yeah.
00:32:59
Speaker
Yeah, cool, cool. Glad I wasn't alone there because I was like, whoa, having to think. There was one of the uphills in particular, I think it was maybe the third or fourth, where I was like, if I don't get a bunch in now, I reckon within 20 minutes of an uphill, I would have taken in the whole of my 70 grams for that hour.
00:33:16
Speaker
So, um yeah, got it in. We've survived. I did take in five litres again, though, over my five hours. nice Solid. i am It was actually deceptively warm.
00:33:28
Speaker
um it was on the day yeah up the top was nice but still 24 degrees still warm than we thought i think oh cold after malaysia so um but yeah and to ah i should have had all of the full results up and i'm gonna have to go off memory i remember the women hopefully you remember the men like um
00:33:49
Speaker
On the women's side for the results for this race, which I don't even know if we said at the start, but we've said it on the podcast before. 26, I think most people got closer to 27K on their watch. 3,150 is what most people ended up with on their watch
Race Results and Cultural Experience
00:34:05
Speaker
as well. So they gave us a little bit of extrovert in there.
00:34:08
Speaker
um And ah the winner on the women's side, both the male and female winners won by 20 minutes, which – They were local Japanese and very well-known ones at that, and that was Takako Takamura on the women's side. She won in four hours, 19 high, um I believe.
00:34:27
Speaker
And then in second place on the women's was Iris Pesce in four hours, 41 High around. yep um And third and fourth on the women's side, it was actually quite exciting. Although talking to Nicola afterwards, she had no idea that she was closing in on third.
00:34:45
Speaker
So third place was Sazuha, or I don't remember her surname, but Sazuha, a local Japanese, and it was in four hours, 53. And then fourth place, who was an under 23 athlete, Nicola Makova was actually only 14 seconds behind, but didn't know she was only 14 seconds behind.
00:35:03
Speaker
So, cause you started passing people of different race distances and stuff. So it was a bit hard to tell where you were in the race, but. um And then myself in fifth, I was five hours and seven. So I was ways back.
00:35:16
Speaker
I was well off, well off. But it's all good. we We got there. I held on for my fifth place um on the men's side. Blake, it was Rui at the front. Yeah, I got the results here. Yeah, so Rui Ueda, who has the course record here.
00:35:30
Speaker
And I think the course was a bit longer this year, everyone said, about a for a link-up. Yeah, they said he ran the equivalent of the course record because the course was 1K longer than when they set the course record. Definitely. So he, I don't know, this is just his course, I suppose. So good on him. He ran 3 hours and 33.
00:35:47
Speaker
um which is ridiculous, insane. Fun fact, actually. so this course, you actually have a 17k aid station. um So you want you've still got 10ks to go at this point. And for me, that was like close to two hours of running.
00:36:02
Speaker
And I will say, absolute shout out to the Japanese because they showed up. That aid station was so much fun. They had music pumping. They had people ready to high five you. They had a full Like I was surprised how many people were at this aid station.
00:36:14
Speaker
But I'm then starting the longest climb of the entire day, knowing I have a very long way to go. And just because of the way the mountain is and then the valley and where the finish line is in relative to this,
00:36:24
Speaker
I heard them call Rui across the finish line knowing I had close to two hours left. So I was on the climb suffering and going, I'm pretty sure that's the finish. And then I just hear them go, Rui, you winner.
00:36:41
Speaker
And I'm like, yep, that's the finish. And Rui is finished right now. And I'm about to climb for the next 50 minutes straight. So yeah that was brutal. Yeah, the cheering coming up the valley was so deceiving. You're like, all right, I'm coming for home. And not you were never getting closer. It was just you could hear it coming up the valley.
00:36:59
Speaker
But it was good. It was calling you home at least. Yeah, but he um he's another level on this course, I think. I don't know. But um the Japanese runners, like I haven't run much over there. have to speak to people over there. But I don't know if it's there.
00:37:13
Speaker
their running culture or what, but I think it's mandated that they have to run up every hill and not walk a step. I couldn't believe it. It was ridiculous. They were running. No matter how slow they werere going, they were running. You know, if yeah you can walk past them, but they were running. And I'm like, this is not i efficient, and surely.
00:37:31
Speaker
But anyway, so he's managed to run fast. And and second was Tsubasa Fuji from Normal 352.
00:37:39
Speaker
um Then Marcel Hoch from Germany, the Terex, and I think he ran the 70K Mount Fuji race the week before and he comes second, I think, yeah which is a ridiculous backup.
00:37:54
Speaker
I think he's been he's been like this side of the world from January because he started his trip um in Hong Kong, um like the same race that I did in Hong Kong in January. And he's been racing around Asia um this whole time. So yeah, pretty crazy. I think he's doing a semester in ah in Japan ah studying.
00:38:17
Speaker
Yeah, so he's doing some local races, yeah. But he's ah he's a decent runner, man, a good bloke too. Yeah, it's the top three and then heaps more people before it gets to me, so it's not important. You ninth. Hey, you came in in that top 10. Yeah, it was good actually. I was 11th probably with less than a K to go.
00:38:35
Speaker
um and I'm like, I did not come all this way to not make the top 10. Anyway, I ended up reeling in Stingray on the last c climb who who was busted. And I was happy. I was happy to let him know at the end that's one from one now.
00:38:47
Speaker
After he was blasting the descents, he's so good in the techie descents, but the ups, he had nothing on the day. i don't know. He just didn't have the power, he said. Oh, I love the description of you passing him and you're just passing him and he goes, i have no power. Yeah, my power is gone, he said.
00:39:03
Speaker
i think it was the translation thing, but yeah. So that was good. And then I passed the guy on the, just at the top of the last descent. I managed to put like three minutes into him on that last descent anyway. So they must've been in a world of hurt, but i ah yeah, I was happy to.
00:39:17
Speaker
to come in the top 10 because that finish line also was probably my favorite, one of my favorite finish lines I reckon I've ever been to, man. they They love it. They had the drums going, people there high-fiving, yelling. yeah It was really good, yeah.
00:39:29
Speaker
They made it special. Yeah. Yeah. As an overall race package and just for the experience and everything, one of my favorites by far. So freaking fun. Yeah. They know how to, yeah, the culture over there for running, they know how to do it and they know how to treat you and they respect it and they know what you do and what you put out and they applaud you for it. Definitely.
00:39:50
Speaker
Yeah, and then you missed the after-party, Blake. That was put on by Skyrim in Japan. That was a lot of fun. Yeah, yeah, unfortunately. Oh, we got to know all about sake.
00:40:03
Speaker
Oh, it was good. any um Any parting questions, Vlad, or have we we covered off everything? No, i think it was good. Definitely feel like you guys might be back to do this race in the future, considering um the way that Skyrunning is positioned itself with some back-to-back races.
00:40:20
Speaker
um yeah But yeah, it's probably a bit too much for me. I don't know. Not sure how much you'd enjoy it. I think it it does take a certain kind of mindset and runner to actually enjoy this stuff. I think if you were in any way uncomfortable on the descents, on these sorts of this super technical descents, I think you would find quite a lot of the course...
00:40:41
Speaker
just not fun but then also um if you're someone like you that's you're so bloody fast and you're used to moving fast you have to get very used to moving slow because ah like there's just no way to not do not move what you would feel is slow progress whenever it would be fun it'd be fun day out just on the trails like i think but maybe as a race like You know, it could be a bit of a questionable decision for me.
00:41:09
Speaker
Oh, cap a crack. Why not? Do it. ah but I think it's a good idea. This the series, kind of the world series, you get to race like really good athletes and you get treated really well if you are a part of like the setup and they want they want more people from our part of the world to go and compete.
00:41:30
Speaker
So it's a good opportunity um to go and experience it and and level up a little bit. You know, you think it's going to be decently easy. Well, you don't think that but you think, all right, we've got a shot here. We come for a show, you know, we're decent runners and you get over there and you you kind of get your ass handed to you a little bit and you're like, all right, well, let's just,
00:41:51
Speaker
you've got to keep on doing it and like keep on stepping up to the next levels and this is the way to do it, you know, yeah getting out there and experiencing these these tough conditions and and different courses. And Blake, did you know, so you're currently ranked 11th overall in the series?
00:42:04
Speaker
That's very sad.
00:42:08
Speaker
I was hoping to be like third after these first two legs and be like coasting to the end of the season. But now it's got no hope. No, that's not cool. you all booked for Korea and Malaysia for the other two?
00:42:20
Speaker
Nah, not yet. I'm going wait to see what happens in the near future with some other things. um But I really want to get to Kinabalu at a minimum. but it's in And considering the record part, I don't see why i wouldn't go to both.
00:42:35
Speaker
But... um I don't see the issue. I think that, yes, if you didn't race two weeks apart, you'd be better off. But I don't see an issue either because of the – especially the race we just did. You're not going flat stick.
00:42:48
Speaker
If your leg is conditioned, I think it's achievable. But Kinabalu, yeah. It's also impossible to use it as excuse when so many other athletes are doing exactly the same thing. Like Takako won the damn thing off the back of two back-to-back Golden Trail top tens.
00:43:03
Speaker
So as she wasn't fresh. Iris in second wasn't fresh. Like it's one of the ones where I do think you're at an advantage if you rock up to one of the races fresh because there's a lot of athletes that aren't.
00:43:16
Speaker
And a bit more technical running. practice before the leader for me. For me, yeah, I think that was my downfall, the techie downhills. I just hadn't been in enough or that certain terrain. It's just searching and and finding some more of that in training to get a better experience as well.
00:43:34
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah, I'm with you. But, um yeah, and for me, I'm doing five races, so I will have the full um contingent of points before the final. um And I'm currently ranked sixth.
00:43:47
Speaker
But it's so early in the season that that means nothing. I wouldn't think you'd be. Oh, no, there's been a few European races, hasn't there? Yeah, so there's been one, two, three, four, five, six. There's been eight races. Yeah, okay. yeah Like a surprising number, really. Did you guys see the videos from that Turkey race that was on yesterday? Yeah, i was I was tempted to do that one until I saw it was all uphill.
00:44:11
Speaker
Oh, is it? oh was that Yeah, saw the finish was like a dollar pound. It's a pure uphill. It's 27Ks of running uphill. It looked amazing though, the views at the top there. Oh, Turkey's gorgeous.
00:44:22
Speaker
Yeah. And, yeah, Turkey, would Nicola was backing up. I think she was the only one that was doing the backup, the under-23 athlete, um and it looked like a rough backup to try and do after Ueda.
00:44:34
Speaker
But I think the trip though that those three as a triple would be pretty shocking, I reckon. Yeah, looked, it looked, it was a 10% average gradient, but I think the first two thirds or half was decently runnable.
00:44:50
Speaker
And then it got real steep real quick. So if you could like get a bit of a lead up, I think at the start with ah if you have a faster runner, then I think that would suit you like that race. Yeah. But definitely uphill the whole way. It looked epic though. The views looked amazing. Yeah.
00:45:03
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Really cool. Yep. And they're off almost every week now until the end of the year for Skyrunning. There's so many races. And Vlad, you'll be very happy to know there was Bix logos everywhere.
00:45:15
Speaker
So, felt right at home. Yeah, I know that they've been um trying to look and develop the um the Asia-Pacific side of things. um So I am hoping that next year there'll be a couple more races in Asia-Pacific. And if there's one in Australia, i know that would just make it so much easier for Australian athletes to compete in the whole series and um and you know just make it so much easier to to have the five races when you have one race or even two races in in in Australia and New Zealand. but
00:45:47
Speaker
Yeah, it's definitely cool um to create a different pathway. And and for people that do like technical stuff and a lot more elevation, sky running is definitely the way to go. It is definitely a niche kind of a sport in many ways.
00:46:02
Speaker
It is. But my gosh, it I find it so much fun. So it's great. And um they they do want to come to Australia. I would love like i would love to make a course out of some of the 25K, some of the marathon and some of the vertical descent course at Kunanyu.
00:46:20
Speaker
Like I think you can stay away, you can stay entirely on technical trails the whole time and get an epic course at Kunanyu. um for sky running. But hopefully we see that in future.
00:46:34
Speaker
I was showing quite a few photos going, hey, guys, this is the spot. ah Let's make this happen. But hopefully soon. Hopefully soon. And we'll keep everyone up to date with the rest of the sky running season. um We won't see, like, I think I'm, ah no I don't think there's any other Aussies that are jumping in board on board.
00:46:53
Speaker
um But, yeah, next is not till Tatra, um which I'm kind of counting as my next race, really. But, Yeah, moving on, moving on. Back home in Oz, it is probably the biggest week in trail running in our little country side of the world.
00:47:09
Speaker
Big country, little country at the same time. um And that is that it's UTA week. um I will start this off by just saying that we do have a full preview coming out with Brodie and James getting full nerdy out on the start list, the course, everything. So um we're not going to go too deep into this, but Vlad, I would love to hear how your final parts of your build have been for the 50K.
00:47:34
Speaker
It's been really good. I'm really happy with two really good long runs. um So two four-hour runs that I put in the last two weeks, sorry, three weeks ago and two weeks ago. And a fair amount of volume.
00:47:47
Speaker
Also, like the speed is coming along, so... Yeah, knock on wood. I'm feeling not too bad. Just building up on, yeah, I guess a slower start to the year.
UTA Race Strategy and Local Runners
00:47:58
Speaker
um yeah So yeah, pretty excited to be out there. Excited to race with Billy, with a couple more of the guys. And just, yeah, it's just hard to believe that last time I was there was 2017, which is eight years ago. um So yeah, excited for the whole weekend.
00:48:15
Speaker
Have you seen much of the start list? um So I saw that Dan Johns from New Zealand was a late entry um yeah in the 50K. There's also Miguel Benitez from Spain.
00:48:30
Speaker
I personally never heard of him, but I'm sure he's a really good runner. um He's just he ranked second on UTMB index and ITRA points. um Like he's not far, well, he's second behind Dan, um ahead of David Hounschmidt, and he runs for ASICS.
00:48:46
Speaker
So I just then make the assumption good runner. Yeah, ah there's so many good runners out there. like you know There's no more easy wins yeah in trail running. so yeah and yeah Every race is competitive and hard, especially I guess with our prize money and being a major, going to attract more people um yeah than usual.
00:49:07
Speaker
But yeah, I'm excited about it. I don't know why i we're starting at 6.30 in the morning. ah You'll be done so early. ah Do you have any like strategies for the race?
00:49:18
Speaker
Because you guys, like it's back to the normal course or like as normal as the course gets, I think, um where like you've got to navigate the out and back, then you kind of pretty quickly get to the top of giant stairs.
00:49:31
Speaker
But it still, it ends again on the sort of the 22K course um with the massive descent and up Furba or up Lura Forest, up Furba. How do you think about the course for your race?
00:49:42
Speaker
think personally, it's definitely going to be in the back half. um I think I've kind of managed to rebuild a bit of that endurance strength um that I lost over the last few years of racing a bit shorter distances. um So yeah, probably just run the first 30K fairly smart and then try and push the last 20. Start with 20 to go, you'll put a massive 5K in.
00:50:08
Speaker
yes That descent is fast. yeah yeah i'm not sure if i'm gonna like yeah i don't know i'll see how i feel obviously on the day a lot of things can happen but um ideally is yeah try and push a little bit at the back half um and kind of use that fatigue resistance i guess that um i've built up in my legs from like key years of ultra running um yeah so yeah it's a bit hard to see also like depending on the race you know how other runners are going to run it out If, um you know, Dan just goes out like all out straight away, because obviously he's ah he' an incredible runner. yeah
00:50:44
Speaker
You know, he could just take it all out solo at the front and or he could just hang back and and run with a group. So, yeah, but I mean, there's like I mean, me and Billy have been talking a little bit.
00:50:57
Speaker
like but without Dan at the start list, like a lot of really solid runners, but nobody there really stands out. um Obviously, Dan stands out quite a lot. um But yeah, the rest of us, you know, I guess it will all really depend on the day and how things kind of work out. but it's pretty open in the end like you know um think there's about maybe 10 guys that could finish in the top three technically or second third behind then um you know but yeah it should be definitely exciting and i'm exciting and yeah i'm excited to to be back at that race
00:51:32
Speaker
I'll be ah all going well. I'll be counting on you taking some souls up Lura Forest Climb, up that last 11K. and Just go hunting.
00:51:42
Speaker
oh awesome. Well, yeah, the rest of the, as most of the rest of the UTA chat, we will save for the other podcast. But Blake, do you know do you know anything about the start list? Have you seen much of them? Yeah, i had a quick look, ah just out curiosity to see who was turning up. It threw a banner in the works with Dan being a late entry. I think that race would have been really good, like a big pack, the 50.
00:52:05
Speaker
um And it would have just seen who who held their nerve and then who broke first and then... It would have been a good race. Well, it will be a good race still. um he He's a pretty class athlete, especially with that much runnable at the start as well. Like if he if he wants to blast it from the start, he can even get a little bit of a lead on that out and back section. But then that really runnable second half, depending on if you who's got the legs, that'll that'll make or break, I think. um It should be be a good watch.
00:52:36
Speaker
I think the 50s is what I'm going to be keeping my eye on. um Personally, the 100 looks pretty good too. The miler, I don't really, haven't grasped the concept yet.
00:52:47
Speaker
looks like a pretty interesting course, but I haven't really looked too much into it. But there's ah some quality um international athletes coming over this year, which will make it good. Yeah, the Mila seems to almost have the most, Mila and 100k definitely have the most internationals of all the races, just when you look at the elite. All I've got is the elite start list, um which, yeah, I'm actually just looking. Oh, no, he must be a pacer. I was looking at it and I saw James Barnett's name on there and I'm like, surely he's not doing the Mylar.
00:53:18
Speaker
But no, he he doesn't have any sorts of pacer. um But yeah, it'll be it'll be certainly interesting. If you were to just, ah do you have the list in front of you, Blake? Nope.
00:53:31
Speaker
Okay. Well, if you were to give us your pick for the fifty k since I know you know the fields. Yeah. Well, I like to keep it, you know, homegrown. So I'm gunning for the locals.
00:53:42
Speaker
um Billy's been looking like he's pretty fit um and fast. He's been doing some speed work, this lead up, which i easy I think he was neglecting a little bit last year. So he's getting the legs turning over. See how he comes off.
00:53:55
Speaker
living in Japan. Lad's also running fast on the on his long runs. So he's got the the speed, I think, and he's probably going to have the endurance to blast the 8K downhill Kadamba, then fire it back up.
00:54:10
Speaker
um I think that the Japanese guy is a late scratching, Hiroki Kai, yeah i heard. He's the 360 camera guy. Yeah. So I don't think he's racing.
00:54:21
Speaker
He's scratched, I think. yeah hard Yeah. Otherwise he would have been up there too. But yeah, anyone, any local, local runner, um I'm gunning for just to show them what we're made of.
00:54:32
Speaker
um Same at 100 and 22. I really think that Billy is really, really strong. I mean, he's hiding his workouts on Strava now and he's obviously running well. He won that race in Korea and he's a high volume, hard worker, kind of a runner. So...
00:54:50
Speaker
Yeah. Love that. He's gone dark he must be fit. Yeah, think. Yeah, that's generally what happens. yeah No, I hope it – I just – my hope for the day is that there's a big pack and we see runners running together and not spread out and then just the move gets made up that last climb just for a good race day.
00:55:12
Speaker
I don't think – I don't know if they're going to do anything different with the coverage this year but I know that it's hard to get actual coverage of the race but hopefully they do something. I'll be out on course and I will try on the Peak Pursuits podcast Instagram at least to take a few videos, stories. Like I am not promising anything's going to be perfect because I'm actually crewing people, but um I'll be at the two aid stations that we're allowed to butcc crew at.
00:55:35
Speaker
um and see what I can get there and try to update, I hope. But, yeah, um the, yeah, and I think for me it'll be interesting to see what the, I'm pacing part of the miler as well. I'm pacing Claire O'Brien-Smith for the some of the overnight section on the miler and that'll be cool to see how that pans out.
00:55:57
Speaker
um But, yeah. flag And you're also racing the, you're also racing, yeah. I'm racing the 11K, which by the way is marketed as an 11K and is actually a 13K, which a little bit of mayo on the 11.
00:56:13
Speaker
But then also because it's back to the it goes back to the bottom of Ferber now. Last year they kind of cut in at the top of near the top of Ferber because all the races did. So it's 13K with like 700 up and down or something.
00:56:26
Speaker
Like I thought I was signing up for something that like for me it's kind of a session to do because I'm there anyway and I want to get amongst the action and have some fun. Like I'm too soon off Ueda to actually have any legs on me. But, yeah, when I actually looked at the course, which I only did two days ago after signing up,
00:56:44
Speaker
I was like, oh, this is not what I thought I actually signed up for. So should be a little brutal, brutal little course. I like it. Could count as an Oz Mountain Champs, that course, better than a lot of the others ones that we've had in the past anyway.
00:56:58
Speaker
um But, yes, I will be there. You will see me out doing the 13K, I'm going to call it, um I won't call it the, like no, there is another kids race. So it's not quite a kids race, but it's the one that doesn't have an elite start list. So it feels like a cop out.
00:57:15
Speaker
um But i'm I'm a little bit of FOMO for the 22, but also very thankful I'm not having to do anything. too strenuous too soon after these races we've just done.
00:57:26
Speaker
So for anyone that is going to UTA though, you will find myself and Vlad and Jess and Brody and James, ah James, I think. um You'll find everyone there.
00:57:36
Speaker
um Now, Jess and Vlad are racing quite seriously. So leave them alone till after their races. But the rest of us will probably be be getting in a lot of people's um a lot of people's faces trying to get some thoughts before the races, after the races, and just share some of the vibes around. too um So follow us on socials to follow along what we can share some of the stories that go on.
00:58:00
Speaker
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00:58:37
Speaker
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00:58:50
Speaker
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00:59:03
Speaker
But I think that moves us into, is there any topics of the week, Vlad? Are we moving to results? I think results, Transvolcania, a cold race.
00:59:14
Speaker
I don't know if you guys seen much of the footage of it, but it looked like it was so cold up the top there. um Yeah, I just saw that Ruth had to withdraw with hypothermia and I was like, oh, that that's proper cold.
00:59:26
Speaker
Yeah, it looked super, super tough. um But yeah, um good results for Charlie, who is, I guess, officially now part of the Adderasterix team, racing in the whole the whole orange outfit kit that he had on um finishing. yeah I guess, combined eighth with Pablo Villa from Spain. who was also a Terex athlete.
00:59:57
Speaker
um The whole race is a Terex sponsored race. So that they were, I guess they were trying to send a couple of athletes there, I guess Ruth being one of them um and a couple more. so Which is good because that race used to be part Skyrunning, used to be part of UTMB as well for a year. And then it kind of was left on its own.
01:00:19
Speaker
Adidas came in, I guess kind of helped it a lot. The government has stepped in and yeah it used to be like one of the main races like going back 12 13 years ago that was the season opener um i think killian would have won this race two or three times um was a pretty big race and for a couple of years it kind of dropped off and now it's back to its glory days with a lot a lot of good runners um doing it and yeah it was definitely good to see say charlie doing the long long trip um to transvolkania um
01:00:52
Speaker
And, yeah, an incredible result, a top eight, i I guess ninth or eighth place, um whatever they put him on, a really, really good and result. And I think he was up in fourth at some point or third even, um but just looking through the timing points. I didn't get to follow too closely along, but I do like looking through.
01:01:10
Speaker
They have like where each what position everyone's in at different timing points and stuff. So it looks like he was right up there. Yeah, I mean, I think he's obviously is got the ability to be competitive in those really big races. And um I think now, so having a great support team behind him, he will have really good results um in the future.
01:01:29
Speaker
But yeah, it's just I guess it's a bit of a shame with the weather. um yeah Kind of, I guess, played a big role with the results and a few of the leads dropping out. Like Ruth has won that race. And so when I did that race back in 2015,
01:01:44
Speaker
fifteen Um, 10 years ago, Ruth was there as well. And we actually spent a bit of time on the Island together. Um, and here she is back again, unfortunately, yeah, she DNF this year, but I'm sure she'll be back, um, that race again.
01:01:58
Speaker
um But in the women's results, so they have a couple of races there, like it's a big event for the Spanish side, Spanish trail running scene. But the ultra marathon, the 73K with 4,300 meters of elevation gain is the main event.
01:02:16
Speaker
Annalisa Roselt came first in the women. Ekaterina Matiev came second, which is also an Adidas runner and Martina Velasomossi, the Salomon Runner came third.
01:02:32
Speaker
think she's also done really well that race before. um Yeah, she was second or one last year. I can't remember. Yeah. Feels like she's done that race few times. um In the men's, Peter Frenner, who won.
01:02:46
Speaker
He didn't win. He came second in the World Champs, um long course. So a very accomplished runner. um Came first. Andreas Reiter came second. And Miguel.
01:02:58
Speaker
Anguillata Bayo came third. um So yeah, I think that race would have played out a bit different without without those cold winds and um and rain at the top.
01:03:10
Speaker
But yeah, definitely if anybody's listening and wants a crazy experience, this is a really fun race. Brody's already chucked out the idea of a peak pursuits trip over there with all of us after watching it. he's He's jumped on the hype train in a big way, Transvolcania.
01:03:28
Speaker
don't think any of us are going to say no either. so Yeah, yeah i mean, if the flight wasn't that long, and I probably would have been back there every single year. But obviously from Australia, it's a big, big trip.
01:03:42
Speaker
Tag team it with something else. I'm sure there's there's plenty going on this time of year. Yeah, technically it's not that far if there were any flights from um South Africa um out there.
01:03:52
Speaker
um But you have to fly through Europe. So yeah um that's a shame because all the flights going into the island are coming from Europe. So you have to fly up and then come down. So yeah, it's...
01:04:03
Speaker
i'm sure I'm sure when we have Charlie on, he's going to tell us about the nice 36-hour trip that he had to take to make it to the island. Oh, the joys of being Aussie.
01:04:14
Speaker
Love it, love it. Well, a couple of smaller smaller but awesome results from back at home. um We did have one that over on the West Coast is, I know, quite celebrated and ah know plenty of people that travel for it, and that is the Margaret River Ultra.
01:04:30
Speaker
um Have you done this one, Vlad? and No, I have not. Not yet. um Hopefully in the future. Yeah, it kind of sells out every every year and it's not that easy to get into.
01:04:40
Speaker
Looks like the team, because I also have the relay, that got a lot of attention this year on social media from the Perth runners that I follow here in Perth. That's cool. So yeah. Love a good team aspect. Well, yeah, it's not too hilly. But um I think it's got a lot of sand because it's 77Ks with about 1300 up and down.
01:05:01
Speaker
um But yeah, a lot of sand. And on the results... It was remarkably close at the front end, which I love for a race of this distance at least.
01:05:14
Speaker
um But first ah male was Kyle Harrison in 7 Hours 12 and then Jack Donovan in 7 Hours 20. um Third overall was our first female and that was Holly Ranson. who she's She's on a tear this year. She's doing great.
01:05:29
Speaker
very incredible results back to back. So she's definitely found her home in sort of this from like doing some crazy ultra um performances. But she was third overall, seven hours, 23. Third 23.
01:05:42
Speaker
ah third male um Fourth overall was Jack Valentine in 7 hours 27. And then fifth overall was the second female, um Kate Baker in 7 hours 30.
01:05:54
Speaker
So really not that far behind. What's that, seven minutes between first and second female as well? And then third female was Petra Dredgian in 7 hours 55. Wow. for the ultra at Margaret River.
01:06:10
Speaker
And then over on the East Coast, there was the Stromlo strides, like they have their trail series. um And um it always gets a few of the Canberra runners out. And this year,
01:06:23
Speaker
In the 15.4K, which is their longer one, ah Daniel Carson got the win in 58-30 and then Mark Bourne, he was second in one hour, one minute.
01:06:35
Speaker
And Jason Higuchi was third in an hour and two. On the women's side, it was won by Brittany Harridan, a very good trail runner, um and she won by quite a way because it was – An hour and five ah to then Bethany Davis in second in an hour 17 and Cassie Cohen in third in an hour 18. And then it was quite close all the way back, but Brittany was a solid ways ahead.
01:07:00
Speaker
So great run there, I reckon, by Brittany. And I'll quickly go through what's coming up before ah we hear from what's coming up from you, Blake. But what's coming up next week, it always surprises me just how many races are on the same weekend as UTA because it kind of, don't know, feels like UTA is the big race. But...
01:07:18
Speaker
There's a lot. There's down under 135 down here in Vic, the 135-mile race through the Lerderdog Gorge. There is also the West Max Monster on the Larapinta Trail, um which I've always wanted to do. I must get to one year.
01:07:34
Speaker
um I'm giving it points for name and for creativity. There's one called the Forest Gump Chocolate Box up near Cairns in Queensland. Anyone that's running up there, you have my utmost respect.
01:07:46
Speaker
And then over in WA, they have their first race in the Perth Trail Winter Series, which is called Chitty Chitty Run Run. Love the names that they come up with over there, Vlad. It's great.
01:07:57
Speaker
Yeah. Absolutely great. And then in my sleuthing for what's coming up this week, I actually don't know if it's coming up this week because when I got on the website, it seems to say 2027.
01:08:09
Speaker
But have you ever heard of a race called the track, Australia, Vlad, that is a 520 kilometre race from Alice Springs to Uluru? No.
01:08:21
Speaker
wow So it's a stage race. It's run in a bit nine days, 520 Ks, but you run the whole way from Alice Springs along dirt track essentially. um But through, it says through a whole bunch of what looks like incredible areas ah for days.
01:08:40
Speaker
um I actually think that sounds like a hell of an adventure and I would love to do it. But, and I didn't know it existed. So looks cool. If you look at all of the scenery in the on the website, I'm just giving them a plug because it is so typical Aussie.
01:08:55
Speaker
It is running straight through the Aussie Outback. say If that is on, which i it like it says on the trail running calendar that I'm looking at that it's on, but then I click on the website and it says it's on in 2027 on the same dates.
01:09:09
Speaker
So it might be one that's coming um as opposed to It's still working out of the course. Yeah, maybe. Maybe. But that's what's coming up.
01:09:19
Speaker
Blake, first question is how have you recovered and then what is coming up for you? Yeah, I think I recovered decently off this race, um although pretty fatigued when I try and put any effort in. So I try to go to the gym and kind of get the muscles working, but that didn't really eventuate.
01:09:40
Speaker
um It just, yeah, no power fatigue. But I think I'm back into running. It's feeling good now. Everything feels fun again. The first few days I didn't really feel like running. But I think I'll make a quick break.
01:09:53
Speaker
rebound into proper training, hopefully. um Not too much time off. um I'm of going down to Bright and doing the 1D cross. I'm seriously considering it.
01:10:06
Speaker
Do it. It's just much fun. haven't convinced you yet. Do it. Pretty close to to thinking about saying yes. And they um it's just ah it's a it's an epic course and it's a great part of the world too. So you can get a bit more running while you're down there and on a cool part of the world.
01:10:23
Speaker
um But otherwise, i will just be waiting to hear back, a bated breath regarding selection. Of course, yeah. Which should be hopefully this month. They the end of the month, I think, by the end of it Hopefully, hopefully, and that should steer where I'm heading later in the year, ah but probably just putting a decent block in for that and trying to get as much kind of similar style running in and getting heaps better because, yeah, it's a race in the world, champs.
01:10:57
Speaker
It's a pretty high level, so. yeah Seems like a lot of people have put their name down, so we could have some could have a big team if they just select... um Yeah, I've been listening to all of the, like, single track, the whole take on the long chat long team has been announced for the US.
01:11:15
Speaker
um And it's awesome to hear what runners are going. Like, their long team is insane. They've got Katie Scheid. They've got Jim Wormsley. They've got, like, just as they ran through their list of females and males, I was like, okay.
01:11:29
Speaker
That's like, they're like, everyone's here but Courtney DeWalter. And I'm like, yeah, you do. They've just... It's just a who's who um on the longer side. So that was always cool to um listen to. But hopefully ours is soon.
01:11:42
Speaker
it is It is getting into that intriguing point of hearing many other like other countries' teams and stuff and um how they're selected and all of the different things that come into it. So we'll hopefully hear ours soon.
01:11:55
Speaker
and then Because you're waiting for that too, yeah, Vlad? Yeah. I think everybody's waiting for it except you. Yeah, except me. I feel very about it. think Jess is waiting for Brody's waiting for it. um Yeah, a lot of rumors are waiting for it.
01:12:07
Speaker
I have some mild FOMO, but not too much because this decision was taken out of my hands for me, which I did actually appreciate because the guy they had on Single Track Podcast for announcing the long team and talking through them, by the sounds of it, he was one of the selectors um or like helped at least with the long team selection and stuff.
01:12:25
Speaker
And he was saying how they look at people's race calendars on a case-by-case basis. So they said no to some people that were trying the UTMB week world champs double. But some people, they went, no, you've got history of being able to pull this off. You can do it.
01:12:40
Speaker
And I kind of liked that approach of going, yeah, well, if you've got no prior history of proving that you can back up these races, but then the guy was going, if Katie Scheid decides to do UTMB and Long World Champs, I'm never going to say no because she can do it.
01:12:53
Speaker
She's proven she can.
Trail Running vs. Road Running
01:12:55
Speaker
So I really liked his approach of going, it's not a blanket rule, it's a case-by-case basis, um which I think. think we talked about a few weeks ago in the podcast that it's different than road running, you know, road running. Yeah.
01:13:08
Speaker
You know, the impact is just different, same muscles. um You know, obviously a lot of time on the road, trails are different, you know. Obviously you guys just did back-to-back four or five-hour races. Yeah.
01:13:18
Speaker
if you I wouldn't have even made it round you, Ada, if I'd done a road marathon on the week before. but Yeah, I mean, you're not walking after a road marathon, but obviously you can jog and and race pretty soon after a trail race. So yeah, it's good that they do it that way. I know that Francesco Pupi came out saying that he's going to do um CCC and long course world champs.
01:13:38
Speaker
So he's already out there saying like, I'm going to do both of them. There's enough time in between them. um yeah So yeah, I think like case by case would make the most sense. Yeah. For us this year, like they took the decision out of my hands. So CCC and what long, we're not allowed to do, but Yeah, it um in future years, hopefully they can kind of look at the results of some other countries and just how think people go about it, um especially because the US race, the US team is also fully funded. So they're paying the way for these athletes and they're still happy for some of them to double up, um which, yeah, it's just, I think, a fairer way to go about it.
01:14:14
Speaker
Or you'll get a better team out of it that way because everyone's different and individual
Australian Race Selection and Leadership
01:14:19
Speaker
anyway. So Do you know who is selecting for Australia? is it's Because it's not OTRA, right?
01:14:25
Speaker
I believe it's the same as um it has been where it's a joint selection committee with AA and OTRA. Usually you should wish you should be able to look up. I haven't tried. and i haven't been too invested in it this early on. I'm kind of just waiting for the teams. But you should usually be able to look up exactly who is on the selection committee.
01:14:43
Speaker
Normally that should be public knowledge of I can look up who, what names are on that list. um That's the way it normally is. Did you see that email that they're going to replace, I guess, a lot of the key map key people in the organization?
01:15:00
Speaker
Oh, no, I haven't. Yeah, so they have new elections coming up soon. okay I haven't read the whole email, but looks like they will have a new president and um a couple of new key people. So maybe that means that there's some kind of a change in the future.
01:15:15
Speaker
yeah Hopefully a change for the better and not the worse. We will keep... Yeah, it seems like all the top jobs are stepping aside and being vacant. So be interesting to see who might put their hat in the ring or their hand up and how it might change.
01:15:30
Speaker
I imagine it's not, especially at this point, it wouldn't be the easiest of jobs, especially as an obviously volunteer job, I assume. um Like that, it we're in such a transition point with so many sticking points in how the sport currently operates in Australia that putting it all into line, um yeah, I think is going to be a difficult job. Hopefully the right person gets put in to be able to do it.
01:15:55
Speaker
um But the the trouble I think we'll have is it's got to be someone that's willing to encompass at this point, ultra and trail and short distance trail and everything and not just be too one-minded in either direction of like, because it takes care of the road ultras and all those sorts of things as well. So it's pretty varied.
01:16:16
Speaker
um Yeah, it's a big it's a big task. So yeah, it's definitely not an easy job for sure. And it requires a lot of work. So yeah yeah, I just hope that in the future, we can find a way to make it work that There is probably some compensation that that means that people are willing or can put in more you know, work towards that position because it does require a lot of work and, you know, volunteering for fred for one or two hours a week might not be enough to really get the most out of what we can get as, is you know, as a federation or as as a buddy that looks after trail running and ultra running. um yeah So, yeah, it's... Watch this, Max. Hopefully after, I'll have to have a look at this email, um but...
01:17:04
Speaker
Hopefully after it all, we might try and get the new president on, have a chat with them, see what see what the go is, see what their thoughts are, and we can actually chat a bit more deeper with directly at the source.
01:17:15
Speaker
um But watch this space. Is there a vote on this for everyone that is an AUTRA member that's listening? Check your emails, unlike I have been doing in the last couple of weeks. um But suppose on that news, good luck this week, Vlad.
01:17:31
Speaker
I will be there cheering hard. You will hear me screaming at those aid stations that to get your ass into gear and go catch people.
01:17:39
Speaker
And, yeah, Blake, all the best with the continued recovery and getting back into training. I'm with you on the – I wasn't sore after you, Edda, but by gosh, I'm tired.
01:17:50
Speaker
It's like the body just doesn't want to switch on much, um I'm finding. but Yeah, just that that that lingering fatigue whenever I try it. Yeah, just with the effort. But it's all right. I still feel good.
01:18:02
Speaker
Yeah, and hopefully hopefully I'll see you at Wandi. If we do, we might get you back on after Wandi and we can rehash that one before hopefully by then the team's all been announced, we can get some more information on things and see where the rest of your season's at.
01:18:16
Speaker
But I think for now, thanks for coming on this episode. And to everyone listening, if you like us, please rate and review online. That would be super-duper helpful.
01:18:27
Speaker
And follow us along in this week as we try and bring you as much as we can from UTA and all of the fun that goes on there with most of us jumping. Brodie's jumping in the 11K with me.
01:18:37
Speaker
He's finally got an entry. So we'll ah we'll have four of us racing and we'll be able to recap all of that in person. We're going to have our very first in-person entirely podcast next Sunday.
01:18:49
Speaker
So listen up for that next week. But for now, thanks for listening and we'll speak to you then.