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2025 UTA Preview: 22km + 50km Course and Field Analysis
385 Plays16 days ago
We’re back with a deep dive into two of the most anticipated distances at UTA 2025 — the 22km and 50km events.
In this episode, local Blue Mountains runner and course expert Tim Locke joins us to unpack the key sections of each course: where to be patient, when to push, and how to make the most of your strengths on race day. Whether you're aiming to finish strong or compete for a top spot, Tom’s insider tips will help you pace it right and stay smart across the climbs and descents.
We also run through the standout names in each field and what we expect to see from both seasoned campaigners and hungry newcomers.
Key Timestamps:
- 01:17 - 22km Course Preview
- 10:24 - 22km Mens Field Analysis
- 20:30 - 22km Womens Field Analysis
- 33:21 - 50km Course Preview
- 38:05 - 50km Mens Field Analysis
- 53:47 - 50km Womens Field Analysis
Whether you’re toeing the line or following from afar, this episode has the insights you need to understand the race behind the results.
***Don’t forget, use code PPP at Bix’s website 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 trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
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Transcript
Introduction and UTA 2025 Race Significance
00:00:15
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the UTA 2025 preview with myself, James, and Brodie is joining me for this one. Brodie, how you doing today? Yeah, pretty good, thanks. I'm pretty excited to talk about UTA. looks like it's going to be an absolute bumper weekend of racing, so yeah, I'm very excited.
00:00:32
Speaker
I'm going to be up there and amongst it, um so yeah, I'm super pumped. Yeah, going through the list. it's It's exciting to see this many names on all the start lists and the depth of the fields. It's...
00:00:44
Speaker
feels like a real step up, at least for the the the density of competition.
Race Distances Preview with Tim Locke
00:00:49
Speaker
um So we're going to be previewing the 22, 50, 100k and 100 mile courses today, potentially in one big one, potentially in two episodes, we'll find that one out.
00:00:59
Speaker
As we go, I've spoken to Tim Locke who is a local to the Blue Mountains running coach and a very impressive runner himself. He's going to be giving us some course rundowns with the local insider knowledge.
00:01:12
Speaker
So kicking us off for the 22k let's hear from Tim. Tim Locke welcome to the People's Shoots podcast. Thanks for coming along and doing this preview with us. how are you going today?
00:01:24
Speaker
Mate I am well it's a pleasure to be here. as When I was trying to think of someone to give us a rundown, you were pretty much first at the top of my my line, is yourself and Michael Dunstan, but then he said that he's never actually run any of the races, so he was he wasn't too keen. So really do appreciate you you're doing this for us. You're a Blueys local, live up there in Lawson, so...
00:01:48
Speaker
know the area pretty well. You've raced it, ah you're a coach, you've coached for a long time, i'm sure you've coached a lot of people and probably have a lot of people racing this year as
Weather Impact on UTA Courses
00:01:56
Speaker
well. So felt like you'd be very well positioned to jump in and give us a rundown of all the different distances.
00:02:02
Speaker
So thank you. Before we get into the 22k preview, can you just give us a rundown what the weather's been like over the last sort of week, two weeks and what the course condition is in general? um The weather up here has actually been pretty good. We've had a like a few days of rain, which is not uncommon for this summer year as the season changes. But um the course is in pretty good condition. like um I feel like all the usual parts that are maybe wet and muddy have stayed wet and muddy and everything else is in really like nice condition. So I think we'd be expecting some pretty typical ah Blue Mountains conditions.
00:02:39
Speaker
yeah, um footing up here in a couple weeks time or next week. um So yeah, nothing nothing huge to worry about at the moment. Brilliant. I feel like after the last few years and weather changes to courses and everything, it must be quite nice, especially being a local up there. Definitely. Yeah, it's actually, we've had a bit of warmer weather. um We had a few cooler days, but quite a bit of warmer weather. And it looks like potentially next week and next weekend might be um like reasonably warm as well.
00:03:05
Speaker
for May. So, um yeah, it should be good. When you're talking to your athletes in the lead up to this, are you thinking too much about the weather or do you feel like it's kind of it's known that it's going be pretty average?
00:03:18
Speaker
I think for UTA it's a funny one because it's that time of the year where the temperatures tend to swing early morning and evening and you do get still a a bit of heat during the day. So in terms of preparation, I feel like we're almost in that phase right now where you're naturally preparing for for weather changes anyway in terms of the change of season.
00:03:37
Speaker
So there's not too much thought. um You know, everybody's got the required gear, the mandatory gear to be able to handle whatever weather the conditions we get here. um So it's not too much of a consideration, particularly if you've been training for, you know, 12 to 16 weeks, you've probably encountered quite a bit of adverse weather or variable weather.
00:03:56
Speaker
Yeah,
22K Course Overview
00:03:57
Speaker
perfect. Okay, so let's go into the 22k course. I do not know the area. I've only been once. So I'm, as I said, I'm going to be very much reliant on you here.
00:04:07
Speaker
Give us a ah rundown, kind of focusing on the the crux of this course, how you would, if you were talking to one of your athletes, how you would kind of prepare them for it, essentially. Yeah, so 22, I think firstly, it's a great thing that the 22 returned to this initial course last year.
00:04:25
Speaker
um I feel like it's a race that over the years will i continue to develop just still a really good history. and We've had like a lot of great athletes choose to run the 22K. And it's, I think, a course that doesn't really play to any singular strength that one like runner may or may not have.
00:04:43
Speaker
Effectively, what you're doing is you're starting up at the old Queen Victoria Hospital. um in Wentworth Falls so starting up um and basically descending into the valley via Kadamba Pass which is a ah steep fire trail um that takes you down to a kind of a hard 90 degree right turn and before you hit Cibline Point fire trail so the race basically starts with a really solid uh downhill which is um which is a recipe for disaster if you haven't trained uh running hard downhill um but also
00:05:17
Speaker
you know, fairly free speed if you are well-trained and can tolerate running downhill. um I guess when you look at the crux of the 22, think it depends on who you are as an athlete and maybe what your strengths are.
00:05:32
Speaker
There's a lot of climbing. So after you cross the first river crossing, um You've got quite a decent climb up, maybe a K and a bit um before descending down again. um And then the next, I'd say, what, 6K or so um is a series of big up and down fire trail um where you really tested, I guess, your capacity between changing gears. So being able to climb efficiently and then de descend fast, climb efficiently, descend fast.
00:06:02
Speaker
But the general um trend there is you're trending uphill. um kind of towards the finish. So it's a bit of a shock to the system after that long, fast, steep descent coming down off the fire trail, crossing the river and then going straight into the climbing. Usually the first, I guess, few minutes of switching gears can feel a little bit awful.
00:06:21
Speaker
um But depending on your pace, you know, that that first climb might be you know, five to eight minutes. um It might be a bit longer for those mid to the back of the pack. um And then you're transitioning to downhill.
00:06:33
Speaker
Again, straight back uphill, back downhill. So it's all about transition through that middle phase of the race, which tends to catch a lot of people out. And this whole section, you're still on fire roads.
00:06:44
Speaker
Yeah, so you're effectively on fire roads all the way until you get to the bottom of like Lura Forest, basically. um So it's, yeah, in terms of technicality, there's not really much to worry about in terms of worrying about foot placement um or anything like that, or having to make any, you know, rash decisions about picking good lines. Everything is basically just laid out in front of you.
00:07:06
Speaker
And it's just a real test of, I guess, your strength and your training. Which I guess is also good from the sense of there's no narrowing. People don't have to worry about getting out particularly hot to get a good spot. It's just you can run your own race from the start.
00:07:18
Speaker
Definitely. I think that's what people really enjoy about this race as well. um You don't have any of those big kind of cluster points where people are trying to funnel into tight spaces. um You know, usually the first...
00:07:29
Speaker
3k up top there tends to string the field out quite a bit which is great and then so we got to the lure forest starting to hit is that where you hit some single track mostly yeah so you're basically skirting underneath the cliff lines um in lure forest there um it's ah a trail it's a bit of a mix of kind of tight single track a few little stairs up and down um quite windy and depending on the time of year it can be a little bit overgrown If we've had rain, as we mentioned before, like those kind of areas heading into the forest just always seem to be wet year round, probably due to the fact it doesn't get much sunlight.
00:08:06
Speaker
um but But that getting into the forest, the race kind of, i guess, changes gear in that you're not dealing with, um I guess, the monotony of just trying to put out as much power and speed as possible. And you're looking to be a little bit faster and more efficient through those more technical elements of the forest as you're kind of trending towards the bottom of the From a ah shoe choice perspective, I'm guessing trail shoes are ah the go.
00:08:31
Speaker
Yeah, no, it's it's a good question. I think you you could honestly, you could probably get away with with with road shoes in this race just because the fire trails are in great nick. And um in terms of, I guess, percentage of race on the single track, it's not really that much. And the trails up here are generally in pretty good condition as well. So it's not a be and end all if you're thinking, oh, I'd probably prefer to be more comfortable in a pair of road shoes.
00:08:55
Speaker
um it really comes down to preference. As long as you've got grip, descending, grip, climbing, yeah, whatever works really. yeah yeah but you would probably if you were advised one your athletes you would say uh recommend trail i probably would yeah yeah i probably would and then the last thing on the course the further steps this is the finished everything which the idea of finishing the hundred mile this way is appalling once you get to there do you have any any tips for people going up the stairs um i think it's
00:09:26
Speaker
All about just keep moving. um I think in years gone by, if we've been down there spectating, quite often you'll see people who stop maybe, you know, in the first little flat section and they try and, I guess, assess and get their breath back and get their energy back and end up wasting like far too much time.
00:09:44
Speaker
I think if you just keep moving, the you can't go wrong on Ferber. The good thing about Ferber is there's a lot of sections where like the handrail is at a pretty decent height. on either side.
00:09:55
Speaker
So you can actually either vault yourself up um with two hands or you can go kind of hand over hand on the railings to help pull yourself up as well. um So that's that's a good option with Ferber, but generally the best thing to do with Ferber is just just keep moving, head down, keep moving.
00:10:11
Speaker
Don't think too hard about what's ahead of you because realistically you are so close to the finish. um The bulk of the race is behind you. It's just about forward movement.
22K Men's Field Analysis
00:10:19
Speaker
Wonderful. Tim, thanks much for that. We'll chat to shortly about the Sounds good.
00:10:24
Speaker
Cool. Brodie, that's the 22k locked in. It sounds pretty exciting. It sounds fast, especially for that first 18k. I'm excited to see what these fields are going to do. Yeah, it's going to be very quick, I think.
00:10:39
Speaker
um One of the people who's running Ben Duffus, I think from what I can tell, has the fastest time on this course. It's a bit hard to tell when you look back at the old races which exact course they did.
00:10:52
Speaker
um But yes, I think that we might see that time, i think it was like 1.35. I think we'll probably see that go down. um with the the the caliber of the athletes that are standing on the start line this year.
00:11:07
Speaker
Definitely. I think ah think that might have been the year they had to change all the courses. i Looking back, sort of 145 seems to be the kind I'm pretty sure Ben Duffus was 2019. And i remember looking, he's on segments and stuff. I have looked at this course too many times.
00:11:24
Speaker
Fair enough. So i think I think it might be from the the real course, but um yeah, ah you never know if there's some slight small changes. Like even last year, they went up giant stairs instead of Ferber Steps, so it's a different course.
00:11:38
Speaker
um So it's hard to know exactly. But yeah, regardless, it's going to be very quick out there. quick day out there Definitely. Let's get straight into it then with the men's field since we've already spoken about Ben a little bit. Do you want give us a couple of names that you're looking out for? Yeah, it's be hard over the course of this episode to touch on all the athletes who are in the mix because there is so many strong athletes running.
00:12:09
Speaker
um So i haven't seen anything like this for an Australian race, so I'm super excited. um But yes, if we miss anyone and your name isn't called out, we apologise.
00:12:22
Speaker
um You are still a great runner. Definitely. um So, yeah, but some of the ones that i'm I've got my eye on for the 22, like if I start with the people who I think we're going to mix it for the the win, I think it's going to be those who are very speedy and very fast um because the first probably...
00:12:45
Speaker
ah the big The big downhill and then most of the big uphill is all on more of a sort of a very runnable fire trail. um So, yeah, those that have good leg speed will sort of benefit them. So we know, we've talked about a few of these people, but Leo Pedersen, who's had a pretty impressive season so far, um he's done, he did it very well down at KMR, but also he's had some really impressive times on the road, um some PBs, and he's been training really well. So I think he's going to be
00:13:18
Speaker
tough to beat um and then those who could he's probably my favorite i think um it's hard to go past later but some that could challenge him have also got nathan pierce who's a very fast runner um ben who i said has done a very fast time on this course and was speaking to billy a few billy curtis a few weeks ago and has been sort of commenting on how how fast ben's been doing on some of the the trail races up in South East Queensland.
00:13:47
Speaker
um So I think for me, those top three, but um there's also, you've got Scotty Hawker from New Zealand. He's coming back from an injury on his way to, I think, running UTMB in the middle of the year.
00:14:02
Speaker
um He's in the 22.
00:14:06
Speaker
Best, who is ah fantastic climber, um, and we yeah He's had some really good races in some uphills, but he's also had some good races in some sort of just trail race.
00:14:20
Speaker
ah So, yeah, I think if he's in the mix still, he hasn't dropped too much time on the first descent and he's on that, it's pretty much climbing from there to the finish.
00:14:32
Speaker
um I think he'll be definitely in the mix. And like this is without talking about people like James Barnett, who was second at... Buffalo Sky Race behind Charlie Hamilton, Patrick Clark, who was, uh, I don't know how old he is. It says 16 to 17 here. So, but he's the young who was eating Buffalo 20 at the top of the climb. So again, if he's there, if he's there in the climbing section, i think he's going to be hard to hold off.
00:15:00
Speaker
Um, Yeah, it's going to be a good race. They're probably the top ones for me. Anyone I missed? No, I think you definitely hit the names. Ben spoke about it on the main show as well. He did a 25k recently and his time, specifically his gap, which is always a bit of a guesstimate, was just incredible. I think it was averaging close to a 330. It was just nuts on that terrain.
00:15:25
Speaker
And he's got the UTA performance. Pedigree 2024, 2023, 2019, 2018, between the 22K and the 100K. So he knows the course, he's clearly in shape.
00:15:36
Speaker
And like you said, he's very likely got the course record on this. So it is hard to go past go past Ben from that perspective. Leo, think it was before the Mountain Champs, we were talking about his sub 15, 5k and sub 30, 10k in the same day in a matter of hours.
00:15:55
Speaker
He's then gone on to around 1434 at Wollongong. So he's got the wheels, which as you said, and as we would have heard from him, that the start is fast.
00:16:06
Speaker
And so being comfortable running three minute Ks is going to be necessary for these guys. And I think that's going to be an interesting one where we see see some of the guys that are very good climbers.
00:16:18
Speaker
And I'll put sort of Ian, James, Patrick into this mix that... They don't have sub 15, times. And so getting the legs to turn over at three minute Ks for that or eight Ks worth of downhill, it could really tax them if they run everyone else's race. So I think that's going to be interesting.
00:16:38
Speaker
There's and another name, Henry Huggman, who had a tough day at Buffalo. um He got COVID just afterwards. Potentially there was something already lingering there. um but he has been training he's a local training on the course i've going through strava found that he's run the course at least five times in the last sort of eight weeks uh with a with a best of 152 so and he ran 149 last year from memory so he's in shape that's post his covid bout so i think he could be a name sort of keep an eye on but yeah it's
00:17:14
Speaker
the Leo and Ben are probably the two standout favorites.
22K Women's Field Analysis
00:17:18
Speaker
And then you've got the likes of Nathan just behind Patrick, James, Ian was more of the climbers coming through. it's um yeah so It's a very competitive field and it's good to see that for the 22K, which especially for a buy UTMB is not a favorite distance, should we say, um evident by the price money isn't allocated there. So it's good to see the names coming up regardless and just wanting the competition and we're going to really see where everyone's stacking up on this sort of course at least. Yeah, definitely.
00:17:47
Speaker
I just checked the Ben's. I found the segment ah that led me to Ben's race. So I think it is the exact race. He ran 135. So, um Yeah, that was in 2019.
00:18:01
Speaker
So I think as we get, and was just like looking at some segments in in the race, the first 13K, which has the big downhill and then a few small, it's to the emergency aid station for anyone who's done UTA, it would have sort of know that last aid station down in the valley.
00:18:16
Speaker
from Kadamba to their 13K at 328s, which is crazy. And the descent, I think there's something wrong with this descent segment, um but it's saying he was doing 241s, but I think it might be a bit off.
00:18:33
Speaker
But I think i think regardless, you're running they're running sub three-minute Ks. yeah um So it is it's it's a different race as well. um That's why i i don't think it quite suits the pure climbers because you have to be there probably at the end of the descent, especially against someone like Ben who is very good at climbing as well.
00:18:51
Speaker
yeah um Even if you're slightly better at climbing than him, you still need to you need to be with him. um And you also need to be able to climb after doing a... are quite eccentrically loading downhill so i think these names we've thrown out there if they haven't been doing the specific prep for this race that might be their undoing and i don't know specifically about all of their individual training so yeah um someone like henry who you're saying has done a lot of it i see he's the local legend of the downhill at the moment have done it 15 times in the last 90 so
00:19:25
Speaker
say yeah Someone like Henry who has done a lot of specific prep, he might find himself in ah in a good position. Yeah, I think as well, it's one thing to be running downhills.
00:19:38
Speaker
We know now that you need to be running them faster, harder, probably steeper than the race if you're going to be able to go out with these this top end and then then still still have that strength up the climb.
00:19:50
Speaker
I've followed James Barnett's training because he's more local to me very closely and I've definitely seen him doing that. um I also saw him take one of Blake Hose's climbing CRs out the back of the back of bright and that's always a good sign if you're taking one of blake's blake's crs granted he probably has a lot that we don't know about yeah but no it is a it's an ah it's an interesting course from that perspective because you do have to be a good climber you've got to be a crazy good runner and then you're holding on for dear life by time you hit the steps and hoping no one's coming up behind you because that would not be very comfortable so it's yeah it's exciting and speaking of exciting
00:20:28
Speaker
I would say the women's field is equally as so, which is ah very nice thing to say for field to be equally as depth deep in the women's side. the The obvious name for me, I think she's would be most people's clear favorite is Lara Hamilton back in Australia.
00:20:48
Speaker
Coming off her Schemo season, shes she's the one that when you look at a potential top 20, even higher at a Worlds team, at a Golden Trail, she's had a 13th at Headlands last year.
00:21:01
Speaker
She came 36th at the finals. She's a very, very impressive runner um and will be nice to see her back again. in Australia in this field and give the other ladies in this field someone to really look at and chase and see how they can compare.
00:21:19
Speaker
The other name that's really intriguing me is Bridie Temple. I saw that she was on this list. I sent her a message because the last thing we saw from her was her second place at Buffalo, 100K, which is, is it eight?
00:21:35
Speaker
No, not even, seven weeks ago. now had a very strong run there but looking at her training I remember saying in the preview that she's training almost more like a 5k 10k runner that's doing some volume and so I think that's going to really translate across to here I know with her coach Quinton Gill they're really focusing on speed and just becoming a better runner and she's She said she's in this race to race and be put into that environment.
00:22:02
Speaker
Doesn't really know where she's going to come out. And she's very much more trying to tick the goals that her her coach have got rather than necessarily going to follow Lara out the start, assuming she goes hard. But yeah, Bridie bridy potentially could show us that she has some very, very impressive range here.
00:22:20
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I think that's going to be interesting to see how she goes over the shorter distance. Like given her age, you'd think that she's goingnna be um she's going to be pretty good over that shorter distance and the longer distance would have been harder for her.
00:22:36
Speaker
So given that she's sort of running so well over the longer distance, I think, yeah, it'll be interesting to see how that translates down. And we know that, i'm sorry, that Lara is world-class athlete. So I think it will be difficult for,
00:22:53
Speaker
It's not an easy one for her to her to beat, but I think she has a chance at sort of challenging or like at least ah it's hard for us to actually predict exactly how good she's going to be over that distance. so um But I think potentially she's in the ballpark that she give Lara a little bit of a run for her money.
00:23:12
Speaker
um But yeah, there's some other amazing women in that top ten as well. um You left off your wife there, actually the second ranked athlete. Siobhan, how's she going?
00:23:25
Speaker
Siobhan good. Anyone that knows her closely knows she's had a ah quite a long history now with coming back from a hip issue over the last two years. She would openly say that she is not in the shape of her index ranking still.
00:23:40
Speaker
um And she's she's honestly just here to really be immersed back into trail. She was training more for the roads, which worked better for her hip, but trail is where she wanted to be. So she won't be able to go full gas on the downhill, which is her favorite.
00:23:56
Speaker
um But yeah, I think, and it's it's very much the same story as Georgina Campbell, but George also has a hip issue she's coming back from. And I think will be another one that,
00:24:08
Speaker
It's probably there more for the experience this year and to kind of see where her fitness is at as opposed to really pushing that for that win that she's capable of and what her index would also suggest. So, yeah, it's it's exciting. um Obviously, as Siobhan's husband and coach, I'm very excited to see her just back.
00:24:25
Speaker
out in this field unfortunately she's been a little bit unwell ah were unwell as well which doesn't help but yeah she she yeah she might surprise me but she her goals are more process based should we say than outcome based for this one.
00:24:39
Speaker
Yeah nice oh that's good and it's good to see Georgina on the list as well um I know she was thinking about running Buffalo but she didn't run that one in the end um so yeah and and it looks like she's from what I can tell on her socials that she's Definitely, well, highly likely to be on the start line on on Friday. So, yeah, it's awesome to see her back.
00:25:00
Speaker
um And just looking at this list again, like number 10th ranked is Jess Ronan by UTMB score, which is just crazy. Like that shows the depth of this. I think maybe Jess is because she runs mostly shorter races. Her UTMB index might be um not quite accurate for her.
00:25:18
Speaker
um But, yeah, it just shows the the depth of that field because we know Jess is is a really good, very good trail runner, especially over these shorter distances. um she was She was first at Mountain Running Champs earlier in the year, which probably about half the distance of this race. But we know that she has run longer races as well in the past. So it will be interesting to see how how she goes. She's another name that I've got on my eye on. And then there's also Bridget Lunn who was first Buffalo.
00:25:50
Speaker
Yeah, umll i'll jump I'll jump in there because you going going through her Strava, I have a feeling Bridget might not be injured. so yeah She might not be. So she was doing a lot of cross training and then I saw she said that something, she didn't say what, is not awesome and that's led to a lot of the cross training and that's pretty close. So I hope that she's now healthy and just had to deload the running side for a little bit because, yeah, she did she won Buffalo twenty k So I was into this field. would have been great to have seen her where she could come out. But, yeah, just not entirely sure if she'll be she'll be there.
00:26:26
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, I can see what you're talking about. It's bit of riding. A little bit of running. um So, yeah, hopefully, well, all the best to Bridget and hopefully it's just a short speed bump and she's still able to stand on the start line, but we'll see what happens there.
00:26:42
Speaker
um And then we still have other other runners like, Sarah Leavitt, who I believe she was either first or she was in the top three last year. Yeah, so she she won last year in 205, which okay I think also, I think the course record is for the women is mid one mid to low 150s.
00:27:05
Speaker
So I think we'll see that 205 would have to be a sub two to win potentially even faster this year. But yeah, yeah yes she's also coming off a sort of 254 marathon at Sydney as well last year. So she's she's got wheels.
00:27:20
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. Anyone else that I've missed there? Obviously, there's up we've only we've only touched on a few of them, but Yeah, like I think it's obviously there's a lot more people here. We're really looking at the potential podium runners because if we didn't, we would be here for hours going through the names, which is a great thing to have.
00:27:39
Speaker
ah The other name that, well, there two names coming across from New Zealand. Bethany Garland, I couldn't find too much about her, but she did win Tarawera last year.
00:27:51
Speaker
last year So that's obviously a very fast course. think a very similar runner would suit this one. And Jessie Speedy, who won Tauera 23k this year. And she's also in the New Zealand uphill team for Worlds this year. so Yeah, okay.
00:28:08
Speaker
I would probably probably put her in that, potentially in that climber category where it's going to be a case of what condition it they are at the bottom of the hill. Because if they're good, they'll very likely come through the women's field.
00:28:20
Speaker
But she might have... more speed than we realize and and actually will be fine at the bottom of the hill um like i said it's really about it's about how specifically these people have trained to be able to run it for the women 345 pace downhill and for the men probably high twos to three minute pace downhill for a long time and back it up with a threshold climb essentially for an hour so yeah yeah yeah i reached out to a friend over in New Zealand and um James Clougar. And he he said Jesse would be one to keep an eye on for a podium watch. He would be putting her up there.
00:28:55
Speaker
so so But no, that's that's really that's really the names. I think, yeah, Jess Ronan. you said You said two hours. i wouldn't be surprised if it they need to be faster than one hour 50 because the record is, well, the fastest time I can see here is 149.12 from Steph Austin and Lucy Bartholomew's run just under 150 as well, 149.54. And that was, I think those two years they ran the course, I believe. I might be wrong. At least the Ben Duffus year, which was Steph's time, 149.12.
00:29:25
Speaker
So, yeah. so um Yeah, ah that I think they, like Steph's an incredible athlete, but I think they could get close to that. So I reckon it'd be closer to 150 that the winning time is.
00:29:36
Speaker
That's imposing. That's fast. Yeah, very like it's I'm curious to see as well where people like, someone like Lara will finish in the overall as well. But yeah, i like let's look then.
00:29:51
Speaker
Who's your top three for the men's side? yeah. um and picking We're picking them in order, I guess. Let's make it hard. um I'm going to pick – actually, I said Leo was my favorite, but I'm going to pick Ben Dufus as number one, Leo as number two, and James Barnett as number three.
00:30:14
Speaker
Damn. I've changed it completely. you Is that yours? That was the exact same order I was going to choose. That's all right. You can choose that. we that means pretty That means the odds of it happening might be slightly higher.
00:30:28
Speaker
Yeah, i just I think looking at Ben's run recently and knowing what he's done on this course, it's pretty hard to look past him. Leo has the speed and James just, like he's also my dark horse pick, which I don't know if i can really call him a dark horse pick.
00:30:42
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, He's only a dark horse in this field. Exactly, exactly. like you If it was a normal UTA 22 course, he'd be probably favorite if it was a normal field. But with this field, I think he's a dark horse. He just looked, I saw him at the top of Mystic.
00:30:56
Speaker
mystic for Buffalo and he was just so chilled like even then Charlie looked a little bit more like I don't know stressed worked James looked like he was out having a nice jog for the day obviously Charlie still won but yeah think I think James James is yeah definitely one to keep an eye on women's field i I'm gonna go first this time because I want to sound like I'm making my own decisions hey Like I can said, I think Lara, she's had good vert in her training for the last four weeks.
00:31:28
Speaker
She's been on the course. i think yeah she's she's She's my clear favorite. um After that, I think it's really tricky, actually. I probably will i will go Bridie for second.
00:31:39
Speaker
I just like her training. I like her odds here. And yeah, like I said, talking to her, the mindset was in a good place, something that makes me excited. And then then we'll throw Jess Ronan for third. I think coming off coming off a strong Buffalo ten k I can only imagine sort of four or six more weeks of training and she's in a pretty good shape to get to that podium.
00:32:04
Speaker
But I think that third place especially is going to be very, very tight. Nice. Well, I think I'm going to utilize your research and I'm going to go with... Look, I think Lara is going to be very hard to beat.
00:32:16
Speaker
um We know how good an athlete she is. So I think I'm going to have to keep her in first there. But I'm going to pop Jessie Speedy in second, I reckon. I was just having a look at her UTMB profile and she ran Tauera 23 135, which is a pretty quick time. She did win that 11th overall um on that day. And that 20K started to get pretty competitive as well. So 11th overall is pretty decent.
00:32:45
Speaker
um And then I think Bridie, yeah, I think I just have a feeling she'll run really well over that shorter distance as well. yeah um And I'd like to... It'd be cool to see her sort of have her do race some of those ones as ah a races as well in the future, maybe like the 50s and that sort of stuff because ah she looks like she'd be very good over that distance. ah But yeah, that's probably my top three.
00:33:10
Speaker
I like it. I like it. All right. Let's move now onto the fifty k Before we get into the field, we're going to hear again from Tim Locke.
00:33:21
Speaker
All right, Tim, we'll move on now to the 50.
50K Course and Strategy
00:33:25
Speaker
So we've previewed the 20. Correct me if I'm wrong, but the 20 is essentially the last 20 of the 50K. So don't need to kind of recap through that. So start line to essentially the 30K point, if you could run us through that, please. Definitely. So um the good thing about the point The start or basically the 50K, 100K starts is that you get the opportunity to do an out and back on the road.
00:33:49
Speaker
um It might seem a little bit mindless, but it's a great way to string the field out, potentially get a little bit more space on the trail. And it also, i guess, is an easier way to get the race going, i'm not having to think too hard about, you know, like those things we spoke about before with foot placement, technicality, that sort of stuff. You can really just use that out and back on the road to get into a little bit of rhythm.
00:34:10
Speaker
um from there you're basically coming back into the start finish area and heading back down onto I guess what the 50k and the 100k is mostly revered for which is the cliff tops and the stair section um the the good thing about the cliff tops at the moment and I guess the work they've put in with national parks over the last however many years is the trails are in really good shape so You know, maybe 10, 15 years ago, sections that were a little bit more like a go track have now been cleaned up um and they run really, really well. They're quite fast.
00:34:46
Speaker
um So it's effectively you're you're entering, I guess what a lot of people would just refer to as a bit of like a fight leg section in stairs. So effort goes up, going uphill, a little bit of recovery going back downhill.
00:34:59
Speaker
It can be a little bit surgy through that section along the clifftop. um So it's all about, I guess, managing your effort and working out how you want to use your energy for the day, um particularly with the 50K, knowing that you've got that big stretch through the valley, which is effectively, you know, the last 22K.
00:35:17
Speaker
um So, yeah, the Clifftops is, um you know, love it or hate it, it's a big part of the race. um It's, I think, running, yeah, quite smoothly relative to to previous years, just with a few minor course alterations.
00:35:32
Speaker
um And there's still plenty of fast running in that section along the cliffs from, you know, pretty much all the way from ah the Three Sisters out towards like Wentworth Falls there near where the 22K starts. sorry So it's a mix of single track, a lot of um interspersed faster sections.
00:35:52
Speaker
um And it's a section that I wouldn't say necessarily suits those runners who are really good at technical terrain. And I wouldn't say it suits those runners who are you know relatively good climbers and it doesn't necessarily suit runners that are very good, you know flat and fast. it's ah It's a section that I guess almost brings people together a little bit um because there is a little bit of everything in that section.
00:36:15
Speaker
And when you're looking at the 50K course, firstly compared to last year, it's pretty much the same course, correct? i believe so, outside of the finish. so last year, there was no Ferber stairs. And so Ferber stairs was replaced with giant stairs. So basically, as you're coming up into a forest, instead of continuing along, they were heading excuse me straight up giant stairs. um I'm not too sure what's more difficult, you know, at varying stages of the race, but um basically the same course outside of that change.
00:36:48
Speaker
Okay. And so looking at the 50K, knowing that that whole cliff top, which is, it's a pretty significant duration of the course from sort of seven and a half all the way through, say to Wentworth Falls, 25, give or take.
00:37:02
Speaker
Yep. Do you think that's where people are going to, if they're going mess their day up, they're going to be attacking those climbs a bit too too much? I think so. It definitely comes back to that point that I mentioned before, where you're thinking about how you want to use your energy, um,
00:37:16
Speaker
You know, you might have someone who's a really good climber and knows that they can run the back section really well. But if they expend way too much energy on that stretch through the stairs, um you know, they'll get to basically the point where their strength might be and they've just got no gas tank, no bandwidth to be able to access their actual strength.
00:37:37
Speaker
So it's a little bit of give and take in terms of how much energy you use. Obviously you're still very early in the race. So things should feel pretty comfortable. um And understanding that, I guess the context of those stairs, you've got um some really difficult climbing coming later in the race. So understanding how you wanna use your energy early in the race but also how you want to use your energy on that terrain is important perfect all right tim we'll catch you shortly for the 100k preview course brilliant brodie listening to tim chat there i did get quite excited at the 50k i found it really interesting that it just doesn't sound like that technical of a course and i haven't run these courses so this is all all new to me from that perspective but when you then look at the fields and
00:38:21
Speaker
for this one the men's one is a bit nuts to be honest it's going to be a fast race it's going to really fast race um being so similar to last year's course I'm comparing it to Charlie's time it's going to be an interesting one to see how this all all pans out yeah it's um I really enjoyed listening to Tim's um preview there and because i I don't know much about that first part of the course um I've run on parts of it before but haven't done at all.
50K Men's Field Expectations
00:38:52
Speaker
um And what really stood out to me was where he was saying how it doesn't benefit the fast runners, doesn't benefit the climbers, doesn't benefit the descenders. It's sort of like this even playing field. um And I think that's, yeah, that's super interesting. So um it sounds like the race might start happening after Fairmont or probably when they get to Kadamba.
00:39:14
Speaker
But yes, yeah, it's an incredible field. I would have, I was supposed to be running this one and I would have loved to be you know in amongst it and but I think even if I could finish it with my Achilles at the moment I would have been well out the back because these boys are all very strong at the moment and there's some um incredible runners in there so I'm glad that I'll be cheering along from the sidelines we'll we'll give ah get Vlad's there the ambassador of the podcast now, so we'll we'll be cheering him.
00:39:42
Speaker
Yeah, is it's interesting, obviously, as we mentioned quickly. There's prize money and very good prize money for the 50k, 100k and 100 mile. You've got 5,000 euros down to 1,000 euros for fifth, which with the current exchange rate is a lot.
00:39:58
Speaker
Mm-hmm. And the difference you're really seeing is that there is a more of an international contingent in the rest of these fields. So we've essentially just spoken about either Australian or New Zealand runners, predominantly Australian for the 20k.
00:40:11
Speaker
We then hit the names for the 50k and there are some more international, especially as you go into the longer distances. So Yeah, that that side's making you very, very excited. I am, given the form of Lads in, I'm keen to see how he'll stack up. I think in the the men's 50k field, though, it's pretty hard to go past Dan Jones.
00:40:34
Speaker
yeah i Obviously, he's training for States. He's got that coming up in about six weeks' time from now. Just coming off a first at Lake Sonoma Marathon. won Tower a hundred k earlier in the year for his third time, fourth at CCC last year, fourth at States last year.
00:40:51
Speaker
He's just, he's very quickly, it feels like, but it hasn't because obviously there's years of going into this. But in that last sort of two years, two and a half years, he's really put himself up there as one of the top 10 names of the year. And at the moment, it's putting a great resume down for a top 10 trail runner of the year performance.
00:41:11
Speaker
But yeah, Dan's, I'm excited to see Dan here, let's put it that way. Yeah, I think he's definitely going to be hard to beat um and and it's nice for him.
00:41:22
Speaker
yeah I think he's currently training in New Zealand, so makes sense for him to sort of dip across and get some prize money. But um he's he's not going to have it too easy. But I think, like you said, he is on a different level probably to the rest of this field.
00:41:37
Speaker
um It'll be interesting to see. I don't know if he's run UTA before, so maybe the stairs and that sort of running might be his undoing. Who knows? and So that there is there's a Spanish guy, Miguel Benitez, who initially, look at his results.
00:41:52
Speaker
This year, Calamaro Sky Race came fourth. um ah Another Sky Race, he came fourth. I can't pronounce that first word. And then came third at the Archipatrician. And was okay, cool. So he's a very good Sky Runner.
00:42:03
Speaker
This isn't a Sky Race. This is a very typical trail race with some stairs in it. And I found out he's a 214 marathoner. And all of sudden I'm like, oh, okay. That's probably not dissimilar to what Dan is in. I reckon if Dan trained now, he's probably closer to that 210 mark.
00:42:19
Speaker
But... that through a ah potential like bridge for me where somebody might be able to push Dan and we know that he's going to find this course and incredibly smooth and fast which will be a benefit if he's actually got the speed to be able to do that so definitely and then you have last year's second place David Hounschmidt coming back from New Zealand he had a great race for Charlie dipped just under the four-hour mark 359 41 he's he's Won Jabalani, 25K, old ghost this year.
00:42:52
Speaker
Came sixth at three-peats over in New Zealand. So he's had a busy year. But he's definitely probably going in for that spot to just just below Dan. He's going to be then one of them the big names to watch there.
00:43:07
Speaker
Yeah. Like but Dan's probably... Like i said, he's that that higher caliber, but like you said, these these other guys are there and definitely in the mix. I was just having a look at some of Miguel's results.
00:43:21
Speaker
um He seems to be a bit up and down, but he also hasn't been doing trail running from what I can tell, at least by his UTMB index, for very long. So it's probably still within that that he's getting better and better. He's learning something every trail race. So, um yeah, it could be interesting to see how he goes on this course.
00:43:41
Speaker
um The other one in the list there... ah The other international runner, and we'll get on to some of more our local runners in a second, is Nicolás Ignacio Benavides Bole from Chile.
00:43:55
Speaker
He has ah done a couple of races, but just this year he's run a race in one of the UTMB races in South America.
00:44:07
Speaker
um i think it was in Argentina. And he came third there. um and that race was won by antinio Antonio Martinez Perez, who came third at OCC last year, and he was 20 minutes behind. so he's probably...
00:44:23
Speaker
For me, I think maybe he's more in the category of the Australian yeah runners there. But again, he might be someone that we that might surprise us and be up at the front. Yeah, I found him interesting because I assumed he was coming here for the ACC ticket, but he doesn't need it.
00:44:40
Speaker
He punched his ticket back. He already has it from that other race. Yeah, so... i Which is really nice to see. Obviously, it's a I don't know the logistics flying across from South America. Potentially, there is something that flies relatively direct, but it's still not a small trip. So it is really nice to see that there is some international contingent coming across.
00:45:01
Speaker
And yeah, 20 minutes behind on Antonio is still a very, very good run. um And yeah, it does throw it into names. I think you look at the rest of the field and we'll go into some of these names a bit more detail, but it's a very, very big Australian field.
00:45:20
Speaker
You've got Peter Babis, Vlad, Billy Curtis, Thomas Banks, Toby Sparks, Billy O'Meally, Andrew Gaddenby and Tyler Wyndham. that's an exciting thing to see on the line. And there's some very there some very aggressive racing styles in there, which I think will be fun, especially when you have someone like Dan Jones going out hot. I'm excited to see some of the guys just try and see what they can do against him. And ah think Billy billie is definitely one that really stands out to me.
00:45:44
Speaker
Having trained in Asia, technically, he's going to be a very good runner. And we've kind of heard him really stepping up in results recently as well. I think that you but when we had him on the podcast, just he sounds confident to me and excited to be in this field. and that's a That's a pretty powerful mix.
00:46:05
Speaker
yeah yeah Billy did a massive volume last year in most of the year, but particularly over the sort of the winter months. um and He's fairly new to running and trail running in general.
00:46:16
Speaker
um So he's doing some sort of N equals one type of experiments. um But he did a lot of volume. And then when it came around to South, ah ah the Asia Pacific champs, I think he hadn't done...
00:46:28
Speaker
he hadn't done enough sort of race specific stuff. He had this big base, but he hadn't done enough of the more specific work. And I think that meant his performance there wasn't as good as he would have hoped.
00:46:40
Speaker
um And he's really gone away since then and started working on those things that he was missing. And I think adding that to that incredible base he built over over winter, um I think we'll start to see those results.
00:46:51
Speaker
And we already have started to see those results coming through now and this to me could be his breakthrough. It's a difficult one to have a breakthrough race on because there's such an incredible field above him.
00:47:03
Speaker
um But yes, I think we'll at least see him compete really well against the other Aussies and there will be, a I think we'll see a little Australian, first Australian battle in this race, which is pretty cool on home soil to have a race where there's a ah little race within the race ah because usually it would just be Australians running.
00:47:21
Speaker
and there's there's a lot of experience on the uta course as well here we've got thomas banks coming back after a fourth last year um more recently got a third at kmr we've also got tyler coming back he got seventh last year um and then people like andrew gattenby he just had a really good run at buffalo 20k and he had a fourth at uta 50 in 2022 so fifty and twenty twenty two so There's a lot of course experience from the Australian side and you're right. I actually choosing between some of these guys is, is very hard, different racing styles, but very well could be within five minutes of each other by the end. Like, and yes, we know Dan races hard, you've got to assume he's fit because of how close to Western States he is. He's going to go 345 give or take probably on this course, knowing that it's pretty similar, potentially, potentially even faster.
00:48:18
Speaker
going to very interesting to see how fast they run. Yeah. um Because I think the last year it was the first year they went under four hours. And um I think that's an incredible run. I don't reckon he can quite do 345, but um I'd love to see it. Maybe 350. I think it also depends on the conditions. but when when i sp yeah.
00:48:35
Speaker
When I spoke to Tim for the course, which was a few days ago now, everything was sounding really lovely. And then last night he sent me a story from his partner and it was just torrential rain. Like they were walking up a waterfall down the stairs. So, and looking at the forecast, it is now going to rain by the looks of it the entire weekend. So,
00:48:53
Speaker
eighty Yeah, it's great fun to be up there. But it's frozen the spanner of, okay, now the conditions are getting a bit more sloppy, but in a way, does that make them faster? If it was really dry beforehand, what condition of the steps going to be in?
00:49:07
Speaker
How cold is it going to be? Potentially not for 50K, but 100K, 100 miles. So there's <unk> a bit bit of an element to be put in there. Tim seemed to think that it was passing and that the the rain wouldn't wouldn't mean too much, but But yeah regardless of what Dan dan can run, i I like the idea of overestimating the time and seeing what happens, but it's going to be cool. It's that benchmark, isn't it? And that's what I think that and you're listening to Mikey talking about going across the canyons is that it's all well and good competing in Australia. And it's very uncommon to have this depth of field in Australia in both the men's and the women's side, but
00:49:44
Speaker
Knowing where are in Australia is one thing. Knowing where you are worldwide, that's another. And Dan giving that comparison. This is going to help set set the debt benchmark on this course. as a So what is it? And how does Charlie's race from last year, how does that sort of shape up against this race? And I wouldn't be surprised if it's pretty close in terms of like that last year's race with him and David.
00:50:06
Speaker
um running really quick, given that we're saying David might be in the mix this year. um Yeah, I think it's, yeah, it'll be interesting to see that time. and But that's going to happen across all the distances. I think we'll see a new benchmark set pretty much in every race.
00:50:19
Speaker
um which is which is pretty cool for Australians in the future to be able to go there and go, okay, well, this is something run by this world-class runner and I can sort of see how I'm going. Yeah, definitely, definitely. The one one name we didn't yell at just before we move on to the women's, actually ranked third is Piotr Babis, who lives down in Tassie. He's from Poland.
00:50:39
Speaker
um He's had a pretty good season this year. He always has usually because he just does a lot of races and he he keeps his fitness pretty well. um not known probably as being a super fast runner, but he did actually do the alter rate the the altered course in 2022, which was arguably more of a runner's race.
00:51:02
Speaker
And he did mix it with Ben St. Lawrence and Ronnie Spark. So he does have some, he does definitely have some running caliber as well. So i sot I don't think he's completely out of the mix. I think I would have thought in the past that he's more suited to sky running, more technical races, that sort of thing, but he does have legs.
00:51:19
Speaker
as well um so yeah it'll be interesting to see how he shapes up definitely and and to back that up as well second at tower at 50k as well which yeah is a very very fast course and the guys and that we shouldn't sleep on piotr no no as you it's i'm i'm glad you said that because that might actually just changed changed my pick this is going to i'm i wanted to delay picking this men's field as long as we can um if possible. so be um And again, i just want to shout out Vlad because it's always fun to see how see how how he goes and it's nice to see him on this sort of build back. but His five five peaks win was a very fast time and yeah, just want to wish him the best.
00:51:59
Speaker
Yes, yeah, yeah. We didn't talk too much about Vlad, but I think everyone's been listening to his his training and and like, yeah, he's probably, apart from Billy, he's probably the other Australian that I think is most likely to mix it. I think they all can, but I think if Vlad has a good day, um ah think, yeah, it'd be, we know he's got a lot of calibre of running long races in the past and then he's been working on his speed over the last few years, putting those two things together.
00:52:28
Speaker
He could have an absolute. I'd love to see him beat, Dan. That'd be great. Come on, Vlad. You can do it. How good would that be? come bla Come on, Vlad. Yeah. But, yeah, seriously, he does have he does have the potential to be out there in the mix.
00:52:41
Speaker
So, yeah, we good to see if anyone's been watching this training um i'm sure they're a little bit scared he's yeah he's been putting in the work and we're definitely not biased at all on the show at all so 100 never unbiased opinions um we should get into some bias in the women's course then wow yeah the the the only i i will just really quickly shout out, i just because I have him picked down as my my dark horse for this.
00:53:06
Speaker
I really like his training. i like his progression. i don't think he's, we're not talking about first place here, but a potential podium if he has a really great race is Billy O'Meally. ah Just kept watching the progression through in the last 18 months or so, he just looks like the sort of person that every race he's going to step into.
00:53:22
Speaker
As long as he executes it pretty well, it's just going to be looking at a better and better engars we came for um fifth at buffalo stampede 20k that was a very fast 20k um he said a fourth at cosy 50k but yeah you look at the stats potentially not the person that you'd be picking there but i would be keeping an eye on him and even if not this year definitely towards the back end of the year but yeah all right let's move on to the women's field brody do want to take us away yeah so um we talked about how the men's field is pretty deep and the women's field is
50K Women's Field Predictions
00:53:58
Speaker
no different. um And again, we have some have one of the big headliners, I guess, of the weekend running in the women's 50 field being Caitlin Fielder from New Zealand, who, again, is probably the the athlete within this field that's a little bit hot like on the higher caliber end compared to the rest of the field. Not saying that they can't compete with her, but she is
00:54:22
Speaker
very much world class. um And, yeah, I think she will be difficult to beat in this race. um But, um yeah, there's definitely others in the field that that could could compete with her, yeah including our very own Jess Jason, who is running the 50.
00:54:43
Speaker
um And then there's a ah few other Australian runners, Demi Coldwell, who was at Buffalo is sort of transitioning from triathlon across the trail running and seems to be sort of getting better and better every race she does.
00:54:57
Speaker
um Gillian Turnbull, Monica Ludricks, Greta Truscott. um There's a lot of Australian runners who we know. um And then the second ranked lady, I don't know, James, if you know her more, um Alison Wilson from New Zealand have you done a bit of a deep dive on her at all yeah I've tried to ah she's British living in New Zealand actually quite hard to find too much about her she came second at Old Ghost last year first at Tapo Ultra 50k and then first this year at an event called the Faultline Ultra 24k the times looked impressive i think she's probably but I yeah I could not find too much else on her and again when I asked um James in New Zealand he he didn't know too much about her either so
00:55:41
Speaker
there's two There's two of those, her and Kate Morgan as well. Very similar boat, not too many results. um Kate had a 50th at the short trail champs in 2023, her first over in Whistler, and then her first at the ah Three Peaks 56k this year, which was the New Zealand short trail champs.
00:56:02
Speaker
umm She also beat Beth McKenzie at, i think it's the Kepler Challenge. Beth came third in that race, but anyone that's beating Beth ah even a half healthy Beth is is a very fast Beth so that's that's definitely a a name a name that I think will by the end of the race we will know a lot more so is my guess yeah yeah yeah people you mentioned that ah caitlin is look at her utmb ranking she's quite far and above she's actually if you take yourself out brodie she's ranked 10th in the field like yeah which is pretty cool yeah top 10 full stop yeah and yeah that's pretty crazy so she yeah she has she has the caliber she's on her way to western states as well after getting it at tarawara so a bit like dan you've got to assume she's in really good shape she won't be
00:56:51
Speaker
super super sharp has had it she has had a bit of an injury recently i think and okay so she did have to pull out of oh i can't remember which race it was it was maybe transvulcan area but um yeah so she hasn't hasn't had completely smooth sailing but yeah again she if she's think she's at the level where she can get around a 50k and she hasn't been out for like an extended period of time she's probably still going to be in good shape but she might not be in a tip top right at the moment yeah okay interesting that could open the door for someone else you know especially if that niggle becomes the point where she goes okay actually it's not a good idea for me to continue running here um or she has to really rein it in yeah um that could open the door for someone else um because there is going to be a strong bunch of women behind her i think like it she's not going to have it
00:57:40
Speaker
She's not going to just be able go to jog her around. She's going to have to run hard if she wants to win. um So yeah, that it will be interesting to see how that plays out. But she's obviously, I think she's recently, like only recently put put her name forward. So it's not like she's been on the list for ages and She's been iffy about it. she's She's recently decided to come across. So she's highly likely to stand on the start line, I think.
00:58:03
Speaker
yeah um It would just be interesting to see how that plays out. But hopefully she's healthy enough to get around. No, yeah, fingers crossed. and And it's an interesting one as well, isn't it? Because if she is feeling anything that's not perfect, really, what apart from some cash, what is there to gain from finishing this and compromising states? Yeah.
00:58:23
Speaker
So it's it's so something that you hope she doesn't have to think about, but it is it is a consideration that the other people in this field just don't have. Like this is, I'm assuming, most people's A-race.
00:58:35
Speaker
This is not Caitlin's A-race. So yeah, an interesting dynamic. i um You mentioned a couple of names there as well, which I think need to be brought out. Demi Caldwell. really good run at Buffalo.
00:58:46
Speaker
She came second at the 20K and looking back at her results, she just keeps picking the competitive fields. In last year, she had a Tauera, UTA and COSI.
00:58:57
Speaker
So she keeps putting herself in the most competitive races, which I really like. And I'm guessing that's a carryover from from triathlon, looking at her training, she's quick.
00:59:08
Speaker
like She's really quick. She was doing 60 second, 90 second reps after a threshold block, three minute pace, dropping under three minute pace. So like I said earlier, in terms of letting the legs roll in that last twenty k Coming down that hill, she's going to be comfortable with that turnover that some of the other girls might not be quite as comfortable. So even if she isn't as trail strong yet, think that's something to watch out for. And then looking at her training in the Dandenongs, she's either setting CRs or taking top threes on some big name segments.
00:59:42
Speaker
Taking some... taking some Taking some scouts there, which which is, yeah, it's good to see. I think Demi's, again, she's one that over the next two, three years with a bit of trail specificity is going to really step up. And I know that she's very eager and active in learning how to run trails better, how climb better, how to descend better, how to think about her training. So that's going to be one thing.
01:00:07
Speaker
fun one to watch. She's also got a YouTube channel, which anyone over in Australia that wants to do a YouTube channel, I like. It's quick cool to see more of more of the training and it also helps helps us out a little bit from a research perspective. and yeah Gillian Turnbull as well.
01:00:22
Speaker
She had a very, very good run for her at... um tawera I think that was a time when she kind of just let go of all the other stuff that we've all get a bit caught up in chasing about trying to hit certain positions certain times and just ran and she put in what looked like a bit of a breakthrough run there.
01:00:42
Speaker
She's also had ah already a really good result at UTA back in 2022. She came third in the 50K. So if she knows that know the area. different slightly Different course then. But um she's gonna be she's going to want to watch. i think someone like Gillian will come through the field.
01:00:58
Speaker
And especially there's a little bit of carnage up front or people have taken it out too hot. I wouldn't be surprised. I definitely wouldn't surprised to see our top five and potentially even moving further up up for through that field. So, um yeah, I think that's to two names there to definitely keep an eye on.
01:01:15
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And we know the top five is that's what the prize money pays down to. So I'm assuming... ah right We'll see some very competitive racing still for fourth and fifth yeah um because there is and and because the prize money even for fifth is still significant. um So, yeah, it's going to be great to see how that shapes up as well um with that sort of extended podium, I guess.
01:01:37
Speaker
um I was just having a ah look at Caitlin cause I was just saying that off the top of my my head. She missed a Canyon's 50 K. okay So that was a few, few weeks ago, I guess.
01:01:49
Speaker
um And she having a little foot niggle. So if it was something small, hopefully she sort of turned it around quickly. She doesn't have much on Strava. So it's hard to sort of see. um But yeah, um hopefully all the best for her and she can sort of get around.
01:02:04
Speaker
um But we'll, yeah see those girls racing hard to catch her I think yeah lovely anyone else in the women's field do you want to mention uh not specifically like we haven't gone into say detail on Jess but I think Jess has been uh we've heard her on the podcast she's been I'll start can start with ah the podcast bias but she has been training pretty well I asked her um last week or a couple of weeks ago around like what her focus was like in terms of which race was the focus out of ah this one on Buffalo and she was sort of saying how Buffalo was more of a focus and since Buffalo she's sort of just been trying to she hasn't been forcing the training for this 50k like she hasn't been forcing out the three hour four hour runs she's just been sort of getting back into normal training and I actually think that that will work quite well like I think Buffalo would have been a really good stimulus for her um and she'll take that into UTA and
01:02:59
Speaker
given the training she was doing for Buffalo and Buffalo itself, she's not going to have an issue with the distance, but maybe in the last 70, the last 25% of the course, given she hasn't done heaps of long stuff since, ah since Buffalo, maybe she, that being, but I actually think it's more likely that Buffalo was a really good stimulus and she'll actually have a great race.
01:03:22
Speaker
And she's, she knows the blue mountains. She's, She ran Hounslow last year, demonstrated she could do that pretty well, finished pretty well on the last climb at Hounslow. So this race does finish with a big climb. So yeah, I think Jess could be on for a good one.
01:03:37
Speaker
um So yeah, I'd love to, again, I'd love to see Jess pip Caitlin, but ah we'll see what happens. Yeah, i I agree with you on the the training stimulus from Buffalo. I think that you look at her training before then, that's where the volume was. And and yeah, she can say for herself, like going into Buffalo, what kind of went on on there, but afterwards, reducing little bit of volume, taking a bit of the pressure off as well.
01:04:04
Speaker
I think that's only a recipe for her to be successful here. and and And I don't necessarily always agree that you need to be hitting out 35K up to four hour long runs to train for a 50K. I think you've it's more about that that frequency of training and and your history. And like said, she's she was doing some very solid volume strength building beforehand. And yeah, I don't want to put the pressure Jess, but I do think she's... Don't I don't think she's going to listen to this before the race.
01:04:34
Speaker
i think she I think she's in a very good place to um to to do what we knew she was capable of at Buffalo yeah yeah yeah she's got to prove me right after giving her the I don't know what I awarded her some award last year and people said we were biased so she's going to back me up yeah exactly yeah it's okay to have bias as long as we can get backed up on it yeah exactly All righty. What are we doing for top three? You can go first this time.
Race Predictions and Conclusion
01:05:05
Speaker
Okay. So, men's field, Dan Jones.
01:05:08
Speaker
got to put him first. um After that, I do think it opens up, despite what I said about Miguel Benitez, he but for forgot to say that his last race he did, which was at the end of April, he did say that essentially his body said enough. And I'm guessing that just means too many races, too much training. He's really been pushing it. Mm-hmm.
01:05:26
Speaker
Yeah, i saw it wasn't a great race. No. It was a Sky Race, Dismatha scenes. Yeah. And as of checking yesterday, he was a May 11th, he was still in Spain.
01:05:36
Speaker
And yes, coming... He's going travel. Coming this... And this way is the worst way, actually, I think. pretty Yeah, it is the worst way. yeah Yeah. So I don't think he's going to feature. i then think... For the podium, that was a bit harsh, sorry. Not quite that direct.
01:05:52
Speaker
um i I then think it's... David knows this course. he had a great run last year. Assuming that he does his own thing and doesn't get swept away in what Dan Jones does, I'm going to put him in second again.
01:06:07
Speaker
And then, ah this is tough. I'm stuck between Peter, Vlad and Billy Curtis for the the third place. um I think I'm going to go with Billy. Just got a feeling about him.
01:06:17
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Okay. Well, I'm going to, right I'm going to shake things up a little bit. I'm still going say Dan Jones. Okay. so I think Dan Jones is hard to beat in this. But I agree. I think that those that are traveling here might be a bit tougher to add that travel stimulus, especially if Miguel is still in Spain.
01:06:38
Speaker
um And he may never have done this travel as well, like across to Australia. I think the more you do it, the better you get at it. But um if you haven't done it before, it might bang him up a little bit. But who knows?
01:06:49
Speaker
He might travel lots already. Uh, the Dan first look, I think this is definitely podcast bias, but like, I don't think Vlad has had the race that his fitness shows in nearly two years.
01:07:06
Speaker
Like I think even some of his races in Europe, they're hard to tell like how good they are because he's racing against people we don't really know. And there's not a huge field. So it was hard to sort of get a ah vibe on, but I think definitely Asia-Pacific champs, I think if he hadn't rolled his ankle, I would have ah think he may have come back through the field at the end, ah similar to what Blake Turner did.
01:07:29
Speaker
um And I think the training he's done since then and his history of racing, I think, yeah, this could be the one, but maybe it won't be. But I'm going to put Vlad second.
01:07:41
Speaker
um And I really want to put Billy third. I think Billy might come fourth, and I'm going to say David third. Yep. that's that's my my pick yeah again podcast bias perspective i hope vlad is up there it's just it's such a competitive race i think he he only comes second if he has that race yeah if he doesn't if he has another one of his what is his performances been happening which i know he hasn't been like super happy with um i think he'll more be like fifth or sixth uh
01:08:14
Speaker
But I think if he has the the day, then he has potential to be that second place. And I'm hoping he has the day. Yeah. And correct me if I'm wrong, mislead me, but he hasn't raced since five peaks, has he? Yeah. I don't think so. That's something that I like for Vlad because as we know, he likes race. It's a long time since his last race, four weeks.
01:08:32
Speaker
yeah it Yeah, it is. but But you see his training. Like he can fit the AK where he hasn't had to smash himself because he just wasn't being pushed matter how fast he ran.
01:08:43
Speaker
yeah If there's a day for him to have a good day, i think UTA, it's looking good. And yeah, to all the guys we we left off there, I am fully expecting the fight for third to fifth to be hectic and very exciting. Yeah, and any of those guys could also be second and third. Yes, exactly. exactly we might I think that's the one we're most likely to get wrong, the fifty game men, yeah because there's just so many guys in there. Hopefully, except for the first place. so or yeah Yeah. That would be interesting.
01:09:14
Speaker
God, how... how ah yeah ah I even go there. All right.
01:09:19
Speaker
Women's field, Brodie, who you want? Yeah, look, I think Caitlin's going to be hard to beat. um So i'm I'm going to keep her as first. I really want to put Jess as second.
01:09:32
Speaker
um I think she's not going to listen to this, so i don't think she'll be too offended. But I actually think Demi yeah me might be able to come second there. um I just... She just looks like she's someone that's on the up.
01:09:44
Speaker
Yeah. um And at some point, she's going to have a big breakthrough and it might be this one. um So, yeah, I think maybe her second. um And then I think Jess third, although I think Alison Wilson could also could also be there. So, yeah, that's a tricky one, but let's say Jess third.
01:10:01
Speaker
Yeah. Okay. I will also, Katie Morgan that I did say, I've just looked at the UTMB site and actually can't see her name anymore. Yeah, i was going to say, I couldn't say her name when were saying it before. I thought you had some he inside costs.
01:10:14
Speaker
The UTA Elite Lich was there, and was like, oh, hang on a minute. So let's ignore her because that's going to change it up. Yeah, assuming Caitlin's coming in healthy, which, again, with States, I don't see any reason why she would be starting if she wasn't.
01:10:27
Speaker
Caitlin's the clear favourite. I think it will be interesting to see where she finishes in the men's field. It's going to be a bit of a theme, I think, with coming down later with Lin Chen if she is here.
01:10:38
Speaker
Yeah. ah Yeah. Honestly, i'm i'm I'm thinking the same thing as you. I think Demi is going to be there. um Let's go Demi second, Jess third.
01:10:51
Speaker
Yeah. All right. Yeah. it's It's tricky. And I think the Demi Jess thing will be very close. And I think Jess will be in front for somewhere between 40 to 45k.
01:11:02
Speaker
Yeah. i just yeah I get the feeling that maybe Demi's, I haven't talked to her. I spoke to her briefly at at Buffalo, but I didn't ask her. But I have feeling that maybe her her focus is this race rather than Buffalo because she did the sort of shorter one at Buffalo, um that this was this was more of the – she was using that to build towards this compared to Jess, who Buffalo was more the focus.
01:11:25
Speaker
Yeah. I think Jess has pivoted really well, but I think, yeah, ah don't know demi might also not be quite there at her breakthrough yet but i think if she has it then she will have a really good race i think regardless of what we see from demi this is not going to be her breakthrough if that makes any sense like in the sense that i think whatever she does in this 50k she'll definitely keep getting better but um this one might be the one that's a big jump maybe Yeah. But yeah, don't know. Cool. All right. That's the 50K fields done.
01:11:58
Speaker
I hope you enjoyed the 22 and 50K previews for UTA coming up this weekend. Brody and I will be back shortly for the hundred k and 100 mile previews.
01:12:08
Speaker
In the meantime, if you've enjoyed this episode, please do share it around. There's lot of really helpful insights there from Tim Locke on the course. So hopefully people racing this weekend can enjoy those. We will catch you soon.