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Ultra Trail Australia 2026 50km Preview
489 Plays5 days ago
James said it best — he was tingling. The 50K field this year is on another level, stacked on both the men's and women's sides with incredible international runners. Miao Yao. Ruth Croft. Dan Jones. Add most of the best 50km trail athletes in Australia, Demi Caldwell, Kate Avery, Blake Turner, Vlad Ixel (just to name a few), and almost impossible to pick a top three. If there's one race this weekend where the result could genuinely surprise everyone, it's this one. Strap in.
Who are you backing? Let us know in the comments!
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Transcript
Excitement and Competition at UTA 50K
00:00:17
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the UTA 50K preview of PP Suits. I'm James, joined Brody. If you've always listened to us for the 20K, that's going sound very familiar, but if you haven't, welcome. It's a pretty cool year.
00:00:28
Speaker
We alluded to this just on the 20K one, but the 50K course is like, I'm like tingling with excitement about the level of competition. and I don't really know how else to describe it. Like it's the women's 100K course is pretty, it's pretty cool.
00:00:43
Speaker
But the 50K in both the women's and the men's nationally, New Zealand as well, I'm going to lump them into that. And then you've got some pretty big hitters coming from the international side on both the men's and women's. So um yeah, this is ah this is going to be a fun one. This is also probably going to be a long one because it is pretty hard to pick a top three out of this, especially once you kind of move out of the the the the main names. But even even the main names, like I'm just scrolling through the women's list right now and it is just, yeah, it's awesome.
00:01:12
Speaker
Yeah, the women's list is amazing. Like, it's so, so deep. We're going to spend a lot of time. I think if i was to pick a field for any of the races, it would be the women's 50K.
00:01:27
Speaker
um And then the men's 50K potentially second, although I think the men's 100K is also quite good. so But I think the women's 50K is a clear winner for me of like the best field of the whole event. So, yeah, it's going to be... When you're talking like... Demi Corwell and Kate Avery maybe not making the top five. You're like, what? Yeah.
Course Changes and Impact on Race Flow
00:01:47
Speaker
if So yeah, anyway, let's let's get into it. I like it. That's a good little teaser. So I want to start with going through the course because there have been some course changes. The course changes in this are going to affect the 100K and 100 miler because the courses just keep following themselves. So we're talking about the back 50K of both of those courses.
00:02:07
Speaker
The difference comes towards the start. So you have the same out and back that you normally have, which is on a ah gravel fire road. it's It's a climb into a descent and then back up yourself and back in. That works really well because it spreads out the field before you hit the cliff top single track section. So this bit...
00:02:24
Speaker
It's really good as has kind of been a talking point. a lot a lot of the start times have moved earlier to separate the waves to try and change how all the courses interact. So it does mean that for the first probably hour and a half to two hours of this race is going to be in the dark. Also means you' got to wear your high-vis jacket. um So that there'll be some sort of nuances there, which like it's not going to matter so much on the ah the fire trail stuff being in the dark. But if you haven't been running with a head torch on the single trail,
00:02:50
Speaker
I actually think it's going to matter quite a lot for this one. But the main change is once you come back past the finish, you get to about the nine k point, which is just coming up to... trying to the lookout name here. you've gone past Echo Park.
00:03:06
Speaker
get up that first lookout. At that point, you you used to go down the stairs there. I'm just sorry, I've lost the, can't get the name of the stairs. Anyway, in the past course, you drop you would drop down that that staircase and then run along the single track bottom the valley. This time, you're going to stay up on the clifftop track. So it it's kind of similar to the course that we had a few years ago where they stay on the road for the whole section, but just on on the trail a bit below that.
00:03:30
Speaker
There are still some steps in this. It's kind of that more surgery up down in the preview from last year. Tim Locke referred to these style sections as like fartlek training where you've got that that kind of pulse up, then recovery and sort of a float style or a steady and then you keep doing that with all the little climbs and descents and then more runnable sections. um You get...
00:03:50
Speaker
all the way through to the Lura forest side of things. And then you do still drop down a pretty significant staircase, but it's nowhere near the same size. And the difference here is that you've lost 100 meters of up and down, but 100 meters of up and down is pretty much all stairs. So i think, and having not spent much time on these trails, can't say 100 meters,
00:04:08
Speaker
So as and I have asked some of the locals, it does feel like it's it's going to run a little bit quicker than last year's course. The exact amount, I couldn't say for certain, but 100 meters you might of stairs up and down, you might be talking three to five minutes, depending on what the trails like at the top versus the trail at the bottom. But it's like, i think i think it is a good call. We did we did hear a lot of feedback that
Potential Time Savings from Course Modifications
00:04:30
Speaker
There were bottlenecks there. It was getting quite unsafe. Everyone was kind of cramming onto this staircase. so I do think this is a really good course change and it is nice that they haven't had to just go onto the roads. We just saw the Clifftop Race get held, Lou Clifton's new event on these trails. Brodie, you were on these trails for the 11K section, so you all know this bit pretty well.
00:04:50
Speaker
But yeah, I think it is it is definitely a good good course change. Aside from that, though, we are talking about a complete carbon copy of last year's course, which I do like because I like comparing times and it's fun.
00:05:04
Speaker
okay Yeah, look, I think it might make little bit more distance than three to five minutes because I think the downhill on the giant stairs is also quite slow. So you think of an extra 100 meters of downhill on stairs and then that climb of 100 It's pretty steep, like it's the steeper part of the climb. If you compare Charlie's run at UTA 50 in 2024, which he ran, think, about three, he'd run 356 or something. Yeah, want to say like 55, 56. Yeah.
00:05:49
Speaker
If you compare that to Dan Jones who ran slower last year, um which was more which was down giant stairs and then back up, Dan Jones ran um a little bit slower than that. um yeah I think it might be more closer to 10.
00:06:04
Speaker
ten ah Thomas Banks, I think, had done it both years. I think he said it was close to 10. But, yeah, 5 to 10 maybe. Like the 2024 course, to be fair, they it was also different because they went back up giant stairs instead of going up Ferber. Although, again, ah it's possibly slower because the clifftop track is...
00:06:27
Speaker
relatively slow, i don't know, but I think it's yeah it's definitely a difference and it will change things a little bit. But like you said, it's a great choice for even the front of the field because it's pretty like yeah I think I remember talking to Vlad and he said they may have had like they had their little second pack of maybe like five to ten guys and you get to giant stairs and like it's not a very good place to be with a pack. um yeah So it's probably better to stay up on the clifftop and yeah.
00:06:56
Speaker
um it's still very nice trails across the top there so um i think it's i think it's a good change i also feel like i like tactical racing i like moves being made in certain places i'm quite happy for a staircase to be removed or at least a significant like a significant part because the last thing you want is someone to make a push there and hurt themselves or be like getting frustrated behind somebody else try to get around them and it just takes out this opportunity for for issues and injuries so I'm very, very pro this. But yeah, otherwise... Just going to correct myself. I realized that in 2024, they didn't go back down into Laura as far. So they were it was faster. So that's probably the 10 minutes. So maybe five minutes. Yeah.
00:07:38
Speaker
So that and last five minutes. After all, after all, you were right. Running in a big circle. Funny that. I have to take something. it yeah All Brody, I'm going to come to you first. You win the bread battle. Yeah. 50K, men's field.
00:07:56
Speaker
Yeah. First name on the list. I feel like it's a pretty obvious one, but who's who's the first person that you're looking at? Like Dan Jones is – I've written in my notes, head and shoulders above the rest of the field. Sorry, everyone else, but like – This guy is like top 10 in the world. Like he's next level. um He is an incredible athlete. um So I think he's a hard one to compete
Dan Jones: Training and Health Challenges
00:08:20
Speaker
against. He's also run this course before. So like he now knows the course. um So yeah, I think he'll be very hard to beat. He unfortunately had like some some issues earlier in the year. Like he had like a tooth infection and some Achilles inflammation that was maybe related somewhat when he went over to Germany for the team camp. And then um
00:08:40
Speaker
Yeah, so he had a little bit of time off. He had to cancel one of his races. And I think it was the same build he did last year for Western States. He was doing Lake Sonoma and then UTA and then Western States. So he had to cancel Lake Sonoma.
00:08:51
Speaker
um But, yeah, he seems to have built back super strong. Like he did a 240K week a few weeks ago. So he said, i was reading his blog and he said, um that maybe it looks a bit stupid to like build back up so strong after an Achilles sort of flare up. um But he also wrote in the same sentence that his goal is to win Western States, which I thought was like... I hadn't sort of conceptualized that. Like, he's been there or thereabouts a lot, but I... like I guess if you're going to Western States, you might as well be going there to try and win it. In my mind, I'm like, I don't think he's going to win Western States, so like maybe he should aim for the podium, but like he's going all in. He's going for the win.
00:09:31
Speaker
um He's training for the win. His training looks epic. um Yeah, I think he's he's going to be um very, very hard to beat. um And also on ah on a side note, I hope he does win Western States. That would be epic. and Maybe I could give him some more faith. Yeah.
00:09:48
Speaker
That which would just be incredible. And i think it would be easy to look at his results and go, well, he's come fifth, fourth and fifth. So yeah, maybe what he should be doing is actually aiming for that podium rather than aiming for the win. But also, like i I really respect just shooting a shot in this case and just being like, no, I know I'm i'm good enough. I'm fast enough. I'm strong enough. I trained the right way. My head's in the right place. I've got everything dialed. Like, screw it. Let's go for it. Like, let's just not Yeah, not like he's in his...
00:10:17
Speaker
He's not in his 20s anymore, so it's not like he has unlimited shots left. So it makes sense to have a crack. And i I think also we're probably at a point where there will definitely be people that blow up in this, but everyone knows exactly what to do from a fueling perspective. Everyone knows exactly what to do from a hydration, from a cooling. They went out at sub-14 pace last year and he still finished fifth in 1436. Like if you shoot for first...
00:10:42
Speaker
and you slowly pull back, maybe you still get third. Like, I don't think it's going to be a shoot for first and end up out the top 10 for him. It might be a DNF, but it's I think it's unlikely to be a blow-up that's going to be just kind of frustrating. So I think, yeah, I love it. And I was just looking at his his times.
00:10:58
Speaker
Like, his slowest time was 15-22 in his debut, and then 14-32, 14-36. I think, like most people, I think it's going to take a sub-14 this year to win, and potentially even sub-13-50. But...
00:11:11
Speaker
yeah i i really respect that i'm also when someone has put that level of training and even if it is only for a few weeks i'm kind of like is he actually going to bother tapering for this is is this is this worth when you've had a when you when you've had a bill that's already been halted is it worth dropping down to get this stimulus or do you just maintain turn up on tired legs and probably know what are you're still going to win you can still get a stimulus off tired legs it's just whether it might be the difference between being five to ten minutes faster over 50k which i think doesn't actually matter for him it just matters to get the fast stimulus the hard stimulus so yeah i don't reckon he'll take that he's up at falls creek at the moment actually michael dunson i saw is up there with him um
00:11:58
Speaker
So he's doing some training at altitude um before heading up to the Blue Mountains, I guess. So, yeah, yeah he looks like he's still all guns blazing training-wise. um Don't imagine we get a big taper, but I think i don't think he tapered much last year and he's still he still sort of dominated. So, yeah, I think something would have to go awry, I think, for Dan to lose, but it is trail running and it is, yeah, who knows who knows what could happen. I think...
00:12:28
Speaker
I'd probably say last year
Key Competitors: Jose and Sage's Prospects
00:12:30
Speaker
he had more competition. Like he was running with, I'm just trying to remember the guy's name. Miguel Benitez. Miguel Benitez. Like he was running with Miguel all the way through to the Fairmont Resort.
00:12:43
Speaker
yeah where we were there and Miguel had to stop to fill up his bottles Dan didn't and that was where the gap came it still ended up being a 10 minute difference but I feel like maybe the same level as Miguel but maybe even slightly lower which is a bit ridiculous for some of the names we're about to say but yeah it it does feel like Dan could show up in the middle of training and still be in a pretty good stead here not taking anything away from the rest of the guys in this field. It's just that Dan Jones is Dan Jones.
00:13:11
Speaker
Definitely. Yeah, look, the next guy on the list is the one that like, if there was going to someone who could beat him, it has to be the person who has the most potential. um And therefore, it probably is the next guy on the list who I think has a similar UTMB ranking to Miguel. He's ah ah maybe even higher. His name is Jose Angel Fernandez Jimenez.
00:13:32
Speaker
um one of sims teammates i don't know she's probably she probably hasn't met him he runs for class fuga um he's an interesting one he has some incredible results um but he seems to be big hit and miss kind of guy so um he was fourth at the long trial world champs in 2021 so that's yeah pretty impressive back in and when it was in thailand um And then since then, he's performed relatively well in Spain, um including winning this same race every year. Pretty much this year, he won it again, 60K five hours, 15 beat Dakota Jones from the US. So a pretty impressive result. um But then he seems to DNF a lot of races as well. So I think he goes hard is my guess. um He seems to have DNF a lot of the races outside of Spain. He's been to Thailand a few times. um So, yeah, I think yeah he looks to be potentially a hit or miss kind of guy. um And therefore, I think he would be the one to go with Dan and yes he may hang on for a certain amount of time and still come through or he may blow up. Who knows? thats I know you're nothing about him apart from his results. So, yeah sorry. You listen to this and you're like, that's not fair. But like that's I'm just going off his results and that's just what the vibe I'm getting.
00:14:54
Speaker
Yeah, I come in the exact same boat. You look at 2024, race five times, one finish, 2023, DNF UTMB, but also there's some sort of lower index scores for for him. 2025, finish three, DNF'd four, like including the World Trail champs. So ah yeah, but it potentially comes down to racing style. Potentially he goes out hard and and tries to hold on. And if he doesn't, he he finishes. Maybe there's something else going on there.
00:15:22
Speaker
I think when you have Dan Jones going into an event, you know, it's going to go out fast, you know, it's going to be efficient, but also like we saw last year, there was a bit of a pack for the first probably 10k and then it sort of splintered into the the two guys at the front and then the rest of the field, but they weren't that far behind.
00:15:37
Speaker
So you can probably go with him and then pull back a little bit. That didn't seem to do too much damage to the rest of the field, but yeah. Yeah, on paper, Jose is definitely the one that has that potential. The other international that is pretty cool to see him over here, I don't think he's probably going to be quite there with Dan. Although having said that, he had a really good run for him at Black Canyon 100K this year, his Sage Canaday, which I'm just kind of cool to see Sage over here. For those that don't know, Sage was one of the best back in sort 2015, 2016. He had a pulmonary edema, which just ruined him for a few years. He's still trying to come back. In the same case, his house burned down, so the life stress was ridiculous. And it's taken him a while to start putting some good results on the board. He's had seventh Javelina 100 last year, which is a golden ticket race. And then he's had seventh again at Black Canyon 100k this year. Kind of the notable thing for this year is that he was coming, he was finishing really strong. And I think he finished in essentially the same time that he set in 2016, which back then was the course record. Now it's obviously quite a bit faster, but...
00:16:37
Speaker
I can imagine with everything he's been through to kind of got back to that shape
Analysis of Blake Turner and Sam Rao
00:16:40
Speaker
is quite a significant confidence boost. Yeah, and he was like 10 minutes off a golden ticket to Western States. So like he was a competitive race. Yeah.
00:16:50
Speaker
Yeah. So i think Sage is going to be a really really interesting one on the start list. The other other name that like he was... Very, very close last year. Sam Rao from New Zealand finished third, was only a few minutes back behind, I've forgotten his name already again.
00:17:08
Speaker
Miguel. Miguel, thank you. We should keep this one in in front of me. yeah like yeah a Eight minutes back, five minutes ahead of of Toby and six minutes ahead of Vlad. Not someone that we really said much about in the preview last year.
00:17:22
Speaker
So it's cool to see cool to see him him coming back. And he's had a third at Tauera 50k this year, which is a step up from what he did in 2025 where he finished eighth and hence why we probably didn't include him too much in the preview. But if he's able to do that same transition, then he's in pretty good form.
00:17:41
Speaker
Yeah, he definitely looks like he's in, like if you look at his his scores and his results, he's definitely improving over time. um Like at Tarawara this year, he was three minutes behind Charlie. So a pretty impressive um time there. And like you said, last year's UTA was quite good. um I was having a look at his Strava. He um missed a few weeks of training in April because he rolled his ankle. Mm-hmm.
00:18:06
Speaker
So, yeah, hopefully that doesn't affect him, but he seems to be back doing normal stuff, doing some heel repeats and that sort of stuff. So that's like big heel session with lots of vert. So, yeah, it's looking like hopefully that hasn't affected him too much. And, um yeah, I think we'll see a very similar...
00:18:22
Speaker
result from him, I reckon, like around the same ballpark. um So it'll be interesting to see how he faces off in the Oceana battle against the the all-star list of aus Australians. i think they'll be I think he'll be around them for sure. And I think... yeah Like depending on what happens with Jose, I've sort of not written off Sage, but I think maybe is maybe like a bit short for him potentially given he's getting on a bit. um sorry so he had us He had a second at Speedgoat 30K, which Speedgoat is typically a relatively competitive race. not Not so much the thirty k but... um I wouldn't write Sejrov. I don't think he's going to be pushing for first, but I think in the battle for third, i'm probably even actually second in this field. Like I don't think it's last year we felt like it was there was first, there was second, and then there was the rest. I think this year we have first and then the rest. Yeah. And then I think it's like first and then potentially Jose and then potentially not Jose. And then if not Jose, like literally anyone else could come second, I think. There's like 10 guys who could come second in my mind or 12. There's tons of guys that could come second.
00:19:29
Speaker
And sam is Sam is one of the leading contenders there. And I'm really looking forward to seeing how how he sort of races against um the Australian guys. And interestingly, like I don't know what happened with New Zealand selections last year or if he tried out for World Champs team, but like I feel like he's a sort of guy who...
00:19:45
Speaker
potentially could have been in a New Zealand team last year because, like again, racing there's the same sort of people racing like Vlad and Blake and that sort of thing who are racing this short trail distance. So, yeah, it's going to be nice to see another battle between them and and good to see who comes out on top in Oceana. Looking to the other non-Oceana athletes, we we have some other names in there. There's Hiroko Kai, who's going back to States as the FM10. There's Hajime Kasagai from Japan as well. Luke Cotter, who's a Brit living in New Zealand, fourth in Tawera. Anything you particularly want to pick out about those guys that you think is going to be a feature for this podium battle?
00:20:27
Speaker
like My guess is that... They could, but none of the other internationals will be in the top five is my guess. I think Sage is a chance and and so is Sam and um and and Jose, of course. But I think Luke, yeah, he might. But, um yeah, i'm I'm just thinking he's maybe not.
00:20:47
Speaker
like there's just too many guys I think that could could be there but he'll be in the mix um and then Hiroki Kai like crazy Caro like he just runs so much he looks like he's been dealing with some long-term back injury that's sort of giving him a bit of grief this year he DNSed at Mount Fuji 70k um I just yeah he has a marathon PB of 215 so he's probably one of the quickest in the field but um I just think yeah he doesn't look like he's – he hasn't had the greatest like season so far in terms of the races that he has done. So i' I'm not expecting him to be there. um But, yeah, they they're definitely worth noting because they they could be.
00:21:25
Speaker
Yeah, I think whenever we see a ah Japanese male or female on the start line, their development pathway for running, like running is such a big sport over there. And the thing is being a 215 is pretty like you're kind of a nobody in Japan. Like you're one of a few hundred, if not a thousand people that can run that time over there. Their density is just incredible. that you can always guarantee the japanese athletes are going to be really fast it's just yeah yeah how well is it has that does that translate and especially when they're coming over overseas but no i think um i agree with you i noticed with luke it looked like he'd been dealing with a bit of a hamstring
00:22:01
Speaker
thing going on there um but did have lots of time on the stair stepper um and but it also did a really fast essentially marathon on trails which is impressive in training but i whenever i see that now i'm kind of like i was like is that your race out without knowing any context to it but it was it was like a 250 with a thousand meters For me, I think the main reason I like comment on that for the international guys is like, I think this Australian men's field is like under like not underappreciated, but I think like it's I've heard people talk about the 50K and be like, oh, like obviously there's it's not quite as good as the 100K. Like we'll talk about the 100K is going to be really good. um
00:22:40
Speaker
And I think like with we're going to get to the women in a moment, but with like the superstar women coming over, i think the one that jumps out is Tate Herbst, who um he ran OCC last year. He came 33rd overall, thirty first male. One of those women that beat him was Meow and she beat him by four minutes. Yeah.
00:23:02
Speaker
So it it is like it's not like people saying that Meow could be in the top three are not wrong. She definitely could. But I also my guess is that Meow probably was going to be stronger on an OCC than Tate and Tate might be a bit better on home soil in Australia in the Blue Mountains.
International Competitors and Dark Horses
00:23:20
Speaker
So maybe there maybe it's the opposite in in the Blue Mountains, but if it was like on the same day. um So that would be that would be my one thing I'd be interested to to see. And I think, yeah, but he does give us a really good yardstick for how good Miao and the women's field will will feature in this overall fifty k race. Yeah.
00:23:41
Speaker
Well, speaking of Tate, my note literally just says, honestly, no clue. Yes. yeah i He's like a bit like Leo, but even worse because I yeah literally know nothing about where he's at.
00:23:53
Speaker
So you said, 31st male at OCC. He was first at COSY in 2024 doing the 50K. was first KMR in 25, 10th at UTA in 22 and 23. But yeah I have no idea what shape he's in. I have no idea like what he's been up to since OCC. is a really It makes it very hard for us. but like it makes it It's very interesting to see him on the start line and be like, we genuinely have no clue if he's going to be right at the front or if he's a bit off the pace at the moment.
00:24:23
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And I think yeah like if we contextualize a little bit the the OCC like 31st is like a really good result. um Blake was Blake Turner ran OCC the year before he came 30th. And again, that's very similar. And again, he got beaten by me by three minutes. So I've just pulled that up. So um yeah, the 30 31st or the 33rd overall at OCC is is a really good result. um So that's great.
00:24:52
Speaker
great But yeah, we haven't seen anything from him since then. there's not much There's nothing on Strava, not so much. I couldn't drag anything together on Instagram. So I really don't know what he's been up to.
00:25:04
Speaker
Yeah. No, I think that... and and And it's kind of fun having someone who's who's coming in completely dark and it has one heart like has the potential to be right at the front, as we just said. But Blake is one that I am very excited to see.
00:25:19
Speaker
Just saw him down at KMR, Blake Turner. yeah And he came second to Piotr, but that's like Piotr's home. And it was a very great battle. they all Top three went under the the course record. As you said, he's had really good performances at OCC. um He's had wins here before back in 2023 in the 50K.
00:25:39
Speaker
And everything that I've looked at with his training, everything looks to be really, really good. Yeah, like I wrote because in my notes. Oh, sorry, go on. No, I was just i was just going to say, like he has also spent a lot of time, particularly on the back 30K of this course. So he has that that that really good familiarity up here, which again, as we said, when you are pushing yourself right right to the limit because of how competitive this course is going to be, is super important.
00:26:04
Speaker
Yeah, that literally the same notes I made on bike. And I think particularly wrote there and i and hadn't even, I'd forgotten about his OCC result, which is also one of the best OCC results from Australia in the last like five to 10 years for sure. um He
Vlad's Unique Training Approach
00:26:20
Speaker
is a big race performer. He pulls it together when it matters. Second at World Skyrunning Champs in 2022.
00:26:28
Speaker
First at UTA 50 in 2023 against Charlie, pulled him through and pulled like caught up to him in the back end. Second at Asia Pacific Champs in 2024.
00:26:40
Speaker
The only one I haven't seen, it like he he probably i was expecting a better performance from him at World Champs last year, and I'm not exactly sure what happened on that day, but like he does... He does pull together really good performances on the races that matter.
00:26:53
Speaker
um yeah So, yeah, I think that that will be key. And he's good in the back half and looks like he's like you said, he's been training on the back half of the course. um I reckon he'll my guess is that he will play it smart and he probably won't get pulled into too much crazy racing and he'll take some souls in the in the back half.
00:27:12
Speaker
it's it's going to be an interesting dynamic again with Dan in the race of, and it's like we said in the 20K with who goes with Ben Duffers, assuming that he pushes the downhill is, yeah, who does go with Dan? Like how big is that pack? And, or how many people do what we probably both think Blake will do, which is hold back a little and make sure he's doing his thing properly so that he can come through. Cause it, it,
00:27:33
Speaker
it it it's also the opportunity where you're in a field like this, the race really matters. You've been training hard for this. You could have a breakout performance by just risking it a bit and going with Dan or trying to stay a lot closer than than maybe you would have normally and really put yourself out there, especially if you end up a few minutes behind Dan Jones, five minutes. It really does say something about your performance level.
00:27:57
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. Other names we've got in here coming back from yeah fourth last year. like um Toby, i don't know if he's going to be in quite the same shape as he was this time last year, but I also didn't think that he was going to be quite as good as he was when he hit um Buffalo and then into Diverge. I think the fact that he he just beat Piotr in the 25k Diverge because of the runnable section and moving really well, like that definitely bodes well.
00:28:24
Speaker
for toby sparse like and he's ah he's a very good runner like he's a he's strong he's a smooth mover we saw some really really impressive results from him like the second roller coaster just behind nath last year was was yeah ah i think showcase that he was a fast runner now as well um vlad and i'm trying to think about it's like when's the last race we saw vlad do um Yeah, compared to his normal. um I don't know if I doing yeah i i if i just missed something.
00:28:55
Speaker
yeah Just not listening to him. Yeah. yeah but He did Tarawera. Yeah, he did. but he He half to Tauera. um
00:29:07
Speaker
And he did the race up in Oman. But that was last year. Yeah, it's literally Tauera. Yeah, which is very out of character. It's like he was supposed to be doing Buffalo, but obviously didn't get on the, like he's spoken about, didn't get on the plane because he was sick and he didn't want it to get worse, which probably highlights to him, to me, that UTA was more important to him than Buffalo was.
00:29:32
Speaker
So he seems to have made it like a a smart call there. I don't think many people would have made that call. So yeah um like hard call to make but possibly the right one. He's been training like very hard um he's well we know he always runs consistent but he's been running consistently big weeks with a fair bit of vert as well um so yeah i think i don't know yeah like you said we don't have we don't have a lot to go off in recent form um but i think he should be as good as he was last year if not better i think And I think the question I have at the moment is that is the right build up for Vlad a bunch of races so that you kind of come into these events, none of them matter a crazy amount. It keeps him in his right spot.
00:30:19
Speaker
Or are we about to see that actually what Vlad needed was just a consistent training block that was uninterrupted apart from a small bout of sickness. He's been training up changing up his training with the double thresholds now. He learned after Tarawara that you can't do everything on a treadmill like he needed to get that vert, that's specifically the downhills in his legs, which is obviously going to be very important for for this. i'm I'm really interested to see if less racing is good for him or if it actually is a negative for him just because of the athlete that he is.
00:30:47
Speaker
Yeah, it'll be very interesting to see how that goes. um But yeah, I think he'll definitely be competitive. And yeah, if I had to compare him to the other guys, he'd be one of the ones that i'm I'm going to be watching for sure. Yeah, definitely. Anyone else in the men's that you what i want to touch on?
00:31:07
Speaker
Oh, yeah. So the last Aussie I had, so there was four of them, and the last Aussie had um was Benson Lawrence, who has popped up on the 50K list. um Ben is, has he dropped off? No,
Top Contenders in the Women's Field
00:31:20
Speaker
he's still on the list. um hey He's like an absolute legend of Aussie running, um and he's dabbled in trail running for a few years. I've always sort of waited for him to like go...
00:31:32
Speaker
like all in on trail running and sort of like be try and be as competitive as possible. But he sort of just seems to do like what he wants to do and like enjoy it. So he doesn't seem to have like the, the like, obviously he's ticked a lot of boxes in his career and he doesn't, it doesn't look like he feels the need to keep doing that. And he's just does the things that he likes doing. Like he seems to jump in one or two a year, um which is pretty cool. um But he's, he still looks like he's in incredible shape. He,
00:32:00
Speaker
Like in trail running, he was first in UTA in fifty that the 50th year in 2022. That was the modified course, um which probably has suited him quite well because it was probably a bit more runnable. um yeah More recently, 2024, he was first at Hounslow 17K in a really fast time.
00:32:18
Speaker
um and he was second to Tate in the 50K at UTK in 2024. I actually don't know how his time compares at Hounslow to Charlie. It must be, did Charlie break his record? I think he had the record. I'm not exactly sure.
00:32:34
Speaker
I'll have a look. He'll keep going and i'll get him up. um recently Even more recently than that, so like the most common, he had that have like this narrow neck night run, which is a pretty runnable because it's like mostly fire roads, but like he ran a really fast time on that. um And I think he rolled his ankle, so he ran like a bunch of it on a rolled ankle. And like then most recently, like in April, he ran the clifftop race that we spoke about that Lou Clifton pop put on. And like that's across the top of the cliffs. That's about as specific as you can get for...
00:33:06
Speaker
the first half of the 50 K is just running at the other direction. Um, and he ran super fast. So on a less runnable section, he was still very quick. So, um yeah, I'm excited to see what Ben can do. We haven't seen him at UTA, I think since 2022. So, um, he's usually there cause he lives in the blue mountains. He sort of has athletes running and he's around the course, but, um, yeah, I'm very excited to see him back running at UTA.
00:33:36
Speaker
Yeah, he was he got his course record broken at Hounslow by Charlie by two minutes, but that still put him a minute and a half ahead of Leo, who was second to Charlie last year. So yeah very competitive time. I know he's been doing a lot of running with Tim Locke, who did our course preview for us last year. So he's been out there.
00:33:54
Speaker
on the trails doing his running i'm sure he does a lot of that regardless of what he's training for but i think that ben st louis is probably the best outright athlete in this field obviously like even even like his his credentials on the road and the track from uh beyond what dan jones ever achieved or had achieved so i think it's just that yeah it would be amazing to see ben sort of make a bit more of a concerted effort but actually maybe just choosing the events he really wants to do when he feels good is actually when we're going to see him do his best And he is, yeah I don't know his exact age. i know he's in the UGMBs in the 45 to 49 age category. So it's also quite impressive that we're talking about this level of athlete in his mid to late 40s.
00:34:33
Speaker
Yeah, he's still's still putting out some incredible incredible running. And I guess that's like, I think like a few years ago, i was like, well, what if he tried to go international with his stuff? And I think he could have been like quite competitive. um But obviously, like he'd he sort of done that with his...
00:34:49
Speaker
his running career and yeah he didn't need to do it with the trail running, but he's obviously still such a such a strong runner. And um yeah, I don't think he'll be first, but I think yeah he's definitely a contender for third or even second.
00:35:03
Speaker
So nice. Only other mentions I've got, so I won't go through the the full things, but you've got Jack Harris from New Zealand. He was ah at Worlds last year and sixth at Tauero last year as well in the 50k. guy called Marcus Valero, also from New Zealand, who's fifth at the 21k in Tauero this year, so could be a surprise. I'll have some wheels to him. And Thomas Suvatra, who's French, i think he lives over here.
00:35:27
Speaker
He was eight at the eighth and the UTA last year and seventh at Buffalo Marathon, which was a pretty pretty good field last year. So a few names that definitely could could could come through, could have stepped up from their previous performances. But I think we've kind of really touched on the key contenders, both international and and Australia and New Zealand that we're expecting to get. Yeah. Right. Yeah.
00:35:51
Speaker
Women's field. Yeah. we thought that was We thought that was long. Yeah. Yeah. it um we we could spend We could spend double the time talking about all the women, but maybe we'll try to we'll try to focus our time. Yeah. We'll do our best. is Yes. The the first thing we've already spoken about, Miawiao.
00:36:09
Speaker
She's recently signed with ACG, which I think is really interesting. That took her over to Gorge Waterfalls for the 50K. She rolled her ankle there, but still finished in second. um First at OCC 2025 and She was third She won CCC in Like she is objectively one of probably the top five to eight female trail runners in the world right now, especially at this distance. Like she, she, she very rarely misses from a performance level at this distance, even if we saw with Gorge.
00:36:43
Speaker
I know she was a relatively late entry into the race, but and and potentially the fact that Ruth was in there and you have the likes of Veronica Lang and Alison Barker that might have helped sway her into like, oh, this is going to be a good good race to to jump into not just soloing off the front. But I do think that Miao at this 50k distance almost unbeatable, I would say. yeah like she's gonna be like you said we she was first at OCC two years in a row um she's got like endless number of races to talk about um so we've seen her in the golden trail series we've seen her in the 50k races we've she has a history of running the longer races um
00:37:28
Speaker
Yeah, she's she's going to be such a good person to watch. Like second at Gorge Waterfalls, um but that was behind Jen Lichter, who is arguably the best in the world at the moment for that distance. say um And she was only two minutes behind her.
00:37:47
Speaker
ah three minutes behind her. So, um yeah, definitely going to be, I think I've written here top five contender. ah i'm I'm not convinced she'll be in the top three, but she could. She definitely could be. I think she'll be a ah true contender for the top five though. um So, yeah, mostly because I think the men's film might blow itself to bits a little bit um and she's as good as the men who will blow themselves to bits. Yeah.
00:38:14
Speaker
Yes. No, I think she'll run a bit more sensibly. She will. and And Sim has spent time staying with her and and she's she's not someone who's going to lack any strength or durability. Let's put it that way. Like she's she will be able to hold onto a fast clip for a very long time.
00:38:32
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. And if I said Dan was head and shoulders above the rest of the field, I think maybe she's still head above. It'd be unfair to the rest of the women's field, I think, to say she's she's both because there is some other incredible runners, but she's probably most specialised to this distance of the of the people. And you mentioned Veronica before. She's actually, unfortunately, dropped off the start list. Oh, okay. Yeah. She's potentially not running any longer. um But even, yeah, there are the others, I think there's so some people that could, I don't think they directly match it with Meow, but they're not going to be like super far behind.
00:39:06
Speaker
Yeah, that's a shame. i was excited. Yeah, I think Veronica was maybe the one that was the closest yeah likely, I think, in in my mind. But yeah, so so probably next up is Ruth Croft from New Zealand, um probably very well known to... our listeners uh superstar probably long at the longer distances though probably not the 50k um first at utmb last year first tower this year um she was 10th outright in tower this year which was golden ticket race so it was it was very competitive so um yeah she's had some some like a fantastic last 12 months um I'm not sure exactly what she's training for this year. i assume back to UTMB, but I don't actually know that for sure. um
00:39:54
Speaker
It'll be interesting to see how she she handles the 50K. But um I would imagine she'll still be able to do it very well.
Demi Caldwell's Breakout Potential
00:40:00
Speaker
um And like by the look of her Instagram, she's been training really well. So she doesn't have anything on Strava, but like she seems to be doing a lot of... Hills and awesome mountain stuff in New Zealand. So um it looks to me like she's building towards a mountain race later in the year. Yeah, I think that it's easy easy to forget now because she's done so much long trail stuff that Ruth is a past OCC champion. she think she might have been top three in the Golden Trail series one year, I think the COVID year maybe. like she she She does have the wheels, but I think but especially knowing that the way that Evoke Endurance train with Scott Johnson, like it is very much that 100 miles specific
00:40:42
Speaker
work and when you are going up against someone like meow i i do think that's probably going to prove to be a bit of ah a constraint for her like she's going to be incredibly strong but is she still fast enough does she still have that same speed to be able to to to hold on to meow or is she she by if she tries to is she just too close to her limit at that point Yeah, like maybe I'm underselling it because we've seen her run much longer stuff.
00:41:08
Speaker
um So, yeah, maybe she will be closer to Meow than I expect. But, um yeah, i'm I'm definitely excited to see how she she goes in the 50K. And it's great have Ruth come across. Like she's probably like hard to compare her and her and probably Lucy and even Caitlin, I guess. But like she's probably the the the biggest Oceana athlete um and it's awesome to have her at UTA.
00:41:33
Speaker
Yeah. I think that Ruth is out of the Oceania level athletes. She's won UTMB, so she has to be, I guess. She maybe probably doesn't have the same like reach and awareness as someone like Lucy does, just from a long-term perspective. But but winning UTMB, she's held up in in in an echelon of long-trail athletes that there's only a few people. And they include names like Katie Scheid and Courtney DeWalter.
00:42:00
Speaker
yeah I think that, I think like to me, it is a case of meow is out the front. Ruth is in second, even when Veronica was in the field and I had noted that she raced a 50 K on May 2nd, which as we record is four days ago. So I did think that that might be a ah question mark.
00:42:16
Speaker
I still think Ruth is, is, not necessarily the clear second, but would probably be coming in second. The next name though, that could be right there with Ruth from the US, Alison Bakker, who she has just DNF'd, well, guess back in February, Black Canyon 50K, but 23rd at the Long Trail Champs last year. ten Unfortunately, she's also not on the list any longer.
00:42:38
Speaker
This is this is what I knew there was more. I knew there was more international race runners. And then I looked at it because I did my prep this morning compared to James who did his a few days ago. And I i was like, who's missing? um Now you said that because I even looked at Alison back when I was comparing results for someone else. um And i know I was like, that name seems familiar. But yes, she's unfortunately also not on the list.
00:43:00
Speaker
Okay, I'm just looking at other names now to make sure don't stop talking about people that aren't even relevant. I'm rattling you. I'll throw out the next one I had if you want. So I had, yeah, the next sort of probably overseas...
00:43:15
Speaker
ah runner or maybe someone we're less familiar with because I think maybe she's now living in Australia is Jemima Cooper. She was second at the Tarawar 50 behind Robin Lesh, who's an incredible runner herself. um And to put it into context, she was one minute behind Zach Newsham, who we were talking about before. So um definitely like a yeah and a really good run there. I'm not sure exactly what place that was. I think it was around 10th or maybe just outside the top 10 that we know Tarawar exactly 12. 12 yes so i guess that's 13th um so yeah so she she definitely has had a very good run there tower 50 very competitive race um she was first uh woman and second out right at newt noosa ultra trail hinterland traverse 80 kilometers um actually
00:44:07
Speaker
Yeah, I was like, what is, i think the hinterland traverse is the 80k, but I was mostly, i mostly noted that down because it was, um yeah, 80k, 1750 meters of climb, seven hours, which I thought was moving. Fast, um yeah.
00:44:24
Speaker
So, Yeah, no other results from I can tell from ITRA and UTMB, but she seems to have some history with running, maybe more fell running and stuff in the UK. So I did a bit of deep dive. She's someone that put ah she's got a lot on her her on her Instagram. So she's an ex ballet dancer.
00:44:41
Speaker
Sounded like a probably a professional dancer. She then moved into tries for a bit, but then had three years of illnesses and injuries and had like yeah a three-year break from stepping up to any start line. It looks like she's from the UK. She has kind of always had an element of her training has been in the hills. She's not necessarily a tri runner, but has been running on the fells, running on the trails. And then only in the last two to three years has sort of been exploring the trails with a bit more seriousness. so Yeah. yeah she she was one of those names where seven hours at noosa is is move is moving more so the second tower because it was also pretty bad condition something we actually haven't mentioned in the 20k is that at the moment the forecast is rain um it's obviously it's a long range we're recording this wednesday of may so it's it is long range but she clearly didn't let those conditions and tower this year get the better of her so I'm, it's going to be a really interesting one. And and I think she's she she came over here for for study or for a master's sort of thing. So she is based in Australia at the moment.
00:45:42
Speaker
yeah yeah yeah so yeah it'd be interesting she goes on i mentioned one more overseas runner that i picked out before we sort of i guess we move on to the australians or those who who live in australia um uh was hannah wall from new zealand um she was fourth at tara we're 50 so that same race um and she was also six in that packed cosi 50k race last year and six that uta 50 last year so She's definitely, yeah, one to mention. um but one
00:46:14
Speaker
For me, I would say Alison Wilson, who's another UK based, a UK runner based in New Zealand. She was second last year. she like Demi was catching, but she ah she finished up a minute ahead of Demi and only four minutes behind Caitlin. So we've got, with the exception of Caitlin, we've got Alison coming back, Demi coming back, Hannah coming back, and that's sort of four out of the top six. i'm going to give you a, unfortunately, you've got three. She's also dropped.
00:46:42
Speaker
I quit. was like, how did I miss second from last year? What am I doing? I'm sorry, guys. Imagine, like I'm still looking at this list going, this list is like crazy. And we've already talked about three of the top, maybe six to eight people that we were talking about have have dropped. So like, yeah, imagine if they were running, it would have been even yeah more intense. But yes, unfortunately, she's not running.
00:47:07
Speaker
That's a As by the list. If we call the list is the is the truth. I think they sit given that people are dropping and moving from race to race, I think it's probably when people message in to say, hey, I've got to stop. But it sort of does...
00:47:21
Speaker
show that I guess even some of the stuff we're saying today might change by the time it comes to race because then we might see some others drop. Not be able to make the start line, yeah. Yeah, but hopefully not.
00:47:32
Speaker
Hopefully we've seen most of the people. I feel like two weeks is the time where you call it or don't call it. I'm just double checking. I think I've got everyone right now. Yeah, okay. Well, there's no one else I remember, but yes, that i remember. I do remember a few of the internationals dropping, but yeah, that would probably be the ones that you've thankfully highlighted. Hopefully, they'll be back next year. Yeah, I've just wasted everyone's time highlighting. But it does like okay yeah it it it does weaken the international component of this field. But as we were saying before, the Australian and New Zealand component is still pretty incredible for this race. As I said, and did get correct, we do have Demi coming back, who was third last year. yes
00:48:16
Speaker
and i The way you paused then, I was like, oh, don't tell me I've missed that as well. No, no, no. I think she's running, hopefully. yeah so yeah we demi last year she was closing in on us and only a few minutes back off caitlin we saw her what a month ago run a 243 at canberra um didn't look like necessarily like specific marathon training which did allow her to then get back into things pretty quickly so i do have the concern that a road marathon is still a road marathon no matter how you go about it and 243 is very fast um
00:48:49
Speaker
very fast um so Is that going to be a detriment to her race? They've also just gone up and done the Hamilton Island half marathon. it's There's a lot going on in in the four weeks or five weeks before a big event, but Demi has been on heater. Her run at Snowy's this year was very, very impressive to take the win there. and She was i had that really good third at Cosi behind Lucy and Andrea.
00:49:17
Speaker
So I think that to me, assuming Demi is coming in, fighting fit, healthy, ready to go, Canberra isn't going to be an issue for her legs. I'm i'm thinking like she's she's in a position where we could really see her take another step up at this year's UTA.
00:49:32
Speaker
Yeah, like having look at the Hamilton Island hilly half, it doesn't hurt too mouth and at least it doesn't seem to have affected her there. Well, like she was quick though. She's done the fastest time on the new 24K course. Like it used to be 20, a bit shorter. um okay Like on the same course that Lucy did when she was the ambassador. i don't Again, i think I don't think Lucy was racing, but she was like 15 to 20 minutes faster than Lucy. So she's still moving. It doesn't look like the Canberra.
Predictions for Top Finishers
00:50:00
Speaker
races like negatively affected her too much because you would think that like a hilly hard run in some humidity would yeah maybe be found out if you were carrying some fatigue hopefully that fatigue doesn't then pop up at UTA but like it looks to me that she's bounced back pretty well yeah like The way i think about it, I've mentioned this in the diverge preview for a couple of the guys that were doubling back and had hit the training pretty hard immediately, is just that and ah and in that sort of distance race at Hamilton where she's not going like Demi was but third overall or second overall. can't remember if she's just ahead or just behind Phil Gore, but
00:50:40
Speaker
she's not going to have to access that final gear. The point where you really have to dig and start pushing. And that's the thing that I think people miss when they have something a bit too close that they've, yeah that they have pushed for it. And I'm not saying that.
00:50:52
Speaker
Did you have to do that in a 50 K? I think when the 50 K ends the way this one does. Yes. Yeah. In the last 10, 10 K. Yeah. Yeah, I think if it was a different race, um potentially potentially not, even if, say we're talking Buffalo Stampede, the ends of the downhill, still a long climb, but you you're kind of, yeah, that last ski is used in a different way. But everything would sort of look like that's not going to be the case with Demi, but that's sort of my only caveat to her because otherwise she's had an incredible last 12 months. When I think back to when we did the preview last year, we were definitely mentioning her. We thought she'd have a good day. We we said that she could have a bit of a breakthrough performance, which she did.
00:51:28
Speaker
But now think about what she's done in this last 12 months and the level of athlete she is right now. It's yes talking to UTA 50 was the breakthrough. I think we were yeah she was like she was like a a contender for the top five maybe, but we were expecting her in fifth or tenth. And then she, yeah, she was... strong into third and not far off second so yeah i think she that it was definitely a breakthrough she obviously ran so well there last year you'd go with in with a lot of confidence i think um even with a field like this like her confidence would have to be building so um yeah i'm excited to see what she can do moving on kate avery breddy you're probably a but bit more bit closer to kate catching up more recently how how is she feeling going into this
00:52:13
Speaker
Yeah, like I think she's continuing her ongoing comeback, I guess, um from having a baby last year. um So i see like in my I can only see her getting better and better, especially over these longer distances. um I haven't been training with her, obviously, but I've been catching up with her and and everything seems to be going quite smoothly. So, um yeah, ah she hasn't had any any issues pop up and therefore I would expect her sort of to continue on the same trajectory. um So, yeah, so she was first at Buffalo, um first at Cosi 30 last year. ah Her Buffalo run seemed like a pretty good race for a course that maybe didn't completely suit her. I think maybe UTA suits a little bit better.
00:52:56
Speaker
um She was first at UTA in 2024. twenty twenty four Yeah. Yeah. So like she's run she's run pretty much this exact course or very similar to this course before. um And I think she ran like 445 or something. So like she's done a done a great time on it as well. So.
00:53:14
Speaker
Yeah, I think yeah she will she will definitely be a strong contender. I think maybe the technical clifftop stuff, the more um some of the most harder, and short downhills, that sort of stuff like she just hasn't been back on the trails for as as long um because she spent a lot of time off the trails through her pregnancy. Like she's still running, but like the technical stuff is probably the trickiest stuff for her. And so therefore, maybe the first Half will be hard. But, um yeah, I think i think she she'll be a very strong contender. I don't know exactly where she'll sit in this these Australian women, let alone all the other women. um
00:53:52
Speaker
But, yeah, I wouldn't not bet on her. I think with this course and the way the cliff tops run, the people that are less comfortable on single track, on technical, on on the sort of up, down, punchy stuff, but where you really have to keep the foot down, you don't get a chance to to ease back. i I do question how much that sort of 15K section is going to take out of a few people, and Kate kind of being one of them. But then Buffalo, she was planning on doing a 20K and stepped up pretty last minute from what I can gather. She also took the recovery pretty seriously afterwards. And
00:54:24
Speaker
ah correct me if I'm wrong but had to had a week off and and really set herself up for success for UTA rather than trying to rush herself back into it so like definitely the one thing that you know with Kate is that she's gonna be there to race and to put herself in it she's a competitor she knows how to race she's a competitor but shes she has like if you look back to her history probably probably one of the the densest racing scorecards across so many different disciplines from track road cross country into trails like
00:54:54
Speaker
she's going to show up and she's going to give us everything to it and which is it's hard you can imagine it's hard to do especially when you are coming back and you're going into a field like this yeah and knowing that you are a past champion as well she she has 100 the capacity to be right up there um it will be really interesting to see how it all comes together for her and one thing one thing she does well that i think um i don't see heaps of other trail athletes doing as much as she does a she does sessions on on trail to sort of work on her ability to go fast over trails and it's not even something i do like i'll do my sessions off trails and it's probably maybe it's because i feel a bit more comfortable just sort of speeding up when i get on a trail but she's she's probably i think she's identified that that is one of her weaknesses or things she can strengthen and she does like she'll do
00:55:47
Speaker
maybe weekly, probably fortnightly, um a session on trail where she's trying to just like a normal standard running session, but she's doing it on sort of single tracks or trails to sort of get that specific stimulus. And I think that's something that probably a lot more of us could do better. um So that there's probably one thing I think she does do well.
00:56:08
Speaker
And I think it's it's one of those things where you not only do you get the specific stimulus of running fast on single track is hard. Like there's a real strength component to it. there's a real skill component to that. And if you're never doing it, like if you're never doing, if you go and do minute on, minute off along your local single track,
00:56:25
Speaker
Like it's hard. It's really hard. And you also have to be so more attentive. It's more hard from a skill point of view than an effort point of view. Sometimes it is, but then also you have to get on the flat, on the road, on the track.
00:56:39
Speaker
We can rely on our watch. We can rely on our perception of how our legs are moving, but you move on to the trails and everything is so effort based. Like if you want to, if you're a road runner and you're struggling with effort perception and races, go and do some sessions on some undulating trails, like not single track, but like some dirt roads, where you have to throw out the watch, you have to re-listen to the body, you have to deal with little spikes and lactate levels. like It is an incredible way to get very fit and very strong and very in tune with your body. And you're right, I think it's something that is underutilized. We see a lot of people doing the steady state climbs, but over that rolling terrain, specifically on so some some some single tracks, once you've built up the capacity.
00:57:15
Speaker
And if Kate is doing that, then I think that will really work in her favor. Yeah, yeah, yeah. So I think, yeah, I better not sell us short on the technical stuff. But yeah, I think it's hard. I don't think we've seen her run in a field like this ah for even a few years. Like if you look at her UTMB profile, um she's won every race since she came second at Tarawa 50 2024, apart from a DNF at OCC.
00:57:44
Speaker
So she's she's literally just all firsts. So like we haven't seen her probably run in a race this competitive yet. So I'm interested to see where she comes out and I think she's excited to see where she comes out.
00:57:58
Speaker
Did she win two bays last year? I know she was pregnant. Yeah, I'm not sure. That one's not on UTMB. So that's not every race because obviously she came fourth at Donna Double. um Yeah. So it's not every race. I was completely breaking your your thing there. I don't know. I've never seen it on someone's UTMB profile though. It's just like, first, first, first, first.
00:58:18
Speaker
it is really It is really quite incredible. And it like I think it really makes the point of quite how high class Kate is. And you look at some of the times that she's run on the courses that we're familiar with, and it's like it's very impressive. So yeah, I think kate's Kate's going to be really interesting one on this field, as is Demi.
00:58:38
Speaker
I think a couple names that are definitely worth mentioning. so Holly Ranson is going to be up. I know that obviously Western States is her focus for this one. So she is most likely going to be coming into this with like some training in her legs and and not putting that full focus into it. But then having said that, that's sort of how it looked like she went into five peaks and she ran a course record there.
00:58:58
Speaker
at the start of April. So I think that, yeah, Holly is clearly in really good shape. She's had a big change of kind of life setup. They've moved to Adelaide. She's able to train a bit more, recover a bit better.
00:59:09
Speaker
See how that translates. You've got Sarah Leavitt who, Again, a local, we've seen her in the 22K here twice. I'm excited to see her stepping up into the 50K. She has experience at this distance. Like she won Mount Solitary Ultra, which is, yes, it's less distance, but time-wise it's definitely more. And she was second at RollerCoaster 46K last year. So it kind of has that familiarity. I do think this might be her longest distance race being a 50K, but probably not in duration. So I don't think that she'll have...
00:59:42
Speaker
too much of an issue and again just as she she runs with uh henry hugman quite a bit and a lot of time spent on the course being local it's easy but that course course knowledge i really do i do rate it yeah definitely definitely other name that again it's going to be a little bit of a curiosity i'm just going to double check she's definitely on the start list still she is because i was going to say i've got a couple more on my list yeah So Sophie Lynn, who we mentioned on the podcast last year, she came third at Desert Rats 50K. She was a way back ah from from first in that race, but she then raced recently a small one called the Sea Otter 17K. She was first, but what was more impressive was how well she was moving over those trails. I think she might also train with Riley Brady, who they are one of the best competitors in the female field. they're they're back in western states this year they just came i think it was third i want to say at canyons yeah so someone that's yeah that they definitely got a golden ticket i had it last year sophie is also ex-olympian from triathlete yeah so like we're talking about led with it and that's recent as well like it's not like ah she's a triathlete like eight years ago she was at the olympics in 2024
01:01:00
Speaker
You've got you you want to finish with the highlight. Lead it in. Build it up. My point being, like we're talking about somebody who is somebody who is used to being right at the pinnacle of performance.
01:01:11
Speaker
We know that they're going to be coming in dialed, especially if they've been training with high-level trail athletes over in Boulder. where it looks like Sophie is is from. It looks like maybe this is timed nicely with a wedding she was over here for. So it's complete dark horse in the sense that we've owned we've never seen her race in Australia. we've i've only I can only find two trail running results for her.
01:01:33
Speaker
But if she's coming in with the performance that allows you to become an Olympic level triathlete, she could very well feature. Yeah, it'll be interesting to see because like she like on her profile and Instagram profile, it says like ex ex triathlete or like something like retired triathlete or something like that. But she's still got like ASICS athlete. So like yeah I'm like, is she is she like transitioning? Is she going to have a crack at trails or is she just like doing it? Because she's like, like you said, she's here for a wedding. So it'd be interesting to she might be someone great to have onto the podcast and like Yeah, here, like what she's up to, like, because like if she's having she's sort of moving into the trail space, that's super cool to see. And like, like she's an Australian, like she lives in the US, but she's in it looks like she lives in the US. But like, yeah, yeah. Thinking about like getting her on a national team in the future, like it it could be like very cool to see some of that. And it's like an
01:02:23
Speaker
a different pathway like we're seeing we think about road runners coming across and like it's cool we do have triathletes many triathletes that have come across in the past so um nearly more i would say so it's cool to sort of see see that if she is sort of thinking of having a having a real crack um and i saw when she was back in australia in so over summer she did the full sort of Eurobilla trail, um which is 56k. So she's she's done the distance. So I'm assuming she'll be all right for the 50. Obviously, triathlon's a bit shorter running. um But yeah, because I think she did Olympic distance mostly. But um yeah, we'll see.
01:03:02
Speaker
She may have done longer stuff as well. Triathlete people might call me out. desert it rats was 50k as well and and the i was at the lobby yeah the last try pretty sure it was fifth k as well i think she did four hours so that would yeah make sense And the last triathlete on the female side that we've seen transition, definitely not at that same level. I mean, no disrespect Demi, but is Demi Caldwell that sort of 2025 was her, well, 24 to 25 was her transition year. And we've seen how well that has translated. So if Sophie is interested, like you think of somebody probably at a similar level was Heather Jackson, who granted came from Ironman.
01:03:36
Speaker
across to the trails but she came across with a bang she's current well the last of my check currently running second at cocodona um that's kind of really gone from zero to 100 or 250. yeah um but i think that so sophie it's exciting in the sport exciting to see somebody just showing a bit of bit of interest in trail coming from such a high level and in and another sport and yeah maybe it's a ah a transition maybe it's just just a bit of fun but it will be very cool to see how she can put it together at UTA yeah definitely do you have had
01:04:08
Speaker
I just have one last person, which was Lydia O'Donnell, um who was second at Tarawira 21K earlier this year. Hasn't done like a heap of trail, but she's ah like quite an accomplished road track runner from New Zealand living in Australia for I think some time. She trains with Beth McKenzie quite a bit, so i think she's up in up in Noosa. um But yeah, i yeah she she was second, which was...
01:04:32
Speaker
behind i can't remember who that was but yeah she was just in front of katinka i think or a bit a bit in front of katinka maybe so yeah a strong run at tara we're also yeah it'd be cool to see how she goes over the 50. yeah definitely all right that's everyone i had as well on my list Yeah. And look, yeah we't I don't want to say that that there's so many more women there well. So I'm sorry to anyone who we didn't didn't mention, but we could have literally gone for three hours.
01:05:00
Speaker
Yeah. yeah it was we wait We had a ah conversation, Brody and I, have being like, we have to be concise with our list because we can talk for half an hour about three people. So we can't talk about 30. I would encourage people to check out the UTA page and have a look at all the awesome women and and other elite runners as well that are up there because it's, yeah, it's so cool to see and and give them some love.
01:05:21
Speaker
Yeah. ah And the yeah the depth is incredible. There's so many internationals, whether they're living here or or coming across for it. It's, ah yeah, in in both the men's and the women's fields. It's just, it's so cool to see. And I do appreciate how UTA obviously it's is in their interest, but they do highlight the ah the indexes and everything for us. It's, yeah.
01:05:41
Speaker
It's very much appreciated. um All right, Brodie, you went first for the men's last time. So I'm going to go first this time, but I'm not actually sure if i want to do that. I'm not really sure. i tried to think about this ahead of time and I and i really couldn't. And the the women's one has just been thrown out of the window for me. So men's field, I...
01:06:01
Speaker
Dan Jones to win. I feel pretty pretty confident in that one. I'm really beating him up now. um I feel like it's a pretty safe one. I think that second, it's it's a really interesting one because you're right, Jose on paper, if he can finish, should probably be a tier above the rest of the field. um I'm going to say that this is a a relatively low stakes race for him. even though he hasn't performed overseas, that he's able to put it together. So I am going to put Jose in second.
01:06:34
Speaker
and Coming in third, think something that you said about Blake Turner really stands out, that he' is a he's a big occasion runner. He gets it done when it matters, and I'm going to put him in third.
01:06:47
Speaker
Should we do to five for the 50? Yeah. My spreadsheet's only got three shot three slots. um we We can do five. Give me give me a sec. ah I've got to add a couple of rows then. feel like the men's and women's, there's there's five for the prize money.
01:07:04
Speaker
We don't have to do five for the hundred and miler unless we feel like we will Yeah, it's... Yeah. All right. Okay. Then in that case, I will add... ah Sorry, let me come back. That's my notes. Then if we're going to go five deep, I think I will put... but I'm actually going to put Sage in fourth.
01:07:22
Speaker
And then I'm going to put Vlad in fifth. right. Sick. Okay, cool. I'm going to go dan Jose, same start. um Then I'm going to go...
01:07:36
Speaker
Oh, it's hard. It's really hard. um I'm going to go Benson Lawrence. Oh, i forgot about Ben. It's not my list. And then, look, i really undersold Toby Sparks at ah Diverge. So I've sort of got to, you know what, I'll put him i put him here. I'm going to go Toby Sparks fourth and Blake Turner fifth.
01:07:59
Speaker
Okay. can i Can I change my pick because forgot about Ben St. Lawrence? ah Only if you don't put him in third. No, you can. you can um No, i i i would go Dan Jose, Ben Blake Sage.
01:08:15
Speaker
I feel really bad for for doing that to Vlad.
01:08:19
Speaker
Vlad was my sixth, but i was at a him and Toby, i like to be honest, it could be anyone, but like I feel like I feel like I undersold Toby on diverge, so I've got to give him give him some kudos here.
01:08:32
Speaker
Yeah, I like it. All right, take us for the women's. All right, I'm going to go yeah and then Ruth and then... Sheesh. I'm going to go Sophie, Lynn, Kate.
01:08:53
Speaker
the ah Demi. cool Okay. All right. So I have got Meow, Ruth, Demi, Sophie, Kate.
01:09:05
Speaker
Okay. Yeah. kind ah and It's, i I, we said this a few times and it's really just cause I just, I do get a little bit giddy when I see this level of competition. Like it is just so cool. Like it's so hard to pick between, between these um that it's very cool to see. i wish everyone luck. I really want to be disproven by some people, but I also want to be proven by others and I want to be Brody. So it's very important that I win. Where did you put Kate?
01:09:34
Speaker
uh fifth oh good i was like i can't i can't have you put kate ahead of me otherwise she won't be happy no i i think that sophie potentially is coming in with the performance that could let's say be third um but i'm just going to go with the demi hasn't had an is is in what the form we've we've seen her in and that i think we're going to see something pretty pretty special from demi Yeah, yeah, no, fair, fair. I think it, yeah, like I said, it could be anyone to be fair. yeah Awesome. All right. Well, thanks everyone for listening. If you, yeah, we'd love to hear your picks as well. Please drop them in the comments. um show Tell us who your um who you're sort of rooting for either on Instagram, Spotify, wherever you want. um We'd love to Patreon. We'd love to hear from you about what what you think. um
01:10:21
Speaker
Yeah, because this is really fun talking about it. So yeah, give us your pick. Cool. Thank very much, everyone. We'll see you the next one.