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Triple Wins, VK Lessons & Aussie Team Selection News Feat. Iain Best | Episode 87
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In this episode of Peak Pursuits, James and Sim catch up with uphill specialist Iain Best, fresh off a dominant five-week streak of wins across Four Peaks, GSER, and the Buller Skyrun. Iain breaks down his European VK block, the brutal Fully course, racing tactics, and how back-to-back domestic races became a “victory tour” of fitness.
The team also dives into major national news: automatic selection for Australia’s Asia-Pacific Trail Running Championships, plus the return of the Golden Trail National Series with a single-race championship at Donna Double. Sim gives a raw and insightful update on her recovery from POTS, navigating a strict return-to-run protocol and sprint-based rehab.
Packed with race results, athlete updates, and big-picture implications for Australian trail running, this is a must-listen for anyone tracking the sport’s fastest movers heading into 2026.
Results:
Afterglow Twilight Half Marathon
***Don’t forget, use code PEAK at https://bix-hydration.myshopify.com/en-au for 20% off Bix products, exclusive to PPP listeners!***
Thanks for tuning in to Peak Pursuits!
Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod to share your thoughts, questions, and your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
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Transcript
00:00:07
Speaker
Hello and welcome to episode 87 the People's Shoots podcast. My name is Jamie Sieber. This week I'm joined by Sim. Sim, how are doing today Yeah, busy. It actually feels really nice to say for once because it's been a while since I've been busy and I'm not sure if it's a good thing or a bad thing. I may pay for it, but hey, we're here. I'd say you look a lot more like alive and sprightly than the last time we did this. So I'm looking forward to hopefully hearing some good news when we get to a bit of a recap. But we're also joined by Ian Best. Ian's fresh off another victory.
00:00:40
Speaker
three Three kind of very impressive wins over the last five weeks or so from Four Peaks through GSER and now at Buller Skyrun. Ian, thanks for jumping on. Thank you. Thanks for having me. Long-time listener, first-time caller. Appreciate it.
00:00:55
Speaker
Yeah. i think has has Has anyone said that yet, Sim, that line? Yes, we have. We've had one. I can't remember who, but someone did. I can't remember. it's You can take it in. yeah for before Before we get into it, Ian and I already do have planned in January to go long form on this. So this is very much going to be kind of catching up with Ian about the last few races that he's done and give us a bit of context over Biller. So if you are wondering why we don't necessarily go too deep into this one, that will be coming in January, I think.
00:01:24
Speaker
Oh, good. I'm glad to hear that because I want to hear all about world champs and everything, Ian. I like so much to learn. Yeah. yeah it's good enough and ian's been my resource for like anything vk mountain running the shorter distance stuff i've been peppering him with questions so a lot of the stuff we've been hearing on the podcast is thanks to ian yeah there's been a few things coming out of brodie's mouth and i'm like that sounds really familiar well and like we wouldn't give you credit for it we're going to take the credit but we appreciate it yeah the stolen valor Yeah. So, know, as I just said, you've had ah through first weekend in November was four peaks, got the win overall there.
00:02:03
Speaker
Then it was three weeks later back up for GACR or down for you for GACI. Took out the win at the twenty eight k second year in a row. Very, very impressive time. I think you were 15, 20 minutes ahead of Brody in second.
00:02:16
Speaker
um And then you've just come off, which surprised me. I thought you would be, you might've been done for the season, but the win at the twenty two k at Bula Skyrun coming into like this period, but was it always a plan to race this like densely?
00:02:31
Speaker
Yeah. So like the kind of the macro, look at my year was I was always aiming to go to Europe in September, or October to do uphill racing. Worlds was like one option, but I had a a pivot plan just to do other uphill races. So i I was going to go either way and do something. So I spent most of this year doing a big block. Like i only did a handful of races, but everything was shaped towards that um with the last race being fully VK, which was in the middle of October. And then, yeah, this is kind of just like
00:03:02
Speaker
I don't a celebratory tour of my fitness, so to speak. i've missed your result fully and now I really want to know. ah it It was okay. It was bittersweet. It was bitterweet it was but such a fun race, but I ran quicker on my like training tempos up there, um um which was, it was just a reality of like trying to just push that little bit more and I hit that red line and then I dropped. So I think In one of my training runs, I got down to 36 minutes, but on race day, I was a bit over 38, I think, in the end. But that was just, yeah, I just rolled the dice and tried to go a bit too hard and it didn't work out.
00:03:38
Speaker
VKs are the sort of thing where that can quite easily happen because yeah hit it once you hit that wall, you're done. I know. You slow down and lose time. quite spectacularly at times. Yeah. And it's the most miserable feeling because like you're just staring up this hill and you're like, oh my god I'm not going to be able to rest at all. Yeah. you just watch i I actually have learned that I have to approach uphills as if I'm in training because I'm i'm smarter about it then because it's like you go, well, in the training session, you're metering your effort so you can get through the training session okay. So in an uphill race, it's like, okay, for the first half, you're just training. but Yeah. This is just a training run. You're not going balls to the wall. You're just training and then go. But, yeah, it's an interesting mindset.
00:04:22
Speaker
Yeah. I'm di exactly the same. And that was a massive takeaway from that that block over there was how you actually tackle them. um Yeah, I think they have a lot more endurance than people think. It's not it's not a sprint up a hill. It's like it suits people. Like Billy billy Curtis ran a really or has run a couple of really good VKs over there. And he's just an endurance monster. Like he's doing it off the back of aerobic fitness and a lot of it.
00:04:48
Speaker
Well, and it's still like, what the what did Remy run? Was it 28 or 27 high? ah it was low, I think. like Yeah, so like it's it's still a 10K. Yeah, exactly. And you're not going to, people don't enter a 10K on the track and go, all right, this is a sprint. It's the kind of settling and going to sleep for 20 laps. So yeah, my burn ah my guess is is that the top of VK might burn a bit more than a Can't say a VK.
00:05:12
Speaker
trying Yeah. The advice I got when I was first starting out from my coach was like, you just need to keep it controlled. And then you measure the the race in terms of vertical gain. And he's like, the last 200 meters of vertical gain is where you unleash. Like until then you need to keep it under control. And you can, yeah, go, go over that red line towards the end. But if you do it before that, it's catastrophic.
00:05:35
Speaker
What was the atmosphere like at fully? It was cool. It was better than worlds, to be honest. Yeah. Because they had 750 people in the race and everyone knew that ah Remy was going for the record. And I started maybe 20 minutes before him. So everyone was hanging around at the top waiting for him to come up as I kind of went through. So I got i got a little bit of the glory going through and a little bit of the noise, like the tunnel of noise. And it was just that classic European look of they get right in your face. There's a foot either side of you and then screaming people. it was awesome.
00:06:10
Speaker
Is that is it distracting or do you like it? ah it was It was funny you because like I just wanted to get it over and done with because i was ah at the time, especially towards the top, I'd already gone over like kind of my goal time and times I'd done in um in racing. But it actually like I wanted to get the race over and done with, but it kind of brought me back to reality and it was like, hang on, you need to kind of enjoy this. youre You're not going to get this when you leave the country. This is something you're only going to get in Switzerland.
00:06:39
Speaker
And yeah, it kind of, humbled me a little bit and was it was is good yeah it would be so good to see events like that know um was it warby i think last year or the year before they had that bit of a tunnel at the very top of donna yeah like two-thirds of that was my family yeah but it like it does look don't know you look at like zagamma and the density up there and kind of ah is that getting to the point where it's getting annoying a bit in the way you can't see a lion but everyone seems to be absolutely frothing it Yeah, it's cool. And what's crazy is people would just go out to spectate.
00:07:10
Speaker
Like they just go out to spectate trail running. Whereas, yeah, we seem to have the people that are running might then ring a bell at the finish line. But no, people that just want to be watching the sport. It's awful. Yeah, well, that's Sagama very much so. People actually hike for ages to get to that spot. But I think the thing with Sagama is that it's like, It's actually such a short section of a very long race. So you don't have it for long.
00:07:35
Speaker
Um, however, I do know, like, I know from chatting to people that have done it, that obviously things like that, same in a VK, like they, they play into how you run and it's hot. Sometimes it's why you go over the red line earlier.
00:07:48
Speaker
because you are like pushing harder usually because of this people screaming in your face. um But in races like Zagama, when you've got that many people and like, I've had this on a smaller level than Zagama, it can then be really, it can either be good or really weird. Then when you buy yourself on the trail afterwards, it can be like this massive adrenaline dump. And then you've got to sort of get yourself back under control. Whereas thankfully a VK it's like, you just want the adrenaline. It's good. Yeah.
00:08:15
Speaker
Yeah, ah it feels if if if feels like it would be kind of fun. But yeah, I feel like I go faster when I'm just running past somebody on the footpath. So kind of I can't imagine what it would be like having people screaming at you. You're trying to push with everything you got. but And then so you said coming back would be a bit of a victory tour of for your your fitness. how how have Four Peaks and GCR and then Bula, have they felt like that?
00:08:40
Speaker
Yeah, they've been good. so Four Peaks was probably the one I really wanted. I really liked that race. I really wanted to have my name on a race that has, what are we, my maths, 45 years, 46 years of history. um So I really wanted to get after that win. um So that was kind of the main effort. And then last year, GSER was, I really enjoyed that run. i Actually, it's probably, Four Peaks is probably my favorite event. GSER is probably my favorite like single race as like a course, just because it suits me so well. I have such fun on it. And I got, it's my best UTMB and ITRA score.
00:09:19
Speaker
So i was pretty excited. That one, that was kind of a second order effect of trying to get a good score, thinking about like now that people are paying attention to ITRA top 30 and all that kind of stuff. So that's that one. um And then Bula was just something I'd always wanted to do. So yeah, I think it was almost two weeks, like two weeks, two weeks, two weeks. Oh, sorry.
00:09:42
Speaker
ah Four peaks, two weeks, GSER, two weeks, then Buller. And I felt it on the weekend, like when you're only having two-week blocks, you can feel you're never getting back into training. You're just maintaining and then going again and hoping it all stays together. And the weekend was, it was a good run, but I could just feel like this is, you couldn't do another two weeks and then race again without it just going downhill. So I'm ready ready for another training block. That was probably the right amount of races and the right amount of fun. Nice.
00:10:12
Speaker
We had this conversation a few weeks back about what to do in between these races. What what have you done between like four peaks of GSER and then did that differ from GSER to Bula?
00:10:23
Speaker
It didn't really change much. i actually, four peaks of GSER, I did a bit of experimenting. So I had a big sit down after a year with my coach and we spoke about changing things up training wise because I've basically been doing the same thing for almost 18 months, which I've enjoyed, but I've wanted to give a couple of different things a go. So we experimented with a few sessions. um So like getting on a bike, something I never touch, getting on a stair step or something I hadn't touched before. So we just did a few tests and we used like the middle of those two races just to just try a few different things, see what it was like.
00:10:57
Speaker
And then GSER to Buller was really just maintenance and keeping everything together. It was made a slightly long run in the middle. The good thing about doing kind of the 20Ks and VK racing especially is you bounce back pretty quickly and it's not hard to get back into training and you don't have to have as long a kind lead into it. So it's kind of a couple of days off, build up to a bit of a weekend then roll back down into the race kind of thing. Does that make sense?
00:11:28
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. It does. it It's definitely with like one of the appealing things about you. And even if you're training for stuff, it's a lot longer using the shorter races as ways to tune up and practice being in that environment because you the repeatability of it and the recovery cost of it is so much less.
00:11:43
Speaker
Yeah. i um I realized like with the Europe stint, I have ah an ambition next year to go over there and spend some time racing. And I basically just realized like doing a VK every weekend is actually massively achievable.
00:11:56
Speaker
It really doesn't, for me at least, doesn't take heaps out of me. it's the downhill that does most of the damage to me. Actually, quite a lot because I'm so terrible at it. But ah yeah, doing doing a VK every weekend. I think when I was leading into fully, like I ran that course four days in a row.
00:12:13
Speaker
And the fourth day was when I ran that PB of 36 because... because if you're running up and then walking off, the recovery is not that not that difficult. Or at least that was my experience. So yeah, I really enjoy that element of training, like being able to just go after it over and over kind of thing.
00:12:33
Speaker
Ian, if you're there next year, you should try Claro Pizzo. Have you heard of it? What's it? What's it called? Sorry? Race. Claro Pizzo? piso Pizzo? I'm writing it down. What was it? It was, I did it. It's an all uphill.
00:12:51
Speaker
I had the shortened course. The shortened course was 7K with 2,000. The long, the full course is 9K, 2,500. Cool. Up only.
00:13:06
Speaker
um And it is spectacular. Not only that, this is the one that people may have remembered me recapping a little bit, but the, um, The way back down is a freaking party because it's such a long descent and every aid station that you went past on the way up doesn't do much on the way up, but on the way back down, you actually get a mug at the top And every single one of them has beer steins and every single one of them has food, but different food. On the way back down, I got a barbecue and then you got some traditional cheese dish thingy at the next one. And then you like you got so much food on the way down and so much, if you wanted it, alcohol, um all on the way back down to town where then the after party was like at in the town and the whole town's involved.
00:13:54
Speaker
That sounds awesome. It is honestly one of my favourite race experiences ever and that's saying a lot for a debt for someone that loves downhill and it was an uphill only. So I have a list of, of um I've been doing research and I've made a list of basically all the uphill races I could find between June and December. um Limited to like France and Switzerland mainly and a little bit of Italy. Yeah, Clara Pizzo's in Switzerland. 9.2k 2,500 plus is the full thing.
00:14:23
Speaker
I was just looking. Yep. Oh, I've got it on my list. That's cool. Oh, there you go. That one, highly, highly recommend. Like, do it. Awesome. um I also came, like, I think even for coming fifth, I won a whole kilo of, like, local cheese.
00:14:37
Speaker
It was That's the that's the dream. we um So i ah I did a race with Billy and Abby, his other half. We just, Billy, I think he wanted a taxi because he didn't have a car. So he was do you want to do this VK that he found? Um, cause I drove from where I was in fully, uh, over to France, picked them up and then drove to this race. And we were joking the whole time about winning a wheel of cheese. I'm not expecting to, to win the race. Um, turns out in the male race, um, I'm going to get this wrong. Thibaut Baronian.
00:15:06
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. He was running. So, um, that kind of ruined our wheel of cheese chance. Anyway, Abby, like out of nowhere, won the race, uh, the women's race by like five minutes and we were celebrating at the top. Like we're on for a wheel of cheese.
00:15:20
Speaker
There wasn't a wheel of cheese in the prize, unfortunately. i was so sad it was devastating. It was still a cool prize. but it gave I think wheels of cheese down to eighth. At least I was there. How big was the winner's wheel?
00:15:33
Speaker
I think the wheels of cheese were all the same size, but you got a whole bunch of other stuff with it. Like it was a pretty cool price pack. There was wine. There was a whole bunch of stuff. um And that was for fifth for me. So, you know, like I don't even know. Did I come even lower than fifth? I don't know what I came. I'm probably claiming the wrong result right now. So don't come at me if I was like lower down than that, please. um But you got cheese.
00:15:54
Speaker
Yeah, I got cheese. I might have even actually been the one that came eight. Either way. um Yes, do it. Just please do it. You'll love it. Yep, done, it's on the list.
00:16:05
Speaker
Where do you guys rate, like if you're going to a race internationally and you can win like a local hamper or you can get like a voucher to a shop or cash, like what would you rather get?
00:16:17
Speaker
i'm I'm completely in the yeah the camp of a local hamper. Yeah. yeah i I'm going to say, unless it's like a unless it's the main race I've traveled for, in which case cash is handy because it's expensive, but all of these little races I do for experiences give me the local hamper. Yeah. like all the time and Because they come with so many cool little things in there. In Switzerland, you're always going to get chocolate. um But even like, and especially when it's like, you know, it's a local cheese, it's a local wine, it's a, like, those things you can't, like, you can't buy. where you can buy, but it's like,
00:16:52
Speaker
I wouldn't know where to go to get it. Like this local cheese came from a farm nearby. Like I wouldn't know where to go buy it or the fact that it came locally. yeah so It's been like curated to celebrate the region.
00:17:03
Speaker
You're probably not going to be able to bring that together. with critical Yeah, no, I guess when I said like cash, I wasn't thinking like thousands from a big race. was thinking like a hundred bucks or... yeah thing Yeah, cool. it's food That's going to feed me. So yeah, that's always nice. um Cool. And we'll talk more about Biller when we get to the results, which you're going to run through with us and he can us a recap of how, how the day went.
00:17:27
Speaker
Sim. A quick break in the show to thank Bix. Bix has just come out with their 30 gram gel in two brand new flavors. This is a new gel, new flavors. You've got the choice of the salted strawberry or the berry. The salted strawberry is also packing 300 milligrams of sodium as an increase, whereas the berry has 200 milligrams. Both make them perfect for the conditions we have in Australia, yeah whereas most gels on the market do not have sodium within them. What Bix has done here is take the recipe for the gels that work so well, that 1.8 ratio that is very, very friendly on the stomach and added a soft, subtle, but very tasty twist that you can dial in your race day and your training nutrition to that extra fine detail.
00:18:08
Speaker
As you know, bix has been supporting the show from the start and it literally helps keep the podcast coming to you every week. So if you want to support the show, level up your own nutrition game, head over to the Bix website, use our brand new code PEAK, P-E-A-K, for 20% off at checkout. And with that, let's get back to the show.
00:18:25
Speaker
As we said before, you look like you're doing better. how How are you going? Yes, tentatively on most days, somewhat better. um So essentially, I don't know when I was last on, but it was a while ago now and it I was floored after that one. and i was So that was at the point where I was just not able to do much at all. Like I think I was actually joking with you, James, that like I – collapsed on the couch after that. I knew I needed food and my partner, Matt, literally just hand fed me food um because i was like, i because I get to the point where I can't sit up.
00:19:06
Speaker
So I can't sit up to actually do much. And anyways, it's just like, you know, you're in a bad state when someone's hand feeding you dinner. But either way, um from there. It could be romantic. I was thinking like it could be romantic.
00:19:23
Speaker
could have been but matt could be there in his like tuxedo or butler's outfit no pants on when it's me when i suppose yeah when you're feeling like absolute crap nothing romantic about it um nothing at all but um i like the ideas um but yeah so essentially from there i wasn't doing anything at all um and i finally then got in to see cardiologist, a lot of people in Melbourne may know him, Andre Laguerche, great cardiologist.
00:19:58
Speaker
And I've thankfully, are like i've been part of his research study for like ah almost a decade at this point. So that makes it sort of not like they've got lots and lots of background info on my heart and tests. um But in an interesting roundabout way, essentially he, like the whole appointment boiled down to the fact that he went well the only treatment that works for POTS is exercise so you need to exercise and I was like that's in okay cool every time I try to exercise I pretty much feel like I'm gonna faint and like I can't do anything for the rest of the day and like I go downhill so what do I do um and essentially he did give me like a very sort of
00:20:45
Speaker
strict guidelines which are actually incredibly helpful. It's what I needed. So i was told that he also said that, yes, he's seen things like this before in athletes. um Often he put does put it down to like there's a whole amalgamation of a combination of things. It's usually put um brought on by a virus or multiple viruses or some form of insult, but then there will be other things that play into it, itd be it overtraining, be it stress, be it,
00:21:15
Speaker
whatever. So he was like, here's why. The only thing he couldn't put an explanation to was my recurring fevers, which we're still looking into, which I haven't had back yet. So we'll see how that goes. But either way, he told me to exercise, but that it's going to take, he was like five, six months to get back to somewhere decent-ish. And I'm like, I can deal with it. That's fine. So for the next, for the month from when I saw him,
00:21:44
Speaker
it's like 20 to 30 Ks a week, but in daily, like three to four max 5K runs, um ideally more like the three K run. So I did, a but when I'm doing the runs, this is the interesting part, which is nowhere near what I was doing. Cause what I was doing was run walking. And when I was running, I was actually still running at like not my usual easy pace, but close enough to like close enough to five minute case for three minutes. And then I'd walk and then I'd run again and I'd walk. Um, he wanted me to doing consistent runs. So like if I was out doing three K's, just run three K's, but at six minute case. So I did the day after I saw him, I did a lovely 18 minute three K run.
00:22:32
Speaker
I was like, I'm moving on up in the world, guys. um This is an interesting, like I've never been for a run like that before. But either way, um that's fine.
00:22:43
Speaker
Then the other interesting part, though, is that the six-minute case was because he was like, you need to keep your body away from what you used to do and away from that middle ground where it's, he phrased it like,
00:22:59
Speaker
think that your body is asking for a rest from what you used to do, but you need to stay active. So be active in different ways, which is either really slow or a couple of times a week, really short and fast.
00:23:12
Speaker
So i started with four by they ended up being about 23 to 24 second efforts on some grass with like full recovery.
00:23:24
Speaker
um Now, the interesting thing is the first time I tried to do this, um I did like, I did a 1.5K jog that took a solid 12 minutes um and then um four by 25 seconds.
00:23:39
Speaker
My body's so all over the shop that my heart rate will go up really high. Like I think I got to... um 188 or 190 within 25 seconds. So like pretty quick. um And so it would go out really high.
00:23:56
Speaker
And as I walked back across the oval, it would drop, um but only maybe to the 130s, 140s. But then if I stood still during that recovery, it would go back up into the oneev s So instead of doing what you expect your heart rate to do when you like fully stop moving, of recovering, my heart rate goes and freaks out and goes high currently at the moment.
00:24:22
Speaker
we My nervous system and and everything needs a bit of a reset. That is getting better, um but it still does happen. Like I can't stand still and my heart rate be low.
00:24:33
Speaker
So i did that. I started with just, yeah, the four by 25 seconds on the flat. I did four by 30 second hills. And since then I've just done one more round of essentially six by 200 or six by 175 really. Cause I'm trying not to do things that like you can measure.
00:24:52
Speaker
yeah um I didn't, I didn't actually start at the 200 meter line. It just went, okay, there's close enough to 30 seconds. Let's go. yeah um And did that. The fun thing about these is, I love sprinting.
00:25:05
Speaker
Like I have actually have always loved sprinting and I'm like not that slow, but I'm not so fast for a fricking sprinter. But like what I was running 27 seconds for like 175 meters. So the equivalent of a 30 second, 200 six times, which when you've gone without running for like three or four, three months at this point, I'm like, Hey, there's speed there guys. We got this. um And I've never had sore hamstrings in my life.
00:25:36
Speaker
um Because I did the i did my late like the last session I did, it was that six by close enough to 200 or six by 30 seconds. Yeah. And it ended up being about four to four and a half minutes between each. So a long time between each. Never done a session like that before in my life. So I was just like bolting out the gates. And by the fourth rep, I actually had to slow the last two down, not because of my heart, not because of anything, but I'm like, my legs, my hamstrings are gone. Like i can't I can't actually maintain that speed for my hamstrings. So that's my fun.
00:26:12
Speaker
for the weeks is one round of sprints on the flat, one round sprints uphill. And I have actually noticed that by being steadily active, I do seem to be improving as long as I don't go over yeah too much. And the interestingly, the sprints seem to have the most positive effect for like my nervous system and heart rate finding what's normal again. yeah Because like the first time I did it, my heart rate was like really high and it would drop, but not drop that much. And then the second time it was like heart rate went high, but it dropped lower. And every single time I go for a run, it is interesting to sort of observe the differences. Like the first, that 3K run I went on, that was the first one that was like 18 minutes, 3Ks. My average heart rate, I think was 167.
00:27:05
Speaker
Um, at six minute case yesterday i went and I was only meant to do five K's, but I accidentally did six because I blame Matt. He took us on a loop on his bike. Um, but I but did six K's at five fifties. So like a little bit faster, um, and average heart rate one 43.
00:27:23
Speaker
And that's only like two and three, for three weeks, two and a half weeks since the first one. So it's working for now. Um, it's yeah like,
00:27:35
Speaker
I found this with with with my injuries, like especially the second time through, is that obviously it always sucks it's happening to you, but it is fascinating to see how the body recovers and repairs and sort of how it does work together. Like what you just said there, it makes absolutely no sense to somebody like me, without not not a cardiologist, that standing still should surely make your heart rate drop faster, but you're seeing the complete opposite. is yeah I'm not sure if you if if you'll be saying it's fascinating, but it's just... Oh, it is. like, and I'm, I've actually put on more of a curious mindset for like, for everything that experienced, I'll stand there and I'll watch it and I'll go like, it's not a bad thing. It's not a good thing. It's just, if it's interesting. Um, and it's because the muscle pump turns off, like it's because of blood pressure changes because I'm not using, you're not using your carbs. And so the muscle, like having my study knowledge, like I know what's going on yeah and I know sort of why it's occurring. It's just then like, yeah.
00:28:29
Speaker
Like I have a nervous system injury, which is just a different kind of injury in a way, is the way that they're looking at it. But I have a very fun, hopefully, long, slow build ahead of me, and I may come back faster with all this sprint work. So, look, in six months' time, um we'll see where I'm at. But I think it's essentially he said to expect to be at the 20 to 30 Ks a week for like two months. Yeah.
00:28:57
Speaker
um for the first two months and then slowly build from there. Hence why it's going to take so long. How are you feeling now you've got that direction and that news? Fine. Like as soon as you've got soon as you've got someone telling you what to do, things are a bit easier because I could feel that the amount I was resting wasn't actually helping.
00:29:17
Speaker
like But i could I didn't know what else to do because it felt like if I did anything, like crap. it was felt felt like crap um And so I'm like, well, I have been diagnosed with post-viral fatigue, so surely I rest. But then the cardiologist literally went like complete rest is the worst thing you can do from now. He said, you've done the rest part.
00:29:36
Speaker
Now we do the reset part, um which is cool to know because he did say like, soon as you've got someone that really knows what they're talking about going, this will feel like crap and that's okay. it's like, okay, I'll go do it and I'll feel like crap and I won't freak out that I've done the wrong thing because you've told me to do it. So it's a mental load off, that's for sure.
00:29:57
Speaker
assume, for like a nervous system injury, does the training stimulus or how you're active change it? Like obviously if you had a lower limb injury, the difference between running, swimming and cycling is a big deal as you return from injury.
00:30:12
Speaker
Is that, are there similarities in nervous system injury or is it all just? Well, so there's lots of different things that can probably go wrong with the nervous system. And I just say nervous system injury, cause that's kind of how I'm looking at it. But,
00:30:24
Speaker
the specific like pots there's a difference between upright exercise which actually has an element like it has the full element of orthostatic stress um recumbent exercise so people that like i'm actually not that bad off compared to how bad pots can get people with pots can become wheelchair bound for quite a long time they can be not able to do much at all for ah quite a long time sometimes um And in that case, then it's the slow glad gradual return starts from recumbent bike and swimming.
00:30:58
Speaker
um And from then recumbent bike and swimming, it's like a very slow gradual to sort of seated bike. and And then running is usually the last thing back, which is why I am actually very thankful that I'm like I'm pretty bad for me as a normal human, but on the spectrum of how bad this could be, like the fact that I can go rot jog three Ks is a lot further along than some people are or get to. um So yes, there is a difference, but I think the way they're looking at it for me is like, if we can maintain some, um like you want to increase your tolerance to being upright.
00:31:40
Speaker
yeah, I'm doing running because that's kind of what I want to do. um As opposed to, you could swap swap it for anything really, I think, and it would still have positive effects.
00:31:53
Speaker
Yeah. was Very good to hear that it's hopefully starting to move in that right direction where you're not bed bound. Yeah, I'm kind of like, in my brain, I'm like, oh, I wonder how fast I can run a 400 in two months. I'm going to go for my 400 PB, guys. And that's the thing. My brain is still, I'm quite happy because it's just like, it's reset to different little short-term goals to tick along the way. Can you just work your way up? Like start with 200 PB, then go to 400, then go to 800, then 15.
00:32:24
Speaker
Genuinely my plan. Exactly what I'm going to do. if i'm about If I'm restricted to doing essentially training like a sprinter, there's no way I'm not going to make use of that and go, well, let's just go get every PB in the books along the way. Like my PBs aren't great. So I can do it. So the question is, he said to do stuff you don't normally do. You're going to start to steeplechasing?
00:32:48
Speaker
well but you know You know that steeplechasing is what I start was doing before trail running, right? what was it? Yes. No, completely missed that. The week that when I ran Donna Double, that was one week after State Champs where I did the steeplechase. And I've been to Nationals for the steeplechase.
00:33:02
Speaker
Okay. Like all I've done at a decent level on the track is the steeplechase. I actually love it. What is it about steeplechases and being really good trail runners? ah Because it it is like, it's the, like, it's so, there's a lot more of the same elements of strength that you need. And it like, not really agility as much, but because the as you're sprinting three K's, like the muscle power you need to get over the bloody barriers and the water jump um is much more akin to what we have to use in trail running in terms of
00:33:33
Speaker
like the different size steps and the jumps and the downs and the, like, I can see why having done it because the feel is almost similar a to like an uphill run. Like the last couple laps kind of feel similar to going up a bloody mountain when you're trying to jump those things yeah um and move fast. So I can see why.
00:33:55
Speaker
and were you ever a steeplechaser? No, I was never a track anything. Yeah. Is steeplechase, am I right that it's based on, like, i want to say England and jumping over farm fences? Something like that.
00:34:09
Speaker
Yeah, that's the history of it. Something like that. And then someone put it on a track with a water jump and, the yeah. it's It's like, it's the most interesting track race, I reckon, to be part of at least. You've got something to navigate every 100 metres. Yeah.
00:34:24
Speaker
It does make for some epic photos when you have like the groups going over, but there's someone on the way down in the wrong fashion into the water. Oh, yeah. Yeah. Oh, yeah. i Thankfully, I've only had – the only falls I've ever had were like the first race I ever did because I'd never been over a water jump before I jumped in a race. um And I'd never even been over one of the barriers until I jumped in a race. So um it's – Thankfully, it's like the nightmare you have to get out of your head to actually get over the water jump. Otherwise, you know, it's going to happen if you're thinking about it. Yeah.
00:34:59
Speaker
I have, I'm pretty sure it was Geordie Beamish this year's world champs in the qualifying rounds where he's like a picture of his face going down towards the floor. there's a foot coming over him. Yeah. yeah It's yeah an an interesting one. um Well, no, it's great to hear, Sim. Like really happy that you're actually, you've been given that direction. Like I know from that's normally the biggest thing. It's that uncertainty that gets you and you then don't know how to get past this step. Yeah, definitely, definitely. But how are you doing? You overturned? Yeah, my my return is going well. It feels like, I think it was two weeks ago i was last on. And at that point I was still doing like more walking than I was running. And so even like, even though we're still repeating every every return to run, we're doing another, like the same thing two days later. so it's felt very slow and truncated and drawn out. But now I'm at the point where I'm running, i think this morning was five minutes left.
00:35:51
Speaker
run one minute walk for six rounds and it feels like I'm running again. Um, I am the, for after the first break, there was like 13 weeks and then the return to run, I didn't actually feel that unfit. Like I'd lost that sharpness. And I knew that if I tried to run fast, probably feel pretty like uncoordinated and I'd be a lot slower, but didn't feel that unfit.
00:36:11
Speaker
Now I feel unfit. yeah Um, cause it's been 10 months since I did the injury the first time round. And, um, so, but yeah, it's, a bit like you're saying about like your obviously mindset like i just find it interesting because it's stuff that you can bring back to coaching and just for yourself like you learn about yourself in this and it makes it so much easier to move forward when you just don't worry about what's happened um yeah but also enjoy being unfit like it's kind of like you you can build again improvements week on week and it's it's a different feeling like running feels different it's I feel like I'm getting fitter running it walk run, which is a very satisfying feeling. And, and yeah, like it feels that when I first started, I think I was running at sort of 545, six minute pace, like purposely slowing it down.
00:36:55
Speaker
And my heart rate was hitting the same that it is now at the end of a five minute rep running 45 seconds faster. Like you can see that it's working. Like I'm still what's running a lot slower than my easiest used to be. um like on purpose, not that I probably could, or it would probably feel like a sprint now, but it feel it feels feels very comfortable, but it's just, yeah, it's very nice to be there looking, had a chat with Luke, who's like, he's the car looking after me, but people might have listened to podcasts, he's also a coach. so he's taken over this kind of next stage for me. And i was like, my head was going nuts a bit because we've got a couple of plans for next year, not in the sense of trying to be fit to race, but just to do some runs and to start look at like, do we want to go on a trip somewhere?
00:37:40
Speaker
um and can i actually kind of enter something or can i think that i might be able to get back for this because i didn't know how fragile i had to think of myself as and it kind of gave me a framework of like yeah okay you'll be fine to run like you'll be running on the trails in january you'll be bringing some some form of speed work back probably in february um like it's not going to be high volume stuff from a session duration but it will be you just you don't have to worry too much from a putting yourself in bubble wrap perspective so still still high risk until ah the one year mark so end of end of july early august or so but it made me a bit more excited because it was
00:38:20
Speaker
I was definitely getting closer, especially I've been away for so many events from a coaching perspective that I was getting closer to just putting my running on the back burner and running, but not putting the same like hours and hours of training that you were into it and just sort of really doubling down and going to more events with my athletes. But I think that if I let go of my own pursuits too much, it's not going to be a positive in my whole life. So, and I think, I think most of that was just the insecurity of not knowing what the future was going to look like. So now I have a bit more of a framework for that.
00:38:50
Speaker
It definitely helps. Not that like I'll still be going to the events, but it's like not always putting myself second, which is definitely my tendency. So so that's been that's been good. And then over this weekend, weve we finally moved house. So today's the first first podcast in the new place. That is like, it feels lovely to be here now. And especially because I work from home, I wanted to have the house like set up. So it's meant that we packed up our entire old house on Thursday and Friday morning has a removalist because we're only moved 10 minutes or 15 minutes away. Like they had everything done like three hours, like packed and unpacked. And then the whole of Friday night, Saturday and Sunday was setting up this place and cleaning our role place. And So it's been a few, few very long days, but we're here and feels, yeah, feels, if feel feels very nice to have this, like that weight of knowing that we've got to do this off the chest. And I don't, like it's a cool process when you get, you go into a new house, like we' leaving your first home, coming into the second house we've owned, but it's not, it's not pleasant really. Are you closer or further away from trails?
00:39:54
Speaker
um So we were 600 meters from the trails in Aubrey called Nail Can, which was purposeful. But you just have Nail Can. And like where we were in Aubrey, it's really zigzagging to get out of town. So just to get to the freeway is like 10 minutes of just constant turning. And it's just annoying, which people that live in a city probably listened to this and being like, shut up. But it's annoying for where we are. Um, now we're Baranduda, which is like yeah outside of Wodonga, but towards like Yak and Brightway and Mount Baranduda, which is a much bigger range. Like I think Aubrey, uh, Neil can, the climbs maybe 150 vertical, 120 or so meters from the top. Whereas here it's more like 500, 600. Um, so my guess is it would be similar to having, was saying it's pretty more than having dandelions on your back doorstep, but yeah, yeah so there's, there's lots of that and that's, that's about a away. So it's still, still close, still runnable. Shiv did a long run with a bunch of your girlfriends on Saturday. And I think that was,
00:40:59
Speaker
like 17k with 900 meters from our doorstep um yeah it feels and because we did so much driving like when when we're both training normally we're in bright quite a lot or we'll go to yakandanda which is more um like nice runnable gravel roads or single tracks um beach where it's kind of the same like gravel roads i would come to barranduda to get your vert in if you couldn't go to bright because it's still an hour like from here it's an hour but it was like an hour and 20. So it's, yeah, should be, should be a nice spot to, but now I'm just kind of staring at this mountain that I really want to go up and can't.
00:41:33
Speaker
i Sorry. so yeah yeah baby sorry going say, have you noticed any personality changes going from being a New South Welshman to a foreign? Not yet, but you can you can call me out if you if I take on any negative or positive traits. It'll be all positive, promise. It'll be all positive, yeah. Yeah, all positive.
00:41:52
Speaker
Oh, love it, love it. Awesome to hear. So yeah, so i move in the right direction, which, yes, is very, very fun. Cool. Another thing moving in the right direction. I'm going to use that as a segue because that is perfect. Yeah. is the selection for the Asia-Pacific Trail Running Championships in China at the end of next year on the 24th to 28th of November.
00:42:18
Speaker
And the way that we've moved forward is, thank goodness, Autra just announced that first and second place at the Short Trail and the Long Trail Australian Championships are guaranteed selection.
00:42:33
Speaker
Yeah, which is awesome. Yay. When i was talking to Gary Marlin's interview and they had the run sheet, like the future plan and stuff, they were hoping to get the first as an auto qualifier. So when it came out as first and second, I was like, that's really cool. Like they've done really well there. Like if, if people have looked at the release, like there's a lot of information from ITRA they don't have. So the top 30, that was the qualification standard for, you know,
00:43:00
Speaker
20 for last year yeah 2025 um 24 of course um already in my heads next year like they don't know if that's going to still be the case because it's you haven't said yet but they wanted to get this announcement out so that people could plan to go to snowy's which is in end of february for the 50k distance or go to buffalo 100k which is the long trail end of march so you do have you've got the time to plan and also they don't know the deadline yet but you're probably going to have given that it's in november you're probably going have at least till august to lift your interest score if you don't quite meet that top 30 potential standard but you do come second say in the national champs so like um my argument would be like as long as there's competition there you probably have got the capacity or you should definitely have the capacity to get yourself into the top 30. maybe you have to be a bit specific about the races but um i think that they'll also hopefully be able to do something about that but Yeah. Yeah. It's great news. The only one that doesn't have an auto qualification is the under 23. They're still, i think they're just going to be by resume.
00:43:56
Speaker
Yeah. I think that makes sense because it's hard for under 23s even to travel for these sorts of races and things. yeah I think resume does work better there. I got messages about this and I was like excited. And then I looked at the dates of the races and i'm like, Oh damn, that is not going to help. Um, for me at least, cause I really, really want to go.
00:44:16
Speaker
ah to the Asia Pacific champs next year. Like that was always on my radar um for next year, which it's not till November. So, you know. You've got time. And so there's still, because they take, is it six as well? Or is it?
00:44:30
Speaker
Not sure. i I'll wait. At this point, I'm just like switched off to everything anyway. So it doesn't matter. But still huge, huge step in the right direction. I just hope it that it then sort of stays at least first, but similar sorts of things can happen for world champs.
00:44:45
Speaker
um in future as well, where there's like, I think it's only going to lead to more competitive races at these and there's more importance to them. There's more celebration of being the national champion. um Having then knowing in Feb or March that you've got this guaranteed spot in a race in November, like that, the freedom that gives you to plan your calendar around it and prepare properly is awesome.
00:45:11
Speaker
So Yeah, and it takes takes away that need. A bit like if someone was hunting golden tickets, if you're trying to constantly strengthen your resume and trying to fit as much as you can in before the qualification window ends, like that's just all gone. As long as you've got that theoretical top 30 again, if they keep the same rule, like it would just take so much pressure off the rest your season. Ian, you come from more of the mountain running side where the the champs have already had... First place champs was an automatic qualification for the Worlds, wasn't it?
00:45:39
Speaker
No, there was no qualification race. I do have a tiny bit of experience because I won Kunjani VK in 24, which auto-qualified me for the Skyrunning World Championships. yeah And I can attest to that. but It was amazing because from the minute you cross the finish line, you could start to plan out in like the next four or five months of your life and really just become an absolute specialist in that single race as much as you do or don't want to do that. it's Yeah, it was so useful. And even during that process, was speaking to some people that eventually got onto the team like Dave Bailey and just the uncertainty that he had for about two or three months after I knew I was in. Yeah. You get to see kind of weighing on him a little bit, particularly when you got in that situation, you had to get all the way to Spain. Yeah. Yeah, the auto qualifier is... For those people, it's a game changer and it's probably a game changer for us as a country because it means they can prepare and have a really, really good performance and they don't have to hedge any bets.
00:46:37
Speaker
this is It's not a new thing for Worlds either because Kunani had an auto qual on the long trail as well. yeah a couple of years ago. And it was such an incredible race to observe because of that. So there's a lot of those things. And I just realized this is very live that I looked this up because I'm so disconnected from socials right now. Another auto qual of sorts opportunity is there in March 2020.
00:47:07
Speaker
probably clashing with Buffalo, I just realised again, because these ones always clash. But Golden Trail National Series next year is a single race championship at Donnell Double. So 22K winner at Donnell Double male and female guarantees their spot and full trip over to the golden trail final yeah so that's yeah three weeks before buffalo um yeah yeah so you do you can i think it's either of course it's kunani and buffalo yeah it's kmr and buffalo which kmr is the mountain champs yeah that clashes but the person doing the 100k is probably unlikely to want to do the mountain champ mountain and champs yes so So this is good. Okay. I like this calendar. Perfect. Would anyone disagree that that's potentially going to be the most competitive race in 2026 on Australian soil?
00:47:52
Speaker
Surely. Like, I know I wouldn't. It's potentially for sure. Like you can, no you can't take that. ah you You're talking about. Yeah. done at The Donna double. Yeah. Like it's already massively competitive. The depth of it this year was like crazy. And now that that's a free ticket overseas.
00:48:09
Speaker
this really cool thing where it's like, um, obviously a world champs or the, um, Asia Pacific champ spot, incredible to get, but this one has that added bonus of, it doesn't cost you anything to get there. Like it's a full package. So it's a huge prize, um, for one race, which it was a lot harder to get and a lot, a lot more expensive just to chase this. And when it was part of the series, did I love having a series? Yes.
00:48:37
Speaker
do i understand the challenges within Oz, especially of having a series? Like, Of course, because a lot of the countries where the series worked really well, they're small enough countries that everyone can drive to every race. yeah Like it's not a huge trip, an expensive trip. So this, I think this um format does work better in Australia for getting a competitive field and a really, really good race.
00:49:01
Speaker
And yes, I'm so excited to see how this goes down in terms of how competitive we can get this field. um I do know it was meant to be announced a little while ago, but it's finally been announced now, yeah, at least now gives people hopefully enough time to plan and prepare if this is something they're interested in. But it's like now whole a newcomer can come in, which was actually me at Donna Double back in 2018 when there was a sponsorship up for grabs, a brand newcomer coming in going, hey, I'm going to have a crack at that.
00:49:30
Speaker
Like there's a good enough prize for me to go try this thing. So why not go try? And that's actually what got me into trail is this race with a really cool prize. Like it's, it can, it can make a big change for someone.
00:49:43
Speaker
The only thing I think is a shame is that, and potentially it's not an issue in, you're a good example of this right now, Sim, you've done plenty of back-to-back or close races, but it's only two weeks from Snowys, I can't remember the whole thing is trail on Australia, Snowys or something, but that's the 50K national champs.
00:50:00
Speaker
Two weeks later is Wally. So do people try and double up because the golden trail finals are two months before Asia Pacific. So if you got into both, you could probably do both. Um, potentially that weakens one of the fields. Potentially there's not and there's not enough crossover, but snowies is a 1000 meter 50 K. I think it's, um it's, it's like, it's just the TVT essentially.
00:50:27
Speaker
So, yeah. I don't think so. I think we're finally, and I think we are at a stage in Oz where we can have an incredibly ah competitive field at both, but the person that's going to win the 50K is not the person that would even be specialised enough, I think, to win Donner.
00:50:44
Speaker
When it's a 1,000 metre gain 50K, and then you're looking at the 22 at Donner, which is you've you've really got to have your mountain legs and your downhill legs in order to like any uphill, like when you look at the people that have done well at Donna, when it's, it's short distance, like Michael Kernahan, like blitzing it. He's, he's a 10 K runner on like, ah in he's a short much, he wouldn't do a 50 So I do think it's actually a different, you mostly like there's some overlap, but I do think it is mostly different,
00:51:19
Speaker
different yeah in going anyone on the top of your mind my brain is going like hypothetically anyone in the male field that you think that could do be like top end of both uh vlad yeah mean he was doing well last year wasn't until he rolled his ankle um what's he like on that 50k thousand meter probably very good Very good. I would put Vlad as better at the 50k than at Donner. Yeah. Do you write Billy?
00:51:51
Speaker
i reckon, yeah, I do. I write Billy has just such a big engine. Yes. And like I think you could be you could be a bit worse on the up if you were a very good descender at Donner.
00:52:02
Speaker
Yes. And like on the women's side, we do definitely have like Mia Noble when yeah like when she was winning Donna, she brilliant at 50 K's. Like there is definitely people that do overlap. Yeah. um Like yourself sim kind of comes to mind as well. Yes. If I was yeah ignoring the health plan, maybe I'll get back there one day. But um I do think it may be but possibly even more so currently on the women's side. ah Maybe because we have,
00:52:32
Speaker
slightly less shorter distance specialists, I think, than the men currently. um but So I think that quite a lot of the women that I'd put at the top of Donna would also be very close to the top of the 50K. Yeah, someone like Kate.
00:52:49
Speaker
Yeah. um Yeah. um ah Yes. no Well, no, I'm just like, oh, I don't know, Kate would never do Donna. Yeah. You're just not going to see her there. um so that's like out of the equation. um But yeah, I think yeah i think it it yeah it would be interesting to see how it all goes. But either way, those are some very cool, very cool updates of what is coming through.
00:53:18
Speaker
All right. less Speaking of races, let's move into the results. Ian, I'm going to come to you first to take us through Buller. Take it whichever way you want. You've got the results there, but definitely give us a rundown of how of how your day went.
00:53:31
Speaker
Yeah, cool. So ah the Buller Skyrun, the first of the single track running wild events, which I just speak to the event. it was um It was interesting. I actually thought at first, I thought Paul was still sort of running it, but it was actually being run by a single track. Nigel was just being very sort of shadow and following and asking a lot of questions which was good to see actually and Paul got a lot of time to give briefs and show everyone how it was done so for myself the 22k which if you know the area was the first time I'd ever ever been there you start in Buller Village basically drop down into a valley then up Mount Stirling turn around down and up and then from Buller Village up to the top of Mount Buller which is still a bit of ah a cheeky climb um all things considered so 22k is all up with give or take a thousand meters depending on how generous your watch wants to be for your ah your weekly data um it was good i i sort of went off uh maybe a touch hard i had um a guy called hector mcgillivray who i think he came fifth or sixth in roller coaster uh behind nathan this year Uh, so, he won this race last year. So real handy runner, uh, he kind of, he was with me and I think we might've both pushed each other because we both after talked about how rubbish we felt going up sterling. um I don't know whether it was altitude or I, we just went out a bit hard, but I had to actually drop a gear going up sterling. it was the first time in a while I felt not strong on a climb.
00:55:04
Speaker
Uh, But dropping a gear got to the top and was able to turn around and had enough of ah a gap. you reckon on that's also what you're talking about, about the fact that you are your third race deep in five weeks, four weeks? Yeah, that was when I was sort of realizing, because GRCR, I felt great the whole time. like I felt like i was just pushing the accelerator the whole time, whereas this one, yeah, I had to come off. So yeah, that was the main indicator that, cool, this one's fine, but doing another one might be really taking the piss a bit. Yeah. so yeah. And then i was kind of by myself, but a little bit nervous as well for the rest of it.
00:55:43
Speaker
ah And then I had aspirations of trying to catch Brody's time. I was actually, he sent me his activity. He was around 150 there. He's about 40 seconds off the course record. Wait, did you do this before or after the run?
00:55:56
Speaker
No, before. And i I was using that. So I had it on my watch. I was using that as my map and I was racing it. So I had like the, the splits, um, or like, you know, the the, little, um, ghost thing. Yeah, that's great. Uh, yeah, I, yeah, I fell behind, um and yeah, just kind of kept everything under control. I wouldn't say took it easy, but I didn't take any massive risks towards the end, particularly because I've got like looking ahead I really want to get back into training. Like I'm itching to get into a training block. Um, so particularly coming off Mount Buller at the end, you have this kind of like three k downhill where you can absolutely sprint, but you would feel it afterwards. That's for sure.
00:56:39
Speaker
um so yeah, it was a cool course. I've never been to Mount Buller. I really liked it. um I think the 36K is, if I was to pick one that I think you'd really, really cool because that has the the VK in it to finish. yeah Drop right down and is it Kling Spawn?
00:56:55
Speaker
um Spur? where they They actually used to have a VK race. Oh, really? Yeah. ah In terms of results, so the 22, I spoke about myself and Hector. And then in third place was Ross Hopkins.
00:57:10
Speaker
In the women's, coming in first was Susan Cooney in time of 2.39.11. Second was the, ah so Catherine Kroon, who's a a good runner in her own right, but the sister of Matt Kroon.
00:57:24
Speaker
um And then in third, Vic Dorff, the wife of Joe Dorff. So one of the the guys running that event. congratulations to their children for getting some really good running genes, I think. yeah The 36K, so in the women, i'll I'll go from bottom to top. We'll lag on the ah first place for a bit. So Elizabeth Lowy was in third. In second, I'm going to get this wrong, but Veronica Lebedev.
00:57:54
Speaker
um And in first name, ah sorry, first place, I don't know whether I'm going to pronounce this right. and i don't know if you mentioned her on the podcast in the last week, Lucy Bartholomew, who um I can't get the results up because they've updated the website, but i'd take I'd put a lot of money on that being a course record. It's only about 14 minutes behind Blake Hose's male course record.
00:58:18
Speaker
So she was the outright winner, just fantastic. Yeah, hasn't done anything amazing in the last three days. So wanted to remind us that she's absolutely informed this time of year. And then... been, what, a good 10 days?
00:58:33
Speaker
Yeah. and Like it's a long break for her now. Yeah. That's right. how long How long ago was UTK? Yeah, was it was Thursday, Thursday, yeah, week week before last. So yeah, yeah, yeah slipping.
00:58:46
Speaker
um in the In the men, so you Pierce Connor came third, Louis King in second, and Ben Burgess, friend of the podcast, came first. I think he was out in front and he said going up clingspawn spur, so that kind of VK that you do at the end.
00:59:02
Speaker
I think he was run hiking and then Lucy just ran the whole thing and flew past him. It blew his mind. So, yeah, that's made it even more impressive, her run.
00:59:14
Speaker
And then in the 45K, so in the women in third place was Claire Healy, second Charlie Potter and first Jill Fowler in a very impressive five hours, 28. And over in the men's, Andrew Reid in third, Jaden Hawkins in second. And just shy of what I think is his PB on that course it was in first place Matt Crean in four hours, 22, which is probably only about eight minutes behind the course record from what I could see. His best was about 4.20. So think he's still in form despite him trying to tell me the opposite on the day. Very good. hi
00:59:54
Speaker
all right i'll take us through the afterglow twilight just to go in for the half marathon one here um i quite like your third to first so in third david park second keith smith and then first archie five foot in 120 38 which seems pretty strong craig mottram has the course record here from 2014 in 118 28 so that's Pretty good going. And Archie is in the 20 and under category. So moving moving very well there. And then in the women's, Annabelle Horne came in third, Simone Newland in second, and then Nicole Verant in first, 136.15. So about five minutes off. Sim, your own course record from 2021. Oh, do I still have that one?
01:00:41
Speaker
I've been watching course records and Starava segments disappear left, right and centre. Oh, yeah. It's all the notifications when you're injured on Strava saying, uh-oh, someone just took your CR is really upsetting. like yeah I haven't been on Strava in quite a while, so I wouldn't know. But there was a few before I got off it, yes.
01:01:00
Speaker
I got an email saying James Barnett took one of the mine in Bright by a second. That was that was a bit upsetting. That's rude. Actually, yeah, I just got on. I've got, jeez, every single notification I've got is me losing a segment.
01:01:15
Speaker
Yep. It's beautiful. Just delete the app. when When you see that email, do you kind of just be like, please be local legend, please be local legend. I just like looking through and going, oh, see, Bridie Temple took one. um who ah like this Sometimes it's like fun to go, oh, that person's doing some good training.
01:01:37
Speaker
Like you look through it, tells you when people learn form. Yeah. um And then the other only result we're going to do from this weekend, there's a bunch of kind of small local races on, but should go through the 50K at the Duval Dam Buster. In the women's, Carol Callaghan came third.
01:01:54
Speaker
Anika Bray came second. And then Hannah McRae. with a pretty commanding lead, came first. I'm pretty sure Hannah also came in second overall. So another very good run for her in the men's. Mal Donnelly came third, Dale Hamilton second, and Cody Shorter took the win.
01:02:12
Speaker
Nice. Cool. Lots of cool results. Can I get one cheeky international one in that I just remembered? i've I've brought him up about three times, so I promise I'm not that obsessed with him. Billy Curtis ran a trail marathon on the weekend in Italy, Arezzo, Italy, the Arezzo Wild Trail Marathon, and he had a big old win.
01:02:32
Speaker
And then Abby Watson, his other half, came second in the women's race. So those two have finished the year on a big high. And Abby ran the marathon as well? Yeah, correct.
01:02:42
Speaker
Yeah, second place. I ah haven't been able to look up her time, but yeah, this was kind of Billy wanting to finish the year on a high and he certainly did. you know if they're staying over there for much longer?
01:02:54
Speaker
Yeah, they are. They're saying all the way through till May. So I think Transvolcania in May is the end of that period. yeah Keep watching the beautiful places that he's running.
01:03:06
Speaker
yeah It's very fun to follow. We also had another international race. um Toby Sparks went Chiang Mai, Thailand for 50k in a like stacked field. I've got the is the men's...
01:03:21
Speaker
uh third in this in this race was hayden hawk second was rui ueda and third was i never know which way around this menguang fu guang fu men chinese athlete um toby came in 12th which when you look at the especially when you look at the indexing of the people that are like above him and around him is a very very good run and like you know when you look at the results and everybody's sponsored and it's just like one name that's not It's Toby. So very, very, and like a very international field up there. And there's yeah some other very impressive names across the other distances, but a great way to do this. Well, part of, it's not unfortunately, he had a brilliant run, but this one's one of the majors. So top 10 was what gets you the spot. up Although he'll get the hill age category spot. Yeah, it will it will come down to him. so Yeah, quite easily. um it Yeah, that punches his ticket for for OCC next year the looks it. Yeah, cause there's at least one
01:04:19
Speaker
oh because there's at least one. there's one 35 to 39 in front of him. Everybody else is in the 20 to 34 category. Oh, and he's in that category?
01:04:29
Speaker
He's in that category. Oh, if he's missed out by one spot, i hopefully not. Yeah, I really hope he gets an em email in a couple of weeks and says, congratulations. I really hope so too, but especially because that race is brutal. Like the conditions there can, I don't know what they were like this time, but I swear I still have nightmares about that race. But either way, it was a ripper run.
01:04:53
Speaker
All right, Sam, do you want to wrap us up with what's coming up race wise? What's coming up race wise? Jeez, it's a long time since I've looked at that, but we have the peaks and passages race in the ACT. What's that one? Have is it have you heard of that one?
01:05:08
Speaker
I couldn't find it on the running calendar, but I was on Orchard's site trying to work out information about this and then it just, it popped up as a race. I can tell you as as the resident in Canberra local. it's um It's just, it is just a trail race on one of the kind of local ridgelines. For anyone that's not familiar with Canberra, like the suburbs are designed between these kind of nature strips that form ridgelines. And it's just,
01:05:32
Speaker
one of those I can't remember the distances. I think there's like a short and a long, but it's it's fairly flat as far as i would sort of classify it, but like an undulating ridge. And it usually attracts quite a good crowd from Canberra to just go out and absolutely hammer around about 12 k's or something like that.
01:05:49
Speaker
Which if it's attracting a good crowd from Canberra, it's probably could end up quite competitive with how many good runners we've got there at this point. Yeah, um So that would be quite fun. But then we also do have the Adelaide Trail Runners Summer Series second race, um which is at Bridgewater over in SA. But other than that, is it ah it looks like it's a quiet week. Yeah, it was the result, the the races were very much some road fun runs, Christmas themed and some like lots of tries happening. But I think we've kind of hit that point in the season where the trails are winding down for for Christmas. and yeah yeah yeah lots of Yeah, lots of road races. Yeah, lots lot still going on if you want to have a bit of a period off the trails.
01:06:35
Speaker
This is so off topic in some ways, but also you've just made me... Think of this. um The only thing I've been paying somewhat attention to on social media recently, are you following Official Unofficial Time?
01:06:47
Speaker
No. Oh, my goodness. They are doing, like, the people's work. um So I'll get the exact um the exact handle, but and I think it is Official Unofficial Time. But essentially it's an Instagram that is made online in Australia and they do all these case files of people cheating at marathons.
01:07:12
Speaker
ah um Whether it be course cutting or and a good portion of it isn't exactly cheating, but you know how you run a marathon and your watch will tell you you've run faster than the chip time.
01:07:23
Speaker
So the main thing is... making people go on their chip time. yeah And I will say they do that they do a very good job of batting. Like they will take hits at running influencers or people that are promoting, particularly runner, it seems, the app, where like they'll post, I ran three, ah um a lot of them, a good portion, it's like, I ran 258. And it's like, sorry, your chip time was 302.
01:07:50
Speaker
um But they'll like actually message them and comment and say, sorry, this cannot be ratified. Please but do this, this, this. But then they've got like full on case files of like one of the most recent one, a guy that was an influencer, very publicly claiming a sub three hour marathon when he is over the mat. He was 317. Yeah.
01:08:10
Speaker
ah um But he just ran until his watch was 42.2, then says he collapsed outside the stadium. And then it's like full on that they've got photos of him taking selfies around the MCG and walking across the mat at 3.17 while posting. Anyways, not exactly anything to do with trail, but as I'm watching it, I'm like, I understand that on some levels this is petty, but for the fact that they're going after people making money out of these results, I love it.
01:08:35
Speaker
Like it's the sort of petty I'm here for. Yeah. So that has been actually my running entertainment and I highly recommend everyone gets on it because I've, and I understand if someone's like brand new to marathoning or whatsoever um and doesn't actually understand the difference between chip time and what their watch says. Like you're allowed, you you' like you don't need to know, yeah,
01:08:59
Speaker
for the people that have been in it quite a while. And like, you can tell that they're trying to do it for a reason. That's who they're going after. um And also course cutters, like people like taking bibs around for other people, trying to get BQ qualifiers and all those sorts of things. It is like, and the way they've set it up makes it is very entertaining. So great follow. Well, it's good to hear that you're still able to connect to the running community in some way. Yeah.
01:09:25
Speaker
yeah it's like Not the most positive way, but it's like sometimes it's like these little things that just seem small, but they're actually really frustrating when you view it, especially if it's like full-on cheating. yeah Like one of the case files, a guy claiming a 240 marathon that apparently ran 30 minutes between 30 and 40K. But then he doesn't have a timing map at the 35K point. And like the the things where you're just like, come on, guys. Yeah. I'm glad you're being called out at this point. Either way, side note, go follow them.
01:09:57
Speaker
Yeah. Big tangent, but interesting. I'm going to definitely going to have a look. and Do it. You'll like it. Report back to me, please. Yeah, will do. Wonderful. Ian, thank you very much for coming on.
01:10:08
Speaker
for having me It was hard not to just pepper you with more questions. So if everyone listening to this and they're like, why don't they keep asking this? Like we will, we will catch up very soon. But it's like, if you ask one, you just have to ask them all. so Yeah.
01:10:20
Speaker
yeah it's it's tricky you kind of want to just go for it but then we would be here in about three hours time still so um we will catch up thank you so much for coming well done the weekend sim good to see you move or good to hear you're moving forward yeah hopefully this doesn't put you on the bed for matt to spoon feed you in his butler's outfit with no pants hand feed grapes yeah cool awesome thanks so much thank you