Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Hong Kong 33km Winner Billy Curtis!
316 Plays10 days ago
Welcome to a special episode of the Peak Pursuits podcast where you will get to hear host Brodie Nankervis interview Billy Curtis fresh off his win in ‘The Third’ at HK100 and recent move to Japan.
Thanks for joining us on Peak Pursuits! Connect with us on Instagram @peakpursuits.pod and share your thoughts, questions, or your own trail stories. Until next time, keep hitting the trails and chasing those peak pursuits!
Billy: @billycurtis
Brodie: @brodienank
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/tropicana
License code: MFJHTO0ZMVHA84WI
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction to Billy Curtis and his recent victory
00:00:19
Speaker
Welcome to this special interview on the Peak for Shoots podcast. My name's Brody, one of our regular hosts. And today I'm joined by recent winner of the Hong Kong 30K, who's now currently living over in Japan, Billy Curtis. How are you going, Billy? Yeah, very well. Thank you for having me on the podcast. Good to have you. We've seen we've talked a bit about you. I'm sure the listeners have heard your name. um You've been pretty ah present, I would say, in the Australian trail running community over the last couple of years, putting yourself out there, running a lot of races, um Golden Trail Series, UTA, Buffalo Stampede, chasing after those competitive races. um We haven't had a chance to chat to you yet, so it's great to have you on and off the back of a big win in Hong Kong, which is very cool. How are you feeling after the race?
00:01:07
Speaker
Yeah, really good. Yeah. I try to stay involved with all of the big races in Australia. So that's good. It's good to hear you read a lot of a few of the ones that I've been in, but yeah, after the race, I feel really good. And it wasn't a ah big target race or anything, but I felt really healthy leading into it in the weeks leading in. And yeah, I felt really good after as well. So, and recovery has been really, really good. So yeah. Awesome. so We might get into that a little bit ah later on. I just wanted to start with a little bit of an overview of you, um,
00:01:36
Speaker
we usually on these podcasts, I'm trying to keep up with sort of the current events of what's happening at the moment, but it's good to add some context to
Billy's journey into competitive trail running
00:01:44
Speaker
who you are. So can you give us the five minute rundown of who Billy Curtis is and and what's led to you getting to this moment here? Yeah. Okay. So I probably started seriously trial running at the start of 2023. I signed up to Buffalo 20K because I thought it was a one of the most competitive events in Australia and sort of in the shorter distance as well. So I was tempted to go into like really, really long races that 100K, 100 mile when I first started running and then was like, ah it's probably not super smart. um Then yeah, I signed up to Buffalo 20 and was just sort of researching the the most competitive races around Australia.
00:02:21
Speaker
and then found UTA where we raced each other in 2023, BTU 30 I think it was, and then a few local races as well that had like some good competition at the time like Ben Duffus and Jeremy Hunt were racing a few races around locally.
00:02:40
Speaker
um And then towards the end of the year, there was Triple Tops and Ostril Kosciuszko as well. And yeah, that was sort of like my year of like trying to find as many competitive races as possible in the shorter distances so I could race regularly, but then also be able to train like a ah like a more of a higher volume and not have to sort of taper big time into races or recover big time afterwards. And then I sort of did the same thing in 2024, but luckily we had like a bit more of a format with racing with the Golden Trail series. So I could do three of those races, still do UTA, still do Buffalo at the 42 K and then yeah, jump into other smaller races here and there. And then towards the end of the year, I was looking for a bigger goal, which was the Asia Pacific champs. Um, and sort of did a massive training block before that and avoided some races, which I kind of regret doing because I love racing.
00:03:30
Speaker
And then also towards the end of the year in December, did a 70K races, like sort of a tester for the longer distance stuff, which I don't plan to actually go into at any stage soon, but I sort of want to test every year of how the body responds to going into a longer event. But yeah, so a lot of training the past two years when I've sort of decided to commit on the pursuing it as at a high level and a lot of racing too, but not so much, I would just say specific, ah specific training for a specific race, which this year I'm hoping to do a bit more yeah explicit towards actually performing well at my racing calendar rather than loads and loads of training in base building. Yeah, awesome. And um it's it's yeah it's really interesting to hear. And I want to touch on that a little bit um when we talk about Hong Kong 30 and what's coming up for you.
Strategies and notable races
00:04:21
Speaker
um But yeah, just reflecting on 2023 and 2024, you really dove head first in and went and chased after those, which is really impressive, I think, like um going straight into those really competitive races, putting yourself out there, seeing what you could do, racing from the front, ah pushing yourself hard. I remember UTA 23, you were leading for like a good 60, 70% of that race. So um it was, yeah, it's great to see your progression just by giving it giving it a shot and now i'm really excited to see what you can do when you sort of do that more targeted training that you're talking about because you've already shown some some really great performances off just sort of getting out there and getting it done yeah thank you yeah and also at triple tops as well oh yeah true you you've probably led like 80 percent of that race and i just snuck past right at the end yeah i got you the course record i reckon Yeah, that's, that's definitely an assist. I'll give you the assist for that. Cause I was chasing you hard all day and then, and then I got you just before the last descent or yeah so probably at the top of the last descent and then I just let loose. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. Nice. Yeah. it's i Yeah. Me and you have had some great races on the trails as well. It's been, it's been really fun and I love racing against you. Um, it's, it's great friendly competition and pushing hard. Um, but.
00:05:40
Speaker
I wanted to touch on just briefly, out of all of those races you did in 2023 and 2024, which race do you think was your best race? And maybe why? um I'd say triple tops would have to be up there actually as well, best and most enjoyable. Yeah, but because I didn't know the course at all. And it was way more technical than anything that I've been racing on or running on before. So I think that ah that was actually quite a good race until probably the last three or four K want to blow up a bit because I had no water, and no gels, no nothing there. But um other than that, I'd say probably cosy as well. Not so much performance wise, but more race strategy wise. I think, yeah, actually performance wise too. But I think that I just raced a very smart race there.
00:06:27
Speaker
Um, just because I held back for a long period of time and base base got paced by Mike Carroll there and then pushed at the end, ended up coming second, which I, and I think a good reflection of it is also not that they're always accurate, but like your UTMB and intro index as well. And then also the competition of the field. Yeah. Yeah. And it looks like from your UTMB that the race in ultra trail cozy is.
00:06:53
Speaker
one of your highest scores, probably your second highest it looks like. um yeah i and It's about 20 to 25 points a bit too high though. and yeah yeah i do I do still think that I know the runners who race that event and they are really strong. and Yes, yeah yeah it was a super competitive race and you beat some some some really great runners as well. so was It was quite an impressive way to finish your first real gear trail running, I guess like your first competitive year of racing.
00:07:21
Speaker
And the reason I say cosy as well is because I wasn't as, I wasn't super fit or anything for that race too. Like I was fit obviously for the time period that I've been training, but I think I outperformed my fitness a lot more than say 2024 is racing where I probably raced it always at like 80, 90% of ability. But then I felt that cosy, I probably raced it a hundred to 110% of ability just because it was a smarter race and I tapered for it, all those sorts of things.
00:07:48
Speaker
Yeah, yeah, cool. And I guess that shows those how those additional things can really help the outcome of the race. So it's it's really cool to hear that reflection. um I don't know this, I was looking at all your race results. And I sort of agree with Itro and UTMB that maybe the BTU race this year, the 20k, that was 25.5k in Brisbane, you came second there. um I feel like you got lost in that result got lost a little bit because it was the Leo versus Tate battle where Tate went off of course and Leo won the Golden Trail overall but you snuck in there in second place not really that far behind Leo who was on fire that day and and did beat Ronnie Spark as well so I thought that was that was a really impressive performance and I guess maybe home trails for you so you felt comfortable there maybe. Yeah I got a good night's sleep before that race which I never get so that was that was a big bonus and I do look at that one as a
00:08:45
Speaker
um like personally is like a good result because I've never, I've never felt like I was any good, still don't really, at the actual running part of trail running, like the yeah faster flat running and being able to sort of stay within 90 seconds to two minutes of Leo over two hours of, I would say flat, non-technical trail running. And then also have a depth to like 10th place in that field, I think was very strong. A lot of people running under a 15 minute 5K,
00:09:13
Speaker
in their past um and if they haven't already. And even someone like Blake Turner I think was three three minutes behind you and we saw sort of how strong he's run at some other races later in the year as well as previous years. so Yeah, definitely, yeah, yeah. Yeah, so I'd say the fact that I could run well in that race was probably a big personal achievement but um at that stage I was also in a pretty big training block too so I didn't look at that race as like a A race race, if that makes sense. But then reflecting on me, I look at it and go, oh, wow, you're actually capable of of running a bit faster. So that's a good sign. Fantastic. Fantastic. And that maybe let brings us to the end of the year. You ran at the Asia Pacific champs and then and then did that sort of IZU race in in Japan. How how did you feel the Asia Pacific champs went? I think maybe you weren't as happy with it.
00:10:08
Speaker
um What was the feelings of that?
Lessons from the Asia Pacific champs
00:10:11
Speaker
Yeah, a lot of positives and negatives of the positive of the race day in racing. It was that even with not feeling amazing, I sort of kept a ah pretty consistent, a pretty, pretty consistent effort over the whole four hours or four hours, 15 that it took. So I think it would have been very easy to mentally just fall apart, either pull out or just go, oh, I'm not on, I'm not on today. This is terrible feeling so tired.
00:10:38
Speaker
So there was a lot of like positives in that way that that I didn't fall apart completely. It just sort of kept it like a ah ah pretty awful vi ability all through the whole race, if that makes sense, but it didn't get worse. So that was like a big positive, but the big negative was yeah, going into it off just way too much training under recovery and yeah, not not traveling well, not keeping stress low, all those sort of things. Yeah. Yeah. And and how was that? experience, I guess, of maybe the preparation, reflecting on that and going that wasn't ideal. How has that changed your preparation for, say, the Hong Kong 30 race or how are you're thinking about training going forwards?
00:11:21
Speaker
um I don't regret doing any of the training volume that I did for sort of 16, 14 to 16 weeks because I feel that it still creates like a massive base for for building on in the future. I think that's like your capacity increases a lot, but it's just that dialing that back into like race preparation is very different and I sort of had to take you sort of another six to eight, even 10 weeks after that of not doing much training and trying to just be healthy again. Yeah, probably took a big chunk that but but now going back to sort of a lower volume of training with a bit more intensity and lots of strides and short workouts that now it's like it's kind of worth it in the end. It just don't do so much for so long without racing without taking down weeks or tapering into a race or recovering that sort of stuff. Yeah, yeah, definitely.
00:12:13
Speaker
um And the preparation for Hong Kong 30, what did that look like? You're currently in Japan. You've been there for how long now?
Training and preparation for Hong Kong 30K
00:12:23
Speaker
I've been here since around the middle of November. So the preparation was started probably a week after the Izu race. So I did some very poor training leading into the 70K and then just sort of went out there and ran. And it was actually the Japan National Championships and I got a free ah f freeight ticket.
00:12:42
Speaker
a foreigner entry as an elite, which was really good. But I got that back in like May, June period, which is really, which is just, I was so pleased to be a part of it. So I couldn't really pull out. I could, you could pull out, but I mean, ah it's like a once in a lifetime race. I think for a foreigner entry, it can cost upwards of a thousand dollars. So ah having the entry was pretty cool.
00:13:06
Speaker
um So yeah, four trainings, six to eight weeks leading into that up in Niseko. So running in the snow and sort of knee deep snow, so not optimal training. Then ran that race, took a week off to just get healthy and not train at all. And then after that, I think I had four to five weeks of um just shorter weeks of running training and just two sessions a week, one flat.
00:13:32
Speaker
bit faster, more like three to five K training on a track almost. And then like a short stair workout that was maybe 10 to 15 minutes of actual intensity, but like quite high intensity. And that's the first time I've ever put together more than two weeks of sessions before in my life, I think. So yeah, yeah, obviously paying off and you feel improvements week to week. And yeah, it was probably a bit early to race, erase that Hong Kong one, but I i just,
00:13:59
Speaker
on the day of the actual Izu trail journey, I got the ticket into that race. So yeah. Yeah, nice. And um with the stair workout sort of specifically targeted at Hong Kong, given that it was like lots of stairs and that, and that course, is that purposeful? Or was that just sort of like where you are living? That was sort of the best training location.
00:14:20
Speaker
A combination of three things that, yes, the race that I'm doing and also the races that I'll be doing the next six months. ah A lot of climbing on the stairs. The second reason is because Diamangi Mountain is the probably 2K. It's where I ran this morning. 2K to the trailhead and it's about 450 meters of climbing over 2.5K. So it's like the perfect spot to do a session. You don't have to travel anywhere. You can roll out of bed.
00:14:47
Speaker
and go to a good session there. And then thirdly, I'm a little bit of a heavy, heavier runner. And I've found that stairs just really destroy me going upstairs. So I really wanted to focus on like improving. I don't know, even know if this is the correct way to do it, but improving sort of power to weight ratio and finding that shoot super steep stairs is probably a good way to just improve that uphill moving uphill really fast, but not running uphill, just sort of staring uphill. Yeah, cool. Cool. yeah and And it sounds like maybe you've already had some small benefits in the um ah you messaging me. I was asking you about how the race went and you were saying that you felt quite strong on the climbs, particularly maybe some of the stair climbs at Hong Kong. Was that right?
00:15:34
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. Yeah. I think the stairs just really target like around your quads and your, what is it called? Your VMO muscle. yeah I think it's always been quite, quite weak for me. So yeah, yeahre just doing a few weeks of that and a bit more like targeted strength training for trial running, I guess too, has sort of helped a little bit. But I mean, that's only a four or five week block of training. So you're not benefiting a ton from it. least Most of it's coming from a huge base of training with a lot of volume.
00:16:03
Speaker
back end of last year or middle of last year, and now sort of being healthy and starting to move a bit quicker again. Yeah, fantastic. That's really good. um Let's go through the race a little bit. Tell us a little bit about Hong Kong 30 or the Hong Kong race and and um what it was all about, your experiences there, um a little bit about the event in general. How was it? Yeah, it was amazing. So what inspired me to do the race was was one of the hosts of the podcast, Vlad.
00:16:33
Speaker
Um, he's one of the reasons that I'm racing in Asia generally as well, because he had a sort of has a rich history racing here. Um, and then also in Hong Kong, he he was based here for, or based in Hong Kong for many, many years running. Um, but yeah, the, the actual race.
00:16:51
Speaker
played out. it was ah It was a competitive field, but not so much compared to the 50 and the 100 because they're part of the world trail mangers short and long course, but we still had some really strong runners. And then we also had a sort of course records and the the times from previous years to sort of run off and then Vlad's are always either one or been on the podium.
00:17:09
Speaker
at this race in the 50 and 100 as well, I think. um But yeah, it went off quick like any race does, especially in Asia. or the The runners just go off the first 2K at like a three minute pace, always, always. um But the actual race is super flat and runnable for a lot of the road sections. And then a lot of the trail sections are climbing on really steep stairs that are ah kind of technical, kind of, yes, dairy, not not fast, not getting really fast sort of gap paces going up. And then the downhills are quite technical and stereo again. And then you'll roll back into like a flat section that's
00:17:48
Speaker
either super runnable on road or concrete or you go onto like beaches and sand. So you can imagine by the description, it is quite beautiful. You are, you are going up like these, this the sort of the spine of these mountains that only go up to three or 400 meters high, but they're on the beach. So you get amazing views across the coastline and of the bays and then back at Hong Kong as well. And then you'll come back down and run along the beach. And then yeah, sort of repeat that for a 33 K circuit. Yeah. Awesome.
00:18:17
Speaker
The beaches look so nice. like the The beaches look really pretty. and I don't think I've seen that part of Hong Kong before. No, it's probably 30, 40 kilometers from Hong Kong. But okay when when you're there on like the summit, you can obviously see the city of Hong Kong. And it looks just there. Because when you're 30, 40 kilometers, that's not very far when you're up 500 meters above sea level.
00:18:39
Speaker
And then you've got yeah the ah the oceans and the bays just there. It's just like white sand and blue beaches and mountains. And yeah, it's it's awesome. It's cool. Yeah, nice. Nice. And how did it go with the the racing against the other competitors that sounded like you were maybe not right at the front ah at the start and then you sort of made your way up through maybe like a similar tactical race to like UTK where you sort of ran measured and then came home strong or what was the but was the approach?
00:19:08
Speaker
I approach for this one was, yeah, I wasn't really racing against anyone else in the field. Like obviously you are because you're in a race and you're racing, but I just wanted to have like a nice controlled run the entire run and not, because it's my first race of the season, I'm coming off a bit of a fatigue and burnout. So I didn't want to push too hard the whole race.
00:19:28
Speaker
um So yeah, the first few K were quite reasonable. Vlad sort of let out and he let out. i I thought at quite a ah moderate pace, like a pace that I was only about 10, 15 seconds back for the first.
00:19:42
Speaker
20 minutes and I was like, wow, this is, we're running really crazy here. Cause I remember Vlad's times for the first hour last year were really quick, like super quick. So I think he maybe took it a bit easier for the first hour this time or to the first checkpoint, which is like 12 K or so. Um, but yeah, when we popped out onto the the damn wall section, which is basically rolling, rolling bitumen along a band ah damn wall for 4K or so. The pace really picked up because we had a few guys that were sort of two 15, two 20 marathon runners. So when they got on that flat section on the,
00:20:17
Speaker
on the road there, they picked up the pace a lot and Vlad went with them. And then I sort of went, I'm not, I'm not running that fast today. Even my splits along there were were very quick for me, but I would love to know what theirs were. Cause they would have put, yeah, like 90 seconds into me in like a, you know, 15 minute period, I'd say. And then when we started hitting the climbs, I was very surprised that we, cause I could see them from across the dam. Well, I would have been like, yeah, 90 seconds, two minutes back. But by the time I got to the first climb,
00:20:44
Speaker
I was already within 10 seconds of them um up about a three, 400 metre climb. So I sort of knew then I was like, oh, well, I'm really comfortable and he like feeling comfortable right now climbing this and they don't look tired because I can't really see them. But if they're climbing this slow, they're probably not feeling amazing already. yeah And then, yeah, as the race sort of went on the first descent or the first major descent, I sort of went past second and third and then Vlad was up ahead, went past Vlad.
00:21:14
Speaker
and then sort of hooked it a bit down there the first technical downhill. um And then sort of, yeah, Vlad and I were sort of running together back and forth, back and forth for, I would say another, yeah, eight, nine, 10K along the beaches and through like the jungle sections and a few little so fewe little pinchy climbs there. And then when we got to sort of 24, 25K,
00:21:39
Speaker
my effort level felt quite low at that time and I sort of caught back up to Vlad and I just thought, wow, wow this is actually pretty good. i feel I feel good. And I'll sort of run this last main climb, which is the biggest, sort of the biggest steep climb. I think they call it the wall in the race, which is basically stairs and technical uphill for 450 meters of uphill I think over a few k and then goes back down the other side to the finish line for another 4k or so and you know I was very surprised with that last climb I think I've got a good I got a good engine at the moment from doing that 70k race and the good volume of training so it's sort of yeah it was nice to feel good at the end of the race I think I I think I've got that there's a 40 minute segment there I did and even compared to previous years I think I'm six minutes ahead on the last
00:22:26
Speaker
40 minutes of the race. So it was good to see that, like, I've got a good back end of a race, even over three hours. Yeah, fantastic. Yeah, it's really good feedback and obviously a nice, like, I'm sure I think we'll hear from Vlad in the main podcast this week as well about his race. But, um, beating Vlad is no slouch and and also those other runners sound like they're fairly handy. So it was, it was, um, a nice race to sort of ah run against a competitive field and and then sort of come home strong and and get the win. I'm sure it was quite good.
00:22:56
Speaker
quite a good feeling. Yeah, it was good. Yeah, yeah, yeah. I've got some bigger, bigger goals in mind for the next few months. So still wasn't um finishing going, Oh, this is amazing. This is my big race, you know, that sort of thing. So yeah, yeah yeah it's still, it's still fitting into like a yeah bigger a six months, but it's really good to have a, I was expecting more to run around 252 to 255 over that same effort level. So to, to run almost 10 minutes faster is yeah awesome. And to feel that good towards the 25 26 came up to then feel like I could push hard. Yeah, it was a pretty good feeling actually.
00:23:32
Speaker
Yeah, fantastic. So you're touching on some sort of bigger goals over the next six months. What's what's the
Future races and goals
00:23:38
Speaker
plan? what's What's in store for the next six months for you? So the next six months will basically be, I'll have another race in in China, in China, which is a UTMB race. I'm just doing it to you know collect a stone and and to run the competitive shorter race again. There's not so many sub ultra races in Asia that are competitive. It's more the 50k 100k races that are the most competitive there's not not much stuff around that like in europe where you've got all these races 20 to 40k that are super super strong so it's sort of slim pickings basically to find the short trail races
00:24:11
Speaker
Um, so I'll go to China at the first of May for that race. Um, my next sort of bigger race, which I'll label like a B B plus sort of race is the Japan short course championships. So it's their selection race for the world trail running championships in, um, Spain at the end of the year. And it's also there, it's like their big, um, historic race. So easy trail journey was there long course national championships, which is like very.
00:24:40
Speaker
kind of like a big historic and important race intrinsically to the Japanese trail runners and then Hasetun cup 30k is also the same sort of thing like a very historic race has been raced for decades and the the the winners not only get like a get selected for the Japan national team but it's just like a yeah a very important race to the Japanese trail runners. So I want to be a part of that and push as hard as I can. But I obviously won't have that intrinsic sort of motivation to to become the Japan national champion. But I'd love to be there at the front and have a go because you've got yeah cool the best trail runners in the world have raced that race walk from Japan anyway and won it. Yeah, cool. Cool.
00:25:24
Speaker
Anything, when's that race again? Sorry, was that in May? ah that's That one's on the 30th of March. And then after that, I will go to race in um Korea for their Golden and Trail National Series. So the same thing as we have in Australia. Three races. No, there's three races for them. So two series races in one final. So the first one is.
00:25:47
Speaker
Um, on the 26th of April, which is, um, their first series race for the golden trail national series. And that's part of the, uh, the career 50 K. So the same organization is. that That set up the, um, nine peaks trial festival in South Korea, where the Asian chance was. So that same organization. Um, and that'll be cool to be a part of. And then three weeks after that, I'll be flying back to Australia to race in UTA.
00:26:11
Speaker
and fingers crossed I can get a 50K ticket. I've got my 20K ticket from winning last year, but I haven't really been approved for the 50K. So hopefully I can somehow swing that one, but I know it's a major now. So they've got new restrictions on what your UTMB index has to be to get a ticket, but hopefully I can swing that one and be a part of that.
00:26:31
Speaker
Fantastic. And is that the, you were saying that the Japan race was a B plus if you do get to run UTA, does that, is that the A race or is there something else around? hold on that but That's the A race. Yeah. Fantastic. Yeah. Cool. It would be awesome to see you racing back at UTA again, hopefully in the 50. Um, hopefully fingers crossed we get to see you there. And then maybe after that, I hear you might be moving country.
Plans for moving to Vietnam and racing in Asia
00:27:00
Speaker
where you headed after that? Yes, the plan is to to head to Vietnam to live in s Sapa. So I've got a good opportunity to ah to work and live there. So I have to come back to Australia, sort out my visa and everything and then move there and be based out of there as a as basically as a professional trainer or as professional as I can ah can be at the moment. So be racing full time around, racing and training in Asia full time and just have bits and pieces of work for whether it's a bit of English teaching, a little bit of help with coaching, that sort of stuff, running some training camps. Sounds very cool. Yeah, yeah. Very excited to hear more about it when it when you know more and it shapes up a little bit. So we'll definitely get you back on the chat about that maybe when you're in Supo and get a bit of ah an idea of what what you're up to. That'd be very cool to hear. Yeah, awesome. It sounds like you're following in Vlad's footsteps.
00:27:56
Speaker
Yeah, it was in Hong Kong. Yeah, I mean, I mean, I was following it for 80% of the time in Hong Kong. Yeah. Well, yeah, it is. I mean, Vlad went out for dinner that night and sort of spoke about it too. And it is hard to um sort of for an Australian to find a way to become a ah top level runner because you are isolated in Australia and there's not as many opportunities to race at a high level. And when you do get the opportunity, it's ah it's a long trip and very expensive.
00:28:26
Speaker
I haven't got to even do it yet, but that's what I've been told. Yeah. Um, and also being able to model your, your career of someone else is a little bit more difficult too. You could look at people like, you can look at people like Killian or Jim Wamsley or Tom Evans or these top runners, but they're so far away from where we are, if that makes sense in terms of level. Um, so for me, someone like Vlad looking at his career in Asia is like,
00:28:52
Speaker
the perfect way to model your first few years of racing. And then also I'm good friends with him now and speak to him quite often and sort of can ask him about some of the smaller mistakes that he made and the bigger mistakes he made throughout his time racing in Asia and logistically how to do it well as well.
00:29:07
Speaker
so Yeah, he's ah's really good to have in in my corner. Yeah, fantastic. That's really cool. um And the question that's on my lips, and I don't know if it's everyone's lips, but um what is there a plan to try and get to the world champs in Spain? Like, is that part of the ah big picture goal for the whole year? is that Or is that not so much? um I would hope to. I will apply. Will I be able to afford it? That's another question because Yeah. Part of living in, in Asia is to reduce the cost of living, to give me more opportunities to race and train. But then you have like a massive expense of getting over to Europe and just the general costs involved with, with being on the team going there is, is quite a lot. But I do have a few other little ways of maybe getting over there, which we'll be trying to do well at that, um, golden trial series in Korea and
00:30:02
Speaker
if If I can do well enough there, I might be able to get things like flights and accommodation over there and then maybe and try to get over there early enough to to try. But I've got to still get on the team and I've got to still apply and have a few more good races, I think anyway. Yep. Yep. So there's a few if spots, maybe we'll see what happens. But yeah, it'll be, it's cool to hear that you're throwing your hat in the ring and I'm really excited to see what happens for you this year. I think you're definitely going to be one.
00:30:29
Speaker
to watch and see, especially with the racing in Asia and that sort of thing, I think it'd be cool to see some Aussies doing something a little bit different. There hasn't been probably as many Aussies racing in Asia as much over the last few years, so you might be leading a bit of a new charge.
00:30:46
Speaker
Yeah, I hope so. I think that I think that there's a lot more opportunities here than people give it granted for and they sort of fly over the top of it straight to Europe, which fair enough because Europe is unbelievable. And I haven't even been there. So I can't really make comments about, yeah, whether which one's better or which one has more opportunities. But I think the cost of getting over to the Asia races is actually pretty good prize money. A lot of the a lot of the races and you can get a lot of athlete support as well. And things like Itcher and UTMB indexes are much lower for qualifications in the races and to to get invitations in. So yeah, it can actually be a good place to be to race or to fly to from Australia. Yeah, sure sure. Cool. Awesome. All right. Well, thanks so much, Billy, for chatting to us. um If any listeners want to sort of follow on your journey, we'll obviously be keeping them up to date with results and whatnot, trying to keep track of how you're going. But is there anywhere else they can follow what what you're up to?
00:31:42
Speaker
Yeah. i mean I mean, if anyone's interested in racing in Asia and and wants to know more about logistics, I'm learning it myself. So I can, I definitely love making um like travel plans and looking at how to get places for really cheap and to do it well as an athlete. So if you are interested in racing in Asia, please yeah send us a message on Instagram and I'll help talk your way through it, I guess, because it can be really, really stressful getting to a race and finding accommodation and food and, yeah, working out the logistics. and Fantastic. I try to share as much as I can about the ah running, the trail running and and the unique running culture of of Japan. But, yeah, it's kind of hard to to put it out there in in the Instagram form, I guess. Yeah. yeah And you're also on Strava as well, aren't you? um So people can sort of see what you're up to running wise there.
00:32:32
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. And on Strava too. Yeah. Yeah. And we might get you back in for to be, uh, the Asia correspondent a few more times across the year. So I'm sure we'll hear from you again. Yeah. I would like to get to some big races in Asia, even but if I'm not racing and just sort of be there and watch the some of the ah top Asian athletes run. Cause they are incredible. Like, yeah, yeah. incredible and Fantastic. Fantastic. Oh, well, thanks so much, Billy, for jumping on and chatting to me today. And I'm sure everyone will get.
00:33:00
Speaker
a lot out of it. And it sounds like it's going to be a big six months ahead of you. So looking forward to that. Yeah, thank you. And so I couldn't provide more more context to things as well. Some people might listen and just go, what was it? Why is he wasting his life over there? So yeah, it's probably not a whole lot of context if you don't know who I am yet. But yeah, hopefully we can have another chat feature about it. For sure. All right. Thanks so much, Billy. Thank you, Brody. Nice to talk to you.