Become a Creator today!Start creating today - Share your story with the world!
Start for free
00:00:00
00:00:01
Grampians Peak Trail 100 2025 Preview
327 Plays1 day ago
For this event preview, James and Brodie are joined by special guest Ben Burgess. Ben raced in the 100 mile event last year and was placed 2nd when the dust settled, and has a wealth of knowledge and enthusiasm about this event!
We preview the overall event and the special, yet demanding conditions in which it is held, diving in deep to the 50km and 100 mile fields.
Looking forward to what will no doubt be an epic 4 days of racing, hopefully a little cooler this year!
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!
James: @coachjamessieber
Brodie: @brodie_nank
Ben: @_benburgess
GPT 100: @gpt100miler
Photo: @calumnhockey
Music from #Uppbeat (free for Creators!): https://uppbeat.io/t/soundroll/tropicana
License code: MFJHTO0ZMVHA84WI
Recommended
Transcript
Introduction and Guest Welcome
00:00:20
Speaker
Hello and welcome to the Peepersuse podcast. Today we are going to be going through the Grampian Peaks Trail 100 mile and 50k preview show. My name is James. I'm joined by Brody as always, but we have a special guest in the show. Ben Burgess is joining on. Ben reached out very quickly and was like, I really want to be on um on this preview. So excited to have essentially the second place male from last year. I know obviously it got cut short, but have your opinion on it all.
00:00:46
Speaker
Ben, how you going?
Grampian Peaks Trail Overview
00:00:47
Speaker
Yeah, I'm stoked. I'm happy to be here, man. And super psyched to see this race take on another year post bushfires but we live to die another day and um the depth is just it's building every year this is turning into one of the premier races in australia but also oceania as well super exciting definitely definitely brodie we're back to do another one how you going Yeah, good, good. I'm excited. I've been to this event the last two years.
00:01:15
Speaker
I've done two different races there. um Not going to be out there this year, so this is my way in staying involved. You're just going to suddenly jump in the stage race? I was tempted to go out and be like a volunteer. If it wasn't clashing with I'm heading down to Tassie, I would have gone out and just volunteered and been a part of the event. But, um yeah, unfortunately I'm elsewhere that weekend. But, yeah, it's going to be a lot of fun. And like Ben said, its this race has gone from strength to strength. And, um yeah, we're seeing probably, yeah, I'd say we are seeing the most, it has to be the most competitive field this year with some of the names coming across. So, yeah, very good to see.
00:01:52
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to be a good conversation. Definitely one that you're going to want to stick around for.
World Trail Majors Series Announcement
00:01:58
Speaker
The first talking point, I guess, GPT is only into its third year. It's run by single track. They obviously have Buffalo, Hounslow and Roller Coaster.
00:02:06
Speaker
And it's already garnering a lot of attention domestically, as we're going to talk about, about the kind of the depth of, especially I think the the men's 100 mile and the women's 50k fields. But internationally now, the big announcement was that it's become one of the, think, 12 races in the world trail majors.
00:02:22
Speaker
series Ben, I'll come to you like being, having a world trail major in Australia. What do you think that means about the attention on Australian trail running, but also for trail running in Australia?
00:02:36
Speaker
I mean, it means as much as the community cares to give it. And, you know, when it got an announced, ah the world trail majors weren't really on my radar, I guess, because we don't have so many close to home.
00:02:50
Speaker
We do have a couple through Asia, but to make that trip feels like a bit of a mission for a lot of Aussies. But we are seeing in the field this year already just some of the the names. I won't list them off now, but ah we have some of the like the top 10 runners in the world like making their way from the States, from Asia, from Europe to compete in a tiny little town in the middle of Victoria,
00:03:19
Speaker
uh it's it's super cool to see and singletrack have worked their absolute butt off uh they put their networking hats on and got in touch with pretty much everyone they could to make this happen it's pretty incredible that it only in year two two years of an event only one successful hundred mile finish yeah out of those two years so uh 50 strike rate but obviously we have something special here the grampians if you've been out there we know they're incredible We know they're kind of quintessential Australian trails as well.
00:03:53
Speaker
And so to say it's a world trail major doesn't mean anything until we give it the ah emphasis and support from the community and people care and Australians care. And we're seeing that this year.
00:04:06
Speaker
Brody, what about yourself?
Impact of World Trail Majors Inclusion
00:04:07
Speaker
Yeah, like I – the world trail majors have sort of stopped paying attention a little bit after I did show – I was fairly interested last year when they – released like a short course version.
00:04:20
Speaker
but then at the start of the year there wasn't a heap of information about what what exactly that was going to mean. um um can see now I just jumped on the website. I've literally been like 12 months since I've looked at it, um but there is also prize money for the short series as well. So, yeah, it's it's very interesting. I don't know how it filters down, like I don't know how it compares to something like the world marathon majors, like what the general population are thinking about it. I think they set it up with a similar type of vibe of that, like these are sort of,
00:04:50
Speaker
really high class events that you might want to go and and visit not not just the elites like this is just everyone like these are these are races that are worth going to um i'm not sure how that side of things is going um but yeah it's great that gpt one of those because it does show like it was selected because it has the quality to be one of those like if you compare it to the marathon world the sydney marathon like it's it's the similar maybe not the same process that that sydney went through but um to get the recognition to be part of this, even though it's a new thing, they did sort of have to show that they they were worth it.
00:05:26
Speaker
So, yeah, it's it's cool that we have one. I think even if it's just that we ah get some more elites, hopefully we get some more just ah people who are going around and ticking off the world marathon majors as
Weather Challenges and Race Dynamics
00:05:40
Speaker
well. We get general participants as well from other ah countries. But at this stage, like it looks, I don't know how that's flown through the result the the entry list and we might Joe might be able to tell us.
00:05:49
Speaker
um but we're definitely seeing some elites come across. And that's because what but um what Ben was saying, there's that prize money attached to it. So it is actually beneficial for them to come across. So, um yeah, it's's it's pretty cool that we're getting a world-level race that isn't ah one of the UTMB races because it's it's nice to see some diversity there as well.
00:06:13
Speaker
I think what, Ben, you said domestically is it it really only matters – our community cares about it. But I think that from an international perspective, it's definitely...
00:06:24
Speaker
We're already seeing other podcasts like Free Trail, essentially like the the leading media platform in trail running, probably worldwide, definitely obviously in the States. like They're talking about it.
00:06:35
Speaker
Some of the names we said that are coming across, I think that when you're talking about the iconic trails across the world, and I do i do hope that World Trail Mayors just doesn't become another UTMB style where they have 40, 50 events. And these are the, Brody's just getting served his lunch right now. the These are the 12,
00:06:53
Speaker
the twelve like iconic trails across the country across the world I think that will over time be a draw card but what it does show is the effort that Singletrack has put into growing trail running not just for the the local community but to bring awareness in and as kind of we we know the more awareness the more attention typically the better the output as well for everybody in the field so it is exciting and yeah as we keep alluding to but not talking about it is bringing in some pretty epic names One of the things that has happened, obviously, the the first two years, the first year there was a pause because of storms and lightning strikes.
00:07:31
Speaker
The second year it got cancelled because of extreme heat. So far, the weather is looking incredibly favourable. um We're going to start off talking about the 50k, which is happening on Thursday. Obviously, we're recording this on Saturday, the 1st November, so we're six days out.
00:07:46
Speaker
Still long range forecast, but as it stands, we're looking at sort of highs of 16, sun bit of rain, lows of six. So nothing nothing that is indicating at the moment that this is going to be a abnormal weather event year, which is pretty pretty awesome, especially from the events organizers perspective.
00:08:06
Speaker
Brodie, sorry, he shoved his face full of food and to ask me a question.
00:08:14
Speaker
From the course perspective, if you were going in knowing this is going to be a really hot year, which essentially was was last year, where where are you thinking the cruxes are in that 50K course?
00:08:25
Speaker
like It's such a different course, and I think Ben will say the same thing. like it's so This is a course out of any other course I've ever done in the past. It's so dependent on the weather.
00:08:36
Speaker
um I've run it both years, and in – In the first year, I did the stage race, so I ran on all the different days, and one day we had quite warm conditions, and then it was, like, pretty stormy after that.
00:08:50
Speaker
And the the difference in the trail was, like, it was just completely different experience. And I think especially over miler, even over a 50K, it's still it's super important. Yeah.
00:09:03
Speaker
So, yeah, I think looking at the weather conditions this year, it's going to be a very different race to what was last year um because last year was so hot that that just – was the defining part of the race.
00:09:17
Speaker
So the crux was the weather last year and even parts of the course where the weather was you were most exposed to it or the that it had got hotter by that point you got there.
00:09:29
Speaker
um So, yeah, I haven't actually done the 50K when I haven't got to the crux of the course. But just knowing the where you're most ex exposed, I guess, and because you're still going to get, even if it's raining or other conditions, he's still going to be more exposed exposed is is for me probably between the first aid station the second aid station but once you get up on top of the plateau the climb is pretty good like it's it's just a climb it's not too hard if you've done trail races elsewhere across Australia it's nothing special uh but once you're up on top you're really exposed it's quite technical there's a lot of like camber like you're running on like an angle a lot
00:10:08
Speaker
um So it's just, it's a bit different. But that last year, obviously, that was like an oven because you're you're running on rocks. And I think it was worse with Ben and the Milers because they started in midday and the day before have been really hot.
00:10:20
Speaker
um But it is, if it's hot, it's a literal oven because the rocks have had time to heat up. So you're getting radiation from below you and then you' getting exposed direct sunlight on you.
00:10:31
Speaker
um Obviously, that'll be different in in rain, but still the same. Like if it's windy, you get more wet, like all that sort of stuff. You don't have much protection. So I think that you add the technical part to that section as well. And it's undulating and it's probably harder than it looks on paper.
00:10:47
Speaker
um It looks pretty easy on paper. I remember when I did the stage race, I didn't do that leg and I was watching our guys do it and I was like, why are they taking so long? But like then when I went and did the fifty k I was like, okay, that section is that section is hard um in terms of you just don't get into a good rhythm.
00:11:04
Speaker
um So I think that's probably the main bit because after you get to the second aid station, you do a little climb, Again, you're on some more exposed stuff, but it's maybe only for like 15 minutes versus like an hour, hour and a half.
00:11:18
Speaker
And then the descent to the end is pretty easy from my my perspective. Like as descents go, if you've done a trail race, this is probably on the easier side of descending.
00:11:28
Speaker
So, yeah, I think that crux, for me, the key part of the race is that middle section. Yeah, I completely agree with that.
Course Adjustments and Technical Challenges
00:11:37
Speaker
15 to 35K, I think, is the exposed, more technical section of the race It's also like like all racing of all distance, you have the excitement of a start line.
00:11:47
Speaker
you can You can use the energy from that to put you through the first section. um And then once you're into the the back half onto that downhill, you know you're heading into Hall's Gap. You can feel the finish line coming. So it's just about keeping your head through that that middle section where it's getting quite technical, not getting too frustrated with it and just being able to Hold your own and um yeah, keep on your feet.
00:12:11
Speaker
It does look, I think this is a new addition for this year that they have a couple of water points now. So they've added one in about seven or eight K in, and then they've added one about 25 K. Was that there last year when you guys did the course?
00:12:23
Speaker
There was this talk of having a water drop there and I don't remember. it wasn't It was like semi-official, I think. I can't remember how, but I remember there being like looking out for it and then it wasn't there. So yeah I'm not sure if it got there after I was there or if it was never there.
00:12:37
Speaker
But, um yeah, that section between two the first aid station and the second aid station, particularly I think they've probably been like, okay, well, that's it like it took me two hours to pass that section and I'm the leader and I'm also going through there at the time where it's a little less hot because I covered the first bit a bit faster.
00:12:56
Speaker
So you've got the bulk of the field going through there like 10 2 p.m. or something like that is hot and hot there. So I imagine that was one of the things that went, okay, actually, if it's really hot and even if it's not hot, we probably need something in there.
00:13:11
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I know that the historic, the issue is the access is really hard. Like there are. You have to walk that in, I guess. Yeah. that There are these GO tracks that the local parks use to access these points. So it's just a matter of being able to use them and get them up into the right places, but you still have to walk them up the hill. So it's not ah it's not an easy thing. I don't quite think single tracks are the point of getting helicopters to drop in aid station supplies, which would be pretty cool. But it's,
00:13:40
Speaker
I feel like on paper, you look at the terrain profile of the 50K and even the whole race and you go, all right, it's not that bad. But it is both the technicality, but also the exposure that is really, really challenging.
00:13:55
Speaker
Coming into...
Women's 50K Field Analysis
00:13:57
Speaker
50k previews. So we're going to start off with the women's field. As we spoke about, part of the world trail majors is pulling in international fields. There's quite a significant prize purse to win overall. And so think for the fifty k distance, you have to complete, and correct me if wrong, guys, three of the races in the series.
00:14:16
Speaker
It's still Yeah, it's the same. So they wanted to, I just read that actually, and this is why, like, I actually think if an Australian had gone for this, they'd be, and they win this race, like, I guess there's some internationals coming in, but the reason I looked at it was because if you win GPT, you only have to do sort of decent in the other one and you might get in the overall prize money. Yeah.
00:14:37
Speaker
So it is actually quite attractive for an Australian in the future if they're if they're quite good. I think doing GPT and then doing just getting across to Asia or wherever you do the second one um because they wanted to do the same as what the miler, the long course is doing. So they wanted the same rules and whatnot and the miler one is two.
00:14:55
Speaker
So they did two in the 50 as well. Okay, well, also it does make you very accessible. I think that obviously there's a few events going on at same time, but if you're some of our top men or women, it's a cool way to see the world, but also potentially to bring home a bit of cash, which is definitely still on the newer side for the sport. But one name that we're seeing come over, which it's very exciting, is Zhang Fujiao.
00:15:19
Speaker
She's from a ITRA performance perspective, very, very high up is 816. She would fall very nicely into the men's field. And I think we'll be seeing her, my guess is in in that top three overall, if not probably second.
00:15:34
Speaker
um This year alone, she's 13th at CCC, but that was following a second at Western States. She's had a first at Mount Fuji. Like, And then you look at her past results, just multiple top tens at UTMB, another second at Western States. She won Asia Pacific Long Trail last year. And coming across, like, you know that humidity is going to be an absolute, like, no issue for them. Heat is no issue.
00:15:58
Speaker
Incredibly proficient on technical terrain. Like, Aside from the fact that she's done a decent amount this year, but that's super common for Asian athletes. And actually I think she she seems to be on the lower side of their point, as we're going to talk about later with Shanje Sherpa, is quite scary. But ge she had a fifty k in Vietnam, I think, a few weeks ago. But aside from that, hasn't really done too much since since CCC. So I really don't see a gap for me, for her.
00:16:27
Speaker
Yeah. And let me say this about Fu Zhao. is um Dee has the short trail world trail majors locked up. um Now someone someone could match that ah performance potentially at Cape Town.
00:16:41
Speaker
I think there's other people who have won world trail major events in the short trail that could go to Cape Town and also um get a score there. But she currently is the proud owner of 12,000 euros and ah when a win at GPT doesn't actually sway her her situation in the world trail majors.
00:17:00
Speaker
ah leaderboard. so yeah i wonder I wonder what happens if it is a tie. There it is. It's actually telling me it's a tie. You've got to assume they have some protocol in place. It says the runner with the highest ITRA score achieved will be placed ahead.
00:17:15
Speaker
If still tied, the second highest ITRA score would untie. Okay. Well, Fuziao is the sixth best 50k runner by ITRA rank in the world right now. So, wouldn't be surprised if I think it goes by india it looks like it goes by individual race, like the score in a race, but she'd still probably be pretty good, I imagine.
00:17:40
Speaker
Yeah, and I mean, Fujiao's range is just wild. The fact that she was second at States for the second year in a row um means that like this woman can run 100 miles, she can run 50k, she can kind of do it all on any terrain.
00:17:53
Speaker
Her range is incredible and she's going to be so hard to knock off. Yeah. Yeah. And I don't know, you look at Sylvia, I don't think she's at Cape Town.
00:18:05
Speaker
um It's kind of tricky because obviously start lists are always a little bit funny to come about, but yeah. it's exciting to see what someone like her can do on this course and and to me it's kind of setting a benchmark for other australian athletes to go okay this is what the best in the world can do on one of our home turfs now i can kind of like calibrate myself which if i if if i was in that category of athlete i would really like that because it's obviously easy to feel like a big fish in a small pond over here sometimes and actually go okay cool this is on our home trails where i can go and run every single day and i can do this every single year
00:18:37
Speaker
that's the level yeah yeah and and look if the conditions are good i'm not going to be surprised if she goes under five hours like i did five oh something ah last year just over five hours yeah um like shit her ranking score is on utmb it's easier to directly compare to mine is like 801 and mine is like 820 so like she's a similar caliber athlete So i think if conditions are good, we could see her going under five hours.
00:19:03
Speaker
um And I think, yeah, that's it's a its a ah benchmark. Again, we've got to be careful because you don't want to then expect Australian athletes to match that. But at least they know ballpark. Like, okay, well, I'm 20 minutes behind Fugia. That's actually really good.
00:19:17
Speaker
So, yeah, it will it's great to have her here, even though she doesn't appear to need to be here, I guess, from the World Trail Majors thing.
Domestic vs International Performances
00:19:25
Speaker
No. Because, yeah, it's it's good to have her someone someone of her calibre running this course.
00:19:31
Speaker
Like you said, I think she could be in the overall placings pretty easily. Yeah. Yeah, I think that you look at Mikey's 437, which is the course record.
00:19:42
Speaker
was just curious what the score was for that. That's an 874. So we I think scoring sub five is definitely in the cards. Because you were also like your Achilles was not as exactly happy at this time last Yeah. The only thing with the interest score is it's also affected by the rest of the field. So my interest score ended up being actually quite good because it was so hot that everyone had a tough day.
00:20:04
Speaker
ah So it's not just the time compared to previous times. Like it depends on who how the times go during that day. So when the conditions are off, um it does reflect that.
00:20:15
Speaker
so But I would still say, yeah, like a ah sub five will get a very good it interest score, um I would imagine. Yeah. which we're talking about and taking, I think Sim has the course record about 5.52. So it's yeah well it would be quite a significant jump. And even if we're not talking maybe be quite so sub five, maybe you're setting yourself a touch short, Brody, but it's it's going to be very, very cool to see. I don't know. We'll get to what I think the men can run. Yeah. Yeah. well um the other The other international name coming across, Marcela Vassanova.
00:20:47
Speaker
So for her, she's had 53rd at this year's short trail world champs, which I would probably say get based on the fact that she came 12th in 2023 is not her on her best day.
00:20:59
Speaker
um But she is predominantly a sky runner. So again, when we're talking about terrain perspective, This is like probably like California carpet for her almost um from the stuff she's done. She's coming coming off fourth at two peaks but last weekend and a third at Swiss Canyon 50K at the start of the year. So very good at this sort of terrain, previous six that Sierra's announced. So she's got the speed as well.
00:21:23
Speaker
i I don't think she's going to be challenging Fuzhou, would be my guess, unless Fuzhou is coming in with something that we we don't know. But again, that's Marcella is probably equivalent to the top level of Australia or so, maybe a touch above. And so again, it's kind of like these calibration points that I think is going to be really interesting.
00:21:44
Speaker
Yeah, i think Marcella is going to be a perfect calibration point because... I think, like you said, she's probably either like the trail running world has has evolved as well, but she's not quite getting the results she used to get.
00:21:56
Speaker
um But she's still getting really good results. She's still ahead of the Australians at at World Champs. um So I think she is a she' a really good ah point to be like, okay, she's someone I can try beat if I have a really good day, potentially. Yeah.
00:22:12
Speaker
For her, so she's got a 13, so they they're scored out of 1,500 for the World Trail Majors. She's currently got a 1360 from, oh SCT, you reckon that's going to be?
00:22:24
Speaker
can't remember. Anyway, she's got a 1360. Swiss Canyon, yeah. so if you've So if she does get another second, like gets a second place, which is a 1420, that would jump her up, I think, into the third overall.
00:22:36
Speaker
So it's quite a significant difference reason for her to come across. You can see you can see the draw card for for these athletes. Yeah. The third overall is €2,500. thousand yours yeah Ben, got... I was going to say the exact same thing. like you know There's prize money worth chasing for that. i mean it would cover your whole trip to Australia if if you managed to push yourself up there. so Not too shabby. Yeah, and that's without talking about sponsor bonuses and that sort of stuff because that might be associated with some of that stuff, especially like something like World Trail Majors. It's like it is ah whilst it's very hard in the trail running world to say this is better than that, this is better than that, but something like winning or being in the podium for World Trail Majors you'd think would be something a sponsor might be interested in.
00:23:22
Speaker
and looking at. So whether it's a current sponsor, future sponsor, or there's something attached to it, I think there's probably part of that as well when we look at these races. And I mean, yeah James, you just said that um you know the the top level Australian runners would um like to think that they could challenge Marcella. Well, we have arguably in form one of Australia's best runners who has just signed up to this race, ah Lucy Bartholomew thrown her hat in the ring last minute. She's obviously riding a wave of confidence. I reckon she's, we all know she's in some serious form coming off the back of roller coaster.
00:24:00
Speaker
She's doing four peaks this weekend and then following weekend, in coming race at GPT and she's, You know, she knows this course better than almost anyone out there too. So local knowledge plays a big role as well.
00:24:13
Speaker
Yeah, the fact that she's got 50K from 2023, got nearly all the way in the miler last year. and then I think the obviously the question with Lucy is she's just done rollercoaster 46 and absolutely smashed it. She's ah doing all four days at four peaks where I just looked at the results. she She beat Demi by five minutes today.
00:24:32
Speaker
ran up in 75 which is a pretty stout time for for the women's field it's it's not a focus for her she's told me that and so it's kind of like okay uh where where is lucy going to be from a freshness perspective over a 50k we know it's lucy her capacity to back up is just unmatched but i ah part of me really wishes she was coming in a little bit fresher but this isn't of this probably like it she decided to enter what two days ago three days ago yeah um but she is also in like my notes essential essentially for lucy are saying that this is definitely the best shape we've seen in recent years potentially ever like i would be really curious to talk to her and ask like how do you feel now compared to when you from a performance perspective from her state's victory third place so
00:25:21
Speaker
yeah she's She's definitely had a very, very good back end of the year, like seventh at UTMB. She's in a very, very impressive shape right now. Yeah. yeah big um It looks like she's having a bit of fun with it, playing, like doing what she wants. like She's training...
00:25:39
Speaker
Obviously, for things that are next year, I don't even, I think I saw in her socials, maybe she hasn't locked anything in or if she's at least not talking about it. Her focus at the moment is, at least from her socials, appears to be sort of just getting into some good shape and doing things that she enjoys. So, yeah, and that that's the vibe I get on this race is like she's not going in as a, it's not at her A race. She's not going in tapered, but she's still, some of her training sessions, she's moving really well. So um I still think even her in,
00:26:06
Speaker
ah maybe not her peak her peak tapered shape, she'll still be in ah in a really good position. Yeah, and arguably her serious shape.
Balancing Fun and Performance in Racing
00:26:16
Speaker
Like, you know, she said the same thing about rollercoaster. I'm just going to go out there and have a trot and she obliterated the course record. So, I mean, maybe when you're feeling loose and free and, you know, the pressure isn't on, I'm sure she doesn't feel like she's going beat Fu Zhao, but if that's how you're feeling, then...
00:26:35
Speaker
Maybe you just go out there and prove prove yourself wrong. Definitely. i think we're seeing this time and time again at the moment where there are so many elites that are showing that when they just add that little bit of play back into their training, they take off that last maybe one or 2% of being hyper-focused.
00:26:51
Speaker
like straight Straight to bat, David Roach at Western States comes to mind. and He does this whole whole YouTube series where he's incredibly vulnerable, exposed himself, but also like for six months, that was his sole focus, like outside of looking after his family.
00:27:04
Speaker
And then... essentially crashing burns at Western States, has some existential crisis, and then is able to double back and goes, beats his time at Leadville and just comes second at Javelina 30 minutes faster than the old course record because he's not so hyper-focused on that performance element.
00:27:21
Speaker
And so yeah it is, yeah, i do think I think, I think any athlete that can find that right balance for them about where the play meets performance, and Ben, this is what i like our entire but interview with you was about, is that when you find that balance for yourself,
00:27:34
Speaker
It is powerful. Yeah. I mean, we we heard Tom Evans say the same thing about UTMB. Like, I'm finally having fun with it. And he goes out and does that. So I guess it's no secret.
00:27:48
Speaker
Doing something you love means that it can translate to results too. Who would have thought? It's a funny thought process, isn't it? But I think it's also it's something that we all probably have to go through in our own way, especially when you when running starts to become more of a focus and the pendulum swings too far onto to that.
00:28:06
Speaker
that side of things and something happens and whether it's just a run bad performances or an injury or just fall out of love with the sport and then you find that that balance again um ah but i don't think you can find it without losing it first yeah sure brody who Who's from an Australian aspect? Because I think there's there's kind of like two two storylines for me. There's the international storyline and kind of how what will happen with Fujio. How fast can she go? Where will Marcella fall into that? And then also, where is Lucy in that mix?
00:28:38
Speaker
And then there's this really kind of tight battle I see between maybe another three three or four Australian women that potentially could be looking at third, but maybe more so battling for fourth.
00:28:50
Speaker
who Who have you got your eyes on there? I'm going to throw it out there. i'm I'm very excited about Maggie Lennox and I think she could come second, not third. Like I think she could beat Marcella. I think she could.
00:29:03
Speaker
If Lucy was fully tapered, then I think maybe that's a bit different. But um Lucy, maybe not 100%. Maggie, we know from last year in the Golden Trail series, she had some really good runs.
00:29:16
Speaker
Uh, Kenyani particularly, she ran like just over two and a half hours for the 25 K, which was a really impressive run. This sorts of trails is probably most like running in Tasmania where you just don't have a normal stride.
00:29:33
Speaker
Um, like you're very consistently running on uneven terrain and it varies a lot. And it's not even always just the Grampians particularly, it's not always like technical, but it's just never, there's not heaps of times where you're running in just on a flat piece of ground where you can hit the ground efficiently. And I think Maggie's experience of running around the mountain down in in Tassie as well as doing a lot of different races over there, I think this will really, and really benefit her. And I also think like just,
00:30:03
Speaker
Where she's coming back into running now um off the back of having a second child, I think she's sort of hitting, like she'll probably keep getting better, but she's at the time where I think she does have a good performance. I'm not going to, I don't want to put that pressure on her, Maggie, if you're listening.
00:30:17
Speaker
I'm not expecting second, but I just think, I think it could happen because I think, yeah, I think she's a really incredible runner. And um yeah, I think this race would suit her as well, so.
00:30:28
Speaker
that's That's my hot take, but we'll see if it ah if it happens.
Maggie Lennox's 50K Debut Potential
00:30:33
Speaker
From what I can tell, though, this is her fifty k debut. Do you know any different? Yeah, I think so.
00:30:40
Speaker
I think so. But I would imagine – I don't think a 50K is a big step up if you're someone who's – like you've raced a lot of 20, 30Ks, but you're you're at that end of like – better over longer, like you do better over the 20, 30 Ks that go closer to three hours than you do the ones that closer to two hours. And I think maybe Maggie fits into that category.
00:31:03
Speaker
i Just because I have no better association, it's sort of like me and Nath Pierce. Nath, I think we we come together at about 20, 25k he's probably better than me but like we come closer at that point but he's much better than me under that and I'm probably better than him over that and I think maybe Maggie's in a similar situation where while she's only run 20 or 30ks if you're one of those people that's more of that you're more comfortable running a bit longer I think you step up to the 50 okay maybe 100k 100 miles a bit different um but I don't I don't think 50ks is bigger jump up
00:31:38
Speaker
Yeah, ah know I know. I always think about any new distance, anything anything new, anything can create a different state of like anxiety or just thought processes around in an event. And it's not like we're talking about stepping up to tower where it's a very fast 50K women's field winning that in four hours. Like we're talking about Maggie,
00:31:57
Speaker
potentially running this in 5.30, let's say, give or take. Like it's still five and a half hours on feet. there's and And with a lot of exposure, some uncomfortable terrain that even if you're used to, there's still stuff that can happen.
00:32:09
Speaker
don't know, whenever I see someone stepping up to any distance for the first time, i'm ah just think that they they're going into an unknown. They haven't been there before in a race environment, even if you've run that duration before, that it does open up a question mark of,
00:32:21
Speaker
How are you going to cope when it hits four or five hours of hard running? And especially if you're in a race and you've got Marcella a minute ahead of you or you've got Lucy a minute behind you, how are you going to manage that situation?
00:32:34
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. I think the heat is probably the other thing. Like if it was hot, I would be less likely to be saying this because I think that's another – additional stress that you have to deal with when you're jumping up to the new distance like I found GPT really hard last year for a number of reasons but the heat was one of them um so I think if that if the conditions were hotter I think I wouldn't be saying the same thing um and like I said I'm not saying it but I think there is there is also an element to if you are the underdog and not expected to do anything special um hopefully I haven't changed it by talking about that but um I think you can step up and do something special because you don't have that pressure again it's that sort of having fun aspect to some extent. I think, yes, no, I agree. I think that you can kind of come at it from for me either way. It's either this like curiosity mindset or it's this pressure mindset that's just going to be curious to see yeah how how it comes. And I i feel like,
00:33:30
Speaker
I know someone, Maggie, who's more experienced, also even just being a parent, like running doesn't matter that much in the grand scheme of things in your life. Like I think that that really helps you come into new stuff with more of that curiosity and just fun play like we were just talking about.
00:33:44
Speaker
But we shall see. It's a good, yeah. ah Sorry, Maggie, have given you a bit more credit for for a podium. Well, yeah, like I might be a bit a bit ambitious and I've got my Tasmanian bias. So I have to let Maggie prove me right, hopefully.
00:34:00
Speaker
but as There's another Tasmanian who I'm also excited to see um run, Amy Lamprec. She's the opposite end of the scale in terms of she's incredibly experienced, has run a lot of longer stuff probably.
00:34:13
Speaker
um But again, I think if it gets when the going gets tough, if it gets too tough for too many people, then I think Amy will just surge through the field there. So like... I think she's probably not someone who I think is going to be in the top three, but she'll definitely be there churning through. And she always has a solid run. And sometimes those solid runs end up with her on the podium. So, yeah, she's one I'm interested to see how she goes.
00:34:41
Speaker
Yeah, I feel the same way about Amy. I had her written down. Like, she might not be in the form that she was in in 2019 when she won UTA 100K significantly.
00:34:51
Speaker
with an incredible time but still this year she was back at UTA 100 ninth place there so top 10 punching a ticket to triple c so she's still racing and she's obviously still competitive to an extent and yeah has a plethora of experience on some really technical tough stuff I just think in this women's 50k race unlike previous years where weather has played a factor. This is going to be less about surviving and a lot more about performance. And I think that that's a really cool storyline for this year is like we're going to be able to see people perform for 50K and 100 miles and not have to life you know, win based on their ability to just troubleshoot and suffer. yeah
00:35:38
Speaker
I have no idea how the milers... went on for as long as they did last year because 50k was definitely no and anyone who did the 50k that wasn't me because everyone did it longer than me like i don't know i spoke to people at the finish theyre like well you did so fast and i was like you were out there at a much harder time than i was um so yeah i think it's going to be cool to see her races less about surviving.
00:36:01
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. Yeah. No, it is. It's going to be fun. Like, I think every single course record is on watch for this. Like, it's even even Mikey's, which was objectively an incredible run for him at that time, like, as we're going to get to shortly.
00:36:15
Speaker
there's a men, well, one guy in the men's field I think could could go quite a bit quicker. And yeah, both both the 100-mile records, I was would be surprised we don't see them going down. I think for the rest of the women's field and 50K, considering that we're talking about the ones that are likely to get on the podium,
00:36:31
Speaker
Those five names are the ones that stood out most to me.
Competitiveness of Women's 50K Field
00:36:35
Speaker
i would say Amy's probably on the border of of that. I think that her historic race results were incredibly impressive. and We haven't quite seen that level performance and probably not at a 50K distance more recently.
00:36:49
Speaker
um Another couple of names that sort of just want to give a ah quick mention to, we've got Melanie Townsend. She's just, she's had a ah really good year so far. Eighth at Buffalo forty two a k fourth at Hounslow Marathon and fifth at Roadcoast 23 recently. um i Again, I think we're kind of talking about top five and at this point but still definitely to give her a shout out um amy stockwell just came forth at roller coaster 46 um was sixth at the under 23 asia pacific last year she did do the uh stage race in 2023 came ninth so she has experience on that part of the course uh it's pretty it gets a bit like the barnet brothers are doing the stage race this year so
00:37:30
Speaker
a a young way to and to experience the entirety of the gpt course but yeah just just knowing what you're in for i think is definitely big benefit on on this course um there anyone else you guys are got an eye on no no to say that they're not there but yeah not that i'm aware of no and i'm sure there'll be someone there that we didn't know and yeah they were always we've We've got to do, yeah. We're talking, and for all these previews, we're only talking about the podium. So even though there's, sure, 10 other women that could come fifth, um that's kind of where we're we're focusing. We'll come back after we've done the men and do the picks for who we think is going to take those podium spots.
00:38:11
Speaker
ah Brodie, do you want to take us through the ah the start of the men's field? Yeah, so men's field also exciting. We've got another couple of international runners coming across for that one.
00:38:22
Speaker
um So probably headlined, or I guess definitely headlined, by Peter Frano. He's from Slovakia. He came probably, like he's had a lot of great results.
00:38:34
Speaker
It's hard, I guess, to pick out one. Definitely. i think maybe he's well known at the moment for coming second at CCC last year and leading a bunch of that race as well. he was out the front by himself for a good portion and then and then also hung on to come second.
00:38:50
Speaker
um This year he has he came second at Transvolcania. No, sorry, he came first at Transvolcania, which is a very competitive race.
00:39:02
Speaker
ah He then went across to Western States, was inside the top 10 there, ran 16.10, so maybe not as good as some of his other results, but still a fantastic run. ah He came fifth at the Long Trail World Camps, which was no mean feat given that field. We know how strong all of the distances were there.
00:39:21
Speaker
um So, yes, he came fifth in that race, ah in a race dominated by... ah some Americans and French guys. So it was good to see a Slovakian right up the top.
Men's 50K Field Insights
00:39:31
Speaker
um Yeah, he's probably better at running longer, but I guess this is a longer-ish 50K.
00:39:40
Speaker
And I think 50K is not so short that it will start to give him a bit of ah like, I think when he's run sometimes shorter races, like 20 or 30K, he hasn't been quite as good.
00:39:51
Speaker
um But I think 50K, he'll probably still be quite strong over that distance given like he's good over hundred k races that are pretty quick as well like CCC or something like that like we know that he can probably still move at a good pace so yeah I think he's gonna be hard to beat but we do have Another international runner who I hadn't heard of before, but that's very common because there's just so many good European runners.
00:40:19
Speaker
um His name is Ricardo Churta from Spain. He runs for Brooks. He has a UTMB index of 864, which is pretty decent, um and he's got a spattering of results across races in mostly Spain.
00:40:36
Speaker
ah But... Yeah, other places in in Europe as well. ah He did run, well, on his UTMB profile, saying that he ran UTMB this year, but he DNF'd.
00:40:47
Speaker
um And then since then, though, he has done a couple of races, one in Vietnam and then one in Spain recently where he was first. But, i yeah, it's just a...
00:40:58
Speaker
a Spanish race that I don't know about. But, again, there's always good fields at these races. So, um yeah, he was – it looks like he was – oh, no, he wasn't – I can see Zagama here, but it was the VK at Zagama. But even then, VK at Zagama in 37.26. So he's ah he's a very decent runner. Again, he's probably one of those people ah that will set – maybe Peter is sort of world – world-world class, whereas Ricciardo is maybe that ah where the top of the Australian field ah should be aiming to get to, I guess, at this stage where we are. Obviously, we want to get to as good as Peter in the future, but where we're at currently is probably aiming to beat or be competitive with someone like Ricciardo. So he's a good guy to come across and and race in in a race like this, I think.
00:41:48
Speaker
Totally. yeah i think the um Fourth at Vietnam Mountain Marathon, probably not his best performance, but another world trail major short course. So a win or a second here could potentially put him into top five contention in the trail major standing. So, you know, he could be taking home a bit of money at the end of this too.
00:42:05
Speaker
Yeah. And that sort of shows like this is where an Australian could be featuring in the um world trail majors in terms of this sort of fighting for the maybe the, maybe not fighting for first, but at this stage, and it might grow in,
00:42:18
Speaker
in in competitiveness, but they could be fighting for a top five still if they're at the very top of the australian Australian field. So it's sort of cool to show that and ah we wish Riccardo all the best.
00:42:29
Speaker
It'd be good to see someone who's coming to GPT get in the top five. Definitely. We definitely put... GPT on that that map a bit. but and because we are competing at this time of year with Ultra Trail Cape Town, which is essentially one of the two pioneering events for the World Trail Majors from an organization perspective. So it does give everyone a good option where you can go and like you can get Ultra Trail Cape Town. So obviously that's an Alidas event. That's always going to get the Alidas athletes.
00:42:51
Speaker
um But then you've got here where you can come and run in the Grampians and experience these trails and also get a good level of competition. I think with Pidofrano, we're Going back through his old results, he has had a very, very good build in terms of distance. like i really If you're a younger athlete and you want to see how to progress into the 100k distance or even 100 mile distance, I guess with States, look at how he's done it because he's worked through the distances.
00:43:16
Speaker
He's like... seventh OCC, then he goes to CCT, goes to the long trails. Even before that, was lot of sort of 30 to 50K races. And then he's gone long, which I really like to see. But I think he hasn't hasn't dropped back down too frequently. Like he's had...
00:43:32
Speaker
Transvacania 32k came second last year and then Ultrail Verbier came third in the 40k. But yeah, he's definitely at the moment putting his bigger chips in the the long trail stuff, but he has got that short trail experience, which yeah, I think that Mikey's 437 from 2023. If pi turns up and he wants to go for it, don't know, 415 would be my guess, somewhere around there. Yeah, yeah. I've been thinking a little bit about it. I think, like, it is it is because it's still, like, a bit uneven and technical. Like, it's hard to get into that rhythm. Like, it's not going to be – I think it's hard to be going to go, like like, technically on the distance you could potentially look at under four hours. But I think that's probably –
00:44:14
Speaker
maybe a bit out of reach even for the very, very best in the world. yeah But, yeah, I definitely think, I think Mikey when he ran that day, his watch went dead so he didn't actually know how he was going.
00:44:26
Speaker
I actually ran with him a little bit at the end because the stage race, we were running at the same time and my team had sort of I'd caught back up to him on my leg um and he was just cruising near the end. So I think if he knew how far he had to go and he took it to the well a bit more, he probably could have gotten quicker.
00:44:44
Speaker
yeah And I think he didn't know how good his run was. Like I think he was fit and he's in good shape, but I don't think he absolutely left it all out there. So I – I don't know, about 4.15, before 20, but we'll What 20 plays it?
00:44:58
Speaker
Someone who might push him to that, ah which we'll get to the Australians in a moment because we've got one more international who's not running the 50K, but he's running the stage race, which starts at the same time.
Stage Race Dynamics vs Main Event
00:45:09
Speaker
um is Dan Jones from New Zealand. And we know Dan ah from UTA earlier this year. Hopefully maybe our listeners know him from his exploits across the across the world. But he's a very well-known trail runner.
00:45:21
Speaker
um Very fast. He ran a sort of blistering time at UTA earlier this year in the 50K. Whilst he is running... four days in a row. I think he might still run pretty quick. I think he's probably going to run faster than I ran last year, which is a bit sad, but um I think it's going to happen.
00:45:39
Speaker
I don't think he, I don't know, maybe he'll be up with Peter, but I think, yeah, he is also doing this for training. So he probably doesn't want to destroy himself on the first day. So yeah, that that's an interesting dynamic. I don't know how that's going to play out. We have seen stage race runners run really quick times.
00:45:58
Speaker
Um, before, even I was looking actually at Strava and Matt Crean in 2023 ran 5.20 for the first 50K when he's doing the miler.
00:46:09
Speaker
Like, and even Ben last year, you ran 5.37. like, It is, yeah, yeah even if you've still got us a bit more running to do because it's the first day and I guess they get a rest and and there's some bits are a bit runnable, but also then in some bits there's a limitation to how fast you can actually run no matter how hard you're running. um Yeah, I think Dan might be in the mix of the podium still.
00:46:33
Speaker
Yeah, I guess it just depends how much he wants to give it on day one and whether he gets excited and wants to go with those guys because he can definitely hang. There's no question about that, but um Does he want to like be able to appreciate day two, three and four?
00:46:48
Speaker
I dare say he does because yeah, I mean, he's coming over for, you know, this feels like ah a fun way to do a holiday. A fun way to do a training camp, isn't it? It's sort of like that hard, hard four days of training is is essentially what it is going to be here.
00:47:05
Speaker
So yeah, it's pretty cool. Totally. I reckon Dan goes on the start line, says, screw it. I'm going race for the 50K and I'm not going to worry about the next three days. And they just have like an epic duel. And then he's like, yeah, it's just three days of backup training now.
00:47:18
Speaker
I've built up a 90 minute lead in the first first day. let's just go with that. Yeah, and he's someone who's run, oh like Western States, he's run 100K races. Like, he can run a long distance. So it's not like it's 50K guy that then has to back up and run another three 40K runs. Like, he's he does have ability to run and probably, therefore, he has some ability to recover.
00:47:44
Speaker
um And we saw we've seen people in that stage race run really quick times on day two and day three as well um and back up pretty well. Like Matt Cooper's run really strongly on yeah um the day two, three and four.
00:47:57
Speaker
The guys running it last year were still moving really well. So, yeah, I think you can do it. Yeah, it just be interesting to see, like, does he want to go 100% or does he want to go 90%? Yeah, yeah.
00:48:10
Speaker
Alrighty. is it I'll get to the Australian guys. It's probably not quite as... strong maybe as the women on the Australian side or maybe even on this compared to what we've seen in previous years from purely the Australian side. one person I am really excited about um is Thomas Banks.
00:48:27
Speaker
I think Thomas has had a fantastic year this year. um He's a bit under the radar, I think, because he's he puts himself in the most competitive races and therefore he's he hasn't had any yet.
00:48:39
Speaker
hasn't had any wings ah or at least wins that I know of because I've been seeing him compete in the big races and that's where he's actually performed at a really high level. um So, yeah, I'm quite excited for Thomas. Like I guess I think was it seventh at UTA 50, which was a really deep field, um and then roller coaster, he came in third behind Nathan Pearce, who's – that's – Nathan Pearce's bread and butter yeah and Toby Sparks who had an incredible run.
00:49:09
Speaker
And he was only like just over a minute behind those two guys. So like that's really quick. I think people wouldn't realise. Like just because he's third, we don't realise how well he did in that race.
00:49:19
Speaker
um And I also don't think that short, short distance of like running for an hour 30, what was a one hour 38, nine, that's probably not his strength. So the fact that he can still do that,
00:49:32
Speaker
I think, yeah, I think he he's the guy that may challenge someone like Ricardo, I think. that's that's what And that's why i'd i'd love to see that. I'd love to see a battle between Tom and Ricardo and I'd love to see Tom come out on top, but wouldn't we all?
00:49:49
Speaker
Yeah, I think in in my head, for some reason, I had Tom as being like that 30K runner.
Thomas Banks' Potential in Men's 50K
00:49:54
Speaker
But then actually looking back at the results, and you're right, seventh at this year, fourth the year before, fifth in 2022. And then he won COSI in 2023 to Plus, he's had another fifty fourth at Squamish 50K over in Canada. So like, knows how to run this distance, is clearly in great shape.
00:50:15
Speaker
And I like the people that are understated, that they just come in they do their business, lay down some like really epic results and then come in because it just gets stronger and stronger and stronger. And you look back through through his last sort of four five years and it's just literally every every year, it just steps up, just incremental gains and nothing flashy, no like this big breakthrough performance, but they're just getting better and better and better. And I feel like the shape he showed at roller coaster, he doesn't,
00:50:42
Speaker
race super often which means that he probably is coming in with a good training block pretty fresh sharp it's going to be yeah i i agree i think i think thomas banks is the one that i'm really excited to see how he goes but he's definitely coming in under under the radar which he shouldn't be because he has the results to back himself up and i think if you look at time wise um I wouldn't be surprised because the conditions are cooler. I don't know if it's wet, how much it will change stuff. like I know it can also get a bit s slippy.
00:51:13
Speaker
um But if you just look purely from a heat point of view, we know Mikey's year was a little bit warm, not as warm as last year, but still warm. um i Tom could beat Mikey's time and that would be really that would be pretty cool. That would be a statement, I think, if Tom ran faster than what Mikey ran. I'm fairly certain he'll run faster than five hours, but I don't know where under five hours he'll Yeah. And I hope Tom knows that it's within him to do this because we, we've obviously like, you know, he came first at UTK 27, but he's always around, you know, he's always in that 10, if not top five, um you know, the guy can run the house down. So Thomas, if you are listening, you can do it.
00:51:55
Speaker
Please have the confidence to know that you can hang with these guys and to see what you're capable of, because I reckon this guy's just waiting for that real breakout performance. And, After coming seventh at UTA, 52 Dan Jones, like the redemption tour starts now.
00:52:11
Speaker
I think that... Yeah, that'd be good. When I was talking to Toby after roller coaster and it was, I asked him like, what's the difference since five peaks? Because it hasn't been that long since April where he's finishing an hour behind Vlad. Yes, there's the heat, but even aside from that, and he he said like, he just believes that he can do it now.
00:52:30
Speaker
And he's like, he's he's accepted the fact that he's good, which is not like an ego thing. It's like, you have to believe you can put yourself up there and you can, go toe-to-toe with Nath Pierce over a 22K course that is his thing, like in his backyard and say, no, I'm not just going to let you walk all over me.
00:52:46
Speaker
And I think that's, i agree, Ben. I think that's what Thomas... without knowing him personally, i get the impression that's what he needs to take that self-belief and go, umm I'm going to just go with it and see what happens because I have a feeling I can do it.
00:53:00
Speaker
um I think that's, yeah, that'll be really powerful. I have a question though. So I'll i try a quick look at the, what Altrail Coziosco currently have for their fifty k um They have some elites on there. It's not the full start list, but they have Mikey, Ben Duffis, Jack Harris from New Zealand, which is interesting because we're about to talk about him for
GPT vs Ultra Trail Kosciuszko 50K Debate
00:53:18
Speaker
GPT. So I wonder if this is a, he might not be on the start line of either one.
00:53:21
Speaker
You'd assume not one of them. um And then Billy O'Mealy. Do you think that from a 50K distance, if you want to go competitive, are you going to choose Cozzy or are you going to choose GPT?
00:53:34
Speaker
Ben, start with you. I mean, if you're asking me, I'm going to have a much better shot at racing the technical nature of GPT. um I also think, i mean, I raced GPT last year, so obviously my attention was there, but I would argue that the fields were deeper, especially in the 100-mile distance, and that GPT did a better job of advertising and socials and getting that information out quickly and being a more consumer.
00:54:07
Speaker
right so that's my perspective also i'm always going to root for the underdog so there's a bias there um but i think gpd is like doing a good job of not being an underdog anymore like you know they've They're obviously contending with the big machine that is UTMB, but from my perspective, the eyes are there. Brody?
00:54:27
Speaker
Yeah, it's complicated. i guess last year, i UTK for sure um would have been stronger. um My 50K run, I was happy to take the win, but it was not competitive.
00:54:37
Speaker
like It is this year. I would struggle to come top five, i think, this year um just because I'm not in the space to do that. I would like to, over in the future, be right up the top, but that's not where I'm at.
00:54:49
Speaker
I think maybe this year GPT is starting to make a statement, maybe in the miler, but I'm just purely talking about the 50K. Yeah, yeah. um And that's for a whole heap of reasons. ah It depends why you're doing a race, I guess. There's a few things, especially at the top end when we do have people on domestic level sponsorships that maybe there's something linked to UTMB races.
00:55:11
Speaker
If you want to get into a UTMB race, ah sorry, at the UTMB finals, then you need to go to one of these races. you If you get in the top three, you get a spot. So like there's those reasons to go.
00:55:23
Speaker
um But I'm also with Ben in that like I personally would prefer 50, like me, I went to GPT because I'm better at technical. So it suits me better to go there. That was the reason I went last year.
00:55:34
Speaker
um And I wanted the competition to come. Maybe it didn't come as strongly as I would have liked, but it was good. I got the win. um I think it's coming. and But I also like like like ah not so much from the underdog point of view, but I i feel like GPT and single track, and this is personal opinion, not a peak pursuit's opinion, but Personally, I think Singletrack is doing a lot for the sport. the event is doing This event is doing a lot more for the sport in Australia than UTMB. So personally, I'd prefer to, if I can, support that event than support a UTMB event because I just think the investment back into what's going on in Australia is higher.
00:56:15
Speaker
um So I would like to support it from that point of view. And I think maybe at the moment they're reaching the point where they're becoming very similar competitiveness. Yeah. Yeah. it's So I completely agree on the 100 mile. I think GPT 100 mile has so much more weight than COSI.
00:56:31
Speaker
One of the things I think that probably helps GPT at the moment is the fact that UTA is now a major and so the top 10 can qualify and as we saw because of how it works with the age group and you can actually kind of come out the top 10 and still maybe qualify and so a bunch of guys that maybe want to punch their OCC ticket have done it in May for 2026 or for the future year and so they get the choice of of it and yes my my personal bias is I think that single track does much more for the sport in Australia than than ultra cosy osco does i think ultra australia brings a lot of attention to the sport and it creates a hub for competitiveness and i think that that shouldn't be ah understated and it is outside of utmb it is i think it still is the second biggest trial run in the world and so you do have that experience that has its pros and cons um but i think that brails it but yes with cosy osco no was just i was i was surprised when i went onto the men's field in the cosy 50 and there were only those four names one of which is doing gpt or potentially so it
00:57:26
Speaker
Yeah. It's an interesting one. Whereas then, oh, this is interesting. I've just gone into the women's field. Yeah, it's bonkers. guess who Yeah, but guess whose name is in the 50K as well as the GPT 50K? I don't know if it's Fuzhou.
00:57:39
Speaker
Marcella. Okay. She's on a whole of it. How good? Yeah. So, because I guess there is, what, three... Maybe it does work for that. And, like, these events are far enough apart that maybe in future we would get international runners coming and doing two together.
00:57:53
Speaker
and God, that would be frustrating if you trying to punch a ticket and then also sudden you're like, oh, crap. The other thing I think with UTK is like now UTA has got money, prize money with it for the elites as well as those 10 spots. Whereas UTK doesn't have, from my memory, it's similar to what UTA is. There's no prizes.
00:58:11
Speaker
So it doesn't have that draw card anymore. Whereas GPT does have prize money. So there is bit maybe more of a draw card to go there for some of the elites. Yeah. They had very different races as well, though, so I guess it's it's going to be a bit dictated about which strength you like. GPT is very technical for a 50K.
00:58:30
Speaker
ah UTK is probably one of the most runnable ones you could find. So, um yeah, but they both fit their purpose. Yeah. yeah And it'll be interesting over – I think next year will be interesting because I think maybe GPT will overtake UTK, maybe.
00:58:47
Speaker
At this stage, this this year, they look about even. and Yeah, it will be it is it is going to be really interesting to see how the next probably three years of the sport, obviously, I've just come off that conversation with Gary and Ortra and where the elites are going to choose to put their focus on the brand sponsors over here, whether they incentivize, are they still incentivizing UTK or are they incentivizing single track or just any competitive field in Australia? um But yeah, that was quite a long aside.
Australian Men's 50K Contenders
00:59:19
Speaker
Yeah, Yeah. It is relevant because we look at these fifty k fields and the women's field has a very strong top end. it has a very good depth of Australian women that would typically be the conversation for the podium just because we have Fuzhou, Marcella and then also Lucy in there and Maggie.
00:59:37
Speaker
um But the men's field is lacking in that top top end i i feel for what it could be and i was wondering is it being pulled away by by cosi are people looking at obviously you've also got four peaks happening right now you have gscr maybe people want more of a mountainous thing or that those fields aren't on anywhere near as deep but it's it's an interesting question when we are looking at such a compacted field ah googleco compacted calendar of races and i know that quite often it's because they have to like parks give them you can do it on this weekend this weekend and that's it
01:00:07
Speaker
So it's not like they're choosing to put things super close, not always at least. um but But anyway, Brody, do you want to keep us rolling through the the men so I don't take us off? Yeah, yeah.
01:00:21
Speaker
Yeah, sure. We've got – Another name that I'm familiar with, Grampians local, ah Phil Gisbers. He ran last year actually in the 50K. I don't think he was too happy with his performance, but actually raced him in the stage race relay the year before. and um He was, yeah, their their team was was competitive with ours and we were racing Phil each day. So I think...
01:00:43
Speaker
um he actually sent me a message the other day and asked for some ask for some top tips. I didn't give him anything too special because I i don't think it's anything too special. But I i think with another year of experience, Phil's definitely got definitely got the ability to be in the conversation, probably not for the top three, but maybe in that more top five.
01:01:01
Speaker
um Also another name that I'm not too familiar but is on this list is Tom O'Halloran. Do you guys know Tom? I think you mentioned that you did someone. oh No, he's on Joe's list.
01:01:14
Speaker
Maybe Joe knows him. i had a quick yeah no I had a quick look at him, but Joe's just got the note of famous Aussie rock climber. i don't think Oh, yes. Yeah, he's that guy. he's um He was rock climbing in the Olympics, but yeah, he's a world-level rock climber that started doing a bit more trail running.
01:01:33
Speaker
yeah so i been the ninety nine now His performance index is pretty low, but also someone that has that, ah not the rock climbing necessarily transfers into endurance sports very well. But yeah, and from from my side, there two other names that definitely piqued my interest. The first one I've already mentioned, because he's in the Cozzy field, is Jack Harris. So he's a Kiwi, he's come over. He was at the Short Trail Champs, became 98th, 6th at Tarawara, 50k this year as well, and had a 3rd at Ultra Trail Snowdonia,
01:01:59
Speaker
It will be interesting if he's actually going to line up or is he doing Cozzy or is he doing both like Marcella? And the other one is, i think he's he's French but living in Australian, Thomas Souvatra. He had eighth a UTA 100K, came second at the Buffalo Grand Slam behind Gerard Owen and very close. And he was 10th in the 10K, 18th in the 20K and seventh in the marathon.
01:02:23
Speaker
um and then had a fifth at Lonely Mountain 50k. So I feel like this will be another Thomas that could very well be be right up there. the i don't His performance at the Grand Slam made me think that he's got the wheels to do that.
01:02:40
Speaker
And then he's obviously got the longest stuff experience from the hundred k so the distance isn't going to be an issue. um So he he's he's definitely a name that I'm curious to see. But yeah, if Jack turns up, I think he'll feature. Obviously, it depends on how he's ri recovered off short trail.
01:02:54
Speaker
um If 98th was a great day for him, then I don't think we're going to see him pushing that time. like he I would say he struggled to break five, but if 98th was a an off day or the terrain really challenged him, then he definitely could be further up.
01:03:06
Speaker
Yeah, I'd say the Kiwis. I think I met him. I got to speak to Jack Harris when I was over Canfrank. And lovely guy. Probably had higher hopes for his day, I think, as all the Kiwis did. Like, they had a really strong short trail team. Like, they put a lot of emphasis on sending strong Skyrunners over. So maybe not the day that he was hoping for and maybe a bit of a redemption tour at GPT as well. I know it's far less technical and far less vert than that.
01:03:34
Speaker
filthy course they put up at the short trail over there. But the sixth at Tauera, and it wasn't a slow time, like it was a fast time too. So clearly you can run fast over runnable terrain. The third at Ultra Trail Snowdonia. Snowdonia is beautifully brutal.
01:03:50
Speaker
The 25K is a tough 25K. So to get third place there, and that's a pretty significant event like in the in the British running scene. So Yeah, if jack if Jack was underwhelmed by his performance, then potentially we are we are talking about that.
01:04:05
Speaker
Like, Peter Frano will be here, like, higher up. And then that Thomas Banks, Jack, Thomas, Ricciardo battle, potentially, for for that second to third place.
01:04:17
Speaker
Yeah, like, his time at Tarawara, he was, like, 30 seconds behind Daniel Osanz from Spain, who's, like, a really good runner on the world level. He's right.
01:04:28
Speaker
um Yeah, his time was very fast ah to at Tarawara. So yeah, decent run there. He's got he's got wheels and and as Ben said, he's got a bit of sky running experience with those two together will probably suit him quite nicely on this course.
01:04:43
Speaker
Yeah. All right, guys, let's go for the picks. Ben, since you're our guest, I'm going to let you pick the ah the women's top three for yourself first.
01:04:54
Speaker
Yeah, so I mean... It's got to be Fuzhou coming in first. ah I have a lot of faith in whatever Lucy's doing at the moment. So she's my second pick and Marcella coming in third there.
01:05:07
Speaker
Cool. Brody? I've done four peaks before. So I'm going to go and I've done all four days. And I saw that Lucy ran down today as well, which is... yeah crazy. um I'm going to go Fuzhou, Maggie, then Lucy.
01:05:24
Speaker
think Marcella just misses out in four. Interesting. Okay, I'm going to go Fuzhou, Marcella, Lucy. i'm gonna I nearly said Maggie because you always get in my head.
01:05:35
Speaker
And I always go i go with it, whether it's Joe getting in my head telling me people are going to do well. and That's because you're winning the tipping and you just don't want me to get too many picks. But i like no matter how how good Lucy is right now. i just, you can't do four days hard.
01:05:53
Speaker
And especially if you're choosing the option to run down, I don't want you to guys to do four days hard and then back up three days later and run a 50K and just be that good. Like, I want- There is some incredible stage race runners in the world. So maybe that's- I know, but just think I thing. want things to make sense and that wouldn't make sense. So that's that's really the the only reason. Like I, obviously I- i I do think Lucy's on a real tear and i'd love I'd love to see Maggie come back because she'll be bit about, what, 10 months postpartum. So I'd love to see that level of performance.
01:06:26
Speaker
ah but But yeah, all right. 50K, Brody, you take us on there? Yeah, I'm going with, I think Peter Frano will be hard to beat. Are we including Dan Jones or where do we put him?
01:06:38
Speaker
No, I think we have to, as much as I would like to. He's in a different race. yeah He doesn't count. I'm going to go Peter Frano, then I'm going to go... Jack Harris, Thomas Banks.
01:06:52
Speaker
Ben? Nice. Yeah, I've got Peter winning. And for the sake of just gassing up Thomas Banks, like Thomas in second,
01:07:02
Speaker
um I want him to believe and give me Ricardo Chet in third. Yeah, I think I'm going to do the exact same as you, Ben. Peter, Thomas. I think Thomas Banks has and another level in him. And I think like given him this this field, we will see it.
01:07:18
Speaker
And then Ricardo, like is yeah it'd be pretty hard to back against him. But I do i do think i think Peter will be long gone. i think second through fifth will be separated by 10 minutes.
01:07:31
Speaker
I think it's going to really close. Yeah, it'd be close. And it's going to be an interesting race. Like last year, I was out the front by myself, so there was no like back and forth. So it's interesting to know. And Mikey was the same. So it'd be interesting how much that changes the dynamic of the race, having a bit more of a competitive field like close together. Yeah.
01:07:48
Speaker
Yeah. All right, let's move on to the miler. My first question, Ben, you've done this last year, you know what it takes. We have in the men's field, we've got four guys that have towed the start line twice. One of them hasn't made it the finish either time, but have towed start line twice. And we have one of the ladies who has towed the start line twice.
01:08:10
Speaker
How much do you think the course experience matters here and can take you further up the field than where you are technically ranked?
Course Experience in Milers Category
01:08:20
Speaker
ah If it's me, it's probably the most valuable thing you can do.
01:08:27
Speaker
ah and I think that was probably proof in my result last year was, you know, ah will I probably didn't have any reason to feel like I could podium in that field.
01:08:39
Speaker
And I'm sure very few people would have potentially picked me to do as well as I did. But I knew standing on that start line that I knew that course better than pretty much everyone. And it obviously played a massive role. I think body management was another, reason that I had the result that I had, but um maybe we don't have to think too deeply about that given the conditions this year.
01:08:59
Speaker
But in any hundred mile race, you need to know how to troubleshoot and look after yourself. I think this year will be more of a performance based performance.
01:09:10
Speaker
Like it will it will rely more on performance than stuff like knowing how to suffer well. But having said that, ah course experience is invaluable. And I think if you're an international coming here without having done any course recce, you probably have a pretty good idea of what you can do given the metrics.
01:09:28
Speaker
And I think you'll be surprised at how slow this course moves in section. So I know that there's a lot of internationals here already, ah more than a week out having...
01:09:39
Speaker
doing course recon. So, you know, they've got that feather in their cap. it's It's debatable given that people have done this race twice and DNF'd because, you know, I'm sure they thought they'd come back with more experience and and then it happened again. So it's easier said than done, but I think knowing this terrain is is so valuable. It's almost the most valuable thing going in.
01:10:00
Speaker
Yeah, I feel like this is one of those courses where there are some... Anytime you can get course experience, it's going to be an advantage. But I think about a course like, say, the Cosimiler coming up where I don't think it's as strongly weighted as the experience of being on the GPT-Miler course. 100%. This race is so different.
01:10:20
Speaker
like and it is so like varying terrains. um having not I haven't covered the whole thing like then, but like ah when you do the stage race relay, you do the whole course as as a group. So I've covered parts of each section and it varies so much.
01:10:37
Speaker
And when you think, okay, it's starting to get a bit easier, it still doesn't get easier. It's it's unrelenting. There are sections where, yes, there's some flat running underfoot and you can can move a bit more smoothly.
01:10:49
Speaker
But there's a lot of it that you're – tackling varying terrains, whether it's technical rocky stuff underfoot or whether it's bare rock that's slanted or whatever it is, um it requires a lot of, I think, from even from just running the stage race, you need to need a decent amount of just mental ah energy to attack that course. so I can imagine when you're doing it in a miler,
01:11:15
Speaker
you need to sustain that mental energy to be like, okay, I need keep moving through this, keep going, keep going. yeah So, yeah, it's I think if you've seen it before, that helps with the mental side a lot um and it also helps with your pacing, as Ben's saying. Like if you look at this on paper, and we referenced it a little bit in the 50K course, if you look that section, it's leg two on the on stage one, 15 to the whole race.
01:11:40
Speaker
so fifteen to thirty five k of the whole whole race That looks easy on paper. Like, oh, once you get once you get past the climb, you're like, oh, yeah, it's just a nice flat section, bit undulating.
01:11:53
Speaker
What is in reality is completely different. So, yeah, I think um having been on the course and have that from a mental but also pacing point of view or physical point of view is, yeah, is key.
01:12:05
Speaker
Yeah. It's fascinating. Like are getting one of my guys ready for the miler and we're sort of putting together but documents to to help him pacing and all that kind of stuff And I was just kind of going through like, okay, what does it take to do a 30 hour finish, which is objectively a very strong time on this course when you look at the historical results.
01:12:25
Speaker
And you look at the the distance, the elevation gain, the loss, estimating like being efficient but not fast through A stations. And then you look at the amount of time exception takes and you go, most of these splits are 12 to 14 minute K averages between a stations. that's just like,
01:12:43
Speaker
God, this terrain is slow. And obviously there's caveats in there. this is The 2023 event has a brilliant document, which Joe, if you're listening to this one, please recreate this every year because it puts the splits of every single person in a big PDF file and it makes it so easy to plan.
01:12:58
Speaker
I don't know if that took into the caveat for the stopped duration for it or if this was excluded from from this plan. But it didn't, like the the section to Mount William, which is kind of where a lot of people got stuck or to Borough Harts was slower, but it wasn't ah wasn't abnormally slow.
01:13:14
Speaker
um But it's just really slow going. And Ben, going to come to you now to kind of take us through, but is that is that how it feels when you're out there? Yeah, absolutely. And you can feel like you're flying and you can be passing people and you look at your watch and you're doing a 12-minute split.
01:13:30
Speaker
Like it's, It's insane. And um the the kind of crux of this race, the hardest, most technical section happens for most people night. So there's ah there's another element added in there where you know you not only have to be technically proficient, but you have to be confident in where you're putting your feet when all you have to light up the pathway is a head torch. So there's ah there's a lot of things at play here. And yeah, you know I've been talking a lot about how the weather conditions are more conducive to performance, but
01:14:02
Speaker
You've also you've got to be able to troubleshoot and and think on your feet because there's there's a lot of things that are going to arise, a lot of think a lot of frustrations with the slowness of the course and what it takes to get from from aid station to aid station.
01:14:19
Speaker
yeah.
Toughest Sections of the Race
01:14:20
Speaker
yeah Many, many, many things at play in this race that don't add up on paper. so Take us through highlighting kind of the key points that you think – obviously, day two or the second second part of this goes from Halls Gap through to Borough Huts.
01:14:35
Speaker
Along that section, Ben, is there anything that you think is a specific ah specific crutch point or is it, yeah? There's not so much through there. That's that's probably the most well-traversed section of the Grampians Peaks Trail, given that it does head out of Hall's Gap and it's a bit of a highlight package.
01:14:51
Speaker
um The trail's in really good shape there. There's nothing too significant in terms of, yeah I mean, you you go up, but then you're kind of up on the the main escarpment and ridges.
01:15:04
Speaker
and the moving through there's about as good as you get, um probably comparable to the first 50K of this course, which I would argue is the fastest section of the course. And the section from Borough Huts,
01:15:17
Speaker
probably all the way through to Jimmy Creek is where it gets really, really, really tough and really frustrating and probably where you have to have your head on your shoulders the most. And it's it's a long stint, the borough huts to Mount William um and then going once you're up there, like it's 15k, 1200 meters up, 600 down. And then you go into the Jimmy Creek, which is nineteen k 775 meters 1400 down which you look at that and you oh it's going to be a nice fast fun section but it's just anything but that on that terrain precisely yeah there's just there's no good footing um you also you know you might want to be using poles for the climbs but pole placement is really tricky given the terrain as well so you're not only thinking about your feet then you're thinking about another set of poles which are almost like legs uh so there's so many things and you know the climbs in terms of
01:16:11
Speaker
um 100 milers around the world they're not super long you're probably never gaining more than 500 meters in one go but the accumulation of that on top of having to think about the technicality of the course just kind of it wears you down over time and you know you can make a mountain out of a molehill that is maybe only 150 meters a game but it feels like it just goes on and on and on Yeah.
01:16:35
Speaker
And I sent Ryan Lowe a message who's in this year's 100 mile field, but he's also i was click cleared by Parks to run the whole course and kind of checking the condition. Obviously last year with the fires, it is this bottom section that really got damaged.
01:16:50
Speaker
And he said that the the course, like the the trail is in really good condition, but obviously it is incredibly exposed now. So sections that were historically sheltered or at least somewhat shaded have now been completely exposed.
01:17:05
Speaker
um And he also did point out that the navigation does require more focus just because there's less kind of around. So the markers are a bit tougher to see, bit bit hard to really tell where the trail goes because you no longer have the trees or bushes to to guide you through. So it's kind of like, here's a really hard section and we and nature just made it so much harder for you.
01:17:25
Speaker
Yeah. and And potentially less beautiful. um Yeah. Which is a hard thing too, because, you know, it's easy to be distracted by the grandeur and the epicness and the beauty of the Grampians. But if there's sections where it's like burnt out black, um you know, maybe maybe it's not as sexy and inspiring to run fast.
01:17:47
Speaker
Yeah, yeah. that I think you were Ben, that the section from Borough Huts up to Mount William and then a bit like passed over Mount William, keep going.
01:17:57
Speaker
But like I've run up to Mount William. I was just looking at my Strava actually because I did that section in the stage race. I have the ah have the Strava course record on that section and the pace is 736s. That was me going relatively hard for 15K.
01:18:16
Speaker
So like it is low. And that section I remember is particularly hard to follow. Like in the daytime I was there and most people were there at nighttime. So yeah, I think that is that what you call is that Is that the crux of the race, Ben, or is it somewhere else?
01:18:32
Speaker
It's so hard to know. Is there no crux because there's too many cruxes? I think that's the problem. like there's ah There's a crux in every section, potentially. Yeah, yeah, yeah.
01:18:43
Speaker
There's so much room for error in this. You misstep. We saw Matt Crean in its inaugural year do his ankle and then you know have to kind of suffer through the last section of this race in the cold and wet circle.
01:18:56
Speaker
There's a crux at every turn, which means that there is no real crux. I think it's just the person who does well on this course is the person that respects it, respects the environment, enjoys their journey at the same time, and manages themselves as best as they can.
01:19:13
Speaker
Going from Jimmy Creek, there's kind of the the third section is yeah Mount William through Griffin and then in the final day or the final section is Griffin through Dunkeld. Is there anything specifically that you think is worth mentioning, Ben, about these these areas?
01:19:27
Speaker
I mean, in my opinion, the Dunkeld section is the most stunning and beautiful. it It's chalk and cheese from what you experience at the start. And that's the cool thing about this race is you are literally running one entire degree of ah longitude?
01:19:42
Speaker
No, latitude. one Full degree of latitude um across the Earth. Incredible. What a good piece of promotion. ah But you really you really feel that once you get to Dunkeld, the environment is completely different. The flora and fauna changes entirely.
01:19:57
Speaker
And not to say that that section isn't hard. In fact, for most people, it'll probably be the hardest because you've just run 130 kilometers and now you've got 30-odd to go. So...
01:20:08
Speaker
It's going to be painful, but brilliantly beautiful. You have some epic climbs through that section of that part of the Dunkeld Grampians. Anything notable?
01:20:21
Speaker
Yes, it's totally epic. But I could say that about the entire course. Unfortunately, I didn't get to that point last year. i was really looking forward to it. But I think the biggest thing for me is before you enter those really significant escarpments, probably in the last kilometers of the race just take fuel uh it's going to be a lot slower than you think you're probably already deficient as well so just load up uh you're probably going to be hiking most of it anyway so the weight in the pack won't feel
Contenders: Bridie Temple and Others
01:20:51
Speaker
too significant but that section could take even the elite runners three and a half hours to do 20k uh for more mid to back of the pack runners it could take you six so yeah be be considerate of that
01:21:05
Speaker
Because I think this race can be won and lost on fueling as well. Yeah, definitely. And as we spoke about with the 50K on Thursday, the weather forecast is pretty similar for the whole weekend. It looks like it's going to be raining, bit sun, sort highs 16. It'll get a little bit warmer as you go a bit further south. But like ah though the weather...
01:21:25
Speaker
There's nothing abnormal about it. Obviously, you still got to take care of yourself. You still got to think about considerations about staying cool. Single track always really good about having ice everywhere, even if it's not that hot. Like I personally use ice as soon as it goes over above like seven, eight degrees because it's just about keeping your core temp cooler. So all these little things you can do to look after yourself, which potentially actually people start to de-emphasize when the conditions get better to their disservice it's it's obvious to stay cool when it's a hot day but it's not so obvious to stay cool when it's a normal day but it really does play into it and then yeah eating looking after yourself pacing it properly and remembering that it's not you're not going to if you have done the parts of the trail in the past you're not going to run it anywhere near as fast once you've got 80 miles on your legs exactly right
01:22:06
Speaker
All right, guys, I'm going to kick us off with the women's field again. There is so one name in this field. She's had a pretty good year so far, quite young, already has 100 mile day like experience.
01:22:20
Speaker
I'm very, very interested to see how she goes here and I think could potentially be a conversation for the overall podium if it all goes well. That's Bridie Temple. We saw her earlier this year, she had the second at UTA 22. And when we were doing the preview for that one, kind of like everything about her training said that she could do this, except for the fact that this was like entirely out of her comfort zone.
01:22:42
Speaker
And speaking to her before it and after it, it was essentially what she said. And she just showed that she has incredible wheels. But then you tie into the fact that she had second at Buffalo Stampede, 100K to Esther Gelag.
01:22:55
Speaker
Take Esther out of it. And Bridley's time is incredible. It's just that we have one of the best runners in the world on that that stage as well. She has Quinton as a coach, so she's getting good guidance there, doing her strength from what I've been told, like what we've seen seen pretty previously on Estrada, like knows how to fuel her runs, knows how to fuel outside of it. So for a very young runner, has a lot of experience and seems to ticking a lot of boxes. Bridie on this course, like she seems to have this appreciation for nature and just this love for the outdoors that I think really,
01:23:28
Speaker
It helps you excel on these kind of courses where you've just got to flow with it and be at one the best you can with the course and its environment. um i'm I'm very excited to see if she can put it together for the full 100.
01:23:40
Speaker
Obviously, whether the the the ups and downs that are naturally going to happen. But I think if she if she does, we could see a real special performance from her. Yeah, I'm with you 100%. And I met Bridie, think she was 17 years old doing the Alpine Challenge in 2023.
01:23:59
Speaker
She was first overall by an hour and still has that course record and like, you know, Alpine challenges, a longstanding race. So Friday is legit. Um, this will be a hundred mile debut. yeah realize um I slipped there when I said i had in my head Alpine challenge was a hundred miles, but it's a hundred K you're right.
01:24:17
Speaker
Yeah. And it'll potentially be her longest race by about 10 hours more. Um, so a lot of learning there, like, um I don't think there's a lot of room for error necessarily. i think she can nail this. She's been she came out to do the Wonderland 50K out of Hall's Gap. She was first in that easily. She was fourth overall in the field, ah even probably not on her best day.
01:24:44
Speaker
She's been spending a hell of a lot of time on the course. She obviously respects the hell out of it and is a really good student of the game. ah My only question mark with Bridie is like, it's, it's a massive leap.
01:24:55
Speaker
And, yeah and I'm, I'm saying that in terms of to, to double the time of your longest run in one go and nail it, um there's a lot of room for error there. So that's my only question, Mark. Otherwise, I think Bridie, if she nails everything and i I know that she has a team around her, she could be the ah future of Australian trail running.
01:25:15
Speaker
Bridie? I don't know if I can add anything. You guys covered it well. Yeah, she's definitely a talent um and it's going to be interesting to see how she goes. Like Ben said, it's going to be, even though it's,
01:25:28
Speaker
only another 60k it is going to be a significantly longer race than she's used to even if you look at uh ah buffalo where she ran 12 hours this is Yeah, the men's course record is 24 hours.
01:25:45
Speaker
So whilst it she might she should do bike go close to that, to be fair, yeah it's going to be pretty long. um So how she tolerates that, she does do a lot of training. So she's definitely used to being out for long hours.
01:25:59
Speaker
um Yeah, so I think she's she's in a good position um to to to sort of compete pretty well. But, yeah, we know that nothing is ever – certain in a mile. So we we'll see. but yeah I'm excited. I'm excited to see how that goes. And even though we know the men's field is so deep, um I think she's going to be in amongst that men's field as well.
01:26:23
Speaker
Yeah, definitely. The other names, we've got an international name, Man Yichung. She sixty came 66th at the Long Trail Champs, just gone, had a first at Hong Kong Trail Champs, 62K, and first at Mount Fuji 100 mile this year. So lots of long trail experience and she's got two other world champs.
01:26:43
Speaker
She's 37th in 2023 and 31st at the 2022 edition. She was 17th at UTMB. So kind of the the polar opposite, I guess, of Bridie. She's coming in with big international experience like Mount Fuji UTMB she's got Translanto 100k like these are big races um even Asia Pacific as well so she'll for her it won't be a question of can I get to the the the finish of my first mile there it's how fast can I get to the finish of of this one which is definitely a very very different mindset to bring in um and though but I do think that don't know
01:27:19
Speaker
If Bridley can put it together for the 100 mile, is ah which is a big if, that she could see herself go bit ahead, especially considering that another one of the the women in the field, Nicole Patton, she's just coming off 55th at the long trail.
01:27:34
Speaker
So 11 places better than Man Yucheng managed to get. I know Nicole's not had bit sickness off after that and probably isn't coming into the heart into the shape that she wants to. Although as I got called out in our conversation before this, Nicole very rarely misses. It's also her 100 mile debut, but she's doing a lot more in the 100K distance now and a lot more years under her belt.
01:27:57
Speaker
um But given given that and sort of i think where Bridie potential is, I do think that she yeah like if she can get it right, we could see her quite a way up and and potentially challenging that 28-hour course record from Kelly and even pushing towards that 24 mark. Yeah.
01:28:15
Speaker
And Kelly has said this multiple times that she she thinks for that a woman can go sub 24 on this course. And who knows if this is the year that will happen, but You know, Kelly knows the ins and outs of racing. She's got a lot of experience. So she obviously knows what people are capable of, capable of, and it just takes the right formula to put it down on this course.
01:28:36
Speaker
I think Nicole and I was the one who said she rarely misses. um If she tells you that she's not confident, she'll probably go out and completely prove everyone wrong. It's pretty cool to see Nicole come
International Competitors Highlights
01:28:48
Speaker
ahead of Mian at World Champs Long Trail.
01:28:53
Speaker
Like that's an incredible result for Nicole, especially considering Mi-Yan was first at the Fuji 100 this year, which is another world trail major. So we're seeing again the pull of the world trail majors. If Mi-Yan wins this, then um yeah, it rockets her into first place in the world trail majors. So another thing to keep an eye on there.
01:29:17
Speaker
ah Yeah, just... I don't know, man, Nicole. She's done 20 100K races and never run a 100-miler. That's hard to do. it it is really it's really interesting. and i have like and Again, i respect i respect people that don't just chase the distance.
01:29:36
Speaker
I've said this before. like One of my... no no issue if you want to go longer and longer and longer and I fell into this this boat but actually learning how to perfect a race distance and to get faster at it and to execute it better I think that that sets you up so well for when you are then able to or you choose to step up into that that next distance obviously you can learn the distance by doing it but I think you can also learn it by perfecting the distance beneath it as well yeah agreed and Nicole is someone else who has experience on this terrain having raced ah Wonderland in the past and and I'm sure done a bit of training out here over the years so that bodes well and then there's then we have Luke Lifton his third time a charm for this yeah for this incredible athlete like you know maybe maybe Lou isn't in her former prime but she was a top 20 at UTMB in 2022 so it wasn't that long ago that you know she was still giving it to the to the global trail running community and
01:30:35
Speaker
Maybe if she puts it all together on this course in her third attempt, you know another person who could contend for the podium. Yeah, she she was obviously one of my names of of being on the start line twice, ah had a DNF and then essentially second ah um last year, though, cut short at Jimmy Creek for her.
01:30:54
Speaker
Yeah, I do think Lou is going to be the person that works through Obviously, as you said, she's had a DNF, but i I would say that if someone's likely to execute a smart race, it would definitely be Lou. She has the the experience that's pretty much unmatched, probably an Australian on the female side.
01:31:12
Speaker
um sorry and The other only other name that I think is worth mentioning, Ruth Eagles. ninth at uta 100 mile this year um she's had a sort of um a mixed last year dnf at cosi 17th uta 100k 16th tower 100 mile um but she was it she did do the stage race at gpt in 2023 so again has that course experience and i would say is another one that seems to be tracking up across across the years really well so i think that She'll be in a name a name to keep an eye on, potentially not not the one that we're looking at at the podium, but could definitely move through if there is attrition, um as we were talking about with what could be up there.
01:31:54
Speaker
Brody, is there anyone else or anything else to add to those those women's field? ah Not specifically. like I'm excited to see. like I think this is the race, whilst Lou might be getting to the tail end of her best performances, I think this is the race maybe where because it is a miler and it is a race that goes for so long and there's so much of those unexpected factors where she could quiet play a part.
01:32:20
Speaker
um I'm quite excited about Nicole Patton. Like, I think she could take it out. I think she's a good chance of taking it out. And I think – We talked about Bridie quite a bit, but I think the battle between those two actually I think will be quite good, and that's without talking about Man U Chung.
01:32:36
Speaker
So, yeah, I'm excited to see a really good race there in the women. um It's definitely going to be – Yeah. ah I'd like to say it's going to be tight, but we also know from prior experience that the milers end up then blowing out, something happens and people end up all over the place. But it could be really tight. We could see three runners within 20 minutes most of the time.
01:32:57
Speaker
huoo bo I think it's going to be – I don't think it's going to be tight anywhere until maybe the last 10K. And that's kind of saying that Brydie's approach will be very quick and Nicole is someone who stays the course.
01:33:12
Speaker
And we just want to call it world champs pick up Cecilia Mattis literally in the last couple of Ks. So, and Cecilia second here in its inaugural year. So, you know, and she had a really strong run against Kelly, obviously an incredible talent herself. So yeah, the question mark um with Nicole at this point is whether she's coming in at her best self because she has had a bit of a rough trot after world champs, but I have faith that someone like her can make it happen given the experience she has.
01:33:44
Speaker
Definitely. All right. Let's move on to the men's field. As we've already alluded to, from an Australian perspective, this is just a little bit nuts in terms of like the amount of depth across this field. like there's from From the men's side of our milers, probably from a performance perspective right now,
01:34:06
Speaker
Tom Dade would be the one that's sort of at that that upper end. But then you've got, who's who's in this field, but then I've got one, two, three, four... I've got 11 or 12 other names of very, very good 100 mile performance guys at the moment. and Some that are sort of coming in some that like have a great day, then not so great day. and so But it's it's it's a really interesting storyline to me. I think there's like there's there's ah there's the battle. Well, there's not a battle. There's first in my mind, there's second.
01:34:36
Speaker
And then there's a very interesting battle for... the Australian men's field. Ben, know this is your your kind of keen area right now. You've been saying a lot about the depth of that this field. So do you want to take us away with it?
01:34:49
Speaker
Yeah, absolutely. um Couldn't agree more with what you say. i think excluding the internationals, we have like probably 15 guys all in that kind of 700 to 800 ITRA ranking category. Now, I hate to put so much emphasis on ITRA score because i um I don't know how much weight you can place on it, but just to give you an idea, like the depth is legit and anyone in that category can can prove to have a good day and they all have proof that they can compete at a really high level.
01:35:23
Speaker
Now, who is going to compete with Caleb Olson? Now, it's just like the fact that we've managed to get this guy over to Australia is awesome in the first place, but to pull him to this race and get him excited about it is super cool.
01:35:39
Speaker
um He's the third best ranked ITRA 100-mile runner in the world. The only two people in front of him are Tom Evans and Jim Walmsley, and he shares that third honours with Ludovic Pomeroy. So he's in elite royal company there.
01:35:58
Speaker
He's just come off a DNF at World Champ, I managed to run past him. I won't claim his scalp because he had a fall and injured himself. But um yeah, he but he hurt his knee there. he had to pull out. So he'll be hungry to wrap his season up with a really cool performance here.
01:36:15
Speaker
He was second at Western States this year. ah Sorry, first at Western States in the second fastest time in history. 14 hours, 11 minutes, 25 seconds.
01:36:26
Speaker
He was only about two minutes off Jim's course record. So this guy is... breathing rarefied air right now and riding a serious high uh he's also if he wins this it'll rocket him into first position in the world trail majors rankings after coming first at trans gran canaria uh that's a 126k race with six out almost 7 000 meters of vert and he did it in just over 12 hours so it's incredible it's it's insane and you know
01:36:58
Speaker
I haven't ran Trans Grand Canaria, but those metrics alone tell me that it's not insane to think that Caleb could go and do the course record um ah GPT by four to five hours.
01:37:10
Speaker
Yeah. Yeah. I think that that with Caleb in this field, we're we're looking at that 20-hour mark and we're kind of going, okay, if it's if the weather conditions are favorable and he doesn't have something like Worlds where he just falls over and hurts himself,
01:37:24
Speaker
oh Yeah. It's also, I've always been, I've always wondered how does this compare against UTMB from a time perspective? And we'd need an elite to do that. And obviously a very good UTMB time is around 1930. That typically typically wins in the last few years, um excluding excluding this year where it was a bit faster because they had they didn't do um one of the sections but anything anything sub 20 is typically first to third at UTMB and I'm kind of thinking that this might stack up a pretty similar time wise so I'm fascinated to see what Caleb can do on this course.
01:37:55
Speaker
Yeah exactly and I mean UTMB is about 13 kilometers longer in distance than this obviously it has a lot more vert this is a completely different course the climbs are a lot shorter but this course is a lot technical and and slower moving. So yeah, I'm super fascinated to see how that stacks up too, because when Michael Dunster ran in its inaugural year, at that point in Michael's career, he had a great day yeah and, you know, and pulled in at 24 hours. So to say that this guy could run, you know, four hours faster is just insane. But if there's a guy to do it, it's him and it's, and it's now.
01:38:34
Speaker
but My only question is, is the the other the the other guy's name, Sanjay Sherpa, he won last year or the got the furthest, but he's not in the same category as Caleb. So for Caleb's perspective, do you bother trying to run as fast as you can?
01:38:49
Speaker
Or do you just win the thing, take home some cash, have a fun holiday in Australia and end your year on a good note? I hope not. But I mean, yeah, if I'm if i'm human, I'm leading by an hour or two at halfway. Like,
Australian Men's Field Depth
01:39:02
Speaker
I don't see why you wouldn't,
01:39:04
Speaker
preserve your body and and save it for next year or maybe he's got something in the pipeline for the following year. yeah um I really hope that someone can give it to him. I really hope even more that it's the ah the Australian running community that can push in.
01:39:18
Speaker
yeah ah But do people risk their race by doing that, likelihood is yes. Yes. I think somebody would have to really surprise us if an Australian can go with Caleb and not ruin their own race.
01:39:32
Speaker
Yeah. I think the only guy beating Caleb is himself because the next guy I've got kind of um challenging, if you can call it a challenge, returning champion Sange Sherpa.
01:39:42
Speaker
Now, what this guy has done this year, but more so just in the last two to three months, is absolutely bonkers. Let me just Let me just read it out. So um starting about three months ago, Sangay run the Trans Pyrenees nine hundred k winning it.
01:40:00
Speaker
A couple of weeks later, he went to do the Swift Teague 700k, winning it as well. Then not long after that, Port de Jonce 330k. He somehow managed to squeeze the world trend the World Championships long trail in there. Now, he didn't have a great day there. I think things finally caught up with him.
01:40:18
Speaker
And not long after that, he went over and raced at Ultra Trail Gobi 400k. So this guy is putting together one of the most insane seasons of all time.
01:40:29
Speaker
um didn't know 900k races existed, to be honest. Yeah, well, um I'd love to see the field depth for that because I don't know how many people could go and do it, but let alone then back it up with a 700k not long after. So basically, Sange's whole methodology is just he doesn't like training.
01:40:48
Speaker
He just... uses racing as training. And that's that's what um one of his friends told me. And my response was, yeah, but no one's doing 900k weeks. If you're replacing the races with training, like make them 100k, make them 160k, because that's kind of where people are, the training range. But 900k in a week? like This guy is just on another level. And that's why ah don't and don't really know um what kind of condition he's coming in
01:41:18
Speaker
at and I probably wouldn't have him challenging even for the podium personally. yeah We obviously know that this guy can suffer and he's really good in the long stuff, but I think this year will be more conducive to performance-based race and I don't think he's coming in with the legs to perform the way that he did last year. and He had a great race last year, but he also just knows how to suffer.
01:41:42
Speaker
yeah it's i I would love to talk to him. and just understand like how is he recovering like how is he physically able to back these things up because i don't care how hard you're pushing if you are out there for a hundred plus hours multiple times in a three-month period it's just like my my brain doesn't compute that and so also recovering in transit you know like these are these are races that are happening all over the world, like predominantly Europe at the moment, but he does a lot of traveling. And so much of that time is taken up in recovery from getting a bus and then a plane and then dealing with jet lag and all the things that come with it. So his capacity to recover is just mind-blowing. So from just a year perspective, like I think people should be looking at this season and giving –
01:42:36
Speaker
give some credit because it's, it's wild and it is, it is flying under the radar. It's basically, there's barely anything that he does that is less than a hundred mile race. yeah Yeah, I would love to actually add up his entire race calendar for this year and just see how many kilometers has he been in events for.
01:42:52
Speaker
It would be, like, it's got to be 5,000, 6,000, no, plus probably, just in events. And then you've to assume he actually is running between the events, at least something.
01:43:04
Speaker
So it's, yeah, ah scott ah yeah it's incredible. But yes, I agree with you, Ben, though. I i just don't see, when when we have... So many of our guys that are very strong runners that are focusing on this, and there's so many of them, i.e.
01:43:19
Speaker
the natural rate of attrition won't take our entire men's field out. that Half these guys will probably have pretty good days and one or two will probably have great days. I just ah struggle to see how Sanjay can get on the podium here again.
01:43:34
Speaker
Yeah, I agree. And I think ah you know maybe he's coming coming back for revenge, but I also think he just really loved his experience last year. and really enjoyed the community and he also got to see a lot of australia so maybe he's also just keen to come back and and take part but the last um international that i had on my list was morgan glazier now um he's been down in oz for a while he's been training with the aussie running community in the blueys we also saw him tow the line at roller coaster 46 he got fifth there now i don't know whether that result is
01:44:08
Speaker
um more telling of his ability or just that he was using as as a stimulus in the build to this race. um fifth Fifth was good in that field but I don't think it's a result that would tell me that this guy is going to get on the podium in the 100 mile.
01:44:25
Speaker
The thing that does is his third place at the South Downs Way 100 miler earlier this year which was another world trail major so again the world trail majors can kind of getting people down here.
01:44:37
Speaker
ah don't know if him getting even first would would put him into the kind of global rankings in the world trail majors. But another person to take note of and a guy who has really put a lot of emphasis on this race, you know, he he announced that he was coming down here months and months ago. He's obviously been here in Australia building and getting eyes on the course. So, yeah, I think another guy who could really contend for the podium.
01:45:05
Speaker
But yeah I want to give shine. Do you want to say something about Morgan? Yeah, I was going say with Morgan, like we spoke about this for roller coaster. He was in Italy for well like basically the whole of September training with Robbie Britton and then comes over to us. He's in the Blue Mountains for a while, bright for a week.
01:45:24
Speaker
goes to roller coaster and then has been spending time time and in the Grampians. he's doing He's done everything right to be able to transition from... like The South Downs way is an incredibly fast, incredibly runnable course. like There's nothing technical about that area. That's where I'm from. like it's His run was great, but I just do not see how that can translate to a course like GPT unless you do something like he's done and just commit to it.
01:45:49
Speaker
That said, seeing him at roller coaster, even if it was a long run, I'd say a lot of the Australian guys in this field move better over these kind of trails. And so I don't think he's going to... think you he's so young as well. I think he has a great potential in the sport and I will very happily be proven wrong.
01:46:07
Speaker
But I just don't think he's going to be able to be efficient enough over this terrain for this duration of time to get high enough or fast enough finish to podium. Yeah. Yeah, that's where I was at with that. I mean, I looked at the the score that he got for that South Downs way run.
01:46:23
Speaker
It was good, but in my head wasn't um enough to tell me that, you know, this guy is going to be up there with your, with your sand gaze. And I mean, I mean, maybe on the day, but have a performance that's conducive to kind of giving some of our Aussies who have experience on this course, having raced it, a run for their money.
01:46:42
Speaker
And there's a lot. So let me, let me get into these guys because we got a lot of, We got a huge category of returning um pretending guys who raced last year and even in its inaugural year back in 2023. So Justin Dyer was third last year.
01:47:00
Speaker
He took a while to get back into his groove post-GPT. I bumped into him down in Tassie and had a chat to him there and he still wasn't kind of ready to to put the burners on, but he has treated GPT as his A-race coming back and...
01:47:16
Speaker
I think he'll be looking to build off his performance last year. ah Chris McAuliffe, third in the inaugural running of GPT, he didn't have the performance that he would have liked to have had last year. I think, I don't know if it was the heat that got to him, but um it wasn't really a step in the direction that he would have wanted to build off that third place in the previous year. But He is really training the house down at the moment.
01:47:45
Speaker
UTA 100 miler, he was third this year in a pretty stacked field. This guy just knows how to put his head down and get the work done in the 100 mile distance. He's really hung his hat on that kind of hundred and sixty k stuff. So I have a lot of faith in Chris to have a really good year this year and I'll be rooting for him big time.
01:48:06
Speaker
Jared Owen. When this guy nails it, he nails it. like yeah He DNF'd last year. I think he might have even DNF'd at GPT the year before.
01:48:17
Speaker
did. ah His hut-to-hut performance earlier in the year was finally him kind of putting it together and and getting one of those longer runs complete. And we saw him in the Buffalo Grand Slam this year ah take it out.
01:48:31
Speaker
He obviously is an incredible runner. My only question, Mark, with Jared Owen is, can he see it through after two DNFs? And I, I bank on him getting it done.
01:48:44
Speaker
And this guy, he won't, and I think with a guy like Jared, he will do it. If he's performing well, um he will perform and until he can't perform no more. And then he'll pull the pin. So if he nails it, I reckon it'll be a really strong showing and I'm still undecided on my podium, but,
01:49:04
Speaker
he's like the reason that I'm undecided because I reckon if he nails it, he nails it big time. Interesting. Another name, and feel free to jump in at any point. No, I'm doing this. You go for it. This is great. um George Knight.
01:49:17
Speaker
I want to give this guy a shout out. He has gone to absolute work this year. He's an under 23, super young. He's just moved to Tassie and he's been putting in the work. So he was second at the Gone Nuts 100K this year, but then since then was...
01:49:33
Speaker
first at Peaks and Trails 50k and first at Wonderland 50k, both runs in the Grampians. So he has put a heap of emphasis on coming back to this race after, i think he made his ultra debut at the GPT 100 mile last year, which is wild.
01:49:54
Speaker
Like I think his longest run before that was the Pilliger. It might've been the Pilliger 50k, but i'm I'm pretty sure that was, like his ultra debut, um, which he managed to snag by seeing a single track car parked in Sydney. And he put a ah little note on there saying, Hey, um, I really want to run the hundred mile at GPT. If you'd let me do it, I would love to be there. So this guy has come in leaps and bounds and I am super excited for his future, in the sport, whether he is at the capacity to contend now, I'm not sure.
01:50:31
Speaker
but um he is doing everything to make himself a serious contender in the sport and yeah if it's if it's not this year it could be in a few years time but his trajectory is is super strong and then the other one i have down is nick montgomery now this even though gpt has only run twice this will be his third attempt at completing the full gpt distance he had an fkt attempt in 2022 which um didn wasn't completed.
01:51:03
Speaker
He tried again in 2023 and that ended in a DNF. And then last year he was supposed to tow the start line and I think dislocated his shoulder a couple of weeks before in training so he didn't start. So this guy has done everything to try and finish this off and has had the unfortunate luck of not being able to do it. But I reckon this year is his year.
01:51:29
Speaker
I don't think he has the fitness that he did back in 2023. And maybe roller coaster is an indication of that. Now, he had a really strong race there. I think he even went under the previous course record, but was still back in four. So, yeah, Nick, interesting to see.
01:51:49
Speaker
yeah i would have said back in 2023, if he didn't DNF, he would have won. Yeah. Yeah. It's an interesting with one with Nick. Like comparing 2024 to 2025, he ran five minutes faster at rollercoaster.
01:52:02
Speaker
So I would say he's even outside of the fact that he did fall two weeks prior to last year's event and dislocated shoulder. um He at least from the 46k distance is in a better better shape and I would think that translates very well because of the training he's doing very very similar style of training.
01:52:18
Speaker
um And his history, like he's he's nailed the 100k, 100 mile distance a few times. He does know how to do this distance. um It's just whether he can manage.
01:52:29
Speaker
Now, obviously the first two years of GPT, not that he ran last year, but were pretty tough weather conditions. maybe this, when they you take a takea away or minimize one of the bigger variables, does that help him have a good chance to sort of see his fitness to to the end? um Or at least give him that confidence that he can come back in a future year and really nail it.
01:52:53
Speaker
He's also a new dad, so that you kind of think, well, how much time has he had to train and to commit to this this block as he had in the past? But then, as we said earlier, maybe that's a good thing. Maybe this means a bit less and that's what he needs. Yeah, exactly right. I think...
01:53:05
Speaker
I think the child um having a kid has, you know, hasn't allowed him to train to his former kind of glory when he was back winning GSER 100 miler and Alpine Challenge 100 miler. But just knowing that he has that 100 mile pedigree from years past, I think will be enough to give him the confidence to know that he can see the distance out and hopefully be competitive across it too.
01:53:27
Speaker
i think going back to some of the names you said earlier, Chris McAuliffe, he's – He's one that i've I wrote off for UTA because of few little training things that I saw and just came to completely disprove me and came through the field, finished in third. And I was like, okay, all right, i'm I'm done with not betting on Chris.
01:53:49
Speaker
Like he has a capacity to finish strong. is incredible. And we're talking about a course like GPT, I think that plays a huge factor. Yeah, his run at UTA was incredible. Like, I think he was kind of sitting probably in the lower half of the top 10 for most of the day, like around that seventh, eighth position and just came home so strong. And um yeah, he's his training doesn't look super sexy on Strava, but he just he knows how to nail a race and the people love him.
01:54:19
Speaker
Yeah. There's an interesting storyline as well with the the people that have done Oscars hut to hut this year, because we have the first place in Jared Irwin, we have second place in Benjamin Butler, and then we have third place in Chris.
01:54:34
Speaker
And yeah when I think about a course in this same kind of area, i.e. Victoria, that translates probably well towards the GPT, Oscars is definitely one of them. i say also maybe something like Wilson's Prom, just from a frustration of terrain type, but From a competitive side, I think Oscars is definitely one that that goes across. and that I'm curious to see how that folds out, especially since we've seen Ben.
01:54:58
Speaker
We spoke about he's had a fourth at Stampede this year in the hundred k and then a second very strong run at Hounslow as well. so I think for him, this is his 100-mile debut. That's from what I could find.
01:55:10
Speaker
so That obviously he throws a big big question mark. um and he He is young, but he has a lot of experience for for his age. but I'm curious to see how those three, finish at the end. my My guess is Chris jumps from third to first in that trio.
01:55:24
Speaker
Yeah, and he totally could. I think that the thing that gives me confidence about Chris in that hut to hut situation is Chris has won hut to hut in its original form.
01:55:36
Speaker
which is incredibly technical and super tough and and really slow and sloggy, whereas the abridged version due to weather change this year probably suited guy like Jared and maybe suited a guy like Ben in his first 100K.
01:55:54
Speaker
So, yeah, I think just the more runnable nature of that course change probably suited those other guys, and Chris has probably proven over time that he has the pedigree and in the more – slow and technical 100 100 mile races.
01:56:10
Speaker
hundred to hundred hey hundred mile ris The other interesting thing actually is that all three of those guys backed up into Buffalo. Jared and Chris did the Grand Slam and then Ben Butler did the 100K.
01:56:22
Speaker
that' like We're only talking four weeks apart there and it's maybe five. Very impressive to still perform the way that they did. Like Jared came first, Chris came fourth, Ben came fourth.
01:56:33
Speaker
ah Clearly, they've they've got the capacity. You can't do that if you don't have a very strong, very well-built foundation. Yeah, and you expect that from guys like Jared Owen and Chris, but Ben Butler, like I think he's 20 years old now. Was he 19 years old when he was doing back-to-back 100Ks? It's impressive if his body can handle that. Now, I don't think the proof is in the pudding when you just do two like that, but hopefully a guy like him at his age has the capacity and the strength in his body ah to be able to do these things because he had an incredible race at Pounslow as well, I think,
01:57:11
Speaker
Hanslow, 42, was second. um yeah So Ben Butler, he's another one, man. like he could He could totally contend, and and maybe he's only in contention for that 100K, but I do see him as a guy who can help push the pace through those early stages of the race. and And I hope for his sake we don't see him him drop off. But I will say that it's a huge it's a huge leap in your first 100 um And I wouldn't be disappointed if you weren't getting it right the first time because it's a very different race, especially in this one. This is going to be probably 14
Race Outcome Predictions
01:57:50
Speaker
hours longer than his race at Buffalo. So interesting to see. Now, I haven't even spoken about, and this is because he's not, um he hasn't done the race before, but one of the few people making his debut in this race is Tom Dade.
01:58:06
Speaker
And Tom... I have him having a really good race here. i think I, I kind of doubled down on that because he didn't have his day at world champs. And, um, he would, he would tell you the same thing. Like it just, it just wasn't his moment.
01:58:22
Speaker
But, um, if he can refer, um, come back to his Buffalo form where he placed second in that hundred K and probably his, his best race, uh, I would say that he is well and truly in,
01:58:36
Speaker
in contention for the podium and it's it's cool to see him return to the distance after kind of going kind of yeah i mean this is a guy who in his teens was running 200 milers all across australia winning them um setting course records and then probably took some time away to get back to developing speed in the shorter stuff and putting more emphasis on that but he's back back in his first hundred miler i think in well over potentially two years so Really cool to see him. And yeah, he's a work horse.
01:59:08
Speaker
Like he will he will see the distance through, rain, hail or shine, no matter what kind of thoughts and feelings he's having coming up. I just hope that he can kind of perform to the best of his ability in this one.
01:59:22
Speaker
Yeah, I think with Tom, I think rollercoaster for Tom was great because he ran the course, did the whole thing with with Lucy and came away feeling enthused and rejuvenated, which was his big thing. I think talking to him after Worlds, he was just sort of in that bit of a slump where you don't have a day you hope for.
01:59:42
Speaker
You're not really sure what to do. And I know at that point he wasn't sure about doing GPT. And and I think that the impression I got sort talking to him after rollercoaster was that that was what he needed. And there is still a hunger to hit another big one this year.
01:59:55
Speaker
like I said, I think the the last true 100 mile he did, at least I could tell, was back in 2021 at GSER. He's done the Unreasonable East, the 200 mile. He's done that stage but stage race, the very long race over in in Everest with 135.
02:00:10
Speaker
And he's done down under. But I don't count down under in Everest they're not really... events. 200 miler does act very different to 100 miler, especially in the the um competition level that we've got here. So I'm i'm excited to see Tom. I really, if if Tom is on form, Tom is on the podium without a question for me. Yeah.
02:00:30
Speaker
And we'd love to see it because I don't know, Tom's been in this sport for a long time and he's had some some big highs and some big lows. But, and that's crazy to say because don't even know if Tom's like 25 yet. I think I'm 26. He's yeah. He's, he's, he's mid twenties.
02:00:48
Speaker
It's, it's, it's incredible. Yeah. So, I mean, that'd be really cool to see. Uh, and that, I mean, you know, I'm going to, I'm going to name some names. I won't go into depth with them, but just to, just to give you an idea of this, the depth of field, like Jeremy may, um, he was in the race last year. He was well ahead of me until he pulled the pin.
02:01:07
Speaker
unfortunately just went down with some heat related stuff. Like he, i think he was, i don't know how the, how Buffalo constitutes their grand slams, but maybe this is the ultra grand slam. He was the the grand slam, the ultra grand slam whi winner there, which over the course of the weekend adds up to a hundred mile distance.
02:01:25
Speaker
um So he won that coming in. Apparently his super fit Shane Johnson over from WA. He was in the race last year was think about seventh, when the race got canceled and then Joseph Nunn, Tazzy guy, absolute weapon from down there. He was top 10 in the inaugural year. And that there's a, there's been a really cool crew from Tasmania putting a lot of energy and emphasis on this race and and coming back year after year. So here's another one that I just want to shout out.
02:01:56
Speaker
And then Ryan Lowe, who does a lot of work for the single track team. um He's probably spent more time on course than anyone doing some clearing. So A lot of guys, I mean, the depth of this is is wild and maybe maybe it drops off a little after a guy like Caleb, um yeah but this kind of, this bunch that are all going to be, you know, I'm sure they're all convinced that they're going to be on the podium and there's going to be hopefully not disappointment, but for probably a few people who have good days and still come like out of the top 10, which is cool to say in an Australian race.
02:02:32
Speaker
Brody, you've had to just listen to ben and i go for a bit there. Have you got anything you want to add to any any of those guys? I don't think I have anything specific to add. like ah The field, like you said, like this is a arguably this is one of the most deep,
02:02:49
Speaker
fields we've seen in any trail race in Australia all year, which is crazy to be that it's at a hundred mile race. But like, that's probably like, yeah, maybe it's not as many of the top, top guys in Australia, but there's a heap of like the people who are either at that level, but haven't shown it yet, or they're just below it.
02:03:07
Speaker
Like it's, yeah, it's incredible. They're all there. I actually think it is the most deep race we've seen this year, um which is which crazy. There's one that I don't – did you mention Matt Cooper?
02:03:20
Speaker
No, he's the only name that ah we haven't said. He's one that I'm interested about because Matt Cooper ran the stage race in 2023 and we were doing the stage race relay and he was there or thereabouts the whole time. like it was crazy how well he was doing it. So he's done the entire course before, but over four days, and he's finished it in 19 hours.
02:03:40
Speaker
So, yes, he has to do it all in one. And I don't know what he's been up to for the last couple of years. But he's one that I think could be there or thereabouts. Like he's definitely in that mix of all those guys.
02:03:52
Speaker
Matt, Matt Cooper is an incredible runner. ah He's def I get the impression now, like he's, he's the idea of, um, one D cross, like his, his own running potentially isn't taking the forefront, but at the same time, I thought that when he turned up to GPT stage race and he absolutely smashed to everything it every single day. He just kept going every day. It was yeah as as quick as he was the day before. Like it was, yeah, it was really impressive. And he ran day one in five hours, 10. Yeah.
02:04:17
Speaker
yeah Which is du just is like literally seven minutes slower than I did it last year. Yeah, i it's it's incredible. It's really, really incredible. it's um No, I do think i think Matt is another name. like it's It is going to be really, really tough to to see where that goes. I think Jeremy May is probably the name in there that I'm the most curious about.
02:04:41
Speaker
Because his ultra grand slam within that came eighth at Buffalo 100k in a really fast time. And it was his time more than his position that piqued my curiosity. um If he can get it right, I think like if you're going to say something like a dark horse, I think him in this field is that that one for me where I'm not on paper, nobody was expecting him to maybe even top five in this field.
02:05:05
Speaker
But I could, as long as he doesn't go too hard to start, we could just suddenly see him popping up into third or second even. but Yeah, I completely agree with that. And maybe he's flying under the radar a bit because there hasn't been much that I've seen of him since Buffalo.
02:05:23
Speaker
ah But he's another guy who knows this course really well. Like not only has he come out and projected it and also race sections of it, but he lives with Michael Dunstan. um so I'm sure kim and Michael have come up with a beautiful race strategy for him to do a very similar thing that Michael did in 2023 so yeah another name man this is the craziness of the depth of this alright Ben I'm going to put it on you and I'm basically just so I can rip your picks off but who who have you got first of all starting with the or who we' got yeah we'll go with with the women's field you start there so I've got
02:06:03
Speaker
ah trusty Nicole coming first Mi Yan Chung coming second and Bridie Temple in third in her debut and i have zero confidence in that
02:06:19
Speaker
okay I'll It is is so tough when you're talking about a debut, especially the miler, especially this this type of miler. um That said, I think if you were to talk about Bridie debuting at the 100k Alpine Challenge, you would have said the exact same things.
02:06:33
Speaker
And so I'm going to take Bridie, who's a few years older, few years wiser, as taking out the victory. I'm then going to Man Util for second and I'm going to take Nicole for third.
02:06:46
Speaker
Bridie? Oh, sad. i so I think I'm going to, I think I agree. I think Bridie's the most risky pick, but i also in some ways she's the most solid pick. like It's like as long as it goes the way it goes, which doesn't always happen in a mile, I think she's a pretty safe pick. But yeah, yeah I'm going to go with Bridie and then I'm going to go Nicole and then Man Utul.
02:07:13
Speaker
Cool. All right, I'll take. Bridie, have you gone first yet? I haven't, but don't want to. Okay, go on then. All right, I'm going to go Caleb.
02:07:25
Speaker
I think Sange, he's just like he got so close last year. He's going to – it'd be so good for him. He's going to be so excited to finish, I think, um after last year.
02:07:36
Speaker
say yeah, i'm going to pick him for second. um And then – I'm going to have to pick an Aussie, but I just don't know who. um How about your hometown favourite?
02:07:49
Speaker
Who's my hometown favourite? Justin Dye. I really want Justin to be in the top three. I just don't know if he he will. ah that Yeah. You know what?
02:08:01
Speaker
Chris McCullough. Yeah. Yeah. it's But Justin Dye for fourth. Sorry, Justin. I really hope it's a Tasmanian podium. That's what I want.
02:08:13
Speaker
Justin... um Joseph, I don't know who else. Surely there's another Tasmanian there. That'd be great. George Narch living in Tassie.
02:08:24
Speaker
Yeah, true. Those three and Caleb doesn't even make the podium. yeah That's my offside pick. Ben? I've got Caleb winning. Tommy Dade having a day.
02:08:34
Speaker
and coming in second and Chris McAuliffe in third. I really should have gone before you because that was my point. Chris loves coming third as well. He's very good at coming third.
02:08:46
Speaker
The thing is – I mean that in a positive, like in really good fields, he comes third. Yeah, no, I think that the coming coming third in this field is is a real statement. um i Yeah, my my my pick was going to be the the exact same. It was Caleb, Tom, Chris.
02:09:01
Speaker
There was a slight slight hesitation in like how much is Tom going to have to give this course, but I just get the impression that he's going to have a fun day out there and Tom doing that.
02:09:12
Speaker
is going to be a strong day. So, yeah, that's that's my picks. Guys, that was a long one. was a big... Yeah, it was a long one. That a really long one. I have... If you made it this far, listeners, well done. Anyone, if anyone makes it this far in one listen, please let us know because will... I don't have anything to send you, but I'll be very impressed.
02:09:31
Speaker
Yeah, I'll give you a clap and a gold star. anything Anything to sign off with, Ben, before we head off? No, nothing from me. I'm just like, I'll be there. um from the Wednesday onwards.
02:09:44
Speaker
ah I'll be predominantly cheering everyone on, but I'm there doing a bit of filming. And yeah, I'm just super excited to see this one play out. So if you see me there, say g'day. Brody, anything? Cool.
02:09:55
Speaker
Yeah, nothing. Enjoy you're headed out. And if you're not headed out, then look at it for next year because it's ah it's a really epic event. um But yeah, I'm super excited to watch it. And yeah,
02:10:06
Speaker
Yeah, it's going to be a good year. Yeah, I just think seeing seeing the depth of the men's 100-mile field, and I hope the women's will follow this next year, is I'm excited that...
02:10:19
Speaker
the 100 mile is this competitive and the just the 100 mile distance is is is drawing drawing this crowd. So I
Final Comments and Future Participation
02:10:26
Speaker
think 2026 GPT is going to be fascinating and hopefully Caleb has a good experience and we start to see some more internationals coming over.
02:10:36
Speaker
um So yeah, guys, thanks so much. That was great fun. Enjoyed that one and we'll ah we'll catch you catch soon. All right, catch you later.