Latest / Let's Talk Trail Running / 2025 Tarawera 100k Preview/Black Canyon 100k Post Race Thoughts

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2025 Tarawera 100k Preview/Black Canyon 100k Post Race Thoughts · Let's Talk Trail Running

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome back to Let's Talk Trail Running.
• 0:05
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Robert Prosser.
• 0:07
  SPEAKER_00: In today's episode,
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: I am hoping to talk about a preview for TerraWare 100k,
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: the next race upcoming on the Fantasy Free Trail Choice Option calendar.
• 0:22
  And before I do that too,
• 0:24
  I also want to talk about Black Canyon 100k,
• 0:26
  kind of look back on
• 0:28
  how that stacked up and the 50k as well and talk about picks
• 0:31
  for that um maybe some
• 0:33
  some prizes from the race and uh just kind of how i felt that
• 0:37
  went um before i get
• 0:39
  started for people that are new uh to the podcast my name is
• 0:42
  rob and rob prosser
• 0:44
  and i'm a trail runner from colorado springs or living in
• 0:47
  colorado springs uh who
• 0:49
  just really likes to talk about trail running really likes
• 0:52
  fantasy free trail um
• 0:53
  SPEAKER_00: what are my qualifications for
• 0:55
  SPEAKER_00: talking about trail running,
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 0:57
  SPEAKER_00: other than liking it a ton and,
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: getting,
• 1:00
  SPEAKER_00: I guess,
• 1:01
  SPEAKER_00: 11th in the fantasy free trail ranks in 2023 and 17th last year.
• 1:05
  Uh,
• 1:05
  basically I just spend way too much time,
• 1:07
  uh,
• 1:07
  looking at and deciding picks for these races.
• 1:10
  SPEAKER_00: So I figured if I'm going to spend that much time,
• 1:11
  I might as well share some of the things I come across and
• 1:14
  information for other people.
• 1:16
  SPEAKER_00: I want to give a quick shout out to Ken Seals of the Ultra Minute.
• 1:20
  SPEAKER_00: For those of you familiar with him,
• 1:23
  SPEAKER_00: he's got a Substack and also an Instagram page.
• 1:25
  SPEAKER_00: And he's putting together a really,
• 1:26
  really cool weekly roundup of all trail running things that he
• 1:30
  included my podcast
• 1:34
  SPEAKER_00: slash Substack in.
• 1:36
  SPEAKER_00: And some new listeners might have come over from that.
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: If you haven't checked out his stuff, the Ultra Minute is what it is.
• 1:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's a really beautifully formatted newsletter with all the cool,
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: cool stuff going on in ultra running and trail running through the week.
• 1:50
  And he puts me on a lot of really,
• 1:51
  really insightful articles,
• 1:53
  sub stacks,
• 1:54
  things like that.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: So I want to thank him for mentioning me.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then also,
• 1:59
  SPEAKER_00: yeah,
• 2:00
  just kind of getting some new people here that are also might
• 2:03
  be fantasy free trail
• 2:04
  SPEAKER_00: nerds like myself.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: So big shout out there.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: So like I said, we'll talk about TerraWare here in a bit.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: First,
• 2:11
  I want to look back a little bit and just talk about Black
• 2:13
  Canyon 100k and see how
• 2:16
  SPEAKER_00: kind of some of the predictions,
• 2:19
  SPEAKER_00: how they kind of stacked up for Black Canyon.
• 2:22
  SPEAKER_00: Like I might have mentioned before,
• 2:23
  I think Black Canyon is oftentimes like one of the hardest
• 2:27
  races to pick for on the year.
• 2:29
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of factors going into that.
• 2:31
  SPEAKER_00: One of the factors is, well, like
• 2:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think, let's see, over 1,000 people picked.
• 2:36
  SPEAKER_00: 1,076 is what Free Trail is saying.
• 2:38
  SPEAKER_00: So that makes it really tough.
• 2:40
  SPEAKER_00: It's competitive to choose from.
• 2:41
  And then the other big thing is it's really your first big race
• 2:43
  of the season.
• 2:44
  SPEAKER_00: So it's tough to tell where people's fitness,
• 2:46
  SPEAKER_00: where the athlete's fitness is at,
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: who's coming in fresh,
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: who's coming off injuries,
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: who's using this as a tune-up,
• 2:52
  SPEAKER_00: who's already in peak shape.
• 2:54
  SPEAKER_00: It's really an interesting time.
• 2:56
  SPEAKER_00: And I really,
• 2:57
  really like it from the challenging perspective of it's like
• 3:01
  really hard to pick from.
• 3:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think last year I was...
• 3:03
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't pick super well last year.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: This year, looking at my Black Canyon.
• 3:06
  So I know I talked about the 100K and I didn't talk as much
• 3:09
  about the 50K,
• 3:10
  SPEAKER_00: but I'll talk about my picks a little bit there.
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: What I ended up picking for my top five in Black Canyon.
• 3:16
  SPEAKER_00: So my top five on the female side,
• 3:18
  SPEAKER_00: I picked Mary Denholm to go first,
• 3:20
  SPEAKER_00: Lynn Chen to go second,
• 3:21
  SPEAKER_00: Abby Hall third,
• 3:23
  SPEAKER_00: MK Sullivan fourth,
• 3:25
  SPEAKER_00: and Heather Jackson fifth.
• 3:27
  SPEAKER_00: So the way that stacked up, I had three point winners.
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: We had Mary and Heather both dropping.
• 3:33
  Uh,
• 3:33
  and then Lynch and Abby Hall and,
• 3:35
  uh,
• 3:35
  MK Sullivan,
• 3:36
  I had them two,
• 3:37
  three,
• 3:37
  and four.
• 3:38
  And in reality,
• 3:39
  Lynch and got fourth,
• 3:41
  Abby Hall got fifth and,
• 3:42
  uh,
• 3:42
  MK Sullivan got third.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: So I had a pretty good middle of the stack.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: I do regret not putting Riley Brady in my top.
• 3:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think I should have probably,
• 3:48
  I should have probably assumed that either Heather or Mary
• 3:51
  might've come out too hot.
• 3:53
  SPEAKER_00: And I think Mary just probably wasn't totally recovered from, uh, JFK 50.
• 3:57
  Now that I think about it,
• 3:58
  I mean,
• 3:58
  JFK is,
• 3:59
  uh,
• 3:59
  it's really essentially in December.
• 4:01
  SPEAKER_00: It's the last week in November.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: So it feels like that's probably just not enough time to recover.
• 4:04
  SPEAKER_00: And she came out, Mary Denham came out hot, man.
• 4:08
  SPEAKER_00: She was like in that lead pack of men, guns blazing from the get-go.
• 4:11
  SPEAKER_00: She was kind of pulling a page out of Heather Jackson's book.
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: And Heather Jackson,
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: amazing racer,
• 4:16
  SPEAKER_00: amazing competitor,
• 4:17
  SPEAKER_00: just hasn't really been able to figure out Black Canyon yet.
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: So that was my female side.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: That got me about 1148 points.
• 4:24
  On my men's side,
• 4:26
  I had Eli going first,
• 4:28
  Hans Troyer going second,
• 4:30
  Mekhi Clemens going third.
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: Seth Ruhling going fourth and Blake Sladdengrin going fifth.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: If I looking back on it,
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: if the only regret I have is Hans Troyer,
• 4:44
  SPEAKER_00: I guess,
• 4:45
  and really just not knowing that he was going to drop the big
• 4:49
  thing there is I
• 4:49
  SPEAKER_00: don't really know that I would have.
• 4:51
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, I would have picked somebody to replace him, obviously.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: But when I think about it,
• 4:55
  I was leaning towards maybe somebody like Craig Hunt or let me
• 4:59
  see who else I was
• 5:00
  SPEAKER_00: kind of thinking about.
• 5:02
  SPEAKER_00: I probably would have picked a Craig Hunt or... I don't know.
• 5:07
  SPEAKER_00: Probably Craig Hunt if I had to guess.
• 5:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I probably wouldn't have missed out on that many points.
• 5:12
  SPEAKER_00: Had some surprising performances there.
• 5:14
  SPEAKER_00: Kenyon Woodward had a pretty good race.
• 5:16
  SPEAKER_00: Elliot Cardin was right there in that sixth place.
• 5:20
  There's no chance I would have picked Will Murray,
• 5:21
  but I'm really stoked for his performance.
• 5:23
  SPEAKER_00: So going back to my men's picks, I had...
• 5:27
  SPEAKER_00: For my top five, so Eli, I had first.
• 5:29
  SPEAKER_00: He actually went fourth.
• 5:30
  SPEAKER_00: Hans, I had second.
• 5:32
  SPEAKER_00: He didn't start, so no points there, which is always a bummer.
• 5:34
  Makai Clemens,
• 5:35
  I don't regret putting him in third,
• 5:37
  but he dropped about halfway.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: I think he was a little bit sick coming in.
• 5:40
  SPEAKER_00: Seth Ruling, I had fourth.
• 5:41
  SPEAKER_00: Obviously, he ended up getting the dub.
• 5:43
  SPEAKER_00: And Blake Slattengren, I got fifth, and he ended up getting ninth.
• 5:46
  SPEAKER_00: So men's side, I had 910 points.
• 5:48
  SPEAKER_00: So I ended up stacking up 147th out of 1,076 players.
• 5:53
  SPEAKER_00: obviously, it's nice to always be in the top 10.
• 5:55
  SPEAKER_00: But I figure if I'm top 10% consistently, that's pretty good.
• 6:00
  SPEAKER_00: So I wasn't too disappointed.
• 6:02
  And I would have liked I think I definitely sacrificed points
• 6:05
  on the female side by
• 6:06
  SPEAKER_00: not picking Riley in my top five.
• 6:09
  SPEAKER_00: So as my Black Canyon 100k.
• 6:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then for the 50k, I actually was pretty happy with those picks.
• 6:17
  SPEAKER_00: 718 people picked, I ended up getting 26th place.
• 6:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to spend too much time on it.
• 6:22
  SPEAKER_00: But
• 6:23
  SPEAKER_00: For my female side, Allison Back, I had in first.
• 6:25
  SPEAKER_00: Robin Lesh, I had in second.
• 6:27
  SPEAKER_00: Jennifer Schmidt, I had in third.
• 6:29
  SPEAKER_00: Corinne Chavoy, I had fourth.
• 6:31
  SPEAKER_00: And Imogen Ainsworth, I had in fifth.
• 6:34
  SPEAKER_00: And they, in that order, Allison, I got on the dot one for one.
• 6:38
  SPEAKER_00: Robin Lesh, I picked for second.
• 6:40
  SPEAKER_00: She got third.
• 6:41
  SPEAKER_00: Jennifer Schmidt, I picked third.
• 6:42
  SPEAKER_00: She got sixth.
• 6:43
  SPEAKER_00: Corinne Chavoy, I got fourth.
• 6:44
  SPEAKER_00: She got seventh.
• 6:45
  SPEAKER_00: And Imogen Ainsworth, I got fifth.
• 6:47
  SPEAKER_00: She got fourth.
• 6:48
  SPEAKER_00: So on the female side, I had 1,940 points.
• 6:50
  On the men's side,
• 6:51
  only regret on the 50K is I was pretty confident Jeshurun was
• 6:54
  going to win.
• 6:55
  And I almost changed it the morning of from Chris Myers in
• 6:58
  first to Jeshurun in first.
• 7:00
  SPEAKER_00: But my top five,
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: I had Chris Myers first,
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Brian Woodfield second,
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Jeshurun small third,
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: Adam Vada-Bancourt fourth,
• 7:09
  SPEAKER_00: and Jeff Colt fifth.
• 7:11
  SPEAKER_00: So I got points for everyone except for Adam.
• 7:13
  SPEAKER_00: So Chris, I had him first, but he got third.
• 7:15
  SPEAKER_00: Brian, I had him second.
• 7:16
  SPEAKER_00: He got fourth.
• 7:17
  SPEAKER_00: And Jess, I had him third, but he got first.
• 7:20
  Like I said,
• 7:20
  I would have switched Jess and Chris around,
• 7:24
  and I probably should have.
• 7:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then Adam, I think, just dropped out of the top 10 towards the end.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: I think he ended up either bonking or something along those lines.
• 7:31
  SPEAKER_00: Jeff Cole, I got fifth.
• 7:32
  SPEAKER_00: He got sixth.
• 7:33
  SPEAKER_00: I know there was the guy that got second.
• 7:35
  I'm blanking on his name right now,
• 7:37
  but is apparently a professional triathlete.
• 7:39
  SPEAKER_00: If I had known that, I'd definitely...
• 7:41
  uh would have thrown him into that top uh that top list
• 7:45
  lagerstrom that's his name
• 7:47
  i didn't realize that so my bad on that one i should have been
• 7:51
  familiar with a
• 7:52
  professional triathlete's name and so that was on me um yeah so
• 7:55
  that's black canyon
• 7:56
  recap real quick um awesome race uh probably my favorite
• 8:01
  storyline of the race uh
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: will murray
• 8:04
  SPEAKER_00: baseball coach from New Jersey getting second in the men's race,
• 8:10
  SPEAKER_00: pulling a late pass on Eli Hemming,
• 8:12
  SPEAKER_00: holding off string bean and just behind Seth ruling like a minute or two.
• 8:17
  I first came across this guy last year when I was looking at
• 8:22
  some of the splits from
• 8:24
  SPEAKER_00: From David Roach's Leadville 100,
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: looking into some of those splits and seeing some of the top names,
• 8:30
  SPEAKER_00: I saw Will Murray's name constantly pop up.
• 8:33
  SPEAKER_00: I looked at him.
• 8:34
  He had been putting in some big training miles out in Leadville
• 8:37
  for pretty much the
• 8:38
  SPEAKER_00: entire summer.
• 8:39
  But it did say he lived in New Jersey and he did a lot of
• 8:41
  training in New Jersey.
• 8:41
  SPEAKER_00: So I was wondering if maybe he just
• 8:44
  SPEAKER_00: had some kind of flexibility or was able to rent a house or something.
• 8:48
  SPEAKER_00: But basically it seems like he's a school teacher.
• 8:51
  So maybe he just got a month long Airbnb and decided to do an
• 8:54
  altitude training
• 8:55
  SPEAKER_00: camp out in Leadville.
• 8:58
  And he ended up running around 1727 for fourth place in
• 9:00
  Leadville last year,
• 9:01
  SPEAKER_00: which is an awesome debut.
• 9:03
  He's got around 227 marathon speed and just really impressed
• 9:08
  with the way he raced
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: and how mature an approach he took in it.
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: And,
• 9:13
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 9:13
  love seeing guys like this come out of black and I'm really
• 9:15
  excited to see what he does,
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 9:17
  SPEAKER_00: in the post interview.
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: He basically just talked about,
• 9:19
  SPEAKER_00: yeah,
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: time to go back to,
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 9:21
  it's baseball season or about to be baseball season up there in
• 9:23
  New Jersey.
• 9:24
  And he's a baseball coach and then,
• 9:26
  uh,
• 9:27
  kind of just got to teach high school.
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: So, um, really cool to see guys like that.
• 9:31
  Um,
• 9:31
  love it when things like that happens,
• 9:33
  uh,
• 9:33
  on the female side,
• 9:34
  uh,
• 9:35
  Riley and Tara just mega.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: Wow.
• 9:37
  I mean,
• 9:37
  eight 16,
• 9:38
  eight 25,
• 9:39
  uh,
• 9:39
  taking,
• 9:40
  you know,
• 9:40
  almost 30 minutes off that course record.
• 9:44
  SPEAKER_00: yeah, just a really amazing performance.
• 9:45
  It was really cool seeing Riley just gobble up the guys at the
• 9:47
  end and just pass
• 9:48
  SPEAKER_00: everyone like they're having the day of their life.
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's good on Black Canyon.
• 9:55
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, let me know who you're most surprised by, least surprised by.
• 9:58
  I think it's really hard to pick for Black Canyon because I
• 10:01
  always know that
• 10:01
  there's going to be at least two or three guys that are kind of
• 10:04
  on the fringe,
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: like your Elliott Cardens or like your Makai Clemens or like
• 10:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh,
• 10:11
  SPEAKER_00: who else do we have people like that,
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: that,
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 10:13
  SPEAKER_00: somebody is going to sneak in that top 10 or maybe even top five,
• 10:16
  SPEAKER_00: but it's always tough to tell who's going to have your day.
• 10:18
  SPEAKER_00: I knew Seth ruling was capable.
• 10:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not gonna say I knew he was capable of winning it,
• 10:22
  SPEAKER_00: but I knew he was capable on his best day of having a really,
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: really good day out there.
• 10:26
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 10:27
  and I think it was just a matter of hedging my bets and if he
• 10:31
  was going to finish
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: or not,
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: but you know,
• 10:32
  he has raced it before he got sixth on a day where it wasn't
• 10:36
  his best day,
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think in 2022.
• 10:37
  SPEAKER_00: And so, um,
• 10:39
  SPEAKER_00: really awesome to see.
• 10:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: but yeah,
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 10:42
  SPEAKER_00: and I think I was incorrect about Eli being,
• 10:44
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 10:45
  SPEAKER_00: I think he is still a phenomenal athlete.
• 10:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's just,
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: he's still trying to figure out that last,
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 10:50
  SPEAKER_00: 20 miles past a 50 K basically,
• 10:52
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 10:53
  SPEAKER_00: with nutrition and also with pacing.
• 10:55
  SPEAKER_00: Cause looking at Eli's splits,
• 10:56
  SPEAKER_00: you look at some of the splits from the 50 K,
• 10:58
  SPEAKER_00: even once they've been put up,
• 11:00
  SPEAKER_00: I think he still had the third,
• 11:02
  SPEAKER_00: third fastest split from start to bumblebee.
• 11:05
  SPEAKER_00: uh, even with all the 50 K times, uh, getting put out.
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: So that's,
• 11:09
  that shows you how freaking fast he took the field out and how
• 11:13
  that might have cost him,
• 11:14
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 11:15
  SPEAKER_00: towards the end.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah.
• 11:18
  SPEAKER_00: So there was some really interesting,
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: it's,
• 11:20
  SPEAKER_00: it's always fun to see how condensed the pack is for the first,
• 11:23
  SPEAKER_00: through the first 50 K and then how much those guys fall apart.
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I think that was, uh, it was a good race for those guys.
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, also some cool racing in the back with, uh,
• 11:34
  SPEAKER_00: with Blake coming in ninth,
• 11:35
  SPEAKER_00: he was on a sprint finish with,
• 11:37
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 11:38
  SPEAKER_00: with,
• 11:40
  SPEAKER_00: I'm blanking,
• 11:40
  uh,
• 11:41
  SPEAKER_00: Canyon,
• 11:42
  SPEAKER_00: Canyon Woodward.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: That was pretty awesome.
• 11:44
  SPEAKER_00: It looked like it was his pacer,
• 11:45
  but they were literally sprinting through the finish and
• 11:47
  finished within two
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: seconds of each other at the end of a race.
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: So pretty awesome, uh, fighting to the finish over there.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: So with that being said,
• 11:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's enough talk about black Canyon,
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: makes you feel like ultra season tier,
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: just kind of like a little taste,
• 12:01
  SPEAKER_00: a little preview of,
• 12:02
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 12:03
  getting some more Western States hype,
• 12:05
  building the story of the golden tickets.
• 12:07
  SPEAKER_00: And just, it seems like an awesome time in the desert.
• 12:09
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't been myself, but I would love to do that race eventually.
• 12:13
  SPEAKER_00: And one of these days I do very much plan to give it a crack.
• 12:19
  SPEAKER_00: So.
• 12:20
  SPEAKER_00: So moving on.
• 12:21
  SPEAKER_00: Next, we're going to talk about Terra Awera, UTMB 102K.
• 12:25
  From my understanding,
• 12:25
  they've kind of altered the course the past couple of years.
• 12:28
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not exactly sure due to what.
• 12:30
  And for doing research going into this other than just my usual
• 12:33
  clicking on ultra sign up links.
• 12:36
  SPEAKER_00: Last night,
• 12:37
  I was doing some reading on a Substack by a gentleman named
• 12:41
  Bradley Houghton.
• 12:42
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's a Kiwi and he's got a substack named Trail Running NZ.
• 12:47
  SPEAKER_00: I've only been subscribing to it for a couple of weeks,
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: but he has a really good breakdown of races happening in New Zealand,
• 12:54
  SPEAKER_00: kind of some stories around the races,
• 12:58
  SPEAKER_00: top three with photos and things like that.
• 13:00
  SPEAKER_00: But then he also, on his most recent post, gave a preview of
• 13:05
  SPEAKER_00: Black Cannon and what he's excited for.
• 13:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd really recommend that.
• 13:08
  SPEAKER_00: The title of that post is CTC Mountain Run Results and TerraWare Preview.
• 13:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I used him being a Kiwi and being a close fan of the race,
• 13:19
  SPEAKER_00: kind of gleaned some knowledge from him and what he was excited about.
• 13:22
  SPEAKER_00: And he basically did a breakdown, but just in writing form.
• 13:24
  SPEAKER_00: So I'd really encourage people to go check it out.
• 13:27
  SPEAKER_00: I'll probably restack it on my sub stack.
• 13:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's how that works.
• 13:31
  For anyone that wants to look at it,
• 13:33
  it's very enjoyable reading and it really helped me.
• 13:36
  SPEAKER_00: get into this.
• 13:37
  SPEAKER_00: And honestly, I'm going to be using it a lot on this podcast.
• 13:40
  SPEAKER_00: So with that being said,
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: for TerraWara and also FreeTrail,
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: originally they just had the condensed like elite list,
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: but now it looks like they have the full list available.
• 13:55
  So that's helpful because that basically gets all the names out,
• 13:58
  not just the elites or at least
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: yeah,
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: it's,
• 14:02
  SPEAKER_00: it still seems like it's probably less than is actually in the race,
• 14:05
  SPEAKER_00: but it's more than it was before.
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: It used to just be like 16 and 19.
• 14:07
  SPEAKER_00: Now it's like 130 guys and 40 girls, uh, or females.
• 14:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm gonna start on the female side,
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: for Tara where big news here,
• 14:18
  SPEAKER_00: essentially the goat of all goats,
• 14:20
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 14:21
  SPEAKER_00: or I guess you could call it the third goat with Katie and Courtney.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: And that is Ruth Croft.
• 14:25
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, the Kiwi is racing her home country race, uh, and has,
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: won it before, and if I'm not mistaken, also has the course record.
• 14:34
  Although,
• 14:35
  like I said,
• 14:35
  I know the course has kind of been altered in previous years.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: She did win it last year with a time of 9.14 and also went fifth overall,
• 14:46
  which is always impressive with Dan Jones winning it on the
• 14:50
  men's side by a fat margin.
• 14:55
  So with that being said,
• 14:57
  Ruth Croft really doesn't need much introduction.
• 15:02
  Ruth Croft is probably one of the most versatile ultra and
• 15:05
  trail runners of our time.
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: She can win just about anything she puts her mind to.
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Last year was her debut UTMB and she ran it like a freaking pro.
• 15:14
  Basically just gobbled up the field in the back half and she
• 15:16
  ran such a strong finish.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: 22.48.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: I think it's the third fastest female UTMB time of all time.
• 15:23
  SPEAKER_00: Don't quote me on that.
• 15:24
  SPEAKER_00: I know Courtney's record was right around 22.30.
• 15:26
  SPEAKER_00: Katie Shadow went around 22.10.
• 15:28
  SPEAKER_00: And I think the record before Courtney might've been 22, 45.
• 15:33
  SPEAKER_00: So I imagine she's around third or fourth.
• 15:35
  SPEAKER_00: She won Transvalcania with a course record last year.
• 15:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then the year before that one,
• 15:39
  SPEAKER_00: Ultra Trail Cape Town got third at Solomon Ultra Pirineau Marathon.
• 15:45
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, she's won Western States.
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: She's got second in Templier.
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: She just can win pretty much, pretty much anything she wants to.
• 15:54
  SPEAKER_00: So with that being said,
• 15:57
  SPEAKER_00: I think she is the odds on favorite.
• 16:00
  SPEAKER_00: It's her home course, her course record.
• 16:04
  SPEAKER_00: And also she's just kind of like in the peak of her career.
• 16:08
  So with that being said,
• 16:09
  though,
• 16:09
  I think the main contender and it's going to be fun to watch.
• 16:13
  SPEAKER_00: It feels like they're essentially meeting in the middle.
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: I'm talking about other fellow Kiwi, Caitlin Felder or Fielder.
• 16:19
  And she's kind of starting to make her step up from more golden
• 16:24
  trail series
• 16:25
  distance races is more of your like marathon distance to 50k or
• 16:29
  maybe even sub
• 16:29
  SPEAKER_00: ultra stuff.
• 16:31
  She's definitely one of the most consistent females on the
• 16:34
  golden trail circuit.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: She's always kind of sitting in like that three through eight spot.
• 16:39
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at her results last year, she did Zagama.
• 16:41
  SPEAKER_00: She got 10th.
• 16:43
  SPEAKER_00: She did Marathon de Mont Blanc and got 6th.
• 16:46
  SPEAKER_00: Sierra Zanel got 10th.
• 16:48
  SPEAKER_00: OCC got 5th.
• 16:49
  SPEAKER_00: And then big win to round it off was Templier,
• 16:52
  SPEAKER_00: which was really,
• 16:53
  SPEAKER_00: really impressive,
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: and took the dub.
• 16:55
  That was kind of her step-up debut,
• 16:57
  I would say,
• 16:57
  at that 50-mile and up distance.
• 17:00
  SPEAKER_00: So if I'm not mistaken, this will be... It won't be her first 100K.
• 17:04
  SPEAKER_00: She did race CCC and got 18th in 2022, it appears.
• 17:05
  SPEAKER_00: But other than that...
• 17:13
  SPEAKER_00: She hasn't raced... Yeah.
• 17:17
  SPEAKER_00: She raced, it looks like, 186k early in her trail running career in 2017.
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely making a step up.
• 17:26
  And it kind of feels like Caitlin Felder and Ruth Croft are
• 17:28
  meeting in the middle
• 17:29
  SPEAKER_00: and battling out.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: And I really,
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: really like that matchup because Ruth,
• 17:32
  SPEAKER_00: we know,
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: is fast and can race those shorter,
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: faster races.
• 17:36
  But she's really been focusing more on mountain ultras the past
• 17:38
  couple years.
• 17:39
  SPEAKER_00: I know Western States is...
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: It's mountainous, but it definitely requires a ton of leg speed.
• 17:44
  SPEAKER_00: And then for Caitlin,
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: she does mountainous stuff,
• 17:46
  SPEAKER_00: but more in the sub-ultra,
• 17:48
  SPEAKER_00: like right on 50K space.
• 17:50
  And now she's kind of taking her leg speed and stepping it up a
• 17:53
  notch in distance.
• 17:54
  SPEAKER_00: It kind of feels similar to Francesco Pupi,
• 17:57
  starting to make his transition from that 50K and sub-ultra
• 18:00
  stuff over to these
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: like 50 mile and a little bit longer events.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Caitlin Felder has really good leg speed.
• 18:06
  SPEAKER_00: Francesco Pupi has amazing leg speed.
• 18:08
  And so it'll be really fun to see what she can do at Tara where
• 18:13
  it does not appear.
• 18:14
  that Caitlin Felder has ever...
• 18:17
  Wait,
• 18:17
  let me make sure I got the right results.
• 18:18
  SPEAKER_00: No, I take it back.
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: She has raced TerraWare.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: She raised the 50K last year and got the win.
• 18:24
  And then other than that,
• 18:28
  she's raced the 50K and got second place in 2023.
• 18:32
  SPEAKER_00: So she's stepping up a distance.
• 18:33
  SPEAKER_00: She has not raced the 100K.
• 18:35
  SPEAKER_00: She's won the 50K three or four times, it looks like.
• 18:40
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 18:41
  SPEAKER_00: so stepping up in distance,
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 18:43
  SPEAKER_00: first time in the a hundred K,
• 18:44
  SPEAKER_00: but definitely familiar territory.
• 18:46
  Uh,
• 18:47
  and I think that's really the storyline is going to be Caitlin
• 18:49
  Felder versus Ruth Croft.
• 18:50
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, they'll be duking it out for first and second.
• 18:53
  And then I think that,
• 18:56
  uh,
• 18:56
  they're,
• 18:57
  they're my,
• 18:57
  they're my odds on favorites.
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then I think we got some other interesting contenders in the field.
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: So Ruth Croft, Caitlin Felder, really, really excited to see that one.
• 19:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 19:06
  SPEAKER_00: If I had to pick, it's hard to bet against Ruth.
• 19:08
  SPEAKER_00: It's kind of like a Katie Courtney thing.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Until you see them lose, it's hard to put your money against them.
• 19:12
  SPEAKER_00: So I would have to favor Ruth.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: Also has more experience in this.
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: She has the course record.
• 19:17
  SPEAKER_00: She's raced a lot of longer ultras.
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: I could see Caitlin holding on for a long time.
• 19:21
  If Caitlin outkicks her at the end,
• 19:22
  that would be amazing and a great storyline.
• 19:26
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at some of the other females.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: So if I'm just reading some of the top names in order of UT Media Index,
• 19:31
  Helen Minow Faulkner from the U.S.,
• 19:33
  Lin Chin from China,
• 19:34
  pretty unlikely.
• 19:35
  SPEAKER_00: She just raced Black Canyon and got that golden ticket.
• 19:37
  SPEAKER_00: Anna Loudon or Cassius,
• 19:39
  SPEAKER_00: Anna McKenna,
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: Lottie Brinks,
• 19:41
  SPEAKER_00: Beth McKenzie,
• 19:43
  SPEAKER_00: Catherine Zhu,
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: Nancy Jiang,
• 19:46
  SPEAKER_00: and Juliet Soul,
• 19:48
  SPEAKER_00: and Lucy Bartholomew.
• 19:51
  SPEAKER_00: So just looking at some of those, Mercedes single gather from the States.
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Uh,
• 19:57
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 19:58
  SPEAKER_00: So going over to the article I mentioned, he's kind of breaking it down.
• 20:03
  SPEAKER_00: So he listed the women's race contenders.
• 20:06
  SPEAKER_00: This is Bradley Houghton.
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 20:08
  SPEAKER_00: Nancy Jiang,
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 20:09
  SPEAKER_00: she got second at the spectacle,
• 20:11
  SPEAKER_00: 20th at UTMB,
• 20:12
  SPEAKER_00: 10th at Lavarado,
• 20:14
  SPEAKER_00: Juliette Sewell,
• 20:15
  SPEAKER_00: also of New Zealand,
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 20:16
  SPEAKER_00: second at Ultra Trail Koziosko,
• 20:18
  SPEAKER_00: sixth at Ultra Trail Australia 50,
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: Naomi Brand,
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 20:22
  SPEAKER_00: she's part South African,
• 20:24
  SPEAKER_00: part New Zealand,
• 20:25
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: second at Ultra Trail Cape Town,
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: 100 miler,
• 20:27
  SPEAKER_00: 44th UTMB,
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: and,
• 20:28
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: did Laboreto, but didn't have her place.
• 20:32
  SPEAKER_00: Beth McKenzie of Australia,
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: first at UTA,
• 20:36
  SPEAKER_00: Ultra Trail Australia 100,
• 20:37
  SPEAKER_00: second at Terroware 100k last year,
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: I think.
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: Lucy Bartholomew,
• 20:41
  SPEAKER_00: 10th UTMB last year with the fastest 10th time ever,
• 20:45
  SPEAKER_00: second at Ultra Trail Australia in 23rd Black Canyons.
• 20:48
  SPEAKER_00: Lucy Bartholomew is real familiar with a lot of us in the States.
• 20:51
  She has some pretty good,
• 20:54
  a pretty good following through Solomon and through kind of her
• 20:57
  uh early races at western states and going after golden tickets
• 21:00
  anna mckenna
• 21:01
  australia she got fifth at canyons 100k last year uh marianne
• 21:05
  hogan that's gonna be
• 21:06
  a big one i don't think hmm it doesn't still have her on the
• 21:12
  list so maybe she
• 21:13
  dropped she definitely was on there yeah i'm not seeing it so
• 21:18
  marianne hogan might
• 21:19
  have pulled out of the race tbd on that one um helen mino
• 21:23
  faulkner anna loudon
• 21:27
  SPEAKER_00: So Helamina Faulkner, last year she got first at Kodiak.
• 21:29
  SPEAKER_00: She DNF UTMB, she got first at Deserets.
• 21:32
  SPEAKER_00: Anna Loudon got 17th at Mammoth,
• 21:34
  SPEAKER_00: 11th at Western States,
• 21:35
  SPEAKER_00: and 3rd at Canyons to get a golden ticket.
• 21:37
  SPEAKER_00: Lottie Brinks got 9th at CCC, 15th at Western, 1st at Gorge, 100K.
• 21:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then Lynn Chen,
• 21:44
  SPEAKER_00: like I mentioned,
• 21:45
  I really don't think that she will be racing it because she
• 21:51
  already got the golden ticket.
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: So other big contenders, I think, up front.
• 21:55
  um helen mino faulkner uh u.s runner hoka athlete really really
• 22:01
  i think she ran
• 22:01
  track at university of nevada at reno i want to say um she's
• 22:09
  got really amazing
• 22:09
  light speed but she's also really really good at these mountain
• 22:11
  races last year i
• 22:13
  participated in the same race as her desert rats uh 50k uh she
• 22:17
  smoked everyone got
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: the win uh eighth overall and
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: and made it look pretty easy.
• 22:22
  SPEAKER_00: A main competition there was Allison Bacca.
• 22:25
  And then she also won Kodiak 50K to,
• 22:27
  I think,
• 22:27
  get her back into one of the UTMB races.
• 22:30
  SPEAKER_00: She raced UTMB, but DNF'd.
• 22:32
  SPEAKER_00: And then the year before,
• 22:33
  SPEAKER_00: she had a really amazing breakout race at CCC,
• 22:35
  SPEAKER_00: where she got third place.
• 22:37
  And then the year before that,
• 22:39
  she,
• 22:39
  or that same year,
• 22:40
  rather,
• 22:40
  she won Spigo as well.
• 22:42
  and broken arrow so she's really good at these technical type
• 22:44
  of races um but also
• 22:47
  and that seems to be what she prefers to do but don't sleep on
• 22:50
  her leg speed i mean
• 22:50
  that she's still got that track speed a race like desert rafts
• 22:53
  was super fast she
• 22:54
  smoked it kodiak 50k also super fast and she smoked it um i
• 23:01
  think she'll be a wild
• 23:01
  SPEAKER_00: card i think she'll be up there trying to race um
• 23:05
  SPEAKER_00: But,
• 23:06
  SPEAKER_00: and I think if anyone,
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: I think I'd probably have her third,
• 23:09
  SPEAKER_00: not just because of her UTMB index,
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: but her results.
• 23:12
  SPEAKER_00: She's had some pretty big days out there.
• 23:14
  So,
• 23:14
  Halamina Faulkner,
• 23:17
  and then Lenchen,
• 23:18
  like I said,
• 23:18
  probably not going to go.
• 23:20
  SPEAKER_00: Anna Loudon should be an interesting one.
• 23:23
  SPEAKER_00: Anna Loudon also really, really fast.
• 23:26
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 23:27
  SPEAKER_00: Really, really fast and impressive female.
• 23:29
  She definitely won golden ticket hunting last year and got her
• 23:33
  golden ticket.
• 23:34
  SPEAKER_00: And then she just missed her re-entry back into Western States.
• 23:38
  SPEAKER_00: Don't quote me on this,
• 23:39
  SPEAKER_00: but I imagine that Tara Ware,
• 23:41
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty sure Tara Ware is a golden ticket.
• 23:45
  SPEAKER_00: Actually,
• 23:45
  I'm almost positive that Bradley mentioned it in his article
• 23:49
  about getting a golden ticket.
• 23:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so two golden tickets are going out of this race.
• 23:54
  SPEAKER_00: So that's an added consideration as well.
• 23:58
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at Anna Loudon last year, Javelina, she got sixth place.
• 24:02
  SPEAKER_00: Mammoth Trailfest, 17th, which was a Golden Trail World Series.
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: So that's pretty fast.
• 24:08
  SPEAKER_00: Hedlund, she got 16th as well.
• 24:10
  SPEAKER_00: So against all those Golden Trail elites.
• 24:12
  SPEAKER_00: Western, she ran 1753, which only got her 11th place.
• 24:16
  And then the year before that,
• 24:17
  Javelina 100k,
• 24:18
  pretty sure she shut the course record.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: So Anna Loudon or Cassius has some really good leg speed.
• 24:24
  Definitely will be an interesting one to watch this type of
• 24:27
  terrain or what from
• 24:28
  what I understand that that's Tara where just looking at the
• 24:31
  course profile and
• 24:31
  SPEAKER_00: looking at some of the times I think it definitely suits her.
• 24:33
  SPEAKER_00: The other Anna is going to be Anna McKenna from Australia.
• 24:39
  SPEAKER_00: She is so she didn't have CCC last year.
• 24:43
  canyons 100k she just missed a golden ticket in fifth place
• 24:46
  black canyons she got
• 24:47
  eighth place and then year before that she did canyons and got
• 24:51
  fourth tara wear and
• 24:52
  got fourth so it seems like she's pretty consistently been on
• 24:55
  the golden ticket
• 24:56
  hunt definitely has some good leg speed definitely will be
• 24:59
  curious to see how she
• 25:01
  stacks up would be cool to see her get a golden ticket since it
• 25:04
  looks like she has
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: been hunting one for a while
• 25:07
  SPEAKER_00: Brings us next to Lottie Brinks.
• 25:09
  SPEAKER_00: Lottie is from Boise,
• 25:10
  where I lived previously before moving to Colorado Springs
• 25:15
  about a year and some
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: change ago.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: She pretty quickly integrated herself in the Boise community.
• 25:21
  SPEAKER_00: She is such a nice, kind, caring, giving person.
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 25:25
  SPEAKER_00: always has a smile on her face,
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: always willing to help,
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 25:28
  SPEAKER_00: so generous with,
• 25:29
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 25:29
  giving away stuff and helping other people and just a creative
• 25:32
  and fun person to be around.
• 25:33
  SPEAKER_00: So as you can tell, probably bias towards Lottie.
• 25:36
  SPEAKER_00: I think Lottie,
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: in my opinion,
• 25:39
  is definitely going top five and I could even see her sneaking
• 25:42
  in that third place
• 25:43
  SPEAKER_00: behind Ruth and Caitlin.
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 25:47
  SPEAKER_00: I think that Helen is probably more of the favorite,
• 25:49
  SPEAKER_00: but I think Lottie has a lot,
• 25:50
  SPEAKER_00: a lot of skill.
• 25:51
  She just dropped a workout and went like 112 or 113 on a half,
• 25:56
  I want to say.
• 25:57
  SPEAKER_00: She has stupid, stupid leg speed.
• 25:59
  SPEAKER_00: And she's getting, she's still young.
• 26:02
  She's learning some of these longer races and starting to get
• 26:06
  dipper toes into more
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: and more competitive fields.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: She got her golden ticket at Grindstone two years ago.
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: Got to race Western last year and then also went top 10 at CCC.
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: in ninth place.
• 26:18
  And so she's really just kind of like starting to dip her toes
• 26:21
  into more and more
• 26:21
  SPEAKER_00: competitive fields.
• 26:23
  SPEAKER_00: Gorge Waterfall has got the win at
• 26:26
  And then she raced Broken Arrow and got eighth at it in 2023,
• 26:29
  not last year.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely excited to see what Lottie does.
• 26:32
  SPEAKER_00: I'll be cheering for her.
• 26:36
  And she offered to help pace me in an attempt to run a sub five
• 26:39
  minute mile when I get back.
• 26:41
  So I will definitely be taking her up on that because she could
• 26:43
  do that in her sleep.
• 26:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that's Lottie Brinks.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: Next will be Beth McKenzie from the US.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: And I cannot pull up her results.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: Let me try one more time.
• 26:55
  I know she's been kind of an itinerant golden ticket hunter as well,
• 27:00
  along with other people.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: Let me see.
• 27:05
  SPEAKER_00: That's McKenzie.
• 27:09
  All right,
• 27:13
  Kepler Challenge,
• 27:14
  Mountain Run third,
• 27:15
  Sydney Ultramarathon first.
• 27:17
  SPEAKER_00: Ultra Trail Australia, she got first in the 100K.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: And then Tara Ware last year, she got second.
• 27:23
  So I think that's going to be pretty hard to bet against
• 27:27
  experience at the race.
• 27:33
  And getting second to Ruth Croft,
• 27:35
  let's see how close the splits were between the two of them.
• 27:38
  SPEAKER_00: So Ruth went 9.14, like I mentioned.
• 27:41
  SPEAKER_00: Beth McKenzie went 9.38, so that's not bad at all.
• 27:44
  About 24 minutes,
• 27:46
  it's not like she blew her out of the water by any means.
• 27:48
  SPEAKER_00: So it seems like Beth McKenzie is going to have a good chance at this.
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then I guess another name I can mention, Nancy Jiang.
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: She definitely has raced her wear before.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: Oh, maybe not.
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: UTMB, 28.38.
• 28:05
  SPEAKER_00: Laverito, she got eight that last year.
• 28:08
  SPEAKER_00: She raced Western last year.
• 28:10
  SPEAKER_00: No, excuse me, 2023.
• 28:12
  SPEAKER_00: Tara Ware, she got a golden ticket.
• 28:13
  SPEAKER_00: She got the win in 2023.
• 28:14
  SPEAKER_00: I know I recognize the name.
• 28:16
  SPEAKER_00: So she'll be another one to watch.
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I think the big
• 28:19
  SPEAKER_00: Storyline comes down to in Terrowera.
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: Ruth versus Caitlin, that's going to be an exciting one.
• 28:25
  SPEAKER_00: The two heavy-hitting Kiwis, both on a quest.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: And I guess you could say for a golden ticket,
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know that Ruth would take hers if she got it.
• 28:35
  It feels like she's already kind of raced the way she wants to
• 28:39
  at Western.
• 28:40
  SPEAKER_00: and it doesn't quite have as an exciting of a storyline.
• 28:42
  It's not like the race to be at this year in the way that
• 28:45
  Western is from the men's side.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um, especially assuming that Killian and Vincent go after golden tickets.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: Um, not saying that's not competitive.
• 28:53
  SPEAKER_00: It definitely is, but there's no clear and obvious favorite.
• 28:55
  And I think it'd be a different matter if maybe Katie and
• 28:57
  Courtney were throwing down.
• 28:59
  Um,
• 28:59
  but I don't know that Ruth,
• 29:01
  uh,
• 29:01
  that Ruth necessarily is going after a golden ticket.
• 29:04
  So it's entirely possible that the golden ticket might drop
• 29:07
  three deep,
• 29:08
  uh,
• 29:09
  SPEAKER_00: and maybe even four deep.
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure how far it's allowed to slide.
• 29:12
  I'd imagine at least a fifth place because I don't know that
• 29:17
  Caitlin Felder is
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: ready or wants to run a hundred miler yet.
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: Not trying to put words in her mouth.
• 29:22
  SPEAKER_00: But with that being said, the DDS Tareks team will be out there.
• 29:24
  SPEAKER_00: So there'll be a lot of DDS Tareks athletes.
• 29:25
  SPEAKER_00: Caitlin Felder is one of the new ones.
• 29:27
  SPEAKER_00: Ruth Croft is out there.
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: And then on the female side,
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think Beth McKenzie is one as well,
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: but I'm not,
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: don't quote me on that.
• 29:33
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah,
• 29:34
  SPEAKER_00: That is the women's side for Tara Ware.
• 29:37
  SPEAKER_00: Going over to the men's side,
• 29:39
  just looking at the field and kind of listing off some names
• 29:44
  somewhat in order.
• 29:45
  We've got guys like Danny Jones,
• 29:47
  back-to-back champion,
• 29:48
  going for the three-peat.
• 29:50
  Smashed Hayden Hawks on the first one and then got the dub
• 29:53
  pretty uncontested last
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: year on the second one.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: Going for the three-peat.
• 29:57
  SPEAKER_00: Thibaut Baronian,
• 29:58
  SPEAKER_00: the French fan favorite in France,
• 30:01
  SPEAKER_00: really dipping his toes in the longer stuff recently.
• 30:05
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, Adrian McDonald, us guy, uh, Leadville winner two time.
• 30:10
  SPEAKER_00: And then last year runner up to David Roche's course record.
• 30:12
  SPEAKER_00: He also came and raced the ultra trail or excuse me,
• 30:15
  SPEAKER_00: Tara where a hundred miler last year and got the dub.
• 30:18
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say around 14 hours.
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: He made it look pretty easy.
• 30:21
  SPEAKER_00: So it got the dub.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: I think that got him into UTMB if I'm not mistaken.
• 30:26
  SPEAKER_00: Next, uh, Hugh, Hugh Zhao, a Chinese athlete.
• 30:31
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure I'm butchering that butchering that name.
• 30:33
  SPEAKER_00: He went ninth at OCC last year.
• 30:37
  SPEAKER_00: Has a lot of really good Chinese results.
• 30:40
  Always excited to watch Chinese runners race and just kind of
• 30:44
  get to know them better.
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: So pretty excited by that.
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then let me see.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: Pull up his ITRA score.
• 30:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think I already had it up.
• 30:53
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, so excited to see how he stacks up.
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: He's got some other big ones under his belt.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see, Saigu, he got sixth.
• 31:04
  SPEAKER_00: Chongli, 168 Ultra, he got third.
• 31:07
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, OCC last year, he got ninth.
• 31:09
  SPEAKER_00: So he was up there running, making moves.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: And let me see if he's ever raced this before.
• 31:16
  Pretty much all of his results are in China,
• 31:18
  except for the past couple years.
• 31:21
  So he's kind of a wild card,
• 31:22
  I would say,
• 31:24
  but has some good results behind his name.
• 31:27
  other names looking at uh blake hose from he's also a kiwi not
• 31:33
  as familiar we'll go
• 31:33
  over his results ryan montgomery from the states obviously i
• 31:36
  got a little bit of
• 31:37
  western bias ryan montgomery he uh had some really really good
• 31:42
  good results in 2023
• 31:43
  the top 10 at western and i believe he also got his golden
• 31:46
  ticket or they got their
• 31:47
  golden ticket excuse me uh and they didn't race as much last
• 31:52
  year have as good of a
• 31:53
  SPEAKER_00: year as they did in 2023 in my opinion
• 31:54
  SPEAKER_00: So it'll be interesting to see where Ryan's fitness is at.
• 31:57
  SPEAKER_00: Cody Lind,
• 31:58
  SPEAKER_00: fresh off an announcement that Cody Lind's on the Adidas Terex team,
• 32:02
  SPEAKER_00: switching over from Scott.
• 32:04
  SPEAKER_00: And I've been seeing his training again put up in Australia,
• 32:07
  SPEAKER_00: and I was curious if he was just there for the team camp because,
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: like I said,
• 32:11
  SPEAKER_00: Teraera is an Adidas Terex team.
• 32:14
  athlete event so a lot of them will be there um but he's racing
• 32:18
  really excited to
• 32:18
  see you're going to talk about him in a bit marcel hoch uh
• 32:22
  german athlete uh i came
• 32:24
  across his name first when he got second at the utmb julian
• 32:29
  alps over in slovenia
• 32:30
  the 50 mile event i want to say and then gabriel klein u.s guy
• 32:35
  has had some really
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: really good races i'm excited to talk about him
• 32:38
  SPEAKER_00: curious what he's going to do.
• 32:39
  SPEAKER_00: And then Hiroki Kai, Japanese athlete in his thirties.
• 32:44
  SPEAKER_00: So, uh, those are some of the big names.
• 32:46
  SPEAKER_00: Let me see if there's anyone that I'm missing.
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 32:50
  SPEAKER_00: so,
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: storylines on Tara where a hundred K I think hands down,
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: your favorite has got to be Danny Jones.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, this guy has the course record.
• 33:02
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if they're counting it.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: Cause I think the course has changed a good bit,
• 33:05
  SPEAKER_00: But regardless, he's won the past two years.
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: Two years ago, he went like low sevens.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say 7.15.
• 33:11
  SPEAKER_00: Last year, he went like 7.48.
• 33:14
  SPEAKER_00: And he's just such a consistent racer.
• 33:17
  SPEAKER_00: When I look at Danny Jones' results, he just doesn't miss.
• 33:22
  SPEAKER_00: He just doesn't really seem to ever miss.
• 33:24
  SPEAKER_00: So 2023 Terraro, yep, 7.27 is what he went when he beat Hayden Hawks.
• 33:29
  SPEAKER_00: Then that year, he rolled it into fifth place at Western.
• 33:32
  and a 12th place at UTMB,
• 33:34
  kind of his debut at the 100-miler,
• 33:35
  if I'm not mistaken.
• 33:36
  SPEAKER_00: Next year, 2024, a.k.a.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: last year.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: Another win, dub, easy at Terrawera.
• 33:42
  And then he goes into Canons 50K,
• 33:44
  gets second only to Eli Hemming,
• 33:45
  if I'm not mistaken.
• 33:46
  SPEAKER_00: Goes into Western States,
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: gets fourth to his good buddy,
• 33:49
  SPEAKER_00: Hayden Hawks,
• 33:50
  SPEAKER_00: only a handful of minutes off.
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: He went 1432.
• 33:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then CCC also goes fourth.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, so this guy just really doesn't miss.
• 33:56
  SPEAKER_00: He just infinite trails.
• 33:57
  SPEAKER_00: He got second.
• 33:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then when Solomon trail Cappadocia and ultra trail Cape town,
• 34:02
  SPEAKER_00: 35 K.
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: So Dan Jones,
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: killer like speed,
• 34:05
  SPEAKER_00: really consistent racer.
• 34:06
  SPEAKER_00: I really love that.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: He doesn't miss from the fantasy free trial perspective.
• 34:10
  SPEAKER_00: It's hard to beat a guy that never DNFs.
• 34:13
  SPEAKER_00: And then always goes top 10 because he's always going to get you points.
• 34:15
  SPEAKER_00: But also, I'm just really excited to see where his fitness is at.
• 34:18
  SPEAKER_00: And I would really love to see him throw it on a three-peat.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: Last year, it wasn't quite as competitive.
• 34:22
  SPEAKER_00: He had Justin Grunewald got second place.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: Really good runner.
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: One Desert Reds that I ran last year as well.
• 34:30
  But not quite as heavy hitter as Hayden the year that him and
• 34:34
  Hayden took each other deep.
• 34:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I want to say he beat Hayden by, let me see, 20, 23.
• 34:39
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say he beat him by a good 15 minutes or so.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, 15 minutes, right about 15 minutes.
• 34:47
  SPEAKER_00: So 727.55 to 742.13.
• 34:49
  SPEAKER_00: So when you're taking out Hayden Hawks like that,
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: and Ryan Montgomery actually got third that year too.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: So he's got,
• 34:53
  or they've got some experience racing this race and are
• 34:58
  definitely someone to watch
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: out for.
• 34:59
  SPEAKER_00: So I think Dan Jones, can he three-peat?
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: That's the story line.
• 35:03
  SPEAKER_00: of the men's race and then who is going to be the biggest challenger
• 35:07
  SPEAKER_00: uh, who's going to be the biggest challenger for him.
• 35:11
  SPEAKER_00: And that one's a tough one.
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Uh,
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: cause UTMB score,
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: says Tebow or Adrian,
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: and Tebow,
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: I think is an amazing athlete,
• 35:20
  SPEAKER_00: but I don't know.
• 35:21
  SPEAKER_00: I haven't really seen what kind of leg speed Tebow has.
• 35:24
  SPEAKER_00: Tebow does really good at, uh, at these mountainous trail runs.
• 35:30
  Um,
• 35:30
  and I'm trying to scroll through his UTMB index just to see,
• 35:34
  well,
• 35:35
  uh,
• 35:36
  2023 he got seventh at sierras and all in 236 so that's that's
• 35:40
  pretty stupid fast
• 35:41
  seventh at zagama i'm trying to look for some flatter stuff and
• 35:44
  kind of get an idea
• 35:45
  of marathon du mont blanc okay fifth um so he definitely has
• 35:50
  the like speed it's
• 35:51
  just recently he's been kind of upping his distance and doing
• 35:53
  more and more
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: technical stuff um
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: 90k in Mont Blanc and they got 12th at UTMB.
• 35:59
  SPEAKER_00: So it'll be curious to see.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: I know it's not that I don't think of him as being fast.
• 36:03
  SPEAKER_00: It's just recently he's been switching the longer and longer stuff.
• 36:07
  SPEAKER_00: And I think of him as racing golden trail circuit.
• 36:10
  SPEAKER_00: But it looks like now he wants to kind of switch over.
• 36:12
  SPEAKER_00: He did have a third at CCC in 2021 as well.
• 36:15
  SPEAKER_00: Six of that Sears and all that year.
• 36:17
  SPEAKER_00: I know he's a fan favorite with the French people.
• 36:19
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm really curious.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's kind of a big wild card.
• 36:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think I have him like outright as one of my favorites,
• 36:25
  SPEAKER_00: but I think he could surprise me and prove me wrong pretty dang quickly.
• 36:31
  SPEAKER_00: So we'll see.
• 36:33
  SPEAKER_00: We'll see what that looks like.
• 36:36
  SPEAKER_00: And looking at some other big names to look out for.
• 36:38
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious, Ryan Montgomery, where they're at.
• 36:44
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of a comeback year, hopefully.
• 36:46
  SPEAKER_00: Last year, I don't think went quite as they planned.
• 36:48
  SPEAKER_00: They had some good results, but just not in as competitive races.
• 36:51
  SPEAKER_00: So Western States had a rough day at 1834.
• 36:54
  SPEAKER_00: Black Cannon, also another rough day.
• 36:56
  SPEAKER_00: And then race to race in Brazil and did well, got first.
• 37:00
  SPEAKER_00: But really not the season that Ryan had in 2023.
• 37:04
  I know they're going through an NBA program,
• 37:06
  I think at Dartmouth or somewhere in New England.
• 37:07
  SPEAKER_00: So I imagine that adds some life stress.
• 37:12
  Hopefully finding some balance and getting back to the Ryan
• 37:16
  that really crushed
• 37:18
  SPEAKER_00: 2023 and honestly had an amazing year.
• 37:20
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a curious one.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at Adrian McDonald.
• 37:25
  SPEAKER_00: Adrian McDonald, an on-athlete so far as I know.
• 37:30
  yep on and uh looking at their results looking at his results
• 37:35
  from last year uh
• 37:37
  yeah really basically just raced well utv index just has him
• 37:40
  racing the 100 miler
• 37:42
  at uh at terra where which he got first and i'm mistaken i
• 37:46
  thought he was in the 14
• 37:47
  hours he had it right at 15 flat which is still pretty stupidly
• 37:50
  fast uh and then
• 37:52
  also i'm pretty sure stacked up yeah almost definitely stacked
• 37:55
  up second to david
• 37:57
  SPEAKER_00: at leadville
• 37:59
  SPEAKER_00: I don't want to say he went around 1554, maybe.
• 38:01
  SPEAKER_00: Let's see.
• 38:04
  SPEAKER_00: Ludville, 1556, excuse me.
• 38:07
  So yeah,
• 38:09
  I'm curious to see what,
• 38:12
  how Adrian does having experience on the course.
• 38:16
  We talked about Chinese athlete Hu Zhao,
• 38:19
  ninth at CC,
• 38:21
  no,
• 38:21
  excuse me,
• 38:22
  OCC last year.
• 38:23
  SPEAKER_00: So definitely some good leg speed there.
• 38:25
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, curious.
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: I think that's kind of a wild card.
• 38:28
  SPEAKER_00: It looks like,
• 38:29
  SPEAKER_00: He's mostly raced in the,
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: mostly in China until just this past year,
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: started getting out,
• 38:35
  SPEAKER_00: went to OCC,
• 38:36
  SPEAKER_00: got ninth,
• 38:37
  SPEAKER_00: did Sierras and all,
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: went 251.
• 38:38
  SPEAKER_00: So some really good leg speed there.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: Anything under three hours at Sierras and all is really fast.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: Anything under 245 is fast, fast.
• 38:46
  SPEAKER_00: Anything in the 230s is stupidly fast.
• 38:49
  SPEAKER_00: So just for some context.
• 38:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then let's see, let's see, let's see.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: Okay.
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: Big wild card.
• 38:58
  SPEAKER_00: Haven't heard of this name, but, I mean, UTB index at A51.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: Blake Hose seems to be an Australian, if I'm not mistaken.
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: No, excuse me.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't mean to offend you, Blake.
• 39:09
  SPEAKER_00: He's a Kiwi.
• 39:11
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, ultra trail, Koziosko, 100K, got third in 2022.
• 39:13
  And this is basically just off his results on ultra signup,
• 39:16
  which temperature are very limited.
• 39:18
  uh transvolcania got third in 2015 so a little bit older it
• 39:23
  looks like he's in his
• 39:25
  40s um and then north face endurance challenge uh rip san
• 39:31
  francisco 2017 he got
• 39:34
  seventh place uh and then marathon to mont blanc so he seems to
• 39:38
  be in racing for a
• 39:39
  good bit of time seems to have a good bit of experience um
• 39:42
  could be a wild card not
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: really sure what to expect from that
• 39:45
  And then last three names I want to go through Cody Lynn,
• 39:48
  Marcel Hoech,
• 39:49
  and Gabriel Klein.
• 39:51
  SPEAKER_00: Cody Lynn, I'm really excited to see.
• 39:52
  SPEAKER_00: I think he positioned himself perfectly coming into a contract year,
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: kind of like being a baseball player and having a really good year.
• 39:59
  And then that way you come into free agency with a lot of
• 40:01
  signing potential.
• 40:02
  SPEAKER_00: I know his dad,
• 40:04
  Really heavily involved with Emily Hawgood and I believe Taylor
• 40:08
  Nowen as their coaches,
• 40:09
  SPEAKER_00: both Adidas athletes.
• 40:11
  So he was always with the Adidas team with his father and then
• 40:15
  gets an Adidas contract himself.
• 40:16
  SPEAKER_00: Top American at UTMB last year.
• 40:18
  SPEAKER_00: Just had a killer race.
• 40:19
  Moved up,
• 40:20
  I think,
• 40:20
  from the 60s,
• 40:21
  maybe even the 80s place in the first checkpoint.
• 40:24
  SPEAKER_00: Just coasted all day, coasted, coasted, coasted.
• 40:26
  SPEAKER_00: Seventh place, top American, top 10.
• 40:29
  SPEAKER_00: Ran 21.33 at UTMB in just a really, really smart strategic race.
• 40:34
  Kind of known for his back-to-back top tens at Western States
• 40:38
  and for being – his
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: grandfather was a medical director at Western States.
• 40:42
  SPEAKER_00: But he's been in the sport for so long,
• 40:44
  SPEAKER_00: and it's hard to believe that he's only the exact same age as me.
• 40:47
  I think he just had his 30th birthday,
• 40:48
  and I'm 29,
• 40:49
  so we were both born in 1995.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: But, yeah, he's had an amazing –
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: career of just doing all these legendary,
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: bucket list races,
• 41:00
  SPEAKER_00: like your,
• 41:01
  SPEAKER_00: your sky running type of,
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: events,
• 41:03
  SPEAKER_00: your,
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 41:05
  SPEAKER_00: golden trail series type of races,
• 41:07
  SPEAKER_00: your transvolcanoes,
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: your tromzo scale,
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: tromzo sky race,
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: like just all kinds of really,
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: really cool stuff.
• 41:13
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and that's just the stuff on his UTMB index.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: He's done a lot of races, uh, even more than what's on there.
• 41:19
  SPEAKER_00: So,
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: I'm curious to see.
• 41:20
  SPEAKER_00: He's definitely got good leg speed.
• 41:22
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think of him as quite as fast as some of these other guys.
• 41:24
  SPEAKER_00: I think of him as a little bit more of a mountain specialist,
• 41:27
  SPEAKER_00: but I'd be really curious to see where he stacks up with the Adidas team.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: Marcel Hoch, he's also an Adidas Terex athlete.
• 41:35
  SPEAKER_00: He's a German guy.
• 41:36
  SPEAKER_00: Like I said,
• 41:37
  I first came across him with his Julian Alps second place in
• 41:43
  the essentially
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: 50-mile or the ADK last year.
• 41:47
  SPEAKER_00: But it looks like he actually raced UTMB,
• 41:50
  SPEAKER_00: excuse me,
• 41:51
  SPEAKER_00: not UTMB,
• 41:52
  SPEAKER_00: but the Hong Kong 50k and got 6th this year.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: And then other big results from him.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: The Julian Alps is probably the biggest one.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: Matterhorn Ultra Ks, he got 10th at the 50k, or excuse me, the 25k.
• 42:06
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so a lot of Europe-specific stuff.
• 42:13
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of mid-sized races.
• 42:15
  SPEAKER_00: He did the Otter African Trail event, got fourth.
• 42:18
  SPEAKER_00: That's a big one in South Africa.
• 42:20
  SPEAKER_00: OCC, he got 28th in 2023.
• 42:22
  So it seems like he's one of the guys that's kind of on the up
• 42:25
  and up and just
• 42:26
  keeps building his fitness and kind of doing more and more
• 42:28
  competitive races.
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: So curious to see where he's at fitness-wise.
• 42:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then the last one I'm excited about, Gabriel Klein, US guy.
• 42:39
  He's had some big days,
• 42:40
  but he's kind of also been quiet recently looking at his results.
• 42:45
  SPEAKER_00: He, one second.
• 42:48
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, Gabriel Klein really kind of shocked a lot of people.
• 42:51
  SPEAKER_00: I think he got eighth at Black Canons in 2024.
• 42:55
  SPEAKER_00: So last year, not this year's race.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: He went 751 for an eighth place.
• 42:59
  SPEAKER_00: And he's had some good results here and there.
• 43:02
  SPEAKER_00: Bandera, he had a ninth place.
• 43:05
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, just kind of a speedy fit dude.
• 43:08
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at his ultra sign up as well.
• 43:10
  SPEAKER_00: Let me pull that up.
• 43:13
  SPEAKER_00: Way too cool 50K in 2023 and early season 50K, always fast.
• 43:17
  SPEAKER_00: He got fifth place, Broken Arrow.
• 43:19
  SPEAKER_00: He got 16th in 2023.
• 43:21
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I'd just be kind of curious to see where his fitness is at.
• 43:25
  It doesn't seem like he raced as much last year or he just did
• 43:29
  Black Canyon from
• 43:30
  SPEAKER_00: what I can tell.
• 43:31
  SPEAKER_00: So I think he could be kind of a wild card.
• 43:33
  SPEAKER_00: I think he has some potential, especially with his times at Black Canyon.
• 43:39
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like Terroware is kind of a Black Canyon-esque course.
• 43:43
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, in my mind, it's going to be pretty tough.
• 43:46
  SPEAKER_00: to beat Dan Jones.
• 43:47
  SPEAKER_00: He would be my odds-on favorite for that three-peat.
• 43:51
  SPEAKER_00: If I had to go for a 2-3-4,
• 43:55
  I would probably go Adrian second and maybe the Chinese athlete
• 44:07
  Hu Zhao third.
• 44:10
  I would go Ryan fourth and maybe Tebow fifth if I had to just
• 44:14
  kind of off the dome
• 44:15
  SPEAKER_00: Don't hold me to it doesn't mean I'm going to keep those,
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: but that's just kind of helping out here on the female side.
• 44:20
  SPEAKER_00: I would have to go Ruth and Caitlin one and two.
• 44:23
  And like I said,
• 44:25
  if Caitlin wins,
• 44:25
  I think that's a really,
• 44:27
  really,
• 44:27
  really big sign.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: And then three and four, somewhere between Lottie and Helen.
• 44:33
  SPEAKER_00: And then fifth place,
• 44:34
  I think Beth McKenzie probably edges out Anna Loudon with
• 44:38
  having the course experience.
• 44:40
  SPEAKER_00: Don't sleep on Beth McKenzie too.
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: I could be totally wrong.
• 44:42
  SPEAKER_00: She could be sneaking up there in that third place spot.
• 44:44
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of my picks for TerraWare 100K.
• 44:49
  SPEAKER_00: And yeah, that's my picks for TerraWare 100K.
• 44:58
  SPEAKER_00: And other than that,
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 45:00
  SPEAKER_00: housekeeping items,
• 45:01
  I think next event after Tara where I was going to be trans
• 45:04
  grand Canaria a week later.
• 45:06
  SPEAKER_00: So I'm excited to talk about that.
• 45:07
  SPEAKER_00: And it looks like we got the classic in the marathon.
• 45:09
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll keep an eye on that.
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: No,
• 45:10
  SPEAKER_00: we've got some big header names like your John Albin,
• 45:13
  SPEAKER_00: Tom Evans,
• 45:15
  SPEAKER_00: Miguel Haras,
• 45:16
  SPEAKER_00: Caleb Oson,
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 45:18
  SPEAKER_00: Paul Capel.
• 45:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, we got some big boys, uh, out there on the men's side.
• 45:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then on the female side, just a little quick preview.
• 45:26
  SPEAKER_00: Uh,
• 45:27
  Ingveld Kaspersen,
• 45:29
  Leah Yingling,
• 45:30
  Henriette Albin,
• 45:31
  Fiona Pascal,
• 45:32
  Claudia Tramp,
• 45:33
  Maite Maiora.
• 45:35
  SPEAKER_00: So some big names.
• 45:36
  SPEAKER_00: Excited to talk about that one.
• 45:39
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 45:40
  SPEAKER_00: and with that being said,
• 45:40
  the best way to support this is basically just to follow me on
• 45:44
  Substack or to like
• 45:46
  SPEAKER_00: or make a rating on Podcast Player.
• 45:49
  SPEAKER_00: I know I've got it on Apple.
• 45:50
  SPEAKER_00: I don't have it on Spotify yet.
• 45:51
  SPEAKER_00: Not the techiest person, so I'm still figuring that one out.
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: But also,
• 45:55
  SPEAKER_00: just feel free to interact with this post,
• 45:57
  SPEAKER_00: comment on it,
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: like it,
• 45:58
  SPEAKER_00: share it,
• 45:59
  SPEAKER_00: or let me know your picks,
• 46:01
  SPEAKER_00: your biggest surprises,
• 46:02
  SPEAKER_00: where I'm wrong,
• 46:03
  SPEAKER_00: where you think I'm right.
• 46:05
  SPEAKER_00: uh, whatever you think.
• 46:06
  SPEAKER_00: So, um, that's the best thing to do.
• 46:08
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, this has been another episode of let's talk trail running.
• 46:11
  SPEAKER_00: I'm super freaking stoked for,
• 46:13
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 46:14
  SPEAKER_00: Tara where really,
• 46:15
  really excited to see how these athletes stack up and can't
• 46:19
  wait to talk about the
• 46:20
  SPEAKER_00: next race.
• 46:21
  SPEAKER_00: Cheers.