Latest / Let's Talk Trail Running / 2026 Transvulcania Ultramarathon Preview and Picks

Transcript

2026 Transvulcania Ultramarathon Preview and Picks · Let's Talk Trail Running

0:00
SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome to Let's Talk Try Running.
0:03
This is your host Rob Prosser and today we are previewing the
0:08
2026 Transvolcania
0:11
SPEAKER_00: Ultramarathon in the northwestmost Canary Island off the coast of Africa,
0:17
SPEAKER_00: the island of La Palma.
0:19
SPEAKER_00: So we got an exciting episode.
0:21
SPEAKER_00: The men's field is looking super duper stacked.
0:23
SPEAKER_00: The women's field is also looking good as well.
0:27
SPEAKER_00: And this is always a very early season,
0:29
SPEAKER_00: exciting and competitive race where we get to see a mix of really,
0:32
SPEAKER_00: really good athletes both come down from ultra distance
0:35
SPEAKER_00: and go up from shorter distances.
0:37
SPEAKER_00: So it's going to be a very exciting preview.
0:40
SPEAKER_00: This is, like I said, Let's Talk Trail Running.
0:43
This is the show where we talk about upcoming races that are
0:45
going to take place on
0:47
SPEAKER_00: the Fantasy Free Trail calendar.
0:48
SPEAKER_00: That's Free Trail's website for picking upcoming races,
0:53
SPEAKER_00: trying to pick top fives and be successful at it.
0:55
SPEAKER_00: So that's fantasy.freetrail.com.
0:58
SPEAKER_00: And so that is the plan is to talk about the ultra marathon.
1:01
SPEAKER_00: We're also going to talk about the half marathon as well.
1:05
SPEAKER_00: And as I mentioned at the beginning of the show,
1:07
every single time the goal is to build fans and trail running
1:10
to let you know about
1:11
SPEAKER_00: the racers,
1:12
SPEAKER_00: some of the stories behind them,
1:13
SPEAKER_00: and also about the upcoming races,
1:15
SPEAKER_00: the course preview,
1:17
SPEAKER_00: that one of the course,
1:18
SPEAKER_00: previous results,
1:19
SPEAKER_00: historical records,
1:20
SPEAKER_00: things like that.
1:21
Basically just to make you a more and better informed trail fan
1:25
and to build
1:26
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
1:54
SPEAKER_00: There's a little bit of distractions here and there.
1:56
SPEAKER_00: My computer kind of skipped out so I apologize for that.
1:58
SPEAKER_00: I hope it wasn't too unbearable.
2:00
But I'll generally try to stop talking if a loud truck is
2:03
driving by as I do this
2:04
SPEAKER_00: outside or if I recognize that a very loud jet is taking off.
2:07
So that is my caveat there that I think I forgot to include at
2:11
the beginning of
2:12
last episode and then we had some random noises taking over so
2:14
I apologize for
2:15
SPEAKER_00: that.
2:16
SPEAKER_00: Before we talk about Transvalkanya,
2:20
we'll do some catching up on what's been going on since the
2:23
last time we checked
2:24
SPEAKER_00: in.
2:24
SPEAKER_00: Last time we checked in was Skyrace Day Mathazine preview,
2:27
SPEAKER_00: and I also mentioned that I probably wouldn't do a Cocodona preview.
2:30
SPEAKER_00: I feel good about that.
2:31
SPEAKER_00: I don't
2:33
I feel like I would have a lot to offer the conversation
2:35
compared to Finn and
2:37
Singletrack did an amazing preview I don't think I could have
2:39
topped that or even
2:40
done as well and Debo and Tim Tolson also did a really really
2:43
good preview on free
2:45
trail as well so right now Cocodona is as I record this we're
2:50
like three days out
2:50
from Transvalcania right now Rachel is in the lead as I'm
2:54
recording this and I
2:54
SPEAKER_00: think she's about a hundred and
2:57
SPEAKER_00: 50-ish miles in right now.
3:00
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, 151 is what it's saying.
3:01
SPEAKER_00: So the race is really exciting and it's really impressive.
3:05
SPEAKER_00: Rachel and Killian are killing it.
3:07
SPEAKER_00: That's Killian Korth for Cocodona.
3:09
SPEAKER_00: And then going back to Skyracing Mathazine,
3:12
SPEAKER_00: I feel really good about the preview,
3:13
but there was a lot of changes that happened with either people
3:16
dropping like Manu
3:17
SPEAKER_00: Maria's dropping or other people getting added to the list.
3:20
SPEAKER_00: I know that the Skyrunning World Series can sometimes provide a
3:24
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
3:41
Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
3:43
Robrunsround Robrunsround
3:43
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
4:03
SPEAKER_00: Skiing Mont Blanc that day.
4:04
SPEAKER_00: So that was kind of a bummer.
4:05
SPEAKER_00: I was disappointed with that.
4:07
SPEAKER_00: But the results for Sky Racing Mathesine were really impressive.
4:10
SPEAKER_00: We saw Women's Side Top 5, Malin Osa, Ava De La Fosse.
4:13
I don't even think her name was on the start list for picking
4:15
or if it was,
4:16
SPEAKER_00: it was at the bottom.
4:17
SPEAKER_00: Fabiola Conti.
4:18
Emile Boulle and Johanna Gelfgren,
4:22
she was a late add to the list as well.
4:24
And then on the men's side,
4:26
we saw Fred Tranchand won his fourth Sky Racing Mathesine.
4:29
SPEAKER_00: Alex Oberbacher gets second place, so I was pretty happy with that pick.
4:33
SPEAKER_00: Matteo Bertoncini, Italian runner, finished just behind Alex Oberbacher.
4:37
SPEAKER_00: Those guys were battling.
4:39
SPEAKER_00: Lucien Mermillon,
4:40
SPEAKER_00: super young,
4:41
SPEAKER_00: French,
4:42
SPEAKER_00: with his second,
4:43
SPEAKER_00: fourth place in a row,
4:43
SPEAKER_00: I think,
4:43
SPEAKER_00: at Sky Racer Mathesine.
4:45
SPEAKER_00: And then Benjamin Rubal getting fifth place.
4:47
SPEAKER_00: So it was a good battle.
4:48
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Rob
5:08
SPEAKER_00: We talked about Sky Racing Mathesine,
5:10
SPEAKER_00: we talked about Cocodona,
5:12
SPEAKER_00: which is going on right now,
5:13
SPEAKER_00: and then just on the personal side of things,
5:15
SPEAKER_00: had my biggest week of training last week mileage-wise,
5:18
SPEAKER_00: I got up to like 86 miles,
5:19
SPEAKER_00: so training's been going really well,
5:22
SPEAKER_00: gonna have a little bit of a deload week this week,
5:24
SPEAKER_00: and things are pretty good on the personal front,
5:26
SPEAKER_00: so I'm happy with that.
5:28
SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
5:29
SPEAKER_00: and just in the full swing of wedding planning,
5:32
SPEAKER_00: and hoping I get back to salvage as much of my summer as possible,
5:35
SPEAKER_00: hoping to get back before that
5:37
SPEAKER_00: San Juan Solstice 50 miler that I really want to do.
5:39
SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of where we're at on the personal front.
5:44
And six minutes into the podcast,
5:46
we can get going with this TransValconia talk.
5:48
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about the ultramarathon.
5:50
SPEAKER_00: And I think I'll give a quick truncated preview of the half marathon,
5:55
SPEAKER_00: I think,
5:55
SPEAKER_00: that just got added to the list for choosing.
5:59
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robb
6:14
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround
6:33
Transvolcania Ultramarathon starts on the island's southern tip
6:35
and runs north over
6:36
SPEAKER_00: a string of volcanoes and over a 2,420-meter or about 8,000-foot Rook
6:48
SPEAKER_00: De Los Muchachos,
6:49
SPEAKER_00: the island's high point,
6:50
SPEAKER_00: so that's where they get to the highest point,
6:52
SPEAKER_00: the apex in the course.
6:54
It then plunges west to nearly touch the ocean before climbing
6:57
up to finish in the
6:57
SPEAKER_00: city of Los Llanos.
7:00
The point-to-point route gains 4,350 meters or about 14,300
7:05
feet of elevation.
7:06
SPEAKER_00: It's a challenging but runnable course.
7:08
The event has a 39,500 euro cash prize across its races with a
7:13
6,000 euro first
7:14
SPEAKER_00: place prize,
7:15
SPEAKER_00: so there is some money on the table for elites here.
7:17
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
7:45
SPEAKER_00: And now that the car is by,
7:47
SPEAKER_00: so yeah,
7:47
SPEAKER_00: about 46 miles,
7:48
SPEAKER_00: 14,000 feet of vert on the northwest island of La Palma,
7:53
SPEAKER_00: which is off the coast of Africa,
7:54
SPEAKER_00: kind of northwest of Morocco.
7:56
SPEAKER_00: That's where those Canary Islands are.
7:57
SPEAKER_00: This is another one of those classic island races.
8:00
If you guys listen to this podcast,
8:01
you know I kind of wax poetic about them.
8:03
But Trans-Gran Canaria,
8:05
Madeira Island Ultra Trail and Trans-Valcania all look
8:07
legendary.
8:08
Trans-Valcania typically seems to be the hottest and I'm not
8:12
gonna say weather's
8:12
SPEAKER_00: not a factor,
8:13
SPEAKER_00: but usually it's more the heat of Trans-Valcania compared to Madeira.
8:19
And Trans-Grancanaria,
8:20
I think of more of the weather being back and forth as a
8:23
factor.
8:24
But last year we had really horrific weather for Trans-Valcania
8:32
to the point where
8:33
SPEAKER_00: a lot of people got hypothermic.
8:34
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
8:50
SPEAKER_00: Course records, we weren't talking about Transwell Kanye.
8:52
SPEAKER_00: On the men's side,
8:53
SPEAKER_00: that course record has stood for over 10,
8:55
SPEAKER_00: going on 11 years,
8:57
SPEAKER_00: and it's none other than Luis Alberto Hernando.
8:59
SPEAKER_00: He ran a 652.39 in 2015.
9:02
SPEAKER_00: We've seen people come close to it.
9:04
SPEAKER_00: Last year,
9:04
SPEAKER_00: Peter Frano ran in the 655 range,
9:07
SPEAKER_00: so we've seen the course record get people go sub-7 or low-7,
9:11
SPEAKER_00: but that's a pretty outstanding mark,
9:13
SPEAKER_00: and it's still standing to this day,
9:14
SPEAKER_00: so we'll see if that goes down.
9:16
SPEAKER_00: And we're on course record alert.
9:18
SPEAKER_00: And then on the women's side,
9:19
SPEAKER_00: Ruth Croft has run a,
9:21
SPEAKER_00: she broke course record in 2024,
9:24
SPEAKER_00: 802.49 on the women's side.
9:27
SPEAKER_00: So high sixes on the men's side, we're looking to go sub 650.
9:30
SPEAKER_00: Two,
9:31
SPEAKER_00: and then on the women's side,
9:32
SPEAKER_00: we're looking to go sub eight hours with both the course records.
9:37
I'm also going to include in the show notes Peter Frano's file
9:40
from winning the
9:41
SPEAKER_00: course last year.
9:42
SPEAKER_00: He won in a tight battle with Andreas Ryder,
9:45
SPEAKER_00: who's going to be in today's race as the highest returning finisher.
9:50
We got both second places on the men's and women's side coming
9:52
back for this year's
9:53
SPEAKER_00: edition of the race,
9:54
SPEAKER_00: so it's exciting,
9:55
SPEAKER_00: but we don't have the returning champs.
9:58
So that kind of sets the table talking about the course,
10:01
giving a little bit of insight.
10:02
SPEAKER_00: We're going to start off with the men's side.
10:05
SPEAKER_00: The men's side is really, really, really deep.
10:07
SPEAKER_00: So I'm really excited to talk about it.
10:09
SPEAKER_00: And some of the storylines that I identified is that we get to see a
10:13
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
10:28
We've also got returning previous champions in both Petr
10:32
Engdahl and Luis Alberto Hernando.
10:35
We've got on the men's side short trail speedsters stepping up
10:39
their distances but
10:40
SPEAKER_00: not having a ton of success at the longer ultras yet.
10:43
SPEAKER_00: Specifically,
10:43
SPEAKER_00: I'm thinking about Bart P.,
10:45
SPEAKER_00: Nadir Muguet,
10:47
SPEAKER_00: and Rui Uedo,
10:48
SPEAKER_00: although he's had a little bit more success.
10:50
SPEAKER_00: And then we're also seeing Robbie Simpson step up as well.
10:52
He has done some longer races early in his career,
10:54
and we'll talk more about that later.
10:55
SPEAKER_00: But we've got short ultra distance,
10:57
SPEAKER_00: or short sub-ultra guys stepping up and dipping their toes into ultras.
11:01
And then we've got both speedy Romanians that are living in
11:04
Spain throwing down at this race.
11:05
SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about them.
11:06
And then we've also got CCC and UTMB runners-up racing this
11:12
race in the form of
11:12
SPEAKER_00: David Sinclair and Ben Demon.
11:16
SPEAKER_00: So question for the audience is, will the course record fall?
11:19
I think it's pretty likely it's going to fall given the weather
11:24
looking nice and
11:26
SPEAKER_00: also just given how deep this field is.
11:27
Like even,
11:28
you know,
11:29
sometimes we have clear favorites and we'll talk about that on
11:30
the
11:31
SPEAKER_00: Robinside.
11:31
SPEAKER_00: But in this men's field,
11:33
SPEAKER_00: we have a lot of people that are going to be upfront,
11:35
SPEAKER_00: pushing each other,
11:35
SPEAKER_00: attacking the record.
11:37
SPEAKER_00: I think it's pretty likely we're on course record watch,
11:39
SPEAKER_00: and I think it probably is going to fall.
11:40
SPEAKER_00: We're going to see something in the 6.45 range to win this course.
11:43
SPEAKER_00: But I could be proven wrong.
11:45
SPEAKER_00: That descent at the end always gets people,
11:46
SPEAKER_00: and people always end up overcooked coming out of the descent at the end.
11:50
SPEAKER_00: Everyone always talks about how heinous and hot it gets to the last part.
11:55
Yeah,
11:55
in a couple years of picking Transvalconia,
11:57
I have a couple thoughts on it.
11:59
SPEAKER_00: So first of all is the heat.
12:01
SPEAKER_00: We've already mentioned that's usually a factor.
12:03
SPEAKER_00: Last year was the exact opposite and it was like hypothermic,
12:05
tropical storm-like conditions and a lot of people DNF because
12:08
they didn't have
12:08
SPEAKER_00: required gear,
12:09
SPEAKER_00: didn't use it well.
12:10
Somehow Peter Frano I think ran with like basically without a
12:13
jacket the entire way
12:14
SPEAKER_00: and somehow still survived.
12:15
SPEAKER_00: So hats off to him.
12:17
SPEAKER_00: And then the second factor I think with TransValconia that we see,
12:19
SPEAKER_00: especially with a lot of the Euro athletes lining up here,
12:22
is my question is who is coming off ski season and doesn't have
12:25
as much running in
12:26
SPEAKER_00: their legs yet?
12:27
Because I think this race favors someone who has been running
12:29
for a bit and doing a
12:30
good bit of volume because of how long that descent is at the
12:34
end of the race.
12:34
SPEAKER_00: It's like an 8,000-foot descent.
12:36
And then they even put some more climbing at the end after that
12:40
8,000-foot descent.
12:40
SPEAKER_00: Like if I look at Peter Frano's
12:44
SPEAKER_00: Peter Frano's race from last year, which I have pulled up here.
12:49
SPEAKER_00: I'm pulling it up.
12:52
SPEAKER_00: It was loaded, but come on, you can do it.
12:56
SPEAKER_00: All right, we got Peter Frano's race pulled up, looking at his splits.
13:00
SPEAKER_00: So yeah, you're descending for basically from miles...
13:05
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
13:20
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrux
13:49
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
14:10
I mean,
14:10
dude,
14:10
we got tons of heavy hitters just kind of reading through them
14:13
real quick.
14:15
SPEAKER_00: You know,
14:15
SPEAKER_00: names like Ben Demon,
14:16
SPEAKER_00: David Sinclair,
14:17
SPEAKER_00: Petr Engdahl,
14:18
SPEAKER_00: Nadir McGuay,
14:20
SPEAKER_00: Andreas Ryderer,
14:21
SPEAKER_00: Raul Butachi,
14:22
SPEAKER_00: Robby Simpson,
14:23
SPEAKER_00: Dmitry Mityev,
14:24
SPEAKER_00: Ayanol Christian Manoli,
14:26
SPEAKER_00: Sheng Jiaxin.
14:27
SPEAKER_00: Bart P, Roy Ueda, Teo Detien, Matt Daniels.
14:32
SPEAKER_00: I mean, the list just goes on and on and on.
14:34
SPEAKER_00: So we got a lot of guys.
14:35
We are going to talk more about the men just because there's
14:37
more people in the
14:37
SPEAKER_00: field,
14:38
SPEAKER_00: but we're also going to do the women's races on the back half.
14:41
SPEAKER_00: So let's start off.
14:42
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
14:57
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robruns
15:20
SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
15:20
SPEAKER_00: like I said,
15:20
I didn't put two and two together that him and Matt were going
15:22
to get to race here,
15:23
SPEAKER_00: but I definitely think he's favored over Matt,
15:25
SPEAKER_00: both just given the recent races.
15:28
SPEAKER_00: I know Matt did have a win at Canyons,
15:29
SPEAKER_00: but just Ben is coming off an all-time tear,
15:32
SPEAKER_00: and the only thing
15:34
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
16:04
SPEAKER_00: 80% on speeds if I had to guess.
16:06
SPEAKER_00: January, he did 107 hours of training in 56,000 feet of vert.
16:11
SPEAKER_00: February, 95 hours of training in 52,000 feet of vert.
16:15
SPEAKER_00: And March, 103 hours in 62,000 feet of vert.
16:19
SPEAKER_00: So you got to believe that the engine is super big for Ben Demon.
16:22
I think he's definitely a favorite in this race,
16:24
even though he hasn't raced here before.
16:25
SPEAKER_00: If I had two question marks around Ben is
16:28
SPEAKER_00: Does the heat get to him?
16:30
SPEAKER_00: Has he been doing any kind of heat stimulus?
16:32
SPEAKER_00: Which I don't know the answer to that.
16:33
SPEAKER_00: And then my second question would just be,
16:35
is he introducing enough running stimulus to where his legs are
16:40
ready for all that
16:42
SPEAKER_00: eccentric descent?
16:43
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsrounder
17:03
SPEAKER_00: and Transparent on his training.
17:04
SPEAKER_00: I mean, his running's looking pretty good.
17:06
SPEAKER_00: He was creeping up from 12 hours,
17:09
SPEAKER_00: 84 miles,
17:10
SPEAKER_00: and 17K avert,
17:12
SPEAKER_00: and did a four-week build up to about 13.5 hours,
17:16
SPEAKER_00: 25K avert,
17:17
SPEAKER_00: and 91 miles.
17:18
SPEAKER_00: And then he's kind of got a nice little taper coming into this race.
17:20
So I got to think that he's still,
17:23
he's basically,
17:23
it looks like he's totally off the skis.
17:26
SPEAKER_00: Let me see if he's been doing some biking.
17:29
And he's been doing a little bit of bike training as well to go
17:32
with his transition
17:34
SPEAKER_00: back to running.
17:35
SPEAKER_00: So that's awesome.
17:36
SPEAKER_00: And still keeping up about an hour's worth of weight training each week.
17:39
SPEAKER_00: So Ben's looking good coming in.
17:41
SPEAKER_00: It looks like his legs will be seasoned and ready to go.
17:43
I got to think he's the favorite in this race,
17:45
even though he hasn't raced it yet.
17:47
Next athlete we're going to talk about is Andreas Reiterer,
17:50
the Italian runner for La Sportiva.
17:54
SPEAKER_00: He has had great races here the past two years,
17:57
and he got a third place in 2024 and a second place in a tight
18:01
battle last year
18:01
SPEAKER_00: with Peter Frank.
18:02
So he's looking to continue that trend and bump one more spot
18:05
up to a winning spot this year.
18:09
SPEAKER_00: He is already off to a very strong start this year.
18:13
He got a second place at Chianti,
18:14
the golden ticket race behind Tomal Cardin.
18:18
SPEAKER_00: And that was when he wasn't really planning to race Chianti.
18:20
SPEAKER_00: He had to pivot from Tenerife 110K.
18:22
SPEAKER_00: So that's a pretty impressive showing,
18:24
SPEAKER_00: especially since those races seem like they'd be a little bit different.
18:28
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
18:42
Here he is with Transvaulconia and my only question is so
18:48
Chianti was end of March
18:51
and it was around a 10 hour race so he has had a decent amount
18:53
of recovery but it's
18:54
SPEAKER_00: just my only question is how much of that is still in his legs.
18:59
He does train a good bit with I want to say Tobias Geiser who's
19:02
also in this race.
19:03
And occasionally I think he links up with Hannes and one or two
19:07
other guys in that area.
19:08
SPEAKER_00: So training's looking good.
19:10
SPEAKER_00: I definitely think he's a favorite strong podium pick, Andreas Ryder.
19:13
Next athlete's none other than runner-up at CCC last year,
19:18
Mr.
19:18
David Sinclair.
19:19
He's got to be one of the most exciting up-and-coming ultra
19:23
runners in the U.S.
19:24
who I really kind of felt like announced his presence to the
19:27
world last year with
19:29
SPEAKER_00: his second place at CCC when he
19:31
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
19:47
SPEAKER_00: Talents and potential onto a major European race.
19:50
SPEAKER_00: So he did not disappoint with CCC.
19:53
He was in the camp of runners who lined up here last year with
19:56
high hopes to win
19:58
SPEAKER_00: the race,
19:59
SPEAKER_00: but DNF'd from the horrific conditions.
20:01
And that was despite being up front with the leaders for much
20:04
of the race.
20:05
SPEAKER_00: So hopefully he brings the jacket.
20:08
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, it's jet landing.
20:10
Hopefully he brings a jacket and gloves this year,
20:12
although he might not need it.
20:14
And we'll see how he does on a hot year,
20:16
which is more typical of Transvaal Kanye.
20:19
SPEAKER_00: And then he's coming fresh off of a Wayne at Canyon's 25K.
20:23
SPEAKER_00: And I really feel like this is the type of race,
20:25
SPEAKER_00: both terrain and distance-wise,
20:26
SPEAKER_00: that favors his skillset.
20:28
SPEAKER_00: We've seen him put down obscene times at Spigode.
20:31
Spigode's a little bit shorter,
20:32
you know,
20:33
about 10 miles shorter and about 3K avert.
20:35
SPEAKER_00: But I mean,
20:36
SPEAKER_00: between Spigode and CCC,
20:37
SPEAKER_00: we've seen David Sinclair do really good in this kind of timeframe.
20:40
SPEAKER_00: So I think he's got to be a favorite for the win as well,
20:43
SPEAKER_00: despite he has raced here in DNF,
20:45
SPEAKER_00: but despite not having finished here,
20:47
SPEAKER_00: I guess.
20:49
Next athlete is Nadir Magui,
20:52
Italian skyrunning stud,
20:53
longtime La Sportiva athlete as well.
20:57
He's part of the Italian military ski mode unit that lets them
21:01
train 24-7,
21:02
SPEAKER_00: like the mountain ops people,
21:04
SPEAKER_00: along with Davide Magnini.
21:06
SPEAKER_00: So he's coming off a full season of ski racing.
21:09
We've seen him throw down some ridiculous results and times at
21:12
shorter races,
21:13
SPEAKER_00: but we haven't really seen it translate to a longer distance races yet.
21:16
SPEAKER_00: So still kind of waiting for that code to be cracked.
21:19
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if it's a nutrition issue or a pacing issue or what,
21:22
SPEAKER_00: but we just haven't seen those results quite translate.
21:25
SPEAKER_00: He did line up at Chianti Marathon this year and DNF'd,
21:28
but I didn't see anything about it on his Instagram or at least
21:31
using the translate
21:32
SPEAKER_00: From Italian to English,
21:34
SPEAKER_00: it wasn't clear that he alluded to it,
21:35
SPEAKER_00: so not sure what happened there.
21:38
SPEAKER_00: His races last year included a win at Valderan 50K by UTMB,
21:42
SPEAKER_00: which was the European major,
21:44
SPEAKER_00: so presumably he's got a spot in CCC or OCC this year.
21:47
He got a second at Labarado 20K and a 25th at Zagama after
21:51
coming out with the lead
21:52
SPEAKER_00: pack and then falling off.
21:53
I picked him for a top 10 and was bummed because I thought he
21:56
could have done
21:56
SPEAKER_00: really good at Zagama.
21:58
Before that,
21:59
he raced Francesco Pupi at Labarado 50K in 2024 to a second
22:03
place.
22:04
SPEAKER_00: He doesn't have a race longer than five hours on his results,
22:07
SPEAKER_00: and his attempt at 2023 OCC ended with a DNF.
22:11
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Rob
22:31
SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
22:32
SPEAKER_00: I think I really am a big fan.
22:33
He's a really,
22:34
really impressive racer,
22:35
but I'm a little hesitant to pick him for Transylvania.
22:38
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is a previous champion here,
22:42
SPEAKER_00: none other than Petr Engdahl,
22:43
SPEAKER_00: also the CCC,
22:45
SPEAKER_00: which is the UTMB Final 100K course record holder,
22:48
SPEAKER_00: only man to ever run it under 10 hours.
22:51
SPEAKER_00: He is coming fresh off of a Boston Marathon in which he got an elite bib.
22:56
SPEAKER_00: So he was able to run Boston, which is really, really exciting.
23:00
SPEAKER_00: The only thing that has me nervous with him running Boston is it is,
23:05
SPEAKER_00: you know,
23:05
SPEAKER_00: May 9th is the race.
23:06
And so essentially it's like three weeks out from Boston and he
23:10
did run Boston and
23:13
he really fell off in the back half because he had a tire
23:16
blister on basically his
23:17
SPEAKER_00: whole forefoot.
23:18
SPEAKER_00: It was pretty gnarly looking, the picture he posted.
23:21
SPEAKER_00: So I'm hoping that that heals and that he's not too
23:24
SPEAKER_00: beat up from Boston about three weeks out on a major road marathon.
23:28
SPEAKER_00: So that's my thoughts.
23:31
SPEAKER_00: He has raced here twice before,
23:33
SPEAKER_00: Petter Engdahl,
23:34
SPEAKER_00: and he has done really well both times,
23:36
running to third place in 2019 and a win in 2022 where he won
23:41
in seven hours and
23:42
SPEAKER_00: ten minutes.
23:42
SPEAKER_00: So historically, fast time, about 18 minutes off the course record.
23:46
SPEAKER_00: Last year for Petter was a really good showing,
23:48
SPEAKER_00: a bit of a bounce-back year from kind of a disappointing 2024,
23:52
SPEAKER_00: at least not
23:54
SPEAKER_00: Petter Level 2024.
23:55
SPEAKER_00: So last year he finished fourth at OCC,
23:58
kind of in that second through seventh range that was separated
24:01
by like five
24:01
SPEAKER_00: minutes.
24:02
SPEAKER_00: So Strong showing fourth at OCC,
24:03
SPEAKER_00: which was one of the top five deepest races in the world last year.
24:07
SPEAKER_00: And he got a sixth at Worlds Long Trail,
24:09
SPEAKER_00: which was also probably in that top six,
24:12
SPEAKER_00: top five most competitive races last year.
24:15
SPEAKER_00: So
24:17
If there's one thing to say about Petter,
24:19
this is kind of his sweet spot distance.
24:21
SPEAKER_00: He does really well.
24:23
SPEAKER_00: He hasn't done as good stepping up beyond that 10-hour mark.
24:28
SPEAKER_00: We haven't seen him have success at UTMB.
24:30
SPEAKER_00: We haven't seen him have success at Western.
24:33
SPEAKER_00: And he did okay at Canyons.
24:35
SPEAKER_00: And then the other thing, I guess, is just like
24:38
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Rob
24:57
SPEAKER_00: I think in 2024 and just got overheated and couldn't handle it.
25:00
SPEAKER_00: So he has had struggles in the heat before.
25:04
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, those are the questions I posed to you.
25:06
SPEAKER_00: I'm on the fence about him.
25:07
SPEAKER_00: I think I'll let you guys decide based off that info.
25:10
SPEAKER_00: He definitely has the capability to go top three, if not win here.
25:13
SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I see him winning against this field.
25:15
SPEAKER_00: I think I've got David or
25:18
SPEAKER_00: or Ben for the wins.
25:19
SPEAKER_00: But I think he's got strong podium potential.
25:22
But I also think that he did already race this year as well at
25:27
Terrawera and only
25:28
SPEAKER_00: got...
25:30
SPEAKER_00: What did he get?
25:31
SPEAKER_00: He DNFed, I think.
25:32
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he DNFed at Terrawera to start the year as well.
25:35
SPEAKER_00: So, yeah, I'll let you guys decide.
25:38
Next athlete is going to be one of the two Romanians that is
25:41
living in Spain,
25:42
SPEAKER_00: and that's Raul Butaci.
25:44
SPEAKER_00: He is recently sponsored by Mount Coast, which is awesome to see.
25:48
SPEAKER_00: And he's coming fresh off a win at Pena Galusa 100K,
25:52
SPEAKER_00: which was also that same weekend as the Boston Marathon,
25:54
SPEAKER_00: so only about three weeks out for an 11-hour race.
25:57
That has me a bit worried bouncing back this quickly to such a
26:00
stacked field,
26:01
SPEAKER_00: you know,
26:02
SPEAKER_00: how fresh are the legs and how
26:03
SPEAKER_00: How much can you throw down?
26:04
SPEAKER_00: We did see him run to a 6th place at Saigu, 105K in China last year.
26:08
SPEAKER_00: He DNF'd at Worlds and got 25th at OCC.
26:12
SPEAKER_00: Presumably his most,
26:14
SPEAKER_00: in my opinion,
26:14
SPEAKER_00: his most impressive result last year was 2nd place at Lavarado,
26:18
SPEAKER_00: 120K behind Ben Demon and pretty close to that Hannes course record.
26:21
SPEAKER_00: I think he was about 4 minutes off it.
26:23
He ran about 12.02 and I think Hannes' course record was 11.52
26:26
before if I'm not
26:26
SPEAKER_00: mistaken,
26:27
SPEAKER_00: or 58 rather.
26:29
So,
26:30
Raul Butace also finished third at Madeira Island Ultra Trail,
26:33
won 15K in a tight battle.
26:35
I feel like this race is a bit shorter than Raul's sweet spots
26:39
for where he does really well.
26:40
SPEAKER_00: I think he's kind of best in that 100 to 140K range,
26:44
SPEAKER_00: but I'm pretty confident that between Raul and Aino Cristiano Manoli,
26:49
SPEAKER_00: one of those two Romanian guys is going to be top 10,
26:51
SPEAKER_00: possibly even both,
26:52
SPEAKER_00: but I think I'm leaning towards Aino Cristiano,
26:55
SPEAKER_00: who we'll talk about in a little bit here.
26:57
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete I'm excited for is Robbie Simpson, dude.
26:59
SPEAKER_00: Longtime Scottish athlete for Adidas Terex,
27:03
who has been one of the most accomplished short-distance trail
27:06
specialists in the
27:07
SPEAKER_00: past 15 years,
27:08
SPEAKER_00: bar none.
27:09
SPEAKER_00: And this is a crazy stat to think of,
27:10
SPEAKER_00: but Robbie Simpson has finished second place at Sears and All four times,
27:16
and he would essentially have three wins if it weren't for
27:23
Killian Jornet.
27:24
SPEAKER_00: He lost to Killian Jornet
27:25
SPEAKER_00: Robby Simpson has got to be,
27:37
SPEAKER_00: you know,
27:38
SPEAKER_00: the perennial bridesmaid and imagine just,
27:40
and there was also other times where he got third at Sears and
27:42
all and was like 20
27:43
SPEAKER_00: seconds behind Killian off the win.
27:45
So basically,
27:46
you know,
27:47
Robby Simpson has Killian to thank for missing out on
27:51
SPEAKER_00: 3 or 4 Sierra Zanelle victories.
27:52
So he's got to be the best second place finisher or the best
27:55
non-winner in Sierra
27:56
SPEAKER_00: Zanelle history with...
28:06
SPEAKER_00: Sorry about that.
28:06
SPEAKER_00: I got a call and it startled me.
28:14
SPEAKER_00: Okay.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, I'm back.
28:15
SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
28:18
SPEAKER_00: He's got to be...
28:31
SPEAKER_00: What is this noise coming from?
28:37
SPEAKER_00: So anyways, he's got to be one of the most accomplished.
28:50
SPEAKER_00: Sorry, I got really distracted in my headphones.
28:55
SPEAKER_00: Anyways, Rob Simpson is who we were talking about.
29:02
SPEAKER_00: Alright,
29:03
SPEAKER_00: so we've seen him...
29:03
SPEAKER_00: Alright,
29:11
SPEAKER_00: anyways,
29:11
SPEAKER_00: so we have seen him race longer races before and do them in the past,
29:16
SPEAKER_00: but not so much recently.
29:18
SPEAKER_00: He has results at races like North Face 50 back in 2019,
29:21
SPEAKER_00: which took him around the same amount of time to take a winner here.
29:24
SPEAKER_00: He was kind of in that upper six-hour range.
29:26
SPEAKER_00: And then,
29:27
SPEAKER_00: most recently,
29:27
he just raced the Lake Sonoma 50K in one over Cole Campbell in
29:32
his lead-up to this,
29:33
SPEAKER_00: as well as Ark of the Christian 25-miler to a win.
29:36
He pretty routinely races at Ultra Trail Cape Town 55K in about
29:40
5 hours and 20
29:41
SPEAKER_00: minutes,
29:41
SPEAKER_00: and he also raced OCC in 2024 to a 5-hour and 31-minute finish.
29:47
So,
29:48
I think of all the sub-Ultra guys subbing it up in distance,
29:50
I'm probably the most
29:52
SPEAKER_00: Confident about Robby Simpson doing well here,
29:56
compared to some of the other guys that we're gonna talk about
29:58
here in a second,
29:59
SPEAKER_00: so...
30:03
SPEAKER_00: Alright,
30:04
SPEAKER_00: let's...
30:11
SPEAKER_00: Did I just close the bomb?
30:16
SPEAKER_00: Dude, come on, don't touch the bomb.
30:21
SPEAKER_00: Fuck.
30:32
SPEAKER_00: Fuck!
31:43
SPEAKER_00: Okay, I'm obviously incompetent and don't know how to work a MacBook.
31:55
SPEAKER_00: Alright, I apologize.
31:59
SPEAKER_00: I apologize.
32:02
SPEAKER_00: I'll see if I can edit this in some way.
32:05
SPEAKER_00: Alright, anyways, Robbie Simpson.
32:06
SPEAKER_00: Alright, so Robbie Simpson, yeah, I'm most confident in him.
32:12
SPEAKER_00: to be able to finish well here.
32:16
So anyways,
32:18
all right,
32:19
so Dimitri Mityev is...
32:22
All right,
32:33
apologies for technical difficulties.
32:35
SPEAKER_00: I wasted three minutes of your life.
32:37
SPEAKER_00: We're back, we're locked in.
32:39
SPEAKER_00: Dimitri Mityev is...
32:41
Next athlete we want to talk about,
32:42
best quads in ultra running,
32:44
definitely bar none.
32:45
SPEAKER_00: Russian athlete turned unaffiliated and living in Indora with his wife,
32:50
SPEAKER_00: who's also racing this race.
32:51
SPEAKER_00: Both of them have raced here a ton and had great results.
32:55
SPEAKER_00: Dima, as they call him, has had a
32:56
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround
33:12
SPEAKER_00: Ultra Race in Turkey and Marathon of Montblanc 90K.
33:14
SPEAKER_00: Last time Dimitri raced here, he was in 2024.
33:19
SPEAKER_00: One of his famous handhold finishes with Tom Evans,
33:22
SPEAKER_00: one of his two handhold finishes that he's done,
33:24
SPEAKER_00: and they tied for second place behind John Albin.
33:27
SPEAKER_00: He also raced to a second place
33:29
SPEAKER_00: In 2019, so he's had good days both times.
33:32
SPEAKER_00: He's lined up at Transvolcania, and I think he's a strong pick.
33:36
His Instagram seems like he's in good form and optimistic about
33:38
doing well here,
33:39
SPEAKER_00: but his string of DNFs just have me hesitant to pick him after last year.
33:43
SPEAKER_00: So that's Dimitri Mitya.
33:46
SPEAKER_00: Next athletes are other Ramonians.
33:48
SPEAKER_00: I know Cristian Minoli.
33:50
SPEAKER_00: And he also lives in Spain in Los Molinos,
33:54
SPEAKER_00: according to Free Trail,
33:55
SPEAKER_00: and is sponsored by Salomon as of earlier this year,
33:57
SPEAKER_00: so that's good for him.
33:58
SPEAKER_00: Both the Romanians picked up sponsorships, which is awesome.
34:02
SPEAKER_00: And he has already raced two Ultras this year,
34:03
SPEAKER_00: both to wins,
34:04
SPEAKER_00: one at the King's Mountain 60k and the other at Chiamen by UTMB in China,
34:09
SPEAKER_00: the 100k and 952k.
34:13
So last year he put together a really impressive season with a
34:16
win at Ultra Trail
34:17
SPEAKER_00: Ninghai 105k in China.
34:19
SPEAKER_00: He won Chongli 168k,
34:21
SPEAKER_00: also a Chinese race,
34:23
SPEAKER_00: fourth at Trans-Gran Canaria and fourth at Hong Kong 100k.
34:26
So he has raced here before at Trans-Gran Canaria to fifth
34:29
place in 2024 and a fourth place
34:34
SPEAKER_00: And I also play 2024, but that's probably got to be 2023.
34:38
SPEAKER_00: So he's two for two on good days out at La Palma.
34:41
SPEAKER_00: And I think he's definitely poised to be in the top ten here.
34:44
SPEAKER_00: And he's probably my favorite for picking between the two Romanians.
34:49
SPEAKER_00: So that's Aino Cristiano Minoli.
34:51
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is Shen Jiaxeng,
34:53
a Chinese runner who recently announced a big switch from his
34:57
longtime sponsor with
34:58
SPEAKER_00: the North Face over to the Solomon Trail team.
35:02
SPEAKER_00: We have seen Shen throw down in many of the U.S.
35:06
SPEAKER_00: and Europe's biggest trail races successfully for many years now,
35:09
SPEAKER_00: so he's definitely better known to the Western Trail audiences.
35:12
Last year we saw him be one of the three Chinese runners in the
35:15
top ten at UTMB.
35:16
SPEAKER_00: He finished eighth place in the Big Loop.
35:19
SPEAKER_00: Other results for Shen included wins at Ultra Trail Australia 100k,
35:22
SPEAKER_00: which was the Oceania Major,
35:24
SPEAKER_00: and Mt.
35:25
Fuji Kai 70k race,
35:27
along with a fifth place at Hong Kong 100k at the beginning of
35:30
the year.
35:31
SPEAKER_00: We've seen Shen do well at hotter races like Western
35:34
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Rob
35:58
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, Bart Pease, because his last name is really hard to say.
36:03
SPEAKER_00: He's Polish.
36:04
SPEAKER_00: First ever Golden Trail World Series Finals winner back in 2018,
36:07
SPEAKER_00: I want to say,
36:09
SPEAKER_00: and longtime Golden Trail World Series staple.
36:11
SPEAKER_00: He was a firefighter from Poland who turned
36:13
SPEAKER_00: Roblox.
36:28
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround
36:43
SPEAKER_00: He's had a decent number of DNF since stepping up to Ultra,
36:46
SPEAKER_00: so I'm not sure if it's a fueling issue or what's going on,
36:48
but I do hope he figures it out because I'm a big BART fan and
36:52
would love to see
36:53
SPEAKER_00: him race to his potential at an Ultra Race.
37:08
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is Roy Yuida,
37:10
Japanese runner and former Skyrunner World Series champion who
37:13
is sponsored by Red
37:14
Bull and has been fun to follow for a long time slash brought
37:17
trail running into
37:18
SPEAKER_00: the spotlight in Japan.
37:20
He's slowly been moving up distances to focus more on ultras of
37:24
late and his most
37:25
promising result came in his third place at Saigu 105K last
37:28
year in a race that
37:29
SPEAKER_00: took him 11 hours and 35 minutes.
37:32
SPEAKER_00: Roy's results have been kind of mixed at longer races.
37:34
SPEAKER_00: He got a 45th at World Short Trail last year, DNF at
37:38
SPEAKER_00: OCC after coming out hot with the leaders.
37:40
SPEAKER_00: And he also has a win at Ultra Trail Colziosco 100K in 2023.
37:44
SPEAKER_00: I think that Rui is going to come out really hot with the leaders,
37:47
but I don't know that he'll stick the landing in a field that
37:49
is this stacked.
37:51
SPEAKER_00: So that's Roy Ueda.
37:52
SPEAKER_00: Next up is going to be Tobias Geyser,
37:53
SPEAKER_00: Italian runner for Dinafit,
37:55
who just kind of keeps chipping away and getting better and
37:57
better each year.
37:58
SPEAKER_00: It's been impressive to watch him just get a little bit better each year.
38:02
I think he's really likely to go top ten here coming off of a
38:05
great performance at Chianti.
38:06
He raced to a fourth place finish just behind whoever got third
38:11
place and took the
38:12
SPEAKER_00: ticket that I'm blanking on right now.
38:16
SPEAKER_00: So
38:18
SPEAKER_00: And so,
38:19
SPEAKER_00: yeah,
38:20
SPEAKER_00: Tobias Geyser,
38:22
most impressive result last year was his fourth place at
38:24
Laboreto 120K in a
38:25
SPEAKER_00: historically fast time.
38:26
SPEAKER_00: I think that Tobias is really likely to finish here and get points,
38:29
SPEAKER_00: and I think we'll see him in that 5-8 range,
38:32
SPEAKER_00: but he is a strong pick to get points.
38:34
SPEAKER_00: Three more runners worth talking about on the men's side,
38:37
SPEAKER_00: Théo Détien,
38:38
SPEAKER_00: a young French athlete with a big social media following,
38:41
SPEAKER_00: I think around 200,000 plus Instagram followers,
38:44
SPEAKER_00: recently swapped from New Balance to Brooks.
38:46
SPEAKER_00: And according to Mylon Stone,
38:47
I think he just picked up a sponsorship with an online banking
38:51
format or online
38:52
SPEAKER_00: bank in France.
38:54
SPEAKER_00: So a non-indemnic running sponsor is a big deal.
38:57
SPEAKER_00: It doesn't happen a lot in trail running.
38:58
So,
38:59
Theo,
39:01
his last year's results included a second at UTMB-Majorca 100K
39:05
to Hans Manberger.
39:06
He DNF'd UTMB after being in the top three for,
39:10
I think,
39:10
at least Cormair.
39:11
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround
39:26
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Rob
39:41
Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
39:43
Robrunsround Robrunsround
39:43
Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
39:45
Robrunsround Robrunsround
39:46
Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
39:48
Robrunsround Robrunsround
39:49
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Rob
40:05
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround
40:26
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is none other than Boulder Boys,
40:28
SPEAKER_00: Matt Daniels,
40:29
SPEAKER_00: also craft athlete,
40:31
SPEAKER_00: also going to be racing his teammate,
40:32
SPEAKER_00: Jupiter,
40:33
SPEAKER_00: for the second time in a row,
40:35
and he will get a chance to put his money where his mouth is
40:38
and beat Ben Demon,
40:40
who they created some strife because Ben Demon called Western
40:43
States cute,
40:44
SPEAKER_00: and Matt Daniels was kind of jabbing back at him,
40:46
SPEAKER_00: so it'll be nice to see them throw down and run.
40:50
SPEAKER_00: Matt is in the same boat as David Sinclair where he ran here last year,
40:53
SPEAKER_00: was up in the front pack,
40:54
SPEAKER_00: and then got caught by the horrendous weather and had to DNF.
40:57
SPEAKER_00: Also,
40:57
SPEAKER_00: like David Sinclair,
40:58
SPEAKER_00: he's coming fresh off a win at Canyons as well,
41:01
SPEAKER_00: but for him it's a 50K and David Sinclair is a 25K.
41:04
I think this race is something that Matt could race really well
41:07
on but we just
41:08
haven't seen Matt put it together at races longer than 50k in a
41:12
while so I don't
41:13
have a ton of faith based off recent results but I would love
41:16
to be proven wrong
41:17
and I do think he could do well here it's kind of not an
41:20
insanely long race the
41:21
only thing that will get you is the heat you do need to fuel
41:24
but it's not quite the
41:25
same level as like an 8 to 10 hour race so you can kind of get
41:27
away with not being
41:28
SPEAKER_00: as greatly fueled I guess
41:31
SPEAKER_00: Last athlete worth mentioning,
41:31
SPEAKER_00: Damian Humber hasn't raced a ton of longer races recently,
41:35
but is worth mentioning he did go second place as recently as
41:38
2023 in TransValcania
41:41
SPEAKER_00: behind Dakota Jones.
41:42
SPEAKER_00: So that is the men's field.
41:44
This is the part where we go to the picks and I give you the
41:47
usual caveats.
41:48
SPEAKER_00: First thing is I'm very likely to change these picks around.
41:50
SPEAKER_00: Second is I'm going strictly off of who I think is going to get points,
41:53
which means they're more likely to finish and going to finish
41:56
in the top 10.
41:57
SPEAKER_00: And third
41:58
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robbed
42:20
And then last caveat is,
42:23
yeah,
42:24
we just do this because it's fun and it's here to help you.
42:27
SPEAKER_00: So take whatever information you want and pick people if you like them.
42:30
SPEAKER_00: Don't pick them if you don't like them.
42:33
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround
42:54
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
43:21
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
43:36
Shinn is a strong pick as well and will be somewhere in the top
43:40
10 getting points,
43:41
SPEAKER_00: although his recent Terawar sixth place was a little disappointing to me.
43:45
SPEAKER_00: And then Theo, Detien, or Tobias Geyser as well.
43:49
SPEAKER_00: So those would be my top picks on the men's side.
43:51
SPEAKER_00: They're all good ones.
43:53
SPEAKER_00: I think we're going to see a U.S.
43:55
SPEAKER_00: win between Ben and David,
43:56
SPEAKER_00: but I could easily see Andreas up there.
43:59
SPEAKER_00: I can see Robbie Simpson doing really well here just by stepping up.
44:02
SPEAKER_00: And Petter is always a perennial threat as well.
44:06
SPEAKER_00: Those are my picks for the men's side.
44:07
SPEAKER_00: On the women's side storylines identified,
44:10
SPEAKER_00: I think we're less likely to see a course record fall.
44:12
I'm excited to see shorter distance speedster Daniella Wemis
44:16
step up in distance as well.
44:18
SPEAKER_00: And then my other question is,
44:20
SPEAKER_00: does Lucy Bartholomew finally deliver a race that is worthy of her really
44:23
SPEAKER_00: impressive Strava training?
44:25
SPEAKER_00: And what type of shape is Emily Forsberg in?
44:28
SPEAKER_00: So looking at the field at first glance,
44:29
SPEAKER_00: we've got Blondine Leharondel,
44:31
SPEAKER_00: Ekaterina Metiaeva,
44:33
SPEAKER_00: Daniela Omas,
44:34
SPEAKER_00: Azara Garcia,
44:35
SPEAKER_00: Gemma Arenas,
44:36
SPEAKER_00: Lucy B,
44:37
SPEAKER_00: Anastasia Davidova,
44:40
SPEAKER_00: and Emily Forsberg.
44:41
SPEAKER_00: So on the women's side,
44:44
Robben is a French runner for Kiprun and OBGYN doctor who's
44:47
leading the strong
44:47
all-French women's trail team at Kiprun along with Clementine
44:49
Joffrey and Adeline
44:50
SPEAKER_00: Martin who
45:12
SPEAKER_00: I think it was a European champion.
45:14
SPEAKER_00: They might all three be world champions actually for trail stuff.
45:17
SPEAKER_00: So really, really strong kipper on a women's trail running team.
45:20
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, Blondine, her range is amazing.
45:22
Last year's results included wins at Marathon de Mont Blanc 90K
45:26
and a win at
45:26
SPEAKER_00: Diagonal Defoe along with a fifth place finish at CCC.
45:31
SPEAKER_00: So tons and tons of range, tons and tons of speed.
45:34
SPEAKER_00: And her CCC fifth place time honestly was in 11.52 I want to say.
45:40
And most years,
45:40
that's a winning time,
45:41
or many years,
45:42
that's a winning time.
45:43
SPEAKER_00: So it was just a stupid, deep, stacked field last year.
45:47
SPEAKER_00: The year before that,
45:48
SPEAKER_00: Blondine finished fifth at her debut UTMB,
45:51
SPEAKER_00: along with second place at the Euro Championships,
45:54
SPEAKER_00: the time Clementine Joffrey.
45:56
SPEAKER_00: So she hasn't raced here before,
45:58
SPEAKER_00: but like I said,
45:58
SPEAKER_00: despite that,
45:59
she can beat up anyone on any type of terrain and have a ton of
46:02
confidence in her
46:03
SPEAKER_00: podium,
46:04
SPEAKER_00: if not,
46:05
SPEAKER_00: frankly,
46:05
SPEAKER_00: winning this race.
46:08
SPEAKER_00: In all of her many results that Fantasy Retail list on their result page,
46:11
SPEAKER_00: she only has one DMF,
46:12
SPEAKER_00: so she is very,
46:13
SPEAKER_00: very consistent.
46:15
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is going to be Ekaterina Mitsieva.
46:17
SPEAKER_00: Speaking of consistent,
46:18
SPEAKER_00: especially at Transvalcania,
46:20
SPEAKER_00: she is a perennial podium finisher at Transvalcania,
46:23
SPEAKER_00: but the win has eluded her.
46:24
She is a very strong pick for top five,
46:27
really for top three,
46:28
quite frankly.
46:29
SPEAKER_00: She is a Tareks athlete.
46:30
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
47:01
SPEAKER_00: So she's got lots of second places last year to say the least.
47:07
SPEAKER_00: Kind of seem to be her number.
47:09
SPEAKER_00: We haven't seen her win many deeply competitive races,
47:11
SPEAKER_00: but she's always competitive in those races.
47:14
SPEAKER_00: She doesn't win them outright often.
47:15
SPEAKER_00: So I think she's super likely to be on the podium.
47:17
Does have the shot at winning because she has that course
47:19
knowledge better than
47:20
SPEAKER_00: anyone in this women's field.
47:22
SPEAKER_00: But I think I'll go with her on the runoff spot yet again.
47:26
SPEAKER_00: Next female athlete is Daniela Wiemes.
47:28
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, I'm excited for her to step up in distance.
47:31
SPEAKER_00: She is a German short trail running specialist,
47:34
SPEAKER_00: mom from Germany who runs for ACG,
47:37
SPEAKER_00: and she is a previous Izagama winner on a very sloppy year.
47:40
Last year's results for Daniela included some longer races and
47:43
tipping her toes in
47:44
SPEAKER_00: those,
47:45
SPEAKER_00: including a win at a shortened Eiger 101K course because of the weather.
47:50
Daniela also raced to her 29th place at World Short Team for
47:53
Team Germany.
47:54
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround
48:24
SPEAKER_00: So that's Daniella.
48:26
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is Zara Garcia,
48:28
Spanish runner who appears to have gotten picked up by Calis
48:31
Fuga this year,
48:33
SPEAKER_00: so new sponsorship.
48:34
SPEAKER_00: She's known for racing super aggressively.
48:36
SPEAKER_00: She kind of has like a win or DNF duality about a lot of her finishes.
48:41
If you look at her most recent race results,
48:43
most recent one was the DNF at Pena Colusa.
48:46
And before that,
48:46
she had three wins at Spanish races that I don't really know.
48:49
SPEAKER_00: And then DNFs at CCC and Transvalcania.
48:52
SPEAKER_00: She has raced here in 2024 to an eighth place finish.
48:57
SPEAKER_00: So she's got a mixed bag of results here.
48:59
SPEAKER_00: And then due to her proclivity to DNF,
49:02
SPEAKER_00: big competitive races with deep fields,
49:03
SPEAKER_00: I kind of tend to shy away from picking her.
49:06
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
49:34
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround
50:02
SPEAKER_00: Gemma has raced at Trans-Valcania before,
50:05
SPEAKER_00: but only the marathon to a win in 2024,
50:08
SPEAKER_00: and she has raced a ton at the other Canary Islands,
50:11
SPEAKER_00: but it doesn't appear that she's done traditional Trans-Valcania,
50:14
SPEAKER_00: so this is going to be a first for her.
50:16
I like her chances despite her recent race result so close to
50:21
this next race,
50:22
and I feel confident that she'll finish and likely be in the
50:24
top ten somewhere as
50:24
SPEAKER_00: Gemma Arenas.
50:26
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete,
50:27
SPEAKER_00: big question mark,
50:27
kind of a wild card is going to be Lucy Bartholomew putting in
50:30
insane training on
50:32
SPEAKER_00: Strava.
50:33
SPEAKER_00: We're talking like 20 plus hour weeks.
50:35
She's an Australian who runs for Solomon and has been in the
50:38
ultra running team for
50:39
SPEAKER_00: 10 plus years despite being,
50:41
SPEAKER_00: I think,
50:41
SPEAKER_00: my age.
50:41
SPEAKER_00: She's right around 30.
50:43
SPEAKER_00: Might not even be 30 yet.
50:45
SPEAKER_00: And
50:46
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, putting up big weeks.
50:48
And she started off this season with a disappointing 10th place
50:50
finish at Terroware,
50:51
100K.
50:53
Last year's results for her included a top 10 at UTMB for the
50:56
second year in a row.
50:58
SPEAKER_00: And the year before that, she did win Grampians 100K, which
51:01
SPEAKER_00: which sounds pretty techy, and second place at UTA 100K.
51:09
SPEAKER_00: Based on her results,
51:10
SPEAKER_00: it doesn't look like she's raced in these big island races before,
51:13
SPEAKER_00: but we know she's been at Solomon training camps on a lot of the islands,
51:19
SPEAKER_00: so presumably she's familiar with some of the terrain on them.
51:22
SPEAKER_00: I know she just got off the Solomon training camp at Transmarency area.
51:24
I know it's a different island,
51:26
but you've got to think they probably have
51:29
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround Robrunsround Robrunsround Rob
51:55
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is Anastasia Davidova.
51:59
SPEAKER_00: Neutral athlete, so I assume she's Russian.
52:02
SPEAKER_00: Best results last year were at Wayne at Puglia by UTMB,
52:06
SPEAKER_00: the long race,
52:06
SPEAKER_00: like the 100-mile distance.
52:08
SPEAKER_00: Fourth at Marathon of Mont Blanc 90K, so good result there.
52:12
SPEAKER_00: And she got a fourth at Transvalcania Marathon.
52:15
SPEAKER_00: She doesn't have a ton of results,
52:16
SPEAKER_00: so it seems like she's newer to ultrarunning,
52:18
but she does have good finishes in competitive long races like
52:21
Grand Theft Auto
52:22
SPEAKER_00: Mobile on 9K.
52:23
So I think that bodes well,
52:24
and I think she's going to make a strong run at the top five.
52:26
SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't be surprised to see her up there in the top five.
52:29
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete is Spanish runner Virginia Perez.
52:33
SPEAKER_00: Strong results at Mountainless Longer races.
52:35
SPEAKER_00: Aside from a DNF at her last two CCCs,
52:39
she has finished a second place at UTMB Balzerweg 82K last year
52:43
and a fourth place
52:44
SPEAKER_00: at Ultra Piranha 100K.
52:46
SPEAKER_00: Virginia,
52:47
SPEAKER_00: the year before that,
52:48
SPEAKER_00: she was second place at Labradio 80K and fifth at Tenerife Blue Trail,
52:52
SPEAKER_00: the 47K.
52:54
So Virginia has raced both the half marathon and the marathon
52:57
at Transylaconia,
52:57
SPEAKER_00: but not the longer race.
52:59
SPEAKER_00: So it's going to be her first crack of the premier ultra marathon here,
53:02
but I think she's in good shape to do well here and end up
53:04
getting points.
53:07
SPEAKER_00: Next athlete, very exciting.
53:08
SPEAKER_00: She'll be talking about her earlier,
53:09
SPEAKER_00: quite frankly,
53:09
SPEAKER_00: is Emily Forsberg,
53:11
SPEAKER_00: sky running legend,
53:12
other half of the Jornet household coming back to racing after
53:15
the birth of their
53:16
SPEAKER_00: third child about a year ago.
53:18
SPEAKER_00: She is a two-time race winner here in both 2013 and 2015,
53:22
SPEAKER_00: her fastest time finishing in eight hours and 13 minutes,
53:24
SPEAKER_00: which I imagine was a course record at the time.
53:27
SPEAKER_00: She has raced in November.
53:30
She did race in November of last year at the UTMB Mallorca 50k
53:34
to third place finish.
53:35
And we've seen her win the Iger 51k as recently as 2023 and
53:41
race to eighth place at
53:42
SPEAKER_00: Worlds as recently as 2023.
53:44
SPEAKER_00: I think Emily could do well here and might go top five on a good day.
53:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah, it's just tough to know where she's at.
53:52
So we'll be rooting for her and hoping that she continues to
53:56
return and have some
53:58
SPEAKER_00: really great results on top of being an awesome mom.
54:00
SPEAKER_00: So last two athletes talking about,
54:03
SPEAKER_00: Maria Pons,
54:05
SPEAKER_00: Spanish runner for books,
54:06
SPEAKER_00: whose good results last year in Florida is 6th at Valderan 50K,
54:09
SPEAKER_00: 3rd at Pena Iglesias 60K,
54:11
SPEAKER_00: and 5th at Valderan 47K.
54:14
SPEAKER_00: That must have been a typo or the year before.
54:17
She does a lot of races in the 4-6 hour range and has run to a
54:21
top 10 at OCC as
54:23
SPEAKER_00: recently as 20.2.
54:24
She hasn't run a Transvolkania before but has run races on the
54:27
other Canary Islands
54:28
SPEAKER_00: so could be a good contender.
54:34
SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
54:35
SPEAKER_00: Last athlete is Celine Finas.
54:38
SPEAKER_00: French runner with a 3rd place at
54:40
TDS in 2024 and a finisher at Diagonal Day Food last year to go
54:44
with a mix of
54:45
SPEAKER_00: finishes at other French and Swiss culture races.
54:48
SPEAKER_00: So that is the women's field.
54:51
SPEAKER_00: And women's side, all the usual caveats.
54:54
SPEAKER_00: I'll give you people that I might swap in.
54:56
I'm liable to swap these picks and keep an eye out for anyone
54:58
who might drop.
55:00
SPEAKER_00: 5th place,
55:00
SPEAKER_00: I'm going to go Gemma Arenas,
55:03
SPEAKER_00: coming off of her recent race not too long ago,
55:06
SPEAKER_00: but not DNFing a lot of races and being a really consistent racer.
55:09
SPEAKER_00: 4th place,
55:09
SPEAKER_00: I'll go Lucy Bartholomew,
55:11
SPEAKER_00: but I'm liable to swap her up for Emily Forsberg or somebody.
55:15
SPEAKER_00: Top 3 I'm feeling pretty good about,
55:16
SPEAKER_00: Daniela Wemis,
55:18
SPEAKER_00: 3rd place,
55:19
SPEAKER_00: Ekaterina Mitieva,
55:20
SPEAKER_00: 2nd place,
55:20
SPEAKER_00: and Blondine for the win.
55:23
SPEAKER_00: Like I said, I'm liable to swap in potentially Emily Forsberg,
55:28
SPEAKER_00: I think Virginia Perez is also a good pick.
55:32
SPEAKER_00: And honestly,
55:32
SPEAKER_00: the Russian athlete,
55:33
SPEAKER_00: Anastasia Davidova,
55:35
SPEAKER_00: I think despite not having a lot of results,
55:36
SPEAKER_00: they're just going to be up there.
55:37
SPEAKER_00: So those would all be strong picks to swap in.
55:43
On the last thing I was going to talk about,
55:45
I said I'd talk about the half marathon.
55:48
SPEAKER_00: So for the Transvalconia Ultramarathon,
55:49
SPEAKER_00: as of this recording,
55:50
SPEAKER_00: you've got three days,
55:51
SPEAKER_00: nine hours,
55:52
SPEAKER_00: and 58 minutes to turn in your picks.
55:55
SPEAKER_00: So hopefully I got this podcast out in time to be helpful.
55:58
SPEAKER_00: And then, just a quick overview of the half marathon.
56:03
SPEAKER_00: Basically,
56:03
SPEAKER_00: on both the men's and women's side,
56:05
SPEAKER_00: if you don't pick at least two Kenyans in the top five,
56:08
SPEAKER_00: you're probably doing something wrong.
56:09
SPEAKER_00: Philemon's winning,
56:10
SPEAKER_00: he's probably going to be the favorite,
56:11
but I think Richard Omaya Atua has a really good chance of
56:14
giving a run for his
56:15
SPEAKER_00: money.
56:16
And the Ifantus Njeri guy is coming off of some really good
56:19
results as well.
56:20
SPEAKER_00: Keep an eye out for him.
56:21
SPEAKER_00: Martine Nielsen will be exciting to watch race.
56:24
SPEAKER_00: On the women's side,
56:26
SPEAKER_00: Joyce Najera is probably the favorite,
56:27
but Ruth Katanga and Filaris Kasang are also really good ones
56:34
to look out for.
56:35
SPEAKER_00: Keep an eye out on the Canyons.
56:37
I would have at least two,
56:38
if not three Canyons in your top five on both sides.
56:41
SPEAKER_00: So, that's for the Transylvania Half Marathon.
56:44
SPEAKER_00: Looking forward to add exciting events coming up.
56:46
SPEAKER_00: We've got my personal favorite race.
56:50
SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
56:50
SPEAKER_00: one of my favorite races to talk about,
56:52
SPEAKER_00: Zagama,
56:53
SPEAKER_00: Killian's favorite race also,
56:54
which also means that we're going to see Killian's debut within
56:58
freaking 10 days,
56:59
SPEAKER_00: 11 days,
57:00
SPEAKER_00: 12 days.
57:01
SPEAKER_00: So that's super exciting.
57:02
We get to talk about Zagama and the history of the course,
57:04
course records.
57:06
SPEAKER_00: And I can't wait to preview that field, especially with Killian in it.
57:09
And then it looks like we've got the kickoff for Golden Trail
57:11
World Series next week.
57:12
SPEAKER_00: So we've got some exciting things.
57:13
SPEAKER_00: And then we'll be getting into the Euro Champs.
57:16
SPEAKER_00: And yeah, I'm looking forward to whatever is after that.
57:19
SPEAKER_00: So thanks for tuning in.
57:21
SPEAKER_00: Apologies about the annoying...
57:24
SPEAKER_00: Robrunsround