Latest / Let's Talk Trail Running / 2025 Chianti 102k By UTMB & Acantilados Del Norte SkyRace Preview & Predictions
Transcript
- 0:01hello and welcome back to let's talk trail running i am your
- 0:04host robert prosser
- 0:06and today we're going to be talking about the next two fantasy
- 0:10free trail picks for
- 0:12this week of march 22nd and the chianti 100k by utmb and
- 0:18acantilados del norte sky
- 0:21SPEAKER_00: race in la palma
- 0:23SPEAKER_00: It feels like I was just here and that's because I was.
- 0:25SPEAKER_00: This is my second podcast I'm recording in a day.
- 0:27SPEAKER_00: Got a little bit behind.
- 0:28SPEAKER_00: Would have liked to get this out by Monday, Tuesday of the week.
- 0:31But alas,
- 0:32here we are on Wednesday recording in time for the races
- 0:35upcoming this weekend.
- 0:36SPEAKER_00: Jam packed week for fantasy free trail events to pick from free trails,
- 0:41SPEAKER_00: very own big Ulta 28K and 50K,
- 0:44SPEAKER_00: which I just recapped and previewed in the last podcast.
- 0:47SPEAKER_00: So we get a chance to go and listen to that.
- 0:49SPEAKER_00: And then now Chianti,
- 0:51SPEAKER_00: 100 and change K by UTMB and Acantilados del Norte for pickings.
- 1:02SPEAKER_00: So I think first and foremost,
- 1:04I am going to talk about the race that I am by far the most
- 1:07excited about.
- 1:08SPEAKER_00: And I think a lot of other people are also quite excited about as well.
- 1:13SPEAKER_00: And that is going to be the Chianti by UTMB 102K.
- 1:20SPEAKER_00: Roddy and Chianti.
- 1:23SPEAKER_00: In discussing this,
- 1:23I'm going to go through the lineup listed per Fantasy Free
- 1:29Trail in some of the notes.
- 1:31SPEAKER_00: And then on top of that,
- 1:33SPEAKER_00: because I got this out late,
- 1:34SPEAKER_00: the one advantage of that is I can use Mr.
- 1:36SPEAKER_00: Liam Tryon,
- 1:38SPEAKER_00: aka 8 Station Fireballs,
- 1:40SPEAKER_00: awesome research.
- 1:40SPEAKER_00: He has already posted an article previewing it as well.
- 1:44SPEAKER_00: So I will also be kind of using his
- 1:47SPEAKER_00: awesome insight and research as well.
- 1:50If you prefer reading,
- 1:51then by all means,
- 1:52go read his article on Substack.
- 1:54SPEAKER_00: It's an awesome follow.
- 1:56SPEAKER_00: And I think we think a lot of the same ways.
- 1:59SPEAKER_00: And so if you prefer audio, listen to this.
- 2:01SPEAKER_00: And if you like reading, I really enjoy reading his post.
- 2:07SPEAKER_00: I'm stumbling on words.
- 2:09But his post that he puts together,
- 2:10he does a lot of really good research.
- 2:11He makes a lot of points that come to my mind when I'm thinking
- 2:14about making my picks.
- 2:15SPEAKER_00: And he does really good research on the course trail himself.
- 2:18SPEAKER_00: A lot of times if I talk anything about the course itself,
- 2:20SPEAKER_00: unless I've done it myself or have a personal insight,
- 2:23SPEAKER_00: I'll usually defer to his research with regards to course changes.
- 2:27SPEAKER_00: And this post is no different.
- 2:28SPEAKER_00: He kind of shows how the course has changed,
- 2:30SPEAKER_00: how it's become a little bit longer and a little bit steeper,
- 2:34SPEAKER_00: and how it's changed throughout the years.
- 2:37SPEAKER_00: So getting into Chianti 102K.
- 2:41I think the first thing that comes to mind is we've got a lot
- 2:45of goats in the house.
- 2:48And these goats have ascended to that level where when you just
- 2:52say one word in the
- 2:53SPEAKER_00: trail space,
- 2:54SPEAKER_00: you know who we're talking about.
- 2:55SPEAKER_00: So we've got Killian and we've got Jim.
- 2:59SPEAKER_00: Last names don't need to be given.
- 3:01SPEAKER_00: Their records speak for themselves.
- 3:02SPEAKER_00: They've won every major race there is to win, essentially.
- 3:05and they're finally going head-to-head for the first time since
- 3:082023 UTMB,
- 3:10SPEAKER_00: where Killian took the win,
- 3:12SPEAKER_00: and Jim took fourth or fifth that year,
- 3:15SPEAKER_00: I want to say.
- 3:15SPEAKER_00: I think it was fifth.
- 3:18SPEAKER_00: I believe it was fifth,
- 3:19SPEAKER_00: or maybe Zach Miller was fifth,
- 3:20SPEAKER_00: and he was fourth,
- 3:21SPEAKER_00: because I think he dropped behind Tom Evans right at the very end,
- 3:24SPEAKER_00: because I think it went Killian,
- 3:26SPEAKER_00: Mathieu,
- 3:27SPEAKER_00: and then Tom,
- 3:28SPEAKER_00: Jim,
- 3:29SPEAKER_00: and Zach,
- 3:30SPEAKER_00: I want to say.
- 3:31But anyways,
- 3:32so yeah,
- 3:33first time they've raced head to head in a long time.
- 3:35Jim has not been racing nearly as much and neither has Killian,
- 3:37honestly,
- 3:37for that matter.
- 3:38SPEAKER_00: And per UTMB's post,
- 3:41they're saying this is the first time ever you've had the
- 3:44previous three UTMB's
- 3:46SPEAKER_00: winners of the previous three years racing in the same race.
- 3:49SPEAKER_00: I'm sure there's been past races,
- 3:51SPEAKER_00: especially UTMB,
- 3:52SPEAKER_00: where former winners come back,
- 3:53SPEAKER_00: but maybe never three winners in a row.
- 3:56SPEAKER_00: So in this case, you've got Jim
- 3:59SPEAKER_00: excuse me, uh, from last year of Vincent and then Jim and then Killian.
- 4:03SPEAKER_00: So back to back to back.
- 4:05And it appears that Killian,
- 4:06uh,
- 4:06just,
- 4:07uh,
- 4:07Emily just gave birth to their baby.
- 4:09SPEAKER_00: Um, excuse me, a couple of days ago.
- 4:11SPEAKER_00: Um, she just, they just made a post about that.
- 4:13So I would,
- 4:14I think that leads me to believe that Killian's going to be racing.
- 4:17SPEAKER_00: I saw he, I saw he was still posting on Strava, uh,
- 4:19and uh how to run yesterday in rama and also his whiffed event
- 4:24i know he's not one
- 4:25to travel out super early uh two courses and recce them in the
- 4:28same way that some
- 4:29other people do because he really tries to minimize his travel
- 4:32so i think that's
- 4:33good i think if he's had if emily's had the baby and everyone's
- 4:36healthy and
- 4:37everything's looking good that's better than the baby the
- 4:39pregnancy than uh killing
- 4:41trying to have emily trying to have a baby rather right when
- 4:44the race is happening
- 4:44SPEAKER_00: so
- 4:45SPEAKER_00: no public posts,
- 4:46SPEAKER_00: nothing's been made so far,
- 4:47SPEAKER_00: but really,
- 4:48SPEAKER_00: really hoping he toes the line,
- 4:49SPEAKER_00: but also got to do his best for the family.
- 4:51Hope Emily's healthy,
- 4:52hope the new baby's healthy and congrats to them on their third child.
- 4:56SPEAKER_00: But yeah,
- 4:57SPEAKER_00: anyways,
- 4:57SPEAKER_00: I was thinking,
- 4:58SPEAKER_00: um,
- 4:58SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 4:59SPEAKER_00: how many,
- 5:01SPEAKER_00: how many great athletes,
- 5:02SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 5:02SPEAKER_00: can,
- 5:03SPEAKER_00: you can just say one word of their name and,
- 5:06SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 5:06SPEAKER_00: and people know who they're talking about.
- 5:08SPEAKER_00: So, you know, Jordan, LeBron, uh, Serena, uh,
- 5:14SPEAKER_00: I'm blanking.
- 5:14SPEAKER_00: I don't know, Messi or Ronaldo, people like that.
- 5:18SPEAKER_00: So,
- 5:18SPEAKER_00: I mean,
- 5:18SPEAKER_00: I think when you're at that level,
- 5:19SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 5:20SPEAKER_00: and for us in the sport of ultra running,
- 5:21SPEAKER_00: Jim and Killian are there.
- 5:23SPEAKER_00: No last names needed.
- 5:24SPEAKER_00: No introductions needed.
- 5:25SPEAKER_00: You know who you're talking about when you talk about them.
- 5:27SPEAKER_00: Katie and Courtney, I think are there.
- 5:29Um,
- 5:30and I think Ruth Croft is pretty much right on that level too,
- 5:32as well.
- 5:33SPEAKER_00: So, um, pretty cool to be seeing the goats lining up.
- 5:38SPEAKER_00: Um, yeah, it's, it's tough.
- 5:41SPEAKER_00: Uh, any race that, uh, Killian is going to enter.
- 5:44SPEAKER_00: And then when you get Killian and Jim,
- 5:46SPEAKER_00: I think just like UTMB,
- 5:47SPEAKER_00: I mean,
- 5:47SPEAKER_00: UTMB is always exciting,
- 5:48SPEAKER_00: right?
- 5:49But it's especially special if you have either one of those
- 5:52guys or both of them.
- 5:53SPEAKER_00: I mean, I think when Killian is in,
- 5:55SPEAKER_00: I think viewers, viewership has to go up.
- 5:57SPEAKER_00: I think it raises the bar to a whole new level.
- 6:00And I think it just takes the race to like another level of
- 6:04competition and density
- 6:06SPEAKER_00: and seriousness.
- 6:08SPEAKER_00: super excited to see that.
- 6:09SPEAKER_00: And I think that if,
- 6:10SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 6:11SPEAKER_00: if it's in the stars,
- 6:12SPEAKER_00: if the script's meant to be,
- 6:14SPEAKER_00: then Killian making it to this year's Western would just be,
- 6:18SPEAKER_00: would just be amazing and make it prime for another type of documentary,
- 6:22SPEAKER_00: you know,
- 6:23SPEAKER_00: an unbreakable documentary type year,
- 6:25SPEAKER_00: which I think would really come full circle.
- 6:26SPEAKER_00: You know,
- 6:26he was in the first one and they felt like it was a really
- 6:29special moment in 2010
- 6:31SPEAKER_00: when they basically had the returning winner,
- 6:35SPEAKER_00: the up and coming
- 6:37uh new i guess up and coming newbie and kind of anton and then
- 6:40this one guy who's
- 6:41coming to coming out of nowhere and winning everything jeff
- 6:43rose and then the
- 6:44international young stud um who's winning every race in europe
- 6:48killian and i think
- 6:49it'd be really cool for uh for that documentary to come full
- 6:52circle so um anyways
- 6:54SPEAKER_00: i'm done i'm done waxing romantic
- 6:57I'm going to kind of flip back and forth between different
- 7:03observations I had and
- 7:04SPEAKER_00: then also notes from Liam's post.
- 7:07SPEAKER_00: So I really want to thank Liam for putting together an awesome post.
- 7:10He kind of succinctly puts together results and points out some
- 7:13interesting things.
- 7:14SPEAKER_00: He's also really good at finding Strava files, which I appreciate.
- 7:18SPEAKER_00: Looking at some names just off the dome on the men's side,
- 7:22SPEAKER_00: Killian Jornay,
- 7:23SPEAKER_00: Jim Walmsley,
- 7:24SPEAKER_00: Andreas Reiterer,
- 7:26SPEAKER_00: Vincent Bouillard,
- 7:28SPEAKER_00: Luke Grenfell-Shaw,
- 7:29SPEAKER_00: Zach Garner,
- 7:31SPEAKER_00: Luis Ruiz Oler,
- 7:33SPEAKER_00: Robert Hajnal,
- 7:35SPEAKER_00: Ryan Montgomery,
- 7:36SPEAKER_00: and Tom Jolie from Britain.
- 7:39SPEAKER_00: And Tomas Farnik from Czech Republic, I believe.
- 7:42SPEAKER_00: Or Slovakia, maybe.
- 7:44SPEAKER_00: Czech Republic, actually.
- 7:46SPEAKER_00: So looking at some of these on the men's side.
- 7:51SPEAKER_00: I think we're all fingers crossed.
- 7:52SPEAKER_00: We're all hoping for a healthy gym,
- 7:54which it appears that Jim and Vincent have been over there
- 7:57training together and
- 7:59SPEAKER_00: getting in some good course recce.
- 8:01SPEAKER_00: So I think Jim's looking healthy.
- 8:02He just made a post on Instagram today talking about some of
- 8:05the workouts he's been
- 8:06doing and some of the ways that he's kind of changed his
- 8:08workout approach,
- 8:09SPEAKER_00: maybe not pushing it as hard as constantly and kind of
- 8:12SPEAKER_00: being more selective with where he chooses to pick up paces.
- 8:16SPEAKER_00: Bontemps being over there will be really good to see.
- 8:18SPEAKER_00: Haven't seen him, haven't seen either.
- 8:19SPEAKER_00: Well, I guess I take it back.
- 8:21SPEAKER_00: Jim has raced this year.
- 8:22SPEAKER_00: He just won that Aravipa 50K in like a time of 340K.
- 8:27SPEAKER_00: broke the course record.
- 8:28SPEAKER_00: I think his own course record,
- 8:29SPEAKER_00: um,
- 8:30SPEAKER_00: he did break it by a good bit,
- 8:31SPEAKER_00: 20 plus minutes,
- 8:32SPEAKER_00: but he did mention,
- 8:33SPEAKER_00: I think that he went off course the first time he did it.
- 8:35SPEAKER_00: So I don't know that it's totally a 20 minute better gym,
- 8:38SPEAKER_00: but I think it is a good,
- 8:39SPEAKER_00: a good fitness indication since the last time he did it.
- 8:42Um,
- 8:42I think it was a 20 teens gym because he hasn't raced in the
- 8:45States in a long time.
- 8:46So,
- 8:46um,
- 8:46Vincent Bouillard,
- 8:48uh,
- 8:48super excited about,
- 8:50uh,
- 8:50seeing him and then Jim and Killian,
- 8:53uh,
- 8:53I think that probably 95% of the free trial community is going
- 8:57to be picking those
- 8:59SPEAKER_00: three in some combination in their top three.
- 9:02And I'm not going to say it's a guarantee because I think
- 9:05Killian starting the race
- 9:07SPEAKER_00: is a big question mark.
- 9:08SPEAKER_00: I think if he starts the race, it's obviously almost impossible.
- 9:11SPEAKER_00: I'm not going to say for him not to win it, but if, you know, bar...
- 9:17SPEAKER_00: Barring some major event, you know, Killian really doesn't DNF races.
- 9:20There's no way he doesn't go top three in this race,
- 9:22but it's hard to see him not winning.
- 9:24SPEAKER_00: But I also think that this course might suit Jim a little bit more.
- 9:28Talking about the course too,
- 9:29going into kind of some of Liam's research and reporting on it.
- 9:33He's saying the course take is approximately 120K or 75 miles
- 9:37counterclockwise with
- 9:38SPEAKER_00: about 5,200 meters or 17,000 feet of vert.
- 9:40SPEAKER_00: So it kind of seems to be right in that sweet spot.
- 9:44Kind of similar distance-wise to distance and elevation-wise to
- 9:48Trans-Grand Canaria.
- 9:50But I think Trans-Grand Canaria has a little bit steeper climbs
- 9:53and descents.
- 9:54SPEAKER_00: So it kind of seems like it's that perfect middle.
- 9:56SPEAKER_00: Obviously, Jim has proven he can win on really mountainous races.
- 9:59SPEAKER_00: But I think if you ask the average person,
- 10:01they'd probably think of Killian as more of the mountain runner
- 10:04and Jim as more of
- 10:05SPEAKER_00: the speedy,
- 10:06SPEAKER_00: flat,
- 10:06SPEAKER_00: fast runner.
- 10:07SPEAKER_00: So it seems like it's kind of a nice mix of meandering terrain.
- 10:11SPEAKER_00: with some good elevation gain and loss.
- 10:13SPEAKER_00: Um,
- 10:14SPEAKER_00: and it's got a little bit,
- 10:14SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 10:15SPEAKER_00: he's has,
- 10:15SPEAKER_00: has about 20 K or 12 miles more in distance and about a thousand meter,
- 10:19SPEAKER_00: 3000,
- 10:19SPEAKER_00: 3,000,
- 10:19SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 10:20SPEAKER_00: 300 feet,
- 10:21SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 10:22SPEAKER_00: more elevation gain and loss.
- 10:24SPEAKER_00: Um, it's going to be live streaming on UTMB.
- 10:27SPEAKER_00: So that's pretty sweet.
- 10:28SPEAKER_00: Um,
- 10:29SPEAKER_00: and yeah,
- 10:30SPEAKER_00: so just kind of going into some of the men's,
- 10:32SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 10:32SPEAKER_00: picks and people to look at,
- 10:33SPEAKER_00: um,
- 10:34SPEAKER_00: um,
- 10:37SPEAKER_00: I think,
- 10:38SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 10:38SPEAKER_00: so we talked about Jim and Killian goes without saying,
- 10:41SPEAKER_00: I don't really need to say too much about them.
- 10:43SPEAKER_00: Um,
- 10:43SPEAKER_00: and then while we talked about one interview team B last year,
- 10:45SPEAKER_00: kind of came out of nowhere,
- 10:46SPEAKER_00: Hoka shoe designer.
- 10:48Um,
- 10:48he's got some really good interviews,
- 10:50uh,
- 10:50on Marco or excuse me,
- 10:52Mario Frioli's podcast.
- 10:54SPEAKER_00: Um, and he just seems like a really, really humble, humble guy.
- 10:56SPEAKER_00: Dylan, uh, Debo interviewed him last year as well.
- 10:59And I'm really excited to see kind of where his trajectory in
- 11:02the sport takes him.
- 11:03SPEAKER_00: Looking at some other people,
- 11:05SPEAKER_00: Andreas Reiterer,
- 11:06SPEAKER_00: he is Italian,
- 11:07SPEAKER_00: but I think he's a German-speaking Italian.
- 11:09So maybe in that northern part of Italy that mostly speaks
- 11:13German that I'm blanking
- 11:14SPEAKER_00: on right now,
- 11:15SPEAKER_00: like South T-Roll,
- 11:15SPEAKER_00: I guess.
- 11:18SPEAKER_00: He's a La Sportiva athlete.
- 11:19SPEAKER_00: He has some really, really big results.
- 11:22SPEAKER_00: Um, and I'm not going to lie.
- 11:23I'm a little jaded cause I picked him for big races and
- 11:25sometimes he will DNF.
- 11:27And if he DNFs,
- 11:28a lot of times it will be something that's on fantasy free trail.
- 11:31Um,
- 11:32but with that being said,
- 11:32he is a very,
- 11:33very consistent and very,
- 11:34very impressive runner.
- 11:35SPEAKER_00: Last year he did race CCC.
- 11:36SPEAKER_00: That was one of the things I picked him for.
- 11:38And I think he DNF'd,
- 11:39he did have a win at Iger,
- 11:41a hundred K last year in 11 to 05.
- 11:43SPEAKER_00: He also went 6th in Lava Redo 120, which is the most competitive one.
- 11:47SPEAKER_00: I think I had him picked for the European Off-Road Championships,
- 11:50SPEAKER_00: and he went 28th on the long trail,
- 11:52SPEAKER_00: or the 50K,
- 11:54SPEAKER_00: so not his best day out there.
- 11:56SPEAKER_00: And then looking at other results,
- 11:59SPEAKER_00: he did win Chianti last year,
- 12:00SPEAKER_00: but like we said,
- 12:00SPEAKER_00: it was on a different course with less elevation gain and less distance.
- 12:04He did line up for Trans-Granian area in DNF,
- 12:06I think I also had him picked for that.
- 12:08SPEAKER_00: Tom Pliet in 2023, he got 6th place.
- 12:11SPEAKER_00: And then he has DNF, CCC and Lavarado before.
- 12:16SPEAKER_00: So kind of up and down.
- 12:19SPEAKER_00: He does have a good number of DNFs in the past five or so years.
- 12:24He has been in the scene for a long time and he is a pretty
- 12:26consistent racer.
- 12:27SPEAKER_00: If he finishes, he is almost definitely going to finish in the top five.
- 12:30SPEAKER_00: It's just,
- 12:31SPEAKER_00: I don't,
- 12:32SPEAKER_00: I've been a little bit jaded because sometimes I've picked him and he's,
- 12:35SPEAKER_00: and he's a DNF to race,
- 12:37SPEAKER_00: but obviously you got to do what's best for your health.
- 12:38SPEAKER_00: And I'm not,
- 12:39SPEAKER_00: That's no personal shade against him.
- 12:43SPEAKER_00: Just my own human bias, I guess, showing.
- 12:47SPEAKER_00: Another runner to look at, Luke Grenfell Shaw, UK guy.
- 12:51SPEAKER_00: I had heard
- 12:54uh based off uh what is the ultra trail talk um that he is a
- 12:59cancer survivor and he
- 13:00does talk about it in his page he does a good bit of racing in
- 13:02uh in china and has
- 13:04had some good results over there i saw him racing last year at
- 13:07desert as he had an
- 13:08ankle roll um somewhere around like mile 20 and wasn't able to
- 13:12finish but he has
- 13:14SPEAKER_00: had some really good results uh last year racing in in
- 13:18SPEAKER_00: Thailand, he went third at the UTMB 100K.
- 13:21SPEAKER_00: Ultra Trail Ninghai, he went fourth.
- 13:23SPEAKER_00: He DNF CCC last year, but did have some good races.
- 13:27SPEAKER_00: Canyon's 50K,
- 13:29SPEAKER_00: which was a pretty stacked field,
- 13:30SPEAKER_00: he went sixth overall,
- 13:32SPEAKER_00: finishing behind the likes of Eli Hemming,
- 13:35SPEAKER_00: Cole Watson,
- 13:36SPEAKER_00: Daniel Jones,
- 13:37SPEAKER_00: Seth Ruling,
- 13:38SPEAKER_00: and Mario Mendoza.
- 13:40SPEAKER_00: So definitely has some good speed.
- 13:43SPEAKER_00: Definitely has some good leg speed.
- 13:44Seems to kind of sweet spot for him is right around this 100K
- 13:46distance and has also
- 13:49SPEAKER_00: got an eighth place finish at CCC as well.
- 13:52SPEAKER_00: Kind of just seems to be on the up and up.
- 13:54Not always going to finish top 10,
- 13:56but I think if he finishes,
- 13:58he will finish in the top 10.
- 14:00SPEAKER_00: So I think he's a solid pick for getting points.
- 14:06SPEAKER_00: And let's see who else.
- 14:09SPEAKER_00: Zach Gardner.
- 14:10SPEAKER_00: If I had to pick somebody who is super,
- 14:13SPEAKER_00: super exciting to watch a race,
- 14:17SPEAKER_00: excuse me,
- 14:17SPEAKER_00: is super,
- 14:18SPEAKER_00: super exciting to follow their Strava is what I meant to say.
- 14:20SPEAKER_00: I got distracted there for a second.
- 14:21SPEAKER_00: Zach Garner would be that person.
- 14:23SPEAKER_00: Zach Garner,
- 14:24SPEAKER_00: he's toned it down a little bit this year,
- 14:26SPEAKER_00: but if you look at his previous years,
- 14:29SPEAKER_00: I mean,
- 14:29SPEAKER_00: I think he put up like 1.6 million feet of elevation gain and loss,
- 14:33SPEAKER_00: or gain in Strava last year.
- 14:35SPEAKER_00: The...
- 14:37SPEAKER_00: I say the man, he is a man.
- 14:38SPEAKER_00: He's a recent graduate, I think from BYU, if I'm not mistaken.
- 14:41SPEAKER_00: Um,
- 14:42SPEAKER_00: he was putting up numbers that made Zach Miller's Twitter and his,
- 14:46SPEAKER_00: or excuse me,
- 14:47SPEAKER_00: Zach Miller Strava in his peak training for hard rock.
- 14:50Look,
- 14:51like I say soft,
- 14:52but he was consistently putting up like 50 K vert,
- 14:5550 K vert,
- 14:5650 K vert.
- 14:58SPEAKER_00: Um,
- 14:58SPEAKER_00: he has raced his best result,
- 15:00SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 15:00SPEAKER_00: on the international scene so far has been the,
- 15:03SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 15:03SPEAKER_00: UTMB by Indora and,
- 15:06SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 15:07It's showing him as being a Norda athlete,
- 15:09which I don't know if that's true or not.
- 15:11But his best result last year,
- 15:12he did win UTMB by Indoor,
- 15:15the 100K,
- 15:16which got him back into CCC.
- 15:22SPEAKER_00: He beat out Ben Demon and other things.
- 15:25SPEAKER_00: He did race CCC last year.
- 15:26SPEAKER_00: He finished 30th, but he wasn't top 10 for a lot of the day.
- 15:29SPEAKER_00: And I think his quads or something just blew up.
- 15:32um he's also got a win and course record at the bear 100 in the
- 15:35states and then he
- 15:36raced ccc the year before finished 18th and even though he
- 15:39finished 18th and i
- 15:39think he finished just after uh ingveld casperson he came in
- 15:43like right as she was
- 15:44finishing as the first female he did like his taper or an idea
- 15:49of a taper for his
- 15:50ccc in 2023 was something like 40 000 feet over the week before
- 15:55i mean i think the
- 15:57SPEAKER_00: dude went up
- 15:58He was doing like a classic peaks bagging tour of Europe and
- 16:03doing like all these
- 16:04SPEAKER_00: classic peaks in Switzerland,
- 16:06SPEAKER_00: France,
- 16:06SPEAKER_00: and Italy.
- 16:07SPEAKER_00: So didn't really have much of a taper, but would love to see.
- 16:09SPEAKER_00: I'm curious to see him racing.
- 16:11SPEAKER_00: And like I said, he turned on the...
- 16:15total training a little bit and I imagine that's because he
- 16:17graduated from college
- 16:17and I think he's working on getting a job or has a job but
- 16:20somebody I'll be excited
- 16:21to see I could see him going up front and trying to hold on
- 16:25with the lead pack and
- 16:26and kind of seeing how it plays out I think that kind of makes
- 16:29him a dangerous
- 16:30SPEAKER_00: person potentially to pick but I think
- 16:34SPEAKER_00: that he could be up there mixing it up with everybody.
- 16:38SPEAKER_00: So curious to see how Zach Garner does.
- 16:42And I think he might make some bold moves to try to stay up
- 16:46front with the big dogs.
- 16:48SPEAKER_00: Other guys to look out for, Luis Ruiz-Oyer.
- 16:53He's got a bunch of finishes,
- 16:56if I'm not mistaken,
- 16:56in the top 10 of Ultra Trail Pirineu.
- 17:01SPEAKER_00: Let me double check.
- 17:06SPEAKER_00: Yep.
- 17:07SPEAKER_00: Yeah, he's got four top 10 finishes at Ultra Pirineu.
- 17:09SPEAKER_00: So an Ultra Pirineu 100k is pretty mountainous,
- 17:11SPEAKER_00: probably a little bit more vert,
- 17:12SPEAKER_00: a little bit steeper,
- 17:13SPEAKER_00: but probably a similar course not too far off from Chianti.
- 17:17SPEAKER_00: And he's also finished top 10 at Lavarado multiple times.
- 17:20So Spaniard from Catalonia seems like he would have a pretty
- 17:24good chance to be in
- 17:27SPEAKER_00: the mix for a top 10 spot.
- 17:29SPEAKER_00: on this type of course,
- 17:30SPEAKER_00: based off his past,
- 17:32SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 17:32SPEAKER_00: Robert Hajnal,
- 17:33SPEAKER_00: the Romanian athlete runs for ultra.
- 17:36SPEAKER_00: Um,
- 17:37SPEAKER_00: he's got some top 10 and even a second place actually at UTMB,
- 17:40SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 17:41SPEAKER_00: in 2018,
- 17:42SPEAKER_00: and then has done pretty good at,
- 17:45SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 17:46SPEAKER_00: things like,
- 17:46SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 17:47SPEAKER_00: Madeira Island and Lava Redo.
- 17:49And he did qualify for Western last year,
- 17:51um,
- 17:52from a ticket at Joey Ethanon.
- 17:54SPEAKER_00: That's per
- 17:55SPEAKER_00: Eight station fireballs research.
- 17:58SPEAKER_00: Yeah, I could see him going five through 10.
- 18:00SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I see him cracking the top five.
- 18:03SPEAKER_00: And then some other males to look out for.
- 18:04SPEAKER_00: Tom Jolie, British guy.
- 18:07He has some good results at some UTMB events,
- 18:12Translantau and Trans Grand Canary,
- 18:14the 85K.
- 18:15SPEAKER_00: And then he did race in the World Mountain Championships.
- 18:19SPEAKER_00: And other people to look out for, Steon Dahl-Somerseth.
- 18:24SPEAKER_00: He runs for Satisfye, so he's a Satisfye guy.
- 18:26SPEAKER_00: And he's raced some golden ticket races, if I'm not mistaken.
- 18:30SPEAKER_00: He raced CCC last year, got 28th.
- 18:34SPEAKER_00: Got third at the Cat 100, which was in Austria by UTMB.
- 18:39SPEAKER_00: And then did Labrado 50k 12th.
- 18:41SPEAKER_00: And then, yeah, he raced Black Canyon back in 2023 for 23rd place.
- 18:44SPEAKER_00: So another guy to look out for.
- 18:45SPEAKER_00: And then...
- 18:52SPEAKER_00: Oops, I went to, okay, here we go.
- 18:55And then the other person I think that is a pretty strong lock
- 18:58for somewhere in
- 18:58SPEAKER_00: that four through eight,
- 18:59SPEAKER_00: I think Ryan Montgomery,
- 19:00SPEAKER_00: the U.S.,
- 19:00SPEAKER_00: could be my U.S.
- 19:01SPEAKER_00: bias, but I think he will be up there.
- 19:03SPEAKER_00: He's a pretty consistent racer.
- 19:04SPEAKER_00: He just came off of fifth or sixth place at Tarawera,
- 19:07SPEAKER_00: and he's pretty good at these kind of runnable...
- 19:11SPEAKER_00: I say it's runnable.
- 19:11I mean,
- 19:11it has a good mix of mountain,
- 19:13but he does well at this type of course,
- 19:16I feel like.
- 19:17SPEAKER_00: So Tara where he got sixth place,
- 19:18even though he ran eight minutes faster than his third place
- 19:21time the year before.
- 19:22SPEAKER_00: I think he could have a good day out there.
- 19:25SPEAKER_00: It might be a little bit more vertical than some other stuff he's done.
- 19:27SPEAKER_00: I know Western States is right around the same amount of vert,
- 19:29SPEAKER_00: but over obviously a lot more miles.
- 19:32SPEAKER_00: So I'm curious to see how he does in the international race.
- 19:37And that kind of concludes the men's side for people that I
- 19:45want to go over.
- 19:46SPEAKER_00: So with that being said, for the men's picks, I mean, no surprise here.
- 19:50SPEAKER_00: I'm going to be putting the combination of Killian, Jim, and Vincent.
- 19:56In my top three,
- 20:00I think I'm going to give the edge to Jim over Killian,
- 20:03honestly.
- 20:03SPEAKER_00: I think this course suits him a little bit better.
- 20:05I think he's going to come in a little bit faster and a little
- 20:07bit sharper.
- 20:08SPEAKER_00: I could be totally freaking wrong.
- 20:10It's really hard to bet against the GOAT because he's the GOAT
- 20:14for a reason.
- 20:16SPEAKER_00: So I think I'll go Jim, Killian, and Vincent.
- 20:19SPEAKER_00: But I also wouldn't be surprised if Vincent surprises us all.
- 20:22SPEAKER_00: And maybe even, dare I say it, beats Jim and Killian.
- 20:26SPEAKER_00: I really have no idea how this is going to shake out,
- 20:27SPEAKER_00: but I'm super stoked to see how however it works out.
- 20:30I think probably 95% of free trail is going to have them as
- 20:34their top three picks in some order.
- 20:36SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of up to you.
- 20:37SPEAKER_00: Definitely curious.
- 20:38SPEAKER_00: Rounding out the podium, I think I'm going to go...
- 20:43SPEAKER_00: Zach Gardner and Luke Grenfell-Shaw.
- 20:45SPEAKER_00: I'm a little bit timid about Zach.
- 20:47SPEAKER_00: I think he has the chance.
- 20:48SPEAKER_00: I think he's definitely fit enough to go top five.
- 20:50SPEAKER_00: I'm really curious to see how he races.
- 20:52SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't be surprised if he kind of sticks his nose in it.
- 20:54He basically did that with UTMB and Andorra and with Ben Demon
- 20:59and kind of raced
- 21:00SPEAKER_00: aggressive and stuck his nose in it.
- 21:02SPEAKER_00: Obviously, Ben Demon, really good athlete.
- 21:04SPEAKER_00: I really enjoy him.
- 21:05Really enjoy his Substack if you get a chance to read it or to
- 21:07listen to his
- 21:07SPEAKER_00: training breakdowns.
- 21:08I really think they're super valuable,
- 21:10and I really like the way he thinks about stuff.
- 21:11SPEAKER_00: But obviously,
- 21:12SPEAKER_00: Ben Demon,
- 21:12SPEAKER_00: he has not quite had some really good results,
- 21:16SPEAKER_00: but he's not quite on this Jim and Killian level.
- 21:18SPEAKER_00: And maybe even Vonson, if Vonson can consistently prove that.
- 21:23I'm not going to say UTMB was a fluke because it definitely
- 21:26wasn't a fluke.
- 21:26SPEAKER_00: His time was amazing.
- 21:27SPEAKER_00: But basically just,
- 21:28SPEAKER_00: hey,
- 21:29SPEAKER_00: I can throw down with the big dogs,
- 21:30SPEAKER_00: and I can hang with Jim for the entire race or Killian.
- 21:32SPEAKER_00: So I got Zach and Forth.
- 21:35SPEAKER_00: Could be a risky pick.
- 21:36SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of concerned about him DNFing for going out too hard.
- 21:39Cause that's always a big consideration with picking people for
- 21:41these free trail points.
- 21:42SPEAKER_00: You want to make sure they finish.
- 21:43SPEAKER_00: Cause if they don't finish, there's no chance to get points.
- 21:45SPEAKER_00: And then I've got Luke Grenfell Shaw, the UK guy in fifth.
- 21:49SPEAKER_00: I'm once again,
- 21:50SPEAKER_00: I might swap in Andreas writer,
- 21:52SPEAKER_00: but I feel like I don't want to just pick everyone.
- 21:54SPEAKER_00: That's kind of the top five UTMB index.
- 21:56SPEAKER_00: And yeah,
- 21:57SPEAKER_00: I don't know.
- 21:58He's kind of Burmese in big races before where he's dropped,
- 22:00so I'm a little bit hesitant.
- 22:03I would also consider throwing in Murray Montgomery because I'm
- 22:06pretty confident
- 22:07SPEAKER_00: that he'll go 4-8 somewhere,
- 22:08SPEAKER_00: so I think he's a solid pick.
- 22:09Not just my Western bias,
- 22:11but I really do think that he will be up there with the top pack.
- 22:18SPEAKER_00: So that's it for the men's field.
- 22:20Um,
- 22:20I could talk about killing Jornet all day,
- 22:22but I'll,
- 22:22I'll,
- 22:22I'll save you guys.
- 22:24SPEAKER_00: Um, on the female side.
- 22:26SPEAKER_00: So,
- 22:27SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 22:27SPEAKER_00: looking at some of the names,
- 22:28SPEAKER_00: Azara Garcia,
- 22:29SPEAKER_00: Abby Hall,
- 22:29SPEAKER_00: Fiona Pascal,
- 22:30SPEAKER_00: Fabio Leconti,
- 22:31SPEAKER_00: Arosa,
- 22:33SPEAKER_00: CO,
- 22:33SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 22:34SPEAKER_00: Johanna Antilla,
- 22:36SPEAKER_00: Dominique Estelmach,
- 22:37SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 22:38SPEAKER_00: Amanda Basham,
- 22:38SPEAKER_00: Claire Banworth,
- 22:40SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 22:40SPEAKER_00: Stephanie Howe,
- 22:41SPEAKER_00: Valentina Michele,
- 22:43SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 22:43SPEAKER_00: Zoe Rom,
- 22:44SPEAKER_00: just all kinds of people.
- 22:45SPEAKER_00: So, um,
- 22:47SPEAKER_00: It's a golden ticket race.
- 22:49Abby Hall just missed her golden ticket at Black Canyons by
- 22:52coming in fifth,
- 22:53SPEAKER_00: I want to say it was,
- 22:55SPEAKER_00: in a historically fast time at the race.
- 22:58SPEAKER_00: Yes,
- 23:00SPEAKER_00: she came in fifth,
- 23:01SPEAKER_00: and it was at 8.52,
- 23:02SPEAKER_00: so it was like seven minutes slower than the course record.
- 23:06SPEAKER_00: Um, she's hungry for a golden ticket.
- 23:07SPEAKER_00: She really wants it.
- 23:08SPEAKER_00: I think she is probably my favorite coming in.
- 23:11I think she is on the up and up with her fitness and she's
- 23:13looking really,
- 23:14SPEAKER_00: really good from her recovery.
- 23:15SPEAKER_00: So I think she's going to be the big dog to beat.
- 23:17SPEAKER_00: Um, looking at, uh, some other names is our Garcia, uh,
- 23:22de los salmanes um azara is a very good runner she's very
- 23:28aggressive it kind of
- 23:30causes her to hit or miss if she finishes she's going to finish
- 23:32like top three if
- 23:34she goes out too hard she might dnf um she does kind of have a
- 23:37string of dnfs uh
- 23:39not a string excuse me um but she dnf transgarican area the
- 23:42classic last year tenor
- 23:44reef 110k the year before that she dnf the mountain running
- 23:47world champs as well as
- 23:48SPEAKER_00: lagama
- 23:49SPEAKER_00: And the year before that, she DMF to UTMB.
- 23:52SPEAKER_00: But if you look at all of her finishes in the past couple of years,
- 23:55SPEAKER_00: eighth place at Trans Volcania,
- 23:57SPEAKER_00: I guess that was probably her lowest down one.
- 23:58SPEAKER_00: Chianti last year, she got first at the 50K.
- 24:01SPEAKER_00: Third at the Grand Canaria Marathon.
- 24:05SPEAKER_00: What else?
- 24:06SPEAKER_00: First at Trans Grand Canaria Advanced.
- 24:09SPEAKER_00: first at Mozart 100k,
- 24:10SPEAKER_00: first at Salomon Ultra Pirineau,
- 24:12SPEAKER_00: fourth at La Sportiva,
- 24:14SPEAKER_00: excuse me,
- 24:15SPEAKER_00: Lavaredo.
- 24:16SPEAKER_00: So if she finishes, I think she's a lot for the top three.
- 24:20SPEAKER_00: But there's also the question mark of if she finishes.
- 24:23I do like the way she races,
- 24:24but it just makes it tough in fantasy free trail.
- 24:26SPEAKER_00: Because in fantasy free trail,
- 24:28SPEAKER_00: if you pick somebody who's going to DNF,
- 24:29SPEAKER_00: I always kind of shy away.
- 24:31SPEAKER_00: If I'm seeing like kind of every other race DNF,
- 24:34SPEAKER_00: or if I see kind of a trend of DNFing in the big races,
- 24:36SPEAKER_00: but doing well,
- 24:37SPEAKER_00: it may be a little bit less competitive.
- 24:38races i want somebody who finishes because they're going to get
- 24:41your points um
- 24:42looking at some other names uh johanna and tila uh she is from
- 24:48finland uh she has
- 24:53SPEAKER_00: been excuse me uh
- 24:56SPEAKER_00: She has been looking good.
- 24:59SPEAKER_00: So she finished Lavarito, the 80K podium finish, Trans-Gran Canaria, 85K.
- 25:04SPEAKER_00: So those are a little bit less competitive distances,
- 25:07SPEAKER_00: but still really good finishes and wins at the 2023 Kulumanan.
- 25:13hundred miler up in sweden in translantau um and then she was
- 25:17also top 20 at utmb
- 25:20and liam says that she has expressed interest in contending for
- 25:22a golden ticket um
- 25:25SPEAKER_00: and then let's see
- 25:31SPEAKER_00: Uh,
- 25:31SPEAKER_00: so other people to look out for on the female side of the race,
- 25:35SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 25:35SPEAKER_00: are going to be Fiona Pascal sister to Beth Pascal.
- 25:38SPEAKER_00: I just discussed her in one of my other previews.
- 25:40SPEAKER_00: I can't remember exactly which one.
- 25:42SPEAKER_00: Um, she's kind of on the up and up with her racing.
- 25:46SPEAKER_00: Uh, she has been, where is she at?
- 25:50SPEAKER_00: Um, she's from the UK and yeah.
- 25:52SPEAKER_00: So younger sister, former Western States winner, Beth Pascal.
- 25:56SPEAKER_00: Uh,
- 25:56SPEAKER_00: she has won Ark of Tristan 50 miler,
- 25:58SPEAKER_00: Julian Alps,
- 25:59SPEAKER_00: the 170 case,
- 26:01SPEAKER_00: essentially a hundred miler Mozart,
- 26:02SPEAKER_00: 100 by UT by UTMB and,
- 26:05SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 26:05SPEAKER_00: world's dribble 170,
- 26:06SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 26:07SPEAKER_00: assuming 72.
- 26:08SPEAKER_00: So,
- 26:10SPEAKER_00: um,
- 26:10I think I talked about her in one of my other previews and I
- 26:13don't remember if she
- 26:13SPEAKER_00: ended up towing the line or not for the race that I was talking about,
- 26:18SPEAKER_00: but I think she's on the up and up.
- 26:20SPEAKER_00: and I'm curious to see how, uh, how she competes up front as well.
- 26:25SPEAKER_00: So,
- 26:26SPEAKER_00: um,
- 26:26SPEAKER_00: some other females I'm looking out for,
- 26:27SPEAKER_00: um,
- 26:28SPEAKER_00: or people to talk about a row,
- 26:30SPEAKER_00: a CEO,
- 26:31SPEAKER_00: a craft athlete,
- 26:32SPEAKER_00: also Spanish,
- 26:33SPEAKER_00: um,
- 26:34SPEAKER_00: in her forties,
- 26:35SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 26:36SPEAKER_00: she has raised some golden ticket events in the past.
- 26:38SPEAKER_00: And I think she's raced Western before, if I'm not mistaken.
- 26:41Uh,
- 26:41she did race black cannon and got 16th,
- 26:44uh,
- 26:44just this past,
- 26:46just this year.
- 26:47SPEAKER_00: And then,
- 26:49SPEAKER_00: yeah, let me make sure this is past year.
- 26:50SPEAKER_00: She got 15th.
- 26:51SPEAKER_00: Uh, she's got fifth place at, uh, Madeira one 15 last year.
- 26:55Uh,
- 26:56she also raced,
- 26:58uh,
- 26:58UTMB,
- 26:59but DNF last year and DNF UTMB the year before.
- 27:02SPEAKER_00: Um, she's raced canyons and got third.
- 27:07SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 27:07SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty sure she's won a gold ticket before.
- 27:09SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 27:09SPEAKER_00: And she's raced Western in 2022.
- 27:11Uh,
- 27:13so it seems like she wants to get back to Western and enjoyed
- 27:15racing it.
- 27:16SPEAKER_00: Um,
- 27:17SPEAKER_00: So gold ticket kind of in line with her goals.
- 27:20SPEAKER_00: And then Dominika Stelmak, the Polish athlete.
- 27:23SPEAKER_00: She has, she's good on the fast flat event.
- 27:26SPEAKER_00: She, I think she has pretty fast marathon time.
- 27:29SPEAKER_00: She raced UTMB.
- 27:33SPEAKER_00: She raced Hong Kong last year, but I don't think she finished.
- 27:36I'm having a hard time with my,
- 27:39and then she's done a handful of races last year.
- 27:41SPEAKER_00: Transatlantic area classic was probably the most competitive.
- 27:44SPEAKER_00: She got fourth place at as well as,
- 27:48SPEAKER_00: a lot of events in Poland.
- 27:51And so mostly keeping it local and then one in Sweden that she
- 27:53got second place at.
- 27:55And then other things she has done Western before and 2022
- 27:59finished in 22 hours and
- 28:01SPEAKER_00: she's raised other races in the U S like black Canyon.
- 28:04SPEAKER_00: So,
- 28:05curious to see where she's at she raced a little bit last year
- 28:07hasn't raced yet
- 28:08this year um and definitely somebody to look out for uh
- 28:13dominica stolmac um a
- 28:15couple other names amanda bash i'm from the u.s from colorado
- 28:18um racing on the
- 28:20international scene so uh last year she had some results so
- 28:26archipatrician
- 28:2750 she got third at broken arrow 23k she went 13th broken arrow
- 28:3246k she went third
- 28:33so it looks like she completed the trifecta probably and then
- 28:38uh hoka canyons
- 28:40excuse me canyons she finished 12th at so um curious to see uh
- 28:44what kind of fitness
- 28:45she's in and i could definitely see a strong top five finish
- 28:48from amanda basham
- 28:50SPEAKER_00: I'm trying to get that golden ticket.
- 28:51SPEAKER_00: Claire Banworth, that's probably an exciting storyline.
- 28:53SPEAKER_00: She's currently at Barkley.
- 28:55SPEAKER_00: I forgot to mention Barkley in the last podcast.
- 28:57SPEAKER_00: Super stoked it's going on.
- 28:58SPEAKER_00: It's not looking very promising for the runners.
- 29:00SPEAKER_00: The course sounds hard as hell this year.
- 29:03SPEAKER_00: I stumbled on some really good Barkley material,
- 29:05SPEAKER_00: kind of partially via Finn Melanson,
- 29:09SPEAKER_00: partially via some of the posts that have been made on Substack about it.
- 29:12SPEAKER_00: Andrew Thompson's race support, and then as well as...
- 29:17SPEAKER_00: Let me see what his name is.
- 29:29SPEAKER_00: One second.
- 29:32Yeah,
- 29:32Andrew Thompson and then Matt Mahoney,
- 29:35that's who it is,
- 29:35mattmahoney.net.
- 29:37SPEAKER_00: Some really interesting, it's like a really old school website.
- 29:41mattmahoney.net and it has like this old school font but tons
- 29:45of really good
- 29:45articles about Barkley and then about 14 years this guy's done
- 29:50and all the races
- 29:50he's done it's basically like a digital archive of his life and
- 29:53it's really awesome
- 29:54and I think it's kind of like a goal for like what I would want
- 29:58my family to see
- 29:58and think about all the things that I've done he's basically
- 30:01just an amazing job of
- 30:03journaling his his life and his adventures and his travels and
- 30:05things like that and
- 30:06he's done stuff like hard rock and barkley and nolan's 14 and
- 30:09all the 14ers in
- 30:10colorado and all these ultras and basically he's you know raced
- 30:13ultras he started
- 30:14running when he's 30 and then he just kept running and it was a
- 30:16lifelong thing and
- 30:17so uh pretty good find for for barkley so anyways i got
- 30:20distracted um other females
- 30:23worth noting claire barenworth doing barkley it's not unheard
- 30:26of for her to do
- 30:27barkley and then come and race this so wouldn't totally write
- 30:29her off and then
- 30:31SPEAKER_00: alessandro uh
- 30:33SPEAKER_00: Alessandro, how do I pronounce her last name?
- 30:36SPEAKER_00: Boifava.
- 30:38SPEAKER_00: So she won Istria 100K, excuse me, Istria 100K.
- 30:41the 160 AK last year,
- 30:43which I imagine is pretty comparable vert wise to this race.
- 30:46SPEAKER_00: So probably a little bit less steep.
- 30:47And then she's finished top 10 at Lavarado and also been in the
- 30:51team Italy for the
- 30:52SPEAKER_00: long trail as well in both.
- 30:55SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
- 30:56SPEAKER_00: In Chiang Mai.
- 30:56SPEAKER_00: Sorry.
- 30:57SPEAKER_00: And so another one to look out for on the female side for my top five,
- 31:01SPEAKER_00: I'm probably going to go Abby Hall in first place.
- 31:04SPEAKER_00: I think she's hungry for the golden ticket.
- 31:05SPEAKER_00: I think she's really fit.
- 31:06SPEAKER_00: And I think she has some really good results.
- 31:09SPEAKER_00: She just won that.
- 31:10SPEAKER_00: what was it, UTMB in Australia as well.
- 31:11So I'm going to go Abihall for first,
- 31:14Azara Garcia second,
- 31:16liable to possibly change her out.
- 31:17SPEAKER_00: Like I said,
- 31:18SPEAKER_00: I'm worried about her DNFing,
- 31:20SPEAKER_00: which doesn't get any points,
- 31:21SPEAKER_00: but if she finishes,
- 31:22SPEAKER_00: I think she's for sure top three.
- 31:24SPEAKER_00: Johanna Antilla from Finland for third,
- 31:27SPEAKER_00: Fiona Pascal,
- 31:28SPEAKER_00: sister to Beth at fourth,
- 31:29SPEAKER_00: and Amanda Basham in fifth.
- 31:32SPEAKER_00: It's definitely possible I swap in Dominique Estelmak or
- 31:38SPEAKER_00: Yeah, probably potentially Dominique Selmak into my top five.
- 31:41SPEAKER_00: So that's my top five.
- 31:42SPEAKER_00: So that covers Chianti.
- 31:45SPEAKER_00: I'm super stoked.
- 31:46SPEAKER_00: Super, super stoked about this race.
- 31:48SPEAKER_00: So top five, Abbie Hall.
- 31:50SPEAKER_00: Second, Azar Garcia.
- 31:52SPEAKER_00: Third, Johanna Antilla.
- 31:54SPEAKER_00: Fourth, Fiona Pascal.
- 31:55SPEAKER_00: And fifth, Amanda Basham.
- 31:56SPEAKER_00: Men's picks once again, Jim.
- 31:58SPEAKER_00: Killian, Vincent, Zach Gardner, and Luke Grenfell-Schall.
- 32:02SPEAKER_00: So that covers up Chianti.
- 32:05SPEAKER_00: And then looking at and going over real quick,
- 32:08SPEAKER_00: our first Skyrunning World Series event of the year,
- 32:11SPEAKER_00: which is very exciting.
- 32:12One of their 20 plus events to choose from is going to be
- 32:15Acantilados del Norte,
- 32:18SPEAKER_00: which I mispronounced a couple of times last time.
- 32:20SPEAKER_00: I thought I had two L's and so I was being all fancy and stuff.
- 32:23SPEAKER_00: Anyways, Acantilados del Norte on La Palma.
- 32:26to open up the sky running world series uh they opened up with
- 32:29the same race uh
- 32:31last year and one second i'm clearing out some tabs um open up
- 32:38with the same race
- 32:38last year last year roberto de lorenzi uh won the race and he
- 32:42is towing the start
- 32:42line this year as well um looking at some prominent names uh
- 32:47with regards to the
- 32:47SPEAKER_00: race so roberto is towing the line um
- 32:51So on the men's side,
- 32:52Roberto,
- 32:53Mandu Marias,
- 32:53he's one of my personal favorites.
- 32:55I really,
- 32:55really love the way he runs,
- 32:56and I love watching videos of him running with his dog.
- 32:59SPEAKER_00: Luca Delpero, second in the Sky Running World Series last year.
- 33:02SPEAKER_00: Lorenzo Beltrami, I think he was also top five.
- 33:04SPEAKER_00: Alon Santamaria,
- 33:05SPEAKER_00: Eunet,
- 33:06SPEAKER_00: Dimas Pereira Obaya,
- 33:08SPEAKER_00: Anders Kajarovic,
- 33:10SPEAKER_00: Nico Molina,
- 33:11SPEAKER_00: Alejandro Forcades,
- 33:12SPEAKER_00: Morgan Elliott from the States,
- 33:15SPEAKER_00: and Pascal Eagli from Switzerland,
- 33:17SPEAKER_00: along with
- 33:19SPEAKER_00: Uh, I, I tore Blanco as well.
- 33:21SPEAKER_00: Um, lots of Spanish runners and one second.
- 33:26SPEAKER_00: So lots of Spanish runners coming in,
- 33:29SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 33:29SPEAKER_00: to run,
- 33:29SPEAKER_00: which is not surprising because one,
- 33:32SPEAKER_00: they're always very fitted this time of year and two,
- 33:34SPEAKER_00: it is a race in La Palma.
- 33:36SPEAKER_00: On the female side,
- 33:37SPEAKER_00: looking at some of the names,
- 33:39SPEAKER_00: Oyhana,
- 33:39SPEAKER_00: Cortazar,
- 33:40SPEAKER_00: Lide,
- 33:41SPEAKER_00: Aguirre,
- 33:42SPEAKER_00: Marta Martinez,
- 33:43SPEAKER_00: Denise Adragomir,
- 33:44SPEAKER_00: Nayara,
- 33:46SPEAKER_00: Iris Pessi,
- 33:46SPEAKER_00: Callie McChrystal,
- 33:48SPEAKER_00: and Ariadna Fenez,
- 33:50SPEAKER_00: along with a handful of other Spanish athletes.
- 33:51SPEAKER_00: They only have 14 females listed, so...
- 33:55SPEAKER_00: really focus on your female picks.
- 33:56SPEAKER_00: I mean,
- 33:56SPEAKER_00: if I had one piece of advice to make sure you're getting good points,
- 34:00SPEAKER_00: pick your females wisely,
- 34:01SPEAKER_00: especially in a field like this with only 14.
- 34:03SPEAKER_00: I mean,
- 34:03SPEAKER_00: you essentially have a very high chance of,
- 34:07of having picks if they kind of limit your field of having some
- 34:10top 10 picks.
- 34:11SPEAKER_00: So, and getting points essentially.
- 34:14So looking at the race and just looking at some of the big dogs,
- 34:18Roberto Di Lorenzi,
- 34:21Won the Skyrunning World Series last year,
- 34:22and if I'm not mistaken,
- 34:23the year before.
- 34:24SPEAKER_00: Also finished top 10 in the Golden Trail Series.
- 34:27Him and Manu Marias just have that ability to win Skyrunning
- 34:32and also to finish top
- 34:33SPEAKER_00: 10 in Golden Trail Series.
- 34:35SPEAKER_00: And they're both super duper good.
- 34:36SPEAKER_00: Roberto's a little bit faster,
- 34:37SPEAKER_00: definitely has a little bit more leg speed,
- 34:39SPEAKER_00: but really has done really good on this technical stuff.
- 34:42SPEAKER_00: Manu is known as one of the best technical downhill runners.
- 34:46SPEAKER_00: Well, just most technical, best technical runners ever.
- 34:48in the world hands down multiple uh sky running uh world
- 34:51championships and just
- 34:52watching him run down is like it's a thing of it's a thing of
- 34:56art and beauty it's
- 34:57almost like watching killian run downhill he's won zagama um
- 35:00and had multiple top
- 35:01five finishes and this is manu i'm talking about and then
- 35:04roberto raced uh he got
- 35:06interviewed by francesco poopy last year i think he raced 37
- 35:09times in 52 weeks
- 35:10obviously these weren't all trails and ultras uh he did like
- 35:13half marathons and
- 35:13SPEAKER_00: other speedy stuff he did just run a half
- 35:16Last year I think he ran a 104,
- 35:17but I think this year he's closer to 105,
- 35:19106.
- 35:19SPEAKER_00: It wasn't as fast as his previous time.
- 35:22SPEAKER_00: But some serious leg speed nonetheless.
- 35:24Did win the sky running final and then also had really good
- 35:28results in multiple
- 35:30SPEAKER_00: Golden Trail events.
- 35:31SPEAKER_00: Fifth place at Sears and All and third place at Marathon de Mont Blanc.
- 35:35SPEAKER_00: Both of them in crazy fast times.
- 35:37SPEAKER_00: Marathon de Mont Blanc, 333.
- 35:38SPEAKER_00: It was under the previous course record.
- 35:39SPEAKER_00: 232 on Sears and All.
- 35:41SPEAKER_00: Any other year that would get you...
- 35:43potentially a win but not in a year when killian breaks the
- 35:46course record he also
- 35:47won the european champs up and down um yeah so i think roberto
- 35:52is a heavy favorite
- 35:53he won this race last year um and in winning it he beat out i
- 35:58think it was manu as
- 35:59SPEAKER_00: well let me double check uh cancelados del norte
- 36:04SPEAKER_00: Last year's top five,
- 36:05SPEAKER_00: Roberto,
- 36:06SPEAKER_00: Manu,
- 36:07SPEAKER_00: Marias,
- 36:08SPEAKER_00: Danny Ozans,
- 36:09SPEAKER_00: Frederick Trenchard,
- 36:10SPEAKER_00: and Dimas Perea Obaya.
- 36:12Looking over at the female side last year for top five,
- 36:16that's also insightful.
- 36:17It was Lide Aguirre,
- 36:18Nayara,
- 36:19Ohana,
- 36:20Bailey Kowalczyk,
- 36:21and Julia Font Gomez.
- 36:23SPEAKER_00: So...
- 36:26with that being said,
- 36:26I think,
- 36:27uh,
- 36:27it's going to be a battle between Roberto and Manu.
- 36:30SPEAKER_00: Uh,
- 36:30SPEAKER_00: and then at the same time,
- 36:31SPEAKER_00: I think Luca Delpero has really,
- 36:32SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 36:33SPEAKER_00: improved a lot as an athlete.
- 36:34SPEAKER_00: He had some really, really good results.
- 36:35SPEAKER_00: I think he finished second in the sky running world series last year.
- 36:38I think he also is going to finish second in the sky running
- 36:40final at Marito,
- 36:42SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 36:42SPEAKER_00: Marito del Dement just behind Roberto.
- 36:45SPEAKER_00: Um,
- 36:45SPEAKER_00: yeah, some really good sky running results last year.
- 36:48He did not race,
- 36:49uh,
- 36:49this race last year,
- 36:50um,
- 36:51against a lot of still Norte.
- 36:52SPEAKER_00: Um,
- 36:53SPEAKER_00: but he,
- 36:54SPEAKER_00: every race,
- 36:55SPEAKER_00: every sky running race that he did minus Sky Racing Mathesine,
- 36:57SPEAKER_00: he was top five and most of them he was top three in.
- 37:00SPEAKER_00: Uh,
- 37:00so I think if somebody challenged them or was sneaking up in
- 37:02the top three with them,
- 37:04SPEAKER_00: um,
- 37:04SPEAKER_00: or challenged or knock off Roberto Romano is probably Luca Delpero,
- 37:08SPEAKER_00: Lorenzo Beltrami,
- 37:09SPEAKER_00: also a really good Italian athlete.
- 37:11SPEAKER_00: Um, also sky running world series guy.
- 37:13SPEAKER_00: Um,
- 37:14SPEAKER_00: also,
- 37:14SPEAKER_00: I believe if I'm not mistaken,
- 37:15SPEAKER_00: top five,
- 37:16SPEAKER_00: uh,
- 37:16SPEAKER_00: he went fourth at the final for the sky running world series.
- 37:19SPEAKER_00: And then he had, uh, a lot of top threes in his sky running races.
- 37:23SPEAKER_00: He did Hope Koenig, Kaiser Roan, um,
- 37:28SPEAKER_00: He had wins at, excuse me, let's see, the pinning Sky Race.
- 37:34And then,
- 37:36yeah,
- 37:36so pretty much he didn't race always the most competitive Sky Races.
- 37:40SPEAKER_00: He did also race Sierras and all.
- 37:43SPEAKER_00: He didn't always race the most competitive ones.
- 37:45SPEAKER_00: But when he does race, he's usually on in the top three.
- 37:48SPEAKER_00: Elaine Santa Maria, also a sky running guy, a speedy dude from Spain.
- 37:52SPEAKER_00: He has some good results.
- 37:53SPEAKER_00: He finished ninth in this race last year.
- 37:56SPEAKER_00: Also finished 10th in the Golden Trail final.
- 37:57SPEAKER_00: So with how deep that is, that's always impressive.
- 38:00SPEAKER_00: At Zeros and All, he ran a 243.
- 38:03SPEAKER_00: And Zagama, he got eighth for Sisters.
- 38:06SPEAKER_00: He got sixth.
- 38:08SPEAKER_00: So that was one of the Golden Trail series races.
- 38:11SPEAKER_00: And then he also, excuse me,
- 38:19SPEAKER_00: uh, let's see, 2024.
- 38:21SPEAKER_00: Uh, he raced Calamaro and got seventh and then got, yeah, ninth of this.
- 38:25SPEAKER_00: And so,
- 38:26SPEAKER_00: um,
- 38:26he's somebody who I think is a solid pick for like four through
- 38:28eight and we'll be
- 38:29SPEAKER_00: up there.
- 38:29SPEAKER_00: Other people want to look out for, uh, basket runner, IU net.
- 38:34SPEAKER_00: So IU and then NETT, uh, he's a younger dude.
- 38:38He's had some really,
- 38:39really good races on,
- 38:40um,
- 38:41on the sky running circuit.
- 38:43SPEAKER_00: It doesn't link to his UTMB, uh, index page for some reason.
- 38:48SPEAKER_00: So you just have to manually search him.
- 38:50SPEAKER_00: But he's an up-and-coming basket runner.
- 38:52SPEAKER_00: And under UTMB, it has him as Ayunet Puig.
- 38:56SPEAKER_00: Last year, he raced, let's see, Solomon Ultra Pirineau.
- 38:59SPEAKER_00: So the 21K, he won.
- 39:02SPEAKER_00: He got fourth at the Sky Ultra in Turkey,
- 39:07SPEAKER_00: just behind Roberto Di Lorenzi,
- 39:08SPEAKER_00: Frederic Tranchard,
- 39:09SPEAKER_00: and Jan Torella.
- 39:11SPEAKER_00: And then on other results, he, let's see,
- 39:17uh yeah he's just getting faster he's a young basket runner and
- 39:20i think he's gonna
- 39:21make a splash on sky running uh circuit this year another one
- 39:25dimas perera obaya he
- 39:26went top five of the race last year um he's also one of those
- 39:29guys that's a little
- 39:30bit harder to search for in the utmb index a lot of times the
- 39:34spanish runners with
- 39:35their multiple kind of last names it doesn't always directly
- 39:38translate over from
- 39:40SPEAKER_00: free trail so
- 39:41um yeah dimas last year he uh finished 20th in the sky running
- 39:45final but he did
- 39:46have fifth at uh desafeo urbion and kaiser uh kaiser run sky
- 39:51race he had seventh as
- 39:52well zagama he went 15th and calamaro he got uh 24th so um
- 39:59young guy also up and
- 40:00coming and then uh nico molino and alejandro forcada is also
- 40:04some pretty good
- 40:05SPEAKER_00: spanish runners to look out for
- 40:06And then Morgan Elliott,
- 40:07probably the best one,
- 40:08best skyrunner that we have in the States.
- 40:11SPEAKER_00: Definitely somebody to look out for.
- 40:13SPEAKER_00: And we'll be competing on the skyrunning circuit this year.
- 40:17On the female side,
- 40:17it's not quite as deep,
- 40:18but you got a lot of returners.
- 40:20SPEAKER_00: So you got essentially the top three, Ohana, Lide, and Nayara.
- 40:25And then Marta Martinez,
- 40:26also somebody to look out for,
- 40:27and Denisa Dragomir.
- 40:29SPEAKER_00: Iris Pesce, also a Scott athlete, somebody to look out for.
- 40:33SPEAKER_00: So these Spanish athletes are off.
- 40:34SPEAKER_00: I've said this before, but they're really fit early on.
- 40:37Naiara got the win last year at Acantilados del Norte,
- 40:41if I'm not mistaken.
- 40:42SPEAKER_00: No, Lide did.
- 40:43SPEAKER_00: Naiara got second, and then Oihana got third.
- 40:47And they were within five minutes of each other,
- 40:48followed by Bailey Kowalczyk.
- 40:50um i think it probably will stack out pretty similar with those
- 40:53top three this year
- 40:53i think ohana she races a ton she's a super good athlete she
- 40:57races both sky running
- 40:58and um and golden trail series she's one of those people that
- 41:03can dip back and
- 41:04forth just like roberto and manu i see her in the top five for
- 41:07sure uh lee day uh
- 41:09had some really good results i think she had a really good
- 41:11finish at zagama last
- 41:12SPEAKER_00: year if i'm not mistaken
- 41:14SPEAKER_00: Yeah, she got fifth.
- 41:15SPEAKER_00: So top five at Zagama,
- 41:16SPEAKER_00: top four Sky Racing Mathazine and third at Matterhorn Ultra K.
- 41:20SPEAKER_00: So and then finished 11th in the final.
- 41:22She's somebody who seems like an up and coming runner and had
- 41:25some really good results,
- 41:26SPEAKER_00: really strong results last year.
- 41:27SPEAKER_00: So I could definitely would lock her in for the top five.
- 41:31Marta Martinez,
- 41:32also somebody to look out for,
- 41:33Spanish athlete,
- 41:34La Sportiva athlete.
- 41:37SPEAKER_00: She got first at, let's see.
- 41:40SPEAKER_00: So she raced Zagama last year.
- 41:42SPEAKER_00: and got third.
- 41:43SPEAKER_00: So that's how I remember her name.
- 41:45SPEAKER_00: And then Four Sisters by, so that's the Golden Trail series.
- 41:47SPEAKER_00: She got 13.
- 41:48SPEAKER_00: So I would definitely say somebody, I mean, third is the Gama.
- 41:52SPEAKER_00: That's really impressive.
- 41:53SPEAKER_00: That's an awesome day.
- 41:54SPEAKER_00: And then Denise Adragomir,
- 41:56SPEAKER_00: once again,
- 41:56SPEAKER_00: I think I talked about her for the Transville,
- 42:00SPEAKER_00: excuse me,
- 42:01SPEAKER_00: the
- 42:02trans grand canaria marathon um romanian athlete has done
- 42:07really good on the world
- 42:08champs before i'm not sure where fitness is at now but
- 42:11definitely somebody to look
- 42:11out for iris pesi she's perennially racing the sky running
- 42:15series uh scott uh she's
- 42:17a scott athlete a french woman um and does really good the more
- 42:20technical the race
- 42:20is the better she does i'm not sure how how technical listening
- 42:23at cancelados del
- 42:24norte is um but she's somebody who i could easily see in kind
- 42:27of like that four
- 42:27through eight spot i don't know if she has the like speed uh to
- 42:30beat some of these
- 42:30SPEAKER_00: spanish women up front
- 42:32SPEAKER_00: And then last person I want to talk about is Ariadna Fenez-Arene.
- 42:37SPEAKER_00: And she's also somebody you have to look up for on the UTMB index.
- 42:41SPEAKER_00: So give me one second.
- 42:46SPEAKER_00: And she's Romanian.
- 42:47SPEAKER_00: Excuse me, Andorra.
- 42:48SPEAKER_00: I misread the flag.
- 42:50SPEAKER_00: So her results last year, Hoke Koenig, she got sixth.
- 42:53SPEAKER_00: The 21K, let's see, Calamaro, she got seventh.
- 42:57SPEAKER_00: And then OCC, she got 15.
- 42:59SPEAKER_00: That was in 2023.
- 43:01SPEAKER_00: Excuse me.
- 43:02SPEAKER_00: So she races some of these sky running series.
- 43:03SPEAKER_00: And I think she is a good pick for a point getter.
- 43:08SPEAKER_00: So with that being said, I'll get into my picks.
- 43:10SPEAKER_00: My picks for the men's side.
- 43:13SPEAKER_00: Roberto Di Lorenzi.
- 43:15SPEAKER_00: I can almost guarantee he's going to go top five.
- 43:17I can almost guarantee he's going to go top three or even top two,
- 43:20honestly.
- 43:21SPEAKER_00: I think he's definitely going to be in top three.
- 43:23SPEAKER_00: I think he's probably going to win.
- 43:24SPEAKER_00: Definitely going to be top three.
- 43:25SPEAKER_00: For sure going to get you points.
- 43:27SPEAKER_00: Luca Delpero in second place.
- 43:28SPEAKER_00: I might swap him with Manu.
- 43:30SPEAKER_00: I think Manu might have the edge on him.
- 43:32SPEAKER_00: I'm not really sure about this course and how technical it is.
- 43:34SPEAKER_00: Manu is like an all-time downhill runner, Manu Marius.
- 43:39SPEAKER_00: So kind of between Luca and Manu, second and third.
- 43:42SPEAKER_00: I'll put Luca in second for now and Manu, but I'm liable to swap that.
- 43:45SPEAKER_00: Fourth, I got Lorenzo Baltrami.
- 43:48the uh the italian athlete so i'm not really looking that
- 43:52interesting because
- 43:52that's kind of the top four guys on the list um and then fifth
- 43:56place i got iunet
- 43:57the bass runner um who's kind of on the up and up um i might
- 44:01swap out lorenzo
- 44:02beltrami for a different spanish runner maybe like dimas or uh
- 44:07potentially nico
- 44:08SPEAKER_00: molina um but we'll see but i'm pretty confident in those top three
- 44:12SPEAKER_00: I can almost guarantee Roberto,
- 44:13SPEAKER_00: Luka,
- 44:14SPEAKER_00: and Manu are going to get points and finish in the top five.
- 44:17SPEAKER_00: And then the rest is kind of tough to say.
- 44:19SPEAKER_00: On the female side, I'm going to go with Lide for the win.
- 44:21SPEAKER_00: She got second last year.
- 44:22SPEAKER_00: Nayara second.
- 44:23SPEAKER_00: She got the win last year.
- 44:24SPEAKER_00: Ohana third.
- 44:25SPEAKER_00: She did get third last year.
- 44:26SPEAKER_00: And that's just based off the results last year.
- 44:30And then also Ohana is a really consistent racer,
- 44:32but doesn't typically win races per se.
- 44:34SPEAKER_00: And then Marta Martinez in fourth.
- 44:36SPEAKER_00: She also was the top five in Zagama.
- 44:38SPEAKER_00: And then Ariadna, Fines, Irene from Endora.
- 44:42SPEAKER_00: So that's going to be my top five for Contalados del Norte.
- 44:46SPEAKER_00: First Skyrunning World Series event of the year.
- 44:48SPEAKER_00: Super duper exciting.
- 44:50And in the meantime,
- 44:51this is a little bit of a longer episode,
- 44:53but now I've got to go to dinner.
- 44:55SPEAKER_00: So I hope you enjoyed it.
- 44:56SPEAKER_00: Hope it was helpful.
- 44:58SPEAKER_00: And until next time, thank you for listening.