Latest / Let's Talk Trail Running / 2025 GTWS Great Wall and MIUT 115K Fantasy Trail Race Previews

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2025 GTWS Great Wall and MIUT 115K Fantasy Trail Race Previews · Let's Talk Trail Running

0:01
hello hello hello and welcome back to let's talk trail running
0:05
this is your host
0:06
robert prosser and this is the show that talks about trail
0:10
running races both ultra
0:11
and sub ultra races uh gives insight into athletes running
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those races and also
0:16
helps to make picks for your fantasy free trail uh top five
0:21
this is once again is
0:22
SPEAKER_02: fantasy.freetrail.com uh the fantasy trail running league that uh
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helps you to basically build fandom in the sport and become a
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bigger fan of trail running.
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SPEAKER_02: So for today's podcast,
0:38
SPEAKER_02: we're going to talk about the Madeira Island Ultra Trail 115K,
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as well as the second in the Golden Trail World Series races of
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this year,
0:48
the Great Wall race out in China a week after last week's Kobe
0:52
Trail race.
0:55
SPEAKER_02: So, once again, yeah, Madeira Island, 115K, and Kobe Trail.
1:00
SPEAKER_02: Excuse me, not Kobe Trail.
1:01
SPEAKER_02: It's going to be the Great Wall Trail race.
1:04
SPEAKER_02: So, with that being said, Madeira.
1:08
SPEAKER_02: So, Madeira is...
1:13
SPEAKER_02: So Madeira is an island,
1:15
SPEAKER_02: Portuguese island,
1:16
SPEAKER_02: and the race itself is about 115k,
1:19
SPEAKER_02: as I mentioned earlier,
1:20
SPEAKER_02: and about 6,200,
1:20
SPEAKER_02: let me double check,
1:21
SPEAKER_02: excuse me,
1:22
SPEAKER_02: 7,200 meters of elevation gain.
1:24
And for us non-metrically inclined folks,
1:26
that's about 72 miles and 23,600 feet.
1:29
SPEAKER_02: That makes this course pretty
1:43
uh symbolic when it comes to UTMB because it's essentially like
1:45
three-fourths of
1:47
the UTMB course if you break it down uh in terms of um both
1:52
vert and distance it's
1:54
essentially like three-fourths a scale of UTMB obviously not
1:57
the same with the
1:58
weather conditions encountered um but we do see people that do
2:01
really good at UTMB
2:02
SPEAKER_02: excuse me yeah really good at Madeira Island also do really good at UTMB
2:06
SPEAKER_02: And I think case in point is that Madeira Island,
2:09
SPEAKER_02: the course records of both of them were set in 2022 by two of the U.S.
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SPEAKER_02: goats, Jim Walmsley and Courtney DeWalter.
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SPEAKER_02: Jim Walmsley's course record currently stands at 12.58 and some change.
2:20
SPEAKER_02: And Courtney DeWalter's course record is about 14 hours and 40 minutes.
2:26
SPEAKER_02: So, yeah, so I think that's why partially what's an important race.
2:30
I think some of the big headlines coming off of Madeira Island
2:32
Ultra Trail this year,
2:33
the 115K,
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SPEAKER_02: We've got the return of Katie and German,
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SPEAKER_02: most notably Katie Scheid,
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SPEAKER_02: winner of basically everything last year,
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SPEAKER_02: smashed canyons,
2:44
won Western States and was only 15 minutes off Courtney's
2:47
course record a year
2:48
SPEAKER_02: after people thought that was kind of like unbreakable.
2:51
And then she did break Courtney's course record at UTMB by over
2:54
20 minutes in a
2:56
SPEAKER_02: race that she kind of hobbled it in in the last 20 or 30 miles,
3:00
SPEAKER_02: give or take.
3:01
SPEAKER_02: Uh,
3:01
SPEAKER_02: so Katie is kind of on the ascendancy,
3:04
SPEAKER_02: possibly trying to,
3:06
SPEAKER_02: she almost definitely is trying to take that goat throne from,
3:08
SPEAKER_02: uh,
3:09
SPEAKER_02: Courtney.
3:10
SPEAKER_02: And,
3:10
SPEAKER_02: um,
3:10
SPEAKER_02: and the question is kind of,
3:12
SPEAKER_02: you know,
3:12
SPEAKER_02: with Katie being a little bit younger,
3:13
SPEAKER_02: when will we start to see,
3:15
SPEAKER_02: or will we start to see Katie pass Courtney?
3:17
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and what year will that be?
3:19
Unfortunately,
3:20
it doesn't seem like they're going to be racing head to head
3:21
this year.
3:22
SPEAKER_02: I really, really hope that changes.
3:24
SPEAKER_02: Um, but as of right now, it doesn't seem that way.
3:26
SPEAKER_02: Um,
3:27
they've kind of been avoiding each other since western last
3:31
year uh but um yeah
3:35
it'll be it'll be interesting to see so uh katie's and most
3:38
notably headlining and
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her partner jamon uh who had a string of dns last year largely
3:43
due to some
3:44
lingering rib injuries um he is going to be racing as well so
3:48
i'm curious to see
3:49
SPEAKER_02: what kind of shape he has in they've both been racing on the
3:52
french cross-country trail or excuse me cross-country circuit
3:56
and i think katie's
3:57
had some of her fastest times ever i don't know where
3:59
jermaine's at quite um so
4:01
i'll be curious to see where they are at uh coming into this
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race uh other notable
4:06
names with regards to madeira on uh with regards to ray through
4:11
i think i can start
4:12
SPEAKER_02: on the women's side um
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SPEAKER_02: Fantasy free trial doesn't have quite as many people listed,
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SPEAKER_02: but there still are a lot of people worth talking about.
4:19
SPEAKER_02: So we already mentioned Katie Scheid,
4:21
SPEAKER_02: you know,
4:22
SPEAKER_02: winner of Western States,
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SPEAKER_02: winner of UTMB,
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SPEAKER_02: course record holder at UTMB,
4:25
SPEAKER_02: smashed Canyons last year,
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SPEAKER_02: got sixth overall,
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SPEAKER_02: like overall,
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SPEAKER_02: overall,
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SPEAKER_02: including men and beat.
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SPEAKER_02: the women by a good margin there.
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SPEAKER_02: Other notable female names to look out for, Katerina Hartnuth.
4:38
SPEAKER_02: She's a German athlete for Hoka.
4:41
She is also a really,
4:42
really awesome racer with some really amazing results.
4:47
SPEAKER_02: She won the Tour de Gaunt last year and set a course record.
4:49
SPEAKER_02: So that's the huge race.
4:50
SPEAKER_02: I think it's about 330K going around the Italian Dolomites.
4:56
SPEAKER_02: And so she set a course record, I want to say somewhere in the 70 or low.
5:01
SPEAKER_01: 80-hour range.
5:02
SPEAKER_01: Let me double check.
5:09
SPEAKER_01: I guess TorDigion isn't on the UTMB index.
5:12
SPEAKER_01: So let's see.
5:13
SPEAKER_01: One second.
5:19
SPEAKER_02: She raced Tour de Giont.
5:23
SPEAKER_02: She 352k and 25,000 meters of vert.
5:24
SPEAKER_02: She went sub 80 hours, 79, 10.
5:26
SPEAKER_02: And I think it was the first thing I'll ever do that.
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SPEAKER_02: She also got third at Hard Rock last year in about 30 hours.
5:32
SPEAKER_02: And then won UTMB Andorra and got seventh at Transval Cogna.
5:37
SPEAKER_02: She has not raced in Madeira before.
5:39
SPEAKER_02: She's also won Iger 101K, so Iger Trail 100.
5:43
SPEAKER_02: She got second at UTMB in 2023.
5:45
SPEAKER_02: That's also along some of her really good results.
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And she also got second at Worlds in 2023,
5:49
so kind of had a killer year at Worlds.
5:51
SPEAKER_02: Last year,
5:51
I'm not going to say it wasn't quite of the level of
5:55
competition that she raced in 2023,
5:58
SPEAKER_02: but also had really,
5:59
SPEAKER_02: really good results last year as well.
6:02
SPEAKER_02: So that's Katerina Hartmuth.
6:05
SPEAKER_02: Other names on the list, Martina Klachnik, Slovenian athlete.
6:09
SPEAKER_02: We talked about her just about...
6:14
SPEAKER_02: at Trans Grand Canaria a couple weeks ago.
6:16
SPEAKER_02: She got third at the Trans Grand Canaria Classic,
6:19
SPEAKER_02: so that's probably one of her best results to date.
6:21
SPEAKER_02: She's raced a lot in Slovenia and had really good results over there,
6:24
but hasn't raced outside of the country as much and is starting
6:26
to do that more.
6:27
SPEAKER_02: She got third at Istria 69k last year over in Croatia,
6:31
SPEAKER_02: and third at Trans Grand Canaria Advance last year,
6:34
SPEAKER_02: which is not the same as the Classic.
6:35
SPEAKER_02: And then she's also got 12th at BCB in Plane Public.
6:39
I think she's on the up and up,
6:40
and I think she will probably have a pretty strong result.
6:45
SPEAKER_02: Next female to look out for, Ava Sparger.
6:47
SPEAKER_02: She's a German athlete, Solomon sponsored.
6:52
SPEAKER_02: She got second to Hannah Allgood at Iger 100 last year.
6:55
Hannah passed her kind of towards the latter end of the race
6:58
and ended up putting a
6:59
SPEAKER_02: good bit of time on her.
7:01
SPEAKER_02: She got third at Ultra Trail Cape Town last year, the 100K.
7:03
SPEAKER_02: So that's a really good result.
7:05
And then she also got fourth at Grand Raid in 2023 and a top 10
7:10
at UTMB in 2022.
7:12
SPEAKER_02: So she's been around the sport for a little bit.
7:15
Seems like this course is kind of what the type of stuff that
7:17
she likes to race.
7:18
SPEAKER_02: It's in line with the other results that she has.
7:21
SPEAKER_02: And I think she's a pretty strong lock for top five.
7:23
SPEAKER_02: Doesn't seem like she DNFs a lot.
7:25
SPEAKER_02: Next athlete to look out for, Dominique Van Meschgelen.
7:29
SPEAKER_02: She's a Belgian runner.
7:31
SPEAKER_02: She got 10th at Transinguer Canaria this year and 9th at Ultra Pirineu,
7:35
SPEAKER_02: which is a really competitive 100K in the Pyrenees Mountains.
7:38
SPEAKER_02: In Spain, a lot of really good Spanish runners race it.
7:40
SPEAKER_02: And then also 5th at Valderan,
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SPEAKER_02: which is similarly also a very good,
7:45
SPEAKER_02: very competitive race,
7:46
SPEAKER_02: I'm pretty sure,
7:46
SPEAKER_02: in the Pyrenees in Spain that a lot of Spanish runners run.
7:50
SPEAKER_02: Last, excuse me, 2023, she got fit the Trans-Grand Canaria.
7:53
So she likes these up-down type of races and has some pretty
7:57
good results doing so.
8:00
uh next female to look out for sabrina vergi she was uh second
8:05
at tour de gion only
8:06
behind katarita hartmuth's uh record uh course record
8:09
performance last year she got
8:11
ninth at chianti 100k this year and 11th at lavarada last year
8:15
she races a lot
8:16
she's a uk athlete she races a lot of the longer tougher more
8:20
grinding stuff so
8:20
this is actually kind of short and fast for her it's by no
8:23
means a short and faster
8:23
race but compared to what a lot of what she does and does well
8:26
in it's a little bit
8:27
shorter and faster so i'm kind of curious to see how she stacks
8:30
up um she's
8:31
definitely very very tough and has done tortoise and finished
8:34
top five multiple
8:35
times um next female to look out for french athlete manon
8:39
campano she won the swiss
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SPEAKER_02: canyon trail 100k last year
8:45
um and also was second at ecotrail paris which i think of as
8:48
more of a it's a
8:49
flatter faster 50 miler um that takes really good leg speed and
8:55
she got eighth at
8:55
transgrant canary advanced 84k i believe this year i didn't
8:58
make a note on that and
9:00
then last athlete chinese athlete windfi xi xie uh fifth at tds
9:06
last year one
9:07
SPEAKER_02: mountain 100 and got fifth at grand raid so
9:11
SPEAKER_02: I think those are some of the females to look out for.
9:13
SPEAKER_02: If I had to pick a top five amongst these ladies,
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SPEAKER_02: I think you'd be crazy not to pick Katie as your overall favorite.
9:21
I think she is hands down the favorite for this race and
9:23
probably any race that she
9:24
SPEAKER_02: races at this point in her career.
9:27
Unless Courtney's on the line as well,
9:29
then it kind of comes down to the individual course.
9:31
SPEAKER_02: But I think Katie is kind of at that level right now.
9:33
SPEAKER_02: So Katie hands down to the first.
9:34
SPEAKER_02: I'm between Martina and Katerina and second.
9:37
Right now I've got Martina second,
9:39
but I think I'll probably swap Katerina.
9:41
SPEAKER_02: So we'll go Katie, Katerina, Martina.
9:43
SPEAKER_02: And then fourth, I got Ava Sperger.
9:46
SPEAKER_02: And fifth, Manon Campano.
9:49
SPEAKER_02: So Katie, Martina, Katerina, Ava, and Manon for my one through five.
9:57
SPEAKER_02: And then on the men's side,
9:59
no notable and super obvious favorites the same way that there
10:02
is on this female side.
10:03
SPEAKER_02: I think you have multiple people that could win this race.
10:07
But I think some of the people that could win this race also
10:10
have some question
10:11
SPEAKER_02: marks coming into it.
10:12
The three top ones that I think have the ability to win this
10:15
race and have shown
10:15
SPEAKER_02: the capability that they can win this race would be Germain Granger,
10:20
SPEAKER_02: Miguel Arsenio,
10:21
SPEAKER_02: and Jean-Philippe Schumi.
10:22
Germain is coming off of 2023 that was really amazing with
10:28
third place at UTMB,
10:30
SPEAKER_02: second place at Diagonal des Fous to...
10:36
uh a really on do not payas and also he had a fifth at
10:41
transvolkania that year um
10:44
last year he unfortunately had a string of dns uh with uh utmb
10:49
which he was as high
10:50
as second or third i want to say well into like 120k of the
10:54
race before his ribs
10:55
eventually just like we're in too much pain to finish had the
10:59
same thing happen at
11:00
SPEAKER_02: uh diagonal defu uh
11:03
SPEAKER_02: uh so grand raid de la reunion diagonal day fu i kind of use those names
11:07
interchangeably but basically you know it's like utain b but if
11:10
it were on an
11:11
island in the indian ocean uh and it was super hot and humid
11:14
and muggy so um he
11:18
yeah he raced that but wasn't able to finish last year and so
11:21
i'm really curious to
11:21
see where his form's at i think he very much has the ability to
11:24
win this race he's
11:25
SPEAKER_02: raced at madeira twice from what i can see uh he raced the 85k and
11:30
SPEAKER_02: won it in 2018.
11:32
SPEAKER_02: And then he DNFed the 115K in 2019.
11:35
SPEAKER_02: I think the race, I don't remember if the 85K was the original distance.
11:38
SPEAKER_02: They changed it 115.
11:38
SPEAKER_02: So it might have been the premier distance that year.
11:42
SPEAKER_02: But basically, since 2019, 115 has been the premier distance.
11:48
Other athletes that I mentioned has possibility to win,
11:50
so Miguel Arsenio.
11:52
SPEAKER_02: He's a Portuguese athlete for K-Lefts.
11:54
SPEAKER_02: We've already talked about him this year.
11:56
He did,
11:58
in the Trans-Grand Canaria preview for the marathon,
12:01
he didn't do the ultra.
12:02
SPEAKER_02: But this year,
12:03
SPEAKER_02: he's already raced Pena Galusa 60K,
12:05
SPEAKER_02: which was just a week ago,
12:06
which makes me a little bit nervous because it's only two weeks
12:08
before this race.
12:10
SPEAKER_02: I'm sure he might have used it as a tune-up,
12:11
SPEAKER_02: but still having a 60K,
12:13
that's that big of an effort with 10 or 11K overt only two
12:16
weeks before this race.
12:17
makes me a little bit nervous um and then uh he got second at
12:23
templier last year to
12:24
thomas cardine so really fast uh 50 miler in france with really
12:29
really good
12:30
competition kind of technical but not super vertical compared
12:32
to these other races
12:34
uh he also got second at ultra trail cape town last year so
12:36
really had a good into
12:37
his year second at templier second on cape town and those are
12:40
two really impressive
12:40
SPEAKER_02: results
12:42
SPEAKER_02: And then, but he kind of does have up and down results.
12:44
SPEAKER_02: He's either kind of top three or outside top 10.
12:47
SPEAKER_02: Uh, he raced Madeira Island last year and DNF'd it.
12:49
SPEAKER_02: He raced a Sky Marathon in Madeira in 2022 and got second.
12:51
SPEAKER_02: Uh,
12:56
SPEAKER_02: And then got second out of the Trans-Gurican Area Classic in 23,
12:58
SPEAKER_02: and then won the Maxi race and Ultra Pirineau in 23 as well.
13:03
SPEAKER_02: I think he DNF Trans-Gurican Area in 24, if I'm not mistaken.
13:09
SPEAKER_02: So he has really good results,
13:10
SPEAKER_02: but he also has a not insignificant number of DNFs,
13:12
SPEAKER_02: which just makes me hesitant to choose him as the winner.
13:15
SPEAKER_02: But I definitely believe that he has the capability to win this race.
13:19
SPEAKER_02: So that's something to keep in mind.
13:23
SPEAKER_02: Third one that I put in that category was Jean-Philippe Schumi.
13:25
SPEAKER_02: He is a Swiss athlete who runs for Hoka.
13:34
And I feel like he's not as well known to the Western audience,
13:38
to us over in the US.
13:39
SPEAKER_02: But he has some really, really amazing results.
13:43
SPEAKER_02: Second at Grand Raid or Dagonal des Fous,
13:46
SPEAKER_02: so Grand Raid last year,
13:47
SPEAKER_02: only to Matthew Blanchard,
13:48
SPEAKER_02: who I think set a course record.
13:50
SPEAKER_02: Uh, and then at the same race, he got third in 2023 and second in 2022.
13:54
SPEAKER_02: So he does really, really good at grand rate.
13:55
SPEAKER_02: It's a really tough race.
13:56
SPEAKER_02: People DNF at a really high rate.
13:59
SPEAKER_02: Um, but he consistently, uh, has really good performances.
14:03
SPEAKER_02: He also won Ultra Trail Snowdonia in 100K in 2023.
14:08
SPEAKER_02: He has raced MIUT before.
14:10
He got third in 2022,
14:11
the same year that Jim Walmsley set the course record.
14:14
And he also beat Matthew Blanchard that year,
14:17
along with a couple other notable names as well.
14:20
SPEAKER_02: He also got third at Madeira in 2021 as well.
14:23
SPEAKER_02: So he's got very intimate course knowledge.
14:25
SPEAKER_02: He knows it well.
14:26
SPEAKER_02: And both times,
14:27
SPEAKER_02: from what I can tell that he's raced it,
14:28
SPEAKER_02: he's raced it very consistently and very well.
14:30
SPEAKER_02: So I think he's a lock for the top five.
14:34
and i've uh and i think he's probably even a lock for like
14:37
somewhere in that two
14:38
through four spot uh next name on the list is one that i did
14:42
not know about until
14:43
he raced hard rock a few years ago um he's a la sportiva
14:46
athlete in his 40s uh and
14:48
SPEAKER_02: he's french vignette marmasole
14:51
SPEAKER_02: He didn't have as good of a year last year.
14:54
SPEAKER_02: He had some DNFs.
14:55
SPEAKER_02: He had a DNF at Madeira Island Ultra Trail last year.
14:57
SPEAKER_02: And then he also didn't do great at Grand Raid Pyrenees.
15:01
SPEAKER_02: He finished it,
15:01
but it seemed kind of like he might have grounded that one out
15:03
or didn't race to
15:04
SPEAKER_02: his typical level of racing.
15:06
SPEAKER_02: He did bounce back this year.
15:07
SPEAKER_02: He's won UTMB Val Hall down in Argentina,
15:11
SPEAKER_02: the 130K,
15:12
SPEAKER_02: which was just in March 21st,
15:14
SPEAKER_02: about a month before this race.
15:15
SPEAKER_02: So kind of a long way to be racing just a month before this race,
15:19
SPEAKER_02: but still about a month of recovery,
15:20
SPEAKER_02: so nothing too bad.
15:22
SPEAKER_02: It wasn't as competitive as you'd expect most UCMB events to be,
15:26
SPEAKER_02: per se,
15:27
SPEAKER_02: but better than some of his results last year,
15:30
SPEAKER_02: which were kind of a string of DNFs.
15:31
SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure what was going on.
15:32
SPEAKER_02: And then in 2023, he had a really good year.
15:34
He got second to Hard Rock to Rulian,
15:35
Dunam Payaz,
15:36
I think right about 24 hours.
15:38
SPEAKER_02: and 6th at UTMB in 2022.
15:41
SPEAKER_02: He has raced Madeira in 2021 and got 7th,
15:44
SPEAKER_02: and he's also run a Sky Race on the island as well,
15:46
SPEAKER_02: so he does have some course knowledge and familiarity.
15:51
SPEAKER_02: Other males to look out for, Romanian Raul Butaci.
15:56
SPEAKER_02: He's a Romanian who lives in Spain.
16:01
We've mentioned him already on the podcast at least once this
16:03
year at the Hong Kong
16:04
SPEAKER_02: 100K Preview.
16:05
SPEAKER_02: I think I picked him for my top 5, and he ended up getting
16:10
And then he won Trans Grand Canary Advanced this year already,
16:14
which is not the main classic.
16:16
SPEAKER_02: It's the less competitive one, but he did still win it.
16:19
And then he got third at Ultra Pirineau last year,
16:21
the competitive 100K in the Pyrenees.
16:23
I think either him or I know Cristiano Manoli was very high up
16:27
at UTMB,
16:28
like top five.
16:29
until like around 140k or so i can't remember if it was him or
16:32
if it was i know
16:33
christian but one of the two of them was pretty high up and
16:37
then uh raul botachi
16:39
won the trans gran canaria classic uh last year which is the
16:43
more competitive one
16:44
and then he did third at sky marathon in madeira in 2022 but he
16:49
hasn't raced
16:50
madeira 117k yet so i think he's a pretty good pick uh for top
16:55
five and i think he
16:55
SPEAKER_02: pretty consistently races up to a high standard
17:02
Next on the list,
17:03
Louis Fernandes,
17:04
or excuse me,
17:05
Paul Cornu Chauvinck,
17:08
French athlete.
17:08
He got eighth at Saint-Leon,
17:11
which is a 50-miler fast,
17:13
less technical,
17:13
more runnable 50-miler.
17:15
SPEAKER_02: 35th at CCC,
17:16
SPEAKER_02: third at Chianti 100K,
17:18
SPEAKER_02: and second at Grand Raid des Pyrenees,
17:21
SPEAKER_02: which is a 50-miler with over 5,000 meters overt.
17:26
SPEAKER_02: Next athlete to look out for,
17:27
SPEAKER_02: Portuguese athlete Luis Fernandez,
17:30
SPEAKER_02: 6th at Madeira Island Ultra Trail in 2024,
17:32
SPEAKER_02: 15th at TDS in 2023.
17:36
SPEAKER_02: He has a ton of experience racing Madeira.
17:39
SPEAKER_02: I have him racing, let's see, he got 9th at Madeira in 2022, 7th in 2019.
17:45
SPEAKER_02: So far as I can tell through his sign-up history,
17:48
SPEAKER_02: he's got over a dozen races on Madeira Island.
17:50
SPEAKER_02: He's raced MIUT or some iteration of it probably eight or nine times,
17:54
SPEAKER_02: and almost all of them have been top tens.
17:56
But I think that's a pretty good hint that he will probably go
17:58
top ten again,
17:59
SPEAKER_02: and I would strongly encourage picking him.
18:02
SPEAKER_02: Hugh Chatfield is the next athlete I want to look out for, UK runner.
18:07
Most notably,
18:07
he got second at Arc of Attrition,
18:09
50 miler this year,
18:10
only to Tom Evans.
18:11
He was only seven minutes behind Tom Evans,
18:13
and this is talking about a seven-hour race.
18:15
SPEAKER_02: That's a pretty impressive performance.
18:17
SPEAKER_02: Tom Evans also notably did set the course record on the race this year.
18:20
SPEAKER_02: So...
18:44
SPEAKER_00: Sorry about that.
18:45
SPEAKER_00: Hopefully that did not work the audio.
18:47
SPEAKER_00: And those are the second one.
19:08
SPEAKER_02: My apologies,
19:09
SPEAKER_02: this is not my ideal desired recording location,
19:12
SPEAKER_02: and it's not where I usually do it.
19:14
SPEAKER_02: But opportunistically, it's just where I had the chance.
19:17
SPEAKER_02: So once again, Hugh Chatfield, UK runner, second to archivitrician.
19:22
um he also has other results 10th at temple last year so that
19:26
fast 50 miler in
19:26
france at the end of the year he got 40th at ccc 40th 4-0 uh
19:31
and fourth at ultra
19:33
trail snowdonia 100k last year uh he's also gotten fourth at
19:36
the trans grand canary
19:37
advanced uh he's never raced at madeira from what i can tell
19:41
but i think he's
19:41
definitely somebody worth looking out for and i would strongly
19:43
consider him putting
19:44
SPEAKER_02: him in the top five
19:46
SPEAKER_02: Um,
19:46
SPEAKER_02: anytime you're seven minutes behind Tom Evans in any race,
19:49
SPEAKER_02: but especially a seven hour one,
19:50
SPEAKER_02: I think you're probably in pretty good shape.
19:52
SPEAKER_02: Um,
19:53
SPEAKER_02: so with that being said on my,
19:54
SPEAKER_02: on my men's side,
19:55
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to go kind of similar to the order that I read out these men.
19:58
I think Jermon Grangier is going to get the win and him and
20:01
Katie are going to get
20:02
SPEAKER_02: a nice little one,
20:03
SPEAKER_02: two couple sweep.
20:04
SPEAKER_02: I think Miguel Arsenio, uh, will get second overall.
20:08
SPEAKER_02: Third place, I'm going to go with Jean-Philippe Shumi.
20:10
SPEAKER_02: Fourth place, Raul Butachi.
20:12
SPEAKER_02: And fifth place, Luis Fernandez.
20:14
I'm liable to potentially swap Jean-Philippe to second and
20:17
Miguel Arsenio to third.
20:19
And I'm also liable to potentially get Hugh Chassiel to my top
20:23
five over Raul Butachi.
20:25
SPEAKER_02: But that's kind of what I think is going to...
20:29
SPEAKER_02: how it's going to shake out on the men's side.
20:32
SPEAKER_02: So that's Madeira Island Ultra Trail, 115K.
20:35
SPEAKER_02: For the next race I want to talk about is going to be
20:45
The Great Wall Trail,
20:46
the second in the Golden Trail World Series races this year.
20:50
SPEAKER_02: I'm much more excited for this race than I was for Kobe.
20:53
SPEAKER_02: Nothing against Kobe, but more just to do with the start list.
20:56
I think in the past,
20:57
we've had some really,
20:57
really competitive Golden Trail World Series events.
21:00
SPEAKER_02: Ones where it's honestly like they're 10 or 15 deep,
21:03
SPEAKER_02: and it's really hard to pick who's even going to get points.
21:06
SPEAKER_02: Whereas I feel like last week's Golden Trail race in Kobe,
21:10
SPEAKER_02: I don't know about you guys,
21:11
SPEAKER_02: but I feel like a lot of people probably got at least...
21:14
eight nine or maybe even ten people that all got them points um
21:17
and maybe their
21:18
order wasn't exactly correct but i mean i know i got nine of my
21:21
ten picks got
21:22
points the only one that didn't was sylvan kashard and i was
21:24
considering swapping
21:25
SPEAKER_02: him out for damian bogdan and if i did i would have been 10 out of 10.
21:29
but with that being said i think that this great wall trail has
21:32
a lot more athletes
21:33
racing and i think that's kind of a combination things i think
21:35
that uh kobe trail
21:37
is really early in the season which i think is really tough for
21:39
some of these
21:39
SPEAKER_02: athletes to get to especially if they're multi-sport athletes like skiers
21:43
SPEAKER_02: I think that the format of Kobe trail,
21:46
SPEAKER_02: I think with it being that flower format,
21:48
I think a lot of athletes don't really like it and have kind of
21:50
gone the record
21:50
about how it's not very fun racing and kind of impersonal and
21:54
you're kind of just
21:54
SPEAKER_02: circling back to the same spot.
21:56
And then I think Kobe also is a weird type of technical where
21:59
it's not like,
22:00
it is very technical but it's not like a technical that people
22:03
can really train for
22:04
it's kind of like rudy rudy rudy and rocky but really like rudy
22:09
stuff and then also
22:09
like steep steps and things like that so i think the kind of
22:12
the combination of how
22:13
early it is in the season with the flower format with the
22:16
technicality or the type
22:17
of technicality of the race i think um they had a better
22:20
turnout last year and i
22:21
SPEAKER_02: think this year um based off feedback from last year's race and just also
22:26
kind of how the course is i think fewer athletes showed up but
22:29
that's just my
22:30
personal uh interpretation of it um i am very excited to see
22:34
the start list for
22:35
great wall trail um because it is a much denser and more
22:39
prototypical of our golden
22:40
trail series like a 10 deep where it's going to be tough to
22:43
pick we're also seeing
22:44
more kenyans in this race which always means more competition
22:47
and then some other
22:48
big names being introduced as well so with that being said
22:51
we're pretty much seeing
22:52
SPEAKER_02: all the same athletes that raced last week um
22:55
SPEAKER_02: I think almost all the same athletes that raced last week,
22:58
but we're seeing the addition of some new names that we didn't
23:00
see last week.
23:01
SPEAKER_02: Names like Mao Yao, like Cesare Maestri, Hua Hua Zhang.
23:10
SPEAKER_02: We're seeing more Kenyan athletes come in.
23:13
SPEAKER_02: And let me see.
23:16
SPEAKER_02: On the female side, Rachel Tomajik.
23:18
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, we're just seeing more people race.
23:21
SPEAKER_02: So pretty much the same cast of characters from last week, but with some
23:25
also uh with some other names as well so with that being said
23:30
um once again so the
23:31
golden trail race so this year it's at the great uh the great
23:35
wall trail last year
23:37
uh the course was called let me pull up the name real quick
23:44
last year so i'm 95
23:45
sure this is a different i'm actually 99 sure this is a
23:48
different course than last
23:49
SPEAKER_02: year last year as that sigong zhang or
23:53
SPEAKER_02: Sigon Yang Mountain, which was a high elevation race.
23:57
SPEAKER_02: I think it was between like 8,000 and 11,000 feet.
23:59
SPEAKER_02: Kind of similar maybe to your Mammoth Trail where it wasn't super
24:04
technical or steep but the elevation was really the main factor
24:07
this year with
24:07
great wall it seems like it's going to be more of your flatter
24:10
faster race um the
24:12
website is saying uh it's a race running on the best preserved
24:15
great wall in china
24:16
with steep stairs and a challenging course on top of on top on
24:19
the top of mountains
24:21
so maybe it is elevation running the race will take you to
24:24
experience the wisdom of
24:25
SPEAKER_02: ancient chinese dynasties and defending the border
24:28
SPEAKER_02: and indulge in the beautiful apricot flowers in spring.
24:32
SPEAKER_02: It's in Chengdi, China.
24:33
SPEAKER_02: Distance is 24.2 kilometers and 1489 meters of elevation.
24:38
SPEAKER_02: So essentially about, what, 15 miles and 5,000 feet of elevation gain.
24:49
SPEAKER_01: The website's all in Chinese.
24:50
SPEAKER_01: Let me see if I can translate it.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: Yeah.
24:57
SPEAKER_01: So TBD, I can't really tell if it is at elevation or not.
25:07
It's tough for me to tell,
25:08
but I'm pretty confident it's a different race from last year's race.
25:12
SPEAKER_02: Um,
25:13
SPEAKER_02: So with that being said,
25:15
SPEAKER_02: I will read last year's China's results,
25:18
SPEAKER_02: though,
25:18
SPEAKER_02: in the top 10 before I talk about some picks.
25:22
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to talk about the female side of the race first.
25:26
SPEAKER_02: So last year in the China race, the first place female was Joyce Najeru.
25:30
SPEAKER_02: Second place, Maude Mathis.
25:31
SPEAKER_02: Third place, Grayson Murphy.
25:33
SPEAKER_02: Fourth place, Nayara Irogen.
25:35
SPEAKER_02: Fifth place, Malin Osa.
25:37
SPEAKER_02: Sixth.
25:40
On the female side this week,
25:49
we have a lot of the same cast of characters as last week.
25:51
SPEAKER_02: So coming off of last week's results,
25:53
SPEAKER_02: I'm also going to read last week's race,
25:55
SPEAKER_02: actually,
25:55
SPEAKER_02: the Kobe Trail.
25:56
SPEAKER_02: So Sarah Alonzo got the win.
25:57
SPEAKER_02: Second place was Madalena Floria.
25:59
SPEAKER_02: Third place was Malin Osa.
26:01
SPEAKER_02: Fourth place, Takako Takamari.
26:03
SPEAKER_02: Fifth, Sarah Willahoyt.
26:05
SPEAKER_02: Sixth, Joyce Najeru.
26:07
SPEAKER_02: Seventh,
26:08
SPEAKER_02: Onoka Akiyama.
26:10
SPEAKER_02: Eighth, Yoshimi Tanaka.
26:12
SPEAKER_02: Ninth, Betty Bergstrand.
26:13
SPEAKER_02: And tenth, Courtney Carpenter.
26:17
SPEAKER_02: So basically,
26:18
more or less the same cast of characters from last week's race
26:22
for this week's China.
26:24
SPEAKER_02: But we have some new ones being added in as well.
26:26
I think the most notable additions to the race,
26:28
I got kind of three in mind,
26:32
is going to be
26:34
is going to be joylene chip and jano uh joylene chip and jano
26:37
meow meow and uh
26:39
there's gonna be one that one that i don't think anyone's
26:42
really gonna be familiar
26:42
with but i'll talk about her in a little bit and talk about why
26:45
and that's gonna be
26:45
caroline kim kamutai she's gonna be at the bottom list because
26:49
she doesn't have an
26:50
intro index but she's a kenyan runner and i think that's gonna
26:55
be a theme that
26:56
SPEAKER_02: we're gonna see um
26:59
I think that if you don't have at least two Kenyans in your top
27:01
five on each side,
27:02
SPEAKER_02: but probably three,
27:03
SPEAKER_02: then you probably are leaving some points on the table.
27:06
SPEAKER_02: So with that being said,
27:08
SPEAKER_02: yeah,
27:08
the three big additions I want to look out for on the women's
27:10
side this week,
27:11
SPEAKER_02: Mao Yao.
27:12
SPEAKER_02: And Mao Yao is no stranger to the Golden Trail series.
27:16
SPEAKER_02: She races a lot of these events.
27:17
She started off her season four Golden Trail at the Chinese
27:22
race last year.
27:23
SPEAKER_02: She's a winner of OCC and is also...
27:29
SPEAKER_02: One second, let me pull up her results.
27:31
SPEAKER_02: So she's won OCC,
27:32
SPEAKER_02: and then she's also gotten,
27:35
SPEAKER_02: let's see,
27:35
SPEAKER_02: she had top fives at,
27:40
SPEAKER_02: she went 10th at Mammoth last year.
27:42
SPEAKER_02: She was 11th at the final last year.
27:45
SPEAKER_02: At Headlands, she went sixth place.
27:47
SPEAKER_02: OCC, she was the winner last year.
27:49
SPEAKER_02: Marathon de Mont Blanc, she got third place.
27:52
SPEAKER_02: And then Four Sisters, she was sixth place.
27:54
SPEAKER_02: So very speedy, very speedy Chinese runner.
27:59
SPEAKER_02: She has multiple top fives in Golden Trail events.
28:03
SPEAKER_02: Going back to the previous year, 23, she got fourth at Ceres and All.
28:06
SPEAKER_02: And second at Marathon de Mont Blanc.
28:10
SPEAKER_02: And really does get at these kind of fast, runnable races.
28:13
SPEAKER_02: And like I said, with the Chinese race last year, she got sixth place.
28:16
SPEAKER_02: I don't think it was the same course, though.
28:18
But I think she is a pretty good lock for a top five spot
28:22
somewhere and will be
28:23
SPEAKER_02: somebody who almost certainly gets you points.
28:26
SPEAKER_02: She almost never DNFs.
28:27
SPEAKER_02: She's a really consistent racer and really kind of favors each,
28:31
SPEAKER_02: not shorter,
28:31
SPEAKER_02: faster,
28:32
SPEAKER_02: but less steep and a little bit speedier courses.
28:36
The other athlete that I talked about that I mentioned as
28:39
somebody to look out for
28:39
SPEAKER_02: that did not race last week is going to be Joylene Chepangeno.
28:43
SPEAKER_02: Kenyan athlete kind of blew up the scene last year,
28:46
SPEAKER_02: came on and won her first race,
28:48
SPEAKER_02: which just happened to be Sierra Zanal,
28:50
SPEAKER_02: a.k.a.
28:51
SPEAKER_02: the most competitive,
28:52
SPEAKER_02: probably sub-ultra race,
28:54
SPEAKER_02: probably one of the most competitive sub-ultra races in the world,
28:56
especially given how many elite marathon runners come over and
28:59
run it and kind of
29:00
SPEAKER_02: cross over.
29:01
SPEAKER_02: And so, yeah, she won.
29:04
SPEAKER_02: Sarah was in all pretty handily last year,
29:05
and their whole other race last year was at the Golden Trail
29:08
World Series final,
29:09
SPEAKER_02: which she also won.
29:10
SPEAKER_02: But to be fair,
29:11
she didn't race the prologue the day before like the majority
29:13
of the other athletes.
29:15
SPEAKER_02: She did take place in the Polish race,
29:17
SPEAKER_02: the Tatra Sky Marathon that was canceled due to weather,
29:21
SPEAKER_02: to a thunderstorm that came over it.
29:22
SPEAKER_02: But,
29:23
SPEAKER_02: um,
29:23
SPEAKER_02: I think she wanted to race the rest of the series,
29:25
SPEAKER_02: but I think she had visa issues getting into the States,
29:28
SPEAKER_02: if I'm not mistaken.
29:29
SPEAKER_02: Um,
29:29
and so therefore she couldn't hit the minimum three race
29:32
requirement in order to
29:33
SPEAKER_02: have enough points for the final.
29:36
Um,
29:36
I imagine she's hoping to change that this year and be able to
29:39
race enough.
29:39
SPEAKER_02: So that's not a factor.
29:42
SPEAKER_02: So that's, uh, Joylene, Chip, and Jano.
29:45
SPEAKER_02: And then, um,
29:49
SPEAKER_02: The third name I want to look out for,
29:52
SPEAKER_02: or I want you guys to look out for,
29:53
SPEAKER_02: is going to be Caroline Kamutai.
29:56
SPEAKER_02: She, I believe, is on the Milmani team, if I'm not mistaken.
30:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm pretty sure she's on the Milmani team.
30:02
She's going to be way down at the bottom of your list because
30:04
she doesn't have an intra-endex.
30:05
But the only thing I could find on her was that she did race
30:08
the Eaton Trail Race
30:09
SPEAKER_02: just about a month ago,
30:11
SPEAKER_02: which seemed to be kind of like...
30:13
SPEAKER_02: They're really trying to promote trail running within Kenya,
30:15
SPEAKER_02: make it more lucrative,
30:17
SPEAKER_02: and also get more of these really,
30:18
SPEAKER_02: really good Kenya athletes to trail races,
30:20
SPEAKER_02: which is awesome.
30:21
SPEAKER_02: She did race the E10 trail race.
30:23
SPEAKER_02: She raced against somebody named Joylene Chippenjano,
30:25
and she won the race over Joylene by about a minute 30 in a
30:30
two-hour race.
30:31
SPEAKER_02: So I think she's going to be somebody who's going to be really dangerous.
30:33
I think she has the chance to win this race and kind of be a
30:36
breakout name this year.
30:37
SPEAKER_02: And I think it's pretty likely she also goes in the top five overall.
30:42
SPEAKER_02: when it comes to the race.
30:43
SPEAKER_02: So,
30:45
SPEAKER_02: um,
30:45
SPEAKER_02: that's once again,
30:46
SPEAKER_02: Caroline Camutai,
30:48
SPEAKER_02: um,
30:48
SPEAKER_02: some notes on some of the other athletes that are racing this week.
30:51
SPEAKER_02: Uh, we have, let's see.
30:54
SPEAKER_02: So Joyce Najeru,
30:55
SPEAKER_02: uh,
30:55
I think she would have won last week if she didn't go off
30:57
course after the second lap.
30:59
SPEAKER_02: Um,
30:59
SPEAKER_02: but she still ended up in sixth,
31:01
SPEAKER_02: even after like a 10 minute detour where she went off course.
31:04
SPEAKER_02: Uh, she got fourth at this race last year.
31:06
SPEAKER_02: And then, uh,
31:10
SPEAKER_02: She won the Golden Trail World Series China last year.
31:17
SPEAKER_02: She won Headlands at Mammoth.
31:18
SPEAKER_02: She also won the Valsir World Cup last year.
31:22
SPEAKER_02: She was first in the prologue and third in the final.
31:24
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I think Joyce has a good chance of bouncing back and winning this.
31:28
SPEAKER_02: She did something similar last year from Kobe to China,
31:31
SPEAKER_02: and I wouldn't be surprised if she does that again this year.
31:33
SPEAKER_02: So I think she's a strong lock for your top three.
31:38
SPEAKER_02: Other athletes to look out for, Ying Li is up there.
31:41
SPEAKER_02: She's got really good results, but they're mostly ultras.
31:43
Nothing that leads me to believe that she would be fast enough
31:47
to go top five at a
31:50
SPEAKER_02: Golden Trail event.
31:52
SPEAKER_02: Other big names, Sarah Alonzo.
31:54
So I want to point out that was a really huge win for her last
31:57
week at Kobe.
31:57
She hasn't won a Golden Trail event since her big win at
32:00
Marathon de Mont Blanc in 2022.
32:03
She's had awesome results,
32:04
pretty much always going anywhere between third and seventh.
32:07
But hopefully that gets some kind of wind under her sail and
32:10
gets some momentums.
32:11
SPEAKER_02: It's pretty cool to see Sarah Alonzo winning.
32:14
SPEAKER_02: She's always so close and has really, really good results.
32:17
SPEAKER_02: You know,
32:17
SPEAKER_02: fifth at Golden Trail World Series final,
32:19
SPEAKER_02: sixth at the Prologue,
32:20
SPEAKER_02: fourth at OCC,
32:21
SPEAKER_02: third at the Gama.
32:22
but she hasn't been able to break through and just get that
32:24
last little bit to get the win.
32:26
SPEAKER_02: I mean, these wins aren't very easy to get at all.
32:29
SPEAKER_02: So kudos to her.
32:31
SPEAKER_02: Madalena Floria got second last week.
32:33
SPEAKER_02: I think I had her picked for third.
32:35
SPEAKER_02: Not surprised at all.
32:36
SPEAKER_02: I think she'll keep going top five.
32:37
SPEAKER_02: I think that she's pretty much a lock for the top five in this race.
32:41
SPEAKER_02: And where you put her in the top five is up to you.
32:43
Malin Oso,
32:44
a really good result last week with her fourth place last week.
32:50
SPEAKER_02: No, she got third place last week.
32:52
SPEAKER_02: So,
32:52
SPEAKER_02: yeah,
32:53
SPEAKER_02: once again,
32:53
I think she also would be a pretty strong lock for somewhere
32:56
between the three to
32:57
six range and would be excited to see if she can start jumping
33:01
even a little bit higher.
33:02
SPEAKER_02: Yeah,
33:04
SPEAKER_02: I mean,
33:04
SPEAKER_02: with the altitude,
33:05
SPEAKER_02: if this race is at altitude,
33:06
SPEAKER_02: yeah,
33:08
SPEAKER_02: last year Malin did a little bit better than Sarah at altitude,
33:11
SPEAKER_02: but I don't know that's always the case.
33:13
SPEAKER_02: I think Sarah has done better than Malin at, like, Pikes Peak Ascent.
33:16
SPEAKER_02: So, yeah.
33:17
um valen's also a strong pick um some new names i wasn't
33:20
familiar with marie
33:22
nevette she's a french athlete she got ninth at euro champs
33:25
uphill race last year
33:26
and 16th at the world uh mountain trail race in thailand in
33:31
2022 and then some of
33:33
the chinese athletes to talk about uh winley xiang she's a
33:37
catalyst athlete she's
33:38
already raced six ultras this year and 10 total races in only
33:42
less than four months
33:43
SPEAKER_02: which is crazy
33:44
uh lingji chi i think if somebody went uh she might be a little
33:50
bit of sleeper she
33:50
got fifth at hong kong 100k second in a speedy trail 23k just
33:54
behind meow yeah she
33:55
SPEAKER_02: might be someone to look out for and then
33:59
SPEAKER_02: Other ones,
34:01
SPEAKER_02: Zhenyang Tang,
34:03
SPEAKER_02: she's got a lot of good results in ultras,
34:05
but nothing in the sub-ultra stuff that will lead me to believe
34:08
she'll go top five
34:09
SPEAKER_02: in this race.
34:11
SPEAKER_02: And then other ones to look out for, Takako Takamari, she got...
34:14
fourth place last week i wouldn't be surprised if she goes
34:17
somewhere in that four
34:18
through eight category could be a good pick for some points and
34:21
then rachel
34:21
tomachick who is a u.s athlete was a maryl athlete not sure if
34:25
she still is um but
34:27
has some good results uh usually in like that eight through
34:30
twelve category on some
34:31
uh some of these golden trail events and i don't know if she's
34:35
raced this year yet
34:36
SPEAKER_01: let me double check loading
34:46
SPEAKER_01: Let's see.
34:50
No,
34:50
Rachel has not raced since Mammoth and Headlands last year
34:53
where she went 11th and 10th.
34:56
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, so she can be right on the edge of that top 10 position.
35:00
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
35:03
SPEAKER_02: With that being said,
35:04
SPEAKER_02: on my female side,
35:06
I think if you're picking and you don't have at least two
35:08
Kenyan women in top five,
35:09
SPEAKER_02: you're probably doing something wrong.
35:10
SPEAKER_02: But I would say even on both sides of this race,
35:12
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to go with three Kenyan people in the top five.
35:15
SPEAKER_02: And I don't think that's too far-fetched.
35:16
SPEAKER_02: And two of them are going to be people you've never heard of.
35:20
First place,
35:20
I've got Joylene,
35:21
Chip,
35:21
and Jano,
35:21
but I might swap her for Joyce,
35:23
quite frankly.
35:23
SPEAKER_02: I think Joyce and Joylene will probably go one and two in some order.
35:27
SPEAKER_02: Joyce has not beat Joylene yet, so that leads me hesitant to pick her.
35:32
But I think that Joyce will bounce back after probably what she
35:35
views as a
35:35
disappointing Kobe race that she probably would have won if she
35:38
did not go,
35:39
SPEAKER_02: of course.
35:39
SPEAKER_02: So I think Joyce and Joylene will be one, two.
35:42
I've got Madalena Floria in third place with another good
35:46
consistent finish.
35:47
SPEAKER_02: I don't think altitude affects her too much, but I could be wrong.
35:51
I don't remember if she raced the China race last year because
35:54
she wasn't in the top 10.
35:55
SPEAKER_02: So maybe it does affect her.
35:57
SPEAKER_02: Fourth place,
35:57
SPEAKER_02: I've got Caroline Kamutai,
36:00
the Kenyan runner who I believe is Milmani runner that I talked
36:03
about last week.
36:04
SPEAKER_02: If she's,
36:06
I also think she might even have the possibility to win this
36:08
race if she's already
36:08
SPEAKER_02: beat joining at a race just a month ago.
36:11
SPEAKER_02: She's obviously in very, very good shape.
36:13
SPEAKER_02: So fifth place, I've got Meow Yao.
36:16
SPEAKER_02: And then with that being said,
36:17
I think that Sarah Alonzo would be a strong pick for the top
36:21
five and I might
36:22
SPEAKER_02: consider subbing her in for somebody.
36:25
SPEAKER_02: And I also think that Malin Osa has kind of got that consistent level of
36:30
SPEAKER_02: performance that she doesn't miss a lot.
36:32
So I would happily sub in either Malin or Sarah Alonso in that
36:36
top five somewhere
36:37
SPEAKER_02: and potentially maybe take out Madalena Floria.
36:41
SPEAKER_02: I got to look at her results at altitude.
36:42
SPEAKER_02: I'm not sure if she struggled at races in altitude in the past.
36:46
SPEAKER_02: Yeah.
36:49
SPEAKER_02: So that'll be interesting to see.
36:50
The Kenyan athletes don't really have,
36:52
well,
36:52
I say they don't have issues with altitude.
36:54
It seems like the Le Mans had some issues with altitude and it
36:56
hasn't done great at
36:57
SPEAKER_02: the Golden Trail series with altitude.
36:59
SPEAKER_02: But with that being said,
37:00
all of them live like in that Eaton Valley is between 6,000 and
37:02
8,000 feet.
37:03
SPEAKER_02: So they don't really seem to have a ton of issues at altitude.
37:07
So looking back over to Maddalena Floria,
37:11
she did second at Mammoth Trail Fest last year.
37:13
SPEAKER_02: Let me see if I can find any other races that are kind of at elevation.
37:18
SPEAKER_01: Second at Mammoth Trailfest.
37:20
SPEAKER_01: Third at Mammoth Trailfest the year before.
37:21
And then...
37:23
Yeah,
37:27
I don't think she ever raced,
37:28
like,
37:28
Pikes Peak Accent or anything.
37:29
SPEAKER_02: So, um... Doesn't really seem like Mattelina Floria has altitude issues.
37:33
SPEAKER_02: So...
37:34
SPEAKER_02: All right,
37:34
SPEAKER_02: on the men's side,
37:36
SPEAKER_02: the men's side of the race,
37:37
SPEAKER_02: all of the same cast of characters as last week.
37:40
SPEAKER_02: But then on the addition side of things, some new faces to this week.
37:45
SPEAKER_02: Bangling Fan, he went top 10 of this race last year.
37:48
SPEAKER_02: He's a Chinese guy.
37:50
SPEAKER_02: He is a Solomon athlete.
37:52
And he is actually one of the few Chinese guys or gals that
37:56
I've seen that really
37:56
SPEAKER_02: specializes in sub-ultra.
37:58
SPEAKER_02: None of his events were long on 50K.
38:01
He's really consistent in races in China that are sub-ultra or
38:05
right around that
38:06
SPEAKER_02: trail marathon distance.
38:09
SPEAKER_02: So I think he'll be somebody to really look out for,
38:11
SPEAKER_02: and I will be curious to see how he fares in this race.
38:17
SPEAKER_01: And then some other new names to look out for this week.
38:28
SPEAKER_02: I've got...
38:30
Another Chinese athlete,
38:31
Yu Shang Guan,
38:33
he's already won the Chengdu 60k this year.
38:35
SPEAKER_02: At the end of March,
38:36
SPEAKER_02: he got third at Translanta 50k last November,
38:38
SPEAKER_02: and he got fourth at OCC in 2023.
38:40
SPEAKER_02: He could be somebody who is one to look out for.
38:45
SPEAKER_02: Seems to do good in these shorter distance ultra events,
38:48
SPEAKER_02: so it might not be too bad at these sub-ultra ones as well.
38:52
um another new name two big guys i want you to look out for are
38:55
going to be timothy
38:56
SPEAKER_02: cabette and ezekiel ruto uh timothy cabette uh so the theme of this is is
39:02
definitely watch out anytime there's canyons on the start line
39:04
you got to kind of
39:05
look into them and um just because they don't have a lot of
39:08
race results doesn't
39:09
mean that they're not they're probably going to be really good
39:11
runners and they're
39:12
probably sneaky sneaky fast and depending on the type of course
39:15
if it's a course
39:15
SPEAKER_02: like
39:16
zagama or maybe like dolomis or something that's more technical
39:21
and maybe less pure
39:23
running efficiency or running speed um then i would be hesitant
39:26
to pick them um
39:28
although there's one or two like robert kamoy typically does
39:31
pretty good at zagama
39:33
um but if it's a race kind of like this which really seems to
39:36
be based off fitness
39:38
SPEAKER_02: less technicality and also not as much
39:41
um vertical though in this case we said it's only got 1500
39:45
meters um then i think
39:47
that's kind of the types of races where the really good running
39:50
efficiency really
39:50
good leg speed that these canyons typically have fares really
39:54
well so with that
39:55
SPEAKER_02: being said timothy kibet um i tried to do some research on him and
40:00
SPEAKER_02: Uh,
40:01
SPEAKER_02: I did find that Timothy Cabette on world athletics,
40:03
SPEAKER_02: but it's only got one T at the end of his name versus the race.
40:07
SPEAKER_02: This race says the Timothy Cabette has two T's,
40:10
SPEAKER_02: but if it is the same Timothy Cabette,
40:11
SPEAKER_02: which I can't be for sure that it is,
40:14
SPEAKER_02: um,
40:14
SPEAKER_02: he possibly could have run a 28 Oh six and the 10 K and 23.
40:19
SPEAKER_02: In 2023,
40:19
he could have run a 1329 in the 5K in 2022 and a 102.43 half
40:25
marathon in 2023,
40:26
which for those of you that aren't in the road scene or don't
40:29
know what that means,
40:30
that basically just means he's really freaking fast if it is
40:32
the same contemacy.
40:34
um but this timothy for sure did win the mount uh longer not
40:39
trail challenge in
40:39
kenya which is on the wmra website uh so i think it was a
40:43
kenyan uh national
40:44
running event of some sort he won it by over two minutes and
40:47
beat some top five
40:48
runners from sears and all in the past couple years um and he
40:51
also was fifth at the
40:52
e10 trail run which i'll mention uh which i already mentioned a
40:57
little bit earlier
40:57
SPEAKER_02: with the caroline kamutai
40:59
SPEAKER_02: Ezekiel Ruto, I have seen his name before.
41:02
Most notably,
41:02
he went 10th at Sierra Zanon last year and was third at UTMB
41:06
Nice to John Alvin.
41:09
SPEAKER_02: And then he also got fifth at Marathon de Mont Blanc last year as well.
41:16
SPEAKER_02: And then he won Trail of RBA by UTMB, the sub ultra one as well.
41:22
SPEAKER_01: Let me see if there's any.
41:25
SPEAKER_01: He raced there.
41:29
SPEAKER_01: Yeah, I don't really recognize those names quite as well.
41:32
SPEAKER_02: So yeah, so Ezekiel Rudeau, another person to look out for.
41:37
SPEAKER_02: Like I said,
41:37
the Canadians a lot of times do really good on like a series
41:39
and all our marathon
41:40
SPEAKER_02: to Mont Blanc.
41:43
SPEAKER_02: So that's Ezekiel Rudeau.
41:45
SPEAKER_02: And then the last one,
41:48
SPEAKER_02: That's on the list.
41:49
SPEAKER_02: He's at the bottom.
41:50
SPEAKER_02: So he's one of those ones that doesn't have an intro index yet.
41:52
SPEAKER_02: It's Samwell Kiprojic.
41:54
SPEAKER_02: I've never seen his name,
41:55
SPEAKER_02: but after some searching,
41:56
SPEAKER_02: he got ninth of the E10 trail run that they just took place this year.
42:00
SPEAKER_02: So it might be somebody to look out for as well.
42:03
SPEAKER_02: Also on the Milmani trail runners.
42:05
SPEAKER_02: Other new names that are introduced this week that we haven't seen yet.
42:09
SPEAKER_02: We've got Kuo Hau.
42:14
SPEAKER_02: Zhang.
42:15
SPEAKER_02: So H-U-O-H-U-A.
42:17
SPEAKER_02: Oh, wow.
42:19
SPEAKER_02: He got ninth at OCC last year.
42:20
He's done lots of ultras and does well in marathon distance
42:23
slash lower in Chinese
42:23
SPEAKER_02: trail races and could be somebody to look out for.
42:27
SPEAKER_02: Seems like he has decent leg speed.
42:30
And then the other one to look out for is going to be Italian
42:33
athlete Cesare Maestri.
42:36
SPEAKER_02: He races a lot of these sub-ultra events.
42:38
SPEAKER_02: He's got very good leg speed.
42:39
SPEAKER_02: He's an Italian runner for
42:41
nike if he's still with nike um he got 14th and 15th at the
42:45
finals and prologue
42:46
last year and then he had two eighth place finishes at mammoth
42:51
and headlands so
42:52
he's really good at these like flatter faster runnable types i
42:55
could very strongly
42:55
SPEAKER_02: see him in the top 10 uh maybe even as high as like five or six um and
43:03
SPEAKER_02: Then other people.
43:05
SPEAKER_02: So coming off good performances last week,
43:08
SPEAKER_02: Bogdan Damian got third place just behind Philemon Cariago.
43:12
SPEAKER_02: So I think coming off his confidence,
43:13
SPEAKER_02: I think he could be a very strong pick for the top five as well.
43:16
SPEAKER_02: And then Ryunosuke Ome got fifth last week.
43:19
SPEAKER_02: Japanese guy, Solomon Athlete.
43:21
um curious to see where he goes and then marco fallozzi he got
43:26
six at mammoth last
43:27
year and 16th at headlands um this will be his first golden
43:30
trail series race of
43:32
the year he is an italian guy um and this is uh he's getting
43:37
introduced in the mix
43:37
as well too so um if i had to pick a theme for this race i
43:42
think that i really
43:43
SPEAKER_02: think that uh
43:45
you probably should pick three Kenyans on the top five of both
43:50
the men and the females.
43:51
I think two of them will be people that people would probably
43:54
already pick either way,
43:55
SPEAKER_02: Patrick and Philemon.
43:57
SPEAKER_02: And then on the female side, Jolene and Joyce.
43:59
But I think that a third one would be wise to pick on both
44:02
sides either way.
44:04
SPEAKER_02: And so for the men's picks,
44:05
SPEAKER_02: with that being said,
44:06
SPEAKER_02: in my top five,
44:07
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to go Patrick for a repeat win.
44:08
I think he does really good at elevation and really good at
44:11
these types of courses.
44:12
SPEAKER_02: I'm going to go Philemon for second place.
44:14
SPEAKER_02: So back-to-back weeks with Patrick in one, Phil Mon in two.
44:18
SPEAKER_02: And then I'm going to go Joey Hadorn in third place,
44:22
SPEAKER_02: Timothy Kabet in fourth place,
44:23
SPEAKER_02: and Daniel Pattis in fifth.
44:25
I'm liable to potentially swap out Joey and potentially put
44:33
somebody like Damian
44:35
SPEAKER_02: Bogdan or Cesare Maestri in the top five.
44:42
SPEAKER_02: And yeah, that's kind of where I'm at.
44:44
SPEAKER_02: I think Patrick has a really good chance to win this.
44:45
I think this is probably his year to win the Golden Trail World
44:48
Series slash I kind
44:49
SPEAKER_02: of hope it is.
44:49
But I also kind of hope that Philomon starts getting a breakout
44:52
and gets a win
44:53
SPEAKER_02: because he really,
44:54
he was so close to winning so many times last year and just
44:56
couldn't quite get it.
44:57
SPEAKER_02: And I feel like once you get that first win,
44:59
then it kind of cascades and it just kind of flips a switch in
45:02
that mentality.
45:03
SPEAKER_02: But yeah, I think that other men that could go top five, I think...
45:11
SPEAKER_02: Yeah, I'm trying to think.
45:13
SPEAKER_02: Maybe Marco Falozzi.
45:17
SPEAKER_02: And then Cesare Maestri.
45:19
SPEAKER_02: And then... Here, let me look at last year's results.
45:24
SPEAKER_02: So last year, top 10 men was Patrick Elozine.
45:28
SPEAKER_02: First place, Patrick.
45:28
SPEAKER_02: Second place, Elozine.
45:30
SPEAKER_02: Third place, Daniel Padas.
45:31
SPEAKER_02: Fourth place, Philemon.
45:32
SPEAKER_02: Fifth place, Joey Hadorn.
45:33
SPEAKER_02: Sixth place, Alon Santamaria Blanco.
45:36
SPEAKER_02: Seventh place, Guao Zhang.
45:38
SPEAKER_02: So he might have a good chance at the top five.
45:40
SPEAKER_02: Eighth, Adil Masawi.
45:42
SPEAKER_02: Ninth, Alex Garcia Carrillo.
45:44
SPEAKER_02: And tenth, Fan Bangling.
45:46
SPEAKER_02: So...
45:48
um yeah i also think there probably will be at least one if not
45:51
two chinese males
45:52
in the top ten um which ones those will be my best guess would
45:56
be bangling fan and
45:58
blow wow jang um but it could be a number of these other guys
46:03
as well so um
46:07
That's my picks for the top five on both the men's and the
46:11
women's of the Golden Trail Series.
46:12
SPEAKER_02: I'm excited that there's more competition than there was last week.
46:16
SPEAKER_02: I hope to keep seeing an increase in competition in these races.
46:20
SPEAKER_02: Part of what makes the Golden Trail Series so fun is that
46:22
It's so competitive that it's probably some of the hardest
46:26
events to pick for on
46:27
SPEAKER_02: the fantasy free trail circuit.
46:30
SPEAKER_02: So it's some of the most exciting to talk about as well.
46:32
SPEAKER_02: So I'm glad that it has more of that excitement than it did last week,
46:35
SPEAKER_02: in my personal opinion,
46:37
SPEAKER_02: with regards to the density of competition.
46:39
SPEAKER_02: So that about wraps it up for today's episode.
46:43
We talked about Madeira Island Ultra Trail 115K and also the
46:47
Great Wall Golden
46:48
SPEAKER_02: Trail World Series,
46:49
SPEAKER_02: the second event in the Golden Trail World Series this year.
46:52
um next i'm going to talk about canons 50k and 100k recaps
46:56
hopefully in the same
46:58
day get this out in time to help you guys make your fantasy
47:00
free tropics uh canons
47:01
100k is going to be a golden ticket race meaning that the top
47:04
two are going to get
47:05
uh entries into western states uh in the 100k and then the 50k
47:09
is just looking
47:09
SPEAKER_02: really like a dense barn burner of a race so that's super exciting to see
47:15
SPEAKER_02: And with that being said,
47:16
SPEAKER_02: like,
47:17
SPEAKER_02: comment,
47:17
SPEAKER_02: subscribe,
47:19
SPEAKER_02: leave comments with your picks or opinions,
47:22
SPEAKER_02: anyone that I'm missing or need to look out for,
47:24
SPEAKER_02: or anything you agree or disagree with,
47:26
SPEAKER_02: feel free to let me know.
47:28
Thank you for listening as always,
47:30
and thank you for supporting,
47:31
and I'll see you here soon.