Latest / Let's Talk Trail Running / 2025 Transvulcania Race Preview and Fantasy Picks

Transcript

2025 Transvulcania Race Preview and Fantasy Picks · Let's Talk Trail Running

• 0:01
  SPEAKER_00: Hello and welcome back to Let's Talk Trailrunning.
• 0:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm your host, Robert Prosser.
• 0:06
  SPEAKER_00: Today we're going to talk about Transvolcania,
• 0:09
  SPEAKER_00: the ultramarathon that is about to go on this weekend.
• 0:12
  SPEAKER_00: It's about four days out.
• 0:15
  SPEAKER_00: And some quick disclaimers,
• 0:16
  if I pause at any point and say there's jets taking off in the background,
• 0:20
  it just means that there's some very loud planes that I don't
• 0:22
  want to try to talk over.
• 0:23
  So just feel free to fast forward like 20 or 30 seconds and
• 0:27
  I'll continue talking.
• 0:28
  SPEAKER_00: Anyways,
• 0:30
  SPEAKER_00: since the last time we checked in,
• 0:31
  SPEAKER_00: a lot has happened in the world of Fantasy Free Trail picks.
• 0:36
  I did two previews for four races the previous time we talked
• 0:40
  about 10 days ago or
• 0:41
  SPEAKER_00: a week ago and lots of exciting results.
• 0:44
  So Great Wall Trail and then both Cannons races and Madeira
• 0:48
  Island Ultra Trail.
• 0:50
  So before I jump into Transvaulconia,
• 0:51
  I just want to talk about some of that stuff.
• 0:53
  I want to talk about Great Wall Trail,
• 0:56
  possibly the best pick I've ever had on Free Trail.
• 0:59
  SPEAKER_00: I got second overall, which has happened multiple times.
• 1:02
  But I just want to brag for a quick second and point out that I
• 1:05
  went one through
• 1:06
  SPEAKER_00: four on the money with the men's.
• 1:09
  SPEAKER_00: with the men's picks.
• 1:12
  SPEAKER_00: So one through four, Patrick, Philemon, Joey, and Timothy Cabette.
• 1:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then I had Daniel Patterson fifth, and he went seventh.
• 1:19
  On the women's side,
• 1:20
  I got four point getters with Joylene,
• 1:23
  Caroline,
• 1:24
  Madalena,
• 1:25
  and Meow.
• 1:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then Joyce dropping was the only thing that kept me.
• 1:28
  SPEAKER_00: Somebody still got more points than me, Robin R., kudos to her.
• 1:31
  But yeah,
• 1:32
  it was a really hectic and busy weekend in the fantasy
• 1:36
  pre-trail world.
• 1:37
  SPEAKER_00: When I finished...
• 1:39
  SPEAKER_00: When the Golden Trail picks came out,
• 1:41
  SPEAKER_00: I was actually temporarily in the number one overall spot.
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: Right now,
• 1:44
  SPEAKER_00: I'm settled somewhere in the three spot,
• 1:46
  SPEAKER_00: I believe,
• 1:47
  SPEAKER_00: just in front of Travis Long car,
• 1:49
  SPEAKER_00: which is very exciting.
• 1:51
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, with that being said, I mean, great wall trail.
• 1:53
  SPEAKER_00: A couple of themes from these previous races.
• 1:55
  SPEAKER_00: Great wall trail.
• 1:56
  SPEAKER_00: The Kenyans came out to play.
• 1:58
  SPEAKER_00: And I know it sounds like the picks weren't that exciting on my behalf.
• 2:00
  SPEAKER_00: But Philemon was supposed to be hurt.
• 2:03
  SPEAKER_00: And it looked like he was dropping back for a lot of the race.
• 2:06
  SPEAKER_00: And he kind of came roaring back in the half.
• 2:08
  SPEAKER_00: Patrick did not lead the whole race.
• 2:09
  SPEAKER_00: He was sitting in third or fourth, a lot of the race.
• 2:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then he kind of moved up.
• 2:12
  SPEAKER_00: Basically what happened was the Kenyan men came out like, uh,
• 2:17
  timothy kibet and ezekiel rudo came out super hard and were one
• 2:20
  two for a lot of it
• 2:21
  and timothy was actually leading for a lot of it by a good
• 2:23
  margin and then um
• 2:25
  samuel kiprotich was also up there and then basically in the
• 2:28
  second hour um these
• 2:30
  guys other guys that ended up doing really well ended up coming
• 2:33
  back a good bit uh
• 2:34
  including uh joey hadorn was always kind of up there in the mix
• 2:37
  but daniel pad is
• 2:38
  going up to seventh uh cesare maestri he got six so he's in
• 2:41
  really good shape i i'm
• 2:42
  SPEAKER_00: excited to see that and was talking about him on the last preview
• 2:45
  And then Joey Hadorn,
• 2:46
  I mean,
• 2:47
  he's up there with the Kenyans and that says a lot.
• 2:49
  SPEAKER_00: So Joey Hadorn's in really good shape.
• 2:51
  SPEAKER_00: Patrick still showed his dominance, came back on the climbs.
• 2:54
  Solomon is looking really good right now,
• 2:56
  only about 40 seconds behind Patrick.
• 2:59
  SPEAKER_00: And then, yeah, Joey and Timothy.
• 3:01
  Timothy kind of faded into fourth,
• 3:03
  whereas Joey kept kind of making moves.
• 3:05
  SPEAKER_00: And Joey, I want to say, was less than a minute back on Patrick.
• 3:07
  SPEAKER_00: So if you're within a minute of Patrick on any race,
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: I don't care what it is,
• 3:11
  SPEAKER_00: but especially two-hour race,
• 3:12
  SPEAKER_00: that's really amazing.
• 3:13
  on the female side of things was bummer see Joyce drop um and
• 3:16
  hopefully she's okay
• 3:17
  whatever happened there um but wasn't surprised at all to see
• 3:21
  Maddalena and the big
• 3:23
  thing I mentioned on our last podcast was I said I wouldn't be
• 3:25
  surprised if
• 3:26
  Caroline Kimotai won the race um but I just didn't really have
• 3:29
  the guts to choose
• 3:29
  SPEAKER_00: her um but surely enough I mean she looked
• 3:32
  SPEAKER_00: amazing,
• 3:33
  and I think she might be the breakout star this year on the
• 3:36
  Golden Trail series,
• 3:37
  SPEAKER_00: Caroline Kimetai.
• 3:38
  She just ran with really,
• 3:39
  really good confidence and poise and basically led from the gun.
• 3:43
  SPEAKER_00: Everyone else was kind of battling for second or third place.
• 3:45
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so that was kind of it on the Golden Trail side of things.
• 3:50
  With regards to Canyon 50K and 100K,
• 3:53
  Canyon's 50K,
• 3:54
  awesome to see Hannah Allgood take the dub.
• 3:57
  SPEAKER_00: The 50K, I was so stoked for that, and I'm not surprised at all.
• 4:00
  SPEAKER_00: She's super duper fast.
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 4:02
  SPEAKER_00: even though she tends to favor these mountain type races,
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 4:05
  SPEAKER_00: and then was surprised to see Eli not finishing the race.
• 4:09
  Um,
• 4:09
  and then yeah,
• 4:10
  Seth getting the win,
• 4:11
  not as a surprise there,
• 4:12
  but,
• 4:13
  um,
• 4:14
  SPEAKER_00: Also,
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: I mean,
• 4:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think I mentioned it in the podcast last time,
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: Matt Daniels,
• 4:18
  SPEAKER_00: I was 50-50 on,
• 4:20
  SPEAKER_00: if he was going to finish,
• 4:21
  SPEAKER_00: I figured he was going to be in the top three.
• 4:22
  SPEAKER_00: But I really didn't know if he was going to finish because of two things.
• 4:25
  SPEAKER_00: One, he mentioned being sick in the week leading up to it.
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: And two,
• 4:28
  SPEAKER_00: I had a fear that he was going to take it out really hard with Eli,
• 4:31
  SPEAKER_00: kind of like he did with Big Alta.
• 4:33
  SPEAKER_00: and then maybe fade back.
• 4:34
  SPEAKER_00: And so he was sick before, but he ended up racing really well.
• 4:38
  SPEAKER_00: He did fade, but he only faded to second place.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: So kudos to him.
• 4:41
  SPEAKER_00: He is very, very fast.
• 4:43
  SPEAKER_00: And we will be talking about him a little bit here on our,
• 4:47
  SPEAKER_00: or in a little bit here on the preview for,
• 4:52
  SPEAKER_00: uh, Trans-Valcania today.
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: So,
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 4:54
  SPEAKER_00: and then a hundred K side of things,
• 4:56
  SPEAKER_00: Francesco Pupi,
• 4:57
  SPEAKER_00: dominant performance,
• 4:58
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 4:59
  SPEAKER_00: winning by 20 plus minutes over Hans Troyer.
• 5:01
  SPEAKER_00: We had Hans and Hanes getting the golden tickets,
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 5:04
  SPEAKER_00: on the men's side,
• 5:05
  SPEAKER_00: as well as,
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: Ryan Montgomery,
• 5:06
  SPEAKER_00: cause Francesco Pupi declined us.
• 5:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then Jeff Mogaviro, uh, didn't need one.
• 5:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then on the women's side, um,
• 5:13
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, just seeing some really good results, some really good racing.
• 5:15
  SPEAKER_00: Really cool to see Emily Hallgood get a win.
• 5:17
  SPEAKER_00: Marion Hogan up there with her battling.
• 5:20
  SPEAKER_00: And then tickets going to Aaron Clark as well.
• 5:23
  And there's one other person that I'm missing who I cannot
• 5:27
  think of right now.
• 5:28
  SPEAKER_00: But yeah, I mean, it was just a good battle up front.
• 5:31
  SPEAKER_00: Henniger, that's who I was thinking of.
• 5:33
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm regretful I didn't pick her.
• 5:34
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah, Keely Henniger getting it done.
• 5:38
  SPEAKER_00: And then with some notable drops like Jasmine Louther in the 100K field.
• 5:44
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, with that being said, it was a really exciting weekend.
• 5:47
  SPEAKER_00: I was really stoked to see all the results come in.
• 5:50
  Canyons,
• 5:50
  I think,
• 5:51
  ended up being a pretty different race than what a lot of
• 5:53
  people prepared for.
• 5:56
  I know I was texting Hannah good luck on her 50k and she was
• 5:58
  saying that she was a
• 5:59
  little nervous that she hadn't done as much heat training but
• 6:01
  then when she saw the
• 6:02
  forecast that it looked really good and so I think a lot of
• 6:05
  people are coming in
• 6:06
  expecting it to be real hot and baking and I think the cold
• 6:09
  really threw a lot of
• 6:10
  people off their game when you're going into the sauna and
• 6:13
  getting used to a hot
• 6:14
  race and then basically your hands aren't working you're cold
• 6:17
  you're regulating
• 6:17
  body temperature it can really kind of change things a lot
• 6:20
  nutritionally and also
• 6:21
  SPEAKER_00: just mentally as well so I think that was kind of a curious
• 6:25
  um a curious pick so um and then with that being said cocodona
• 6:28
  250 that's the only
• 6:29
  race that i haven't done a preview for this year and i just
• 6:32
  kind of felt like uh
• 6:34
  basically that single track did an amazing job of previewing it
• 6:37
  and then there were
• 6:37
  some other previews as well and that there was really nothing
• 6:41
  that i could add that
• 6:41
  hadn't really already been said other than just my picks um so
• 6:45
  for what it's worth
• 6:45
  cocodona is about uh i think courtney's 70 miles into the race
• 6:49
  as i'm recording
• 6:50
  SPEAKER_00: this
• 6:51
  SPEAKER_00: So however many hours in.
• 6:53
  SPEAKER_00: For my picks,
• 6:54
  SPEAKER_00: I had Courtney DeWalter in first,
• 6:55
  SPEAKER_00: Georgia Porter in second,
• 6:57
  SPEAKER_00: Mika Thews in third,
• 6:58
  SPEAKER_00: Lindsey Dwyer in fourth,
• 6:59
  SPEAKER_00: and Rachel Entrican in fifth.
• 7:01
  SPEAKER_00: On the men's side,
• 7:02
  SPEAKER_00: I had Harry Subertus winning it,
• 7:03
  SPEAKER_00: Jack Scott in second,
• 7:04
  SPEAKER_00: Dan Green in third,
• 7:05
  SPEAKER_00: Jeff Garmeyer in fourth,
• 7:07
  SPEAKER_00: and Max Joliffe in fifth.
• 7:09
  consider putting ryan's hands up there and i'm wishy-washy
• 7:11
  about dan green in a 200
• 7:12
  mile race but we'll see how that goes um i think that's pretty
• 7:15
  standard with what a
• 7:16
  lot of people have so i just really didn't feel like i had much
• 7:18
  to add on the
• 7:19
  cocodona 250 and that it had already been really really well
• 7:22
  covered um and so i
• 7:24
  SPEAKER_00: didn't really feel
• 7:25
  SPEAKER_00: I didn't really feel quite as motivated to talk about it.
• 7:28
  SPEAKER_00: I like the race.
• 7:29
  SPEAKER_00: I'm following it.
• 7:30
  Maybe not so much on the YouTube livestream,
• 7:32
  just as much of the dot tracker.
• 7:34
  SPEAKER_00: I'm really excited that Courtney's running it.
• 7:36
  SPEAKER_00: But I just really didn't feel like I had much to add on Cocodona.
• 7:39
  So I decided to instead focus on working on a Substack post
• 7:44
  about my friends.
• 7:45
  SPEAKER_00: And then I'm working on some stuff for Mother's Day as well.
• 7:50
  Yeah,
• 7:50
  so Transvalcania,
• 7:53
  going back to today's topic,
• 7:55
  which is Transvalcania.
• 7:56
  So looking at the Iron 4,
• 7:58
  they do a really good job describing these races when they go
• 8:00
  to them.
• 8:01
  SPEAKER_00: And so Transvalcania, it's pretty well known.
• 8:03
  SPEAKER_00: There's been some really awesome racers racing it throughout the years.
• 8:06
  It's one of those classic mountain,
• 8:08
  excuse me,
• 8:09
  island races that kind of just
• 8:11
  It goes across the island and has a really cool climate being
• 8:14
  these volcanic islands.
• 8:15
  So you run from sea level and beautiful water to a huge peak
• 8:19
  and then back down and
• 8:19
  SPEAKER_00: kind of across the island.
• 8:21
  SPEAKER_00: And so the way I run far,
• 8:22
  SPEAKER_00: so they're saying it's a 72 kilometer race,
• 8:25
  SPEAKER_00: which is about 45 miles,
• 8:27
  SPEAKER_00: starts at the southern tip of La Palma Island,
• 8:29
  SPEAKER_00: which is one of the Canary Islands.
• 8:31
  SPEAKER_00: And it starts with the lighthouse of El Ferro de Cuen Caliente.
• 8:35
  SPEAKER_00: The race's finish line is set on the island's west side,
• 8:37
  SPEAKER_00: so it does traverse the island in the city of Los Llanos de Eridane.
• 8:43
  And racers use their strength as they get around 14,000 feet of gains,
• 8:47
  about 4,350 meters.
• 8:50
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 8:50
  this is just kind of a really classic course that has a really
• 8:52
  good mix of fast
• 8:53
  SPEAKER_00: people and mountainous people kind of meet head to head.
• 8:57
  SPEAKER_00: And it comes the first, second week in May.
• 9:00
  So it's kind of like a good early season tune-up to see where
• 9:02
  people's fitness is at.
• 9:03
  I like it because I think it's just historically a really
• 9:05
  competitive race where we
• 9:06
  see a lot of different guys kind of go to battle in the same
• 9:08
  way that we see
• 9:10
  SPEAKER_00: maybe like Lavarado or even things like Sears and all,
• 9:12
  SPEAKER_00: where you have like really good climbers and then really fast people.
• 9:15
  And I think this race is a little bit longer version of that
• 9:17
  kind of same thing
• 9:18
  SPEAKER_00: with an added element of heat as well.
• 9:20
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 9:21
  SPEAKER_00: so they say the course is beautiful and challenging,
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 9:24
  SPEAKER_00: nonstop climbs to a high point right around 50 K.
• 9:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then they do a thousand foot climb,
• 9:28
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 9:29
  SPEAKER_00: from the ocean to the finish.
• 9:31
  And then they need to manage the nearly 8,000 foot descent,
• 9:35
  which is crazy.
• 9:36
  SPEAKER_00: I mean, in the States, we have almost nothing like that.
• 9:38
  SPEAKER_00: I live in Colorado Springs.
• 9:39
  Um,
• 9:40
  and you know,
• 9:41
  Pikes Peak coming off of it,
• 9:42
  it's a 14,000 foot mountain.
• 9:43
  SPEAKER_00: It's like a 7,000 foot descent, but, uh, that is in.
• 9:49
  SPEAKER_00: half marathon,
• 9:50
  SPEAKER_00: if you go one way,
• 9:51
  SPEAKER_00: or if you go the backside,
• 9:53
  SPEAKER_00: it's really only a 4,500 foot descent and a shorter distance,
• 9:57
  but basically we don't have anything that's steep to come off
• 9:59
  of and continually descend.
• 10:00
  So this race has an 8,000 foot descent or 2,400 meter descent
• 10:04
  from the high point
• 10:05
  SPEAKER_00: and less than 11 miles.
• 10:06
  SPEAKER_00: So basically you're going
• 10:10
  700 plus feet per mile downhill after you've already done a ton
• 10:14
  of running and a ton of work.
• 10:15
  So it's just a matter of taking care of your quads,
• 10:18
  going fast,
• 10:19
  but not blowing yourself up.
• 10:21
  SPEAKER_00: It says the course is dominated by single track,
• 10:23
  SPEAKER_00: tackles challenging terrain,
• 10:25
  SPEAKER_00: including loose volcanic pumice and sharp lava rock.
• 10:29
  SPEAKER_00: So last year's race was really, really dense.
• 10:31
  SPEAKER_00: This is an event that's sponsored by Tarek.
• 10:33
  So we're bound to see a lot of Tarek's athletes in the same way
• 10:35
  that we see a lot
• 10:36
  SPEAKER_00: of North Face athletes at Trans Grand Canaria.
• 10:39
  That definitely heavily influences who's going to race here
• 10:42
  because a lot of these
• 10:42
  guys have bonuses incentivized in their contract structure for
• 10:47
  them to race,
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: you know,
• 10:48
  SPEAKER_00: events that...
• 10:50
  that their sponsor their primary sponsor puts on but then also
• 10:54
  it makes things
• 10:55
  easier logistically if the whole team's going out there and
• 10:57
  they have like a hotel
• 10:58
  or whatever they have accommodations um so we will see a lot of
• 11:02
  terex athletes um
• 11:03
  which we'll get into a little bit um but we will see a lot of
• 11:07
  terex athletes uh
• 11:08
  SPEAKER_00: racing it last year we saw course record go down on
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: the women's side,
• 11:12
  SPEAKER_00: Ruth Croft,
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 11:13
  SPEAKER_00: said it,
• 11:14
  and we're going to talk about that more later when we get to
• 11:16
  the women's preview.
• 11:17
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 11:17
  but she is in the race again this year and we wouldn't be
• 11:19
  surprised if she
• 11:20
  challenges her own course record based off how her fitness is
• 11:22
  looking so far this year.
• 11:24
  SPEAKER_00: And then,
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 11:25
  SPEAKER_00: on the men's side,
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 11:26
  SPEAKER_00: John Albin got the win narrowly over Dimitri Mityev and Tom Evans,
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 11:31
  SPEAKER_00: tying in second.
• 11:32
  And then,
• 11:33
  um,
• 11:35
  also still got like Jeshurun small up there in the lead,
• 11:38
  uh,
• 11:39
  SPEAKER_00: who else gesture on small, uh, Ben Stout from Idaho.
• 11:43
  SPEAKER_00: And I know Manoli, uh, and that four, five, six spot.
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 11:47
  SPEAKER_00: so,
• 11:48
  SPEAKER_00: and then from my understanding,
• 11:49
  SPEAKER_00: I was trying to look at it and it,
• 11:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm kind of getting some mixed vibes.
• 11:52
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 11:53
  SPEAKER_00: I've seen a time as fast as six 52 on the course on the men's side,
• 11:56
  SPEAKER_00: but I also,
• 11:57
  SPEAKER_00: I have seen something that said that,
• 11:59
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 12:00
  SPEAKER_00: that Dakota Jones has the course record at like around 7.02.
• 12:04
  SPEAKER_00: But either way,
• 12:05
  SPEAKER_00: if the men's athletes are running very low seven or high sixes,
• 12:08
  SPEAKER_00: that's going to be right around course record pace.
• 12:10
  SPEAKER_00: And that would be a really fast time for the men.
• 12:12
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas when Ruth Croft set the CR,
• 12:15
  SPEAKER_00: the course record last year,
• 12:17
  SPEAKER_00: she broke Eden Nielsen's time and she ran at 8.02.49.
• 12:21
  And Eden Nielsen's previous time was,
• 12:26
  let's see if they say it in this article,
• 12:30
  SPEAKER_01: Do, do, do.
• 12:34
  SPEAKER_01: And also, 85 ends.
• 12:43
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah, so Eden Nielsen's previous course record from 2017 was 8.04.16.
• 12:46
  So Ruth just went about a minute and a half,
• 12:49
  give or take,
• 12:49
  underneath that.
• 12:50
  SPEAKER_00: So she took about a minute and a half off the course record.
• 12:53
  SPEAKER_00: So fast men's times are going to be in the low eights.
• 12:55
  Fast men's times are going to be in the low sevens or high
• 12:58
  sixes is what we expect
• 12:59
  SPEAKER_00: to see for some course record.
• 13:02
  SPEAKER_00: With that being said,
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: not quite,
• 13:03
  SPEAKER_00: in my opinion,
• 13:04
  the same density of big names or heavy hitters of big names
• 13:07
  like we saw last year.
• 13:10
  last year you know having tom evans and john albin who are both
• 13:13
  world-class
• 13:14
  athletes at their respective distances and that's kind of them
• 13:17
  meeting in the
• 13:18
  middle we see tom do a little bit more of the longer ultra
• 13:20
  distance stuff but we
• 13:21
  know that he's extremely fast uh whereas we see john albin do a
• 13:25
  little bit of the
• 13:25
  shorter ultra distance stuff but kind of making his way up to
• 13:28
  ccc and i think utmb
• 13:29
  this year as well um so it's kind of just like that perfect
• 13:32
  little meeting ground
• 13:33
  SPEAKER_00: so
• 13:34
  SPEAKER_00: With that being said, that's talking about last year's race.
• 13:38
  SPEAKER_00: Looking at some of these names who are racing this year,
• 13:42
  SPEAKER_00: just kind of rolling down the list,
• 13:44
  SPEAKER_00: we've got guys like Andreas Ryder,
• 13:45
  SPEAKER_00: David Sinclair,
• 13:46
  SPEAKER_00: Dimitri Mitya coming back,
• 13:48
  SPEAKER_00: Peter Frano,
• 13:49
  SPEAKER_00: Andrew Sumon,
• 13:51
  SPEAKER_00: Imerich,
• 13:52
  SPEAKER_00: Dakota Jones,
• 13:55
  SPEAKER_00: Kevin Vermeule and Harry Jones,
• 13:57
  SPEAKER_00: Pablo Vio Gonzalez.
• 13:58
  SPEAKER_00: We've got Matt Daniels, the Boulder Boy.
• 13:59
  SPEAKER_00: We'll talk about him in a little bit.
• 14:01
  SPEAKER_00: and a good bit of Spanish runners as usual.
• 14:04
  SPEAKER_00: Whereas on the female side,
• 14:06
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like it's not quite as dense as it was last year,
• 14:08
  SPEAKER_00: but it still is a good lineup.
• 14:09
  And we still have a chance,
• 14:11
  in my opinion,
• 14:11
  for a course record to go down on both sides.
• 14:14
  SPEAKER_00: And we'll talk a little bit more about that.
• 14:15
  SPEAKER_00: But we have the course record holder on the female side.
• 14:17
  SPEAKER_00: And then on the men's side,
• 14:18
  I have a couple of names of mine that I think could really take
• 14:21
  this course record down,
• 14:22
  SPEAKER_00: but to be determined.
• 14:23
  SPEAKER_00: So women's side,
• 14:24
  SPEAKER_00: we have people like Ruth Croft and Blondine Lehirondel,
• 14:27
  SPEAKER_00: probably the two favorites of the race.
• 14:29
  SPEAKER_00: Ekaterina Metieva,
• 14:31
  SPEAKER_00: and then Azar Garcia,
• 14:33
  SPEAKER_00: Yuri Yoshizima,
• 14:34
  SPEAKER_00: and Eliza Desko,
• 14:35
  SPEAKER_00: and Anne-Louise Rousset,
• 14:37
  SPEAKER_00: and Martina Valamosoy.
• 14:40
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that... Let's see.
• 14:46
  SPEAKER_00: So I think that's a pretty good list of people.
• 14:50
  SPEAKER_00: And...
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 14:54
  SPEAKER_00: we'll talk a little bit more about it,
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: but I mean,
• 14:55
  SPEAKER_00: last year we had a former course record holder Eden Nielsen,
• 14:58
  SPEAKER_00: we had Ruth Croft,
• 15:00
  SPEAKER_00: we had Hannah Allgood up front,
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: we had E,
• 15:01
  SPEAKER_00: Katarina,
• 15:02
  SPEAKER_00: Matea Eva up front as well,
• 15:04
  SPEAKER_00: and then somebody else that I'm missing in that list,
• 15:08
  SPEAKER_00: but...
• 15:10
  SPEAKER_00: Here, let's see.
• 15:11
  SPEAKER_00: Top five women.
• 15:12
  SPEAKER_00: Last year, Ruth Croft course record.
• 15:13
  SPEAKER_00: Ina Nielsen second.
• 15:14
  SPEAKER_00: Sunmaya Buda in third.
• 15:16
  SPEAKER_00: Ekaterina Metaiva in fourth.
• 15:17
  SPEAKER_00: Hannah Allgood in fifth.
• 15:19
  SPEAKER_00: Marianne Hogan as well.
• 15:20
  SPEAKER_00: And Katarina Hartmuth.
• 15:22
  SPEAKER_00: And then Azara Garcia and Keely Henniger.
• 15:23
  So honestly,
• 15:25
  that is a little bit of a heavier head lineup than this year.
• 15:27
  SPEAKER_00: But we'll talk about some more race dynamics that might play out.
• 15:31
  SPEAKER_00: So on the men's side, I think I want to talk about the men's side.
• 15:34
  SPEAKER_00: I have a little bit more to talk about there.
• 15:36
  SPEAKER_00: And I just think it's a little bit deeper competitive-wise.
• 15:40
  SPEAKER_00: So some common themes I see here,
• 15:42
  SPEAKER_00: we see some guys that have some really big results,
• 15:44
  but we also see some guys that are a little bit inconsistent in
• 15:46
  the racing or kind
• 15:47
  SPEAKER_00: of have been,
• 15:48
  SPEAKER_00: um,
• 15:49
  SPEAKER_00: having a little bit more DNFs,
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 15:50
  SPEAKER_00: of recently and who I'm talking about that comes to mind,
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 15:53
  SPEAKER_00: that could be really out there or could not finish at all.
• 15:56
  Uh,
• 15:56
  for me,
• 15:56
  kind of two names come to mind,
• 15:57
  Andreas Reiterer,
• 15:58
  uh,
• 15:59
  from Italy.
• 15:59
  SPEAKER_00: He's a La Sportiva guy and Dimitri Mitiev.
• 16:03
  SPEAKER_00: Um, and then.
• 16:07
  SPEAKER_00: that's kind of the big ones.
• 16:09
  SPEAKER_00: I thought Andrew Simone Imerich was kind of in that case.
• 16:12
  SPEAKER_00: He was in that case in 2022 and 2023,
• 16:14
  SPEAKER_00: but honestly his 2024,
• 16:15
  I didn't see any DNFs and he has had some really good results
• 16:20
  in the past year and
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: a half.
• 16:21
  SPEAKER_00: So hopefully he's got that figured out.
• 16:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then honestly kind of Dakota Jones can be in that category too.
• 16:26
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know what level,
• 16:27
  SPEAKER_00: what kind of Dakota we're getting,
• 16:28
  SPEAKER_00: but Dakota is a previous winner,
• 16:30
  SPEAKER_00: potentially a course record holder.
• 16:31
  He's won this event twice and he generally loves racing here
• 16:34
  and loves this Island.
• 16:35
  SPEAKER_00: So
• 16:36
  I would kind of even put him in that category of could
• 16:39
  potentially win the race or
• 16:40
  SPEAKER_00: could also just not finish.
• 16:42
  Which when we're talking about fantasy free trail,
• 16:44
  that's a really big consideration.
• 16:45
  A lot of times I'd rather pick a guy that I know is going to
• 16:48
  finish and finish in
• 16:49
  like that four through eight slot than pick somebody who I have
• 16:53
  hesitations about
• 16:54
  SPEAKER_00: them finishing.
• 16:56
  SPEAKER_00: So kind of going into that theme,
• 16:57
  SPEAKER_00: talking about those three guys,
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: Andreas Ryder,
• 16:59
  SPEAKER_00: he is the top guy so far as UTMB index goes into this race.
• 17:04
  But I kind of feel like that's skewed a little bit because he
• 17:06
  DNFs a lot of races,
• 17:07
  SPEAKER_00: and I don't think that plays into your UTMB index.
• 17:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so with that being said, Andreas, he has DNF recently at Chianti.
• 17:21
  SPEAKER_00: I translated his post using...
• 17:24
  SPEAKER_00: Using ChatGPT is what I'm looking for.
• 17:27
  SPEAKER_00: And so translated his post using ChatGPT.
• 17:30
  SPEAKER_00: He's posted in both German and Italy because he's Italian,
• 17:33
  SPEAKER_00: but he's in the German-speaking part of Italy,
• 17:35
  SPEAKER_00: I think T-Roll or whatever.
• 17:37
  SPEAKER_00: And he did race Chianti with the big dogs this year, but he DNFed.
• 17:41
  SPEAKER_00: And so that his body started kind of failing him around 90K.
• 17:45
  SPEAKER_00: And he pulled the plug about eight hours into that race around 90K.
• 17:50
  SPEAKER_00: looking at his results, he, uh, had a third at Transvalcania in 2023.
• 17:55
  SPEAKER_00: So he has experienced success at this race and has raced it well.
• 17:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then, uh, he does DNF a decent bit.
• 18:01
  SPEAKER_00: He did, uh, have pretty good results in 22 and 23.
• 18:04
  SPEAKER_00: Um, but he has DNF a lot last year.
• 18:06
  And I don't know what the reasoning is behind that is to kind
• 18:09
  of keep his UTMB index.
• 18:10
  SPEAKER_00: I, or if he just like,
• 18:12
  SPEAKER_00: if anything's not feeling right in a race and I'm not one to judge.
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 18:15
  SPEAKER_00: I think you got to do what's right for your body,
• 18:16
  SPEAKER_00: but this is just me from like a picking fantasy free trail,
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: um,
• 18:20
  SPEAKER_00: perspective.
• 18:21
  SPEAKER_00: I have nothing against people at DNF.
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 18:22
  SPEAKER_00: they definitely need to take care of their body and they're,
• 18:24
  SPEAKER_00: these are really awesome athletes.
• 18:25
  SPEAKER_00: So last year he DNF CCC, uh, he did win Iger trail last year.
• 18:31
  uh the 101k and then laboreto he got sixth at um he was up in
• 18:35
  the lead i think with
• 18:36
  tom and uh hannes for a bit but then had a bad patch uh that
• 18:42
  made him fall back
• 18:43
  some he did race euro champs last year and the 50k didn't do as
• 18:47
  good there it was
• 18:48
  SPEAKER_00: in 28th place and then uh raced a pretty mountainous uh
• 18:53
  SPEAKER_00: 40,
• 18:54
  SPEAKER_00: excuse me,
• 18:55
  SPEAKER_00: a pretty decently mountainous,
• 18:56
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 18:57
  SPEAKER_00: like marathon course in Garda Trentino,
• 18:59
  SPEAKER_00: which from my understanding is pretty technical area,
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 19:01
  SPEAKER_00: and won that.
• 19:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then the year, early in the year, he DNFed, uh, Trans Grand Canaria.
• 19:07
  SPEAKER_00: And then the year before that, he got six at Tom Pia.
• 19:10
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, he got a DNF at CCC.
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: So yeah,
• 19:14
  SPEAKER_00: I think just some of these big races,
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 19:16
  SPEAKER_00: DNF at Lavaredo that I chose him for,
• 19:18
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 19:19
  SPEAKER_00: he did get second out worlds,
• 19:20
  SPEAKER_00: a long trail in Austria though.
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: Um,
• 19:23
  SPEAKER_00: And like I said, 2023, he got third at Transylvania in a 7-17.
• 19:27
  SPEAKER_00: So he's somebody who I easily think could be in that top three mix.
• 19:30
  SPEAKER_00: But I also hesitate to pick him just on the heels of DNFing at Chianti.
• 19:36
  SPEAKER_00: And then just the fact that he does DNF a non-trivial amount of time.
• 19:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that's the first one we're talking about, Andreas Reiterer.
• 19:42
  SPEAKER_00: Next one I want to talk about is Dimitri Metti.
• 19:44
  SPEAKER_00: who has historically been a really consistent athlete,
• 19:47
  SPEAKER_00: him and his wife both racing this,
• 19:49
  SPEAKER_00: both Russian athletes that live in Spain and do trail running coaches.
• 19:53
  SPEAKER_00: They're both Adidas Tareks athletes.
• 19:54
  SPEAKER_00: Seemed like a really cool couple.
• 19:56
  SPEAKER_00: Dmitry Matyev has the quads of Arnold Schwarzenegger or something.
• 20:01
  SPEAKER_00: His quads are insane.
• 20:02
  SPEAKER_00: He definitely has the best quads in ultra, no doubt about it.
• 20:05
  SPEAKER_00: That guy...
• 20:07
  SPEAKER_00: must feed his quads something.
• 20:08
  But anyways,
• 20:09
  he's a really good mountain athlete,
• 20:10
  really good with the up-down stuff.
• 20:11
  Hasn't really had his day at UTMB,
• 20:14
  but he does do really good in some very competitive races.
• 20:17
  SPEAKER_00: Excuse me, there's a bug in my face.
• 20:21
  SPEAKER_00: So looking at his results,
• 20:23
  SPEAKER_00: so kind of a lot of DNFs in the past eight,
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: I say a lot,
• 20:26
  SPEAKER_00: but DNFs have big races really in the past kind of eight months,
• 20:29
  SPEAKER_00: give or take.
• 20:30
  SPEAKER_00: He DNFed Tenderreef Blue Trail 110K, him and his wife both did.
• 20:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then he raced UTMB Thailand,
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: the 100K,
• 20:38
  SPEAKER_00: but got fifth,
• 20:39
  SPEAKER_00: which for him is kind of a disappointing result.
• 20:41
  He DNF'd Ultra Trail Cape Town last year around Thanksgiving,
• 20:45
  DNF'd UTMB as well.
• 20:47
  Had good results,
• 20:48
  won Marathon de Mont Blanc,
• 20:49
  the 90K of which I think he's won multiple times.
• 20:52
  SPEAKER_00: And then he did get second at this event last year,
• 20:54
  SPEAKER_00: so I'm kind of hoping that he's figuring out whatever's going on.
• 20:58
  SPEAKER_00: with his racing and stuff like that.
• 21:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I do have him in my top five picks.
• 21:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm hoping he turns it around, but I'm also a little hesitant.
• 21:06
  SPEAKER_00: Him and Andreas, I think, is kind of a coin flip.
• 21:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think they could both easily finish top three.
• 21:10
  SPEAKER_00: And if they do finish,
• 21:11
  SPEAKER_00: they probably will for sure finish top five,
• 21:13
  SPEAKER_00: but probably finish top three.
• 21:15
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm kind of like picking that one of them is going to drop,
• 21:17
  SPEAKER_00: and I'm just not really sure which one.
• 21:19
  I'm kind of leaning towards me picking Dimitri in my top five
• 21:22
  versus Andreas.
• 21:23
  SPEAKER_00: But I think it could really go either way, quite frankly.
• 21:26
  um so yeah dimitri a really good climber really good ascender
• 21:30
  uh had a really good
• 21:30
  time uh racing and tied uh with uh tom evans last year people
• 21:36
  make fun of him he
• 21:37
  went he was only two minutes off of john albin uh so they both
• 21:41
  went 705 16 and this
• 21:42
  is the not the first time that dimitri has finished holding
• 21:46
  hands with another
• 21:47
  finisher he finished uh ultra trail cape town tied for first
• 21:50
  with uh hana's i think
• 21:52
  SPEAKER_00: two years ago so people
• 21:54
  SPEAKER_00: So curious to see if he's running the whole race with somebody,
• 21:57
  SPEAKER_00: if he's going to have another tie,
• 21:58
  SPEAKER_00: because he is known for his holding hands,
• 22:02
  SPEAKER_00: crossing the line.
• 22:04
  SPEAKER_00: He's got a bunch of second places.
• 22:06
  So he got second at Transylvania,
• 22:08
  not only last year,
• 22:08
  but also in 2018 and 2019.
• 22:10
  SPEAKER_00: So he's always super close.
• 22:11
  SPEAKER_00: And then he got an eighth in 2017.
• 22:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I think, yeah, if he finishes, he's going to be in the top three.
• 22:18
  SPEAKER_00: And it's just a question of if he's going to finish the race.
• 22:20
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah.
• 22:22
  um and then last one i want to talk about on that list was
• 22:24
  dakota jones dakota is a
• 22:25
  two-time winner potentially a course record holder he's run low
• 22:29
  702 here uh and he
• 22:30
  beat killian one of the years he did it if i'm not mistaken uh
• 22:33
  2015 2016 uh so
• 22:36
  anytime you beat killian in a race i mean i think he'll be the
• 22:38
  first to tell you i
• 22:39
  think killian had a little bit stomach issues he still got
• 22:41
  second but i mean
• 22:42
  SPEAKER_00: He beat Kellyanne.
• 22:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't really know what else I need to say.
• 22:45
  SPEAKER_00: Stomach issues or not, he beat Kellyanne at Transylvania.
• 22:48
  SPEAKER_00: And then he did win it two years ago in a very fast time.
• 22:52
  SPEAKER_00: I want to say around 7.03 as well, but I'll double check.
• 22:57
  SPEAKER_00: So Dakota Jones, a U.S.
• 22:58
  SPEAKER_00: guy, normal athlete.
• 23:00
  SPEAKER_00: He's been in the ultra scene for a very long time.
• 23:02
  And I'm always curious because when he's at his best,
• 23:06
  he's one of the best in the world.
• 23:07
  SPEAKER_00: There's no doubt about it.
• 23:08
  SPEAKER_00: But...
• 23:10
  SPEAKER_00: it's always hard to tell what form he's in until he race.
• 23:13
  So last year wasn't a disappointing year per se,
• 23:16
  but it was one of those years where,
• 23:17
  um,
• 23:19
  SPEAKER_00: So CCC, he still finished top 10.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: He got ninth.
• 23:21
  SPEAKER_00: Western, he ran 1741.
• 23:22
  SPEAKER_00: Kind of two years in a row, he came out hard with Western.
• 23:26
  So 2023,
• 23:27
  he came out with Tom Evans and with the big dogs for 100K and
• 23:30
  then just blew up.
• 23:31
  And then last year,
• 23:31
  I'm not really sure what happened with his race,
• 23:33
  but finished in about 1741.
• 23:35
  He did race Transylvania last year,
• 23:37
  had a disappointing for him result,
• 23:39
  17th place and 750.
• 23:40
  SPEAKER_00: So that's kind of crazy.
• 23:42
  I mean,
• 23:43
  with the winner coming through in 703,
• 23:44
  47 minutes on a seven-hour race,
• 23:48
  went one through 17 so that's a pretty tight up front um but
• 23:52
  yeah last year kind of
• 23:53
  felt like a little bit of a down year compared to his year
• 23:55
  before uh where he went
• 23:57
  third at ccc didn't have a great western but then he also won
• 24:00
  transvolconia uh and
• 24:02
  also let's see that's six leg borge so we'll see um i'm curious
• 24:07
  to see what
• 24:07
  SPEAKER_00: dakota's fitness is like i think um
• 24:11
  I'm leaning towards picking him in my top five,
• 24:14
  but I also might change him.
• 24:16
  SPEAKER_00: It's tough to tell.
• 24:17
  SPEAKER_00: I always have a tough time kind of figuring out where his fitness is at.
• 24:20
  SPEAKER_00: And as of right now,
• 24:22
  SPEAKER_00: I've got him in my top five,
• 24:22
  but I could easily see myself swapping him out for some of
• 24:25
  these other guys that
• 24:26
  SPEAKER_00: are on the fringes that I'll talk about here in a little bit.
• 24:29
  SPEAKER_00: South Dakota Jones.
• 24:30
  SPEAKER_00: And then...
• 24:32
  one person that i really want to talk about that i think has
• 24:34
  the potential if not
• 24:35
  the likelihood to win and break the course record and this
• 24:38
  could be western bias
• 24:39
  but i also feel like this guy just hasn't really raced in the
• 24:42
  euro races as much
• 24:43
  and they haven't really seen him over in the european races
• 24:46
  compared to we've seen
• 24:46
  him in the states crushing course records and doing really well
• 24:50
  on courses pretty
• 24:50
  SPEAKER_00: similar to this minus maybe the heat element
• 24:53
  SPEAKER_00: And that person that I'm talking about is David Sinclair, U.S.
• 24:56
  SPEAKER_00: guy.
• 24:57
  SPEAKER_00: He is a schemo athlete.
• 24:59
  SPEAKER_00: He is recently signed with Kraft.
• 25:01
  SPEAKER_00: And before that was a DinaFit athlete.
• 25:04
  SPEAKER_00: He's trying to make that U.S.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: schemo team.
• 25:06
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if he was successful.
• 25:08
  SPEAKER_00: I know he's kind of like right on the cusp for it.
• 25:10
  SPEAKER_00: But David Sinclair, he is a course record holder at Speedgoat.
• 25:14
  He's a course record holder at Run the Rout,
• 25:15
  which he took away from Killian.
• 25:16
  SPEAKER_00: He also ran faster at Speedgo than Killian.
• 25:18
  SPEAKER_00: And then he also is a course record holder at Broken Arrow.
• 25:22
  So all of our most mountainous and technical 50Ks,
• 25:25
  he's a course record holder at.
• 25:27
  SPEAKER_00: And then the other big thing is...
• 25:31
  So those finishing times are a little bit lower,
• 25:33
  more like in the five-hour range.
• 25:34
  SPEAKER_00: Spigot, he just went sub-five hours.
• 25:37
  SPEAKER_00: Broken Arrow's four, and then his run the rut is low five as well.
• 25:40
  SPEAKER_00: So a little bit slower,
• 25:42
  but definitely still very mountainous races that are similar profile-wise,
• 25:45
  SPEAKER_00: minus the heat aspect,
• 25:46
  SPEAKER_00: except for maybe Spigot.
• 25:49
  Looking at his training coming into this,
• 25:50
  his training looked really good.
• 25:52
  SPEAKER_00: I don't think he puts everything on Strava,
• 25:53
  but he had 120-mile week a couple weeks ago with 15 hours of
• 25:56
  running and 20K avert.
• 25:58
  SPEAKER_00: Didn't show any running last week.
• 26:01
  SPEAKER_00: But either way,
• 26:02
  SPEAKER_00: similar races,
• 26:03
  SPEAKER_00: he's run JFK,
• 26:04
  SPEAKER_00: which I wouldn't say is similar,
• 26:05
  SPEAKER_00: but time-wise,
• 26:06
  SPEAKER_00: it's often that low five hours.
• 26:08
  SPEAKER_00: The only thing I could find that's longer than Transvaal Kanye time or
• 26:12
  SPEAKER_00: distance-wise would be two races.
• 26:14
  SPEAKER_00: He did race second place at Cannons,
• 26:17
  SPEAKER_00: 100K in 2022,
• 26:18
  SPEAKER_00: only to Adam Petergaard,
• 26:20
  SPEAKER_00: but he decided not to race it because it flared up his IT band,
• 26:24
  SPEAKER_00: and he kind of was down for a bit after that.
• 26:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then he raced the Silver State 15-miler in 2021.
• 26:30
  SPEAKER_00: And so this is a little bit of step up in distance.
• 26:32
  The only question mark I would have with David Sinclair is,
• 26:34
  has he been doing heat training?
• 26:36
  SPEAKER_00: And will he do well in the heat?
• 26:38
  Because I think if he's got that nailed or if he's got that
• 26:40
  dial or if he doesn't
• 26:41
  SPEAKER_00: have issues in the heat,
• 26:42
  I would say he's my sleeper pick to win,
• 26:45
  regardless of having done this course or not.
• 26:46
  SPEAKER_00: I also think Dimitri could easily win this course.
• 26:48
  SPEAKER_00: He's been the bridesmaid.
• 26:50
  SPEAKER_00: He's got three second places.
• 26:51
  SPEAKER_00: He's got to be ready for first place.
• 26:53
  SPEAKER_00: And his time is really fast.
• 26:54
  SPEAKER_00: Last year is just about what you could win.
• 26:56
  SPEAKER_00: So I could see either Dimitri or David getting a win at this course.
• 27:01
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really kind of heavy on David being in my top five.
• 27:07
  Biggest X factor,
• 27:08
  like I said,
• 27:09
  is has he heat trained and will he do well in the heat?
• 27:12
  SPEAKER_00: Some more people to talk about.
• 27:13
  SPEAKER_00: Peter Frano, he's a Scarpa guy from Slovakia.
• 27:16
  SPEAKER_00: Really had a big result last year with a second at CCC.
• 27:19
  SPEAKER_00: Probably his biggest breakout result.
• 27:21
  SPEAKER_00: But he's been kind of chipping away,
• 27:22
  SPEAKER_00: doing a lot of the sky running stuff and having okay results.
• 27:24
  But I think he's probably one of those guys that with how much
• 27:27
  skiing he does,
• 27:28
  uh and other types of training i think he might be better at
• 27:30
  those ultras than like
• 27:31
  the short fast speedy stuff uh he did get second at
• 27:34
  transvolcania marathon last
• 27:35
  year to fran and guita uh and then he ran a full transvolcania
• 27:40
  in 2018 i think
• 27:41
  finished in the 20s um i'm really curious to see where he's at
• 27:44
  i think he's coming
• 27:44
  off a big summer uh excuse me winter of skiing looking at his
• 27:48
  strava it looked real
• 27:49
  good uh his training um so not really too much to say about
• 27:51
  that it looks like he
• 27:52
  SPEAKER_00: had some big weeks and has already gotten back to running
• 27:55
  This Transvaal County race is kind of one of those interesting
• 27:57
  races because a lot
• 27:57
  SPEAKER_00: of these guys that do skiing in the off-season,
• 28:00
  SPEAKER_00: so David Sinclair is in that category,
• 28:02
  SPEAKER_00: Peter Frano,
• 28:03
  SPEAKER_00: and maybe a handful of these other guys,
• 28:06
  SPEAKER_00: they're kind of getting their running legs back underneath them.
• 28:08
  So that can be a big consideration because a lot of times the
• 28:10
  fitness can be there.
• 28:11
  They can be aerobically amazing,
• 28:13
  but their legs aren't used to the wear and tear.
• 28:15
  So I was just kind of poking around with Strava to make sure
• 28:17
  people are still
• 28:17
  SPEAKER_00: getting a good run training to make sure that 8,000-foot descent,
• 28:22
  SPEAKER_00: you don't get anything like that when you're skiing.
• 28:24
  So it's really important that these guys are kind of easing
• 28:27
  into running.
• 28:28
  SPEAKER_00: We've seen kind of similar things.
• 28:29
  SPEAKER_00: I think Germain Grangier got fifth last year,
• 28:32
  SPEAKER_00: two years ago,
• 28:32
  and he mentioned how his legs just weren't ready for the
• 28:34
  descent and the beating
• 28:35
  that they're taking coming off of that huge 8,000-foot descent
• 28:38
  and all the climbing.
• 28:39
  SPEAKER_00: So other men to look out for, Lambert Santelli.
• 28:43
  SPEAKER_00: His Strava training also looked real good.
• 28:45
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth place at Chianti this year behind Killian and Vincent.
• 28:47
  SPEAKER_00: He was about an hour back from Killian and Vincent, I want to say.
• 28:51
  SPEAKER_00: And then he got 10th at St.
• 28:52
  SPEAKER_00: Leon, which is a fast 50-miler last year.
• 28:55
  SPEAKER_00: He got 4th at Grand Ray de la Reunion,
• 28:57
  SPEAKER_00: so a huge mountainous race over in Reunion Island in 2023.
• 29:02
  SPEAKER_00: And then he got 5th at Trans-Grand Canaria in 2020.
• 29:06
  I think Lambert Centelli is probably a really solid pick for
• 29:09
  somewhere in the back
• 29:10
  SPEAKER_00: half of the top 10,
• 29:11
  SPEAKER_00: so like that 4-8 range.
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: Uh,
• 29:13
  SPEAKER_00: scrolling through some other guys,
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Swiss athlete,
• 29:15
  SPEAKER_00: Ramon Menech,
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 29:17
  SPEAKER_00: seventh place at CCC last year,
• 29:19
  SPEAKER_00: second at Eiger 101,
• 29:20
  SPEAKER_00: just to Andreas Reiter and first at MIUT 85K.
• 29:23
  SPEAKER_00: I think he also would be a pretty strong pick, a consistent guy.
• 29:26
  SPEAKER_00: I think he'll probably be somewhere in that,
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: uh,
• 29:28
  SPEAKER_00: like four through 10,
• 29:29
  SPEAKER_00: four,
• 29:30
  SPEAKER_00: four through eight,
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: um,
• 29:31
  SPEAKER_00: range as well.
• 29:32
  SPEAKER_00: Another one to look out for is Manuel Inguita, a Spanish athlete.
• 29:35
  SPEAKER_00: He got seventh last year at Transvalcania, eighth at UTMB as well.
• 29:39
  SPEAKER_00: And 5th at Mont Blanc 90K,
• 29:41
  SPEAKER_00: so a pretty consistent year and not a lot of...
• 29:44
  I didn't see any DNFs or anything that would cause me to think
• 29:46
  he wouldn't finish.
• 29:48
  SPEAKER_00: He also has raced Transvalcania multiple times,
• 29:50
  SPEAKER_00: so 8th at Transvalcania in 2019,
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: 6th in 2018,
• 29:53
  SPEAKER_00: and 10th in 2017.
• 29:54
  SPEAKER_00: He got faster every time he's done it.
• 29:56
  SPEAKER_00: So Manuel Inguita,
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: yeah,
• 29:59
  SPEAKER_00: I think he's a pretty solid lock for finishing,
• 30:02
  and I would probably put him in the back half of my top 5 if
• 30:04
  I'm worried about some
• 30:06
  SPEAKER_00: of these guys that I mentioned potentially DNFing.
• 30:08
  SPEAKER_00: And then...
• 30:12
  And then another interesting thing about Manuel Anguita is he
• 30:15
  dates a Spanish
• 30:16
  SPEAKER_00: runner named Ikram Rarsala,
• 30:19
  SPEAKER_00: who we'll see on the Golden Trail circuit sometimes.
• 30:22
  SPEAKER_00: She's really fast and has been doing a lot of road stuff this past year.
• 30:27
  um so she kind of came into like the sub-ultra like the gamas
• 30:29
  and things like that
• 30:30
  we'll see her at some of the golden trail and also maybe uh
• 30:33
  world mountain running
• 30:34
  or um other adjacent type stuff but she's been putting up some
• 30:37
  crazy results on the
• 30:38
  marathon 228 on the female side 111 and a half and then 32 49
• 30:42
  that's mk so um
• 30:45
  SPEAKER_00: that's kind of cool to see
• 30:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then one person I realized I skipped over was Andrew Simone Imerich.
• 30:51
  SPEAKER_00: I'm pretty high on this guy.
• 30:53
  I kind of originally put him in that category with Dimitri and
• 30:56
  Andreas where if
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: they finish,
• 30:58
  SPEAKER_00: they're going to be up there.
• 30:59
  SPEAKER_00: But if they don't, there's a chance they don't.
• 31:01
  SPEAKER_00: But honestly, a lot of his DNFs came in 2022 and 2023.
• 31:05
  And so I think that made me hesitant to pick him in 2024
• 31:06
  because I kind of,
• 31:08
  SPEAKER_00: I've been doing this for a couple of years.
• 31:09
  And so sometimes when I pick guys through big races and they DNF,
• 31:12
  it sticks with me.
• 31:13
  SPEAKER_00: You know, I'm still a human.
• 31:14
  SPEAKER_00: So sometimes I'll like kind of hold it against them.
• 31:16
  Maybe not hold against him,
• 31:17
  but it makes me hesitant to pick him for future races.
• 31:19
  SPEAKER_00: And so I think Andrew Simone had a decent bit of DNFs in 22 and 23.
• 31:23
  But when I reviewed his last year in 24,
• 31:26
  he raced really well and really consistently.
• 31:29
  SPEAKER_00: And this year, he's looking really fit.
• 31:30
  He won EcoTrail Paris,
• 31:31
  which is a 50-mile race,
• 31:33
  much more fast and speedy.
• 31:36
  He beat Loic Roland,
• 31:37
  who's a really fast sub-ultra guy who does a lot of,
• 31:41
  like...
• 31:43
  SPEAKER_00: kind of sub-ultra specialty type stuff.
• 31:45
  And so he ran a really,
• 31:46
  really fast EcoTrail Paris just earlier this year,
• 31:48
  about a month ago.
• 31:49
  SPEAKER_00: So that's a really good sign.
• 31:51
  And then he got third at Tampelier last year behind Miguel
• 31:53
  Arsenio and Tomas Cardin.
• 31:55
  SPEAKER_00: And then he got sixth at CCC.
• 31:57
  last year as well um so i think he's actually i'm pretty high
• 32:01
  on him and i'm
• 32:02
  probably gonna have him somewhere in my picks i haven't seen
• 32:04
  him dnf in a while um
• 32:06
  and so you know sometimes it's kind of a toss-up like you know
• 32:09
  that you got guys
• 32:09
  that can and could win but also you want to pick people that
• 32:12
  you know are going to
• 32:13
  finish and so i'm always kind of battling who am i going to
• 32:15
  pick that i know is
• 32:16
  SPEAKER_00: going to finish
• 32:17
  SPEAKER_00: On the men's side, other names worth mentioning, Kevin Vermeulen.
• 32:21
  So Swiss guy,
• 32:22
  he got 8th at Tompey last year and 8th at Canyons,
• 32:24
  just behind Katie Scheid.
• 32:26
  He had fast times at Marathon of Mont Blanc and Sierra's and
• 32:28
  all for like the 20th
• 32:29
  SPEAKER_00: or 30th range,
• 32:30
  SPEAKER_00: so he's good at some of the sub-Ultra.
• 32:31
  SPEAKER_00: Harry Jones,
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: the British guy,
• 32:32
  SPEAKER_00: 17th at CCC last year,
• 32:34
  SPEAKER_00: 3rd at Ultra Trail Snowdonia,
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: 50K,
• 32:36
  SPEAKER_00: and 11th at the World Champs at Thailand in 23.
• 32:38
  And then he hasn't raised his race,
• 32:41
  but he ran to Transvaulconia and got 4th in 2020.
• 32:44
  And then we got some usual kind of suspect Spanish guys that
• 32:47
  are usually pretty
• 32:48
  SPEAKER_00: good at these type of races.
• 32:49
  SPEAKER_00: So Jordi Gamito,
• 32:51
  SPEAKER_00: Pablo Villa,
• 32:52
  SPEAKER_00: and Luis Alberto Hernando,
• 32:53
  SPEAKER_00: who has three wins and I think potentially the course record.
• 32:56
  SPEAKER_00: He got 12 last year.
• 32:57
  SPEAKER_00: These guys I don't really see.
• 32:59
  SPEAKER_00: I can see them in the back half of the top 10,
• 33:00
  SPEAKER_00: but I just don't think they're quite as fast as some of the other guys.
• 33:03
  SPEAKER_00: And then the last person I want to talk about,
• 33:04
  who I think a lot of the Western US fans or just fans of trail
• 33:08
  running are excited
• 33:08
  SPEAKER_00: to see how he does.
• 33:09
  SPEAKER_00: And I'm really curious to see how he does.
• 33:11
  is going to be uh boulder boy's own matt daniels um he's
• 33:15
  getting out there to race
• 33:16
  uh you know he crushes 50ks and we know he's world class at
• 33:20
  50ks and then we know
• 33:21
  he doesn't do quite as good at 100 milers and then we don't
• 33:23
  really i'm not really
• 33:24
  sure with this in between you know he uh looking at similar
• 33:27
  distances or time on
• 33:28
  feet uh last 50 miler 100k that i saw was uh ninth place at
• 33:33
  canyons in 2023
• 33:35
  SPEAKER_00: And then he did race JFK and got sixth in 2022.
• 33:38
  SPEAKER_00: Hopefully he's figuring out more of the fueling.
• 33:39
  SPEAKER_00: I feel like that was kind of the pretty big fueling days.
• 33:42
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm really curious to see, like,
• 33:44
  SPEAKER_00: You know, he's really world class at 50 Ks.
• 33:47
  SPEAKER_00: And then looking at similar distances with similar elevation,
• 33:51
  SPEAKER_00: he has raced the closest thing I could really find with Spigo in 2020.
• 33:55
  SPEAKER_00: It's going to be shorter, but similar vert profile.
• 33:59
  SPEAKER_00: And his time on that wasn't super great.
• 34:00
  So I don't I don't really know how Matt Daniels is on the super
• 34:03
  techie climbing and
• 34:04
  SPEAKER_00: descending stuff.
• 34:07
  SPEAKER_00: And, yeah, I'm curious.
• 34:08
  I mean,
• 34:08
  the only exception I saw,
• 34:09
  he did,
• 34:10
  I think,
• 34:10
  fourth or fifth at Broken Arrow in 2022.
• 34:13
  But I'd be really curious to see how Matt Daniels does and if
• 34:15
  he's been doing the
• 34:16
  SPEAKER_00: vert necessary to do good on this.
• 34:18
  You know,
• 34:18
  I think he has world-class speed,
• 34:19
  and I think he could be up there.
• 34:21
  SPEAKER_00: But I'm just hesitant with
• 34:23
  SPEAKER_00: the amount of heat and vert that's in this race,
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: um,
• 34:26
  SPEAKER_00: to think that he is going to make a push for,
• 34:29
  SPEAKER_00: for the top five or even for a win,
• 34:31
  SPEAKER_00: but I hope you bruise me wrong.
• 34:32
  SPEAKER_00: Huge fan of the Boulder boys.
• 34:34
  SPEAKER_00: I really like his writing.
• 34:35
  SPEAKER_00: Uh, I really like his podcasting.
• 34:37
  I really like,
• 34:38
  yeah,
• 34:38
  I just really like the way they talk and they're super frank on
• 34:40
  their show.
• 34:40
  SPEAKER_00: So,
• 34:42
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll be curious to see.
• 34:43
  SPEAKER_00: Going through the men's picks.
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: For me,
• 34:45
  SPEAKER_00: my top five right now,
• 34:46
  SPEAKER_00: and this is subject to change as always,
• 34:48
  SPEAKER_00: and I might swap in and out people.
• 34:50
  SPEAKER_00: Right now, I've got David Sinclair with the win.
• 34:52
  SPEAKER_00: Dimitri Mitya for another second place in second.
• 34:55
  SPEAKER_00: I could see him winning as well.
• 34:56
  SPEAKER_00: Dakota Jones in third.
• 34:58
  SPEAKER_00: I'm hoping we see a really fit Dakota,
• 34:59
  but I'd also consider swapping him out with some of those guys
• 35:02
  that I mentioned
• 35:02
  SPEAKER_00: that might get four through eight,
• 35:03
  like a Ramon Menech or Lambert Centelli would be probably my
• 35:07
  top two picks.
• 35:08
  SPEAKER_00: I think Manuel Inquita is also a good choice to go in there.
• 35:12
  SPEAKER_00: And so David in first,
• 35:14
  SPEAKER_00: Dakota in second,
• 35:15
  SPEAKER_00: Dimitri in third,
• 35:16
  SPEAKER_00: or excuse me,
• 35:17
  SPEAKER_00: Dimitri in second,
• 35:18
  SPEAKER_00: Dakota in third.
• 35:19
  SPEAKER_00: I got Peter Frano in fourth, and then Andrew, Simone, Imarich.
• 35:23
  SPEAKER_00: And I might swap those up a little bit order-wise.
• 35:27
  SPEAKER_00: Maybe, yeah, so we'll see, we'll see.
• 35:29
  SPEAKER_00: That's kind of the men's side.
• 35:30
  On the women's side,
• 35:32
  looking at the people,
• 35:34
  I think it's really Ruth's race to win and lose.
• 35:36
  I'm hoping that Blandine Lahirondel will be up front to be
• 35:39
  pushing her and give her a challenge.
• 35:42
  SPEAKER_00: Blandine and Ruth are both world-class athletes.
• 35:45
  SPEAKER_00: So Ruth is coming off of a course record at Tara Ware,
• 35:48
  breaking her own course record in a very good race against
• 35:51
  Caitlin Pitt Fielder.
• 35:53
  SPEAKER_00: It's a Tarek's race, so Ruth is here.
• 35:56
  SPEAKER_00: And she was the winner last year.
• 35:57
  SPEAKER_00: And then, like we said, she already looks like prime Ruth.
• 36:01
  SPEAKER_00: And if she tows a line, she's going to be healthy and ready to go.
• 36:04
  SPEAKER_00: So I think it's pretty hard to bet against Ruth.
• 36:07
  I would not be surprised if we see another course record of
• 36:09
  Blondine's pushing her.
• 36:10
  But I also wouldn't be surprised if we just see another course
• 36:12
  record because she
• 36:13
  SPEAKER_00: smashed her Terroware 100K course record.
• 36:16
  SPEAKER_00: And if she's towing a line, she's probably in really good shape.
• 36:18
  SPEAKER_00: So Ruth is the hands-down favorite.
• 36:20
  SPEAKER_00: Convince me otherwise.
• 36:21
  SPEAKER_00: I can't really be convinced.
• 36:23
  blondine however is coming off of a speedy 10k at valencia she
• 36:26
  ran right around sub
• 36:27
  i think it was just a little bit under 35 minutes which she
• 36:29
  said was her pr so we
• 36:31
  know she's in really good speed shape for her she's also been
• 36:33
  racing a lot of
• 36:35
  cross-country events in the winter just like a lot of these
• 36:37
  french national team
• 36:38
  athletes do and other things to mention about blondine so she
• 36:42
  got fifth at utmv
• 36:43
  SPEAKER_00: last year and then she got third at templier last year
• 36:47
  uh which is a similar runs a similar time but a little bit
• 36:50
  faster with regards to
• 36:51
  like finish time so it's kind of a similar race not exactly i
• 36:55
  mean it's not gonna
• 36:55
  SPEAKER_00: be as vertical but similar in that wheelhouse of finish time
• 36:59
  SPEAKER_00: Only question with Blondine is kind of heat.
• 37:02
  SPEAKER_00: But with that being said,
• 37:03
  SPEAKER_00: she did win the World Mountain Trail in Thailand in 2022,
• 37:06
  SPEAKER_00: the Long Trail.
• 37:07
  So that makes me think that she can and does do well in heat or
• 37:11
  she did whatever is
• 37:11
  SPEAKER_00: necessary heat training lies in Thailand to get done.
• 37:14
  SPEAKER_00: So I think Ruth and Blondine are a strong picture, one and two.
• 37:19
  SPEAKER_00: Other things about Blondine, she's won CCC in 2022 and OCC in 2021.
• 37:23
  SPEAKER_00: So she's one of those rare women like Ruth has won OCC and CCC.
• 37:29
  SPEAKER_00: that UTMB victory as well.
• 37:31
  SPEAKER_00: And I wouldn't be surprised if either one of them gets it.
• 37:33
  SPEAKER_00: I'm not sure if Ruth is targeting UTMB this year again or if Blondine is,
• 37:37
  SPEAKER_00: but either one of them could definitely get that triple done.
• 37:42
  SPEAKER_00: So other names to look out for, Ekaterina Mityaiva, so Dimitri's wife.
• 37:49
  SPEAKER_00: She has had kind of a string of DNFs like her husband.
• 37:51
  It's kind of been weird that they've both been DNFing when
• 37:53
  they're pretty consistent athletes.
• 37:55
  SPEAKER_00: So she also DNF UTCT and UTMB just like her husband.
• 37:58
  SPEAKER_00: And then Tenerife this year.
• 38:00
  as well so they all uh they both dnf both all three of those
• 38:04
  races excuse me um she
• 38:06
  did one at utmb thailand hunter gay last year and she got a
• 38:09
  second at ultra pier
• 38:10
  new and she also won the marathon to mom block 90k along with
• 38:13
  her husband um so it
• 38:14
  seems like when one does well they both do well when one
• 38:16
  doesn't do it the other
• 38:17
  one also kind of suffers she did race transvolkania last year
• 38:20
  and got fourth place
• 38:21
  um and it said she did really really good on that last descent
• 38:23
  that's where she
• 38:24
  SPEAKER_00: passed her um on that long downhill
• 38:27
  SPEAKER_00: I know they were kind of yo-yoing on the ups and downs.
• 38:30
  SPEAKER_00: She has raced Transylvania in 2019.
• 38:32
  SPEAKER_00: She got fifth and then seventh in 2017.
• 38:34
  SPEAKER_00: Excuse me, fourth in 2019, fifth in 2018, seventh in 2017.
• 38:39
  SPEAKER_00: Every year she's run it.
• 38:40
  SPEAKER_00: She's run it faster.
• 38:41
  So I wouldn't be surprised one bit if she runs it faster and is
• 38:43
  well in that top three.
• 38:44
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I can see her beating Blondine,
• 38:48
  SPEAKER_00: but I definitely kind of have them as my one,
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: two,
• 38:52
  SPEAKER_00: three.
• 38:53
  SPEAKER_00: Other people worth mentioning is Zara Garcia.
• 38:55
  SPEAKER_00: She just raced Chianti 100K,
• 38:56
  SPEAKER_00: a golden ticket race,
• 38:57
  SPEAKER_00: trying to get potentially back into Western or into Western.
• 39:01
  SPEAKER_00: She just missed out on it,
• 39:02
  SPEAKER_00: was third behind Fiona Pascal,
• 39:04
  SPEAKER_00: Johanna,
• 39:05
  SPEAKER_00: and Keela,
• 39:06
  SPEAKER_00: but she was in front of Abby Hall.
• 39:07
  SPEAKER_00: Didina Tender Reef raced this year,
• 39:10
  SPEAKER_00: and then she got eighth at Transylvania,
• 39:12
  SPEAKER_00: so she did race this last year.
• 39:13
  SPEAKER_00: Another female, Yuri Yoshizima, a Japanese athlete.
• 39:17
  SPEAKER_00: She got sixth at Trans Grand Canary last year and 14th at CCC in 2023.
• 39:22
  SPEAKER_00: She's a little bit more of a 100-mile specialist.
• 39:24
  SPEAKER_00: I wouldn't be surprised to see her in the back half of the top 10,
• 39:26
  SPEAKER_00: but I don't know that she quite...
• 39:28
  SPEAKER_00: has the speed in my mind to be anywhere in the one through fives.
• 39:32
  SPEAKER_00: So for what it's worth, I think she could be in the back of the top 10.
• 39:35
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if I see her in the top five.
• 39:37
  Eliza Desco,
• 39:37
  Italian athlete,
• 39:39
  third at Calamara Scar race already this year.
• 39:41
  SPEAKER_00: So she's in good shape doing some of the speeder sub-vultra stuff.
• 39:44
  SPEAKER_00: She did race OCC last year and got a DNF, but she is really fast.
• 39:47
  SPEAKER_00: She got 11th at Sears in all last year.
• 39:49
  She won the Laboreto 50 last year,
• 39:51
  six to the Gama,
• 39:53
  and as well as Skyrace Day Mathazine.
• 39:56
  SPEAKER_00: She mostly races the shorter stuff,
• 39:57
  SPEAKER_00: but she did have a good result at Guard of Trentino,
• 39:59
  which is a pretty mountainous Italian race of a similar
• 40:03
  distance with a lot of verts.
• 40:05
  in 2022 um and kind of runs a similar time wise too so i'm
• 40:09
  curious i think she's a
• 40:10
  little bit of wild card but i think she could easily be up
• 40:12
  there and do really well
• 40:14
  um somebody who i'm excited about seeing race is anne louise
• 40:17
  and lise russet i
• 40:18
  always butcher that name but uh she's french woman athlete for
• 40:22
  scott her she's
• 40:22
  husband to the french trail uh national coach french trail team
• 40:26
  national coach um
• 40:29
  She first came across my radar when she got second to Courtney
• 40:32
  at Hard Rock during
• 40:33
  SPEAKER_00: Courtney's slam season.
• 40:34
  SPEAKER_00: She was pushing her up front,
• 40:35
  although it was a really tired Courtney coming off of very
• 40:38
  recent Western States.
• 40:40
  SPEAKER_00: And then she's also gotten second to Courtney at Grand Raid in 2022.
• 40:45
  She's got second at Madeira,
• 40:47
  115K to Martina Valamosoy,
• 40:48
  who we'll talk about in a second.
• 40:50
  SPEAKER_00: And then she's also won the Woods Dribble 70K.
• 40:52
  SPEAKER_00: So I'll be curious.
• 40:54
  SPEAKER_00: I think she's a pretty good lock for that 4-6, potentially even...
• 40:58
  SPEAKER_00: I don't know if she'll go higher, but potentially forwards are sick.
• 41:02
  SPEAKER_00: Some other racers, Sarah Villier.
• 41:04
  SPEAKER_00: I'm sure I'm butchering that.
• 41:06
  SPEAKER_00: She's a French runner for Abe the Dict.
• 41:08
  SPEAKER_00: Fifth at Trans Grand Canaria last year.
• 41:10
  SPEAKER_00: Sixth at Tampier last year.
• 41:11
  SPEAKER_00: Won Istria 110K in 2023.
• 41:12
  SPEAKER_00: And then ninth at Transmultani in 2017.
• 41:15
  SPEAKER_00: So I could see Sarah being in that back half of the top five as well.
• 41:26
  SPEAKER_00: And then a few more names.
• 41:28
  SPEAKER_00: Martina Valamassua.
• 41:30
  SPEAKER_00: Valamassua, I never have heard it said.
• 41:32
  SPEAKER_00: Partners with Dakota Jones, Solomon Athlete.
• 41:35
  She won the Madeira Island 115K last year and was ninth at UTB
• 41:38
  in a very fast time,
• 41:39
  SPEAKER_00: 2540 something.
• 41:41
  SPEAKER_00: She won Transvalcania in 2023,
• 41:42
  but it was a less competitive year and it was about an hour
• 41:44
  slower than Ruth's
• 41:45
  SPEAKER_00: course record,
• 41:46
  SPEAKER_00: which would have got her more like
• 41:48
  SPEAKER_00: Last year, I think that would have gotten more like sixth or seventh.
• 41:50
  And then she did get third at UTMB Mallorca 50K,
• 41:53
  which was the altered course.
• 41:54
  SPEAKER_00: And it was pretty speedy runners that ran it because of the weather.
• 41:58
  SPEAKER_00: And so I'm curious to see.
• 42:00
  SPEAKER_00: I've got her in my top five.
• 42:01
  SPEAKER_00: I think she's a pretty good lock for that four through five area as well.
• 42:05
  SPEAKER_00: And then another athlete, Marina...
• 42:08
  uh cunietto uh italian athlete uh for scarpa she got ninth at
• 42:12
  transvolcania last
• 42:13
  year so she's raced it and done well and she also got second at
• 42:15
  dohi if and on 15
• 42:16
  2023 and then last one worth mentioning meg mckenzie south
• 42:20
  african uh 27th at occ
• 42:22
  last year third at transvolcania in 20 uh 2023 so she has had
• 42:26
  good results this
• 42:27
  SPEAKER_00: race and eighth at ccc
• 42:30
  SPEAKER_00: So with that being said, women's picks, Ruth is hands down the favorite.
• 42:35
  SPEAKER_00: So she's going to be my top pick.
• 42:37
  SPEAKER_00: In second place, I'm going to go with Blondine.
• 42:38
  SPEAKER_00: Third, Ekaterina Mityaiva.
• 42:41
  SPEAKER_00: And fourth, Martina Valamassual.
• 42:43
  SPEAKER_00: And then fifth place, Anne-Louise Rousset-Segare.
• 42:48
  And then I think Sarah View could very well be up there,
• 42:51
  as well as Eliza Desco.
• 42:53
  SPEAKER_00: They're kind of my fringe picks that I might work in there.
• 42:56
  SPEAKER_00: I think Azargosia could be up there, but she's like at every other race.
• 43:01
  finishes or wins like doesn't or doesn't finish or wins so i'm
• 43:04
  always hesitant to
• 43:05
  pick people at dns a lot so anyways that is our preview for
• 43:10
  transvolk county i'll
• 43:10
  be really excited to see how it goes i think this is definitely
• 43:13
  a bucket list race
• 43:14
  for me it's one that i would love to do and i think it kind of
• 43:16
  suits what i like to
• 43:17
  do which is a lot of climbing and descending maybe not so much
• 43:19
  the heat version but
• 43:20
  i think it's awesome the idea of running across an island so
• 43:23
  i'm really excited to
• 43:24
  SPEAKER_00: see once again i think that course record is on watch
• 43:27
  SPEAKER_00: Ruth breaking her own course record battling with Blondine.
• 43:29
  And then I think David Sinclair could potentially break the
• 43:31
  course record.
• 43:33
  But also Dimitri is pretty high up there and has just missed
• 43:36
  out this race a bunch of times.
• 43:37
  SPEAKER_00: And then Dakota, if we get a prime Dakota,
• 43:40
  SPEAKER_00: That's also a possibility.
• 43:41
  SPEAKER_00: So really curious to see how it plays out.
• 43:43
  In the meantime,
• 43:44
  I'll just be keeping track of Cocodona 250 and kind of curious
• 43:47
  how that rolls.
• 43:49
  SPEAKER_00: Looking forward at picking our next event, I believe, is Sky Race.
• 43:53
  SPEAKER_00: So Monte Zurbion Sky Race, as well as El Golfo del Isolo Trail Race.
• 44:01
  SPEAKER_00: and then Zagama the week after.
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: So the next one,
• 44:03
  SPEAKER_00: I'll probably do a double,
• 44:04
  SPEAKER_00: a two-parter,
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: not a two-parter,
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: excuse me,
• 44:07
  SPEAKER_00: a double podcast.
• 44:08
  SPEAKER_00: Yeah,
• 44:09
  SPEAKER_00: I guess one podcast with two different previews,
• 44:11
  which is going to be the next Skyrunning World Series and the
• 44:13
  Golden Trail Race.
• 44:14
  SPEAKER_00: So the Golden Trail race, the Golf of Day is Sola.
• 44:17
  SPEAKER_00: I think they did a final there one year,
• 44:19
  but I don't think they've been back for a regular season race
• 44:22
  for a while.
• 44:22
  SPEAKER_00: So that'll be curious to see.
• 44:23
  SPEAKER_00: And then Amante Zerbeon is in the Aosta Valley,
• 44:26
  which is supposed to be gorgeous in Italy for the Skyrunning
• 44:28
  World Series.
• 44:29
  SPEAKER_00: So that's exciting.
• 44:31
  SPEAKER_00: And then, yeah, so that'll be the next thing we're looking forward to.
• 44:35
  SPEAKER_00: In the meantime,
• 44:36
  SPEAKER_00: yeah,
• 44:37
  feel free to leave comments with your picks or let me know what
• 44:40
  you agree or
• 44:41
  SPEAKER_00: disagree with.
• 44:43
  My mom said I need to find a better sign-off for this,
• 44:45
  so I'm going to work on that.
• 44:46
  SPEAKER_00: But in the meantime,
• 44:47
  I'll see you guys in a week for the Skyriming World Series and
• 44:50
  for the Golden Trail
• 44:51
  SPEAKER_00: World Series.
• 44:52
  SPEAKER_00: And thanks for listening.