Trail Run Magazine #52

WIN! A PAIR OF BROOKS CASCADIA 18 TRAIL SHOES

EDITION 52 // 2024 // AU/NZ

MENTAL FITNESS

TRAIN YOUR BRAIN RUNNING AT ONE MAN, NO AGE LIMIT

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DAYS OF FROST SIA KINDBERG’S EPIC ICE ULTRA

BARKLEY’S

Wonder Woman

THE SCOOP ON JASMIN PARIS

EVEREST ADVENTURE EXPLORING BASE CAMP

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DETAILS ED52 // 2024 // AU/NZ SPRING AUSTRALIAN MADE. AUSTRALIAN PRINTED. AUSTRALIAN OWNED.

COVER: British trail runner Jasmin Paris out on Loop 5 of the 2024 Barkley Marathons in Tennessee, USA. She is the first woman to have ever completed the event.

IMAGE: Jacob Zocherman.

THIS SHOT: In the latter stages of an Everest Base Camp journey, the landscape opens up and runners become surrounded by giants.

IMAGE: David Byrne.

VISIT US ONLINE trailrunmag.com facebook.com/trailrunmag twitter.com/trailrunmag instagram.com/trailrunmag EDITOR: Kate Dzienis SUBEDITOR: Kathleen Southway DESIGN: Marine Raynard LEGENDARY TRM WRITERS: Ash Daniels, Brad Dixon, Kate Dzienis, Hilary McAllister, Samantha Turnbull, Tiffany Watson, Jo Wood AWESOME CONTRIBUTORS: Rachel Bridgewater, David Byrne, Erchana MurrayBartlett, Astrid Volzke EPIC PHOTOGRAPHERS: Majell Backhausen, Michael Beckmann, Mikkel Beisner (Beyond The Ultimate), Sammy Billon (@xterratrailrun), David Byrne, Carel du Plessis (@xterratrailrun), Kate Dzienis, Oliver Eclipse, Calumn Hockey, Che Ke (@xterratrailrun), Ry Kennedy, Leoni Lloyd, Craig Loosemore, Andres Nunes, Raceatlas, RacingThePlanet, Sok Images, Visit Tasmania, Visit Victoria, Jen Verion, Astrid Volzke, Ben Wallbank, Mark Watson, Tiffany Watson, Werribee Gorge State Park, Jacob Zocherman TRAIL RUN IS PUBLISHED QUARTERLY ADVERTISING Pip Casey Email: Pip@adventureentertainment.com Phone: +61 448 484 566 SUBSCRIPTIONS & ENQUIRIES Email: magazines@adventureentertainment.com Phone: (02) 8227 6486 PO Box 161, Hornsby, NSW 1630 trailrunmag.com/subs EDITORIAL Kate Dzienis Email: kate@trailrunmag.com PUBLISHER Adventure Entertainment ABN 79 612 294 569

ACKNOWLEDGEMENT OF COUNTRY Trail Running acknowledges and shows respect for the Traditional Custodians of Australia and Aotearoa, and their Elders, past, present and emerging.

DISCLAIMER Trail running and other activities described in this magazine can carry significant risk of injury or Death, especially if you are unfit. Undertake any trail running or other outdoors activity only with proper instruction, supervision, equipment and training. The publisher and its servants and agents have taken all reasonable care to ensure the accuracy of the information contained in this publication and the expertise of its writers. Any reader attempting any of the activities described in this publication does so at their own risk. Neither the publisher nor any of its servants or agents will be held liable for any loss or injury or damage resulting from any attempt to perform any of the activities described in this publication, nor be responsible for any person/s becoming lost when following any of the guides or maps contained herewith. All descriptive and visual directions are a general guide only and not to be used as a sole source of information for navigation. Happy trails.

CONTENTS

EDITION 52 // 2024 // AU/NZ

14. DREAM RUN: LET’S GO INTERNATIONAL

94. REVIEWING THE BROOKS CASCADIA 18

TRAIL MIX 12. EDITOR’S WORD 14. DREAM RUN: XTERRA 16. COLUMN: COACH’S AID STATION 18. COLUMN: PEAK PERFORMANCE 20: COLUMN: TREADING LIGHTLY 24. OFF THE BEATEN TRACK: BREATHTAKING RUNS 98. TRAIL THERAPY

32: BARKLEY’S WONDER WOMAN

REVIEWS 22. EVENT PREVIEW: ROLLERCOASTER 84. RACE REPORT: WEST MACS 90. ADVERTORIAL: THE HEYSEN 105 92. ALL THE GOOD GEAR: THE LATEST PRODUCTS 94. SHOE REVIEW: BROOKS CASCADIA 18

72. SUBSCRIBE & WIN! WIN 1 OF 5 PAIRS OF BROOKS CASCADIA 18 TRAIL SHOES

WHEN YOU SUBSCRIBE OR RENEW YOUR SUBSCRIPTION TO TRM*

FEATURES 32. FEATURE: BARKLEY’S WONDER WOMAN 40: IT’S A RUNNER’S LIFE: RUNNING IS MEDICINE 46. RUNNING ON IMPACT: A FRIGID FIVE FROSTY DAYS 52: LEAVE THE ROAD BEHIND: FROM TRAILS TO CBD 58: BE THE BEST YOU: TRAIN YOUR BRAIN 64: AN ADVENTURE AT EVEREST BASE CAMP 70: FANCY THE NORTHBURN 100?

78: FROM LOS ANGELES TO LAS VEGAS 88: DARE TO DREAM: REBUILDING REESHA LEWIS 10

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ED’S WORD

INSPIRING GIRLS & STRAIGHTENING CROWNS We all know that the perception of women in sport has changed dramatically over the last 50 decades or more, and it’s worth noting how much more the media is taking notice.

From the 1928 Olympics opening five track and field events to women to England’s Jasmin Paris being the first woman to ever finish the Barkley Marathons (in 2024), women have come a long way. Today, it’s the norm for many western societies to see ladies of all ages participate in sports they love – but we still have a long way to go when it comes to involvement in general.

In the last edition of Trail Run Mag (#51), we featured an article on Aussie Donna Urquhart, who earlier this year had set a new World Record for the longest run in Antarctica and how she was hoping her incredible efforts would inspire girls and women across the globe to continue staying active and fall in love with a sport – any sport.

Her Antarctic performance came on the back of 2022 statistics from the Australian Sports Commission that only 32% of Australian girls aged 15+ played sport at least once per week. An estimated 18% of Australian women (aged 18+) with a disability, and 26% of First Nations’ women (aged 18+), participated in a sport-related activity once a week. Donna had said in TRM51 that it alarmed her 50% of girls stopped playing sport during adolescence 12

despite the well-known benefits of being part of an activity and its surrounding community.

As someone who has actively participated in a sport throughout my life, I cannot wholeheartedly agree more that girls and women be encouraged to find a sport they enjoy playing – it doesn’t even have to be something they’re good at; just something where they have fun and are surrounded by a supportive, safe, fulfilling and inspiring community of like-minded individuals.

What is positive though is that those statistics have been rising every year. And with the increase of women taking up sports, there are more role models for youngsters to look up to; and with so much access to media everywhere, these women’s stories can be shared far more widely than previously in traditional media back in the day of solely printed publications, television and radio.

But you don’t have to be a footballer to be inspired by a pro-women’s player, and you don’t have to be a runner to be inspired by a trail runner who breaks a record.

When my 10-year-old daughter looked over my shoulder in mid-March while I was watching the Barkley Marathons unfold on the socials, she asked me ‘who’s that lady in the red who looks like she’s just fought a dragon?’ when a photo of Jasmin Paris popped

up – you know the one. At the finish.

I smiled and replied, ‘That’s Jasmin, she just became the first woman ever to finish a really tough ultra in America.’ My daughter immediately sat down next to me to scroll through newsfeeds and photos, and began asking even more questions – about the event, about Jasmin, about the other runners.

Together we searched for information online, and the conversation moved to more personal aspects; about her school friends playing netball, baseball and soccer, and how she enjoys carnival days at school. My daughter then asked if Jasmin would be featured in Trail Run Mag because ‘she’s like Wonder Woman, and all girls love Wonder Woman’ – needless to say, I told her that was an amazing idea and that I’d do my best to write a story on her because girls everywhere need some inspiration, right?

‘Just remember, you’re my inspiration too Mum.’ Could there be anyone better to rely on to always straighten my crown?

KATE DZIENIS, TRM EDITOR

Photo Credit: @simonennals Wild Earth Athlete Simon Ennals

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DREAM RUN ARTICLE BY: KATE DZIENIS PHOTOGRAPHY BY: CHE KE, SAMMY BILLON, CAREL DU PLESSIS (@XTERRATRAILRUN)

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ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

YOUR DREAM RUN COULD UNITE GLOBAL RUNNING COMMUNITIES Ever wanted to be a part of an inclusive, global competition that allows runners of all levels to compete in the most astonishingly beautiful parts of the world?

The XTERRA Trail Run World Series, currently in its second year, has established itself as a leader in attracting runners from around the world to its races – from the

volcanic paths of the Asia-Pacific to the ancient woodlands of Europe and rugged landscapes of the Americas.

The format removes the barriers typically associated with elite-dominated events, ensuring that every participant has a chance to win prize purses at various global events, regardless of their competitive history.

The XTERRA Trail Run World Series is designed not only for racing, but for celebrating the shared experiences of runners from all walks of life, and at the heart of it is a strong emphasis on community.

Info: xterraplanet.com/trail-run-world-series

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THE COACH’S AID STATION | COLUMN WORDS: ASH DANIELS

A BEGINNER’S GUIDE TO TRAIL RUNNING TERMINOLOGY

A

s with all sports, trail running comes with its unique language.

Terms are thrown about casually by the more experienced trail runners and can leave those of us newer to the sport a little perplexed.

With trail running priding itself on inclusivity, let’s get you up to speed on the more common terms you will hear when you are next out on some ‘Single Trail.’

AID STATION/CHECKPOINT: To ensure you have enough support, aid stations will be situated at various distances on the racecourse.

These are an opportunity to stock up on your hydration (water) and nutrition (food). If you have a support crew this will be a chance to meet up with them. Spend enough time to get what you need but not too long; beware of the chair re sitting down and not getting up again.

BLADDER: Nope, not what you are thinking. A bladder in trail running is a hydration system used to carry water. Due to the distances, and remoteness of trail events, you will carry your supplies of water and food.

BONK: To bonk or hit the wall. During the middle of a race, if you run out of energy and become heavily fatigued you have bonked.

This is normally due to not getting enough calories through eating in the preceding hours. Slow down and get some food onboard.

CUT-OFFS: The latest time you are allowed to leave an aid station.

If you miss the cut-off, you will have arrived too late or not left the aid station in time. Ensure you know any course cut-off times and train appropriately to avoid them.

CREW: Your support crew, generally friends and family who meet you at the aid stations and help with all your needs. This can be anything from topping up your bladder to helping change your socks. It’s an unforgiving role and can be the key to a successful trail race.

DROP BAGS: If you don’t have a support crew, aid stations will have a drop bag system. It’s a bag with your supplies, nutrition, spare clothing and additional shoes. What goes in them is very much a personal thing. Don’t forget items to help with morale.

DNF: Did Not Finish, when your race has not gone to plan, and you must withdraw or retire from the event. DNFs can also happen if you miss the cut-off for a checkpoint.

DNS: Did Not Start, you signed up for the race and chose not to run it without withdrawing before the start.

ELEVATION/VERT: The total ascending and descending i.e. running up or down of the race. Generally measured in metres and can be shown as a + or – meaning the amount of climbing and descending of the course. You will hear questions like “How much vert does the course have?” The more vert, the hillier the event.

FUELLING: Nutrition and hydration, a key part of trail running.

Nutrition is what you eat and drink when out on the trails or racing. Nutrition can vary from liquids, with the energy source dissolved in water, through to gels and solids, like sandwiches.

The key point is whatever you use on race day, you practise with and get used to in training.

HIKING: Trail races will include some steeper vert (see above). Very few of us can run the whole course. When it gets too steep, switch to walking, or hiking as we call it on the trails.

HILL REPS (REPEATS): Running hills as part of your training has numerous benefits, from strengthening muscles to specifically preparing for the vert of a race. Don’t neglect the downhill aspect by practicing descending in a controlled way.

LONG RUN: Typically much longer than your normal daily runs.

Use long runs to build resilience to the demands of the race by gradually increasing their length. Use the long run to check your mandatory kit, practise using poles, hiking, testing hydration and nutrition plans, in advance of race day.

MANDATORY KIT: Some races may have a list of mandatory equipment. This is the minimum amount of kit you will need to start the race. From several weeks out you should be running your long runs with all your mandatory kit.

POLES: Trekking or running poles can be a great addition and help with the climbing and descending of all the vert. Practice with them so you know how to use them on race day.

RUNNABLE: If you can run it, then it’s runnable. Your trail running skills and fitness level will change if a section of trail is runnable.

Something you might find runnable might not be for another runner.

SINGLE TRAIL: A trail wide enough for only one runner, with limited areas to pass if in a race. If you want to pass another runner on a single trail, shout out ‘Passing right!’ and they will move to the side and let you pass.

TECHNICAL TRAIL: More challenging trail. There are more rocks, tree roots, steeper climbs, descents and other obstacles. It’s what makes our sport fun! Train on technical terrain to be quicker at traversing it.

TAPERING: Just before a race you will start tapering; this is a reduction in your training load that allows your mind and body to refresh and fully recover in preparation for the demands of your race. Keep some intensity but gradually lower the amount of running a week or two before your race.

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE: Ash Daniels is a Level-3 Athletics Australia Performance Development coach at Journey2Ultra coaching, where he specialises in trail and ultra running. He coaches runners of all abilities and distances, believing everyone is a runner; just that some of us need a bit more help in getting going. Ash can be found at journey2ultra.com.au

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PEAK PERFORMANCE | COLUMN WORDS: BRAD DIXON

SIMPLE, YET EFFECTIVE: THE 100-UP DRILL

T

he vast landscape of running equipment, spanning from high-tech footwear to advanced training methodologies, can introduce complexity and bewilderment into what is essentially

To distil running back to its purest form, there exists a straightforward drill that can be performed at any time and in any place, which will transform you into a model of running efficiency, devoid of reliance on modern gadgets.

The renowned 100-up exercise stands as a time-honoured technique that runners can adopt to both augment strength and cement a robust base for their running prowess.

Christopher McDougall and Eric Orton, the collaborative minds behind Born to Run 2: The Ultimate Training Guide, are staunch advocates of the 100-up routine. They believe in the concept of invigorating our lower extremities by stimulating our joints and syncing our physical mechanics once more, as they detail in their work.

The notion of completing a hundred repetitions may initially seem overwhelming, but it’s perfectly acceptable to initiate the process with a more manageable number of 20 or 30-ups.

Below is an explanation of the genesis and execution of this drill.

Subsequently, lower your right foot to its original position, and elevate your left knee to the height of your waist while your right arm moves forward in unison.

As McDougall and Orton describe, the action resembles a stationary march.

GENESIS OF THE 100-UP EXERCISE

ADVANCING THE DIFFICULTY

Originating in the latter part of the 19th Century, the 100-up drill was conceived by Walter George, a former athletic virtuoso who once held the world record. As a young pharmacist with limited free moments to dedicate to training, George sought a quick and efficient exercise that could be performed within the confines of his workplace.

The deceptive simplicity of the 100-up drill may catch you off guard as you strive to perfect the controlled, stationary transition from one leg to the other. Once you have mastered the slow-paced version of the drill, it’s recommended transitioning to running in place.

His ingenuity led to the creation of the 100-up, a term he coined simply because the exercise entailed lifting each foot one hundred times.

George achieved an astonishing level of speed and physical conditioning with the 100-up drill. In 1886, his capabilities culminated in a mile run completed in 4 minutes and 12 seconds, a world record that remained unchallenged for over three decades. McDougall and Orton highlight the 100-up as an ideal exercise for preserving dynamic muscle engagement, bolstering the strength of the feet and legs, and decreasing the chance of injuries.

EXECUTING THE DRILL To initiate the drill, put two parallel lines on the floor i.e. strapping tape, ensuring they are set apart at the width of your shoulders. If circumstances allow, engage in this drill barefoot for optimal results.

POSITION ONE FOOT ON EACH OF THE MARKED LINES. Maintain an upright posture and proceed to lift your right knee to the level of your hip, simultaneously thrusting your left arm forward.

A bridge between these two is marching at a quicker pace before attempting to run. This progression introduces an additional layer of complexity to the exercise, requiring heightened coordination and control, but ensure your knees rise to the level of your waist with each stride and diligently maintain your alignment with the floor marks.

The 100-up exercise stands as a testament to the enduring efficacy of simple yet purposeful drills in enhancing your running technique and fortifying the foundational elements of physical fitness.

By embracing this time-tested routine, runners can cultivate resilience, strength, and agility, all while cultivating a deep-rooted connection to the essence of running in its purest form.

I have started completing the drill 1-3 times a day, for 3-4 days a week.

It only takes 1min and 15sec if completed slowly, and less than 40sec when done running. So the next time you lace up your running shoes and venture out for a run, consider incorporating the 100-up drill into your training regimen to possibly unlock newfound levels of running prowess and efficiency.

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE: Brad Dixon is a sports physio, coach and wellness evangelist at EVERFIT Physio & Coaching. He’s written a book titled Holistic Human, and believes the power is in our daily habits. Find him at everfit.co.nz or through his socials @everfitcoach.

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LET’S

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TREADING LIGHTLY | COLUMN WORDS: HILARY MCALLISTER PHOTOGRAPHY: CALUMN HOCKEY

RUNNING WITH PURPOSE

M

any people get into trail and ultra running for different reasons: to improve fitness, curiosity, to tick off a bucket list item or to test physical and mental limits.

My path to ultrarunning was a little different. I wanted to run to save a forest.

Having run trails for years but not knowing it was an actual sport, when I saw the takayna Trail event down in lutriwita/Tasmania in mid-2019, I felt drawn to do something out of my comfort zone to protect it. I wasn’t overly sporty or competitive, so I needed additional motivation to go from half marathon to ultra, and this fight to save a rainforest was just that. Training for the 65km race along windswept beaches and through ancient Gondwanan rainforests felt more doable with the knowledge that I was doing it for a reason greater than myself.

On race day, we were met with howling winds, sideways rain and unresponsive, numb fingers. And after months of training, fundraising and telling everyone why this vast stretch of the cooltemperate rainforest should be protected, the kilometres passed by rhythmically with a constant procession of smiles from strangers, conversations with fellow runners and moments of encapsulating awe.

The race itself was just a part of the experience. The real magic happened on the edge of lutriwita’s wild west coast, where I found myself surrounded by people from across the country, all united by a common cause. In that moment, I realised the power of collective action and the sense of belonging that comes from being part of a community that shares a passion.

The possibility of sports activism remained with us as we headed back to the mainland, inspiring many to use their love of trail running to effect positive environmental change. Not only has takayna Trail raised $1.6 million to support the Bob Brown Foundation’s campaign to protect takayna as a World Heritagelisted National Park and returned to Aboriginal ownership, but it’s also spurred the creation of sustainable running shoes such as Tarkine, and charity organisation focused on empowering trail runners to become wild place protectors, like For Wild Places.

Since 2019 there has been a rise in events and races fighting to protect the land they are run on. This has given rise to a growing movement of sports activism, and people are travelling across the continent to throw their support, care and passion behind different environmentally focused campaigns.

As mentioned, one of these groups is For Wild Places, which I was fortunate to co-found in 2020. Since then, it has grown to a community of more than 1,000 runners worldwide who actively

protect the wild places we love to explore.

Events are a unique way to bring people to a place they may have never heard of or had any desire to visit. A perfect example is the Pilliga Forest, located in northwest NSW. Despite being the largest area of remnant bushland on mainland Australia, this forest is unfamiliar to most. The Pilliga is home to endangered species, including the critically endangered regent honeyeater and swift parrot, but regardless it is under threat from potentially devastating coal seam gas projects.

This is why For Wild Places is bringing people to this overlooked part of NSW by hosting the Pilliga Ultra, a weekend of running, hiking, entertainment and education. In September 2024, the event will bring hundreds of people to the forest, allowing them to witness the rugged beauty of this place first-hand.

Asking people to drive for hours to run or hike 10k, 20k or 50k through an unknown location is just the beginning.

Once they arrive in the Pilliga Forest, it’s up to the forest to embolden them to take action. From the challenging sandstone trails to the vivid array of spring flowers and endless vistas of impenetrable bush, we are certain that every runner or hiker crossing that finish line will feel connected to the country and be motivated to take action to protect it.

If the wombats, wildflowers and wonderful volunteers don’t sway them, maybe the Gomeroi elders’ stories of the Yowie will.

I hope there are more events in the future that go beyond just a race, and tap into a greater purpose for the sake of our wild places.

If you’d like to join me and For Wild Places in the Pilliga, find out more and register today at www.pilligaultra.com.

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE: Hilary McAllister is an experienced yet accident-prone outdoors woman, often unmotivated ultra runner, serial nomad, political wannabe and environmental advocate. She combines her passion for exploration and environmental activism through her work at For Wild Places, a charity she co-founded that combines trail running and sports activism.

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AU.YETI.COM / NZ.YETI.COM

EVENT PREVIEW

EVENT PREVIEW ROLLER COASTER TRAIL RUN KALORAMA MEMORIAL RESERVE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA Roll up, roll up! Melbourne’s Mountain Run is coming around again on October 19. This Australian trail running classic has had a makeover: all the same races and excitement of last year’s edition jam packed into ONE action packed, fun and fantastic day rather than TWO. Whether this is your first trail run or your 100th, this weekend has it all.

Choose from the Kids Carousel 2k, 12k Twilight Mad Mouse, 23k Single Loop, 46k Double Loop Ultra, or go bananas and do both the 12k and the 23k (Full Throttle) or the 12k and 46k (Beast Mode) in the one, epic day.

The Dandenong Ranges are an easy one hour drive east from Melbourne’s city centre with the trails a mix of smooth gravel, gutsy gradients and flowy downhills through a cooling forest.

You’ll burst out of the picturesque Kalorama Memorial Reserve and cover a quick mile on the road before reaching the trails. During the downhill first section, your confidence will be sky high until you turn left and are confronted with the brutal ‘hands-on-knees’ hike that is Observatory Track. This is perhaps the steepest climb of the entire race and you’ll climb 130m of vert over just 350m at a grade of 35%.

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At the top, you’ll right turn onto Kyeema Track and follow this trail across the hillside catching a great view at the famous Burkes Lookout.

Bomb the descent down the zig zag track through tall Mountain Ash and rainforest ferns before emerging at Doongalla Picnic Area. This is the serene home of the only oncourse Aid Station, but one that you’ll loop back through on your return journey towards the finish.

From Doongalla Picnic Ground, it’s a short dash to where the challenge really begins at Dodds Track: this is a second very steep climb which is part of Roller Coaster folklore. The single track of Banksia Track that follows is an absolute cracker and after you pass through the Doongalla Aid Station for a the second time it’s a roller coaster ride all the way back to Kalorama Memorial Reserve.

EVENT Roller Coaster Trail Run WHEN 19 October 2024 DISTANCE 2k (kids), 12k, 23k, 46k EVEN MORE 12k+23k Full Throttle, 12k+46k Beast Mode WHERE Kalorama Memorial Reserve, Victoria, Australia MORE rollercoasterrun.com.au champion, course record holder in 1hr 54min and is a chance to return again in 2024.

There is a cruel madness to the 46k course design: after completing the relentless 23km loop described above, you’ll take a u-turn at the finish line and head out to do your second loop in reverse.

Can someone break the magical 4-hour mark for the Men’s and 4hrs 30min for the Women’s records on the 46km Double Loop? The record, currently set by James Barnett, stands at 4hrs 1min. The Women’s 46km Double Loop record stands at 4hrs 33min by Shivonne Sieber in 2022.

Melbourne-based Nathan Pearce has owned the 23km in the past two editions: winning in 2022 on debut before setting the course record time of 1hr 36min in 2023.

The Roller Coaster Run by SingleTrack Events: the perfect place to run with nature, and Find Your Epic.

Kate Avery is the defending 23km women’s

REGISTRATIONS CLOSE 19 OCTOBER 2024

OFF THE BEATEN

Track

THE BEST PICS FROM THE BEST PHOTOGRAPHERS CAPTURED THE MOST SCHMICK TRAIL, LANDSCAPE OR VIEW WHILE OUT FOR A RUN? TAG OUR SOCIALS HANDLE @TRAILRUNMAG ON INSTA.

CRUISE THE COAST Every year, thousands of people cross the globe to experience Australia’s most stunning running event and see the iconic beauty of the Great Ocean Road at the Great Ocean Road Running Festival, held annually in Victoria.

Image: Raceatlas

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ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

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OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

TAKE YOURSELF TO THE ULTIMATE LIMITS The Marató Dels Dements in Valenciana, Spain is a race of exceptional toughness. It’s hard – very hard. But it is one of the most amazing events you’ll ever come upon…when you’re ready.

Image: Andrés Núñez (@lastracestudio)

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ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

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OFF THE BEATEN TRACK

OPPORTUNITIES ARE LIKE SUNRISES A stunning sunrise over Hobart, Tasmania is a well-deserved reward for runners, out early on kunanyi/Mt Wellington’s iconic Organ Pipes Track. The century-old single track takes runners past snow gums, wild flowers and boulder fields.

Image: Mark Watson/kunanyi Mountain Run

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ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

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OFF THE BEATEN TRACK IT’S ALL ABOUT THE SUMMIT Ndaba Mtunzi is all smiles as he climbs from the Harris Saddle Hut to the summit of the Routeburn Track at 1,127m in New Zealand.

Image: Michael Beckmann

‘FIND ME WHERE THE MOUNTAINS MEET THE SKY’ Does a backdrop get any better than this? Craig Thomson races against the stunning backdrop of the towering Darran Mountain range during the 2024 Routeburn Classic trail run in New Zealand.

Image: Michael Beckmann

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RUN WITH OUR TEAM MOUNTAINDESIGNS.COM Photo: Harrison Candlin

E S T. 1 9 7 5

B O R N O F T H E M O U N TA I N S

FEATURE

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ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

BARKLEY’S WONDER WOMAN JASMIN PARIS: STRENGTH, CHARACTER, EMPOWERMENT

ON FRIDAY, 22 MARCH 2024 THE NOTORIOUS BARKLEY MARATHON IN THE AMERICAN STATE OF TENNESSEE SAW HISTORY UNFOLDING. THE YELLOW GATE AT FROZEN HEAD STATE PARK, SYNONYMOUS TO EVERYONE AS THE START AND FINISH OF THE EVENT, SAW FIVE FINISHERS THIS YEAR STAND IN FRONT OF IT AFTER THE 60-HOUR MARK. ONE OF THOSE BEING UK TRAIL RUNNER JASMIN PARIS, THE FIRST AND ONLY WOMAN TO EVER FINISH THE INSANELY CONFRONTATIONAL ULTRA. EDITOR KATE DZIENIS GETS THE NITTY GRITTY FROM BARKLEY’S WONDER WOMAN HERSELF, FINDING OUT HOW SHE DID IT AND SIMPLY, WHY. ARTICLE BY: KATE DZIENIS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY: JACOB ZOCHERMAN ABOVE: Jasmin Paris on loop five, as the first woman ever. But time is running out and with only some hours to go before the time-limit Jasmin has to go beyond what she has done before to create history as the first woman to finish the race. lEFT: She made it. With only 99 seconds to the time-limit Jasmin Paris created history as the first woman ever to complete the Barkley Marathons.

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FEATURE BARKLEY’S WONDER WOMAN

Notorious. Formidable. Herculean.

What words spring to mind when you hear the words ‘Barkley Marathons’?

If you’ve been running for any amount of time, chances are you’d know of this famous American ‘race’ that is as elusive to enter as it is to ride a unicorn.

Okay, maybe not that elusive, but still… you get the point.

The basics: Barkley Marathons is an ultra trail event held in Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee and is considered to be one of the challenging ultras. Having started in 1986, it holds a limit of 40 participants, and entry is by invitation only – there is no website, and we wish you the best of luck in finding out how to register.

The course consists of 5x 20-mile loops (32km) which must be completed in 60 hours with every loop run in the opposite direction, a cut off time for each loop, and participants must find between 9 and 14 books along the course, removing the page corresponding to the runner’s race number from each book as proof of completion.

The event date is never made public, and a lot of the time there are no finishers. In fact, there was an all-time total of just 17 finishers after the 2023 race and leading up to the 2024 Barkley, there was also doubt as whether or not this year would see anyone complete it.

And then came Jasmin Paris.

Do you all remember that famous photo published by the BBC in January 2019 of a woman nursing her baby at a checkpoint in the middle of a 268 mile (431km) race?

That mother runner was the UK’s Jasmin Paris, who during that race became the first woman to win it, the Montane Spine Race (from Edale, England to Kirk Yetholm, Scotland) along the Pennine Way, in an astonishing 83:12:23 – the time shattering the previous best record of 95:17:00 by Eoin Keith in 2016 and beating the previous female record of 109:54:00 in 2017 by Carol Morgan.

That was the Jasmin Paris who became the first ever woman to finish the insanely challenging Barkley Marathon this year.

The 2024 edition was exceptionally incredible to follow along, with 23 out of the 40 entrants finishing the first loop, 34

Nobody except Lazarus Lake knows when the race starts. It is given a 24 hour window to the runners on site, then one hour before the start a horn is being blown over the camp signalling that the start is one hour away. The start itself is marked by Lazarus, when he lights his cigarette. Then each runner has 60 hours to complete 5 loops.

13 making the cutoff after loop 2, and 12 making it for loop 3. High numbers in general were seen, with 7 runners beginning loop 5.

This year, five runners beat Barkley – Ihor Verys (UKR/CAN) in his debut, John Kelly (US) who made 2024 his third finish, Jared Campbell (US) with his fourth ever finish, Greig Hamilton (NZ) with 2024 being his second attempt, and Jasmin Paris (UK).

Jasmin, 40 from Edinburgh, UK explains that this year was her third attempt, and reveals to Trail Run Mag she went into the 2024 Barkley with a new mindset.

“I started running in 2008, and the longest race I’ve done is the Montane Spine Race back in 2019; that was the first time I had to contend with the challenges of multiple days of racing on very little sleep,” she says.

“What I enjoy most about trail running is that it takes me into nature every day.

I’ve always found that the natural world, especially hills, mountains and the sea, bring me a sense of perspective and peace, which is the perfect balance to my busy life as a mum of two and my work as a small animal vet and research scientist.

“I went into Barkley this year with a new level of desire and a new depth of selfbelief; for some reason, I just felt it could happen this time.

“I think it was a combination of feeling really good in myself, my training (lots of hill reps!), consistent weight training (I was definitely stronger this year)

and crucially, my prior experiences on the course, particularly in terms of navigation.”

So how tough is it really?

Well, there are no aid stations, participants are only allowed one crew member to hang at the start/finish village, and the course isn’t marked – meaning runners have to navigate with old school, traditional land navigation skills to find all the checkpoints (where the books are). It took nine years for the Barkley to get its first finisher – Mark Williams in 1995 who finished in 59:28:48, and then it wasn’t for another six years, in 2001, that the event saw its next two finishers with David Horton and Blake Wood claiming the titles.

Jasmin reveals her take on why the Barkley is so tough – and it’s not about the mileage.

“It’s not the distance, but the combination of climbing (more than twice the ascent of Everest), terrain (briars, rocks, rivers, dense undergrowth, small cliffs), the absence of trails, and the navigation, which plays a huge role,” she explains.

“There have been many previous race editions where nobody has finished at all, and even on successful years, finishing times are relatively close to the cut off.

If you add 10% to those times, which is roughly the gap between top female and male finishing times in longer trail races, that ends up being well over 60 hours.

“I think the lack of female completions at

ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

TOP photo: Jasmin Paris collapses at the end of the Barkley Marathon and is tended to. ; BOTTOM LEFT: Ihor Verys together with his support Jodi Isenor in the lead before going out on the last loop; BOTTOM RIGHT: Described as the toughest race in the world only a few make it all the way.

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FEATURE BARKLEY’S WONDER WOMAN

Jared Campbell, a three-time finisher before 2024, here on loop five .

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ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

Barkley so far is partly because it is such a tough challenge, and partly because there are fewer women participants attempting it in the first place.”

So while the number of finishers is quite small, so are the number of entrants.

Many love the appeal of Barkley, but few are as prepared as they should be to take on the wrath of the course – that’s not saying the physical training hasn’t been put in. By no means at all. It’s just hard to get ready for something you can’t necessarily do a recon with to even stand a fighting chance, especially when today’s trail runners rely on flagging and GPS systems to not get lost.

There’s also the random start time, so runners will get a 24hr notification from race organiser Gary Cantrell aka Lazarus Lake that at any time during that time frame they will have one hour until start time; then throw in everything else like terrain, elevation, distance, lack of sleep and potential surprise issues (gut,

nutrition) – basically, Laz plans to unplan everything.

So what were Jasmin’s worst and best experiences?

“My biggest challenges were on loop four, I think that’s the one most people struggle with, knowing it’s not yet the last but already being so tired,” she explains.

“Towards the end of that loop, I was really struggling to eat and my insides felt terrible. At one point, I lay down curled up for a minute in the night forest, hoping for the sick feeling to pass. The very hardest point was the final sprint through, in terms of absolute effort.

“In terms of time on the course, there were many joyful moments – the beautiful sunset on loop two, the occasional flashes of colour as butterflies darted across in front of me, the sudden feeling of being part of the forest on loop five.

Jasmin Paris’ Barkley Essentials Shoes: inov8 Mudclaws Crew: Konrad Rawlik, Husband Extraordinaire Child Minders: Parents Alena and Jeff Village Food: Pasta, porridge, rice pudding, banana Race Drinks: Coke, tea, coffee Course Nutrition: Frittata (potato, peas and ham), pizza, sandwiches (cheese and pickle, jam, banana and peanut butter), hot cross buns with butter, trail mix, Snickers bars, homemade flapjack, sweets, a few gels Items: Compass, map, headtorch, waterproofs and lightweight base layer tops TOP LEFT: Barkley Marathons where the challenges are everywhere; RIGHT: Jasmin Paris, she has just completed three loops and if she completes the fourth she will be the first woman in history to do that. BOTTOM LEFT: Each runner is allowed to have a crew-member at the beginning/end of the loop. And the only other place for them to be is in a specific place, but here they are not allowed to assist or even talk to the runner.

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FEATURE BARKLEY’S WONDER WOMAN

Sebastien Raichon is having a hard time after loop four.

2024 Barkley Marathon Finishers Ihor Verys (UKR/CAN) 58:44:59 John Kelly (US) 59:15:38 Jared Campbell (US) 59:30:32 Greig Hamilton (NZ) 59:30:32 Jasmin Paris (UK) 59:58:21

“I think the thing I loved most about my time out there though was the feeling of camaraderie with the other runners, the way we were united in our quest and our struggle.

“And on saying that, if I had to pick a single moment it would obviously be the finish, once I’d recovered my breath enough to take in the enormity of what I’d achieved for myself and women everywhere. With six hours to go to get to the gate, I calculated just how tight the time would be, and I started to push – hard. Those hours were sort of fun, I was being carried forward by adrenaline and there was the thrill of racing the clock in a race I believed I could win.

“The last descent went on forever though, and by the time I reached the final kilometre of flat/mild uphill it was obvious that time was incredibly tight.

Suddenly, I was picturing myself arriving at the gate a few seconds over time. In my exhausted state, the thought of having to come back next year and do it all again, was so awful that I forced myself to dig even deeper – to find something I didn’t know I was capable of until that point.

“My vision became sort of blurred at the edges, and all my focus was on getting to that yellow gate, no matter what it cost me. I would either reach the gate in time, or collapse trying.”

And while Jasmin has done Barkley three times now, she admits it will take a lot for 38

her to consider hitting the course again in the future.

hears, or witnesses the achievements she’s hit.

“I probably won’t go back again,” she concedes.

“My biggest hope is simply that my run at Barkley will inspire people to get out and give trail running a go,” she reveals.

“It took a lot of physical and mental effort to reach the finish, and I left it all out on the course on that final loop. I’m not sure I’d have the necessary drive to finish a second time.

“I do already look back with very fond memories, feeling rather nostalgic for the event and all the runners there, that’s what I think I will miss most next year. But flying to Barkley has also been a dilemma for me in the last few years because of my increasing concern about the climate crisis (I’m a co-founder of The Green Runners, and one of my pledges was to travel less, and avoid flying where possible – see thegreenrunners.com for more information and to get involved).

“Running in nature has brought me so much joy and so many benefits for my mental and physical health over the years, that I’m passionate about others discovering it for themselves.

“Beyond that, I hope that I can inspire others to believe in themselves and follow their dreams.

“I really think that we are all capable of far more than we assume, if we work hard and give our best.”

“Now that I’ve achieved my goal, I could no longer justify the long-distance air travel to myself.”

So as much as I’m sure many of us would love to see Jasmin do Barkley again, there are so many other adventures waiting for her and there is no doubt her name will pop up again in headlines across the globe.

While she continues her training, family life and the whole work-life balance, Jasmin leaves a lasting impression for anyone and everyone who reads, sees,

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE: Kate Dzienis is your TRM editor, and thrives on the combination of trail running and good wholefoods. With the majority of her time spent editing, writing and corralling her children, when she does get out into the wilderness it’s all about mindful running and taking in the view with cold berries.

She is 100% a back-of-the-pack runner.

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IT’S A RUNNER’S LIFE

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ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

IT'S ALL ABOUT FAMILY RUNNING IS A FAMILY AFFAIR FOR THE RUTHERFORDS, WHO ARE WELL REGARDED IN MARATHON AND ULTRA CIRCLES INTERNATIONALLY. SAMANTHA TURNBULL TALKS TO RODNEY RUTHERFORD ABOUT HIS PASSION AND HIS PLANS TO NEVER GIVE UP – NO MATTER HIS AGE.

ARTICLE BY: SAMANTHA TURNBULL PHOTOGRAPHY BY: RACINGTHEPLANET

Rodney Rutherford can lay claim to some of the most enthusiastic applause at the finish lines of trail runs across the world, but it’s not because he’s the fastest or the most famous.

The 72-year-old from Queensland’s Gold Coast hinterland is a true veteran of the sport known among the community for fostering joy and camaraderie in the more than 100 events he’s entered, and hopes to give people, especially those around his age, encouragement to think if he can do it, so can they.

For almost 40 years, Rodney has travelled to marathons and ultras always with his wife Jan and daughter Jaylene in tow as supporters.

“They’re my secret weapons, I don’t think I could compete without them,” he says.

“I like to think that running has given myself, Jan and Jaylene a life to remember. I want them to think ‘what an adventurous life we’ve had’.”

Despite his decades of experience, Rodney considers himself a late bloomer who first turned to running to help naturally manage his mental health.

“I wasn’t a runner at all and when I started my own business things weren’t going right and I’d

go to the doctor and say ‘I’m not sleeping’ and he’d say ‘no worries I’ll give you some sleeping tablets’,” Rodney recalls.

“Then I’d say ‘I’m really stressed out’ and he’d say ‘I’ll give you something else’. Then I’d go back and say ‘I’m down’ and he’d say ‘OK, anti-depressants.’

“Then I started thinking ‘I’m starting to rattle here,’ so one day I just went home and chucked it all in the bin and started running instead.”

Rodney ran 1km on his first attempt and the next day completed 2km.

“I thought I was going to die at first,” he laughs.

“But it made me feel good about myself, and from there it evolved.”

A friend talked Rodney into training for a 30km road event called the Bay to Bay in South Africa, where he was living at the time. From there, he ran a marathon 20 seconds shy of the qualifying time for the prestigious 56km Two Oceans Ultra, but the organiser let him enter anyway. Then, it was onto what Rodney describes as his first ‘big one’: the Comrades 90km.

“I got to 80km and I met this fella who said ‘we’ll never finish’ and it sucked all of the energy out of me and I threw the towel in,” he says.

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IT’S A RUNNER’S LIFE RUNNING IS MEDICINE

The breathtaking scenery is always worth it for Rodney. Photograph – RacingThePlanet.

“That was the real beginning of my running career and after that I did nine more Comrades.”

It was another Comrades event that also taught Rodney the power of having his family on the sideline.

“I was at the 60km mark and I was finished, my legs weren’t going and I started ripping my number off,” he says.

“Jaylene would’ve been six years old, and she came hurtling out of the crowd and grabbed my hand and ran with me for about a kilometre. I get tearful even just telling the story, but she said ‘Come on, Dad, you can do it,’ then she disappeared 42

into the crowd and I ran through to the end without a problem.

“That’s when I realised how powerful the mind is too.”

Rodney completed about half a dozen long distance events every year, earning permanent guaranteed bibs for many of South Africa’s established marathons.

When he returned to Australia 25 years ago, he discovered an even stronger passion for trail events.

“My first ever trail run was the UTA 100km and that was quite a challenge, but now I’m mainly into trail running because of the beautiful places it takes me,” he says.

Rodney is now a ‘UTA legend’ after completing 13 of the 100km events in Australia’s Blue Mountains. He’s also a part of the RacingThePlanet ‘4 Deserts Club’ after competing in the series’ Gobi March (China), Sahara Race (Egypt), Atacama Crossing (Chile) and The Last Desert (Antarctica), as well as extra RacingThePlanet events in Australia, Nepal, Iceland, Sri Lanka, Patagonia and New Zealand.

“At first I didn’t know how anyone could run marathon after marathon and then a double marathon until they’ve reached 250km, but I gave it a shot without having any idea if I could do it,” Rodney says.

ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

Rodney competing in th e 2016 Last Desert Antarctica.

Photograph – RacingT hePlanet.

2016 finish line of the wife Jan at the ph – RacingThePlanet. his th wi ey dn Ro ra tarctica. Photog Last Desert An

Rodney is hugged by his wife Jan and daughter Jaylene at the end of a run across the Sahara Desert in 2010.

Photograph – the Rutherford Family.

at the ghter Jaylene lps in au d s hi h it w Rodney e Swiss A arathon in th ord Family.

M h oc uj ra Jungf Rutherf graph – the 1997. Photo

Jan, Rodney and Jaylene Rutherford in Patagonia in 2017. Photograph – the Rutherford Family.

hePlanet’s Nepal 2011.

Crossing the finish line at RacingT Photograph – RacingThePlanet.

Rodney surrounded by spe

ctators at The North Fa ce 100 finish line.

Photograph – the Ruther ford family.

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IT’S A RUNNER’S LIFE RUNNING IS MEDICINE

Rodney pushes on in RacingThePlanet’s 2019 New Zealand edition. Photograph – RacingThePlanet.

“It was absolutely fantastic and, in fact, I got stronger with each day. I think it was the scenery, and seeing places that are too fantastic for words. That’s the thing about all my running – the places we go to and being together with my family.”

Jan and Jaylene volunteer at Rodney’s events as everything from timekeepers to sweepers, which they all agree can be even more taxing than competing.

“You’re the last to bed and first to wake up because you have to be out on the course ahead of the runners, and always cheerful,” Jan says.

“We don’t have relaxing holidays, but we’ve loved it - we’ve seen some amazing parts of the world.”

Rodney says, apart from his family, he doesn’t have any secrets to his longevity in the sport. He’s never used a coach but does adapt his training to suit the events on his calendar.

“If I’m doing the UTA 100 I’ll focus my training on stairs, if I’m doing the UTMB 44

I’ll concentrate on big steep hills, if I’m doing the Gold Coast Marathon I’ll focus on road running for a while,” he says.

“Jan and I are very active and we live a very Mediterranean lifestyle in terms of what we eat, but I still have a few beers to rehydrate. With nutrition in the races, I keep it simple – maybe a banana, some arrowroot biscuits, and Jan brings me mashed potato in the night.”

While he’s never been an elite runner, Rodney does admit he’s slowed down in recent years. He now focuses on choosing events with welcoming atmospheres and generous cut-offs, but he’s undeterred by the prospect of being at the back of the pack.

“These days, I come in as a final runner, but I still feel that freedom and at peace with myself when I’m running,” he says.

“I don’t see myself as ever stopping. I’ll continue as long as my body allows.”

And it’s a goal that his family supports.

“Rod is at his happiest when he’s running,” Jan says.

“If he’s in a bad mood, I’ll tell him to go for a run, and it will make him feel better.

“It’s as simple as that.”

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE: Samantha Turnbull has been a journalist/writer for 20+ years, but only started running (well, shuffling) in 2019.

She’s a self-described slowpoke, but loves the camaraderie of trail events and the feeling of fierceness as she crosses the finish line after a long race. Her fave trail is the Motatapu in NZ.

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RUNNING ON IMPACT

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ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

FIVE DAYS OF

Frost

TRAIL RUNNING – IT’S NOT JUST ABOUT STRIPPED WIDE-OPEN BUSH, DENSE FOREST OR RIGOROUS AND DEMANDING MOUNTAIN RANGES. THERE’S A LOT OF SNOW AND ICE OUT THERE TOO, AND MANY RUNNERS LOVE, LOVE, LOVE TO HIT THE SOFT PILLOWY STUFF THAT FALLS FROM THE SKY. EARLIER THIS YEAR IN FEBRUARY, THAI-BORN AUSSIE MUM SIA KINDBERG BECAME THE FIRST AUSTRALIAN WOMAN EVER TO RACE, AND COMPLETE, THE ARDUOUS 230KM ICE ULTRA ARCTIC MARATHON IN SWEDEN, PUSHING HERSELF THROUGH KNEE-HIGH SNOW AND CROSSING FROZEN WATERWAYS TO GET TO THAT FINISH LINE. SHE REVEALS THE HIGHS, AND THE LOWS, TO OUR VERY OWN EDITOR KATE DZIENIS.

ARTICLE BY: KATE DZIENIS PHOTOGRAPHY BY: MIKKEL BEISNER / BEYOND THE ULTIMATE

Bundled in the warmest possible yet lightweight jackets and everything in between for everything else, bodies move a little bit slower through the thickets of snow when running in a 230km race that takes in the heart of Sweden – the Ice Ultra.

The brain processes things differently when you’re exposed to -40 degree temps in Swedish Lapland, the Arctic part of Sweden classified as Europe’s last remaining wilderness of the indigenous Sami people. Here you can bear witness to the Northern Lights, the midnight

sun, and immerse yourself in the arctic lifestyle that is so deeply rooted in nature.

The Ice Ultra is 5 stages in 5 days across snowfields and Arctic tundra, there’s a 15km frozen lake, and your location only gives you 8 hours of daylight. And I suppose some of you – not all of you – are asking, but why?

Well, for Thai-born 42yo interior designer and mother of two Sia Kindberg, from Moonee Ponds in Melbourne, Vic the decision to enter the Ice Ultra was as easy as breathing. The thought of

being completely alone, isolated, doing everything self-sufficiently in an extreme environment where minor mistakes could potentially cost her everything, was highly highly attractive for her.

“I knew that the Ice Ultra would test my endurance, stamina and self-sufficient skills, my mental capacity…I wanted to see endless white snow-covered mountains, long days of darkness and extreme snow blizzards,” she reveals as we chat about the ‘why’.

“Among the chaos, there is something 47

RUNNING ON IMPACT A FRIGID FIVE FROSTY DAYS

simple and beautiful about it – it’s pure survival. You’re left at Mother Nature’s mercy.”

There was a method to Sia’s madness though, a devout reason behind the urge to accomplish something so big.

“The thought of fear dictating my life and me giving up before I’d even started scared me more than the thought of frostbite or hypothermia,” she explains.

“When my friend Andzelika battled with cancer that took her speech, mobility, and eventually her life…I was so ashamed I’d been watching the Ice Ultra from a distance for so many years, too scared to sign up. During the time of Andzelika’s fight, I’d received the news of a childhood friend, Greng, in Thailand who also had terminal cancer.

The school desperately needed work done to it, and so the idea was born to run the Ice Ultra while at the same time raising funds to fix it.

“Inspiration came in many forms that day.”

With the Ice Ultra kicking off in February 2024, Sia needed to get into gear early.

She started training one year ahead of its start, having to juggle limited long runs with raising young children on her own and running a household, but surprisingly, despite those challenges, Sia’s biggest concerns were around equipment.

“The most difficult part of the preparation was getting my head around the right gear selection,” she said.

“I said my goodbyes to Andzelika and flew to Thailand to do the same to Greng, which I took as a complete privilege to be able to do. And while back home in Thailand, it gave me the space and worldly views to reflect on how far I’d come in life.

“I was lucky that Bogong Equipment supplied me with everything I needed, and it helped so very much. Looking back, I don’t think I really understood what all the training involved; I mean, we get wet snow in the Victorian alpine region, and the temps only drop down to perhaps -8 degrees.

“After visiting my childhood school, I decided something needed to be done to repair it – I needed to raise money for it.

“Most of my snowshoe running was done on the beach, but that in itself can be extremely dangerous if you get hit by big

48

waves, you’re stuck with snowshoes and can’t swim…unfortunately I learnt the hard way.

“Finding a fridge to train in at Melbourne University was a blessing though. The fridge at the engineering faculty was set at -23 degrees and with 10 commercial fans blowing, it felt more like -35 degrees.”

Sia originally placed a treadmill inside the fridge, but the machine only lasted 45 minutes and would break down due to the extreme temps. In the end, she decided to skip the treadmill and simply run up and down inside the fridge for hours.

Training in the fridge wasn’t about getting Sia’s fitness level up; it was about being aware of the potential disasters that could happen during the Ice Ultra, where little things could easily become big things, like undoing clips with gloves on, drinking water before it froze over, and knowing what materials could keep her warm without absorbing moisture.

Making it to the start line was the hardest part for Sia. Working full time as a single mother with no family support in Australia made Sia’s training difficult, but she tried to focus on what she could do instead of what she couldn’t do.

ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

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RUNNING ON IMPACT A FRIGID FIVE FROSTY DAYS

“You need to know yourself and your emotions,” she reveals.

“You need to know what are the emotions that come out of you when you are at your lowest and darkest moments… identify them, pay attention to them, and know that they will eventually disappear.

It’s about continuing to move forward, and once you’ve experienced that, it will be easier to accept the dark moments.

“Finding the right balance of training, ensuring there are no injuries, no sicknesses…finding the proper gear and shoes…every single item was so personal.

It was a lot of trying and failing.”

When conquering any event, whether it be a 5km race or a 300km expedition, Sia advises that the most important mental or emotional factor you need to take into consideration is acceptance.

“Accepting that you are going to be in pain, despair, feeling left out, having a bad run…it’s going to feel terrible at times, but just remember how much you

• • • • • 50

wanted this when you signed up for it, and that your emotions are a part of you,” she says.

may use you – just make sure that when you do use your emotions, it’s done in a productive way, not destructive.

For Sia, it was a dream she’d had for so long, and admits that she didn’t see the big fuss about it. In my honest opinion, runners are a humble type of human; it’s why I love interviewing them so much.

And Sia couldn’t be any more humble – it’s what made her so successful with the Ice Ultra, and when asked how she feels representing women and inspiring female athletes across the world, her answer is down to earth and modest.

“I really hope that when people think of me finishing the Ice Ultra, it makes them think, ‘if this little person with young children on her own, working full time, can do this, then I can too!’.

“Everyone has dreams,” she reiterates.

Ice Ultra Stages

• • • • •

Stage 1: Kungledsen 50km Stage 2: Kabla 42km Stage 3: The Lakes 42km Stage 4: Sami 65km Stage 5: The Spring 15km

“Mine are just…different. It wasn’t my intention to inspire others to be honest, but it’s a wonderful feeling. I don’t think people should live with regrets; regrets are a big fear, and fear for me makes me angry with myself. But then that anger drives me to achieve my goals.

“You can use all your emotions, and if you don’t use them, sometimes they

There are 57 pieces of mandatory kit items runners are required to have on them during the Ice Ultra There are an additional 13 ‘useful items’ also highly suggested by race directors Minimum daily calorie intake is 2,000 A night bag is permitted, which can be transported by the race team and handed to participants at the end of each stage The 2025 Ice Ultra is already sold out

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE: Kate Dzienis is your TRM editor, and thrives on the combination of trail running and good wholefoods. With the majority of her time spent editing, writing and corralling her children, when she does get out into the wilderness it’s all about mindful running and taking in the view with cold berries.

She is 100% a back-of-the-pack runner.

A LOCALS GUIDE

FROM

Cityto Trail QUICKER THAN YOU CAN PUT ON A PAIR OF TOE SOCKS

IN THE MIDST OF A BUSY LIFE, IT CAN BE DIFFICULT TO FIND THE TIME TO HEAD OUT TO TRAILS THAT ARE FAR AWAY. YOUR INBOX IS OUT OF CONTROL, WORK DEADLINES ARE MOUNTING, AND YOUR BOSS HAS YOU TRAVELLING EVERYWHERE EVERY MONTH. AT TRM, WE WANT OUR TRAIL RUNNERS TO GET THE MOST OUT OF HITTING THE GREAT OUTDOORS, AND THAT DOESN’T MEAN HAVING TO DRIVE TWO OR THREE HOURS TO GET THERE. TIFFANY WATSON HAS PUT TOGETHER A LIST OF THE BEST TRAIL RUNS UNDER AN HOUR AWAY FROM YOUR CLOSEST AUSSIE CBD. *WE WILL BE FEATURING A SIMILAR ARTICLE IN THE NEXT EDITION OF TRAIL RUN MAGAZINE WITH NEW ZEALAND’S TRAILS CLOSE TO CITY CENTRES! ARTICLE BY: TIFFANY WATSON | PHOTOGRAPHY BY: TIFFANY WATSON, VISIT TASMANIA, WERRIBEE GORGE STATE PARK, VISIT VICTORIA, LEONIE LLOYD, JEN VERION, CRAIG LOOSEMORE 52

ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

It happens. Sometimes you switch the bush for treadmills, cruisy downhills for pavement bashing, and your foam roller’s been gathering dust for weeks on end.

But what if you could be on the trails in under an hour?

The number of nature trails in or around our Australian cities is more than you think.

Even Melbourne has some spectacular national parks and gorges all under an hour from the CBD. So, dust off your foam roller, prep your packs, and get ready to be racing along technical tracks, and puffing up punchy hills before you have time to put on your toe socks.

Keep your eyes open for wildlife along the way because you’ll be surprised who you might share your run with.

Melbourne A trip to Melbourne wouldn’t be complete without clocking your time on the Tan Track. Sadly, getting close to the records set by Olympic runners Craig Mottram and Jessica Hull is off the cards for most of us. Plus, you’re probably looking for something with a little more dirt.

MAIN YARRA TRAIL | 18KM START: FAIRFIELD BOATHOUSE | FINISH: SOUTHBANK You don’t have to venture far from the city to find some nature filled trails. The Yarra River Trail in Yarra Bend Park is just 15 minutes from the centre and perfect for a morning or sunset trot. What it lacks in flowing single tracks, it makes up for in accessibility to the metro area, and beautiful views of the river throughout. For a great view of the city head to Wurundjeri Spur Lookout and if you go at dusk, look out for the famous local bats.

WERRIBEE GORGE CIRCUIT WALK | 10KM CIRCULAR TRAIL For technical tracks and punchy hills, head out to Werribee Gorge State Park. Fifty minutes from Melbourne centre you’re met with wild, rugged natural beauty shaped by 500 million years of geological history.

A range of challenging trails amid the steep, river-washed gorges will keep even the most experienced trail runner on their toes.

Test your agility on the ‘iron way’, a 50m section of trail consisting of metal cables held with iron pins to assist you along the narrow rocky trail along the riverbed.

LEFT PAGE: Enjoy the stunning scenery along the Yarra River in Melbourne, Vic. Photograph – Visit Victoria.

THIS PAGE: Circuit Walk at Werribee Gorge State Park, Vic. Photograph – Werribee Gorge State Park.

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A LOCALS GUIDE HIT THE BEST TRAILS UNDER AN HOUR FROM THE CITY

Hobart Those living in Hobart are spoilt for choice! Run from the city in almost any direction and you can be on the trails within six minutes. Hobart Trail Runners’ favourite spot is the summit of Knocklofty. This ‘High Hill’ is home to an incredible network of bush trails that are conveniently the closest to the CBD.

SUMMIT LOOP, KNOCKLOFTY RESERVE | 4KM CIRCULAR TRAIL Six minutes from the centre of Hobart, Knocklofty is an outdoor lover’s playground. Jog through the forest foothills of Mt Wellington along the Summit Loop path, past many highlights including ‘Frog Ponds’, a rehabilitated dam now a wetland habitat teaming with life!

ORGAN PIPES TRACK | 9.2KM KUNANYI/MOUNT WELLINGTON If you’re after something a little longer, the Organ Pipes Track is a great runnable trail. Plenty of cruisy, downhill single track, mesmerising forests, and selfie-worthy views. A 20-minute drive from the CBD this diverse loop passes historic huts and the curious geological features called The Organ Pipes – one of the most distinctive features on kunanyi, the columns of dolerite (120m) were formed as subsurface molten rock cooled and contracted into regular hexagonal pillars. Local trail runners connect this trail with the Pinnacle and Zig Zag tracks for some added elevation and enjoyable downhills.

The beautiful summit of Mount Wellington/kunanyi, Tas. Photograph – Visit Tasmania.

Adelaide

Sydney

In just over 20 minutes you can go from patting the Rundle Mall bronze pigs in central Adelaide, to the trail head of Mount Lofty.

With pristine trails this close to the city, it’s no wonder the Adelaide trail running scene is exploding. Exciting new events and series throughout the year have created a fantastic trail running community.

Trail running in Sydney is a little more populated than other cities but no less beautiful. Rugged coastlines and historic lighthouses have created a web of interconnecting trails in and around the CBD. A celebrated trail destination is Manly. The scenic ferry ride from Circular Quay takes around 20 minutes but the trails you hit when you get there offer some of the best views in Sydney.

STEUB TRAIL TO MT. LOFTY SUMMIT | 7KM CLELAND NATIONAL PARK The Steub Trail is a favourite with the Adelaide Trail Runners.

Owner and founder of the club Brett Crosby claims this ‘a downhill lover’s dream trail’ Enjoy panoramic views across Adelaide’s city skyline to the coast before the flowing descent back to the start.

PENGANA SPUR TRACK & CHAMBERS GULLY LOOP | 11KM CLELAND NATIONAL PARK The Pengana Spur Track will get your calves burning; it’s 1.4km in length and with over 100m of elevation, after only a few reps your legs will be indestructible. If you have more time, resident trail runners recommend combining Pengana Spur Track with Chambers Gully Loop for the perfect 11km trail run.

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SPIT BRIDGE TO MANLY | 10.5KM SYDNEY HARBOUR NATIONAL PARK This popular route is normally done from Spit Bridge to Manly, but if you’re coming from the ferry you might want to start in Manly. The trail follows the Manly Scenic Walkway all the way to Spit Bridge. You’ll be passing sandy beaches, ancient Aboriginal sites, stunning viewpoints.

HARBOUR BRIDGE TO SPIT BRIDGE | 16KM SYDNEY HARBOUR NATIONAL PARK Tread the paths of history along this superbly scenic route.

Starting on the iconic Sydney Harbour Bridge the path passes harbour fortifications and Federation homes, then takes you through beautiful bushland and rainforest remnants.

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Perth Perth is full of surprises when it comes to trails, home to one of the world’s largest inner-city parks, Kings Park, as well as the third longest hiking trail in Australia, the Bibbulmun Track.

With multiple interconnecting trails throughout the park the routes are endless. The terrain is gentle with tracks past unique native bush land and botanical gardens.

The latter will take you through ancient jarrah forests, dotted with balga and zamia plants and up granite monadnock summits.

KALAMUNDA TO HEWITTS HUT BIBBULMUN | 20.8KM KALAMUNDA NATIONAL PARK

KINGS PARK | 2KM – 12KM PERTH CBD This beautiful inner-city park is home to the spectacular WA Botanic Garden, which displays more than 3,000 species of the state’s unique flora.

Kalamunda marks the start of the Bibbulmun Track, the third longest hiking trail in Australia.

This popular section is well marked and a favourite route for local trail runners. The terrain is with about 750m of elevation.

Enjoy views across Piesse Brook, a waterfall in winter, and lots of wildflowers in spring.

Kalamunda to Hewitts Hut, WA. Photograph – Tiffany Watson.

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A LOCALS GUIDE HIT THE BEST TRAILS UNDER AN HOUR FROM THE CITY

Brisbane Shh! Don’t tell anyone but Brisbane has some fantastic city trails. It might be a little hot and sticky but if you can handle the heat, you’re in for some trail running fun along these tracks.

Plus, you might spot a koala or tawny frogmouth along the way.

SEVEN HILLS BUSHLAND RESERVE | 3KM – 7KM BRISBANE SUBURBS About 15 minutes from the CBD this 50ha bushland area in southern suburbia is an undiscovered trail haven. There are two main loops within the park, the Seven Hills Circuit and the Ridge Track loop. Unwind with a gentle 5-7km along these

wide undulating paths shaded by gum trees and grey-trunked eucalypts.

MT COOT-THA RESERVE | 5KM – 25KM BRISBANE SUBURBS Disconnect from city life along the extensive trails found in Mt Coot-tha Reserve. About 15 minutes from the city and you’re surrounded by 1,600ha of open Eucalypt forest and 70 routes to choose from. If the number of trails doesn’t impress you, then the sweeping view of the city from Mt Coot-tha lookout surely will. There’s even a café at the top so you can enjoy a morning coffee before heading down.

Circuit Walk at Werribee Gorge State Park, Vic. Photograph – Werribee Gorge State Park.

Canberra

Darwin

Affectionately known as the ‘Bush Capital’ this unique planned city is the only Aussie capital that isn’t on the coast. Surrounded by mountains, native bushland and the National Arboretum, Canberra has an abundant amount of picture-perfect trails.

Not all crocs and sunsets, Darwin has some great central trails to discover too. With monsoon and mangrove forests this unique landscape is home to some of Australia’s most deadly wildlife. Remember to stick to the path at all times.

KOKODA TRACK | 4.5KM MOUNT AINSLIE NATURE RESERVE

EAST POINT SCIENCE TRAIL | 7.3KM EAST POINT RESERVE

It’s hard to miss Mt Ainslie standing in solidarity behind the Australian War Memorial. With a height of 843m this trail offers great elevation for you all hill lovers. The track follows the Kokoda Trail to the summit and is well worth the climb for the great views of Canberra and the best way to take in capitals magnificent setting and international award-winning design features.

This trail is a coast wonderland with Mangrove forests and elevated boardwalks protecting you from the snappy locals below. Whilst you do have to keep your eyes peeled for lurking residents, you’re well protected by the walkways and railings.

Explore the winding trails through the monsoon forest home to many native birds including the Pied Imperial Pigeons and Rose-crowned Fruit-doves.

Whilst out trail running, there is always a chance you’ll spot unique wildlife in Tassie. Photograph – Visit Tasmania.

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INSIDER KNOWLEDGE: From the coastal paths in Cornwall, UK to the high passes in Nepal and more recently the pea gravel turns around the Perth Hills, Tiffany Watson has been a trail lover since her early teens.

She has competed in ultras across NSW, WA and the UK and now uses her passion for trails to encourage more people to hit the single tracks.

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FEATURE

MENTAL FITNESS

10 THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND ON YOUR NEXT RUN 58

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TO TRAIN AND RACE SUCCESSFULLY, WE SPECIFICALLY PREPARE OUR BODIES FOR THE DEMANDS OF OUR GOALS, BUT PHYSICAL FITNESS IS ONLY PART OF THE STORY. MENTAL FITNESS DICTATES WHETHER WE MEET OUR TRUE POTENTIAL. FORTUNATELY, ‘MENTAL MUSCLE’ IS HIGHLY TRAINABLE. HERE ARE 10 ‘NUGGETS’ FROM SPORTS AND EXERCISE PHYSIOLOGY AND PSYCHOLOGY TO HONE YOUR MENTAL FITNESS AND ELEVATE YOUR RUNNING. ARTICLE BY: JO WOOD

01 - WHAT IS MENTAL FITNESS? Mental fitness has been described as the struggle to continue against a mounting desire to quit. More concisely, it’s a capacity to endure. Being mentally equipped to over-ride the desire to quit enables us to achieve challenging goals. Invest in your mental fitness through running. The skills are transferable to other areas of life.

02 - HOW DOES HUMAN ENDURANCE MANIFEST? Human endurance has physical and mental components.

Physical endurance is assessed in laboratories by measuring HRmax, VO2max, lung capacity and lactate threshold. It’s also studied using time to exhaustion experiments on a treadmill or bike. Outside the lab, training improves physical endurance. Our racing performances reflect physical endurance…plus mental endurance.

Mental endurance is difficult to study. Attempts have been made but results are inconclusive. History demonstrates the impact of belief. The 4-minute mile was considered impossible until Roger Bannister proved otherwise in 1954, with the record being broken many times since. The sub-2-hour marathon is now believed to be achievable since Eliud Kipchoge’s 1:59 (unofficial) marathon in 2019 (INEOS 1:59 Challenge, Vienna).

Arbitrary time goals influence mental endurance as seen be significantly greater marathon finish times around the hourmark. The Finisher’s Kick is unleashed at the sight of a finish line – in bodies that felt broken moments before. Mental endurance seems to manifest according to feel (how hard…?) and duration (…for how long?). Assessment of both determines whether we enter the pain cave…or not.

03 - WHAT LIMITS HUMAN ENDURANCE? Studies by British Physiologist A.V Hill in the early 1920s concluded human endurance was limited by a physiological parameter. He viewed the body as a machine with a fixed endurance capacity defined by VO2max. He acknowledged a role for the brain, but only in determining how close individuals approach this pre-determined endurance limit.

In the 1980s, South African Scientist Tim Noakes disputed roles of physiological parameters (muscle fatigue or VO2max) in endurance limits. Laboratory studies demonstrated that contractile muscle tissue could function beyond VO2max; elite marathoners can have low VO2max; and physiological limits to endurance can be over-ridden (Finishers’ Kick; arbitrary time goals). Arctic Explorers who fail their missions often do so before any physical capacity is exceeded. He concluded something other than physiological limits determines endurance: the brain.

04 - DOES THE BRAIN HAVE A CENTRAL GOVERNOR? This pivot from a body-centric to brain-centric limit of endurance lead to Noakes’ Central Governor Theory (CGT). In CGT, the brain limits endurance in advance via subconscious mechanisms, shielding us from failure before true failure is reached. Noakes believed the brain achieves this by shutting down physical activity before (not when) warnings exceed critical thresholds. Survival being the brain’s priority, CGT implies reserves of endurance are retained for emergencies.

CGT allows this subconscious control to be overridden by the conscious mind, explaining the Finisher Kick and time goal phenomena.

Despite advances in brain imaging technology, the Central Governor (CG) still hasn’t been identified. It can be consciously overruled, or with caffeine and analgesics, making its existence uncertain. Marathon World Records are set despite debilitating dehydration, which is contrary to CGT. Whether CGT accounts for endurance limits or not, thoughts of emergency reserves of energy can be very powerful.

05 - OR DOES THE BRAIN LIMIT ENDURANCE BY RPE OR ‘FEEL’?

In 2011, Italian Scientist Samuele Marcora proposed an alternative theory for the brain’s control of endurance. Using data from time to exhaustion studies, he concluded the brain assesses everything that impacts effort, then assigns a Relative level of Perceived Exertion (RPE) score. When something feels hard on a scale of 1-10 (RPE 10), endurance is limited. RPE as the brain’s mechanism for limiting endurance explains why 59

FEATURE MENTAL FITNESS: 10 THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND ON YOUR NEXT RUN

its settings are modified by caffeine, analgesics, fatigue, or emotional stress. They each influence how hard something feels, thus impacting exercise performance.

RPE is valuable in our running because the brain rapidly monitors absolutely everything that impacts effort in each moment. Data from all the body’s physiological systems; the external environment; and our emotional state, are integrated in overall RPE. Brains are smarter than smart watches.

Caffeine studies prove RPE can be lowered to improve endurance. Caffeine lessens the impact of fatigue on endurance and improves sports performance by reducing RPE. It does this by inhibiting pain receptors in the central nervous system.

Motivation lowers RPE to improve endurance, as shown by studies where athletes’ endurance increased with financial incentives. But Olympic gold medal contenders are equally motivated to win. So, what else influences endurance?

06 - MENTAL TOUGHNESS PROVIDES THE EDGE In 2016, American triathlete, coach and psychologist Joanna Zeiger coined the term Mental Toughness (MT) in The Sisu Study. Her research identified tangible, and trainable, attributes in high-performing athletes via The Sisu Quiz. She concluded MT provides the edge, on top of physical and mental endurance, for outstanding sports performances.

07 - THE 8 COMPONENTS OF MT See our breakout box (overleaf) for the eight components of MT – and just one example of many ways you can improve each of them. In the Sisu Study, successful athletes did not require high MT scores in ALL eight components. They could afford to be weaker in some areas because it’s the overall MT profile (Sisu Score) that’s important and scoring is unequally weighted.

Improving one component of MT boosts overall MT. Good to know!

Like physical training, improving, and retaining MT requires consistent practice. Start building MT training into your schedule TODAY. Being mentally tough most of the time (practicing often) means you can be mentally tough when it counts (during your goal race).

Rather than a single entity, MT is defined as a psychological resource comprising eight components for achieving goaldirected pursuits. The goal-directed behaviour of MT is modifiable, trainable, and transferable to other areas of life.

I LOVE this as it resonates with my key reason for founding Aspire2 in 2018.

08 - IMPROVING MT (A HOLISTIC INVESTMENT) The Sisu Study and copious other research confirm multitude benefits of mental fitness. Improving components of MT is a self-fulfilling cycle. Mentally tough athletes performed better in races, and were more confident, optimistic, and resilient, than less mentally fit peers. They were unafraid of challenge and reported more JOY in their sport, correlating with greater performance success. Inject a healthy dose of FUN into your running. Outside of sport, mentally fit athletes enjoyed happier relationships, and improved well-being and life-satisfaction.

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They were less stressed, had higher pain tolerance, lower incidence of illness, faster recovery from injury, and greater academic- and career success.

Improving modifiable and trainable elements of MT is worthwhile.

09 - SELF AWARENESS Self-awareness is a variation on the MT theme. It measures character based on the Self-Awareness Triad comprising confidence; self-belief; and self-esteem. Like the MT

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components, those of self-awareness are interrelated; improveand are improved by- sporting performance; and transfer to other areas of life. Improvements in one area boosts the other two. Conversely, deterioration in either area forms a negative feedback loop (The Evil Triad). A bad race causes us to doubt our ability; to feel bad about ourselves; and knocks our confidence in future races. Ah, that explains it…

Cultivate self-awareness by appropriate goal setting. Set SMART goals (Specific, Measurable, Achievable, Realistic, Time-dependent). Include short-, medium- and long-term

versions for continued motivation and celebrate these regular milestones. Identify process- and outcome goals to cover all basis.

10 - MINDSET Perfect performances are rare. Impeccable conditions and precise execution of racing strategies are required. Conditions are hard to control, but strategy execution is within our control and can be improved via MT. One final ingredient is required for perfect performances: the right mindset.

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FEATURE MENTAL FITNESS: 10 THINGS TO KEEP IN MIND ON YOUR NEXT RUN

8 COMPONENTS OF MENTAL TOUGHNESS AND HOW TO IMPROVE EACH CONFIDENCE Belief in your ability to achieve goals Review your past experiences of success CONSTANCY Combination of ownership, attitude & focus Honest post-race debriefs CONTROL Perceived ability to bring about desired outcomes Be aware where your attention is; change attentional focus if required DETERMINATION Your commitment to your goal Focus on the process, not the outcome VISUALISATION Tool of the imagination (ALL 5 senses & emotions) Richly imagine your ideal race outcome - and its antithesis SELF-BELIEF Thoughts & feelings, about yourself Develop a positive self-identity SELF-TALK Your internal dialogue Vocabulary is important – choose your words wisely SELF-ESTEEM A blend of your self-belief & competence Build self-esteem in multiple areas of your life. When facing setbacks in one area (an injury impacting your sport), your positive identity will prevail elsewhere

Mindset is within our control and can be improved with training. In her book ‘Mindset’, American Psychologist Carol Dweck demonstrates how beliefs about our capabilities influence our ability to learn, dictating the paths our lives take.

Dweck distinguished two mindsets: fixed and growth. People with a fixed mindset believe in unmodifiable, innate qualities – we’re born smart. They avoid challenge; are discouraged by failure; focus on outcome goals and are non-learners. A typical response from a fixed mindset person would be “I can’t do it.”

People with a growth mindset believe qualities can be cultivated through effort - that we can become smart. They seek- and thrive on challenge; are not afraid of failure; focus on process goals; and are learners. A typical response from a growth mindset person would be “I can’t do it YET.” Growth mindset people enjoy greater success in sport; AND in family-, social, working and personal lives. Growth mindset is worth cultivating - the body/mind connection is real and immensely powerful.

Which of these 10 nuggets of mental fitness research speaks to YOU? How will you use it to improve your mental fitness?

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JO’S TOP 5 RECOMMENDED BOOKS FOR IMPROVED MENTAL FITNESS • Endure

by Alex Hutchinson • The Champion Mindset

by Joanna Zeiger • Measure YOUR Mental Toughness (MT) with The Sisu Quiz: sisu.racereadycoaching.com/ • Mindset

by Carol Dweck • The Brave Athlete

by Simon Marshall and Lesley Paterson • Peak Performance

by Brad Stulburg & Steve Magness

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE: Jo Wood is a strength and run coach at Aspire2, Level 3 high performance road, trail and ultra Coach (Athletics Australia) and Level 2 coach with TrainingPeaks. She has an Immunology PhD and a background as a senior medical writer. Get more info on Jo at aspire2fitness.com.au

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THE BEST VIEW COMES AFTER THE HARDEST TREK EVEREST BASE CAMP, AND THE GREAT MT EVEREST ITSELF, IS A CLASSIC BUCKET LIST ITEM – AND DESERVEDLY SO. THE SCENERY IS STUNNING, YOU’RE AMONGST ONE OF THE WORLD’S GREATEST NATURAL MARVELS, AND AS A PINNACLE OF TREKKING IS CONSIDERED PHYSICALLY DEMANDING. THE NORTH FACE ATHLETE DAVID BYRNE RECAPS HIS ADVENTURE AT EVEREST BASE CAMP IN DECEMBER 2023, WHERE HE AND MAJELL BACKHAUSEN TOOK TO THE SNOWY CRESTS OF A SERENE LANDSCAPE THAT SIMPLY TOOK THEIR BREATH AWAY.

CONTRIBUTED BY: DAVID BYRNE PHOTOGRAPHY BY: MAJELL BACKHAUSEN

The Everest Base Camp trek is one of the most iconic routes on the planet. There are few outdoor enthusiasts who wouldn’t love to see this remarkable part of the world.

I’ve been lucky enough to spend quite a bit of time in Nepal, and every visit brings with it new experiences and an even deeper love and respect for the people, culture and natural wonders the country is brimming with.

On this occasion I was there with a unique purpose, to help a friend become the first paraplegic to walk using braces to base camp.

His story is truly inspiring and worthy of an entire issue of the magazine, so I won’t go into detail about it, as a couple paragraphs wouldn’t do it justice. But let’s just say that over 11 days he ground his way through the 54km journey from Lukla to EBC, along the way going from 2,850m at the start and reaching the thin

air of 5,364m at the famed rock of EBC. Joining me on the trip was a team of local guides and porters, whom without their kindness, hard work and humility we never would have made it. I’ve got the wonderful folks from Take On Nepal to thank for this.

Also along for the ride was Majell Backhausen. He’s been a good mate of mine for a number of years and we had long spoken about doing some epic missions together, beyond the trail races that normally see us meeting up.

Upon reaching the end of the inspiring hike to base camp, I’d arranged a helicopter to get my mate Jay back to the start, however Maj and I were faced with a couple of options. One was to head back to Lukla over a few days and enjoy the scenery. The other was to hustle back as quickly as possible so we could be there when Jay arrived. Naturally, after sharing such a special time over the days prior, we

were keen to stay as a team until the end.

That meant one thing – an FKT attempt for the ‘downhill’ journey.

The existing record had been set a few years prior, in a time of 10:51:57. We knew this as a few nights early we were amazed by a fireside story of an epic woman crushing the route in harrowing conditions. It might be net-downhill, but up high it’s freezing cold and often in snow at this time of the year, plus you still amass around 1,650m of uphill along the way too. Add into the mix mule and yak trains, lots of rutted out stairs and the thin air, and you’ve got a tough, but spectacular adventure.

What made our run-hike back to Lukla even more challenging was that the long days with Jay, carrying lots of gear, left both Maj and I fatigued. We were also faced with doing the majority of the FKT attempt in the dark, thanks to starting late in the day but at the time of making 65

CONTRIBUTION THE BEST VIEW COMES AFTER THE HARDEST TREK

the call to do the mission, this never concerned us, because anyone attempting this route would likely have similar issues, thanks to having to trek all the way to the start.

After a massive group hug and a tonne of photos with Jay and the team, we smashed a chapati and egg, a couple cups of masala tea and started our journey. It was 1pm and the temperature was a crisp -15 degrees. Tight lungs and numb hands and feet meant for slow going through the technical first few kilometers.

From there, near the hamlet of 66

Gorakshep, the trail gets more runnable with one rocky and iced section through a glacial moraine. Thankfully we had warmed up enough to shed a layer of clothing, and moving through the valley the terrain was tame enough that we could enjoy the epic scenery, with the last of the golden light of day shining on the peaks.

Moments later the sun disappeared behind the hills. The subtle glow lingered for an hour, prolonging the inevitable need for headlamps. It was 21km into the journey at the village of Pangboche that we adorned our lights and filled

our water bladders for the first time.

The icy waters of the stream made the plummeting temperature seem relatively mild. It was now the pace started to drop.

Clouds closed in making the visibility even poorer, with thick fog meaning the headlamps were almost a burden.

We pressed on, exchanging only the occasional word as a light rain started to fall, turning the snow into slush.

The next point of interest was at the riverside hamlet of Phunki Thanga. It sits in a deep valley, with a steep and at times technical climb to Sanasa. The now muddy ground started to get slippery

ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

and rounding a corner near the top we stumbled across a herd of yaks. They were covering the narrow trail, huddled together like penguins. To one side was a steep drop-off and on the other was a cliff-like rockface. Our best option was the latter of the two, which entailed a sketchy traverse on crumbling rocks with sections of flowing water. Needless to say it was a relief when we popped out the other side to find a bewildered herder smoking beneath a tree.

The couple of hours that followed took us beyond the major centre of Namche Bazaar, down the steep, stair-riddled

descent on the other side of town and onto relatively easy trail to both navigate and run on. When I say ‘run’ it was more of a shuffle with the occasional power hike up sets of stairs or steeper sections.

Our spirits were high at this point, as we knew we had the worst of the trail behind us and only around 16 km to go. The rain was persisting, but being below 3,000m altitude the temperature was a balmy 2 degrees.

Time moved slowly, as we followed the narrow beams of light created by our headlamps. The wet conditions and late night meant for a sombre mood,

made all the worse by a persistent cough I’d had since arriving in Nepal. If that wasn’t enough to start to add a touch of doubt to our FKT attempt, we had one final hiccup – a locked gate at the Sargamatha National Park entry. It’s an iconic checkpoint that on the return journey from EBC puts you at 13km to go. Normally you pass through with a smile from the guards once they’ve seen your permits. But tonight, they were less joyous to have us tapping on their door at 9pm.

Let’s just say that we were greeted by a grumpy soldier with a machine gun. He 67

CONTRIBUTION THE BEST VIEW COMES AFTER THE HARDEST TREK

left us in the rain, shivering and soaked, while they debated inside whether or not to let us pass. Maj had maintained his positive energy, managing a joke or two about us potentially having to turn back or try to hobble away from the armed guards. Thankfully, after the longest 15 minutes of my life, we were allowed to pass.

In our case, it was with a sense of relief, more than joy, that we had reached the gates. We were cold, wet and hungry, but still super stoked to have completed the challenge in 9h 47m 59sec. No doubt there’s plenty of local guides and porters that probably could or have already done it faster, but we were proud of our achievement nonetheless.

From there it’s a gradual descent all the way to Chhuthawa, from which you progressively climb the final 4.5km or so.

The trail ends with a bit of a kick in the guts, with the last couple kilometres from Cheplung grinding its way uphill to the finish at the Tourist Checkpoint at the beginning of Lukla. On a busy day it’s alive with energy as countless trekkers stop for selfies prior to embarking on their EBC hike.

The FKT started with the simple goal of being there for our friend when he arrived the following morning, but ended up being a memorable mission for many other reasons. We had bad weather and a couple minor headaches along the way, but throughout it, somehow we managed to laugh plenty too.

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Perhaps the best memory of all was getting to Lukla and finding that it was a

ghost town and our accommodation was locked up for the night. But that’s a story for another time.

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE: Dave Byrne is a trail runner with The North Face and CamelBak, and is currently refining his selfie-taking technique after years of avoiding social media. He’s passionate about exploring wild places by any means that requires human power, and equally driven to conserve them for his kids to someday be inspired by too.

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ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

SAY HELLO TO YOUR INNER

DEMONS

NORTHBURN 100, ARGUABLY NEW ZEALAND’S TOUGHEST 100 MILE RACE, IS SET IN THE BACKDROP OF BEAUTIFUL CENTRAL OTAGO, BUT IF YOU’RE COMING TO RUN AT NORTHBURN, YOU’RE COMING TO SUFFER – PLAIN AND SIMPLE. RACHEL BRIDGEWATER HAS EXPERIENCED THE PAIN, THE AGONY AND THE ANGUISH OF THE RACE FIRST HAND IN HER RUNNING CAREER, AND IN THIS EDITION OF TRAIL RUN MAG PROVIDES AN INSIGHT INTO WHAT IT TAKES TO FINISH THE COURSE AFTER TALKING TO RACE DIRECTOR TERRY DAVIS AND TWO RUNNERS, GLEN SUTTON AND JEAN BEAUMONT. CONTRIBUTED BY RACHEL BRIDGEWATER | PHOTOGRAPHY BY BEN WALLBANK

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CONTRIBUTION SAY HELLO TO YOUR INNER DEMONS

With unrelenting climbs, the Northburn 100 is followed by unrelenting descents, which genuinely get steeper as they go on.

Hotter than hot days followed by colder than cold nights. To experience Northburn is to be pushed so far out of your physical and emotional capabilities, you’re left wondering how on earth did you get yourself into this mess.

And oh! Hello inner demons…there you are!

Northburn 100 is a trail running event set on Northburn Station in Cromwell, NZ. A sheep and beef farm. It comprises of three loops (50km, 60km, 50km) and in total will see you climb nearly 10,000m in vertical gain if you’re brave enough to take on the penultimate 100miles.

And stripping away all the things that make trail running a business, you’re left with just the things at the heart of it.

Dedicated volunteers, a mammoth of an adventure and motivated individuals who are out there to test what they themselves are made of. This is Northburn, a no thrills event that will leave you a different person from when you arrived.

At ground level, a marquee awaits with your supporters, a cup of warm soup and basic offerings of some electrolytes or water. At the top of Northburn station stands the imposing ‘leaning rock’...like a beacon of hope, it signifies the top of some of the climbs which to be honest you may have thought would never come.

The terrain remains equally beautiful as it is brutal. Large rock formations fill the terrain which as some competitors, like Hazel Harrison, will tell you in the latter stages of the race, may morph into something else entirely.

Sparse aid stations laid out on the course with hardy volunteers, most of whom are returning runners and understand just how hard the challenge is that you’ve set.

They themselves will endure bone chilling nights to ensure participants will get the support they need or simply catch you in their arms when and if you finally admit defeat.

And at the heart of the event, the enigma that is Terry Davis, race director. At first glance, one may not know what to make of this character, and to be honest, sometimes I wonder if I just enter his events purely to hear his pre-race briefing.

This year, like many others, Terry stands 72

delivering his description of the course to shocked first timers and returning runners who give each other a knowing look and wry smile. You see, Terry genuinely believes that suffering is good for people.

In fact, he would tell you he believes he’s living his life’s purpose creating opportunities for people to experience their own outer limits. He himself, a keen trail runner, having been through many of his own epically brutal running challenges, always reflecting on how they were some of the best memories of his life. Because as he says, there is no growth in your comfort zone.

“When people come to do Northburn for the first time, it’s usually a reaction of shock,” he reveals.

“I will tell them how hard it is, but they don’t really believe me until they return from it. The course is always harder than people think it will be and always takes longer than they think it will.”

Terry will never sugar coat things, but most people simply refuse to believe him, but as he puts it ‘they soon learn.’ And as a previous 100 mile competitor in this brutally beautiful event, I know he’s telling the truth.

As runners head out on the first loop, along with 50km and 100km competitors, the pace is varied. A confusing scenario, which leaves you questioning whether you are over doing it, underdoing it or about right. If you’re doing the 100 miles, the first loop, even though tough, is just an obstacle to tick off before the real work begins.

As our fair weathered friends leave the course having completed the 50km (a reasonable feat on its own), the 100 mile and 100km runners settle in at the base marquee to refuel. What awaits them in the second loop is stifling heat and hours of climbing ahead. A section aptly named ‘the death climb’, it’s one that has the highest attrition rate of the whole event. Not only do runners battle heat and an unrelenting climb, but having just refuelled at base, trying to hold down nutrition for some will become the bigger issue.

100 mile runners will be re-routed off the edge of the trail in a highly technical section which might leave you wondering if you’ve gone the right way even though well marked. A question you will ask yourself many times as race director Terry begins to weave his magic. The course design you see, has the direct intention of messing with your psyche just as your brain starts to want to shut down and welcome sleep. Not only that, but now the cold has started to set in.

As the second loop ends and you reach base for the second time, the need for sleep can and probably will become overwhelming. For 100km runners, finally their race has come to an end. For 100 mile runners, the challenge has only just begun and for some, they will end their run here while for others, they will head back out.

The third loop begins much like the second did, straight into a climb that will go for hours. However now overwhelmingly fatigue will set in and the brain becomes a blurry haze. Visibility becomes more challenging as fog sets in, temperatures plummet and frost forms on the trails. Stumbling through the haze, your brain becomes disorientated, unable to figure out where you are with no reference points to call on except the ever-present course markers. You become stripped back into a basic state just looking to survive, to move ahead and crucially to try and keep fuelling.

As you reach another summit and the sun eases back into the sky, a feeling of relief washes over. You feel you might be through the worst of it. The views as the morning sun rises and fog collects below you become so beautiful, it almost stops you in your tracks. A long runnable downhill awaits and, in your mind, you’re headed straight for the finish only to be welcomed by a final and unexpected climb to the now famous bicycle wheel in what has again become stifling heat. The finish line a mere 7km away, now feels like forever away.

So, what does it take to withstand the challenge that Northburn sets and get through unscathed?

As survivors of the death climb reach its summit at leaning rock, the heat of the day begins to retreat, and light gives way to darkness. But don’t think for a moment things will improve.

Glen Sutton is the only person to have completed all Northburn 100 mile races to date, is a member of the NZ backyard ultra team and is a previous competitor in the famous Badwater 135.

Having just climbed for hours and finally descending what feels like an easy trail,

“Everyone is going to be in the same predicament as you,” he explains.

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“It is the person that has it in them to keep grinding it out, there are no easy bits, the climbing is hard, but the running downhill wrecks your quads; the terrain is technical and there are no parts of the race you can switch off”.

When asked what keeps him going, Glen is humble in his response, saying he thinks about his family and being a role model for them. But as to what keeps him coming back?

“It’s the people, the location and the challenge of doing it just one more time,” he reveals.

For Jean Beaumont, winner of the women’s field (six times over the last seven years) and an air traffic controller from Wellington, trying to focus on her surroundings rather than her own suffering is helpful. An absolute force to be reckoned with, this is one tough lady you do not want to meet on the start line, but

she will never tell you that.

‘but what if I could?’

Actually, she will tell you that the more inspiring runners are the ones who go into a second night on Northburn, and if you want to know how she wins it, well…one thing she’s not doing is hanging around at the aid stations. What’s the hardest part of Northburn according to Jean?

Because we only live one life, so why not live it boldly…until we meet again next year at Northburn!

“Entering it,” she says, plain and simple.

As Northburn draws to a close for another year, lifelong friendships have been forged, and dreams have been realised – or not. With many making promises of redemption the following year, the course leaves a forever mark on those who were brave enough to take it on.

It leaves Northburn asking a question though.

Are you resilient enough to face physical and emotional obliteration, to risk failure because you dared to ask the question,

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE: Rachel Bridgewater is an ultra distance mountain runner from Wanaka, NZ. When she isn’t busy running in the mountains with husband James, she’s busy at home with kids and works as a physiotherapist. She describes her fave trail races as the ones with punchy ascents followed by a sweet flowy downhill to the finish.

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ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

Sin City IS calling

AUSSIE ERCHANA MURRAY-BARTLETT LOVES A GOOD ADVENTURE, AND SETS HER SIGHTS ON EXPLORING NEW PLACES THROUGHOUT HER LIFE. EARLIER THIS YEAR, SHE RAN IN THE SPEED PROJECT (TSP) WHICH IS CONDUCTED OUT OF THE US, FROM LOS ANGELES TO LAS VEGAS. THERE IS NO SET ROUTE, THERE ARE NO RULES, THERE ARE NO SPECTATORS. ARTICLE BY: ERCHANA MURRAY-BARTLETT PHOTOGRAPHY BY: RY KENNEDY 131 hours and 11 minutes. Say that out loud with me! That’s how long it took for this tired, broken, Aussie runner to move her sore and exhausted legs from the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles, all the way to the ‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ sign in a wild, unsanctioned foot race called The Speed Project (TSP).

Of that grueling 131hr journey, only about 15 of these were allocated to sleep.

Not much. The rest of them were spent breathing in thick desert dust, eating ridiculous amounts of food, and working as a team to navigate our way through the biggest “choose your own adventure” race of my life. The beauty of TSP is that each runner’s experience is entirely unique to them. With no set route or rules to follow, each of the 23 participants chose their own way and their own set of strategies to make it to Vegas. Ours took me 493km and 5,000m of climbing right through the

barren and exposed, yet breathtakingly beautiful Death Valley. She was fiery hot during the day, but ice cold at night. Of the 23 solo participants that took to the desert this year, 17 made it and 5 did not.

Having followed The Speed Project for years, I knew the race resonated an electric excitement. I also knew it was famously elusive, meaning that I didn’t really know what to expect when I landed in Los Angeles in March 2024 to tackle the famous LA to Vegas (LALV) route.

There was no website, no route map, no FAQ page, absolutely no rules. I had spent some time scanning Google maps hoping to find roads that were RV accessible for future rendezvous points, but mostly, I rocked up with a skeleton support crew, a backpack full of gels and electrolytes, and a heart ready for the adventure of a lifetime.

My support crew was made up of two other extremely naive but exceptional individuals. My buddy Alex played support runner/cook and on route sustenance provider. Then Ry, the filmmaker and chief captain of our support van. What we lacked in experience, we made up for in enthusiasm, and when that first alarm went off on Monday morning at 2.45am, you couldn’t wipe the smiles off our faces.

We had a rough plan of aiming for 100km per day, landing us at that all-important finish sign towards the end of 5. But as I’ve been taught before, nothing ever really goes to plan.

OFF TO A GREAT START In saying that, Day 1 did. Los Angeles is a big place, and by 7pm, after 15 hours of running, I had only just escaped the main perimeter of the city. I collapsed with pasta sauce on my face, trying not to 79

CONTRIBUTION SIN CITY IS CALLING

think that I had to repeat all of this again in just a few hours’ time.

AND SO DEATH VALLEY BEGINS But we did with another 3am alarm.

Day 2 saw buildings turn to mountains, highways turn to sand. Streetlights turned into Joshua trees and suddenly we found ourselves alone, and somewhat unprepared in the heart of Death Valley.

Here, strategy became paramount to success. I’d got lured into choosing an RV for this trip, thinking only of the luxury of a hot shower and kitchen at the end of each day, but what I’d failed to consider was that the next 300km would be mostly inaccessible to large vehicles like ours.

Suddenly that hot shower was completely out of reach, and I’d watch in jealousy as other more prepared runners were confidently jogging in front of their offroad support jeeps with everything they needed.

The plan was for me to rendezvous with the RV at a cross road every 16-22km to check in and refuel, but it turns out 80

Death Valley had other ideas. On two occasions the ‘towns’ I’d spotted on a map were ghost towns. Another handful of times the rendezvous point was too sandy to drive down, or locked behind a fence. On these occasions, Alex would run directly across to meet me, carrying warm clothes, water and food. Or I would grit my teeth and bare the extra distance, cursing myself for not carrying that extra gel, bottle of water, or sunscreen.

THE DIFFICULTY SEEPS IN As the distance between rendezvous points became comically difficult to predict, it changed the way we could approach daily distance goals. By 9pm on Day 3, after a 15hr slog through straight up sand, I had only covered 84km – well below my daily goal. We were standing at a pretty infamous junction on the TSP journey called Powerline; a fire access road that cuts directly to the last town before Vegas. If you can muster the strength to take it, the shortcut trims 80kms off the total distance. The

catch? It’s sandy, uphill and the nearest rendezvous point is 45km away.

There is something wild about completing a 15hr day, having dinner exhausted, and then rather than jumping headfirst into a warm bed, throwing on your thermals, refilling your water bottle, and blazing straight back out into the night for another 7hr slog. I will say though, we’d left LA on a full moon and the sky lit up like nothing I’d seen before.

What kept life even more interesting were the wild, unfenced dogs scattered across the outer suburbs of California. They’re either fending for themselves or have been trained to run down any persons trespassing near remote properties.

Having run the entire length of Australia, I had thought my confidence against wildlife was at an all-time high. Turns out I was wrong and facing up against a growling dog or three, almost half my size and with much more gusto, is downright terrifying. From day one, we made the team decision to not run solo

ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

before dawn, or after dusk, meaning poor Alex did almost 100 miles of night running with me.

SWOLLEN ISSUES By the early hours of Day 5, a swelling in my ankle was becoming increasingly worrying. This was the day we’d originally planned to hit Vegas and we were sitting about 164km away. Ry and I hit the road for the next stint – which my tired brain vaguely remembered to be about 26kms. Ry had run a few half marathons before, so this was a manageable distance to join me for.

When we hit 26kms, three things became apparent. Firstly, my foggy runner’s brain had completely mistaken miles for kilometers putting us frustratingly 19km away from our rendezvous point.

Secondly, Ry would have no choice but to run his first ever ultra with me, and third, by this point, any foot flexion or extension in my left leg was becoming impossible. My foot could barely fit in my shoe, and I was forced into a slow painful 81

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hobble. I could feel myself being crushed by the weight of the distance to go, the pain, and the constant challenges the desert was throwing at all of us.

But then the weirdest thing happened.

As I headed out for my second sting of the day, now with Alex by my side, I released and let go of the kilometers ahead and found myself utterly present in the moment. Vegas would come, I could crawl it in if I needed to, but here I was, watching the sun set over Mojave National Preserve, with one of my best mates by my side, and that was enough. That was more than enough. It’s unbelievable how nothing, but everything can change with a shift in perspective.

OH SO CLOSE We arrived in Primm, the last town before Vegas at around 9pm on Day 5.

Primm was about 64km out, so we were close. Really close. The elephant in the room was my nonfunctioning left ankle, which was now not talking to me at all.

That, and a storm was rolling in that saw the temperature plummet to freezing in 82

the space of a few hours. Thankfully, an RV full of crew for another runner pulled up beside us and after one look at my banged-up ankle, immediately offered me their hiking poles. The relief was literally instant. Using them practically as a crutch, I was able to take some of the weight off my foot and power forward.

With this new wave of confidence, we decided to keep going.

At 2.30am we made it to within 38km from the finish line. In the early hours of Saturday morning, I continued my hobble towards the lights of the Vegas sign. Snow poured in over the mountains and I went from running in a singlet, to wearing every layer I’d packed. The last 38km took 7hrs but by this point, I knew I was going to make it. When that Vegas sign finally appeared in the distance, I was freezing cold, wet, in pain and sleep deprived.

I thought reaching out and touch that sign would trigger elation, pride, and excitement amongst other things, but the truth is that I only felt relief.

They call it Death Valley for a reason and

The Speed Project is unlike any other race I’d taken on.

The desert taught me to be humble, the importance of friendship and teamwork and that once again, the human body is capable of so much more than we think it is.

We’d made it. Despite everything, we’d made it. And we were in Las Vegas!

Time to party!

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE: Erchana Murray-Bartlett loves running.

So much so that in 2023 she set a Guinness World Record for running 150 marathons in 150 days in Australia.

When she isn’t taking on wild challenges, Erchana is a dedicated run coach and sports nutritionist with a passion for storytelling.

/gpt100miler

gpt100.com.au

LET’S TALK RACING WEST MACS MONSTER

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ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

AN EPIC WEST MACS MONSTER Killarney Heights, NSW resident Susie Campbell took her visit to the Northern Territory to race in the challenging West Macs Monster in a celebration of her 50th birthday. Held along the Larapinta Trail near Alice Springs, this race is tough, brutal – but oh, so worth it.

RACE REPORT BY: SUSIE CAMPBELL | PHOTOGRAPHY BY: OLIVER ECLIPSE

17-19 MAY 2024 – LARAPINTA TRAIL, NORTHERN TERRITORY, AUSTRALIA: Back in March 2023, I ran Kunanyi Mountain Run, a tough 68km race in Tasmania which triggered my love of tough endurance runs. The pain of completing it though soon wore off and I was on the phone to my run coach, telling her I had found my next challenge – the West Macs Monster 128km.

It was to be a gift to myself for my 50th birthday, and I thought this would be my first race in the next age category, maybe even standing a chance of a top 3 in age category! What I didn’t know at the time was there were no age categories for West Macs, and so not only was this to prove that 50 wasn’t old, it was also going to prove that 50 can still compete with the young ones.

In March, my husband Johnny and

I both came down with Influenza A, which impacted the completion of two of my long training runs. I was gutted and began to doubt my ability to compete strong, but I resolved that there was nothing I could do except get back into training, recover well and be consistent until race day.

I flew to Alice Springs on the Thursday prior. The volunteers at race headquarters were fabulous with many of them either having run it before or knowing the race really well. I felt somewhat more confident and relieved to have passed the mandatory gear inspection and collected a satellite tracker. I messaged Johnny to bring tie wraps with him to strap it to my shoulder!

My family flew in the following day and hubby came to the race briefing with me.

Race day. Surprisingly, nerves were pretty well in check.

Forecast, although dry, was for high winds….all I thought about was Razorback Ridge in wind and in the dark. Arriving at Ellery Creek Hole, it was cold.

We were off; with a wave to my family I hit the trail. I have no recollection of thoughts at this point, aside from my form and ensuring I sipped and munched frequently – I had been warned repeatedly that the first 30km was very runnable and runners made the mistake of not eating, then struggling to catch up resulting in a DNF. I found myself as the pied piper with a little train of four other runners behind me for about 60km and trotted along passing the traverse without a swim and Razorback in the light and with navigation being pretty straightforward.

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LET’S TALK RACING WEST MACS MONSTER

By 70km I was forcing a date bar down – my stomach was not keen on eating, but it did the trick and I was able to eat.

With stunning scenery throughout, I ticked through aid stations, refueling on tomato soup and cheese toasties, soaking up the friendly chatter and supportive words from volunteers. As the light began to fade, I transitioned my kit from hat and sunnies to buff and head torch.

I threw on a thermal and continued on, laser-focused on the 103km Simpsons Gap aid station where I knew my family would be. It was going to be a long night ahead of me, but strangely I didn’t fear being alone, and I think due to my focus on not losing the track, that I just put one foot in front of the other. I found that I instinctively knew when I was off track with ‘spidey’ senses tingling.

By this point though I was fatiguing. I saw a 231km runner ahead of me. He looked broken. We chatted and he asked if he could follow me as his headlamp really wasn’t working. The company was a welcome distraction as I took charge of navigation during a rather technical section where we lost GPS signal through a steep sided gorge and found ourselves scrambling down steep boulders, quickly followed by equally steep climbs. On his tired legs, I felt for him and acknowledged that I wasn’t in a bad place.

Having transited through dry riverbeds, deep in sand, my shoes filled and I had resolved to emptying them at the next aid

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station, but each time, food distracted me and it slipped my mind – three times! At first light, I turned off my headlamp and planned for Simpsons Gap. It was tough, I can’t deny it, and I was digging deep and felt quite emotional at times. The terrain was brutal. Although I didn’t fall once, I lost count of the trips and kicking of rocks, which took their toll on my swollen, bruised feet.

Mental strength – goodness I needed this in abundance; there were times where I knew my negative self-talk needed a slap and out loud I told myself to change the story.

My running buddy Manuela had given me a lucky charm in the form of a turtle, which I carried in my back pocket. I talked to him asking what he thought of a DNF. He, of course, thought it was a stupid idea and that I should just keep going and could do it if I stopped focusing on the pain or how far I had left.

Simpsons Gap – relief that I had reached 103km (I had smiled as I ticked over the 100km mark) and I vowed to change socks (as they were now so full of prickles), empty my shoes of sand and get a good feed to help me finish strong.

Hubby provided the big hug I needed, no words required. Cute words of encouragement came from my 11yo and made me smile. Then a pacer tapped me on the shoulder and told me I was in third place!

Like what?

My 14yo said, ‘Mum, you’re in third, you have a podium

finish! Does this mean you will be sponsored now?’. Forget sponsorships. I wanted a third place female finish! Let’s shift! I didn’t think to ask how far behind fourth was so set off determined to maintain a good pace!

Twenty-five kilometres sounds nothing, but on super tired legs and with significant elevation left to go, I knew it was going to hurt. And it did. I hadn’t realised there were two aid stations between the finish, which was a bonus; I topped up with water and grabbed some watermelon.

I skipped through the last one with a surprise visit from the family, spurring me on for the last 4km. And being told that fourth place was hours behind me, the relief was enormous! Only 4km I thought, but geez it hurt, and I just wanted to see the finish. I could hear it from one kilometre away, which was torture! My mind turned to a hot shower, hot food and to simply stop. I could no longer eat but decided it didn’t matter anyway.

With the finish line in sight, I ran with a heart full of happiness, proud to have placed third female, and satisfied I had proved to myself that I could do hard things; that 50 was merely a number. And that the Larapinta Trail was my toughest yet.

Event: West Macs Monster Location: Larapinta Trail, NT Distances: 231k, 128k, 65k, 25k, 5k When: TBC for 2025 Info: westmacsmonster.com.au

Adelaide Parklands

16 may 2025 www.ultraseries.com.au

NO TIME TO DIE frontyard ultra

Bathed in

Sunshine 7 jun 2025

IN THE HEART OF PERTH CITY

21K SO L O 50K SO L O 5 0 K T EA M S

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DARE TO DREAM ARTICLE BY: SAMANTHA TURNBULL | PHOTOGRAPHY BY: SOK IMAGES, REESHA LEWIS

RISE, FALL &

Rebuild

QUEENSLANDER REESHA LEWIS WENT THROUGH A DRAMATIC TRANSFORMATION BOTH PHYSICALLY AND MENTALLY, AND BEFORE SHE KNEW IT, SHE WAS TAKING CONTROL OF PLATFORMS FROM RACE TO RACE TO RACE. BUT SOME MUCH NEEDED TIME OUT IN 2023 LEFT MANY IN THE TRAIL COMMUNITY WONDERING WHERE THE RISING STAR HAD DISAPPEARED TO, SO SAMANTHA TURNBULL HEARS FROM THE TRAIL RUNNER TO GET AN UPDATE ON WHAT SHE’S BEEN DOING AND HER PLANS FOR A COMEBACK. Reesha Lewis was halfway up a mountain when she realised she needed to change her life.

“I’ve been told my running-down-mountains looks like ‘controlled falling’,” she laughs.

Out of breath and struggling to move her 142kg body, she was confronted by the difficulty and ashamed of her lack of fitness.

But it wasn’t until Reesha joined Strava that she began to understand she had a talent for mountain running.

“I realised how unfit and unhealthy I was and that I wasn’t a role model for my children,” she says.

“I thought ‘maybe I’m not too bad at this’ and then people would say ‘Reesha, you’re actually quite fast,’” she says.

“It was exhausting, it was extremely hard, but I also loved it.”

“Then I found out people raced mountains, so I did the Pomona King of the Mountain race, then I went to New Zealand on the Australian team but I broke my hand the day before and they wouldn’t let me race even though I begged them.”

It was Australia Day, eight years ago, when Reesha had that epiphany on Mount Ngungun near her home in the Glasshouse Mountains on Queensland’s Sunshine Coast. At a barbeque after the climb, the mum-of-two resolved to do it again…and again, until her fitness reached a level she could be proud of.

Reesha and her own mum awoke at 3.30am to climb Ngungun three days per week. Reesha’s strength improved quickly and the weight began to melt away. When she reached 100kg, she set herself the goal of climbing the bigger Mount Beerwah. That climb took her 3.5 hours.

Now, at age 37 and 60-something-kgs, she can run up and down Mt Beerwah in about 26 minutes and she holds the Fastest Known Time for the ascent and descent of every peak in the Glasshouse Mountains.

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Reesha also took up boxing and had been focusing on that sport until COVID-19 shut down competitions and gyms. Bored with hours on the rowing machine in her garage, she changed her focus to running with her mountain-climbing friend Ian Stuck. Ian became Reesha’s training partner and inspired her to enter her first ultra, the Blackall 50km.

Weeks later, Reesha won the 51.5km ‘Glass Half Full’ event at the Guzzler in Brisbane.

Since then, she has won almost every event she has entered including the Brisbane Trail Ultra (60km), the Blackall 100km, Yandina Five ‘0’ (50km), Coastal High (50km) and Guzzler 100km, including several course records and all within the space of just three years.

She says her first Blackall 100km (she won and set a new course record) has been the highlight of her, so far, short running career.

“I didn’t have a care in the world, I didn’t put any pressure on myself,” she says.

“The way I felt that day, everyone talks about that wall you hit, so I was waiting for that wall to hit, and it didn’t hit. My watch completely died at 60km, so I wasn’t able to look at my heart, or splits or anything, but it didn’t matter.

“I look back through my photos and I’m smiling and waving. That’s how I felt the whole time.”

“I trained on the course and it’s my home turf, so I knew where I was strong and where I wasn’t, but I never expected to win and set a course record on my first race ever,” she said.

Reesha became addicted to the feeling of challenging herself and wanting to constantly improve. She was running at least 100km every week in training, and following a low-carb vegan diet.

“That blew my mind, but then I thought… ‘maybe the really fast females didn’t turn up.’”

“I’d never really been taught what to do, I was just winging it,” she says.

ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

“I wanted to push myself with more distance, more elevation, constantly pushing myself to the next level…it was really full-on.”

In 2022, Reesha entered the 128km Ellery Monster in the West Mac’s Monster trail running festival along the Larapinta Trail near Alice Springs. She won the race, and set another course record, but it was there she also began to unravel.

“It was very rocky, like nothing I’ve ever done before and I fell,” she says.

“I hit my hip and my knee. It was severe and I kept running with 40km to go. In the back of my mind I knew I was the leading female, so I told myself to just keep moving.

“I couldn’t bring myself to stop and pull out because I’d be failing my mission. It was agony every step. One of the race directors had to drive me back to my accommodation because I couldn’t lift my left leg into the car.

“But it was a life-changing experience because I’d never had a race haunt me like that. I was so broken. There was no recovery.”

Despite the toll the Larapinta took on Reesha’s body, two months later she lined up for (and won) the Guzzler 100km, followed by the Coastal High 50km and her second Blackall 100km.

All eyes were on Reesha’s second Blackall 100km where she was competing against the younger and better known Lucy Bartholomew.

Reesha won again, but it was nothing like her first Blackall 100km experience.

“I was hurt – I fell and tore my hamstring at 30km,” she says.

“I was planning on doing UTA 100 after Blackall 100, two weeks later, and that was my full focus. I was like a lioness chasing a gazelle…I was going to destroy this and destroy myself.

“Then I found out I had a grade 1 and grade 2 tear to the hamstring and there was no way I could do UTA.” Reesha was forced into rest. She used the downtime to undergo surgery she’d been wanting since her weight loss (abdominoplasty and breast augmentation), but still she kept climbing mountains.

“I did go out hiking with my torn hamstring and my drains and stuff after my surgery,” she says.

“I was hiking about 100km a week, there was still no holding me down. You get this fire in your belly and it’s like: ‘how much can I do, how far can I go?’. Then my body said ‘hey we’re tapping out.’ Now I can see I was a ticking time bomb.”

Reesha only entered one event in 2023 as she came to terms with a diagnosis of RED-S (Relative Energy Deficiency in Sport) and associated health complications.

“I’ve torn my hamstring twice since Blackall plus had a fractured foot and severe tendonitis

and can’t seem to heal from my injuries,” she says.

“I’ve had hormonal issues, lost my period and I thought I was in early menopause.

“I spent way too long in calorie deficit and it’s affected my bones, ligaments, tendons, everything, and it’s been a mess trying to sort things back out.”

After years of ‘winging it’, Reesha sought help from a running coach, who got her to realise the importance of strength training and stretching.

“I’m like that naughty little child who doesn’t listen,” Reesha laughs.

“Kara will ring me if she sees me doing something that’s not in my program… she knows her stuff and I probably wouldn’t be in the position that I am now if I didn’t start with her five months ago.”

Reesha has also changed her approach to nutrition, focusing on variety and enough carbohydrates.

“I try to look at my calories now, have plenty of healthy fats and protein,” she says.

“I did that low-carb vegan diet for a long time and I thought it worked for me, but I’m trying to not be as afraid of carbs. Your body needs fuel. So, I’m trying to eat more and with more balance.”

A look at Reesha’s Strava will reveal she’s still regularly running mountains, but her mileage has decreased and she has introduced crosstraining like cycling and the gym.

“I’m a gym person now,” she says.

mistakes and realise when to pull back.

“I wouldn’t go out to dinner because I’d be worried about running early the next day, and that’s not a healthy way to live all the time,” she says.

“If I could replay that year after Larapinta I would definitely have had a couple of weeks where I did not run – you need time off. I would’ve sorted out my hip – you need to pay attention to injuries.

“I’d do strength training and I’d also not do so many races, with so many training kilometres in between. It was all too much.”

Now, Reesha is feeling emotionally and physically stronger each day, and with the help of her coach is trying to take a sensible and focused approach to recovery. She hopes to be racing again by the end of 2024.

“Things are getting better,” she says.

“I’m hungry for more challenges. I’m not done yet.”

“I don’t enjoy it, but I know you need to strengthen so I’m doing it.”

Reesha says the recovery has also been a mental battle.

“It’s been hard to come to terms with because being overweight and my old lifestyle put me in that position, but now exercising too much and not eating enough has put me in this position,” she says.

“For a little while I blamed my surgery and the time off. I blamed myself. Then I realised dwelling on the past wasn’t getting me anywhere.”

Reesha hopes other runners will learn from her

INSIDER KNOWLEDGE: Samantha Turnbull has been a journalist/ writer for 20+ years, but only started running (well, shuffling) in 2019. She’s a self-described slowpoke, but loves the camaraderie of trail events and the feeling of fierceness as she crosses the finish line after a long race. Her fave trail is the Motatapu in NZ.

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ADVERTORIAL

THE HEYSEN 105: A TRAIL RUNNER’S JOURNEY WRITTEN BY SHANE PORTEOUS | PHOTOGRAPHY BY JAMES RAISON, SEBASTIEN SILVA LOPEZ The Heysen 105 is an event that fills athletes with mixed emotions: trepidation, fear, excitement, and the perennial question of whether they’ve done enough to finish. But on the start line, a common theme unites us: we’re all determined to finish.

convinced me to enter the 57km race due to a scheduling conflict with a triathlon. Back then it started at Waitpinga Hill and the 57km ended at Mt Compass. During a recon run, Jane Luke questioned why I was doing “just the 57km.”

My journey with the Heysen 105 began in 2012 while I was training for a Melbourne to Victor Harbor bike ride.

My brother Simon, coerced by coach and event director Ben Hockings, was running it. I vividly remember thinking, “Why?”.

I flippantly responded that if she wanted to step up to triathlon, I’d do the 105km.

A handshake sealed the deal, and Ben Hockings promptly changed my entry.

Watching Simon stop for pizza and drinks at the 80km mark, I had zero interest. My longest run was maybe 3km, and the event’s extreme elevation, technical trails and endless hill climbs didn’t appeal to me at all.

Fast forward to 2016, when Simon 90

I showed up bright and early on race morning, with more attention paid to my trail runners’ beard than my nutrition hydration plan. I had zero idea of what to expect other than a very long day.

Luckily, I had partnered up with Adelaide Runners’ Anna and experienced ultra runner Glen.

I wouldn’t bore you with a step by step of my sub 20 hour day but I did get to

experience nearly every emotion in a single day. Some of my highlights were skipping into Mt Compass, often referred to as the halfway point, or things are flat from here, after taking a handful of unknown pills to combat some knee pain sustained in Yulti Conservation Park.

I was excited to see my kids and wife Emily who were crewing for me. A crew’s job is definitely underrated as each checkpoint can fill you with joy and just the right words to keep you moving until the next checkpoint.

I was later joined by little brother Ben as it got dark, and he had one job over the last 21km. NOT TO GET ME LOST. We quickly took a wrong turn and the last 7kms took us 14km. He claims to call it brotherly bonding. I was too delirious to object.

After finishing, I was jubilant but content to never do it again. I had proved to

ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

myself that I could do hard things and returned to triathlons. Yet, the event lingered within me. Each year, when volunteers were needed, I was amongst the first to help, often marking the first 22km to Inman Valley.

Now, in 2024, I’m training for this year’s Heysen 105, planning to run ‘just the 50km’. I've completed the event five times: twice the full distance, once each way, twice the 60km, and last year the 50km running nearly the whole way with first time runner Emma. When asked about the event and my why, I need to pause to consider it.

I don’t think there is any one answer for that question. I enjoy the freedom that training on trails offers compared to road running.

Getting to watch training partners cross over a river or climb through fallen trees before pointing out the bridge or walking around, Heysen offers all of that to me.

Heysen 105 has shaped me as a runner.

Mostly self-coached, I joined The Ultra Journey led by Nick Muxlow in 2022.

His coaching was pivotal to my success, and his mantra, ‘Finish with a Smile’ resonates with me.

TOP photo: 2016 Running into CP1 with Anna and my kids Layla and FinN; vertical photos lefT TO RIGHT: 2022. Shane and Emily. A runners day canbe made with great support crew; 2023. Emma and Shane before Myponga Conservation.

The change in course for the 10 year anniversary by event director Shaun Kaesler was met with mixed emotions.

How can a trail event finish with 7km of pavement? On the upside, switching the course and finishing in the heart of my hometown has brought Heysen105 and ultra running to a wider audience.

What other race will have you plodding along at 1am on the foreshore of Victor Harbor while partygoers heading home ask what the heck you are doing and then stare in disbelief when you say you’ve just run from Meadows.

Each year, runners from Fleurieu Run Tribe and the wider Victor Harbor community express interest in Heysen 105. I tell them it will be hard, they will suffer, and there will be moments when they want to give up, but it will be worth it.

They will create unforgettable memories, test themselves in remarkable South Australian landscapes, and move forward with athletes of all abilities, united by a singular goal: to finish.

That is Heysen 105 and that is why I love it.

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ALL THE GOOD GEAR

REVIEWS BY KATE DZIENIS

CASCADA RUNNING SHORTS Looking for something ultra lightweight, quick drying and uber breathable?

Not to be forgotten, the age old question – but are there pockets?!

Cascada has the running shorts that let you handle your kilometres without distraction or discomfort.

Yes, yes there are pockets. Two, in fact, both hidden and good in size to store your keys and other small essentials. As minor as this feature might seem, it really isn’t that small of a tidbit. Pockets are so vital for us when we’re out on the trails, out bush, in the middle of nowhere – because if we can’t carry our phones and our car keys, then that might be the difference between a bad situation turning good in the end. It’s great to see so many companies now taking pockets into account.

But first, take into account the design – now, these are pretty cool. Choose from Snakebite, Wolfpack or Wild Wander patterns, with stunning colours that are synonymous with the great outdoors. You’ll feel one with nature the instant you put them on.

Cascada Running Shorts feature a 4-way stretch fabric and include a brief liner for chafe-free comfort – ideal for warm-weather runs, designed with a 5in inseam length and featuring a wrappedelastic drawstring waistband to keep them in place.

Cascada, who ship worldwide, designs its products in Trentino, northern Italy with the designers and creators using them daily in their outdoor

adventures among lakes, woods and mountains.

The colours and versatility of Cascada products are inspired by the environment and more simply, by adventure.

VITALS RRP $134.00 AUD CASCADA.CC

PETZL 1100 LUMEN SWIFT RL HEADLAMP If you’re going to trail run in the dark, you can’t rely on just the moon (although granted, a full moon is rather glorious).

Your next best friend in this instance is man-made light, and PETZL – who have been leading the charge in outdoor lighting for more than 40 years – has released its latest compact and rechargeable headlamp that features Reactive Lighting technology – and 1100 lumens of brightness.

Weighing in at just 100g, the PETZL Swift RL 1100 Lumens Headlamp is considered the ultimate multi-sport headlamp for all your outdoor activities – hiking, camping, dog walking, caving, orienteering and, of course, trail running.

The Reactive Lighting technology is the tech that allows a sensor to analyse the ambient light around the user, automatically adjusting brightness to their needs. That’s a bit fancy, eh? It means that if you’ve stopped at an aid station and are looking

down at your drop bag, the output of the light will drop; raise your head to look at the trails ahead, and the output will increase. Essentially, it means your battery will last longer.

I should also like to mention that the Swift RL comes with strobe red lighting for to be extra visible and to signal your location in an emergency situation.

Featuring a single switch, each press of the button cycles you through from max burn time to standard and then max power and then to off. For Reactive Lighting, a longer press will engage that option – the simplicity is spot on.

When it comes to comfortability and usability, the headband comes in two-parts, meaning two elastic straps cup the back of the head and hold the torch securely. It’s also reflective in the back, so you remain visible at night, and it held everything in place whilst I was out on the trails. All the usual

specs apply to the Swift RL too – lamp tilt, five level gauge for battery level, storage pouch, and lock function.

The batteries are not standard AA or AAA, which may work in favour for some while for others, not so much. The Swift RL comes with a lithium-ion 2350 mAh battery and is rechargable with a USB-C port.

This is a simple looking, yet highly sophisticated headlamp that should very well be a high priority item in your mandatory kit.

VITALS RRP $279.90 NZD / $279.95 AUD OUTDOORESTORE.CO.NZ / OUTDOORESTORE.COM.AU

TIMBERLAND NIGHT HIKE Go straight from suburbia and the urban streets to mountain and bush trails in Timberland’s newest Night Hike styles, which are designed to excel in diverse environments.

Night Hike by Timberland offer the perfect blend of style and functionality, featuring the GreenStride Motion 6 Super Oxford with an incredible GORETEX Bootie – a waterproof membrane to help keep the elements out.

This shoe is constructed for increased comfort with uppers made from waterproof Premium Timberland Leather and ReBOTL fabric made from at least 50% recycled plastic, with the GreenStride comfort soles also made from at least 65%

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renewable bio-based materials derived from sugar cane and responsibly grown rubber.

Designed more with hiking in mind than running, the GreenStride Motion 6 Super Oxford Shoe is a lace-up with mesh fabric lining, removeable contoured sockliner, a rubber lug outsole and its toe bumper and heel piece is made from climbing rubber.

Preferring a dry environment filled with rock, grass and pea gravel the GreenStride Motion 6 Super Oxford Shoe is comfortable with a breathable upper; a wide and flat shoe, there is room for rock hopping however is best suited for walking and hiking on easy to moderate terrain. It looks like a

running shoe but it’s grippy, comfy and durable, and is well worth having in your closet ready for an outdoors adventure.

VITALS RRP $380.00 NZD / $299.00 AUD TIMBERLAND.CO.NZ

ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

COTOPAXI TECA HALF ZIP JACKET The Cotopaxi Teca Half Zip Jacket is a highly packable, weather resistant layer that’s ideal for windy ridge hikes, breezy bike rides and minimalist travels.

This season, Cotopaxi has streamlined the design of the Teca Half Zip Jacket and created men’s and women’s versions for improvised fit. It’s also upgraded the fabric for next-to-skin smoothness and added a zip pocket to boost in-movement comfort.

Made with weather-resistant, repurposed materials, and built for wind, light rain and heavy doses of adventure, Cotopaxi uses 100% remnant fabric to build each Teca Windbreaker, which means material that might have gone to a landfill gets a second chance to shine.

Each Teca is made using leftover fabric from other companies’ production runs, and each colourway

is also limited-edition. Once it’s sold out, it’s gone for good!

Cotopaxi does not just use leftover fabric to create the Teca, but uses high-quality repurposed taffeta with a water-resistant DWR finish.

A lightweight layer that packs into itself, the Teca Half Zip Jacket stows and deploys at a moment’s notice so when you aren’t using it, stuff it into its own kangaroo pocket for quick storage.

Cotopaxi is a sustainable outdoor brand based out of Salt Lake City, Utah. For Cotopaxi, giving is core to who they are. The brand ties its earnings to impact by allocating 1% of annual revenue to the Cotopaxi Foundation, which then distributes multiyear grants to thoroughly vetted not-for-profit organisations that focus on improving the human condition and fighting extreme poverty.

Since 2014, Cotopaxi has helped its impact partners

reach an estimated 3 million people in extreme poverty through traceable and valid means. The brand is also B Corp Certified meaning they have passed rigorous standards of ethical conduct in their practice.

VITALS RRP $159.99 NZD / $139.99 AUD COTOPAXI.CO.NZ

LA SPORTIVA PRODIGIO The technical performance shoe you’ve been looking for is here.

A revolutionary running shoe specially dedicated to the ultra trail world of La Sportiva, the Prodigio has been designed and developed for the runner who wants, and needs, to be challenged on tough terrain.

Excelling on hard trails but also on easy single tracks, the Prodigio is a propulsive model for those looking to put in the long kilometres. The shoe has a new nitrogen-infused EVA midsole called XFLOW foam to ensure maximum cushioning and energy return, with a large toe box and breathable upper featuring an HT lightweight knit and wraparound foot cage.

Foot rolling and stability are facilitated thanks to the Progressive Rocker and wide footbed, whilst

its Wrapping System construction snugly encases and secures the foot, preventing it from moving around inside the shoe.

You want big lugs? Large 4mm lugs allow for greater surface coverage and, of course, confidence when hitting unbalanced and slippery tracks and paths. The Prodigio offers a stable ride to support your full lower body, so you can be rest assured the journey traversing through your favourite trail will be comfortable.

The forefoot is fitted due to its relaxed upper, so is much more suited for narrow feet, however holds snugly and securely with a thin gusseted tongue, internal support and external overlays – with an upper that won’t stretch.

La Sportiva is a brand known to live and breathe the great outdoors, so if you are yet to try their

shoes, best be onto it! They have a fantastic high standard when it comes to quality of materials, and the Prodigio is no exception.

VITALS RRP $259.95 AUD LASPORTIVA.COM

RUNLY RUNNING VEST: THE ORIGINAL REVIEW BY SOPHIE GERAGHTY This little whizzy vest was fun to run with and test.

I wasn’t sure if it would feel super hot and stifling, or if it would rub and cause chafe. Actually, it was neither. All the seams and materials are soft and well manufactured. It’s made of high quality materials so has a good, well put together feel.

around. There is an extra teeny pocket for a house key, not big enough for car keys, I tried.

It’s a great high visibility tool, so a great safety measure and you a little like a superhero wearing it, so that’s a double win!

I ran with it on a stupidly hot day (the kind of day when tradies comment on your level of

All in all, it’s a great option if you’re looking for an option to carry a couple of bits and don’t

sanity as you run past) and I was fine in it. The zip pocket is a good size for a phone and

have secure or big pockets in your shorts whilst on shorter runs. It absolutely beats trying

gels, the expanding waist band was soft enough not to rub but firm enough not to slip

to carry your phone in your hand, especially if you’re on trails and are predisposed to the

occasional stack so need your hands available to keep your face safe.

VITALS RRP $89.00 AUD RUNLY.COM.AU

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REVIEW

TRAIL SHOES // BROOKS CASCADIA 18

WORDS & IMAGES BY KATE DZIENIS

ROLLING IN THE DEEP WITH THE CASCADIA 18 In early 2022, we tested the Brooks Cascadia 16s. This year, it’s an upgrade to the Cascadia 18s, and it’s left me even more impressed than before.

Shoe delivery is always exciting, mainly because I really get to see how far technology is advancing when it comes to stability and adaptability, and how they’re embracing efforts to reduce global effects.

The Cascadia 18s, an uber new shoe only released last month (July 2024) are a Certified CarbonNeutral product, meaning they actively increase the use of recycled materials to lower carbon emissions, and to achieve certification they also must also support carbon offset projects to neutralise the emissions that

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cannot yet be eliminated.

So if you’re a trail runner who is aware of the environmental changes around going on in the world, then Brooks has your back.

In terms of how soft and adaptable the shoes are, the Cascadia 18s are oh-sodivinely comfortable. The second I put them on, I didn’t want to take them off.

The Trail Adapt plate was quite dominant, I could feel myself being propelled forward within the first few steps – definitely a speed trail shoe that is responsive to pace.

And what is this Trail Adapt I speak of? It’s unique to Brooks, utilising an integrated midsole (8mm drop), rock shield and zonal outsole pods for enhanced control and

stability on the trails. This tech is 100% for premium mountain trail running, but don’t worry if you’re not a pro. It’s also for novice and mid-tier runners who are keen to get more technical on the trails and are looking for a boost in confidence. This shoe will certainly provide you with the assurance, becoming the best partner out there on the terrain.

Together with the Trail Adapt, the Cascadia 18s have a DNA Loft (v2) that provides soft cushioning, and the TrailTrack Green outsole rubber gives enhanced traction on wet and dry surfaces (it also features 25% recycled materials).

The durable and brightly coloured lugs are positively insane; they provided

ISSUE 52 | TRAILRUNMAG.COM

me with very reliable grip and control across various terrains, especially on the downhills on wet pea gravel – brilliant for someone who usually lands on her bum to slide down (so that’s always fun).

Having big lugs of 4.5mm surely made for a confident and fun run on local trails because I didn’t have to think about slipping or sliding on wet terrain.

They are definitely confidence boosters.

Towards the front of the shoe, the Cascadia 18s have a protective, breathable mesh upper, and the overlays in the high-wear areas add yet another layer of protection filtering out debris like pebbles, dirt and sand.

In the GTX version of the shoe, the mesh features are updated and have lightweight GORETEX Invisible Fit technology bonded directly to the upper for more flexibility when it comes to fit and waterproof protection.

When it comes to said fit, the Cascadia 18s fit both wide and narrow feet. How so, you ask? We know there are a number of running shoes out there that are specifically catered to the narrow; it’s tiring and hard to get a wide foot even into them. The Cascadia 18s cater to all types of feet with standard shoe and wide fit options available in both men’s and women’s; there was no issue getting my mum feet and ten piggies comfortable… which brings me to the toe box. No qualms in this department at all. With sizing true to size, my toes had more than enough breathing space to swell up and

slide forward when my momentum picked up – downhill, might I add.

Since the Brooks Cascadia 16s came out, the name has become synonymous with power, due in part to its ultra-protection, responsiveness and stability. Designed specifically for the rigors that come with trail running, the Cascadia 18s strike a perfect balance between a hardcore, rugged trail shoe where performance is required, and being comfortable like using marshmallows for slippers and jumping from cloud to cloud (heavenly, right?).

Other brilliant specs for these trail shoes are that the laces have bungee give in them, there’s an ankle lace lock hole for extra support, flip-up Velcro and pull tab at the heel counter and a discreet tongue with soft fabric that won’t slip down.

They also come in a large range of colours to suit every personality (Women’s come in Oceana/Pearl Blue/Pink, Coconut/ Chateau/White, Ebony/Sweet lavender/ Copper, Black/Blackened Pearl/Grey and Grey Blue/Black/Pink. For the Men, they come in Oyster/Primer Grey/Coconut, Black/Blackened Pearl/Grey, Citadel/ Ebony/Lime, Blue Sapphire/Black/Orange and Blackened Pearl/Black/Tomato).

Personally, the ones I got to test spoke to me – the Grey Blue/Black/Pink, with lugs that are featured as pink and bright yellow, and pink lace holders.

Go on. You know you want to get in deep (into the trails) with the Cascadia 18s.

THE LOW DOWN GREAT FOR: All technicality, all terrain NOT SO GREAT FOR: Flat pavement, bikepath TEST CONDITIONS: Single firebreak track, grass, pea gravel, crushed gravel (both dry and wet conditions) TESTER: Kate Dzienis TESTER MECHANICS: Severe overpronator VITALS RRP: $269.95 AUD / $299.90 NZD GTX Version RRP: $289.95 AUD / $339.90 NZD WEBSITE: brooksrunning.com.au / brooksrunning.co.nz CONDITIONS: Shoes (Grey Blue/ Black/Pink) provided for testing

by Brooks

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Photo Credit: Anastasia Wilde

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TRAIL THERAPY

A VISUAL METAPHOR WORDS & IMAGE: ASTRID VOLZKE, PROFESSIONAL PHOTOGRAPHER Ultra runner Aaron Young is surrounded by his attentive support crew in the forest at Broke Inlet Aid Station on the first evening of the Delirious WEST 200 Miler. After taking this photo, I realised that Aaron and his crew form a triangle shape representing balance, stability, power, purpose and direction. An intentional visual composition, but also a symbolic one that communicates to the viewer how vital crew are for long distance runners.

Camera Specs Canon 5D Mark IV, ISO 640, 75mm, f3.2, 1/500 sec

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SPIN PLANET

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