June 19, 2025 • 32 mins
The trail running universe's spotlight turns to Squaw Valley as the Broken Arrow Sky Race earns its rightful place on the prestigious Golden Trail World Series. James Lauriello and Nick Tusa dive deep into this watershed moment for American mountain running, breaking down why this recognition has been long overdue and what makes this race so special.
The hosts explore the fascinating dynamics of the 23K course with its 4,500 feet of vertical gain over roughly 14.5 miles. They analyze the thoughtful race format that gives elite women their own separate start time—a progressive move that ensures clearer race dynamics and better visibility for women competitors.
Joyce Njeru enters with an unblemished record on American soil as defending champion in the women's field, while Anna Gibson, Allie McLaughlin, and Lauren Gregory lead a formidable American contingent fresh off impressive performances at recent races. The conversation highlights exciting up-and-comers like Courtney Coppinger, who's been turning heads with remarkable back-to-back victories.
On the men's side, Patrick Kipngeno returns to defend his title against El Hazine and Swiss mountain running legend Remy Bonet, who recently demonstrated exceptional uphill fitness in European competition. The hosts make compelling cases for American hopefuls Mason Coppi and Andy Wacker, both arriving in career-best form and poised to challenge the international stars.
The episode wraps with detailed predictions for both races, analyzing not just who might win, but the strategic battles likely to unfold across the challenging Broken Arrow terrain. Whether you're heading to Squaw Valley or following from afar, this preview provides everything you need to appreciate what promises to be one of the most competitive American trail races ever assembled.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:00):
What's up, boys and girls, welcome back to the Steep
Stuff Podcast.
I'm your host, james Lauriello,joined today by frequent
co-host and friend of thepodcast, mr Nick Tusa, to
preview the Broken Arrow SkyRace 23K happening this upcoming
Sunday.
It's going to be bonkers, it'sgoing to be bananas.
We're so excited for this race,one of the many stops on the
(00:20):
Golden Trail World Series in2025.
It's so special that we finallygot one of a Golden Trail race
at Broken Arrow.
So, without further ado, I hopeyou guys enjoy this one.
It's a special one.
The Broken Arrow 23K courserace preview not course praise
preview with co-host Nick Tusa.
It's time.
(00:53):
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
(01:39):
We are live.
Nick Tussauds welcome back tothe Steep Stuff Podcast.
How's?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
it going bud.
All live to be out of thisgolden trail.
I mean, this is our kind ofpinnacle sky race in the United
States.
It's about time that it's hadits shine and it's going to be
on a global scale now and you'reprobably going to have golden
trail here putting on reallygreat coverage.
I imagine that there's going tobe.
We will have a live stream, butI imagine afterwards they're
(02:22):
going to have a phenomenal videoafterwards highlighting
everything and it's going to.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I'm excited for it, for sure, for sure.
No, I can't speak that enough.
Like you know, it's just, it'svery exciting that we finally
got like the most premier onehere I know in previous years.
You know, pikes Peak has alwaysbeen one more or less for the
marathon, and then we had theascent, and then they made up a
race last year for headlands.
Like it just never aligned, Ithink, on the calendar and
finally, because of worlds, weget one uh, broken arrow and it
(02:49):
just it makes so much sense, youknow, have everybody out of
palisades this year.
Um and dude, it's what, what acrazy thing that, like it lines
up with that.
And then the vk, or the ascent,I should say, and the 46k, or
selection races like all eyesare on broken arrow this year.
The most competitive races inAmerica at this point in the
mountain running scene.
It's just so exciting, I can'tsay it enough.
(03:09):
I feel like the 23K isinteresting because we're
getting a lot of Euros but notthat many, dude, not that many
people are coming over, unlesswe're missing something.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And I'm surprised because Mexico is, I believe,
either next week.
I think it's next week, yes it'scoming in yeah, so it's like
you're not coming over here, forI know it's a long ways from
Europe to California.
I get that versus maybe comingto Colorado.
But yeah, it's two races inNorth America.
I'm really surprised thatthey're not sending people over
here.
Maybe the budget's tight andthey sent people over to asia
(03:42):
for the two races and they saidyou got to pick either or I can
see that.
Um, because this is becomingmore of a more of a global,
worldwide thing.
Now this isn't just, you know,european golden trail races.
This is, this is everywhere.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
So yeah, yeah, yeah, it's interesting.
I don't know it's in, I don'tknow, man, it's kind of crazy.
You know one thing we didn'tsay on the vk that I completely
missed.
I didn't want to give away toomuch inside baseball, but this
is this could be a whole likething for the weekend is that,
you know, these might have somecourse reroutes, man.
Like we've got substantialwinds supposed to be blowing in
on friday and possibly hangingout through the weekend, so we
(04:16):
might see course reroutes uh,both on, you know, the vk, 46k
and 23k.
Uh, depending on how things godown, like I know specifically
they are, there is worry of areroute for the ascent, so I
don't know how it's going toimpact for the 23k if it rolls
to the weekend, but yeah, it'sgoing to be.
Um, I know it's going to beinteresting.
I had been in there on a year itwas 2023 uh when rose right and
(04:37):
I were out there and they hadto do a reroute on the um, the
23k course, to make it two loopsinstead of one.
It was kind of fun.
It was the year Eli justdestroyed people.
There are very few words forwhat was witnessed on that day,
but yeah, it was insane Elicrushed it so yeah.
(05:00):
Yeah, I don't know.
I think it's kind of cool.
I think it's exciting that wefinally have a 23k here.
So let me talk about the coursea little bit.
This race itself it's going tohappen Sunday, june 22nd.
So this upcoming Sunday, it isbroken up for men and women,
which I really like.
So there's a separate race forthe women and a separate race
for the men, taking place 20minutes apart.
(05:22):
So the women's race starts at8.40 in the morning and the
men's place 20 minutes apart.
So the women's race starts at 840 in the morning and the men's
race, um, and apparently allrunners, so all the the normies,
all the normal people runningit are going to be starting at
nine as well.
So the elite women just get anice 20 minute padding uh to get
started, which is great.
I like that because it's easierto follow the women's race, um,
you don't have to worry aboutmoves, you know, trying to pass
(05:43):
men and shit like that, likeit's just I don't know.
I've been a big proponent ofthis for a long time.
Like, I think, for a lot ofthese races, it should be a
separate men's and women's racein my opinion.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The race itself too, of coursedoesn't look too different 22k,
so 14 and a half miles ish uh,with about 4500 feet of vertical
is yeah, so not too differentfrom what we've seen in previous
(06:07):
years.
Nothing too crazy.
I think there's someinteresting discussions.
Less on the women's side, Ithink the women in my opinion
it's going to be some of theusual suspects.
In fact it might be kind of aredo of Sonopy with Allie, anna
and Lauren racing.
And then on the men's sidewe're gonna see patrick, we'll
(06:29):
see remy bonet returns to northamerica where he's had, you know
, a lot of success, and then alhuzzine, who I used to think
couldn't handle altitude andthen goes and wins mammoth last
year.
So I don't know, man, like whatare you?
What are you seeing in this?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
yeah, I'm happy to be seeing some of the Golden Trail
staple athletes up there.
I'm excited.
I'm always excited for Patrickand Philemon.
I think this is like Philemon'stype of course.
He does really really well atthese more runnable courses with
a lot of downhill.
Super excited for Mason to beout here.
He did so well a couple ofweekends ago and I think this is
(07:05):
his time to kind of put himself.
Like you know, he showed thathe is a top American.
Now I'm excited.
Is he going to show him thathe's top in the world Like he's
man?
Hell, it's going to be fun, umand then Remy Bonet.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Mason is him yes.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
And yes, and then remy bonet, roberto de lorenzi,
um, yeah, just a lot of, andthen just your staple guys that
were all here last year, likeeverybody's returning for the
most part.
So it's like nobody doesn'thave experience here, I would
say, other than maybe el hazine.
Otherwise everybody else ispretty much ran this, maybe that
lucas earl as well, um, buteveryone's either done the 46k
or the 23k.
They've done, they've done aloop of um.
And then, as for, like, thewomen's side, I'm just super
excited to just see everyonethat threw down a couple
(07:51):
weekends ago throw down againand then sprinkle in a couple
international athletes.
It's makes it all, all thebetter.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Um, yeah, excited yeah, it's gonna be interesting,
like, and I like I said, Ithink there's a lot of
opportunities here for theAmericans to get some serious
points, just like with the lackthereof Europeans.
I think it and the fact thatit's also at altitude which the
Europeans don't normally race at8000 feet isn't that bad, but I
mean it definitely eats somepeople alive, like I know people
(08:18):
have had problems with thealtitude before, so maybe that's
a slight, slight, slight issuefor some folks.
Yeah, you know, I just want asecond, something like I think
Andy, I think there'sopportunities for on this course
, like Andy's a former winnerlike yeah, he was champion in
2020.
No, that was eli, so andy musthave won in 2022, because andy
(08:40):
was 22 21 yep, yep.
So andy was a champion in 2022.
Dude, don't be surprised ifandy, andy, no, I, I would not
be surprised to see andy mix itup in there.
Um, has a good opportunity onthe podium when there is and
mason obviously I do.
I think mason has just achieveda new level and um has shown
that like he really is worldclass, so it's going to be
(09:00):
another statement day for Mason,in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Do very well going back to Andy, I think I mean
this is probably the most fit.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Andy has been going into a golden trail race like
he's done a bunch of goldentrail before, but I think again,
I think he's better than he'sever been, so it's yeah and this
is like more his course, likewe saw what he got to do at big
Alta, because it's more of a Imean, if I remember Broken Arrow
correctly like there's a lot offire road and there's some
single track and it's sometechie in some places.
(09:27):
But I wouldn't describe BrokenArrow as a particularly like
technical, like course.
I would describe it as morejust fast, like very runnable,
steep sections.
Nonetheless, it's like.
I think you can get anincredibly fit for this race,
like on the front range, in myopinion you know um what people
stand out to you like.
What do you think about remy?
Did you see, remy, what he?
(09:48):
Remy bonet specifically notremy, but remy bonet, you know
ran this like really cool racein switzerland, I think it was
like last week, yeah a coupledays ago it was like it was dude
.
He ran like 10k with like 4 000.
You know it might have beenlike 6 000 feet in like under an
hour or something like that.
It was bananas what he was ableto do and it just goes to show
(10:13):
like remy actually I maybe justcoming back from schemo season
like remy isn't like stupiduphill fitness shape right now.
Uh, let me know if you comeacross it on strava I I saw like
the euro stats it was all inmetro I think it was only three
days ago, actually.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, but a little over 10k with a
little over 4 000 feet of gainwith a thought, with a five flat
gap, I mean that's specialright there, that's yeah, and
that was only.
That was pretty much an uphillrace.
It looked like it was basicallybroken arrow with an additional
thousand foot climb.
So or broken, uh broken orascent with another thousand
(10:49):
foot climb.
So yeah, throwing down a 428gap, 441 gap, 435 like that is
that's disgusting so let me isin crazy shape you can't count
him out.
You can't count him out.
He might not be you know whathe used to.
He might not be that worldbeater like he was, you know, a
couple years ago when he waswinning Golden Trail, right.
But he's going to be up thereand I don't know, maybe he's
(11:13):
planning his season differentlybecause he's slowly getting into
trail now.
Maybe he's trying to peak forfor later in the year, for for
worlds.
Maybe I had imagined he's goingto be on the, the Swiss world
team, right.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I mean, I don't think so.
No, he doesn't.
He doesn't run worlds.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Like he's never gone.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, he's never done it.
I don't know why, like what thedealio is there?
I don't know if Solomon washolding him no, I'm kidding if
he I mean, I got jokes for thisone too, but no, I think, um, no
, remy, yeah, he's never.
He didn't go to world's lastyear, he didn't go to 2022 or
2023.
I can just push it.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Speaking of solomon, too, another name that I'm not
seeing here, which I don't knowwhy I didn't notice it before,
so feel lucky who's training inboulder now?
Yeah, what's going on?
She's putting in work inboulder.
I've seen her.
It's don't know what's going on, I have no idea.
Interesting Because this is, Idon't know.
If you know.
I believe she has the 23Kcourse record for women's.
(12:07):
Yeah, so sad to not see herhere.
That's a bummer, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Dude, she was one that like really came onto the
scene and like so fast yeah, sofast fast came onto the scene,
like has been a little quiet.
The last few maybe coming, Idon't know, maybe dealing with
some injuries, maybe justdealing with.
I mean, dude, it can't be easybeing a dual sport athlete at
the highest.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
no, no, you know that's the life of an athlete.
It's.
It's ups and downs.
You can't always be at the topfor that long it's.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
You're gonna burn yourself yeah let me ask you
this what do you think abouthawk call being on the start
line for this?
I, I think he's hungry dude.
I think he's ready.
He might be ready to crack oneoff.
I know he's he kind of.
He was very uh open on uhinstagram about posting about
some of his struggles.
I think he was kind of just outof it when it came to, um, uh
son up.
He like didn't have the racethat he wanted and then also
(12:51):
didn't have a great uh, what wasthe golden trail series race
that was in italy?
Um, but you know, dude, youcan't, can't count, count out no
, he was six last last year.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
This was kind of his breakout.
I think that's when you and Ikind of first caught wind of him
, and since then he's just beena staple.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Fucking kicked my ass at.
What was it?
Cirque Series Targhee, dude,Targhee.
It was disgusting.
He's a very talented downhillrunner.
I think this is his type.
Of course these guys tend to dovery well in some of the more
Mountain West stuff and I thinkthis is more Mountain West
course.
It kind of favors those guys.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
And then another one who came onto our radar last
year during this time too wherenobody knew who he was Taylor
Stack.
And now everybody knows who heis.
So, yeah, Brooks has put a lotof investment behind him and
super excited what he can do.
I mean fourth, last year was inthat field.
Last year's field was stackedas well.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I mean, this year is a different story, but still,
you know, he reminds me.
He reminds me of a young eli,even though eli's young eli yeah
, he does.
He just gives me eli vibes,like even talking, like it gives
me eli vibes for some reason, Idon't know.
It's something about him that,just like I don't know, reminds
me of eli.
But yeah, and just what astupid talented kid.
Like crazy.
You know it's funny.
Cade told me a story one time.
I had Cade on the pod and he wastalking about just like the
(14:06):
level of like seriousness, andlike just not just dedication,
but like competitiveness, likehe was saying like Taylor's the
type of human that like, if youbeat him at a board game, like
he'll lock himself in the roomand learn how to crush you at it
and then come out when he'sready to destroy you Kind of
competitive, which isinteresting.
He's another one dude.
It's funny.
He's another one that hadissues with his eyes at Sunapee.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
So it wasn't just.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Tyler yeah, I don't know what it is.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I don't know if it's an East Coast thing, maybe more
humid, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Yeah, interesting, interesting.
Yeah, interesting, interesting,yeah, and particularly on the
descents, like on the dude whichhe almost won the race, man, if
it wasn't for his eye situationlike he would have probably won
, which is crazy.
Probably won, that is yeah.
But yeah, he's another one thatlike just man like talk about,
made made a name for himself.
Like you know, everybody knowswho he is now, so another one
(14:57):
too.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Um, was kind of surprised to see him on here.
Is Cam racing the 23K.
Cam's racing the 23K.
Yeah, Really I wonder what'sthe story behind that.
Do you have any details?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Wants to throw down, wants to keep the weekend
rolling dude.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
I like that.
He's just that kind ofcompetitor.
If he's going to a race weekendwhere there's multiple races,
he's always signing up for it.
He did the Triple crown lastyear.
He goes to you know the rut anddoes the, does the vk and then
the 28k and I think he did the50k.
He, he loves that.
That's so I guess.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yeah, not not surprised to see him yeah, cam's
got the dog in him, man, we allknow cam is, you know, a
voracious competitor and hasalways, didn't.
Well, man, like always top 10.
Like it would not be surprisedto see him somewhere in the top
10 when it comes to this race,for sure.
On the women's side, onenotable one was Taylor Noland.
Yes, dude, she kind of cameonto the scene.
(15:52):
I think she either won or had avery good result at Speed Goat
years ago and then signed withAdidas Terrax and then went the
whole ultra route.
Yep, had a few years at WesternStates and then I of, like you
know, signed with adidas terexand then, like, went the whole
ultra route.
A couple had a few years atwestern states and then, um, I
think, just just gave birth uh,not so long ago, maybe last
summer, just had children.
Now kind of like back on theshort stuff which I like, it's,
(16:13):
it's, it's really cool.
So yeah, big fan of hers,christina mascarinas, want to
give a big shout out to uh locallegend of the springs like
three or four time pikes peakmarathon champion, christina
mascarilla, and has had successat broken arrow, like she's been
on the podium of the 46k, sodon't be surprised to see
christina.
Uh, do extremely well here.
Um.
(16:33):
Another one, rachel smycheck,is here racing.
May cook um, oh yeah, yeah, maycooks out um.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
So from boulder, um, oakley olsen will be in this
race as well and then we've gotthe usual suspects jade
bellsberg, lauren gregory, annagibson, ellie mack and joyce
naru one that I wanted tohighlight, who I'm really
excited about, because I racedher a couple weekends ago at
peppy's.
She was right behind me, um,courtney coppinger yes, so she,
(17:00):
she's special.
Uh, she was fourth at Sunapee.
Kind of came out of nowhere noone, really she.
It turns out she's sponsored byBrooks.
I had no idea, but yeah, shecame out and she came to the
GoPro Games here in Vail,colorado, and won the 10K that
morning.
A couple hours later, shake outthe legs wins Pepe's Like's to
(17:21):
win back to back.
That's she.
Her legs are ready, she's.
She's one.
Yeah, yeah, she is one that,like I don't have her in my top
five but she very, very wellcould be up there.
It's just, the top five is sostacked it's really hard for me
to want to put her up there.
But definitely my sleeper pick,100% Courtney.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Having my sleeper pick, 100%, courtney having an
amazing season so far.
Yeah, do not be surprised.
And you know, dude, it's funnylike Sydney Peterson on a Gibson
.
When I was doing pre-raceinterviews with them, they both
said, watch out for CourtneyCoppinger.
And I was like love it.
I was like, who is this person?
Research?
I follow her on Instagram andI've been trying to send her DMs
to get her on the podcast but Iguess, like, if she doesn't
follow you back, she doesn'tlike she can't respond damn it,
so I'm gonna put this one outinto the world.
(18:05):
If anyone knows up and sure orcan get me connected with her, I
want her on the podcast likeyeah, I want that podcast.
Yeah, it would be fun to have achat with her, so hopefully we
can speak that into the universe.
But, yes, one to watch out forit nonetheless.
Um, yeah, I think it's likewhat the women I have to watch
out for Like there's a good mixof maybe 20, 30 women that could
probably throw down here.
I think that's going to be?
Who do you have?
(18:26):
Um, let's start with women.
Let's go for yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yeah, so top five here.
Um, and fifth, I have AllieAllen McLaughlin.
She's been here, like we saidin the in the ascent episode.
She's been here so many times.
She's done this race a numberof times.
I don't know if she's gotenough to beat the women that
I'm going to name here above her, but she's going to be up there
(18:53):
.
Wouldn't be surprised to seeher take maybe third as well,
but yeah, I have her in.
Fifth.
She took third at Sunapeebehind Lauren Gregory and Anna
Gibson a couple of weeks ago.
So she's fit.
She's fit, like you said.
You saw her do that stairmaster workout.
She's crushing.
Fourth, I have Lauren Gregory,second at Centipede a couple of
weekends ago.
She's here and she's on therise.
I'm excited to see her name upthere and racing these big races
(19:17):
now.
She's never been here before.
So that's maybe one little youknow, I don't know one little
star you could put next to hername, but I mean it it.
It was the same thing with the,with the golden trail series
last year when she showed up.
She's never raced those beforeand she dominated, so excited to
see her up there.
Third, madalena Floria.
She, she's really good here inthe U S as well.
(19:38):
She's another one.
When she comes here she showsup.
She was third at mammoth uh in2023 and then second at mammoth
in 2024, so she is no strangerto these high altitude uh
american races.
And then second um man, I don'twant to have her in second
because we're such big fans ofher.
(19:58):
But anna gibson okay, I thinkshe's gonna tear it up in the
ascent and then she's gonna comehere, um and still do well, I
mean second is not gonna hangyour head about uh.
She was second here in in 2023,but I don't believe she raced
it in last year.
I think she just did the vklast year, um, but yeah, expect
her and joyce to go at it.
I think that's kind of going tobe the story of the weekend
(20:20):
seeing America's best and theworld's best, in a sense, just
going head to head.
I got Joyce taking it here.
She won last year.
She won the VK as well and thenshe won at Mammoth.
Like I said last episode, she'sundefeated on American soil.
I think that that's going tocontinue.
Don't know about the ascent,but I think the 23 K she's she's
(20:41):
ready to uh, to do it.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
So I like it.
I like it, Um yeah go for itall right, I'll take it away,
sorry my dog distracted me for asecond.
I was like it's been a long day,um, okay, so I'll start.
I'm just gonna do five down,five up.
I'm gonna go fifth jadebellsberg.
Uh, another one jade has justhad.
(21:03):
I think last year was thesecond place finish at this race
.
Um, I think, just compete withthe best of them.
Uh, super, super, super, uhtalented athlete in.
Fourth I'm gonna go laurengregory.
Um, the interesting thing, Idon't know why I might like want
to rethink this.
I'm not going to change thepick now but, like lauren
gregory might do better than youthink because she's not racing
the vk, so won't have that inher legs on, uh, on friday.
(21:29):
So don't be surprised if shelike podiums or wins.
The damn thing.
I could totally see it um inthird place I'm gonna go on a
gibson.
And in second place I'm gonnago ali mac.
Uh, I just think ali just haslike such a winning pedigree at
this race, um, like I can'tremember she's won it two times
or maybe three.
I think she's won it twice,maybe three, but like just has
(21:52):
the dog in her, like has thewinning pedigree and I'm hoping
things are good on the injuryside.
I know she'd been kind of likeworking through some nerve stuff
, um, and I think that should bebehind her, um, and hopefully
she can have a happy, healthy,exciting race on race day.
And in first place I'm gonna gojoyce naru.
Uh, I think I think anna beatsher on friday, but I don't think
(22:13):
she gets beat on on um, I missit wednesday.
On sunday, um, yeah, I don'tknow, I don't think so.
I mean, maybe I'm wrong.
I don't have.
Noticeably, I don't havemadalina floria in there.
I just think that, like like oneof the things that ali said to
me in in the post race interviewwith sunup, he was like you
know, you're racing with yourteammates now in a lot of ways,
like with Allie, anna and Lauren, and this is world-class
(22:33):
competition and a lot of thesewomen are going to be at Worlds.
I just see these womencompeting for medals,
particularly gold, the gold kind, at Worlds, and yeah, I just
think that those three are goingto be very hard to beat.
So I've got them kind of fillin the podium in the top five,
watching out for, yes, cordyCoppinger, christina Mascarenas,
(22:56):
taylor Nolan, sydney Peterson,lara Hamilton, rachel Smycheck
will be up there as well.
Easily solid top 10 athleteOakley Olsen could prove herself
in a race like this.
I think maybe because she's asteepler, I think the
opportunity there might be morein the vk, but what do I know?
Uh, because this isn't muchlonger.
(23:16):
Race like it's not.
This isn't a cirque series.
Race like this is one wherethere's no opportunities.
Um, it's a bit longer, but yes,there's an opportunity to screw
up, like a bit more competitive, and then meg cook as well.
Uh, it'd be cool to see wheremeg's gonna gonna mix it up.
Yeah, and that's all I got forthe women.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Awesome.
All right, on to the men.
On to the men.
On to the men.
Fifth, doing some home cookinghere, I mean Mason Copey.
I mean we love him here on thepod.
We're excited to see what hecan do against world competition
like this.
He performed so well a coupleweekends ago.
Yeah, this is this is his time.
You know it's this is his year.
(23:54):
He's.
He's on a crazy trajectory.
Um, should be fun to see.
Fourth, I have lucas earl, whoyou mentioned, uh, on the assets
pod.
Uh, he was the winner of utmb,etc.
Which is actually now becominglike a super competitive race.
I think this year it's probablygoing to be the most
competitive it's ever been.
We're going to see a lot ofbecause sub ultra has been
(24:14):
growing so much.
You've been doing a great jobwith this podcast growing it.
Um, thank you, yeah.
And then, third, we have uh,philemon.
He was third last year.
I think again he's gonna hangon to patrick as long as he can
and patrick's probably going tobe chasing like el hazine for a
while, but I think that theywere going to go back and forth.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
So at least in the last few miles, that's the way
they race, yup.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
And then El Hazin, in seconds, hasn't raced here
before coming over to America.
Sometimes that's a little bitof a question mark, who knows?
And then I have Patrick win itat all.
Last year's winner, he's, he'sgoing to have the best year of
probably you look, you're gonnalook back this is probably gonna
be the best, one of the bestyears of his career.
Um, yeah, he's, he's gonna puttogether a special year and
(25:00):
expect him to to take it here atthe 23k really no remy bonet in
there.
No remy bonet um, yeah, he'sjust he, he, he's.
I've been like my sixth spot, Iguess, like he's the top of my
list of what could be.
Yeah, he's very hot and cold.
Yeah, he, you know.
I just I don't know if thatthis is like a pure.
He's a great climber, right.
(25:21):
Um, I don't know if this islike a pure climbers race.
I think it's a mix of both,that's.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
I mean, I could throw him in that fifth or fourth
spot, but Bro, don't besurprised if Mason I see.
Mason and Andy kind of in thatarea.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah yeah, I mean I think he rises to the occasion
with the competition.
I mean this is competitionhigher than he's ever been in,
so is he going to rise to it.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
He was top 15 at headlands and top 15.
Yeah.
If I remember correctlysomething like to the accord of
that and I think he's leveled updude, like Andy as well, like
Andy's coming off that injuryand like as fit as he's ever
been.
Now Don't be surprised, yeah,and don't be surprised if Taylor
stacks in there too, man.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Oh yeah, man, oh yeah , no, can't leave him out.
Um, yeah, a few others I wantedto highlight too.
Uh, coming over from, uh, fromeurope.
Uh, roberto dellorenzi, he'salways up there, doesn't matter
what kind of race it is, thedude is just mr consistent.
Um, I think he's toned back asracing a little bit this year,
so maybe he'll come in with alittle fresh.
Oh my god, it's ridiculous.
Every every weekend.
Um, and then that henry, uh,amadad, how do you pronounce his
(26:35):
last name?
yeah, yeah, yeah, he was fifthin 2023, um, very well could be
up there.
Remy larue eighth last year.
Talon hall 12th last year.
Christian allen I don't thinkhe had the race that he wanted
to last year getting 13th.
He very well could be up there.
I mean, he's he does well inthese, in these races.
Uh.
(26:55):
Grant colligan from golden,15th last year.
Uh.
And then the young guns againum.
Ali papalan he was 26 last year, only 20 years old.
Benjamin town said 21 years old.
He was 38 last year.
Uh, so it's like those, those,those young kids, are on a, on a
crazy trajectory, so we caneasily see them pop into the top
15, top 10, um.
(27:16):
And then, and then I think outof utah, liam.
Liam hammonds was another one,um.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
I got to meet him.
Yeah, really nice guy.
Yeah, yeah, so cool but, yeah,that's.
That's what I got for my picks.
I'm right there with you.
Same thing, mason fifth.
I've got andy fourth, elhussein and third I'm gonna.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
I put I was a little nice to Remy this time.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I'm not usually very nice to Remy Bonet but, I put
Remy Bonet in second this time.
He won me over from last week'srace and then I'm going to go
first Patrick, obviously.
I just think Patrick's so hardto beat, so complete and more
completer than he's ever been,like his ascending and
descending has gotten so good.
This is not a technical course,so he should rip it up, um, and
(27:54):
maybe, maybe.
I just don't see like Remy hasnot gotten the best of him in a
long time and I wonder, with L,who's seen having his first race
at altitude?
Um, like I said, I kind of atethose words.
Last year I did not think hewould win mammoth and he did win
um.
Maybe it's the same thing thisyear, maybe, maybe he has a
great race again, um, but I doexpect big things from andy.
(28:14):
I don't know why, andy.
Something points to andy, to me, that he's either top five or
on the podium and mason is himas well.
I think mason is that legitworld class and uh is ready to
make a statement and um, youknow, I think he's gonna have
his pick of teams to join uhcoming out of 2025.
Uh, on the watch list, I think,like I said, same thing.
Taylor stack, lucas, arl uh,talon hall, christian allen, cam
(28:37):
smith, philomon uh, never countout.
Remy larue um, I just wonder.
With remy, the thing with me isthis is at altitude?
Um, not that he struggles ataltitude, he's.
Historically he's done verywell.
I just he's had a lot of racingunder his belt over the last
three weeks and I just wonderhow tired he is.
I know he kind of struggled alittle bit with something with
his foot, I think it was atCentipede, and then he was able
(29:00):
to kind of correct it and justwent in one Cirque Cannon.
So if the Cirque Cannon Remyshows up, then good luck to
everybody.
And then also, he just got, uh,I think he was fourth at um,
right behind joe david, rightbehind joe alex ricard and david
sinclair at mount washington.
(29:20):
So yeah, yeah, so that's a castof characters right there.
So yeah, remy is uh like one ofthe best climbers, like he's
world class.
So yeah, no doubt about it.
Um, that's all, that's all Igot.
So, oh, and Hawk call, don'tforget.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I forget about Hawk.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Yeah, uh, and that's all I got.
So cool, that's the 23rd.
Awesome, yeah.
Wish everybody the best in the23rd.
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No-transcript.
What's up, boys and girls, welcome back to the Steep
Stuff Podcast.
I'm your host, james Lauriello,joined today by frequent
co-host and friend of thepodcast, mr Nick Tusa, to
preview the Broken Arrow SkyRace 23K happening this upcoming
Sunday.
It's going to be bonkers, it'sgoing to be bananas.
We're so excited for this race,one of the many stops on the
(00:20):
Golden Trail World Series in2025.
It's so special that we finallygot one of a Golden Trail race
at Broken Arrow.
So, without further ado, I hopeyou guys enjoy this one.
It's a special one.
The Broken Arrow 23K courserace preview not course praise
preview with co-host Nick Tusa.
It's time.
(00:53):
Thank you, ladies and gentlemen.
(01:39):
We are live.
Nick Tussauds welcome back tothe Steep Stuff Podcast.
How's?
Speaker 2 (01:59):
it going bud.
All live to be out of thisgolden trail.
I mean, this is our kind ofpinnacle sky race in the United
States.
It's about time that it's hadits shine and it's going to be
on a global scale now and you'reprobably going to have golden
trail here putting on reallygreat coverage.
I imagine that there's going tobe.
We will have a live stream, butI imagine afterwards they're
(02:22):
going to have a phenomenal videoafterwards highlighting
everything and it's going to.
Speaker 1 (02:26):
I'm excited for it, for sure, for sure.
No, I can't speak that enough.
Like you know, it's just, it'svery exciting that we finally
got like the most premier onehere I know in previous years.
You know, pikes Peak has alwaysbeen one more or less for the
marathon, and then we had theascent, and then they made up a
race last year for headlands.
Like it just never aligned, Ithink, on the calendar and
finally, because of worlds, weget one uh, broken arrow and it
(02:49):
just it makes so much sense, youknow, have everybody out of
palisades this year.
Um and dude, it's what, what acrazy thing that, like it lines
up with that.
And then the vk, or the ascent,I should say, and the 46k, or
selection races like all eyesare on broken arrow this year.
The most competitive races inAmerica at this point in the
mountain running scene.
It's just so exciting, I can'tsay it enough.
(03:09):
I feel like the 23K isinteresting because we're
getting a lot of Euros but notthat many, dude, not that many
people are coming over, unlesswe're missing something.
Speaker 2 (03:19):
And I'm surprised because Mexico is, I believe,
either next week.
I think it's next week, yes it'scoming in yeah, so it's like
you're not coming over here, forI know it's a long ways from
Europe to California.
I get that versus maybe comingto Colorado.
But yeah, it's two races inNorth America.
I'm really surprised thatthey're not sending people over
here.
Maybe the budget's tight andthey sent people over to asia
(03:42):
for the two races and they saidyou got to pick either or I can
see that.
Um, because this is becomingmore of a more of a global,
worldwide thing.
Now this isn't just, you know,european golden trail races.
This is, this is everywhere.
Speaker 1 (03:54):
So yeah, yeah, yeah, it's interesting.
I don't know it's in, I don'tknow, man, it's kind of crazy.
You know one thing we didn'tsay on the vk that I completely
missed.
I didn't want to give away toomuch inside baseball, but this
is this could be a whole likething for the weekend is that,
you know, these might have somecourse reroutes, man.
Like we've got substantialwinds supposed to be blowing in
on friday and possibly hangingout through the weekend, so we
(04:16):
might see course reroutes uh,both on, you know, the vk, 46k
and 23k.
Uh, depending on how things godown, like I know specifically
they are, there is worry of areroute for the ascent, so I
don't know how it's going toimpact for the 23k if it rolls
to the weekend, but yeah, it'sgoing to be.
Um, I know it's going to beinteresting.
I had been in there on a year itwas 2023 uh when rose right and
(04:37):
I were out there and they hadto do a reroute on the um, the
23k course, to make it two loopsinstead of one.
It was kind of fun.
It was the year Eli justdestroyed people.
There are very few words forwhat was witnessed on that day,
but yeah, it was insane Elicrushed it so yeah.
(05:00):
Yeah, I don't know.
I think it's kind of cool.
I think it's exciting that wefinally have a 23k here.
So let me talk about the coursea little bit.
This race itself it's going tohappen Sunday, june 22nd.
So this upcoming Sunday, it isbroken up for men and women,
which I really like.
So there's a separate race forthe women and a separate race
for the men, taking place 20minutes apart.
(05:22):
So the women's race starts at8.40 in the morning and the
men's place 20 minutes apart.
So the women's race starts at 840 in the morning and the men's
race, um, and apparently allrunners, so all the the normies,
all the normal people runningit are going to be starting at
nine as well.
So the elite women just get anice 20 minute padding uh to get
started, which is great.
I like that because it's easierto follow the women's race, um,
you don't have to worry aboutmoves, you know, trying to pass
(05:43):
men and shit like that, likeit's just I don't know.
I've been a big proponent ofthis for a long time.
Like, I think, for a lot ofthese races, it should be a
separate men's and women's racein my opinion.
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
The race itself too, of coursedoesn't look too different 22k,
so 14 and a half miles ish uh,with about 4500 feet of vertical
is yeah, so not too differentfrom what we've seen in previous
(06:07):
years.
Nothing too crazy.
I think there's someinteresting discussions.
Less on the women's side, Ithink the women in my opinion
it's going to be some of theusual suspects.
In fact it might be kind of aredo of Sonopy with Allie, anna
and Lauren racing.
And then on the men's sidewe're gonna see patrick, we'll
(06:29):
see remy bonet returns to northamerica where he's had, you know
, a lot of success, and then alhuzzine, who I used to think
couldn't handle altitude andthen goes and wins mammoth last
year.
So I don't know, man, like whatare you?
What are you seeing in this?
Speaker 2 (06:41):
yeah, I'm happy to be seeing some of the Golden Trail
staple athletes up there.
I'm excited.
I'm always excited for Patrickand Philemon.
I think this is like Philemon'stype of course.
He does really really well atthese more runnable courses with
a lot of downhill.
Super excited for Mason to beout here.
He did so well a couple ofweekends ago and I think this is
(07:05):
his time to kind of put himself.
Like you know, he showed thathe is a top American.
Now I'm excited.
Is he going to show him thathe's top in the world Like he's
man?
Hell, it's going to be fun, umand then Remy Bonet.
Speaker 1 (07:19):
Mason is him yes.
Speaker 2 (07:28):
And yes, and then remy bonet, roberto de lorenzi,
um, yeah, just a lot of, andthen just your staple guys that
were all here last year, likeeverybody's returning for the
most part.
So it's like nobody doesn'thave experience here, I would
say, other than maybe el hazine.
Otherwise everybody else ispretty much ran this, maybe that
lucas earl as well, um, buteveryone's either done the 46k
or the 23k.
They've done, they've done aloop of um.
And then, as for, like, thewomen's side, I'm just super
excited to just see everyonethat threw down a couple
(07:51):
weekends ago throw down againand then sprinkle in a couple
international athletes.
It's makes it all, all thebetter.
Speaker 1 (07:57):
Um, yeah, excited yeah, it's gonna be interesting,
like, and I like I said, Ithink there's a lot of
opportunities here for theAmericans to get some serious
points, just like with the lackthereof Europeans.
I think it and the fact thatit's also at altitude which the
Europeans don't normally race at8000 feet isn't that bad, but I
mean it definitely eats somepeople alive, like I know people
(08:18):
have had problems with thealtitude before, so maybe that's
a slight, slight, slight issuefor some folks.
Yeah, you know, I just want asecond, something like I think
Andy, I think there'sopportunities for on this course
, like Andy's a former winnerlike yeah, he was champion in
2020.
No, that was eli, so andy musthave won in 2022, because andy
(08:40):
was 22 21 yep, yep.
So andy was a champion in 2022.
Dude, don't be surprised ifandy, andy, no, I, I would not
be surprised to see andy mix itup in there.
Um, has a good opportunity onthe podium when there is and
mason obviously I do.
I think mason has just achieveda new level and um has shown
that like he really is worldclass, so it's going to be
(09:00):
another statement day for Mason,in my opinion.
Speaker 2 (09:02):
Do very well going back to Andy, I think I mean
this is probably the most fit.
Speaker 1 (09:07):
Andy has been going into a golden trail race like
he's done a bunch of goldentrail before, but I think again,
I think he's better than he'sever been, so it's yeah and this
is like more his course, likewe saw what he got to do at big
Alta, because it's more of a Imean, if I remember Broken Arrow
correctly like there's a lot offire road and there's some
single track and it's sometechie in some places.
(09:27):
But I wouldn't describe BrokenArrow as a particularly like
technical, like course.
I would describe it as morejust fast, like very runnable,
steep sections.
Nonetheless, it's like.
I think you can get anincredibly fit for this race,
like on the front range, in myopinion you know um what people
stand out to you like.
What do you think about remy?
Did you see, remy, what he?
(09:48):
Remy bonet specifically notremy, but remy bonet, you know
ran this like really cool racein switzerland, I think it was
like last week, yeah a coupledays ago it was like it was dude
.
He ran like 10k with like 4 000.
You know it might have beenlike 6 000 feet in like under an
hour or something like that.
It was bananas what he was ableto do and it just goes to show
(10:13):
like remy actually I maybe justcoming back from schemo season
like remy isn't like stupiduphill fitness shape right now.
Uh, let me know if you comeacross it on strava I I saw like
the euro stats it was all inmetro I think it was only three
days ago, actually.
Speaker 2 (10:26):
Yeah, yeah, so yeah, but a little over 10k with a
little over 4 000 feet of gainwith a thought, with a five flat
gap, I mean that's specialright there, that's yeah, and
that was only.
That was pretty much an uphillrace.
It looked like it was basicallybroken arrow with an additional
thousand foot climb.
So or broken, uh broken orascent with another thousand
(10:49):
foot climb.
So yeah, throwing down a 428gap, 441 gap, 435 like that is
that's disgusting so let me isin crazy shape you can't count
him out.
You can't count him out.
He might not be you know whathe used to.
He might not be that worldbeater like he was, you know, a
couple years ago when he waswinning Golden Trail, right.
But he's going to be up thereand I don't know, maybe he's
(11:13):
planning his season differentlybecause he's slowly getting into
trail now.
Maybe he's trying to peak forfor later in the year, for for
worlds.
Maybe I had imagined he's goingto be on the, the Swiss world
team, right.
Speaker 1 (11:24):
I mean, I don't think so.
No, he doesn't.
He doesn't run worlds.
Speaker 2 (11:27):
Like he's never gone.
Speaker 1 (11:29):
Yeah, he's never done it.
I don't know why, like what thedealio is there?
I don't know if Solomon washolding him no, I'm kidding if
he I mean, I got jokes for thisone too, but no, I think, um, no
, remy, yeah, he's never.
He didn't go to world's lastyear, he didn't go to 2022 or
2023.
I can just push it.
Speaker 2 (11:47):
Speaking of solomon, too, another name that I'm not
seeing here, which I don't knowwhy I didn't notice it before,
so feel lucky who's training inboulder now?
Yeah, what's going on?
She's putting in work inboulder.
I've seen her.
It's don't know what's going on, I have no idea.
Interesting Because this is, Idon't know.
If you know.
I believe she has the 23Kcourse record for women's.
(12:07):
Yeah, so sad to not see herhere.
That's a bummer, but yeah.
Speaker 1 (12:12):
Dude, she was one that like really came onto the
scene and like so fast yeah, sofast fast came onto the scene,
like has been a little quiet.
The last few maybe coming, Idon't know, maybe dealing with
some injuries, maybe justdealing with.
I mean, dude, it can't be easybeing a dual sport athlete at
the highest.
Speaker 2 (12:25):
no, no, you know that's the life of an athlete.
It's.
It's ups and downs.
You can't always be at the topfor that long it's.
Speaker 1 (12:31):
You're gonna burn yourself yeah let me ask you
this what do you think abouthawk call being on the start
line for this?
I, I think he's hungry dude.
I think he's ready.
He might be ready to crack oneoff.
I know he's he kind of.
He was very uh open on uhinstagram about posting about
some of his struggles.
I think he was kind of just outof it when it came to, um, uh
son up.
He like didn't have the racethat he wanted and then also
(12:51):
didn't have a great uh, what wasthe golden trail series race
that was in italy?
Um, but you know, dude, youcan't, can't count, count out no
, he was six last last year.
Speaker 2 (13:00):
This was kind of his breakout.
I think that's when you and Ikind of first caught wind of him
, and since then he's just beena staple.
Speaker 1 (13:09):
Fucking kicked my ass at.
What was it?
Cirque Series Targhee, dude,Targhee.
It was disgusting.
He's a very talented downhillrunner.
I think this is his type.
Of course these guys tend to dovery well in some of the more
Mountain West stuff and I thinkthis is more Mountain West
course.
It kind of favors those guys.
Speaker 2 (13:25):
And then another one who came onto our radar last
year during this time too wherenobody knew who he was Taylor
Stack.
And now everybody knows who heis.
So, yeah, Brooks has put a lotof investment behind him and
super excited what he can do.
I mean fourth, last year was inthat field.
Last year's field was stackedas well.
Speaker 1 (13:45):
I mean, this year is a different story, but still,
you know, he reminds me.
He reminds me of a young eli,even though eli's young eli yeah
, he does.
He just gives me eli vibes,like even talking, like it gives
me eli vibes for some reason, Idon't know.
It's something about him that,just like I don't know, reminds
me of eli.
But yeah, and just what astupid talented kid.
Like crazy.
You know it's funny.
Cade told me a story one time.
I had Cade on the pod and he wastalking about just like the
(14:06):
level of like seriousness, andlike just not just dedication,
but like competitiveness, likehe was saying like Taylor's the
type of human that like, if youbeat him at a board game, like
he'll lock himself in the roomand learn how to crush you at it
and then come out when he'sready to destroy you Kind of
competitive, which isinteresting.
He's another one dude.
It's funny.
He's another one that hadissues with his eyes at Sunapee.
Speaker 2 (14:30):
So it wasn't just.
Speaker 1 (14:30):
Tyler yeah, I don't know what it is.
Speaker 2 (14:32):
I don't know if it's an East Coast thing, maybe more
humid, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (14:37):
Yeah, interesting, interesting.
Yeah, interesting, interesting,yeah, and particularly on the
descents, like on the dude whichhe almost won the race, man, if
it wasn't for his eye situationlike he would have probably won
, which is crazy.
Probably won, that is yeah.
But yeah, he's another one thatlike just man like talk about,
made made a name for himself.
Like you know, everybody knowswho he is now, so another one
(14:57):
too.
Speaker 2 (14:58):
Um, was kind of surprised to see him on here.
Is Cam racing the 23K.
Cam's racing the 23K.
Yeah, Really I wonder what'sthe story behind that.
Do you have any details?
Speaker 1 (15:08):
Wants to throw down, wants to keep the weekend
rolling dude.
Speaker 2 (15:11):
I like that.
He's just that kind ofcompetitor.
If he's going to a race weekendwhere there's multiple races,
he's always signing up for it.
He did the Triple crown lastyear.
He goes to you know the rut anddoes the, does the vk and then
the 28k and I think he did the50k.
He, he loves that.
That's so I guess.
Speaker 1 (15:30):
Yeah, not not surprised to see him yeah, cam's
got the dog in him, man, we allknow cam is, you know, a
voracious competitor and hasalways, didn't.
Well, man, like always top 10.
Like it would not be surprisedto see him somewhere in the top
10 when it comes to this race,for sure.
On the women's side, onenotable one was Taylor Noland.
Yes, dude, she kind of cameonto the scene.
(15:52):
I think she either won or had avery good result at Speed Goat
years ago and then signed withAdidas Terrax and then went the
whole ultra route.
Yep, had a few years at WesternStates and then I of, like you
know, signed with adidas terexand then, like, went the whole
ultra route.
A couple had a few years atwestern states and then, um, I
think, just just gave birth uh,not so long ago, maybe last
summer, just had children.
Now kind of like back on theshort stuff which I like, it's,
(16:13):
it's, it's really cool.
So yeah, big fan of hers,christina mascarinas, want to
give a big shout out to uh locallegend of the springs like
three or four time pikes peakmarathon champion, christina
mascarilla, and has had successat broken arrow, like she's been
on the podium of the 46k, sodon't be surprised to see
christina.
Uh, do extremely well here.
Um.
(16:33):
Another one, rachel smycheck,is here racing.
May cook um, oh yeah, yeah, maycooks out um.
Speaker 2 (16:39):
So from boulder, um, oakley olsen will be in this
race as well and then we've gotthe usual suspects jade
bellsberg, lauren gregory, annagibson, ellie mack and joyce
naru one that I wanted tohighlight, who I'm really
excited about, because I racedher a couple weekends ago at
peppy's.
She was right behind me, um,courtney coppinger yes, so she,
(17:00):
she's special.
Uh, she was fourth at Sunapee.
Kind of came out of nowhere noone, really she.
It turns out she's sponsored byBrooks.
I had no idea, but yeah, shecame out and she came to the
GoPro Games here in Vail,colorado, and won the 10K that
morning.
A couple hours later, shake outthe legs wins Pepe's Like's to
(17:21):
win back to back.
That's she.
Her legs are ready, she's.
She's one.
Yeah, yeah, she is one that,like I don't have her in my top
five but she very, very wellcould be up there.
It's just, the top five is sostacked it's really hard for me
to want to put her up there.
But definitely my sleeper pick,100% Courtney.
Speaker 1 (17:43):
Having my sleeper pick, 100%, courtney having an
amazing season so far.
Yeah, do not be surprised.
And you know, dude, it's funnylike Sydney Peterson on a Gibson
.
When I was doing pre-raceinterviews with them, they both
said, watch out for CourtneyCoppinger.
And I was like love it.
I was like, who is this person?
Research?
I follow her on Instagram andI've been trying to send her DMs
to get her on the podcast but Iguess, like, if she doesn't
follow you back, she doesn'tlike she can't respond damn it,
so I'm gonna put this one outinto the world.
(18:05):
If anyone knows up and sure orcan get me connected with her, I
want her on the podcast likeyeah, I want that podcast.
Yeah, it would be fun to have achat with her, so hopefully we
can speak that into the universe.
But, yes, one to watch out forit nonetheless.
Um, yeah, I think it's likewhat the women I have to watch
out for Like there's a good mixof maybe 20, 30 women that could
probably throw down here.
I think that's going to be?
Who do you have?
(18:26):
Um, let's start with women.
Let's go for yeah.
Speaker 2 (18:29):
Yeah, so top five here.
Um, and fifth, I have AllieAllen McLaughlin.
She's been here, like we saidin the in the ascent episode.
She's been here so many times.
She's done this race a numberof times.
I don't know if she's gotenough to beat the women that
I'm going to name here above her, but she's going to be up there
(18:53):
.
Wouldn't be surprised to seeher take maybe third as well,
but yeah, I have her in.
Fifth.
She took third at Sunapeebehind Lauren Gregory and Anna
Gibson a couple of weeks ago.
So she's fit.
She's fit, like you said.
You saw her do that stairmaster workout.
She's crushing.
Fourth, I have Lauren Gregory,second at Centipede a couple of
weekends ago.
She's here and she's on therise.
I'm excited to see her name upthere and racing these big races
(19:17):
now.
She's never been here before.
So that's maybe one little youknow, I don't know one little
star you could put next to hername, but I mean it it.
It was the same thing with the,with the golden trail series
last year when she showed up.
She's never raced those beforeand she dominated, so excited to
see her up there.
Third, madalena Floria.
She, she's really good here inthe U S as well.
(19:38):
She's another one.
When she comes here she showsup.
She was third at mammoth uh in2023 and then second at mammoth
in 2024, so she is no strangerto these high altitude uh
american races.
And then second um man, I don'twant to have her in second
because we're such big fans ofher.
(19:58):
But anna gibson okay, I thinkshe's gonna tear it up in the
ascent and then she's gonna comehere, um and still do well, I
mean second is not gonna hangyour head about uh.
She was second here in in 2023,but I don't believe she raced
it in last year.
I think she just did the vklast year, um, but yeah, expect
her and joyce to go at it.
I think that's kind of going tobe the story of the weekend
(20:20):
seeing America's best and theworld's best, in a sense, just
going head to head.
I got Joyce taking it here.
She won last year.
She won the VK as well and thenshe won at Mammoth.
Like I said last episode, she'sundefeated on American soil.
I think that that's going tocontinue.
Don't know about the ascent,but I think the 23 K she's she's
(20:41):
ready to uh, to do it.
Speaker 1 (20:43):
So I like it.
I like it, Um yeah go for itall right, I'll take it away,
sorry my dog distracted me for asecond.
I was like it's been a long day,um, okay, so I'll start.
I'm just gonna do five down,five up.
I'm gonna go fifth jadebellsberg.
Uh, another one jade has justhad.
(21:03):
I think last year was thesecond place finish at this race
.
Um, I think, just compete withthe best of them.
Uh, super, super, super, uhtalented athlete in.
Fourth I'm gonna go laurengregory.
Um, the interesting thing, Idon't know why I might like want
to rethink this.
I'm not going to change thepick now but, like lauren
gregory might do better than youthink because she's not racing
the vk, so won't have that inher legs on, uh, on friday.
(21:29):
So don't be surprised if shelike podiums or wins.
The damn thing.
I could totally see it um inthird place I'm gonna go on a
gibson.
And in second place I'm gonnago ali mac.
Uh, I just think ali just haslike such a winning pedigree at
this race, um, like I can'tremember she's won it two times
or maybe three.
I think she's won it twice,maybe three, but like just has
(21:52):
the dog in her, like has thewinning pedigree and I'm hoping
things are good on the injuryside.
I know she'd been kind of likeworking through some nerve stuff
, um, and I think that should bebehind her, um, and hopefully
she can have a happy, healthy,exciting race on race day.
And in first place I'm gonna gojoyce naru.
Uh, I think I think anna beatsher on friday, but I don't think
(22:13):
she gets beat on on um, I missit wednesday.
On sunday, um, yeah, I don'tknow, I don't think so.
I mean, maybe I'm wrong.
I don't have.
Noticeably, I don't havemadalina floria in there.
I just think that, like like oneof the things that ali said to
me in in the post race interviewwith sunup, he was like you
know, you're racing with yourteammates now in a lot of ways,
like with Allie, anna and Lauren, and this is world-class
(22:33):
competition and a lot of thesewomen are going to be at Worlds.
I just see these womencompeting for medals,
particularly gold, the gold kind, at Worlds, and yeah, I just
think that those three are goingto be very hard to beat.
So I've got them kind of fillin the podium in the top five,
watching out for, yes, cordyCoppinger, christina Mascarenas,
(22:56):
taylor Nolan, sydney Peterson,lara Hamilton, rachel Smycheck
will be up there as well.
Easily solid top 10 athleteOakley Olsen could prove herself
in a race like this.
I think maybe because she's asteepler, I think the
opportunity there might be morein the vk, but what do I know?
Uh, because this isn't muchlonger.
(23:16):
Race like it's not.
This isn't a cirque series.
Race like this is one wherethere's no opportunities.
Um, it's a bit longer, but yes,there's an opportunity to screw
up, like a bit more competitive, and then meg cook as well.
Uh, it'd be cool to see wheremeg's gonna gonna mix it up.
Yeah, and that's all I got forthe women.
Speaker 2 (23:33):
Awesome.
All right, on to the men.
On to the men.
On to the men.
Fifth, doing some home cookinghere, I mean Mason Copey.
I mean we love him here on thepod.
We're excited to see what hecan do against world competition
like this.
He performed so well a coupleweekends ago.
Yeah, this is this is his time.
You know it's this is his year.
(23:54):
He's.
He's on a crazy trajectory.
Um, should be fun to see.
Fourth, I have lucas earl, whoyou mentioned, uh, on the assets
pod.
Uh, he was the winner of utmb,etc.
Which is actually now becominglike a super competitive race.
I think this year it's probablygoing to be the most
competitive it's ever been.
We're going to see a lot ofbecause sub ultra has been
(24:14):
growing so much.
You've been doing a great jobwith this podcast growing it.
Um, thank you, yeah.
And then, third, we have uh,philemon.
He was third last year.
I think again he's gonna hangon to patrick as long as he can
and patrick's probably going tobe chasing like el hazine for a
while, but I think that theywere going to go back and forth.
Speaker 1 (24:35):
So at least in the last few miles, that's the way
they race, yup.
Speaker 2 (24:38):
And then El Hazin, in seconds, hasn't raced here
before coming over to America.
Sometimes that's a little bitof a question mark, who knows?
And then I have Patrick win itat all.
Last year's winner, he's, he'sgoing to have the best year of
probably you look, you're gonnalook back this is probably gonna
be the best, one of the bestyears of his career.
Um, yeah, he's, he's gonna puttogether a special year and
(25:00):
expect him to to take it here atthe 23k really no remy bonet in
there.
No remy bonet um, yeah, he'sjust he, he, he's.
I've been like my sixth spot, Iguess, like he's the top of my
list of what could be.
Yeah, he's very hot and cold.
Yeah, he, you know.
I just I don't know if thatthis is like a pure.
He's a great climber, right.
(25:21):
Um, I don't know if this islike a pure climbers race.
I think it's a mix of both,that's.
Speaker 1 (25:33):
I mean, I could throw him in that fifth or fourth
spot, but Bro, don't besurprised if Mason I see.
Mason and Andy kind of in thatarea.
Speaker 2 (25:41):
Yeah yeah, I mean I think he rises to the occasion
with the competition.
I mean this is competitionhigher than he's ever been in,
so is he going to rise to it.
Speaker 1 (25:51):
He was top 15 at headlands and top 15.
Yeah.
If I remember correctlysomething like to the accord of
that and I think he's leveled updude, like Andy as well, like
Andy's coming off that injuryand like as fit as he's ever
been.
Now Don't be surprised, yeah,and don't be surprised if Taylor
stacks in there too, man.
Speaker 2 (26:13):
Oh yeah, man, oh yeah , no, can't leave him out.
Um, yeah, a few others I wantedto highlight too.
Uh, coming over from, uh, fromeurope.
Uh, roberto dellorenzi, he'salways up there, doesn't matter
what kind of race it is, thedude is just mr consistent.
Um, I think he's toned back asracing a little bit this year,
so maybe he'll come in with alittle fresh.
Oh my god, it's ridiculous.
Every every weekend.
Um, and then that henry, uh,amadad, how do you pronounce his
(26:35):
last name?
yeah, yeah, yeah, he was fifthin 2023, um, very well could be
up there.
Remy larue eighth last year.
Talon hall 12th last year.
Christian allen I don't thinkhe had the race that he wanted
to last year getting 13th.
He very well could be up there.
I mean, he's he does well inthese, in these races.
Uh.
(26:55):
Grant colligan from golden,15th last year.
Uh.
And then the young guns againum.
Ali papalan he was 26 last year, only 20 years old.
Benjamin town said 21 years old.
He was 38 last year.
Uh, so it's like those, those,those young kids, are on a, on a
crazy trajectory, so we caneasily see them pop into the top
15, top 10, um.
(27:16):
And then, and then I think outof utah, liam.
Liam hammonds was another one,um.
Speaker 1 (27:20):
I got to meet him.
Yeah, really nice guy.
Yeah, yeah, so cool but, yeah,that's.
That's what I got for my picks.
I'm right there with you.
Same thing, mason fifth.
I've got andy fourth, elhussein and third I'm gonna.
Speaker 2 (27:31):
I put I was a little nice to Remy this time.
Speaker 1 (27:33):
I'm not usually very nice to Remy Bonet but, I put
Remy Bonet in second this time.
He won me over from last week'srace and then I'm going to go
first Patrick, obviously.
I just think Patrick's so hardto beat, so complete and more
completer than he's ever been,like his ascending and
descending has gotten so good.
This is not a technical course,so he should rip it up, um, and
(27:54):
maybe, maybe.
I just don't see like Remy hasnot gotten the best of him in a
long time and I wonder, with L,who's seen having his first race
at altitude?
Um, like I said, I kind of atethose words.
Last year I did not think hewould win mammoth and he did win
um.
Maybe it's the same thing thisyear, maybe, maybe he has a
great race again, um, but I doexpect big things from andy.
(28:14):
I don't know why, andy.
Something points to andy, to me, that he's either top five or
on the podium and mason is himas well.
I think mason is that legitworld class and uh is ready to
make a statement and um, youknow, I think he's gonna have
his pick of teams to join uhcoming out of 2025.
Uh, on the watch list, I think,like I said, same thing.
Taylor stack, lucas, arl uh,talon hall, christian allen, cam
(28:37):
smith, philomon uh, never countout.
Remy larue um, I just wonder.
With remy, the thing with me isthis is at altitude?
Um, not that he struggles ataltitude, he's.
Historically he's done verywell.
I just he's had a lot of racingunder his belt over the last
three weeks and I just wonderhow tired he is.
I know he kind of struggled alittle bit with something with
his foot, I think it was atCentipede, and then he was able
(29:00):
to kind of correct it and justwent in one Cirque Cannon.
So if the Cirque Cannon Remyshows up, then good luck to
everybody.
And then also, he just got, uh,I think he was fourth at um,
right behind joe david, rightbehind joe alex ricard and david
sinclair at mount washington.
(29:20):
So yeah, yeah, so that's a castof characters right there.
So yeah, remy is uh like one ofthe best climbers, like he's
world class.
So yeah, no doubt about it.
Um, that's all, that's all Igot.
So, oh, and Hawk call, don'tforget.
Speaker 2 (29:34):
Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah, I forget about Hawk.
Speaker 1 (29:36):
Yeah, uh, and that's all I got.
So cool, that's the 23rd.
Awesome, yeah.
Wish everybody the best in the23rd.
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No-transcript.
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