June 19, 2025 • 37 mins
The mountain running world turns its attention to Palisades Tahoe this week for what promises to be an epic showdown at the Broken Arrow 46K. This isn't just any race – it's a Team USA selection event that has attracted virtually every elite mountain runner in the country, creating what might be the most competitive field ever assembled on American soil.
The race itself presents a formidable challenge: approximately 28 miles with a punishing 9,000 feet of vertical gain over two loops. Course record holder David Sinclair's time of roughly four hours could be under threat this year, with perfect weather conditions and extraordinary talent at the starting line. Unlike previous years where scorching heat played a factor, this year's forecast calls for cooler temperatures in the 60s, potentially setting the stage for blistering performances.
What makes this race particularly fascinating is the strategic complexity surrounding Team USA selection. Several favorites, including Eli and Tabor Hemming, have indicated they may decline team spots even if they qualify, preferring to focus on European races like OCC and CCC. This creates a dynamic where some athletes are racing purely for personal achievement while others see this as their golden opportunity to represent their country internationally. With limited spots available and such depth of talent, expect fierce competition down to the final descent.
The women's field features multiple former champions including Helen Mino Faulkner and Jennifer Lichter, with Grayson Murphy's potential participation looming large over the competition. On the men's side, Eli Hemming enters as the clear favorite after dominant performances this season, with Garrett Corcoran, David Norris, Brian Whitfield, and John Aziz among those battling for podium positions. For mountain running fans, Saturday's race represents a rare opportunity to witness America's best athletes pushing their limits on one of the sport's most challenging and prestigious courses.
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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,and I'm so excited because
Broken Arrow Week is finallyhere.
I am joined by frequent co-host, mr Nick Tusa, today to preview
the Broken Arrow 46K.
Guys, I gotta be honest, thismight be outside of the ascent.
This is going to be one of themost competitive races ever
assembled on American soil.
(00:21):
Everybody, who's everybodyplans to be racing and is going
to be here.
It's going to be crazy.
Super excited to have previewedthis race.
I hope you guys get a lot ofvalue out of this for your free
trial fantasy packs and justgetting to grow the fan base and
learn more about some of theseamazing athletes that are going
to be competing at this race onSaturday I almost said Sunday.
Yeah, guys, I hope you enjoyedthis one.
(00:41):
It's a special one and, yeah,good luck to everyone who's
going to be racing this one andif you're spectating, I hope you
have just as much of a goodtime.
It's going to.
It looks like it's going to bea beautiful week out there in
Palisades, tahoe.
So, without further ado, I'mbringing you the broken arrow 46
K 2025 race preview episodewith co-host Nick Tusa.
Buckle up.
It's time.
(01:12):
We'll see you next time.
Ladies and gentlemen, we arelive, nick Chouser.
(02:08):
Welcome back to the Steep StuffPodcast.
How's it going, buddy?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Man, it's going, it's going, it's a big weekend.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I'm excited for 46K.
This is my seventh episode I'mrecording today.
I'm so over Broken Arrow.
I don't want to see it againuntil next year.
Yeah, I'm so over Broken Arrow.
I don't want to see it againuntil next year.
Yeah.
So here we are, broken Arrow 46Kselection race, arguably the
granddaddy of them all, besidesthe Broken Arrow scent for this
(02:35):
week, just because it's soimportant, the stakes are so
high, we have so many athletescompeting, people that we're
friends with and we know it's alittle weird.
I don't know.
It's kind of crazy that we'refinally here for Broken Arrow
Week, so this race itselfhappening this Saturday, june
21st 2025.
It's a bit early 7 am start.
(02:56):
The race itself is a littleweird.
They claim it's a 40.
I've heard so many differentthings.
I've heard 46K.
I've heard so many differentthings.
I've heard 46k.
I've heard 45k.
The race itself somewherearound that 26 to 28 mile mark,
somewhere in that range, withabout 9 000 feet of vertical
gain so lots of climbing verysteep.
(03:16):
Basically it's two loops of the23k.
For those of you who don't know, about four hours worth of
running.
If you're David Sinclair.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, not all, david Sinclair.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
I.
What do you think you thinkwe're on course record watch
this year?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
We are It'll be.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
It'll be altered a little bit, but I do think
there's a possibility thatsomeone goes under four hours.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, if conditions are right, someone's going to do
it, and we both know who thatis.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
That, that, that that he lie, Eming guy yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Never heard of that.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I think there's the storyline is a few things We've
got a few to talk about.
One is just the density ofathletes Like there's one or two
people that really stand outand then there's a whole bunch
of really talented dudes andwomen that are at a very similar
level.
A couple of things to note.
There's a lot of people that ifthey get the ticket won't take
(04:15):
the ticket.
For instance, we both are kindof and I don't want to speak for
them, but this is justinformation I've gotten kind of
through the grapevine.
If Eli and Tabor get the dubsor get on the team, they
probably won't accept it thisyear with the goal of, uh, more
utmb based races and occ and ccc.
Um, I can say the same forprobably danny marino.
(04:35):
Um, she was pretty candid onthe podcast as well.
Said, if she got on the teamshe probably wouldn't take it um
some other things.
Uh, there's some injuries.
Man like mich Michelino is notthe same Michelino that we got
last year and maybe in 2023,like he's, you know, working his
way back from an injury andisn't quite where he wants to be
Um, so it's probably not goingto be that grand Teton FKT
(04:59):
holder in 2023.
Broken arrow 48 K winner.
Um David Sinclair is going tobe noticeably absent.
I know he was on the bubble.
Uh, as of right now, I think hehas a peroneal tendon issue so
he can only run uphill.
Probably not going to be thesame guy, um, obviously he still
had a great race at mountwashington.
Um will probably throw down atthe ascent and probably do
extremely well, but just notequipped right now to go handle
(05:22):
that 28k or that 48k distance umso, yeah, I think that there's
some some some injuriessurrounding things, but I think
it creates a lot ofopportunities for athletes that
we might be lesser familiar with, or you know, kind of on that
bubble, to go make a name forthemselves and get on team usa.
Yeah, uh, what do you thinkabout grayson?
What's I?
I?
I should have started vegasodds on.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Grayson, I don't know , roll the dice and pick a
number.
We don't know.
We don't know.
We took a look at Estrava.
She's put in some killertraining, but we'll see, we'll
see.
She doesn't need to do a lot,but she's one of them.
She's like an Anna Gibson whereshe can just show up and throw
down.
We'll see.
(06:04):
But if she's here, she'sprobably going to win.
Just being honest, here, I meanshe's going to do very, very
well.
It's a little longer for her.
46k Surprise.
She's doing this.
I'm not sure.
I don't think you've talkedwith her.
We don't know the reasoningbehind it behind it um.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
From what I understand is it's the um, it's
the want to elevate and maybemove up to that marathon
distance.
I think that's interesting,that that's not out of her mouth
, though that's from sources, soI don't know how, to the level
and degree of how serious thatis, but that's what I've heard.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Uh, I mean, this could be a jump for then, and
this could like staple her aslike being like that 50k, like
maybe she could turn into one ofthe best 50kers in the world.
She did it the short stuff.
I mean this could be a jump forher then and this could like
staple her as like being likethat 50K, like maybe she could
turn into one of the best 50Kersin the world.
She did it the short stuff.
We'll see, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, I don't know it's going to be.
I think she's at an inflectionpoint in her career now.
She's starting to figure outlike what's next.
I know, given her diagnosis andstuff like that, you know goes
from here um, without a doubt,though any any start line, she,
she steps on.
good luck, yeah um yeah, andsome other like.
There's a lot of champions here, so especially on the women's
(07:12):
side, man, we've got a lot offormer champions.
Helen mino faulkner's won thisrace twice.
Jennifer lichner's won thisrace twice.
Um danny marino is a former 23kchampion from back in 2018.
Um ashley brosovan has been onthe 23k.
Um brassavan I gotta pronouncethat name better.
Sorry about that.
Ashley um has been on the 23kpodium.
Like it's.
(07:34):
The depth is deep to say theleast yeah, yeah, um, some
storylines here as well, outsideof that, um, just the just the
level and degree of names here,man, I mean you're talking
michael innocent, sir ryanbecker, liam miro, john aziz,
who's a back to back to backthree-time pikes peak marathon
champion.
Uh, no, williams.
Uh, my last part of a teammate.
(07:56):
And then the women's side,denali strable, who's been on
the rut um rut podium, 28k, likealaskan mountain running staple
of the alaskan mountain runningcommunity.
Amanda basham, uh, veteran.
Uh, sarah kushner sarah is, youknow, traditionally been on the
broken arrow, 23k and 46k.
Uh, top 10s.
You might be, might not, befamiliar with that name formerly
(08:19):
.
Uh, sarah ghoul, um 2024 pikespeak marathon champion.
Um, sam lewis, who's been onteam usa back in 2022.
Uh, jessica brayu.
Taber hemming, it just goes.
The list is deep, man.
There's just so many athletesflannery, davis and then lindsey
allison.
I just have so many peoplewritten down.
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
So big list, yeah, yeah, I'm really excited to see
taber and jen lichter go at itand danny moreno, like there's
just like they're.
All all these athletes are soclose.
There's not like one who risesabove the rest, other than maybe
a grayson.
Um, yeah, it's just gonna be.
It's gonna be.
Tight racing, I think, is whatit's gonna be, even for being a
(09:00):
46k, where sometimes you cancreate these bigger gaps.
I just don't think we're gonnasee that, because people, people
want this team so bad and justwant to compete like Tabor.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
I think we're going to see.
Well, let me ask you this youcan tell me what you think.
There's a lot of things at playhere.
I think, like I said, we'regetting a few athletes that have
been very vocal, notable, thatlike, even if they get on the
podium, they're not going totake the team usa spot.
I think, does that, does thatdeject?
Like, are they not going to beworking as hard?
Do they want it as bad?
(09:32):
I think I don't think so.
There's a special thing withthis race.
Man like, for instance, likeyour aids, your brian whitfield,
it's like those dudes are dogs,like they want this, they like
they need it right.
So with that once, and you know, the what's between the years
is a very powerful thing, youknow and it depends where you're
at in your season and like whatthis race kind of means to you.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Like, for the two people that maybe wouldn't take
it Tabor and Danny right,danny's been fighting back from
injury.
She hasn't had that like firstbig race truly to like kick off
her season.
She's done like a few like rossbusters, but like she really
wants to be here and I knowshe's super excited.
I mean, when you come back frominjury and you're on a start
list like this, how can you notbe excited?
Um, and then same with Tabor.
Like the Hemings have reallyjust like cut down there.
(10:15):
They're normally like serialracers just going to everything
and they've really chopped downtheir season and this is a big
focus for them because they'regoing to be a big confidence
booster going into to OCC andCCC.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, no, you got to think about it from a money
perspective too.
Like there's only so many racesthat are on your contract,
they're going to say, all right,you win this, you get this
bonus, if you win that, you getthat bonus.
And the ones that are reallyimportant are the ones that are
on there, the broken arrow, andyour OCC, ccc and and I think
that would make sense thatyou're going to want to,
especially as a professionalathlete at the highest level
preserve yourself hitters, a lotof women champions, a lot of
(10:47):
female champions in this race.
On the men's side, though,outside of Eli, I struggle with.
(11:19):
Like are we going to find ournext?
Like our next dude?
Right, like, is there going tobe?
Is someone going to make a namefor themselves?
Right Like, is FinianJacobson-Scuttle?
Who's a?
That dude's a Boulder guy, verytalented by the way, or like
Coleman.
Cragoon Coleman Cragoon hastrained with the Hayden Hawks
Like.
Are any of these guys who youmight not be familiar with, or
people might not be familiarwith, going to come out of the
woodwork and get themselves aspot on Team USA?
It's very possible it'spossible.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
It's possible, but I don't know.
There's just so many staplenames in here.
People that have been herebefore, people that have been
just like, are on tears rightnow.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
It's tough like, and you know, and you know what
change switches things up too.
Is like liam dude, liam miro uhyeah what's his name?
Uh um, tom hooper likes to callhim hollywood for some reason.
We're gonna have him ontomorrow.
I'm excited, excited to chatwith Hollywood.
But it's interesting.
This shakes up the dynamic alittle bit.
Liam didn't have the result hewanted at Sunapee.
You got to remember the pedigreethis kid has, like Bowerman
(12:13):
track star, super talented,crazy pedigree, and he moves up
in distance from the 23K that hewas signed up for and goes to
the 46K, probably wanting to goget on that marathon team 100.
It would not be surprising tosee him, you know, kind of in
the mix as well.
(12:33):
And then, dude, where does johnis?
John is, uh, you know, soon tobe father.
Uh, three-time pikes peakmarathon champion.
Like the dude doesn't miss andhe's so he's a fucking robot
dude.
I love john aziz, but like heis as dialed as they come, like
everything crosses his t's, dotshis eyes.
One of my favorite people, dude, I fucked with him so bad.
I asked him because he's a uhaeronautical engineer.
(12:54):
I was like yo, did we go to themoon, bro?
Like yeah, you got so upsetwith me, um, but like just an
interesting cat one of my peopleuh, trains with joe, has
trained with joe a lot.
So you know, obviously trainingwith joe and being able to hang
with joe even not an easy thingto do for some people most
people um, and just getting thatchampionship mindset, um, not
(13:16):
to mention.
John was on the team in 2022and 2023 um you know former
two-time um USA athlete, both inAustria and Thailand.
(13:36):
I don't know Lots of storylineshere, lots in the mix.
Interesting thing We've seenthis race unfold in previous
years where it's super hot,right.
You see, uh, adam or adam um.
You know peterman and jeffmcgavro with the topical cooling
, everybody's sweating their assoff.
It seems like a brutal race.
This year's gonna be cold, uhlike probably the 60s.
(13:56):
Like you know, it's gonna besignificantly cooler.
I wonder how that changes.
Like we've had years in thepast where, like I don't know if
you can remember like davidsinclair winning and it was like
lapuma chasing him and it waslike snowing.
Uh, we're not gonna quite getthat, but I wonder how that
changes people's strategy.
Who's gonna do better in thecold and how that's gonna work
out and there's not a lot ofsnow on the course correct, very
(14:17):
minimal.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
There's some there's a good amount of some okay and I
forget what it is, but yeah Ijust remember previous years
like there being like a halfmile at least like descent on
snow and that like really shakesthings up that was your um,
that was your michelino, one wasoh yeah big snow year, so he
tends I can see the more snowhim doing really well, for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely all right, what do
you?
Let's start with the women.
What do you see shaking out who?
Where do you got your top, topor whatever?
I remember three women on theteam.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Yeah, yeah, I had to go.
I had to go a little deeperhere, down to down to seven.
Um, because Grayson's alreadyon the team Right Um.
And then there's a few peoplethat have verbally said that
they they are not going to takeit.
Um.
So, seventh, I have lindseyallison.
I feel like she's put up somepretty solid results.
(15:09):
Um seventh seems fair for her.
Um, very well could be up more.
Um.
Jane moss in sixth I feel likeshe's ready to pop one off here.
I know we talked off the potabout her.
Um, yeah, she's in.
She's in Boulder.
She's living with a bunch ofother pro athletes.
She's ready.
This is her time.
(15:29):
Fifth, I have Halimino Faulkner.
Again, two-time winner, hasbeen here before.
She's just someone that I justlike can't see her not being on
a U S team.
She just she's always there,she's always up there, she's a
winner.
If you look at her ultra signup, it's pretty impressive and I
believe that she's coached bythe same same coach as what's
(15:53):
her name?
As MK.
I believe they share the samecoach.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
He's a famous guy.
I always blank out of his name.
He was a Cirque series orsomething.
Yeah, sorry, sorry.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, no, you're good , uh.
And then, fourth, I have DannyMoreno.
Super excited to have her back.
This is, this is her, this isher distance.
She's, she's so good at this uh, 40, 50 K uh distance, and I
know she's super stoked and shehad a good race out and I think
Bishop.
And then she went to go progames.
Did she race?
(16:24):
She did race.
She took second at the 10 Kbehind Courtney Coppinger, um.
So, yeah, a good little tune up.
I, she's definitely ready to go.
Third, I have a Tabor Hemming.
I want to see her get thebetter of Jen Lictor Um, but
it's hard for me because I, shedoesn't.
I mean, a lot of her stuff isprivate, her training's private,
so it's like it's hard for meto judge off that Um.
(16:47):
I've watched a couple of recentother YouTube videos and she's
been training a lot Um, and Iknow she said that she has a
little something, a littleHagelin's going on right now um,
that she's dealing with, but itseems like it's on the mend, um
, and it's not like causing herpain during a run, which is
great, um.
But yeah.
And then second, I have jenlichter.
We, we just looked at herstrava before this and it's
(17:09):
pretty, pretty disgusting I mean, she's funny, like I think she
doubles.
I think she doubles like fivetimes a week.
Like running too, like there'sno biking, this is like pure
running, like she's going all infor this.
She is already on the team Ibelieve she was, she's uh, she's
a pick right by she's on thelong trail team already, yep yep
, she's already on the longchair team.
Uh, so she's really got nothingto race for, but she's a fierce
(17:31):
competitor.
I mean she, I raced her at therut and like this girl has like
just used to look in her eyesand it's scary dude, yeah, dude,
she's scary, uh, and then first, if she shows, uh, first time
kind of racing, something likethis, super excited to see her,
really hope she's there.
We are cheering for grace andmurphy.
(17:52):
Um, yeah, it's just, it's, it'shard, it's hard to not have her
there.
But, um, but that top three Ithink is going to be is going to
be fun.
Um, they have a chance to beather, though she's not used to
this.
I mean this two loop.
She very well could, like yousay um on your pods.
You were talking how a lot oftimes it's not the first person
in the first loop, it's, youknow, you got to finish it out,
(18:13):
um, and maybe she takes it outsuper hard and and and jen's
been here before and tabor is,you know, a veteran of this and
knows how to race these racesand take it out somewhat
conservatively and blast it atthe end.
Uh, they very well could be upthere and it'd be really special
to see tabor win this, becauseshe's been so, she's just been
so close to just like knockingit out of the park, um, at one
(18:35):
of these, just like premier,premier events.
Um, yeah, I'm a big fan, she'smy coach, so a little home
cooking, but uh, yeah, yeah,special, special people love
that and then wanted to want tojust name a few others who I
think could potentially be upthere um, jess brezzo, uh,
claire devoe, kimber maddox,claire rhodes, aaron moyer,
(18:58):
sarah biel, flannery, davis outof of Boulder, denali Strable,
it's there's just there's somany of these names that could
be, and I think it's going to bethat last spot, that spot that
I have.
Lindsay Allison getting thelast ticket, or getting the last
USA spot.
That's going to be the onewhere everyone's going to be
watching and there is going tobe like a group of like four or
(19:18):
five women just battling it outon that last descent to get that
spot, and hopefully there'ssome people in the crowd that
are yelling out like this is thespot.
So like they know that would beso cool and then they just
throw down um, but yeah, so yeah, those are my women's picks.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Very cool, very cool.
I've got some interestingcalculus of mine, but it's very
similar to yours.
Um, I might, so I'm gonna goseventh place.
I'm going to go Tabor Hemming.
Um.
Sixth place, I'm going to goJane mouse.
Fifth place, I'm going to goJen Lickner.
Fourth, I'm going to go DannyMarino, third place, ashley
(19:54):
Brassavan, second place,hellamino Faulkner, and in first
place I'm going to go racingGrayson, if she's there.
Um, here's my calculus for teamusa, though, grayson, this is
where it gets interesting and wecan we can.
We can draw some lines here.
Grayson's already on.
Grayson's gonna have options.
Right, she's gonna have optionto go do the like.
If let's say theoretically, ifshe goes, let's say
(20:15):
theoretically, then she wins.
Uh, she has options.
Either you go race the mountainclassic, which you already have
an auto bid on because she isthe reigning world champion, or
you go race the marathon.
I'm going to guess she's goingto race the Mountain Classic.
I think that's just my guess onit.
So by de facto, then it rollsdown.
That first spot then goes toHelen, right.
(20:36):
Then the next spot would go toAshley Brasovan, who I think
would obviously take it becauseshe's been on Team USA.
She competed last back in 2022in Thailand.
That third spot this is where itgets interesting, dude.
Who does the third spot go toin this theoretic lineup?
Dani said she would not take it.
She said she was going to befocused on CCC, right?
(20:59):
Jen Lickner's already on TeamUSA for the long trail and was a
selection selection, so it'spossible she takes it.
Um, but has historicallycompeted in long trail.
Uh, back in, uh, what was it inaustria that would go to my
sixth place?
Pick jane moss.
So my team usa pick would thenthe three spots would be helen
mino, faulkner, ashley brassavan.
(21:20):
Jane moss are my like, yeah, wegot two of those um, not to
leave out ruby lindquist, denalistrable and I dude, I'm telling
you right now denali strable,one of my favorite humans in
this sport, alaskan mountainrunner.
It's one of the sweetest peopleum as well, fierce competitor,
she's gonna go out there andthrow down um, this one means a
(21:42):
lot to her.
Um, you know you guys canlisten to the podcast that we
she and I did.
I don't want to speak for her,but I can definitely just say
this one means a lot.
So don't think for a second.
She's not going to be likegoing to the depths of her soul
to to do well at this race andit matters.
Um.
Other women amanda basham,obviously.
Sarah kushner, sam le, samLewis all championship
(22:03):
experience there Jess Brayu,flannery Davis and Lindsay
Allison.
So many people, my God, that'skind of what I have.
My Team USA, I don't know man.
I just think Jane Moss is goingto crank one out of the park.
I just have a funny feeling.
Maybe not, not, I don't know,but she's a sweetheart and it'd
be cool to see her get one.
(22:24):
So uh let's talk about the men.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Men, yes, uh, I have Nick Handel.
Uh, he was seventh last year.
He's just, he's always in themix.
I feel like, whatever race hedoes, even if he's over in
Europe racing UTMB, he's just,he's always up there.
(22:52):
Um, he, he was a top americanone of those races at utmb, but,
um, yeah, yep, but this is likehe's just, he's.
He's a california boy, he's,he's good at racing.
Um, yeah, this, this type,these type of races, uh.
Fourth, I have ryan becker.
Um, just a great story.
Love the pod that you had withhim.
He's such a great guy.
Uh, he's, this is his distance,this is his thing.
He, this is just what he's goodat.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I I can't expect him not to be up there.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Oh, yeah, it needs to .
Um, so, yeah, ryan becker.
And fourth, uh, third, anotherone I'm really excited about uh,
jess jessren, small on a goldenhere, uh, just been on like a
tear of the past, like year ish,like fifth, at occ.
Um, one black canyon 50k.
Uh, one run through timemarathon, which was fairly
(23:32):
competitive.
Um, yeah, he's just like mandude.
Adidas has something specialwith him.
He's, it's I.
I watched his, his youtubechannel and it's just been a
long time coming.
I feel like he's he's meant tobe here.
Um, so really excited for him.
Uh, second, I have someone thatI just raced last weekend at
twisted fork, who ended upwinning in like a pretty stupid
(23:55):
time um, garrett corcoran.
He's, you know he's wearing theusa kit before.
Nothing new to him to be upthere.
He's going to take it out hard,let me tell you, like he did
last weekend.
So I don't know.
I could see him leading thefirst loop, honestly, and just
getting ahead of himself andbeing like, oh shit, I need to
back off.
(24:15):
Maybe that's where our firstplace guy Maybe Garrett, I think
is going to push Eli, who Ihave in first, to breaking this
course record.
Maybe he's going to keep himhonest this first loop and then
Eli's going to be able to justcrank one out in the last loop
and take it home and beat DavidSinclair's four-ish hour course
(24:38):
record.
We'd love to see someone gounder four hours if the weather
permits Seems like conditionswise on the course, not a lot of
snow, so very well could happen.
Um, he was second at the 23 Kin in 2020.
What was that?
Or last year he was second inthe 23 K.
Um, so yeah, he knows thiscourse just doing it again,
doing the loop again.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Um yeah, loop again.
Um yeah, uh, eli is.
It's interesting because, likeI, in my opinion, I think eli is
just stupid, fit the fittestguy, right.
But, garrett, I think talentwise might be better talent wise
than eli just based on a 215.
Basically off the couch, likeright pedigree like garrett's,
(25:21):
like just a pedigree of him, isridiculous.
He just doesn't take it veryserious like he takes it
seriously but he doesn't.
I don't know the parents.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
An odd duck but if you know, if he knows that eli's
not going to take that, takethe usa spot like, and he's,
like you know, I don't know atenth of a mile ahead of him.
Maybe he's not going to push ashard because he just knows I
got in the bag.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I don't know, I have a funny feeling like garrett's
gonna get a spot.
I really do, I.
I truly believe it I.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I would put all my money on garrett 100, yeah, I
agree.
And then there's a few othernames well, not a few, there's
actually a ton of other names,like 50.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, like the sixthrough like 10 spot is pretty
insane.
Like all these guys areextremely even um, brian
whitfield, he's one that could,could break out right here.
I mean he's he, he has, he'shad his fair share of wins, but
(26:10):
hearing him on the pod, hearinghim how focused he is now, um,
he's got a team around him.
He's taking this really serious.
He wants that sponsorship to to, because I remember when I was
talking with him and I was likecurious, like how come you're,
you know, racing these big racesand doesn't have the funds to
do it?
And you need, you need sponsorsto be able to do these travels.
Yeah, you're a teacher.
Yeah, yeah, even the Lord'swork there.
Oh, man, um, yeah, but, uh, but, yeah, uh.
(26:43):
And then Jonathan Aziz wetalked about him there.
Michelino sinceri, who knowshe's.
He says he hasn't been runninga ton, but I heard he's in jail.
He could be very well, could besandbagging.
I don't know who knows what astory it'd be if he, if he won,
though that'd be, that'd beawesome.
Uh, eddie owens, another onewho's repped a usa kit before.
Very well could be up there he,he threw down at uh, was it Big
Alta.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Was he at Big Alta?
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Yeah, very, very good , very good runner.
Liam Miro Hollywood, as we callhim, I guess.
Ryan Becker, another one, whichactually I already mentioned in
my fourth.
That was a repeat.
Trace Adnopp he took, he won,he took second.
Yeah, he's already on the longtrail team.
Yeah, yep, um.
(27:26):
Cole campbell, another staplename.
He's always around colecampbell's absolutely he could
be.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
That's a blue collar boy right there I I like a lot
dude, noah williams bospo.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Very well, you look at his ultra sign up, the.
The dude shows up Preston Cates.
Haven't heard about him in alittle bit.
He has been on Team USA, Ibelieve as well.
Another one, Jeff Colt, been onTeam USA before as well.
We'll see David Norris.
Going to be fun to see himjumping up.
I know he's maybe racedsomething like this before, but
(28:00):
maybe not for a while.
He's been focused more on theup and down, but it should be
fun.
Boulder boy, Adam Mary showingup.
Kieran Nay.
Another Colorado guy, Joshua.
What's his last name?
Potvin?
Yeah, Josh Potvin.
Yeah, Josh Potvin.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah, he beat dude.
He just beat liam at the gorge50.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So yeah, like we say how thesaying goes, the depth is deep
and uh, yeah josh potvin.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yeah, I do I.
I have a funny feeling he'sgonna do very well because yeah,
very very nice guy um.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Where's he out of again?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
vanc, that's right.
Yeah, yeah, vancouver, he's aCanadian.
Um, yes, pnw, the PNW man.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Um all right.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
So mine's interesting , similar to yours, but actually
not even, not even close.
The only thing that's close isGarrett and Eli.
Uh, other than that, like Ithink those are the two that I
himself, apart from the rest ofthe field, I think that what
it's going to come down to isgarrett just needs to be smart,
like I know garrett's a wild boyand I know he races like a wild
(29:01):
boy.
I think he just needs to havethat race iq, to just kind of
like chill, like take your, donot blow up on that first lap,
like take it easy and do yourthing.
And uh, I think garrett isdefinitely going to pull it off
in second.
All right, I'll start kind ofgo backwards a little bit.
So, sixth place I'm going to goCole Campbell.
Fifth place I'm going to goCade Michael.
You got to remember, dude, cadeis really talented.
(29:24):
I forgot about Cade Pulled Andyup Gold Hill for that FKT on
top so he can climb like a mofo,and then, on top of that, on
top of that, was in a very closerace in Canyon's 50K with Matt,
daniels and Seth and damn well,took them to the brink.
I think he had some nutritionstuff that he had to get figured
(29:46):
out after, like sweat testing,but he seems to have had that
figured out, that's big.
We'll see what happens with that.
In fourth place I'm going to goBrian Woodfield, hometown hero,
big fan of Brian Woodfield,good buddy of mine.
In third place I'm going to goDavid Norris.
I think David did a lot ofthings in the offseason that we
(30:08):
might not have seen.
To make him more competitive atthese runnable races he already
had the ability.
Remember Nordic skier e drove abig engine, obviously knows how
to you know train threshold,but I think the big thing that
David did in the off season wasget a lot of time on the track.
According to his coach, he'sbeen working with David Roche.
So I think that has been.
(30:29):
That's why we saw him get thedub at a Senate P in second
place.
I'm going to go Garrett GarrettGarrett the parrot um in first
place.
Eli Hemming um taking the job.
I don't even think it's close.
I think Eli wipes the floorwith everybody.
I think it's close to a newcourse record and I think Eli
just makes people look sillyCause he's that good Um.
(30:49):
Maybe I'm wrong, but I, eli,just has the highest race IQ out
of everybody.
He's just so complete it'sgoing to be very difficult to
beat.
On that day we saw what happenedat Big Alta.
The best of them could not hangwith Eli.
All right, but here we go.
We got to do some math here.
How do we get to Team USA?
We know Eli is not going totake the ticket, right.
(31:11):
That de facto spot then goes toGarrett David Norris.
David Norris, like when I hadhim on the pod, is very focused
on going to run the MountainClassic, not so much focused to
run the marathon, I think.
Even if he gets the ticket, Ithink it goes down.
One more spot he's going toturn it down.
I think that goes to BrianWhitfield.
So second spot goes to BrianWhitfield, and third spot goes
(31:35):
to Cade, michael and I think ourthree that we're sending to Ken
Frank are going to be GarrettBrian Whitfield, cade Michael.
Those are my picks.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I would love that.
Yeah, I forgot about Cade.
I would definitely throw him inthe top five, for sure.
Um, I don't know how I missedhis name.
Um, yeah, something about him.
I just can see him wearing aUSA kit.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
He's just ready to pop one off, man, I think he
just matters to him.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Yeah, yeah, no canyons.
He ran an insane race untiluntil the end.
Um, yeah, and that's just amatter of just executing.
He can do it Like you said.
He got that sweat test figuredout, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Just needs to put it together and, like insanely
talented, has all the talent inthe world, just needs to crack
one off.
So I think this might be it Onour watch list.
Obviously, michelino.
Michelino, I think, is stillworking himself back from injury
, still kind of in the mix, Ithink.
In my opinion, if he doesn'thave the race that he wants to
(32:29):
have here, he'll probably get injust off a resume spot.
Yeah, that's right.
It would be crazy not to pickhim.
Ryan Becker, I think Ryan'sgoing to be in the mix.
I know you had him picked for aspot.
I would not be surprised to seehim get in there.
In fact, I would be reallyelated because I think how
special would that be.
I really like Ryan a lot and Ithink he's one of the ones.
He's a very hard worker, he'svery knowledgeable and just
(32:51):
really deserves a spot in myopinion.
And in my opinion, um and Ithink it's like not really on
his peripherals either, like Ithink he he just wants to see
what happens, but like I thinkhe's got other goals like as
well so that's serious people,the ones that have nothing to
lose.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
He's got nothing to lose, oh for sure, for sure,
yeah, um.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
In addition, uh, finney and jacobson scuttle um,
he's a shuttle um, he's aboulder like boulder guy um.
Coleman cragoon, who's anotherone who's had some great results
I think he was on the podium,or damn close at the canyons 50k
like he's very good that colmancragoon, kid, uh, john aziz as
well, three-time pikes, peakmarathon champ liam is going to
(33:27):
be in the mix as well could verywell crack one off and have a
great day.
Could, could replace any ofthose guys, um, and then noah
williams as well, um, and joshpotvin.
So, oh my gosh dude, I couldliterally name 300 people off
this list, it's crazy so that'sall I got for the 46k.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
I'm gonna have dinner I need to go run, I need to go
get my run.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Are you going to get a run now?
Yeah, I need to go get my runin.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yeah, I'm waiting for it to cool down a little bit.
The front range right now is anoven.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Is that really?
I forget oh man doing the eastcoast like dude, so humid I'm
like so weird oh man, it was apleasure.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Um, I appreciate you having me on these last three
episodes.
Such a fun race to cover.
Second year in a row doing this.
Looking forward to doing it athird year with you absolutely
everybody go watch this weekend.
Mountain outpost is going to bedoing a live stream for all
these events.
I'm sure they're going to do agreat job.
Um, not sure who's who'scommentating.
Do you have any?
Speaker 1 (34:24):
no, I have no idea.
Do you have any?
Speaker 2 (34:26):
no, I'm sure it's a type of race where a lot of
times they'll have peopleproduction there.
Maybe Golden Trail will kind oflink up with them and maybe do
a little bit more.
But yeah, it's fun, it's goingto be great coverage, great
weekend.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Look forward to it.
I'm so excited.
All right, nick, have awonderful evening.
Thank you, sir, appreciate it.
Thanks, ben yeah bro, yep, bye,see ya.
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(35:01):
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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,and I'm so excited because
Broken Arrow Week is finallyhere.
I am joined by frequent co-host, mr Nick Tusa, today to preview
the Broken Arrow 46K.
Guys, I gotta be honest, thismight be outside of the ascent.
This is going to be one of themost competitive races ever
assembled on American soil.
(00:21):
Everybody, who's everybodyplans to be racing and is going
to be here.
It's going to be crazy.
Super excited to have previewedthis race.
I hope you guys get a lot ofvalue out of this for your free
trial fantasy packs and justgetting to grow the fan base and
learn more about some of theseamazing athletes that are going
to be competing at this race onSaturday I almost said Sunday.
Yeah, guys, I hope you enjoyedthis one.
(00:41):
It's a special one and, yeah,good luck to everyone who's
going to be racing this one andif you're spectating, I hope you
have just as much of a goodtime.
It's going to.
It looks like it's going to bea beautiful week out there in
Palisades, tahoe.
So, without further ado, I'mbringing you the broken arrow 46
K 2025 race preview episodewith co-host Nick Tusa.
Buckle up.
It's time.
(01:12):
We'll see you next time.
Ladies and gentlemen, we arelive, nick Chouser.
(02:08):
Welcome back to the Steep StuffPodcast.
How's it going, buddy?
Speaker 2 (02:11):
Man, it's going, it's going, it's a big weekend.
Speaker 1 (02:14):
I'm excited for 46K.
This is my seventh episode I'mrecording today.
I'm so over Broken Arrow.
I don't want to see it againuntil next year.
Yeah, I'm so over Broken Arrow.
I don't want to see it againuntil next year.
Yeah.
So here we are, broken Arrow 46Kselection race, arguably the
granddaddy of them all, besidesthe Broken Arrow scent for this
(02:35):
week, just because it's soimportant, the stakes are so
high, we have so many athletescompeting, people that we're
friends with and we know it's alittle weird.
I don't know.
It's kind of crazy that we'refinally here for Broken Arrow
Week, so this race itselfhappening this Saturday, june
21st 2025.
It's a bit early 7 am start.
(02:56):
The race itself is a littleweird.
They claim it's a 40.
I've heard so many differentthings.
I've heard 46K.
I've heard so many differentthings.
I've heard 46k.
I've heard 45k.
The race itself somewherearound that 26 to 28 mile mark,
somewhere in that range, withabout 9 000 feet of vertical
gain so lots of climbing verysteep.
(03:16):
Basically it's two loops of the23k.
For those of you who don't know, about four hours worth of
running.
If you're David Sinclair.
Speaker 2 (03:26):
Yeah, not all, david Sinclair.
Speaker 1 (03:29):
I.
What do you think you thinkwe're on course record watch
this year?
Speaker 2 (03:32):
We are It'll be.
Speaker 1 (03:33):
It'll be altered a little bit, but I do think
there's a possibility thatsomeone goes under four hours.
Speaker 2 (03:38):
Yeah, if conditions are right, someone's going to do
it, and we both know who thatis.
Speaker 1 (03:42):
That, that, that that he lie, Eming guy yeah.
Speaker 2 (03:50):
Never heard of that.
I don't know.
Speaker 1 (03:53):
I think there's the storyline is a few things We've
got a few to talk about.
One is just the density ofathletes Like there's one or two
people that really stand outand then there's a whole bunch
of really talented dudes andwomen that are at a very similar
level.
A couple of things to note.
There's a lot of people that ifthey get the ticket won't take
(04:15):
the ticket.
For instance, we both are kindof and I don't want to speak for
them, but this is justinformation I've gotten kind of
through the grapevine.
If Eli and Tabor get the dubsor get on the team, they
probably won't accept it thisyear with the goal of, uh, more
utmb based races and occ and ccc.
Um, I can say the same forprobably danny marino.
(04:35):
Um, she was pretty candid onthe podcast as well.
Said, if she got on the teamshe probably wouldn't take it um
some other things.
Uh, there's some injuries.
Man like mich Michelino is notthe same Michelino that we got
last year and maybe in 2023,like he's, you know, working his
way back from an injury andisn't quite where he wants to be
Um, so it's probably not goingto be that grand Teton FKT
(04:59):
holder in 2023.
Broken arrow 48 K winner.
Um David Sinclair is going tobe noticeably absent.
I know he was on the bubble.
Uh, as of right now, I think hehas a peroneal tendon issue so
he can only run uphill.
Probably not going to be thesame guy, um, obviously he still
had a great race at mountwashington.
Um will probably throw down atthe ascent and probably do
extremely well, but just notequipped right now to go handle
(05:22):
that 28k or that 48k distance umso, yeah, I think that there's
some some some injuriessurrounding things, but I think
it creates a lot ofopportunities for athletes that
we might be lesser familiar with, or you know, kind of on that
bubble, to go make a name forthemselves and get on team usa.
Yeah, uh, what do you thinkabout grayson?
What's I?
I?
I should have started vegasodds on.
Speaker 2 (05:44):
Grayson, I don't know , roll the dice and pick a
number.
We don't know.
We don't know.
We took a look at Estrava.
She's put in some killertraining, but we'll see, we'll
see.
She doesn't need to do a lot,but she's one of them.
She's like an Anna Gibson whereshe can just show up and throw
down.
We'll see.
(06:04):
But if she's here, she'sprobably going to win.
Just being honest, here, I meanshe's going to do very, very
well.
It's a little longer for her.
46k Surprise.
She's doing this.
I'm not sure.
I don't think you've talkedwith her.
We don't know the reasoningbehind it behind it um.
Speaker 1 (06:30):
From what I understand is it's the um, it's
the want to elevate and maybemove up to that marathon
distance.
I think that's interesting,that that's not out of her mouth
, though that's from sources, soI don't know how, to the level
and degree of how serious thatis, but that's what I've heard.
Speaker 2 (06:39):
Uh, I mean, this could be a jump for then, and
this could like staple her aslike being like that 50k, like
maybe she could turn into one ofthe best 50kers in the world.
She did it the short stuff.
I mean this could be a jump forher then and this could like
staple her as like being likethat 50K, like maybe she could
turn into one of the best 50Kersin the world.
She did it the short stuff.
We'll see, yeah.
Speaker 1 (06:51):
Yeah, I don't know it's going to be.
I think she's at an inflectionpoint in her career now.
She's starting to figure outlike what's next.
I know, given her diagnosis andstuff like that, you know goes
from here um, without a doubt,though any any start line, she,
she steps on.
good luck, yeah um yeah, andsome other like.
There's a lot of champions here, so especially on the women's
(07:12):
side, man, we've got a lot offormer champions.
Helen mino faulkner's won thisrace twice.
Jennifer lichner's won thisrace twice.
Um danny marino is a former 23kchampion from back in 2018.
Um ashley brosovan has been onthe 23k.
Um brassavan I gotta pronouncethat name better.
Sorry about that.
Ashley um has been on the 23kpodium.
Like it's.
(07:34):
The depth is deep to say theleast yeah, yeah, um, some
storylines here as well, outsideof that, um, just the just the
level and degree of names here,man, I mean you're talking
michael innocent, sir ryanbecker, liam miro, john aziz,
who's a back to back to backthree-time pikes peak marathon
champion.
Uh, no, williams.
Uh, my last part of a teammate.
(07:56):
And then the women's side,denali strable, who's been on
the rut um rut podium, 28k, likealaskan mountain running staple
of the alaskan mountain runningcommunity.
Amanda basham, uh, veteran.
Uh, sarah kushner sarah is, youknow, traditionally been on the
broken arrow, 23k and 46k.
Uh, top 10s.
You might be, might not, befamiliar with that name formerly
(08:19):
.
Uh, sarah ghoul, um 2024 pikespeak marathon champion.
Um, sam lewis, who's been onteam usa back in 2022.
Uh, jessica brayu.
Taber hemming, it just goes.
The list is deep, man.
There's just so many athletesflannery, davis and then lindsey
allison.
I just have so many peoplewritten down.
It's crazy.
Speaker 2 (08:38):
So big list, yeah, yeah, I'm really excited to see
taber and jen lichter go at itand danny moreno, like there's
just like they're.
All all these athletes are soclose.
There's not like one who risesabove the rest, other than maybe
a grayson.
Um, yeah, it's just gonna be.
It's gonna be.
Tight racing, I think, is whatit's gonna be, even for being a
(09:00):
46k, where sometimes you cancreate these bigger gaps.
I just don't think we're gonnasee that, because people, people
want this team so bad and justwant to compete like Tabor.
Speaker 1 (09:11):
Yeah, I couldn't agree more.
I think we're going to see.
Well, let me ask you this youcan tell me what you think.
There's a lot of things at playhere.
I think, like I said, we'regetting a few athletes that have
been very vocal, notable, thatlike, even if they get on the
podium, they're not going totake the team usa spot.
I think, does that, does thatdeject?
Like, are they not going to beworking as hard?
Do they want it as bad?
(09:32):
I think I don't think so.
There's a special thing withthis race.
Man like, for instance, likeyour aids, your brian whitfield,
it's like those dudes are dogs,like they want this, they like
they need it right.
So with that once, and you know, the what's between the years
is a very powerful thing, youknow and it depends where you're
at in your season and like whatthis race kind of means to you.
Speaker 2 (09:52):
Like, for the two people that maybe wouldn't take
it Tabor and Danny right,danny's been fighting back from
injury.
She hasn't had that like firstbig race truly to like kick off
her season.
She's done like a few like rossbusters, but like she really
wants to be here and I knowshe's super excited.
I mean, when you come back frominjury and you're on a start
list like this, how can you notbe excited?
Um, and then same with Tabor.
Like the Hemings have reallyjust like cut down there.
(10:15):
They're normally like serialracers just going to everything
and they've really chopped downtheir season and this is a big
focus for them because they'regoing to be a big confidence
booster going into to OCC andCCC.
Speaker 1 (10:25):
Yeah, no, you got to think about it from a money
perspective too.
Like there's only so many racesthat are on your contract,
they're going to say, all right,you win this, you get this
bonus, if you win that, you getthat bonus.
And the ones that are reallyimportant are the ones that are
on there, the broken arrow, andyour OCC, ccc and and I think
that would make sense thatyou're going to want to,
especially as a professionalathlete at the highest level
preserve yourself hitters, a lotof women champions, a lot of
(10:47):
female champions in this race.
On the men's side, though,outside of Eli, I struggle with.
(11:19):
Like are we going to find ournext?
Like our next dude?
Right, like, is there going tobe?
Is someone going to make a namefor themselves?
Right Like, is FinianJacobson-Scuttle?
Who's a?
That dude's a Boulder guy, verytalented by the way, or like
Coleman.
Cragoon Coleman Cragoon hastrained with the Hayden Hawks
Like.
Are any of these guys who youmight not be familiar with, or
people might not be familiarwith, going to come out of the
woodwork and get themselves aspot on Team USA?
It's very possible it'spossible.
Speaker 2 (11:41):
It's possible, but I don't know.
There's just so many staplenames in here.
People that have been herebefore, people that have been
just like, are on tears rightnow.
Speaker 1 (11:50):
It's tough like, and you know, and you know what
change switches things up too.
Is like liam dude, liam miro uhyeah what's his name?
Uh um, tom hooper likes to callhim hollywood for some reason.
We're gonna have him ontomorrow.
I'm excited, excited to chatwith Hollywood.
But it's interesting.
This shakes up the dynamic alittle bit.
Liam didn't have the result hewanted at Sunapee.
You got to remember the pedigreethis kid has, like Bowerman
(12:13):
track star, super talented,crazy pedigree, and he moves up
in distance from the 23K that hewas signed up for and goes to
the 46K, probably wanting to goget on that marathon team 100.
It would not be surprising tosee him, you know, kind of in
the mix as well.
(12:33):
And then, dude, where does johnis?
John is, uh, you know, soon tobe father.
Uh, three-time pikes peakmarathon champion.
Like the dude doesn't miss andhe's so he's a fucking robot
dude.
I love john aziz, but like heis as dialed as they come, like
everything crosses his t's, dotshis eyes.
One of my favorite people, dude, I fucked with him so bad.
I asked him because he's a uhaeronautical engineer.
(12:54):
I was like yo, did we go to themoon, bro?
Like yeah, you got so upsetwith me, um, but like just an
interesting cat one of my peopleuh, trains with joe, has
trained with joe a lot.
So you know, obviously trainingwith joe and being able to hang
with joe even not an easy thingto do for some people most
people um, and just getting thatchampionship mindset, um, not
(13:16):
to mention.
John was on the team in 2022and 2023 um you know former
two-time um USA athlete, both inAustria and Thailand.
(13:36):
I don't know Lots of storylineshere, lots in the mix.
Interesting thing We've seenthis race unfold in previous
years where it's super hot,right.
You see, uh, adam or adam um.
You know peterman and jeffmcgavro with the topical cooling
, everybody's sweating their assoff.
It seems like a brutal race.
This year's gonna be cold, uhlike probably the 60s.
(13:56):
Like you know, it's gonna besignificantly cooler.
I wonder how that changes.
Like we've had years in thepast where, like I don't know if
you can remember like davidsinclair winning and it was like
lapuma chasing him and it waslike snowing.
Uh, we're not gonna quite getthat, but I wonder how that
changes people's strategy.
Who's gonna do better in thecold and how that's gonna work
out and there's not a lot ofsnow on the course correct, very
(14:17):
minimal.
Speaker 2 (14:18):
There's some there's a good amount of some okay and I
forget what it is, but yeah Ijust remember previous years
like there being like a halfmile at least like descent on
snow and that like really shakesthings up that was your um,
that was your michelino, one wasoh yeah big snow year, so he
tends I can see the more snowhim doing really well, for sure.
Speaker 1 (14:39):
Yeah, yeah, absolutely all right, what do
you?
Let's start with the women.
What do you see shaking out who?
Where do you got your top, topor whatever?
I remember three women on theteam.
Speaker 2 (14:49):
Yeah, yeah, I had to go.
I had to go a little deeperhere, down to down to seven.
Um, because Grayson's alreadyon the team Right Um.
And then there's a few peoplethat have verbally said that
they they are not going to takeit.
Um.
So, seventh, I have lindseyallison.
I feel like she's put up somepretty solid results.
(15:09):
Um seventh seems fair for her.
Um, very well could be up more.
Um.
Jane moss in sixth I feel likeshe's ready to pop one off here.
I know we talked off the potabout her.
Um, yeah, she's in.
She's in Boulder.
She's living with a bunch ofother pro athletes.
She's ready.
This is her time.
(15:29):
Fifth, I have Halimino Faulkner.
Again, two-time winner, hasbeen here before.
She's just someone that I justlike can't see her not being on
a U S team.
She just she's always there,she's always up there, she's a
winner.
If you look at her ultra signup, it's pretty impressive and I
believe that she's coached bythe same same coach as what's
(15:53):
her name?
As MK.
I believe they share the samecoach.
Speaker 1 (15:57):
He's a famous guy.
I always blank out of his name.
He was a Cirque series orsomething.
Yeah, sorry, sorry.
Speaker 2 (16:04):
Yeah, no, you're good , uh.
And then, fourth, I have DannyMoreno.
Super excited to have her back.
This is, this is her, this isher distance.
She's, she's so good at this uh, 40, 50 K uh distance, and I
know she's super stoked and shehad a good race out and I think
Bishop.
And then she went to go progames.
Did she race?
(16:24):
She did race.
She took second at the 10 Kbehind Courtney Coppinger, um.
So, yeah, a good little tune up.
I, she's definitely ready to go.
Third, I have a Tabor Hemming.
I want to see her get thebetter of Jen Lictor Um, but
it's hard for me because I, shedoesn't.
I mean, a lot of her stuff isprivate, her training's private,
so it's like it's hard for meto judge off that Um.
(16:47):
I've watched a couple of recentother YouTube videos and she's
been training a lot Um, and Iknow she said that she has a
little something, a littleHagelin's going on right now um,
that she's dealing with, but itseems like it's on the mend, um
, and it's not like causing herpain during a run, which is
great, um.
But yeah.
And then second, I have jenlichter.
We, we just looked at herstrava before this and it's
(17:09):
pretty, pretty disgusting I mean, she's funny, like I think she
doubles.
I think she doubles like fivetimes a week.
Like running too, like there'sno biking, this is like pure
running, like she's going all infor this.
She is already on the team Ibelieve she was, she's uh, she's
a pick right by she's on thelong trail team already, yep yep
, she's already on the longchair team.
Uh, so she's really got nothingto race for, but she's a fierce
(17:31):
competitor.
I mean she, I raced her at therut and like this girl has like
just used to look in her eyesand it's scary dude, yeah, dude,
she's scary, uh, and then first, if she shows, uh, first time
kind of racing, something likethis, super excited to see her,
really hope she's there.
We are cheering for grace andmurphy.
(17:52):
Um, yeah, it's just, it's, it'shard, it's hard to not have her
there.
But, um, but that top three Ithink is going to be is going to
be fun.
Um, they have a chance to beather, though she's not used to
this.
I mean this two loop.
She very well could, like yousay um on your pods.
You were talking how a lot oftimes it's not the first person
in the first loop, it's, youknow, you got to finish it out,
(18:13):
um, and maybe she takes it outsuper hard and and and jen's
been here before and tabor is,you know, a veteran of this and
knows how to race these racesand take it out somewhat
conservatively and blast it atthe end.
Uh, they very well could be upthere and it'd be really special
to see tabor win this, becauseshe's been so, she's just been
so close to just like knockingit out of the park, um, at one
(18:35):
of these, just like premier,premier events.
Um, yeah, I'm a big fan, she'smy coach, so a little home
cooking, but uh, yeah, yeah,special, special people love
that and then wanted to want tojust name a few others who I
think could potentially be upthere um, jess brezzo, uh,
claire devoe, kimber maddox,claire rhodes, aaron moyer,
(18:58):
sarah biel, flannery, davis outof of Boulder, denali Strable,
it's there's just there's somany of these names that could
be, and I think it's going to bethat last spot, that spot that
I have.
Lindsay Allison getting thelast ticket, or getting the last
USA spot.
That's going to be the onewhere everyone's going to be
watching and there is going tobe like a group of like four or
(19:18):
five women just battling it outon that last descent to get that
spot, and hopefully there'ssome people in the crowd that
are yelling out like this is thespot.
So like they know that would beso cool and then they just
throw down um, but yeah, so yeah, those are my women's picks.
Speaker 1 (19:33):
Very cool, very cool.
I've got some interestingcalculus of mine, but it's very
similar to yours.
Um, I might, so I'm gonna goseventh place.
I'm going to go Tabor Hemming.
Um.
Sixth place, I'm going to goJane mouse.
Fifth place, I'm going to goJen Lickner.
Fourth, I'm going to go DannyMarino, third place, ashley
(19:54):
Brassavan, second place,hellamino Faulkner, and in first
place I'm going to go racingGrayson, if she's there.
Um, here's my calculus for teamusa, though, grayson, this is
where it gets interesting and wecan we can.
We can draw some lines here.
Grayson's already on.
Grayson's gonna have options.
Right, she's gonna have optionto go do the like.
If let's say theoretically, ifshe goes, let's say
(20:15):
theoretically, then she wins.
Uh, she has options.
Either you go race the mountainclassic, which you already have
an auto bid on because she isthe reigning world champion, or
you go race the marathon.
I'm going to guess she's goingto race the Mountain Classic.
I think that's just my guess onit.
So by de facto, then it rollsdown.
That first spot then goes toHelen, right.
(20:36):
Then the next spot would go toAshley Brasovan, who I think
would obviously take it becauseshe's been on Team USA.
She competed last back in 2022in Thailand.
That third spot this is where itgets interesting, dude.
Who does the third spot go toin this theoretic lineup?
Dani said she would not take it.
She said she was going to befocused on CCC, right?
(20:59):
Jen Lickner's already on TeamUSA for the long trail and was a
selection selection, so it'spossible she takes it.
Um, but has historicallycompeted in long trail.
Uh, back in, uh, what was it inaustria that would go to my
sixth place?
Pick jane moss.
So my team usa pick would thenthe three spots would be helen
mino, faulkner, ashley brassavan.
(21:20):
Jane moss are my like, yeah, wegot two of those um, not to
leave out ruby lindquist, denalistrable and I dude, I'm telling
you right now denali strable,one of my favorite humans in
this sport, alaskan mountainrunner.
It's one of the sweetest peopleum as well, fierce competitor,
she's gonna go out there andthrow down um, this one means a
(21:42):
lot to her.
Um, you know you guys canlisten to the podcast that we
she and I did.
I don't want to speak for her,but I can definitely just say
this one means a lot.
So don't think for a second.
She's not going to be likegoing to the depths of her soul
to to do well at this race andit matters.
Um.
Other women amanda basham,obviously.
Sarah kushner, sam le, samLewis all championship
(22:03):
experience there Jess Brayu,flannery Davis and Lindsay
Allison.
So many people, my God, that'skind of what I have.
My Team USA, I don't know man.
I just think Jane Moss is goingto crank one out of the park.
I just have a funny feeling.
Maybe not, not, I don't know,but she's a sweetheart and it'd
be cool to see her get one.
(22:24):
So uh let's talk about the men.
Speaker 2 (22:27):
Men, yes, uh, I have Nick Handel.
Uh, he was seventh last year.
He's just, he's always in themix.
I feel like, whatever race hedoes, even if he's over in
Europe racing UTMB, he's just,he's always up there.
(22:52):
Um, he, he was a top americanone of those races at utmb, but,
um, yeah, yep, but this is likehe's just, he's.
He's a california boy, he's,he's good at racing.
Um, yeah, this, this type,these type of races, uh.
Fourth, I have ryan becker.
Um, just a great story.
Love the pod that you had withhim.
He's such a great guy.
Uh, he's, this is his distance,this is his thing.
He, this is just what he's goodat.
Speaker 1 (23:09):
I I can't expect him not to be up there.
Speaker 2 (23:11):
Oh, yeah, it needs to .
Um, so, yeah, ryan becker.
And fourth, uh, third, anotherone I'm really excited about uh,
jess jessren, small on a goldenhere, uh, just been on like a
tear of the past, like year ish,like fifth, at occ.
Um, one black canyon 50k.
Uh, one run through timemarathon, which was fairly
(23:32):
competitive.
Um, yeah, he's just like mandude.
Adidas has something specialwith him.
He's, it's I.
I watched his, his youtubechannel and it's just been a
long time coming.
I feel like he's he's meant tobe here.
Um, so really excited for him.
Uh, second, I have someone thatI just raced last weekend at
twisted fork, who ended upwinning in like a pretty stupid
(23:55):
time um, garrett corcoran.
He's, you know he's wearing theusa kit before.
Nothing new to him to be upthere.
He's going to take it out hard,let me tell you, like he did
last weekend.
So I don't know.
I could see him leading thefirst loop, honestly, and just
getting ahead of himself andbeing like, oh shit, I need to
back off.
(24:15):
Maybe that's where our firstplace guy Maybe Garrett, I think
is going to push Eli, who Ihave in first, to breaking this
course record.
Maybe he's going to keep himhonest this first loop and then
Eli's going to be able to justcrank one out in the last loop
and take it home and beat DavidSinclair's four-ish hour course
(24:38):
record.
We'd love to see someone gounder four hours if the weather
permits Seems like conditionswise on the course, not a lot of
snow, so very well could happen.
Um, he was second at the 23 Kin in 2020.
What was that?
Or last year he was second inthe 23 K.
Um, so yeah, he knows thiscourse just doing it again,
doing the loop again.
Speaker 1 (24:58):
Um yeah, loop again.
Um yeah, uh, eli is.
It's interesting because, likeI, in my opinion, I think eli is
just stupid, fit the fittestguy, right.
But, garrett, I think talentwise might be better talent wise
than eli just based on a 215.
Basically off the couch, likeright pedigree like garrett's,
(25:21):
like just a pedigree of him, isridiculous.
He just doesn't take it veryserious like he takes it
seriously but he doesn't.
I don't know the parents.
Speaker 2 (25:29):
An odd duck but if you know, if he knows that eli's
not going to take that, takethe usa spot like, and he's,
like you know, I don't know atenth of a mile ahead of him.
Maybe he's not going to push ashard because he just knows I
got in the bag.
Speaker 1 (25:41):
I don't know, I have a funny feeling like garrett's
gonna get a spot.
I really do, I.
I truly believe it I.
Speaker 2 (25:47):
I would put all my money on garrett 100, yeah, I
agree.
And then there's a few othernames well, not a few, there's
actually a ton of other names,like 50.
Yeah, yeah, yeah, like the sixthrough like 10 spot is pretty
insane.
Like all these guys areextremely even um, brian
whitfield, he's one that could,could break out right here.
I mean he's he, he has, he'shad his fair share of wins, but
(26:10):
hearing him on the pod, hearinghim how focused he is now, um,
he's got a team around him.
He's taking this really serious.
He wants that sponsorship to to, because I remember when I was
talking with him and I was likecurious, like how come you're,
you know, racing these big racesand doesn't have the funds to
do it?
And you need, you need sponsorsto be able to do these travels.
Yeah, you're a teacher.
Yeah, yeah, even the Lord'swork there.
Oh, man, um, yeah, but, uh, but, yeah, uh.
(26:43):
And then Jonathan Aziz wetalked about him there.
Michelino sinceri, who knowshe's.
He says he hasn't been runninga ton, but I heard he's in jail.
He could be very well, could besandbagging.
I don't know who knows what astory it'd be if he, if he won,
though that'd be, that'd beawesome.
Uh, eddie owens, another onewho's repped a usa kit before.
Very well could be up there he,he threw down at uh, was it Big
Alta.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
Was he at Big Alta?
Speaker 2 (27:04):
Yeah, very, very good , very good runner.
Liam Miro Hollywood, as we callhim, I guess.
Ryan Becker, another one, whichactually I already mentioned in
my fourth.
That was a repeat.
Trace Adnopp he took, he won,he took second.
Yeah, he's already on the longtrail team.
Yeah, yep, um.
(27:26):
Cole campbell, another staplename.
He's always around colecampbell's absolutely he could
be.
Speaker 1 (27:31):
That's a blue collar boy right there I I like a lot
dude, noah williams bospo.
Speaker 2 (27:38):
Very well, you look at his ultra sign up, the.
The dude shows up Preston Cates.
Haven't heard about him in alittle bit.
He has been on Team USA, Ibelieve as well.
Another one, Jeff Colt, been onTeam USA before as well.
We'll see David Norris.
Going to be fun to see himjumping up.
I know he's maybe racedsomething like this before, but
(28:00):
maybe not for a while.
He's been focused more on theup and down, but it should be
fun.
Boulder boy, Adam Mary showingup.
Kieran Nay.
Another Colorado guy, Joshua.
What's his last name?
Potvin?
Yeah, Josh Potvin.
Yeah, Josh Potvin.
Speaker 1 (28:18):
Yeah, he beat dude.
He just beat liam at the gorge50.
Speaker 2 (28:20):
Yeah, yeah, yeah.
So yeah, like we say how thesaying goes, the depth is deep
and uh, yeah josh potvin.
Speaker 1 (28:26):
Yeah, I do I.
I have a funny feeling he'sgonna do very well because yeah,
very very nice guy um.
Speaker 2 (28:32):
Where's he out of again?
Speaker 1 (28:33):
vanc, that's right.
Yeah, yeah, vancouver, he's aCanadian.
Um, yes, pnw, the PNW man.
Speaker 2 (28:40):
Um all right.
Speaker 1 (28:41):
So mine's interesting , similar to yours, but actually
not even, not even close.
The only thing that's close isGarrett and Eli.
Uh, other than that, like Ithink those are the two that I
himself, apart from the rest ofthe field, I think that what
it's going to come down to isgarrett just needs to be smart,
like I know garrett's a wild boyand I know he races like a wild
(29:01):
boy.
I think he just needs to havethat race iq, to just kind of
like chill, like take your, donot blow up on that first lap,
like take it easy and do yourthing.
And uh, I think garrett isdefinitely going to pull it off
in second.
All right, I'll start kind ofgo backwards a little bit.
So, sixth place I'm going to goCole Campbell.
Fifth place I'm going to goCade Michael.
You got to remember, dude, cadeis really talented.
(29:24):
I forgot about Cade Pulled Andyup Gold Hill for that FKT on
top so he can climb like a mofo,and then, on top of that, on
top of that, was in a very closerace in Canyon's 50K with Matt,
daniels and Seth and damn well,took them to the brink.
I think he had some nutritionstuff that he had to get figured
(29:46):
out after, like sweat testing,but he seems to have had that
figured out, that's big.
We'll see what happens with that.
In fourth place I'm going to goBrian Woodfield, hometown hero,
big fan of Brian Woodfield,good buddy of mine.
In third place I'm going to goDavid Norris.
I think David did a lot ofthings in the offseason that we
(30:08):
might not have seen.
To make him more competitive atthese runnable races he already
had the ability.
Remember Nordic skier e drove abig engine, obviously knows how
to you know train threshold,but I think the big thing that
David did in the off season wasget a lot of time on the track.
According to his coach, he'sbeen working with David Roche.
So I think that has been.
(30:29):
That's why we saw him get thedub at a Senate P in second
place.
I'm going to go Garrett GarrettGarrett the parrot um in first
place.
Eli Hemming um taking the job.
I don't even think it's close.
I think Eli wipes the floorwith everybody.
I think it's close to a newcourse record and I think Eli
just makes people look sillyCause he's that good Um.
(30:49):
Maybe I'm wrong, but I, eli,just has the highest race IQ out
of everybody.
He's just so complete it'sgoing to be very difficult to
beat.
On that day we saw what happenedat Big Alta.
The best of them could not hangwith Eli.
All right, but here we go.
We got to do some math here.
How do we get to Team USA?
We know Eli is not going totake the ticket, right.
(31:11):
That de facto spot then goes toGarrett David Norris.
David Norris, like when I hadhim on the pod, is very focused
on going to run the MountainClassic, not so much focused to
run the marathon, I think.
Even if he gets the ticket, Ithink it goes down.
One more spot he's going toturn it down.
I think that goes to BrianWhitfield.
So second spot goes to BrianWhitfield, and third spot goes
(31:35):
to Cade, michael and I think ourthree that we're sending to Ken
Frank are going to be GarrettBrian Whitfield, cade Michael.
Those are my picks.
Speaker 2 (31:41):
I would love that.
Yeah, I forgot about Cade.
I would definitely throw him inthe top five, for sure.
Um, I don't know how I missedhis name.
Um, yeah, something about him.
I just can see him wearing aUSA kit.
Speaker 1 (31:52):
He's just ready to pop one off, man, I think he
just matters to him.
Speaker 2 (31:56):
Yeah, yeah, no canyons.
He ran an insane race untiluntil the end.
Um, yeah, and that's just amatter of just executing.
He can do it Like you said.
He got that sweat test figuredout, yeah.
Speaker 1 (32:08):
Just needs to put it together and, like insanely
talented, has all the talent inthe world, just needs to crack
one off.
So I think this might be it Onour watch list.
Obviously, michelino.
Michelino, I think, is stillworking himself back from injury
, still kind of in the mix, Ithink.
In my opinion, if he doesn'thave the race that he wants to
(32:29):
have here, he'll probably get injust off a resume spot.
Yeah, that's right.
It would be crazy not to pickhim.
Ryan Becker, I think Ryan'sgoing to be in the mix.
I know you had him picked for aspot.
I would not be surprised to seehim get in there.
In fact, I would be reallyelated because I think how
special would that be.
I really like Ryan a lot and Ithink he's one of the ones.
He's a very hard worker, he'svery knowledgeable and just
(32:51):
really deserves a spot in myopinion.
And in my opinion, um and Ithink it's like not really on
his peripherals either, like Ithink he he just wants to see
what happens, but like I thinkhe's got other goals like as
well so that's serious people,the ones that have nothing to
lose.
Speaker 2 (33:03):
He's got nothing to lose, oh for sure, for sure,
yeah, um.
Speaker 1 (33:06):
In addition, uh, finney and jacobson scuttle um,
he's a shuttle um, he's aboulder like boulder guy um.
Coleman cragoon, who's anotherone who's had some great results
I think he was on the podium,or damn close at the canyons 50k
like he's very good that colmancragoon, kid, uh, john aziz as
well, three-time pikes, peakmarathon champ liam is going to
(33:27):
be in the mix as well could verywell crack one off and have a
great day.
Could, could replace any ofthose guys, um, and then noah
williams as well, um, and joshpotvin.
So, oh my gosh dude, I couldliterally name 300 people off
this list, it's crazy so that'sall I got for the 46k.
Speaker 2 (33:44):
I'm gonna have dinner I need to go run, I need to go
get my run.
Speaker 1 (33:49):
Are you going to get a run now?
Yeah, I need to go get my runin.
Speaker 2 (33:51):
Yeah, I'm waiting for it to cool down a little bit.
The front range right now is anoven.
Speaker 1 (33:55):
Is that really?
I forget oh man doing the eastcoast like dude, so humid I'm
like so weird oh man, it was apleasure.
Speaker 2 (34:04):
Um, I appreciate you having me on these last three
episodes.
Such a fun race to cover.
Second year in a row doing this.
Looking forward to doing it athird year with you absolutely
everybody go watch this weekend.
Mountain outpost is going to bedoing a live stream for all
these events.
I'm sure they're going to do agreat job.
Um, not sure who's who'scommentating.
Do you have any?
Speaker 1 (34:24):
no, I have no idea.
Do you have any?
Speaker 2 (34:26):
no, I'm sure it's a type of race where a lot of
times they'll have peopleproduction there.
Maybe Golden Trail will kind oflink up with them and maybe do
a little bit more.
But yeah, it's fun, it's goingto be great coverage, great
weekend.
Speaker 1 (34:41):
Look forward to it.
I'm so excited.
All right, nick, have awonderful evening.
Thank you, sir, appreciate it.
Thanks, ben yeah bro, yep, bye,see ya.
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No-transcript.
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