Golden Trail World Series Final Preview with Robert Prosser

Episode Transcript
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SPEAKER_00 (00:00):
Welcome back to the Steep Stuff Podcast.
I'm your host, James L'Oriello.
Guys, I'm so excited to bejoined today by co-host Robert
Prosser to preview the 2025Golden Trail World Series Final
and Prologue.
Yeah, super excited for thisone.
Hope you guys enjoy it.
Uh, all good stuff there.

(00:21):
Better late than never, becausethe race starts in like 14
hours.
Sorry, I was a little late onthis one.
Um, but yeah, hope you guysenjoy it.
Golden Trail World Series Final2025 with co-host Robert
Prosser.

(01:32):
Ladies and gentlemen, we RobertProsser.
Welcome back to the Steep StuffPodcast.
How's it going, man?

SPEAKER_01 (01:42):
It's going.
It's been a long week, and uh,this is a little bit a long time
coming, but I'm definitelyexcited to talk about some
golden trail finals today.

SPEAKER_00 (01:49):
I know.
Dude, I'm really sorry I pushedthis.
It literally starts like we'relike 12 to 13 hours before the
start of the actual prologue,but the fans that are listening
and will be listening tonight.
They won't care.
Um, but yeah, I'm glad we'reable to put this together and
it's been a hell of a week, uh,both professionally for both of
us and for uh just life.
So I'm glad uh glad we're ableto put this together and talk

(02:11):
about the Golden Trail WorldSeries final that's finally
here.
Dude, I feel like it's been acrazy, it's been a crazy long
season for Golden Trail.
I mean, now starting in Apriland now we're in October, like I
almost feel like they maybe bitone out of uh like Skyrunner's
page in the sense where like alittle bit more races and just
kind of more spread out amongstthe calendar.

SPEAKER_01 (02:32):
Definitely, I think it's a little bit of a catch-22
because I do like that theSkyrunner has so many options
and so many like locales forthem to race, but it also is a
little bit disappointing becauseit does water down the
competition sometimes.
And so I do like that they'reexposing new areas, having Japan
backs back years, China backsback years to different
locations.
Um, but I do think it makes theseason a little bit long.
And then I also think I mean itit you know, if you schedule

(02:55):
your season well, it can workout, but we'll kind of see some
of these races won't be quite ascompetitive, or people will kind
of pick and choose which racesbecause they know they can get
good points because they won'tbe quite as dense, I guess.
So, but yeah, it definitelyfeels long.
Uh, and I'm curious to see howpeople that raced early in the
season well will race uh thisfar out, you know, six, seven
months out later.

SPEAKER_00 (03:15):
So it is interesting with the final, and maybe this
is a good like through topic aswell to kind of get into is like
maybe I almost feel like it'scondensed the the competition.
Like I feel like all we'vetalked about all season when it
comes to Golden Trail,specifically on the men's side,
has been Patrick Philemon and ElHussein, and then on the women's
side, it seems like it's beenJolene, Joyce, Lauren Gregory

(03:37):
here and there.
Um, you know, when it comes tolike the broken arrow stuff, as
well as Anna Gibson on theAmerican side.
But I think it's like the thekind of the through line and
topic has been the consolidationof just talent at the top and
then everyone else kind ofjockeying for spots, and you
know, as we kind of go through,it's been I don't know, it's
it's interesting, but I do Iwould agree.
I feel like this yearspecifically, I feel like Golden

(03:58):
Trail no, granted, I was notthere, but did not feel like as
competitive as it has been inprevious years.
I don't know what that is.

SPEAKER_01 (04:08):
Yeah, I think the on the men's side it definitely
feels like yeah, it's like thosethree, and then it's everyone
else is fighting for fourththrough tenth.
So I do feel like that probablyhas been a little tough
back-to-back years.
I do think there's a little bitless likelihood that the
favorites quite as obvious ondefinitely, I think even the
men's side, but definitely thewoman's side.
I think the women's side ispretty up for grabs this year,

(04:28):
and we'll talk more about thatin a second.
But um, yeah, I do agree.
I think in general competitionand wondering who could win
every race, and right now themen's race, it really only feels
like three people can win it onany given race, whereas the
women's race, it does feel likethere's a good range of people
depending on the terrain.
So um yeah, I do think that'simportant that hopefully we see
a little bit more competitiveparity in the men's side and we

(04:48):
see some other guys break out,like a Christian Allen win or
something, because there is abig difference between finishing
like fourth through tenth in agolden trail and finishing in
that top three, but especiallywinning.
I think there's kind of like abig breakthrough.
Once you win one, then you kindof realize you can do it.
Um, and so people that got someof their first wins, like Lauren
Gregory this year, you know,it's a big uh notch of
confidence if you can get a winin a golden trail series.

SPEAKER_00 (05:08):
So totally agree.
Yeah, it's interesting.
Like it would be really cool tosee um like a Christian Allen go
and take a dub, right, at one ofthese.
And I almost feel like he's he'sgot one in the chamber.
Like it's probably he's got thetalent to do it, it's just a
matter of like everything comingtogether on the day.
Um would be cool to see him wina final.
And like you said, like LaurenGregory, I think that's um uh

(05:31):
yeah, I think having LaurenGregory there would be, you
know, having her win one justwouldn't be wouldn't be a
surprise.
Sorry, I'm talking to you and myphone's ringing and uh
distracting.
No, it's okay.
Just scammers always arecalling.
All right, back to the back tothe course.
So kicking off on 1010, we'reactually so tomorrow within

(05:55):
several hours.

SPEAKER_01 (05:56):
Yeah, pre-trail says 34 hours and 55 minutes.

SPEAKER_00 (05:59):
There we go, to the final.
But we have the prologue first,which is good.
That's true.
Um, one thing I will say aboutthis, um, for those of you
interested in following along umas far as the streaming goes,
it's gonna be streamed onEurosport, HBO Max, TNT Sports,
and Discovery Plus.
Dude, how cool is that?
Like, we're getting to watchtrail running streamed on HBO

(06:20):
Max and and like Discovery Plus.

SPEAKER_01 (06:21):
Like Yeah, yeah, even for Sears and all, I woke
up uh this year and watched uhit had already finished by the
time we woke up here in thesprings, but I watched it on HBO
Max, and that was pretty damncool to like to be like going to
a streaming service to watch atrail running race.
So yeah, it is really exciting.
Uh, I think it's a little lessaccessible, or like for the
Eurosport people, it's a littletough, but like yeah, having HBO
Max and then watching it ispretty neat, and I'm definitely

(06:44):
excited for what they're doingwith it there.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (06:47):
All right, let's talk about the course itself.
Let's talk about the race.
This is one this one isinteresting.
The Ledro Sky Triento.
So Led Ledro Sky Race isbasically what it's kind of a
part of or kind of called.
Um this is an interestingthrough like thread because it's
advertised, the race itself isadvertised, and we'll talk about
the course uh and itstechnicality because I think

(07:08):
that's definitely worthsomething discussing.
Definitely.
Um, but advertised as a skyrace.
I find that interesting,especially because uh golden
trail races, more or less, arenot really advertised to be
super technical.
They're much faster races on onaverage when you're comparing
them to something like a skyrace, um, or something more
built as a sky race.
Like I know for a fact like thiscourse is a bit more burly and

(07:29):
technical than most of the othercourses raced.
Maybe this is if we're gonnadraw a comparison, this might be
closer to something like uh thePlitz Alpen Glacier Trail,
something a bit more burlytechnical, especially on the
descents, a bit more technicalum and not super
straightforward.
Um yeah, I don't know.
It's different.
Like it's a beautiful area innorthern Italy.
Like, have you checked out anyof that area in the research?

SPEAKER_01 (07:50):
Uh I have not.
I did do Google Maps, so it's inPieve de Lidro, which is
southwest of Trento Trento by 35kilometers as the crow flies,
and then northeast of Milan by180 kilometers.
Um, I've been really wanting togo to Dolomites, I still have
not been and is very high on mybucket list.
Uh, we might even try to do itnext year, maybe for a
honeymoon, not sure.

(08:11):
But um, yeah, dude, theTrentino, I was looking at a
race out there.
There's just so many cool, goodtrails.
So uh I wasn't familiar withthis specific area, that's why I
did some research, but um, I doagree with everything you're
saying about the course.
It does look pretty technical.

SPEAKER_00 (08:24):
Okay.
One of the things that really uhstuck out to me that I thought
was quite exciting when it comesto the first specifically the
prelude is the preludes inprevious iterations of the
finals have been a bit flatterand have been a bit less
technical, just a bit easier, ifyou will.
Dude, this is a straight upmountain classic prelude.
Like almost five miles, almost2,000 feet again.
So it's four basically 4.42miles, 1,795 feet of vertical,

(08:48):
so it's 6.9k, 505 meters, steep,it's technical, it's burly, it's
not easy.
Um, thank, thank, thank God forRemy LaRue.
Big shout out to Remy LaRuebecause he gave me some
breakdowns of the course, uh,and I'll quote him in a little
bit.
But like his Strava's just beena godsend on some of the stuff
that he's been scouting as faras just knowing the course.

(09:08):
Yeah.
Um and yeah, like his runthrough through the prelude, I
was like, wow, this is it's it'seasy.
Like I'm it we're gonna seesuper fast times, obviously,
like prive, probably five mid tolow five minute great adjusted
paces for the men and definitelyprobably six minute great
adjusted paces for the women.
Um it's gonna be interesting tosee how like the descent gets
taken, but anything that sticksout to you for the prelude

(09:30):
specifically.

SPEAKER_01 (09:31):
Uh agree with everything.
And yeah, I do like that it'sbeen pretty steep.
I I think it's it's gonna bepretty similar to rain.
I mean, last year the part ofthey did it in Lakarno, which is
like it's the Italian-speakingpart of Switzerland called
Ticino, is the region.
Um, and I think it'll besimilar.
And I do I did like, I mean,that one looked pretty epic.
You know, we're getting into thefall, so it's getting more wet
and kind of boggy.

(09:52):
And I think this will honestlylook similar to the the Lakarno
one where it's kind of steep up,steep down.
Um, yeah, and definitely willfavor a lot of the more
technically oriented.
And I definitely think we'lltalk about that when we're
talking about previewing whocould win or who could do well.
Um, that's definitely somethingto keep in mind is who does well
with some technical footing.

SPEAKER_00 (10:08):
So for sure, for sure.
And then the course itself, theactual course, uh, the final
course is gonna be 13.04 miles,5,249 feet.
So build as a sky course.
I mean, that's pretty burly for13 miles.
I mean, I like I said, I'd haveto be there to see it myself as
far as the technicality goes,but from the information that
I'm getting, um, see, and I'lleven read the text that I think

(10:30):
it was the text I sent you uhfrom Remy, um, because Remy was
pretty good in describing umkind of the whole breakdown.
Here we go.
All right, from Remy LaRue'swords.
Yeah, there's been a lot of talkof the course, a lot of
comparison to sky running.
The two main words are steep andtechnical, with emphasis on
steep, kind of similar, and thiswas cool because he, you know,

(10:52):
he kind of quoted it like asbeing similar in Northeast
Trails, which obviously we allknow to be steep and technical.
Um he said they don't doswitchbacks here.
If the mountain goes straight upand down, the trail goes
basically straight up and down.
In terms of tech technicality,it isn't insanely technical, but
because it's mixed with a lot of30 to 40 percent grade, it feels
very techy going down.

(11:12):
Um Golden Trail World Seriesmedia team will definitely be
strategically placed to filmsome epic uh epic falls, I'm
guessing.
Ha ha.
So shout out to Remy LaRue forthe course breakdown um on both
of the courses.
And and yeah, I think that'skind of just the through a
thread of like what we kind ofexpected.

SPEAKER_01 (11:28):
Yeah, and then there have been races.
I think the course is slightlydifferent, but um, there it has
been an existing race, and sosome of the course records are
actually course record holdersare actually people who have are
racing here this year.
Chesary Maestri and Alice Gaggyhave the course record on the
men's and women's side.
Men's course record was 146.22,and Alice Gaggy ran it in
213.03.

(11:50):
I think the course is like alittle bit different, but that's
something to keep in mind.
So they're familiar with theterritory because they'll both
be racing this final.
And then some other names.
Uh Alberto Vender and MarcoFelosi have run it before, and
so is Fabiola Conti, who alwaysalso appears to be running uh
the final this year.
So yeah, I mean, I think forsome people to be familiar with
territory, and I do agree withthe sky running uh with the sky

(12:13):
running analogies.
Uh it looks really cool.
Uh the website's good, it'sreally informative too.

SPEAKER_00 (12:18):
So dude, big shout out to Fabiola Conte.
I feel like she doesn't getenough, like I know she kind of
popped onto the scene, maybe itwas like 2022, 2023.
I think she had a Solomoncontract and then kind of like
faded kind of back into, I don'tknow, maybe more local races and
stuff like that.
I know she's like well known forhaving done series and all.
I know every year she goes tothe Mont Blanc Marathon and like
kind of was on the internationalstage and like then kind of

(12:41):
disappeared to it and then kindof popped back onto the scene
this year with Worlds and hashad some like spectacular
performances.

SPEAKER_01 (12:47):
Yeah, when I did my long trip review, I was actually
feeling pretty bullish on her.
She, her three main results thisyear, she had like a top five
and a top three at two technicalsky races.
I think Montzerbion was one, andI forget what the other one was.
And then um, she had a win atanother race.
It was the Mona Rosa Walzer bug,and it was like 120k, but it had

(13:07):
like 8,300 meters of vert.
So I was like, wow, well, she'sfast enough to do good at sky
races, but also she's gutsyenough to like do good at these
really vert-uh, presumablyreally technical races.
So I was like, well, she's fastand she can do a long race.
And so I I think I had her ridearound like fifth for my picks
in the long trail.
Um, and yeah, she had a reallygood race.
She ended up getting thirdthere.
And but we'll see, you know,that's a pretty quick bounce

(13:29):
back.
We'll definitely be talkingabout worlds a lot and how that
might affect some people.
But yeah, I totally agree.
It was really impressive to seewhat she did at the long trail.
Um, and she has a reallyversatile athlete, so um, yeah,
Italian, so home turf as well.

SPEAKER_00 (13:40):
So one thing I want to talk about is invitations.
So we know the top 30 men andwomen were invited to the final.
Um, this is interesting becauseI know Golden Trail series is
kind of funny that way.
They don't exactly publish alist of exactly who's invited
and who maybe turned down uhinvites, who maybe didn't
travel.
Will people be filling thosespots of the people that didn't
go?
I would say obviously.

(14:01):
And then you got to factor inthe fact of the national Golden
Trail National Series, which Iknow is not happening in America
this past year, but it didhappen in other countries as
well.
There was some morenational-based races.
Uh, I know in Germany, Spain,other countries.
So it's kind of a black box asfar as like who outside of the
top 30 as far as the invitationsand how those went through.

(14:21):
So we're kind of basing, atleast I'm basing, you know, kind
of this just off of the top 30that's going to be on the Golden
Trail series site.
The 30 that we know that wewould guess would be in in
compet in contention, if youwill, if that makes sense.

SPEAKER_01 (14:35):
Yeah, definitely.
Yeah, and I was I was thinkingthe same thing, and I was also
noticing like some noticeableabsences and some people.
I was like, I wonder if thesepeople like Judith Weeder, other
people that didn't race as muchGolden Trail series, but also
could easily, you know, podiumhere.
We're still gonna race.
Um, and no Judith this year, butand no Maud either.
Not in the top.
Yeah, no Maud either.
That's a good point.
Um yeah, I wonder how she'sbouncing back from Worlds, but

(14:57):
yeah, I was kind of wonderingthe same thing.
I was like, we have these namesin the top 30, and then some of
the people that are like 20through 30 are really also have
a capability to podium, but theyonly ran one or two Golden Trail
series races this year, so theyjust don't have a ton of points.
Um but yeah, that woulddefinitely be an interesting,
interesting factor.

SPEAKER_00 (15:12):
One thing I do want to uh definitely talk about
because a lot of our um goodchunk of our listener base
obviously is on state side.
So the Americans, if you'rewondering what Americans were
invited and what Americanstraveled, um Lauren Gregory was
invited to the final, AnnaGibson, Courtney Coppinger,
Rachel Tomaichek, Sarah Carter.
Shout out to Sarah Carter, newPikes Peak champion uh for the

(15:34):
Pikes Peak Ascent.
Um call it Christopher Moody,and then can't forget Sidney
Peterson, who had anotheranother banger of a season.
And then on the men's side, onlythree men invited on the
American side Taylor Stack,Christian Allen, and Nicholas
Turko.
Um very interesting.
I am very bullish on TaylorStack and Christian Allen.
Very curious to see where theyend up in this race.

(15:55):
Um, Taylor and Christian bothhaving good shot performances at
World, specifically Christiangetting fourth of the vertical.
Um Taylor Stack has had aninsane season uh when it comes
to the Golden Trail series,especially with the series and
all and Plitz Alpham Glacier andBroken Arrow.
Uh so it's gonna be kind of uhinteresting to see where these
guys and gals kind of match upin the mix um with a lot on the

(16:17):
a lot on the line for the final.

SPEAKER_01 (16:19):
Yeah, I was trying to think in my recent memory.
I've gone back and watched mostof the Golden Trail has
obviously lots of really goodepisodes, they're pretty good at
documenting.
So I went back to like 2019 andwatched even a lot of those
episodes, which are really good.
That's when like even Killianwould participate in some.
So good.
But I was trying to think oflike, because Taylor's right on
the edge, he's in sixth placeover on the point standing, and

(16:40):
then Christian's 14th, but hecould easily bump in the top 10,
if not top five, with a goodresult this weekend.
I was trying to think of likewho have been the best Americans
in the Golden Trail series, andI really have like a hard time
thinking of what American atleast American men.
I know Sophia Lockley won in2023.
Yeah, maybe Sage Canada had someearly results.
Um so I was just trying to thinkit'd be really cool to get you

(17:00):
know Taylor or Christian or bothuh in that top five.
Because you know, obviously itseems like the top three are
kind of in their own categoryright now.
But if we could get uh one ofthose guys in the four or five
position, and I think it's it'spretty likely.
I mean, uh the points are moreimportant in this final, so a
lot of positions will changebased off how well people do at
the prologue in the final.

SPEAKER_00 (17:18):
So it's kind of crazy to think.
I mean, maybe the audience mightlambass me for this if I do
forget anybody besides uh SageCanada, but it's hard to
remember anybody off of likerecent years because I think I
think of Sage Canada's secondplace performance behind
Killian, I think it was 2019 atthe Pikes Peak Marathon.

SPEAKER_01 (17:33):
Yeah, I think that sounds right.

SPEAKER_00 (17:34):
Um and that's when it was still the marathon was on
the Golden Trail series.
Dakota's had great finishes.
I'm trying to think of theascent.
Eli Hamming, actually, like Ihe's Eli is probably the best
memory.
Yeah, and it was actually kindof a bummer for me.
Like, I love Eli and I know thatlike the situation that he's in
now, like you know, racing morelonger stuff, I think makes
sense for him.
But like it would have been coolto see a few more seasons out of

(17:55):
him on the Golden Trail seriesjust because he's so good at the
short stuff.
Um, but yeah, damn ultra people.
Um, but yeah, no, I think Elimakes sense in recent memories,
H Canada.
And I can't think of a lot ofother American men that have
like really performed at likethe super uh like you know
high-end stages.

SPEAKER_01 (18:12):
So yeah, we're kind of more ultra-focused.
That's definitely what's moreincentivized.
I feel like both contractcontractually and I don't know,
just kind of like if you'rerunning trails, people are like,
oh, when are you gonna doLeadville?
When are you gonna do Western?
When are you gonna do you knowthis hundred mile race?
So I definitely think we'restarting to see the transition
for that, but it it's never thesky running and sub-ultra stuff
hasn't it's more incentivized inEurope than it has been in the

(18:33):
States, and now we're trying tochange that.
So that's what you're trying tochange.
It's changing, dude.

SPEAKER_00 (18:37):
It's changing.
That's a whole nother podcast.
Yeah.
All right, let's kind of talkabout I think the overarching
storyline here, especially forthis, is just the amount of
folks in the top ten on bothsides, men and women, that just
recently competed at worlds.
100%.
Only two, so on the men's side,only El Housine and Pierre
Calabrin, or sorry, yeah, GalGalbordin, excuse me, French

(19:02):
athlete.
Only El Housine and Pierre didnot compete, and they're the
only ones in the top ten thatwere not at worlds.
And then on the women's side,Madelina Floria, and then Rosa
Laura Failyve, uh, Spanishathlete, were the only two that
are of the top ten that werealso not at worlds.

SPEAKER_01 (19:17):
So even then Rosa did compete, and she competed in
probably the worst race to runbefore this.
She got top five at the longtrail.
Oh, Rosa was in the race?
Yeah, she didn't miss it.
She didn't race the sub Ultra,but she they changed sometimes
they put her as Rosa Laura andsometimes they put her as Rosa
Maria, because I think hername's Rosa Maria Laura Feliu.
Good catch.
Good catch.

(19:38):
But yeah, she went top five inthe long.
So her and Fabiola are bothgonna be in the same boat where
I'm uh not quite as bullish onthem as I would typically be uh
for this final if they had notjust done so well at the long
trail.

SPEAKER_00 (19:50):
All right, so scratch that then.
We've got literally justMadelina, El Housine, and Pierre
are the only three that have notjust competed at worlds.
Is it a fact?
I mean, obviously long trail isgonna be a factor.
We kind of saw that.
Um, but dude, short trail too.
I mean, like, look at DavidSinclair and Eli, like kind of
had very clearly had CCC intheir legs uh that you know when
it came to compete.

(20:10):
I it's hard to say.
Like, I wonder if, like, forinstance, like Roberto DiLorenzi
having the short trail on hislegs, that could be a potential
issue.
Um, but I think for the uphilluh and the mountain classic, I
mean, you're gonna recover somuch faster.

SPEAKER_01 (20:25):
Yeah, I think if anything, the uphill mountain
classic, I'm more bullish onthose people, and I think that's
a great tune-up.
The short trail I am a littlebit conservative with, and then
the long trail I'm extremelyconservative with.
But I don't know.
We've seen we'll see.
It'll be interesting.
I'm definitely curious how thatwill pan out, but I'm hesitant
with anyone that raced world'suh short trail longer.

SPEAKER_00 (20:43):
So I'm just gonna throw out some names here, top
ten of the women ranking andlike what they did at World.
So Sarah Alonzo, silver medal inthe short trail.
Uh Caroline Kimmutai droppedshort trail, Melon Alsa dropped
from the short trail.
Joyce Naru was fourth in themen's or sorry, fourth in the
women's mountain classic.
Lauren Gregory, fifth in thewomen's mountain classic.

SPEAKER_01 (21:03):
One second between them two.

SPEAKER_00 (21:04):
It was so close.
What a race, dude.
Uh Falaris, 14th in thevertical, Naomi Lang, bronze
medal in the short trail, AnnaGibson, bronze in the vertical,
and then I can't quite rememberwhere she finished on the
mountain classic.
Um, and then Rosa, like yousaid, was fifth.

SPEAKER_01 (21:19):
I think she was fourth or fifth, yeah.
In the long trail, long trail.

SPEAKER_00 (21:22):
And then on the men's side, Patrick was bronze
the bronze medal in the uphill,Philemon was the Mountain
Classic champion, Michael Seal,Michael Saelli, Kenyan Mountain
Classic team.
Daniel Pattis uh competed on theshort trail.
Taylor Stack was on the MountainClassic team, Roberto DiLorenzi
was on the Swiss short trailshort trail team.
Um, how did you pronounceCaesar?

(21:42):
I called him Caesar Mystery.
How do you pronounce his nameproperly?

SPEAKER_01 (21:46):
A lot of people say Caesar, but I don't Martin on
Golden Trail pronounces itCesare, so that's the only
reason why.
Because I feel like he is reallygood at his job and also is
around those athletes a lot.
So I've heard it's Cesare, but Ialso think it's like Caesar, but
I think they're just saying itmore that way.
So to each their own.
I don't know.
That's just the reason I'veheard him say it, and I trust
his judgment the most.

SPEAKER_00 (22:06):
So I say we take it for take it for that then.
So Cesare uh Mastrari, local tothis area too, like you had
said, and had won this racepreviously, held the record.
He was on the Mountain Classicteam, and then Dominic Raleigh
uh competed in both the MountainClassic and the Vertical.
So these are all top tenathletes ranked in the Golden
Trail that are also competingthis week.
Um yeah, so and of that,interesting, five individual

(22:30):
medals represented, includingthe Mountain Classic world
champion Philemon, who I gottasay, dude, you made me eat my
words.
I did not think Philemon wasgonna be the Mountain Classic
champ, and sure as shit he is.

SPEAKER_01 (22:40):
I hadn't picked in my I hadn't picked the lane in
my fantasy free trail.
So yes, I I don't know.
He just had a lot of good updateon races this year and has kind
of that's kind of been his breadand butter.
So um yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (22:52):
What did you think about some of the notable drops
like Felaris, Kasang, and Malindropping the short trail?
Is that more I don't I didn'tread too deeply into either of
those as far as injury goes orif there was any issues there.
Is that maybe just more beingconservative?
Um, knowing you know there'smore, I think, monetary
situations on the line when itcomes to golden trail for both

(23:13):
of them being in the ranking,um, and just trying to be
conservative for a race like theGolden Trail final.
Like I wonder what that wouldbe.

SPEAKER_01 (23:20):
Yeah, I think Malon, from my understanding or from
what they said on Subhub, uh, Ithink she caught cramps and then
just decided to pull.
Because I mean, like we talkedabout on the preview, that short
trail women's team was superdeep, and I mean they still
ended up getting the silver andjust missing out on the gold,
mainly because of ToveyAlexanderson crushing everybody.
But um, so yeah, I think itprobably was kind of uh a little

(23:42):
bit of bad day, and then alsoknowing that you had a really
strong team, and then I don'tknow too much about Falaris
dropping.
Um and then yeah, I'm trying tothink Malin dropped, and then
Carolyn Kimsai, I think Self Hubalso said she didn't, she just
didn't even start.
Her name was on the list.
Um, but I also there's somequestions around her because

(24:03):
Golden Trail wasn't putting themout, putting her name out on
their preview or for their top10, and she is third overall in
the points for the series.
Um she might not be racing, soyeah.
So I have some that's my biggestquestion mark with her, along
with the technicality of thecourse.

SPEAKER_00 (24:19):
Um I do want to correct myself really quick.
I had full I'd written downFularis, but she was third 14th
in the vertical.
Yeah, you're I meant to sayCaroline Kimmy Tai.

SPEAKER_01 (24:26):
Kimmy Tai, yeah, yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (24:26):
Yeah.

SPEAKER_01 (24:27):
Yeah, because I was gonna say I'm pretty sure Ferris
ran.
And she hasn't had as good of ayear as she's had in the past.
She's had like some, I want tosay some top threes at Sears and
all, and usually is really goodin this up-down type of format.
And she's had good results thisyear, but just not to the level
that she's had in the past.
So yeah.

SPEAKER_00 (24:40):
It's gonna be interesting.
All right, so here's the bigquestion.
I I've two I mean, this isobviously more podium-based, but
uh the two big things I wrotedown.
Will Philemon challenge ElHousine and will Sarah, I think
even a bigger question is SarahAlonzo now fully back from
injury, clearly second place atworlds, like had a great race
herself.

(25:01):
Is she but like can shechallenge Madalina for the win?
Like Madalina had a tough racein the last final, um, you know,
has kind of folded on the bigstages, but also has had a like
she's number one in the ranking,has had like a substantially
like amazing year.
Can Sarah Alonso like toppleher?
Is that possible?

SPEAKER_01 (25:19):
Yeah, I definitely think I think this type of
course favors Sarah Alonso, andI also think that she does seem
to be very back, but then Iguess my main hesitation is
going back to she did just raceworlds, that was three weeks
ago.
So Trail Marathon, I mean a lotof these guys do that kind of
turnaround, but I'm curious ifthat will beat out a fresh
Madalina.
And Madalena did have a rough golast year's finals, but she also

(25:42):
blew or like surprised all of uswhen she won both the finals in
2023, and she pretty much likesingle-handedly helped Sophia
win her final because uh Yudithwould have won that year if
Madalina didn't win both theprologue and the final.
That's very true.
Because she did beat Sophia umin both the prologue and the
final, but it wasn't enoughpoints because she didn't get a

(26:02):
win in either of the races.
So but I I think Matalina wouldbe fresh.
I want to say she not only didshe kind of get shook up at the
final last year, I think shemight have been coming in with
mono or some kind of sickness.
Um from what I hear at least,don't quote me on that.
But uh I think I will probablytake a fresh Mandalino over
Sarah, even though I think thiscourse favors Sarah a little
bit, but I do agree that I thinkit's really up.

(26:23):
And I honestly think Joyce couldhave a really good day out here
and pump up a lot in thestandings because we've seen
they double the points for theprologue in the final, so you
really can have big moves.
And I think really anyone that'sin like the top five or six is
within striking distance.
Um, and so for the women'spoints total, you know, Joyce is
still in fifth place, uh,Malin's in fourth.
Um, but I can see Joyce havinglike at least one win, if not

(26:45):
two wins here.
Um, so I think she's alegitimate contender for making
a move.
Um, but I do think it could beSarah Sarah's year.
She's got her first golden trailwin this year, it was Zagama
since 2022 or 2023, and then umjust has really raced super well
and been super fit.
She's she's fast too.
I didn't realize how fast shewas.
She ran like a 111 half thisspring, uh, and she just has

(27:05):
been in really good shape allyear.

SPEAKER_00 (27:06):
So where do you put Lauren Gregory and Anna Gibson
in the mix?

SPEAKER_01 (27:10):
Uh I'm pretty bullish on Lauren.
I got her in my top five andprobably even my top four.
And I think both of them will beyeah, I mean, I right now
looking at my free trail picks,I got Lauren and five, Anna and
seven, and that's contingent onCaroline racing.
And if she doesn't, I'llprobably move them both up to
like four and six.
But I I yeah, I easily thinkthat I think that one, Lauren's

(27:30):
been getting more fit throughoutthe year.
Um, and I know she was kind ofbanged up a little bit.
I think even coming into likebroken arrow, she was kind of
coming off an injury.
Uh, and then the win at TepicTrail was good, was really good.
I mean, it wasn't as it was kindof more like a Kobe race where
selectively people raced and itwasn't quite as deep, but a win
uh a win at Golden Trail seriesis a win.
So I mean that was really good,and it really helps the

(27:52):
confidence.
Uh, and I think she'll come intothis.
She had really good results atthe Worlds last year, right?
She had a second in one of theraces and like a fifth another,
um, or maybe two, a second and athird.
But she uh she raced really wellat last year's final, so I feel
like she'll be peaking at theright time and in good fitness.
And I was thinking honable too.
You know, we were talking aboutthe men's uh American side, it'd

(28:12):
be being impressive if we seetwo in the top five, but I could
very realistically see uhLauren's at in sixth overall
right now, and Anna's in 10th.
I could see both of them in thetop five by the end of the end
of the weekend.

SPEAKER_00 (28:23):
So I think as far as top 10 goes as well, uh don't
sleep on Courtney Coppinger.
Yeah, that's someone I canreally I think has a golden
opportunity.

SPEAKER_01 (28:30):
Yeah, I think she's a very good downhill.
I think she could do very wellhere, and she's just outside.
I mean, the points differencebetween like seventh and her in
13th is only like 50 points, andwe're talking out of like a
maximum 600, so it's not a hugespread, but I think that she
will likely move up and couldvery well move in the top 10.
So yeah, I could definitely seethree fame three American
runners in the final for the topten.

(28:52):
Top ten final.

SPEAKER_00 (28:53):
So let's let's get into sleepers.
Um, my question for you is like,what do you think about uh like
the locals?
Alice Gaggi, who just got 19thin the mountain classic, and
then uh Cesar Mustari had itwhere like where do you think
kind of the they like get in themix?

SPEAKER_01 (29:09):
Yeah, I think they'll both have good days out
here.
I did have uh Alice Gaggi as akind of like a dark horse pick
or somebody that you wouldn't uhexpect to do, or like that we
just don't know as well,probably being in the US
audience.
Um so she's an Italian runnerfor Brooks.
Uh she did just race worlds, shegot 19th at the classic.
Um, and then early in this yearshe got a sixth at Golden Trail

(29:30):
series Noli or Golf LodeliaSolo.
I'll kind of use theminterchangeably, and a fifth at
Broken Arrow.
Um so yeah, she's got speed,she's really skilled on
technical terrain, and then shealready knows this course too.
And I think she'll be in prettygood shape.
I mean, a 19th at Classic, uh, Ithink that bodes pretty well for
doing well here.
And then Chesari, he started offthe year really strong.
Um, two top fives at Great Walland GTS Noli, which both of

(29:52):
those were pretty deep races.
Um, we saw the Kenyon crew comein for Noli and uh or excuse me,
for the Great Wall, and then wealso had a deep Kenyan crew.
Fernoli as well.
Uh didn't have as good of a raceat Pete's Alpine Glacier.
He was like 17th.
Um, and then second at ETC and11th at the classic distance of
worlds, but I think he's verywell good to go for like five
through ten in this race.

(30:13):
And he is speedy, he alreadyknows the course, so I
definitely think he'll do well.
Other dark horses um had a fewmore on the men's side.
I think Dominique Roley on theSwiss uh Swiss athlete, he got
fourth in the classic.
He was the only non-East Africanin the top seven at the classic
for world, so he ran reallywell.
I think he is more of aspecialist when on that when

(30:34):
that downhill comes in.
He didn't do as well in theuphill.
I think he was right around like20th.
Um, but I think when you getthose technical descents, he
does really well.
And he also uh smoked a reallygood Sierra Zenal this year,
seventh place overall.
I thought he was gonna be him orJoey Haydorn was gonna be the
top uh Swiss guy, but it turnedout to be that triathlon guy
that nobody I didn't know abouthim, so he kind of came out of

(30:55):
nowhere and ran the lead a lot.
And then speaking of J JoeyHaydorn, he's also gonna be very
written down, and I think he isalso gonna be a dark horse.
Um and we see him kind of justpop off at these final events
and do really well.
Um, he started off kind of likeChesry, started off the season
real strong and had some goodresults.
And that Great Wall race, he wasright in the middle of the
Kenyan pack and ended up goinglike four, he was fourth at Kobe

(31:16):
and third at Great Wall, so hewas right in the mix with the
Kenyan dudes.
A lot of them came out hard andblew up.
It was an interesting race towatch.
Uh and then he raced at Searsand all and probably didn't do
as good as he wanted to with the37th.
Um, but he's been focusing onhis orienteering season since
then.
I did kind of do a quick scrollthrough of his Instagram.
I don't think it ended quite aswell as he wanted it to, but I

(31:37):
also don't know that'snecessarily attributed to
fitness because I know there's alot of like navigation and other
stuff, so I wasn't sure on that,but I definitely think he could
go top 10.
And then we do have a good mixof Kenyons, Paul Machoka, Samuel
Kiprodic, and Michael Salelo.
Paul Machoka and Michael Salelo,I'd mostly focus on because they
have some really good up-downresults at world mountain
running events.
And the last one you didmention, Piero Calbordin.

(31:58):
He's a speedy Brooks runner,French guy.
Um, I looked, he's got like a103 half, so really, really
fast.
Um, and he has had some goodresults, so I think he could
sneak a top 10.
He went 22nd in worlds at thetrail and had multiple top 10s
in Golden Trail this year,including six at Pete's Alpine,

(32:19):
which is probably a similarcourse to 10th at Noli and
eighth at Great Wall.
So it seems like he's a reallygood downhiller, um, from what I
can tell.

SPEAKER_00 (32:26):
So interesting.
What do you think?
All right, how does it play outfor the points?
Um how many points is theprologue worth?
And are people going to be goingballs to the wall, you think,
for the prologue as well as thefinal?
Like, like, is there there'sstrategy to this weekend?
I feel like.

SPEAKER_01 (32:43):
Yes, don't quote.
I'm going off of memory, but Ithink I mean I know for the
regular race the points getdoubled and they take your three
best points results.
And so up until this point, awin in a race was 200 points, so
I'd imagine it's 400 for a winat the final.
And then I don't know if theprologue is 100 for the win, and
it works down from there.
I'm not sure.
But I knew that I know that itgets really shaken up, and you

(33:04):
really have to, you can't justlike be like El Zine, have three
wins, have perfect points.
Like he still would only finishlike fourth or fifth, so you
really have to be coming intothe final in good shape and race
the final if you want to um havea good chance.
So I'm not exactly sure.
I know it's double points, atleast for the full race, and
then the prologue, I'm not sure.
Maybe it's um regular points orhalf points.

(33:26):
So uh and I do think people willbe blitzing it.
I mean, last year it was justlike a time trial, and I'm
curious if they do the samebecause last year I think they
did that like staggered startwhere you don't all do it, but
you have somebody like theinterval start where it's like
somebody goes and then 30seconds and somebody goes.
So that's kind of cool becauseyou're like catching the people
in front of you and seeing yourlead.
And I think they have they go inreverse order of points.

(33:48):
So basically, like El Zene wouldgo last and he would have the
person in like Patrick in frontof him and the film in front of
him.
So that's kind of cool becausethen you know if you caught your
person, you went faster thanthem on the prologue.
Um, and at least you try to justkeep the same gap and then you
know you're not losing time onthem.
I think that's how it goes.
So at least that's how they didit last year.
I don't know if they do it thisyear that way.

SPEAKER_00 (34:06):
I would imagine it's probably very similar, if not if
not the same exact format.
What do you think?
Um I don't know.
Did you I didn't write down Ipicked final for I took picked
top five for both.
Okay.
What do you think for theprologue though?
Like, do you think the winner ofthe prologue will be the winner
of the overall?

SPEAKER_01 (34:24):
Yeah, that's a good question.
Last year it was with Elozine onthe men's side, and then the
women's side it wasn't the samebecause Joylene won the race,
but she didn't race theprologue, and I can't remember
who won the prologue.
Um is it Sarah?
It might have been Sarah, itmight have been Joyce or

(34:44):
somebody.
Yeah.
Um I do that's a good question.
I don't know.
I'm kind of up in the air.
I think for the prologue.
This men's race, I'm really Ithink Philemon has a legit
chance.
Him and Patrick are tied forpoints.
I'm honestly probably betweenPhilomon and Elzine.
I'm a little bit more bullish onI don't know.
Elozine's fresh.

(35:04):
Yeah, I mean I think the men'sside, it could be both when or
Elozine wins the tra the longrace and Philemon wins the
prologue.
Um but on the women's side, Ireally think it could go back
and forth.
Uh, and I think that uh Madalenacould win the race, but Sarah
could win the prologue or flipit around.
And I also think Joyce was gonnarace well here, so but I'm not
sure.
I it's kind of tough for me totell.

(35:27):
Um I do like that they do theprologue, but it's tough to pick
for, and they're not doing it onfantasy free trail like they
did.
I think last year they madepicks for the prologue, and this
year they're just doing it forthe trail race.

SPEAKER_00 (35:35):
So what do you think as far how I mean this is a
tough question I ask, but likewith Joelene absent now or out
of the mix, how does that shakeup the women's field and change
things like substantially?

SPEAKER_01 (35:48):
Yeah.
Um I don't know.
Yeah, that's a good question.
Yeah, I mean, I think it makesit more exciting, honestly.
I think Joeline, I'd be a littlebit more bullish on.
Although I'm I don't know, likethe Pizza Alpine, did Joyline I
don't remember if Joyline racedit.
I know Caroline didn't shedidn't do super well.

(36:08):
Um I don't think Joyline did,she didn't, uh but Caroline did,
Caroline Kamatai and a handfulof other canyons, and they just
didn't do great.
I think it was partially becauseit was also rainy and they
didn't take good care to likethermoregulate.
Um, but I think it just makesthe race more exciting because I
really do think Madelina has avery good chance, and I think we
could see her win.
I think Sarah Alonso could uhwin and win the overall final.
And then I honestly think Joycecould bounce back and is within

(36:32):
striking distance as well.
But I think it'll be coolbecause I think we'll almost
definitely have a new femalewinner uh for overall points,
whether it's Madalina or SarahAlonso, or I mean Alan Osa is
also within striking distance,and yeah, I mean, honestly, like
Lauren Gregory is as well.

SPEAKER_00 (36:47):
So yeah, I feel like I'm very bullish right now,
Lauren Gregory and Sarah Alonzo.
I think those are the two thathave me like super excited.
Um the men's race is likeSnoozville, I'm not gonna lie.
It's like, come on, man.
Like, can we have someone otherthan Al Hussein, Patrick, and
Philemon like step up?
Come on, Christian, like whereare you at?
Or Taylor, somebody.
Um, yeah, let's get into isthere anything you feel like

(37:09):
storylines that we did notaddress?

SPEAKER_01 (37:11):
Um yeah, I put how close will the men's race like
will be another one secondfinish, that's what I'm curious
about.
And then female side, just moreof what we talked about.
I really think like the winnersup for grabs will almost
definitely see a new winner, butI think Joyce has a very
legitimate chance, and I itwould be sick to see Lauren
Gregory too um have another USfemale winner uh like we have.

(37:31):
But yeah, I don't I don't haveany other storylines other than
what you've we've kind ofmentioned so far.

SPEAKER_00 (37:35):
One person I actually did not bring up was
Naomi Lang, short trail bronzemedal finisher.
Obviously, you said you werekind of factoring in, and I feel
the same way.
Factoring in like that shorttrail was a burly nasty course.
Like, how much of that is gonnabe in the legs?
Because like I feel like thiscould be a great course for
someone like Naomi.

SPEAKER_01 (37:52):
Yeah, I do feel like, and people were kind of
saying that they were kind ofsurprised by her short trail, or
I heard some people mentionthat, but I mean she won the
Plitz Alpha.
Yeah, she won Pizza Alpha andGlacier, and then she also ran
the Scalfell Sky Race, which washer like UK qualifier for the
race, and that's like a reallytechnical classic course, and
she beat a lot of good uh womenat that race and like beat them

(38:13):
by a big margin too.
Um, but yeah, this is definitelykind of like her bread and
butter, and I could see her,she's the ninth overall in the
points.
But like I said, basically sixththrough twelfth, thirteenth are
really tight, so there's gonnabe a lot of movement for
depending on how people do well.
And I do think that she couldhonestly bounce back and do
really well at this course.
Yeah, Pete Topine Glacier kindof surprised some people, but
she also um was coming off ofshe got third at Marathon of

(38:36):
Mont Blanc this year, and thatwas still a super deep field,
even though it wasn't World UhGolden Trail World Series.
Uh, and then I think yeah, wekind of started to see her, at
least I started to see her comeacross the radar.
She got a seventh at the finalslast year, and then this year
she got signed to that SolomonInternational team contract.
Um, I think she's like an EMT orsome kind of medical field
worker, and she's starting toget more and more support to be

(38:58):
able to come to these races.
Uh, and then yeah, tenth atSears and all this year and
third place at ETC.
So I think the sloppier she'spraying for rain, she's playing
for sloppy and more technicalstuff, and the more she'll have
an advantage compared to yeah,maybe Madalina wants a little
bit more runnable.
Uh, and then I think SarahAlonzo is also Namien and Sarah
are probably two of the bestdownhillers, and Malin's up

(39:19):
there too as well.
Um, so yeah, I think this coursewill suit well.

SPEAKER_00 (39:23):
One thing I did want to sneak in there for like
sleeper, I gotta say, like,dude, I gotta give like I I feel
like this is more I feel likethe prelogue is prelog prologue,
sorry, is more Remy LaRue'scourse.
Um, it's hard to say, like, Ithink he's one of the best.
Like, I mean, he shared itobviously like last week at the
mountain class, like one of thebetter mountain classic athletes

(39:44):
in the in the world.
Um, this course might be alittle long for him, but like,
dude is nasty.
So I want to put him on in thegroup of sleepers.
I was gonna say for sleepers aswell, but it's hard to like, you
can't really throw DanielPattison as a sleeper, but also
race short trail.
Also, it's curious to see likewhere that kind of lines up as
well.

SPEAKER_01 (40:01):
Yeah, I think Daniel Pattis is well, and uh props to
you.
I know texted you, but with theCanada pick, uh female uphill
got the bronze.
Yeah, and yeah, Canada has somehas some really, really good
runners.
Um and then Daniel Pattis, yes.
Sorry, I was thinking DanielPattis, uh Italian Brooks
athlete.
He's yeah, really good shorttrail specialist.

(40:22):
Uh he did just race that shortuh short trail race 15th for
Team Italy uh and having a goodseason, he's really versatile.
I mean, he can he can do good onfast courses, he can do good on
technical courses.
So I do think he'll do wellhere.
I do think he's a strong pickfor the top 10.
I don't know.
I think maybe just because Iexpected him, I think I had him
in my top 10 for world shorttrail, and I thought he'd be a

(40:45):
little bit higher.
Um so I'm curious to see how hebounced back, bounces back.
But we haven't seen him race aton of golden trail stuff
recently.
I think maybe Sierra Zenal washis last race, but I'm sure he
was focusing on worlds uh forthe Italian team.
And they were doing things likethey got to scout out the course
and do some runs on it.
Um but I think he coulddefinitely do well here.

(41:05):
Sorry, I'm trying to pull up hisI have a tangent to go off of
when you're ready.
He got third at Zagama, seventhat Great Wall, and sixth at
Kobe.
So yeah, he did have a lot ofearly season, and so we haven't
really seen him since Zagama ona golden trail race.
Um, but he can do both fast andtechnical races, and I do think
this this suits him well.

SPEAKER_00 (41:21):
So super talented guy.
I have a question on worlds.
I was just thinking about thisand kind of reflecting, and I
don't want to go off on too muchof a tangent for it before we
pick podiums, but like thatcourse was so skyrunner, like
friendly centric.
Like, I don't know, just likepick looking back, like I would
have never in a million years,and this is no disparagement
against like Frederick Transard,but like never in a million,
like like for instance, likeSarah Alonzo, like definitely

(41:43):
had on my podium, like that madesense.
Um and like if I would have goneback and like really looked into
it, like Toby Alexanderson makessense, but like I would have
never picked in a million yearsfor anchard to be the like yeah,
I would have maybe picked likeManu Morales over him and stuff
like that.
So my my my thought to you, andlike I said, no disparagement
against any of the athletesbecause they're all amazing.

(42:04):
But like, do you think thecourses for this particular
world championships truly pickthe world champion, or was it
just the best guy on the day forthis?

SPEAKER_01 (42:15):
Uh I thought it was cool.
I mean, so I think uh as apartial answer to your question,
the when Iron Farr interviewedKatie Scheid, they talked about
that and kind of how like thethe whoever selected the worlds,
like the committee that selectedthe worlds course kind of gave a
nod to like different types oftrail running versus just like
you know, buttery Californiasingle track, um, whatever where

(42:38):
it's just kind of like timetrialing and whoever's the
fastest.
But they actually picked like alegit, more or less a skyrunning
course and something that reallykind of shows the diversity.
And they were kind of sayingthat that might even be like a
nod to um because there's a lotof talk about trail running
going to the Olympics, and sobut obviously we need a format
that's super televisable, and Imean that was a pretty good mix
of like it was super technical,but also the coverage on the

(42:59):
short and long trail was it wasamazing.
Like I would make that mybackground screensaver for my
laptop for my phone, and it justmade me want to go to the
Pyrenees even uh more, which Iguess I mean I did last year,
but now I want to go back again.
I was in a different part, andum, but yeah, I mean I do agree.
Yeah, I don't know.
I was I was actually reallyhappy they picked a really
technical course.

SPEAKER_00 (43:18):
No, I'm I'm not I'm not upset about it.
I just the question I pose justas someone that covers it, I'm
like, it had me thinking.
Like, I don't know, like forinstance, like Jim and Jim and
Katie like didn't surprise me atall, but like I think the men
short trail out of everythingsurprised me more than anything
else.

SPEAKER_01 (43:34):
Yeah, I do I do agree.
I think I think uh especiallyfor this like you yeah, US
audience, like I know FredTrenchard because he's really
good sky runner and I like skyrunning races, and he also does
good in golden trail stuff whenhe does that, and he kind of has
the versatility, but it'sinteresting because I would I
definitely had him in my top 10,uh but he was in that five
through ten.
And I figured his ceiling waslike uh probably fifth or
fourth.
Because even in the skyrunningand other stuff he does, we'll

(43:56):
see him get second throughfourth, but it's kind of another
level to be able to like winthese races, and he'll always be
on the podium, but he won'tusually win.
So I I was pretty impressed byhis win, but I also think it's
just a testament to like howfocused the French team is on
targeting worlds, and we seethat with guys like Benjamin
Rubal and other guys.
Um, I was also pretty bullish onuh the long trail who finished

(44:20):
second with him, uh, and I'mblanking on his name right now,
but um, yeah, they just likecome to play and they had they
kind of like get a boost as soonas they put that first French
jersey on.
And so yeah, I was surprisedthat he won, but I definitely
had him for a top 10 and Ithought he could go top five.
And I wasn't as surprised, likeI thought Manu was gonna do very
well there.
I had him in my top five.
Andrew Blanes, I had him in mytop five as well.

(44:42):
Um, but yeah, it's a goodquestion.
I was really happy.
I thought that short trail wasreally awesome, and it was
really impressive to see Fredrace to that level.
I was really happy that Manu didwell.
You know, I'm a big fan of Manufan.
I'm a big fan, fangirl over him,so I was really excited to see
him kind of bounce back and peakat the right time.
And then I think that uh and I'meven like pulling up, where is

(45:03):
the short trail?
We're gonna go short trail, man.
And just looking at these kindof individual names.
Um get rid of teams.
Yeah, Fred, Manu, AndrewBlondez, Alan, Santa Maria
Blanco.
I was honestly really impressedand surprised.
I know he's really good onspeedy courses, but I was I
wasn't expecting him to do thatgood on a technical course.
I mean, Spain went two throughfour, that's nuts.
Uh Marcin Kubiczka, Polishathlete in fifth.

(45:25):
I didn't realize that.
Luca Del Pera was expecting himto be out there.
Yeah.
Martin Nielsen, Davide Magnini,Sylvan Cashard, and Lorenzo
Rotomartier.
Yeah, that was all kind of likepeople that I could see there,
but it was pretty, prettyimpressive.
And also, uh, I guess shout outto Noah Williams too for being
top American.
Like, let's go now.
Um, as I look up the list, I wasreally impressed by that.
Um, and that was pretty damncool to see as well.

(45:47):
So, but yeah, uh I don't yeah, Idon't know if that totally
answered your question.

SPEAKER_00 (45:50):
But no, you did, you did.
I I appreciate it.
I I just like I like gettingperspectives.
One quick question before we goto podiums.
Uh, did you you won how manythings did you win for the
overall for free travel?
Did you get them all?

SPEAKER_01 (46:01):
Um, no, I didn't win.
I got I won the uphill, and thenI got a second and a sixth or
something like that.
But I'll also have to shout outlike there was here, let's see
events.
Uh another dude who I think evendid better than me, and I was
talking to him, uh, JulianLacosse, and he me and him are
up there on the overallleaderboard.
I think we're in like second andthird right now.
We just bumped Travis Longkar.

(46:22):
He's the creator of Free Trail,and he's very good at free
trail.
Um he just kind of behind thescenes.
But um, yeah, no, it ended upgoing super well.
Let me see dashboard.
Uh the yeah, I think that yeah,I think I had like uh I won in
the uphill.
I think I got what do you getfor this?

(46:45):
I don't know.
Some stuff sometimes they sendup, sometimes they don't.
I got sixth in the uh in thelong trail and then the short
trail I was like 25th orsomething like that.
But Julian Lacoste, I think hewon one, and then I think he had
a second and the eighth.
So he did even better than me,and we're second and third
overall.
He was texting me some of hispicks, and he actually uh
organized he's the race directorfor my understanding for the

(47:07):
Canadian championships upcomingweek.
I'm friends with Julian.

SPEAKER_00 (47:10):
Okay, I we just only talk on social media, but like I
had no idea.

SPEAKER_01 (47:13):
No, he was saying he was trying to get you to come
out to his race and stuff, andso it's funny he messaged me and
I was like, dude, your look namelooks so familiar.
And then he sent me theleaderboard for fantasy free
trail, and he was one spot aboveme.
And I was like, that's a whitedude.
I gotta give him some love.

SPEAKER_00 (47:26):
He's he's amazing with what he does.
With I I want to pronounce hisrace correctly, but like yeah,
I'm not DeFi Day, Colours.
I don't, I'm sorry, my French isgarbage and I feel bad if I'm
even pronouncing his name wrong.

SPEAKER_01 (47:38):
I was thinking the same thing.
I was like, I'm sorry, Julian,if I bet you your last name.

SPEAKER_00 (47:41):
He's an amazing human.
Like, I gotta give him he andhe's so kind.
Like, yeah, I I gotta go supporthis race one of these days.
He'll probably cover itactually.
Like, maybe I'll do somecoverage that we get some.

SPEAKER_01 (47:50):
He invited me to come out this this year, and I
was like, dude, I don't think Ineed to swing it.
There's a lot of stuff at mywork, but I was like, I
definitely want to race yourrace next year because I always
am looking for something likethird week October, where it's
like I still have some fitness,but there's not really much
trail stuff going on out west.
And uh dude, vertical mountainclassic.
Like I know it's it's amazing.
And he dude, he has awesomefeedback too.
I was texting him after our lastpodcast came out.

(48:13):
He messaged me and kind ofreached out, and that's when I
asked him, like, why do I knowyour name?
And then we were texting backand forth about uh like our
picks for worlds as it washappening, and then like I said,
I mean he even did better thanme.
I think he had three top tensand a win, uh, and I only had
two.
And yeah, we just it was cool.
I really liked to see when hewas messaging me his thinking
about like why certain peopleare gonna do well.

(48:33):
He he I think he might have mebeat, honestly.
Like, I like doing this stuff,but he might even have me beat.
So wow.
So he's a brain.
Okay.
I know he's a brain dude.

SPEAKER_00 (48:39):
So dude, I gotta have both of you on the pod.
That's what I said.

SPEAKER_01 (48:42):
I I dude, I told him I was like, I'm I'll talk to
James and we'll we'll get itbecause I think his takes are
even better than mine.

SPEAKER_00 (48:46):
So collective, the collective brain trust.
This is amazing.
All right, let's pick podiums.
I'm gonna let you go ahead,start with the women.

SPEAKER_01 (48:53):
All right, for the women's side, we want to go five
deep.
Let's go five deep, yeah.
All right, let me go events andokay, scrap final.
All right, on the women's side,I'll start with five.
I've got Lauren Gregory in fifthplace, but I really think she
could podium at one or both ofthe events.
Um, and it'd be really sick tosee her win.
I mean, she did win the Mexicorace.
Right now I've got her fifth.

(49:14):
I think she will move up, and Ithink we will have at least two,
if not three women in the topten.
And I think Lauren will probablyend her points total in the top
three uh overall.
Fourth, I've got CarolineKemotai, but that's a big
question mark, and I'm kind ofwaiting to see if she is racing
or isn't racing.
Um hesitant on two fronts, onebecause she didn't race world,
so what was the issue there, orwhat might have happened.

SPEAKER_00 (49:37):
Uh and then she had DNS or a DNF?

SPEAKER_01 (49:39):
DNS is my understanding.
That's what they said on uh onSubhub.
And I also think I didn't seeher name in any of the finishing
results, and I think they hadDNFs in there too.
I tried to search, so I don't Idon't think she started at all.
And then my other hesitation toois what we talked about, Pete's
Alpine Glacier.
I don't think she's like themost technically savvy, or I

(49:59):
don't know, maybe I just haven'tseen it yet.
Um, so I'm a little bit hesitantwith this course.
Um, but she is definitely, youknow, probably the breakout
runner of the year, and it kindof stinks with the joy with the
joy lean stuff because I thinkthat'll kind of get
overshadowed.
But I mean, yeah, she wonKenya's like trail championships
over Joy Lean even early thisyear, and then she kind of woke

(50:21):
everyone up when she won GoldenTrail series Great Wall over Joy
Lene, and then she got some ofthat pizza alpine, and then
technically I went at SierraZanal and I let Joyce is out.
So fourth with a big questionmark.
If I had to sub somebody in likeif Joeline, if Caroline's not
racing, then I'd probably haveeither Naomi or Naomi Lang or
Anna Gibson in there.

(50:41):
So, or like it moved up in thetop five.
All right, for podium, so thirdplace, I've got Sara Alonzo.
I really want her to win, and Ireally think she can win, but
I'm just a little husband withhow well she did at short trail.
I don't mean it like it's justlike that's such a good
performance, and it's I'm justkind of questioning how sharp
and like how good your legs willfeel after that.
And then I've got Joyce uhNajiru in second.

(51:04):
I think she'll race really wellhere.
I think her what fourth orfifth?
She was just in front of AnnaGibson, whatever it was, uh, or
just in front of Lauren Gregory.
So fourth at uh the updown uh atworlds really bodes well.
And I think she's kind of been alittle bit up and down this
year, but she definitely stillhas potential to win races, and
I think this race kind of suitsher.
Uh, then I got Matalina with thewin, and I think I think

(51:24):
Madelina, I think she'll bepoised well to be the new
champion.
I think she got burnt out alittle bit coming into the final
last year because she raced areally long season.
This year she did race a longseason, but she has taken a
pretty good hiatus coming intothis race.
So I think she will be sharp,and I think that's important.

SPEAKER_00 (51:38):
So I wouldn't be surprised at all to see Madalena
win.
Like that would that make sense.
Obviously, number one in therankings right now.
Obviously, sharp.
So all right, I'm I'll take itaway.
This one's tough.
Um, so for fifth, I have AnnaGibson slash Naomi Lang.
Like, I don't know.
Okay, it's got to be one ofthose two for me.
In fourth, if she races,Caroline Kimmy Thai, so we're

(51:59):
tied on that.
Okay.
In third, I have Lauren Gregory.
Nice.
Second, Madalena Floria, andfirst, I'm gonna go Sarah
Alonzo.

SPEAKER_01 (52:05):
Nice.

SPEAKER_00 (52:06):
Uh I mean, I don't know.
Like it's one of those thingswhere yeah, it's very possible.
I mean, this kind of goesagainst my rhetoric on what I
said earlier with having, youknow, like short trail still in
your legs, but I feel like SarahAlonso versus I feel like
Mataloria Floria is the bettermarathoner, if that makes sense.
The better flat runner, betterturnover.
Sarah Alonzo, I feel like isbetter on technical terrain.

(52:27):
So I think it might come down tosome matchups on like some of
the more technical descents.
Yeah.
Sarah Alonso's kind of showedher chops in previous iterations
of these races, whether it be umI just feel like as a Spanish
runner and as more of askyrunner, I feel like Sarah
might have the edge on a courselike this.
I think it really comes down totoo is how technical is this
course?
Like everybody says burlytechnical, yada yada yada.

(52:47):
I've actually, like I said, verylimited photos, very limited
videos of this have like likekind of like shown up.
So I think a lot of it comesdown to like the true
technicality of it.
If it's burly as people say, Idon't know, maybe that gives the
edge to Sarah, who is, I think,like more technically inclined
than someone like Madalena.
But Madalena is fresher.
So, and especially like if shehas a bigger block of fitness
underneath her, could be, youknow, could I dunno.

(53:10):
It's gonna be a tough race.
It's gonna be fun to follow.

SPEAKER_01 (53:12):
Yeah, I totally agree.
And backing up your Sarah point,yeah, I mean Zagama win.
Uh she got the one at Kobe thisyear, which everyone said was
like a super rootie technicaldownhill.
She's got a win at Calamara Skyrace last year.
Uh she is super technicallysavvy, so I totally agree that
she would have the edge if uhthe course plays that big of a
factor.

SPEAKER_00 (53:32):
So we will see.
Yeah, if it's more runnable,I'll give the edge to Madalina.
If it's less runnable and moretechie, I'd give the edge to
Sarah.
Um, all right, let's go for themen.
I'll let you take it away onyour men's picks.

SPEAKER_01 (53:42):
Uh men's side, I'm thinking, well, this is kind of
boring, right?
Because everyone's gonna havethe same top three, but just
some different iteration ofthem.
Uh yeah, I guess shocker alert,I do have a lot of Kenyons in my
top ten, but if we're going forthe top five, I'll have Chesry
Maestri in fifth.
I think that he could very wellhave another top five.
Um, I think that he came in withsome really good early season
fitness, and then he kind of hassome mediocre uh middle results,

(54:03):
but I think his second at ETCand his 11th at the Classic and
Worlds and his coursefamiliarity, I think it poses
him well for like a four througheight range.

SPEAKER_00 (54:12):
What did Cheseri get at Pittsalpin Glacier?
I'm just curious.

SPEAKER_01 (54:15):
17th place.
So it wasn't his best day.
Um but I think the conditionsgot to a lot of people out
there.
Yeah.
It's pretty wet, rainy, cold.
And I also think uh what a lotof people, I think a lot of
people got hosed.
You had to come out hard becauseotherwise you got hosed on the
single on the single track.
And I think even Remy LaRuezwrite up, I think I read it on
his Strava.
Um, I think he talked about justlike how if you were not in good

(54:37):
position on that climb, you youreally couldn't make up spots
because it was such narrowsingle track.
So it was one of those ones kindof not dis not too dissimilar to
even doing like the uphill.
Like you had to kind of make across-country style break for it
and then be in a good positionbecause you just really couldn't
make up a ton of time on hownarrow those those trails were.
So I think you know Taylor had aton of speed coming out and uh
and made his position well, butI think anyone that didn't kind

(54:58):
of got hosed and then just gotdiscouraged.
So fourth place I got PaulMachoka, the Kenya athlete.
Um, he is one second, I'mpulling up.
What is he coming off of?
Uh fresh out of bronze bronzemedal at the Mountain Classic.
Uh, he doesn't miss when heraces, and he has a lot of
really good world mountainrunning event uh results.
So he got a fifth at Sierra Zand all this year, third at

(55:20):
Golden Trail Series Noli.
Uh so two top fives in his GTSraces.
And I think he'll move up a lotin the final point standing
after this weekend.
Um and then now the question isjust what order of the top
three?
Uh I guess I'm probably gonnago, I think it's between El Zine
and Philemon, and I thinkPhilemon has a chance to win,

(55:40):
but I just like that El Zine isfresh.
But also, Philemon, I mean Idon't think the classic is a
detriment.
I think honestly, Patrick'sgonna be the one that's out of
the mix here, and so I'll goPatrick third, Philemon second,
and I'll go El Zine with arepeat win.
But I don't know, I literallyjust swap Patrick from second to
third, and I'll probably flipall three of those around at
some point.

SPEAKER_00 (55:58):
And also question on that.
Are we biased because Patrickgot third in the vertical?
And then we're just putting it.
Philemon won the classic.

SPEAKER_01 (56:06):
There's definitely recency bias for sure.
Um, and now that you say that,I'm even like, I think Patrick's
a little bit better on technicalstuff.
Um, but yeah, there's somerecency bias, but I also think
Phil or Philemon's got like kindof a next level.
We talked about last time andhow he had almost like 10 second
places his last year, but we'refinally seeing him win a lot of
races.
Um, and I'm curious too, I thinkit's boosting his confidence,

(56:26):
but it's also interestingbecause he's winning more WMRA
stuff.
But Patrick strategically hasnot raced WMRA because his focus
was golden trail series thisyear, from what I understand.
So um I wonder if that's almostlike giving Philomon a leg up
just because he's gettingconfidence in winning these
races that Patrick was winninglast year, and now he's kind of
bringing that in golden trail.
But I do like the L Zine'sfresh, and I think this course
really does suit him.

(56:47):
But we did see like I mean hedid lose, he got into kind of
like a late, kind of like a lastseason finish at Noly.
I think there was some likebobbing and weaving because
there was a bunch of sharp turnsat the end of the course, and
some people went off, and thatcost some people.
But I I mean I think Philemonout-strategized him at Nolli
because Philemon did get the winthere and out-kicked him.
Um, so we've seen thatPhilemon's getting a little bit

(57:09):
smarter strategically.
It's just crazy that L Zine canjust sit on the like Patrick and
Philemon's tail and really whathe does.
Basically decide, like, I mean,teach their own.
If you're fit enough to do that,then just sit and kick
basically.
But it's kind of crazy that hecan just sit, climb with
Patrick, who's one of the bestclimbers in the world, Philemon
who's the best up down in theworld, and then he's just like,
all right, cool, I'll take offhere on the downhill and beat

(57:29):
everyone.
Like, that's kind of nuts.
So um I like El Zine's chances.

SPEAKER_00 (57:33):
Yeah, no, I agree.
All right, I'm gonna go fifth.
I'm going Taylor stack in fifth.
I got him in my top ten for you.
Yeah, I think he's I I mean, Ilike I think we there's a strong
possibility we have twoAmericans in the top ten.
Like, I wouldn't be at allsurprised to see Christian Allen
in the mix as well.
But I just think between I thinkI don't know, maybe this is
Regency bias as well, butlooking at Taylor, split up and

(57:54):
glacier, like maybe I'm likepaying mate way too much
attention to that result.
But I think his ability to mixit up on more of the technical
stuff and just be kind of therewould not be surprised to see
him in the top five.
So I'm gonna go him fifth.
Cool.
I'm gonna go Michael Sayoli, uhKenyon in fourth.
I got him in sixth.
So yeah.
Patrick, I'm gonna go Patrick inthird, Philemon second, Al Husin

(58:15):
first, and goddamn it.
I really hope Philemon orPatrick wins, but you know, and
that's that's just me.
I just want to see a newchampion, somebody different,
but I wouldn't be surprised tosee Al Hussein take the dub, and
good on him, you know.

SPEAKER_01 (58:26):
Yeah, to each her own, and I definitely agree.
I think like historically Iwould pick Patrick over
Philemon, but I think Philemon'son a different level this year,
so yeah.
Um yeah, I think Dominique Roleyis gonna do well too.
Uh Swiss athlete, and then JoeyHadron.

SPEAKER_00 (58:39):
I mean, that's another one we we kind of like
talked about as a sleeper.
Wouldn't be at all surprised tosee like definitely top ten,
wouldn't be surprised to see himin the top five.
It's totally possible.
Um, I don't think we've seen howgood he is yet.
I mean, like we talked aboutlike he's had great results um
at like Kobe and races like thatwere a little less competitive,
um, but wouldn't be at allsurprised to see him kind of in

(59:00):
the mix.

SPEAKER_01 (59:00):
Yeah, but he I mean, when he did the China race, he
was up there with all the Kenyanguys and right in the middle of
them.
He was kind of like Taylor Stackwas in Pete's Alpine.
Yeah.
And then last one I think wasmentioning, but on the men's
side, I think Marie Naveactually bodes pretty well here,
and I think she'll probably besomewhere in the top 10 uh
French athlete.
She just got 11th in the classicat world, uh, and she's a really

(59:21):
good up down and had a seventhat Great Wall and Nolly, and
then a sixth at Broken Arrow.
So I think she'll probably runpretty smart here.

SPEAKER_00 (59:29):
So dude, this is a big weekend for our sport too.
I mean, outside of Golden Trail,we've got the Morleen skyline
and sky race happening inIreland that's gonna be pretty
competitive.
North American Continental SkyRunning Championships gonna be
happening in Mexico, and alsoKodiak's happening this weekend,
which I was a little surprisedto see some of the names on the
Kodiak list.
I was like, why is Eli runninganother 100k?

SPEAKER_01 (59:49):
It feels like a lot of people, and actually it looks
like they just added Kodiak 50Kto the fantasy free trail picks.
But yeah, I agree.
It feels like a lot of peopleare kind of putting like Kodiak
as like a oh crap, I can get itearly.
Or, like, I can get a free UTMBqualifier.

SPEAKER_00 (01:00:03):
Uh is the 100k a golden ticket race?

SPEAKER_01 (01:00:06):
No, it's not a golden ticket.
Uh no, it's not.
But it's the UTMB trail major.
So that makes it that means youcan go top 10 and automatically
get a qualifier.
Because it's basically whatcanons used to be.
So if you go top 10 at anyKodiak events, that it qualifies
you for the UTMB equivalent.
And I think usually they'll letyou go one way or the other.
So 50K, if you go top 10, you'llqualify for OCC.

(01:00:28):
100K if you go top 10, you'llqualify for CCC.
And then the whatever 100 mileor whatever the longest one is
will qualify you for UTMB.
And usually they'll let you gokind of like one way, like one
way up or one way down, but justnot all the way.
Like I don't think you can dothe 50K and then get into UTM B.
Um, but yeah, so that makes itpretty deep.
And for these elites that arekind of just like, oh, I don't

(01:00:48):
want to have to race acompetitive qualifier or go top
three at a UTMB.
It's kind of like, oh, well,they know they have a spot at
UTM B next year.
But a lot of people, I'm kind oflike, Do you really need to be
racing this?
Because I'm like, is this it'skind of like a fire sale, and
I'm curious if like it'll end upin either pull-ups or injuries,
or just like it's kind of like,I don't know.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:06):
I want to give a shout out to Michelino who's
gonna be throwing down at the100k.
Hope you hope he wins it.

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:11):
Yeah, there's some good uh I think we got like
Hayden Hawks out there, 50kCaleb Bolson, Andrew Blondez,
who just got third in the worldin the short trail.

SPEAKER_00 (01:01:20):
All right, so with Hayden, like I I mean he's been
training, but at the same time,this is a complete tangent, but
like training, but like hasn'tbeen at home base, hasn't been
throwing down like a normalblock, like he's been kind of
traveling all over the world,like living chilling with the
fam, doing his thing.
Like, is he just jumping in itfor the sake of jumping in it,
or is he serious about it?

SPEAKER_01 (01:01:38):
Like, uh, I think he's serious.
I think a lot of people that hadlike disappointing, like Caleb
Bolson had disboring worldsbecause he banged up his knee,
so he's going with a 50k.
Uh Hayden, I don't know.
Hayden doesn't, he's actuallynot home a lot.
Like, he could he lives like inNew Zealand for a lot of time in
the winter time.
He'll just go out there forthree or four months, maybe not
three or four, two to threemonths, one to two months, and
he'll just train with Jan Jonesand then he'll be in Europe for

(01:01:59):
most of the summer.
So he he bounces around a goodbit, uh, even though he is a
Utah boy or whatever.
But yeah, I mean, this 50k startlist, Caleb Wolson, Andre Bonas,
Alex Garcia Carrillo, ColeWatson's coming back from
injury.
Oh, wow.
Brian Whitfield coming fresh offthe Pikespeek.

SPEAKER_00 (01:02:13):
Brian's in the relay?
I gotta text him.
Holy shit.

SPEAKER_01 (01:02:14):
Anthony Costales, hopefully healthy, and he's what
a two low teens marathoner.
Cade Michael, super speedy,Mikai Clemens, super speedy, and
then sleeper pick-wise, EricLagerstrom, uh try guy who went
top five at Black Caine in 50k.
Female side, Sarah Beale, JuliaFont Gomez, so that's pretty
cool.
Interesting.
Some sky runners, Tabra Hemingsracing if Eli is, and then

(01:02:37):
Claire DeVoe, Jane Moss, sothat'd be cool.
Lindsay Allison and HillaryAllen.
So actually, we have a lot of uhworlds people on here that are
gonna come try to get their UTMBstones and get it.
She killed, yeah.
She killed it.
Really cool to see her topAmerican.
So um, yeah, I do agree.
If but it does feel kind of likea half-haz hazard fire sale,

(01:02:58):
it's like, oh crap, I gotta geta UTMB qualifier and oh Kodiak's
there.
And I liked it doing it, it soldout like pretty quickly.
And originally I was gonna dothe UTMB Mexico race this last
week.
No, they changed it from PortPortavada to Chihuahua.
So they do it in the copper,they do it in the Copper Canyon
now.
Okay.
Um, and it did look really epic,and I did really like the idea

(01:03:19):
of it, but it just ended upbeing a it's tough to get there
logistically, so you have to flyin Chihuahua, and then it's like
four hours by train or bus.
Basically, it was gonna be liketwo days of travel, day and a
half travel, and then the racewas on Friday too, so it was
just it was tough.
I I wanted to do it, but it justseemed like too much of a
stretch, and so I did PerpetualCoast, but Perpetual Coast was
like Oh yeah, for me.
Most people say a lot of peoplesay it's the most beautiful race

(01:03:40):
they've ever done, and I can seewhy, and it was absolutely
gorgeous.
So I've never been to the OregonCoast, and the Oregon Coast is
like out of this world.
Pretty legit, right?
Yeah, I mean, you know,obviously, like you know, we
grew up in Florida, there'sbeaches, whatever, they're
whatever.
They're they're cool, they'renice, you get sunshine, but the
the coast on Oregon is like thewaves are huge and the rocks are
huge, and the trees are supergreen, and everything's just

(01:04:02):
like kind of magical feeling.
It looks like there's gonna besome like fairies coming out or
something, so dinosaurs or yeah,dinosaurs dinosaurs for sure.
I was expecting dinosaurs towalk out, or yeah, some Jurassic
Park.
Um, but it was it was reallycool.
And I'd never been to that partof I've been to Oregon, but I've
never been to the coast, and sojust doing a road trip down from
Portland to uh it's in Yachts,it looks like yachts with a A

(01:04:25):
before the T, but it's Yahats,is what they how they say it,
and that was really cool.
And then we also like stumbledupon a aerospace museum that's
randomly like an hour southwestof Portland, and it has the
Spruce Goose, which is like thebiggest plane ever created, so
that was pretty cool.
That's nice.
Um, this wealthy guy just wantedto basically create his own sick

(01:04:46):
aerospace museum rather thanspending a bunch of money on
useless random stuff, and so hemade a really sick aerospace
museum like an hour outsouthwest of Portland, so that
was kind of cool.

SPEAKER_00 (01:04:53):
Did you forgot the one in DC?

SPEAKER_01 (01:04:55):
I've been to Dulles, I've been I've been to Dulles
and I've been to I've been toPensacola as one, and then I've
also been to Davis Malthin aswell, between like military and
school and stuff like that.
And honestly, this one probablygave all three of those a run
for the money.
Like they had a reallyimpressive collection, they had
awesome volunteers.
All the dudes that werevolunteers were like, Oh, I'm an
XF4 pilot, oh I'm this pilot.
Like, they're all just likebadass dudes that wanted to do

(01:05:17):
something with their retirement.
And this Bruce Gruce is like,that's uh Howard Hughes, uh the
movie The Aviator with uhLeonardo DiCaprio.
He plays Howard Hughes, and hewas kind of like this.
Basically, people say uh StanLee says that he modeled uh Iron
Man uh Tony Stark off of HowardHughes.
He's kind of like this neuroticlike multimillionaire kind of

(01:05:37):
playboy, but he made his ownplanes, tested his own planes,
did all this stuff, and theSpruce Cruce is like the biggest
plane ever created, and uh itwas epic.
So yeah, I dive diver yeah,whatever, digress.

SPEAKER_00 (01:05:48):
So it's good to get out of Colorado a little bit,
see other things, you know.
I gotta I'm looking forsomething like competitive early
season.
Like I might go to Big Alta or Imight go to Gorge Waterfall and
run the 30k or do like the 28kat Alta, one of the two.

SPEAKER_01 (01:05:58):
Definitely I'm planning, I'll probably do the
28k at Big Alta, but Idefinitely want to go Big Alta
weekend.
I'm already about to starttexting people.
Uh yeah, and there'll be anotheroption, a longer race on top of
that too.
But I think I'll use thatpotentially as a marathon tune
up, but I might do the 50k too.
The course is uh it's gorgeousand it's a really awesome race.
Daybreak in general is just areally awesome race company.
So make sure Dylan did a goodjob partnering with them, and

(01:06:20):
then I did Big Alta and uhPerpetua this year, but then
yeah, I would love to do Gorgeeventually too.

SPEAKER_00 (01:06:26):
So yeah, yeah, the Gorge 30K has me intrigued.
Rose ran the 50k a couple yearsback, and I got to play a lot on
that course.
Was like, oh it's like trickytechie, but like you can rip it.
It's funzies.
Yeah, it's a fun course.
I don't know.
There's there's there's options.
I don't know.
It's it's hard to say, like asfar as like I don't know, 20
miles is also really far.
So it's funny when you say thatbecause I'm like, that's just
getting warmed up.

(01:06:46):
Yeah, that's so that's a hard,that's a far race for me.
Um all right.
One thing I do want to talkabout before we close it out is
the Sky Run um Skyline um racethat's gonna be taking place
this weekend that is in NorthernIreland, Ireland.
Shout out to teammate.
Um Jackson Cole is gonna be outthere racing.
It's a good little, it's adecent group.

(01:07:07):
I mean, so Jackson's gonna beout there.
There's gonna be Jacob Abkinthrowing down uh Bernon
Townsend, Menu Morales is alsoon the start line for this one,
so it's relatively competitive.
Uh Iris Presti on the women'sside, Marta Martinez, um Robin
Vieira, a lot of Spaniards uhgonna be throwing down here, but
seems like a beautiful course,seems extremely technical.

(01:07:28):
Um first, I think this might bethe first of the Ireland sky
races that I'm aware of.
I know there's been like GoldenTrails had in years past, um was
it Ring of Steel and others, butit seems like a sweet little
one.
Uh we obviously don't have to doa preview on it, but I just
thought it would be kind of coolto shout out and uh give some
shout-outs to the athletes thatare gonna be throwing down there
because the course looks prettytechy and pretty sick.

(01:07:50):
I mean, those of you who are onuh follow Merrill Skyrun World
series on Instagram, definitelycheck it out.
It's called the Marlene Skyrun,like Sky Run, and it's got or
Skyline, and it's got just somesweet sections of the course and
looks nasty.

SPEAKER_01 (01:08:04):
Yeah, they definitely have a good start
list.
And yeah, the Morns are supposedto be pretty technical.
Uh, I know the guys on TrailTalk talk about it a lot.
Um and yeah, it is pretty nuts.
I mean, it kind of it's very NewEngland-y, like you can see why
they call it New England NewEngland, uh, because it looks a
lot like England and Ireland,and it's just like super rocky,
wet, boulders, chunky, mossy.

(01:08:25):
Um, and it does look prettyepic, so it is exciting to see.
Once again, it's not catch 22,right?
It's like more places that theygo to in the Sky Running World
Series and more races, whichmakes it more accessible for
like up and coming people.
Um, but then they also have likean event every other week.
But I do think Ireland's a goodad, and I think that is pretty
sick.

SPEAKER_00 (01:08:42):
So yeah, 35k, 2700 meters.
It looks nasty.
So yeah, it's like it looks likeI mean, you can like I said from
the videos, it's like boulders,like very northeast, very nasty.
Um, yeah, super cool stuff.
So nice Dan Kurtz should berunning this race.
This looks like Dan Kurtz kindof stuff.

SPEAKER_01 (01:08:58):
I know that's true.
That's very true.

SPEAKER_00 (01:08:59):
All right, that's a good way to end it.
Uh Rob, thanks so much forcoming on, dude.
Looking forward to the next oneand uh appreciate bring so much
value to this stuff, and Ireally appreciate it.

SPEAKER_01 (01:09:06):
Yeah, thanks for the invite.
It's been a blast.
Yeah, man.

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