Tuesday, March 27, 2012

100K World Champs - The Main Contenders Part 1

Thanks to it being de rigueur to be a runner and have a blog these days, I've been able to track down some of the entrants for the World Champs. Looks like it will be very competitive at the pointy end. I'm not in the same ballpark as some of these guys, but it will be great watching some of them sail off into the distance.

The US have an extremely strong team, made up of seasoned trail and road ultra runners. They have the benefit of regularly racing over the 50 mile distance (80k), a popular distance in the imperial system USA. Here are the main contenders:

Giorgio Calcaterra (ITA) - The reigning 100k World Champ, World Ultra Runner of the Year and an astonishing athlete. Just a quick browse on his blog left me pretty speechless. In 2000, he ran 16 marathons under 2:20. He has a marathon PB of 2:13 and a 100k PB of 6:25. He won last year's World Champs by 15 minutes; that's how dominant he is over the distance. Will definitely be the favourite on his home soil.

Mike Wardian (USA) - 2nd at last year's World's; this guy races everything from 100mile trails to marathons dressed as Spiderman. Has a schedule this year that leaves any runner green with envy; Comrades, Western States and UTMB!!! Geesh.

Andy Henshaw (USA) - 3rd at last year's Worlds; young trail runner who likes to run 150 mile weeks in the build up to big races. Yikes!!

Pieter Vermeesch (BEL) - 4th at last year's Worlds; seems to be getting faster the older he gets according to his very detailed progression charts on his blog. Is surprising himself and is harbouring hopes of getting the A qualifier to run for Belgium at the Olympics. Good on him.

So in the meantime have a browse on the linked blogs. Let me know your thoughts on these guys in the comments. I'll add more names to the list once I find out some more info!

100K World Champs - The Main Contenders Part 1

Thanks to it being de rigueur to be a runner and have a blog these days, I've been able to track down some of the entrants for the World Champs. Looks like it will be very competitive at the pointy end. I'm not in the same ballpark as some of these guys, but it will be great watching some of them sail off into the distance.

The US have an extremely strong team, made up of seasoned trail and road ultra runners. They have the benefit of regularly racing over the 50 mile distance (80k), a popular distance in the imperial system USA. Here are the main contenders:

Giorgio Calcaterra (ITA) - The reigning 100k World Champ, World Ultra Runner of the Year and an astonishing athlete. Just a quick browse on his blog left me pretty speechless. In 2000, he ran 16 marathons under 2:20. He has a marathon PB of 2:13 and a 100k PB of 6:25. He won last year's World Champs by 15 minutes; that's how dominant he is over the distance. Will definitely be the favourite on his home soil.

Mike Wardian (USA) - 2nd at last year's World's; this guy races everything from 100mile trails to marathons dressed as Spiderman. Has a schedule this year that leaves any runner green with envy; Comrades, Western States and UTMB!!! Geesh.

Andy Henshaw (USA) - 3rd at last year's Worlds; young trail runner who likes to run 150 mile weeks in the build up to big races. Yikes!!

Pieter Vermeesch (BEL) - 4th at last year's Worlds; seems to be getting faster the older he gets according to his very detailed progression charts on his blog. Is surprising himself and is harbouring hopes of getting the A qualifier to run for Belgium at the Olympics. Good on him.

So in the meantime have a browse on the linked blogs. Let me know your thoughts on these guys in the comments. I'll add more names to the list once I find out some more info!

Thursday, March 22, 2012

IAU 100K World Championships - Course Preview

The local organising committee have released a course preview of the upcoming 100K World Champs in Italy. I will be racing this with fellow Aussie Andy Heyden, running for Australia among the world's best ultrarunners on the 22nd of April. It's DEFINITELY no Blue Mountains, in fact, the state of the roads in the video make Australian roads look truly world class. But I shouldn't be complaining; despite a few 'twists and turns' it is 100% flat which should make for some quick times.

This is actually a really funny video. The guy who filmed this in his car obviously took his vehicle off road down little bike paths and the like that cars shouldn't be going! Look for the surprised folk out on a casual walk become alarmed when they see a car behind them. Add to that the brilliant Italian version of 'Gloria' and what you have is very unique vid!

The video takes you on the 20km circuit of the host town, Seregno. The race is 5 x 20km, which should make for easy strategies. It's easy to break the race up into 5 parts...1st 20k is the warm up, 2nd 20k is the building stage, 3rd is the consolidation, 4th is the 'let the games begin', 5th is the 'hanging on'!

The list of entrants hasn't been released yet, but two that I know of are Canadian Jason Loutitt, 2nd at last year's World Trail Running Championships and Lizzy Hawker, the great English ultrarunner who set the world record in the 24h at last year's Comm Champs on top of winning the UTMB.

It's a pity that Oz couldn't field more athletes for the team. No doubt some couldn't make it due to other commitments like work and family, but I tend to think too that road ultra running is seen as a bit of an ugly step sister to trail races. I think that more trail runners should consider doing some racing on the road. It not only is a different discipline altogether but it also doesn't hurt your times on the trail either!

I've got a A, B, and C goal for this race. The A goal is sub 7 hours which equates to 4:12km. A tough ask. The B goal is sub 7:15 (4:21). The C goal is a PB so sub 7:31 (4:30). This should be attainable. When I set that PB I never ran ultras, I didn't train half as hard or much as I do now and I know I am fitter and stronger. But running on the flat road can be a devil in disguise. Unlike trails where you normally always get nice descents to recover on, there is no such thing on the road. You cook your engine early and it's a long, lonely shuffle to the finish!


Monday, March 12, 2012

When Mother Nature bowls a wrong'un

The cancellation of the 6 Foot Track Marathon was not entirely unexpected. Living up here in the mountains, I know how much rain has fallen over the last couple of months and it was a smart decision to cancel the event; thoroughly disappointing but totally understandable.

Friday night started out at the Carrington Hotel in Katoomba with the BMMC in what what termed the 6 Foot commiseration party. It was a casual collection of runners, with 6 Foot RD Colin coming in for a few stress relievers too. He showed me some photos of the river that he took on the Wednesday reccie prior to the massive dump we got that same night. It was clear no one was getting across then, let alone after another downpour. He also had a photo of the track just up from Little River, where a landslip had rendered the track unusable by vehicles. This put one of the aid stations out; also no doubt a contributing factor in making the hard, but final decision. Hats off to Colin; so much hard work and planning goes into this event. He was as upset and disappointed as anyone.

So what do 850 disappointed runners do instead. They all probably went out and ran. Well at least 40 of us did on early Saturday morning. Ewan Horsburgh and I made a plan to run the first half (most of it) of the The North Face 100 course. I put the message out on Facebook and next thing I know there is 40 of us meeting at Katoomba Aquatic Centre bright and early. There was Victorian Campbell Maffett, Shona S, Alex M, Mick Miles, Beth C and a few other people I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time. Even Mick found time out of his busy schedule autographing the latest copy of Ultramag to come join us for a bit of a trot!


The gang on Narrowneck
The core group of us soon led the way along Narrowneck and what an absolute beautiful morning it was. It was the kind of morning that you kill to run in and made me think that it's just a real blessing to have the opportunity to do this type of thing. We can all get a little too focused on racing sometimes that we can forget just how therapeutic, social and revitalising going on a run in the bush with friends can be.

Alex and Mick M set the pace nicely, with Shona and Beth settling back a bit discussing the merits of inov-8 shoes. Before we knew it, the boys came to a locked gate and realised we had missed the turnoff to Dumphy's campground some 4km back. Not seeing the girls on the way back to the turnoff, we came to the conclusion that girls make far better navigators than guys.

At Dumphy's we filled up on water, had a bit to eat and discussed the options. Alex and Campbell weren't keen to add the grind up Nellies to their distance so Alex got on the blower and sent a mayday call to his mum and dad to pick him up at the Megalong Rd/6 Foot Track intersection. With the escape plan in place, I shotgunned the last place in the car, leaving Ewan and Mick M to have Nellies all to themselves, not that either of them complained. Ewan is keen to get in as many ks before his 24h attempt at Coburg, and Mick is just a machine that takes anything he can get.

So on we pressed along Megalong Rd and Alex and Mick set a great pace on the big up from the Pony's and the long downhill towards 6 Foot Track. I sat behind them most of the way without overdoing and finished off the run in about 3:30 for a marathon distance run.

On Sunday, Ewan suggested we do the other half of the North Face course, the Federal Pass/Kedumba loop, also incorporating the first 10km or so of the North Face. We left from the Fairmont Resort and a couple of ks into the run we ran into Campbell doing a little morning wake up run. We convinced him to run with us down to Leura Forest and the Falls. After a quick photo at the Falls, Campbell continued up on the Cliff Walk while Ewan and I headed down the Federal Pass. I love this section, beautiful long descent into some of the most spectacular, but rarely seen, views. There was a hairy moment as I almost trod on a young red belly that was enjoying some sun (for a change) and probably was too high on sunlight to worry about me.

Ewan cooling off at the Falls
The climb out of the valley up Kedumba was great, I felt strong all the way and I did have a moment of 'man I wish 6 Foot wasn't cancelled'! For the last section to Conservation Hut we were joined by Mick D (or Micky Blue Eyes according to the cafe girls at Fresh) for the final slog up the stairs back to the Fairmont. All up 37ks, add that to the 42ks on the Saturday and it was one great weekend!

Lastly, I scored a cool feature on Ultra168! Thanks to Marcus and the team.

When Mother Nature bowls a wrong'un

The cancellation of the 6 Foot Track Marathon was not entirely unexpected. Living up here in the mountains, I know how much rain has fallen over the last couple of months and it was a smart decision to cancel the event; thoroughly disappointing but totally understandable.

Friday night started out at the Carrington Hotel in Katoomba with the BMMC in what what termed the 6 Foot commiseration party. It was a casual collection of runners, with 6 Foot RD Colin coming in for a few stress relievers too. He showed me some photos of the river that he took on the Wednesday reccie prior to the massive dump we got that same night. It was clear no one was getting across then, let alone after another downpour. He also had a photo of the track just up from Little River, where a landslip had rendered the track unusable by vehicles. This put one of the aid stations out; also no doubt a contributing factor in making the hard, but final decision. Hats off to Colin; so much hard work and planning goes into this event. He was as upset and disappointed as anyone.

So what do 850 disappointed runners do instead. They all probably went out and ran. Well at least 40 of us did on early Saturday morning. Ewan Horsburgh and I made a plan to run the first half (most of it) of the The North Face 100 course. I put the message out on Facebook and next thing I know there is 40 of us meeting at Katoomba Aquatic Centre bright and early. There was Victorian Campbell Maffett, Shona S, Alex M, Mick Miles, Beth C and a few other people I had the pleasure of meeting for the first time. Even Mick found time out of his busy schedule autographing the latest copy of Ultramag to come join us for a bit of a trot!


The gang on Narrowneck
The core group of us soon led the way along Narrowneck and what an absolute beautiful morning it was. It was the kind of morning that you kill to run in and made me think that it's just a real blessing to have the opportunity to do this type of thing. We can all get a little too focused on racing sometimes that we can forget just how therapeutic, social and revitalising going on a run in the bush with friends can be.

Alex and Mick M set the pace nicely, with Shona and Beth settling back a bit discussing the merits of inov-8 shoes. Before we knew it, the boys came to a locked gate and realised we had missed the turnoff to Dumphy's campground some 4km back. Not seeing the girls on the way back to the turnoff, we came to the conclusion that girls make far better navigators than guys.

At Dumphy's we filled up on water, had a bit to eat and discussed the options. Alex and Campbell weren't keen to add the grind up Nellies to their distance so Alex got on the blower and sent a mayday call to his mum and dad to pick him up at the Megalong Rd/6 Foot Track intersection. With the escape plan in place, I shotgunned the last place in the car, leaving Ewan and Mick M to have Nellies all to themselves, not that either of them complained. Ewan is keen to get in as many ks before his 24h attempt at Coburg, and Mick is just a machine that takes anything he can get.

So on we pressed along Megalong Rd and Alex and Mick set a great pace on the big up from the Pony's and the long downhill towards 6 Foot Track. I sat behind them most of the way without overdoing and finished off the run in about 3:30 for a marathon distance run.

On Sunday, Ewan suggested we do the other half of the North Face course, the Federal Pass/Kedumba loop, also incorporating the first 10km or so of the North Face. We left from the Fairmont Resort and a couple of ks into the run we ran into Campbell doing a little morning wake up run. We convinced him to run with us down to Leura Forest and the Falls. After a quick photo at the Falls, Campbell continued up on the Cliff Walk while Ewan and I headed down the Federal Pass. I love this section, beautiful long descent into some of the most spectacular, but rarely seen, views. There was a hairy moment as I almost trod on a young red belly that was enjoying some sun (for a change) and probably was too high on sunlight to worry about me.

Ewan cooling off at the Falls
The climb out of the valley up Kedumba was great, I felt strong all the way and I did have a moment of 'man I wish 6 Foot wasn't cancelled'! For the last section to Conservation Hut we were joined by Mick D (or Micky Blue Eyes according to the cafe girls at Fresh) for the final slog up the stairs back to the Fairmont. All up 37ks, add that to the 42ks on the Saturday and it was one great weekend!

Lastly, I scored a cool feature on Ultra168! Thanks to Marcus and the team.

Monday, March 5, 2012

Good signs - Orange Running Festival 2012

Travelled to Orange with the Woodstockers for the annual pilgrimage to the Orange Running Festival. I've always loved these country events and have found this particular event a great short, sharp hit out before the big race. A couple of years ago it used to be on a fortnight before 6 Foot and I always did the half marathon. The last two years it's been on the week before so have raced the 10K instead.

The good news is that I have finally cracked it for a Central West win! Seriously thought I was destined to never finish on top of the podium out there; I've been runner up at Orange in the half, the 10k, and runner up in the Bathurst half twice prior. But this finally ended yesterday.

Perhaps it was the lack of sleep the night before that was the secret. It was terrible; not only was I on high alert as we were staying in a less than secure caravan park on the wrong side of the tracks which happened to also be across the road from a hotel that was NEXT DOOR!! to a guns and ammo shop (town planning gone mad), but the cabin (no, not the cosy log type) had a big lean on it that made me feel like I'd downed half a bottle of bourbon as I walked across its floor. Conveniently too, the bed head was at the bottom of this 'slope'. Yes, sleeping was difficult!

The course had slightly changed this year due to flooding, so I'll claim a sneaky course record with an asterisk* Seriously though, the good news is that my time was about a minute quicker than the same race last year; and not because of the course change either. So, with a great hitout last week and now this, all signs are very positive for 6 Foot. I know I've done the miles, the hills, the long slogs and the junk. Now the icing which is the quick stuff is back too.

Now all we have to hope for is for the rain to go elsewhere for a while so the Cox can go down! On with tapering now...


I wasn't game enough to get out the car for this photo!

Good signs - Orange Running Festival 2012

Travelled to Orange with the Woodstockers for the annual pilgrimage to the Orange Running Festival. I've always loved these country events and have found this particular event a great short, sharp hit out before the big race. A couple of years ago it used to be on a fortnight before 6 Foot and I always did the half marathon. The last two years it's been on the week before so have raced the 10K instead.

The good news is that I have finally cracked it for a Central West win! Seriously thought I was destined to never finish on top of the podium out there; I've been runner up at Orange in the half, the 10k, and runner up in the Bathurst half twice prior. But this finally ended yesterday.

Perhaps it was the lack of sleep the night before that was the secret. It was terrible; not only was I on high alert as we were staying in a less than secure caravan park on the wrong side of the tracks which happened to also be across the road from a hotel that was NEXT DOOR!! to a guns and ammo shop (town planning gone mad), but the cabin (no, not the cosy log type) had a big lean on it that made me feel like I'd downed half a bottle of bourbon as I walked across its floor. Conveniently too, the bed head was at the bottom of this 'slope'. Yes, sleeping was difficult!

The course had slightly changed this year due to flooding, so I'll claim a sneaky course record with an asterisk* Seriously though, the good news is that my time was about a minute quicker than the same race last year; and not because of the course change either. So, with a great hitout last week and now this, all signs are very positive for 6 Foot. I know I've done the miles, the hills, the long slogs and the junk. Now the icing which is the quick stuff is back too.

Now all we have to hope for is for the rain to go elsewhere for a while so the Cox can go down! On with tapering now...


I wasn't game enough to get out the car for this photo!