Trail run magazine 18

VOL5 ED18 // SPRING 2015 // AU/NZ/ASIA

ROOTS & ALL – A HISTORY OF SKYRUNNING // CLOUD RUNNING IN JAPAN // MOUNTAIN GOAT MUSE // HARD (ROCK) TALK WITH ANNA FROST // THE TRAIL BEYOND // BAVARIAN BOULDER DASH // WONDERLAND RUN // SPUTNIK’S SPRAY // DREAM RUN EAST TIMOR // PLUS REVIEWS, GUIDES, GEAR & PORN

B U I LT FOR TH E R E STLE S S O U R T O U G H E S T, L I G H T E S T M O U N T A I N F O O T W E A R F O R B O U N D L E S S E X P L O R AT I O N .

T H E N O R T H F A C E . C O M . A U / U LT R A S E R I E S

TIMOTHY OLSON

TIM KEMPLE

DETAILS

VOLUME 5, EDITION 18, SPRING 2015

Foundation supporters (the

Yay-sayers)

Windroo Trails www.windrootrails.com Wild Plans www.wildplans.com Brooks / Texas Peak www.brooksrunning.com.

The North Face Australia www.thenorthface.com.au La Sportiva / Expedition Equipment www.mountainrunning.com.au Editorial Australia Editor: Chris Ord Associate Editors: Tegyn Angel, Ross Taylor, Simon Madden, Pat Kinsella New Zealand Editor: Amanda Broughton Minimalist/Barefoot Editor: Garry Dagg Design: Jordan Cole Craft-Store.com.au

Visit us online www.trailrunmag.com www.facebook.com/trailrunmag

Contributing Writers Ian Corless / www.iancorless.org, Steven Kernohan, James Hallett, Beau Miles, Toni Gracia, Huw Kingston, Melissa Robertson, Ross Taylor, Nic Hope.

www.twitter.com/trailrunmag

cover photo

Senior photographer Lyndon Marceau www.marceauphotography.com

COVER: Aussie trail queen, Kellie Emmerson, photographed on the Surf Coast, Victoria where she recently won the Surf Coast Century 100km ultra, breaking her own course record.

IMAGE: Lyndon Marceau

Photography Amanda Broughton, Tegyn Angel, Sputnik, 2XU.com, Tim Miller / www.dreamsportphotography.com, Felix Lochner, Andi Frank, Alli Elliott, Damian Breach, Simon Madden, Ricky Gates, Ian Corless / www.iancorless.org, Matilda Iglesias, Melissa Robertson, Nic Hope.

THIS SHOT: a competitor on the CCC, the 100km little sister of the UTMB, which still packs a 5950m ascent punch.

IMAGE: Frank Oddoux / UTMB

Trail Run is published quarterly Winter / Spring / Summer / Autumn Editorial & Advertising Trail Run Magazine 10 Evans Street, Anglesea, Vic 3230 Email: chris@trailrunmag.com

thank you running

Telephone +61 (0) 430376621 Founders Chris Ord + Stuart Gibson + Mal Law + Peter & Heidi Hibberd

Disclaimer

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

Publisher Adventure Types 10 Evans Street Anglesea, Victoria, Australia 3230

You make connecting with nature a messy good time.

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Time to hit the shower. Learn more at brooksrunning.com.au

©2015 Brooks Sports, Inc.

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CONTENTS

VOLUME 5, EDITION 18, SPRING 2015

100

108

124

TRAIL GUIDES

REVIEWS 16.

Now’s a good time to buy all the good gear

102.

Shoe reviews

A pearler, grip zealot, a toey performer and a dirt raider.

122. Bundanoon, NSW 126. Bateau Bay, NSW 130. Lake Tyrell, Vic 132. White Rock, Qld

TRAIL MIX 8.

Editors’ Columns

Australia – Chris Ord New Zealand – Amanda Broughton Australia – Tegyn Angel

30.

FEATURES

Sputnik’s Spray

rubbish trails

94.

36.

Trail Muse

46.

Running like a goat with Beau Miles

22.

from Down Under.

32.

Wonders Never Cease – mandatory safety at Wonderland

64.

Trail Crew

74.

Brissy bandits

108.

Fast & Light – Ian Corless talks Skyrunning history with its founders

58.

Event & Tour Previews

Hard & Fast – Q&A with Anna Frost post Hardrock

Boulder Dash – a Bavarian trail festival

Reasons Beyond – trail running’s not always a solo sport

84.

Trail Porn

86.

it’s dirty.

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La Sportiva athletes Tom Brazier & Gill Fowler on Piz Boè

66

Dream Run – East Timor

Cloud Runner – getting high in Japan Proudly distributed in Australia by Expedition Equipment | Email: sales@expeditionequipment.com.au | Phone: 02 9417 5755

EDSWORD

CHRIS ORD, AU

IMAGE: Simon Madden

Rebellion hath furthered many a righteous cause. And sometimes I’m glad that there are rebels in our midst risking angry lectures from park rangers at best, prosecution at worst, to forge new singletrack under a canopy of anonymity.

SINGLETRACK ON THE SLY

Those who are by day law-abiding, tax paying, voting citizens, become by night (or weekends, or days off), environmental vandals – as the grey suits sitting in grey boxes in grey-walled offices with grey views of the world would likely charge. That is, if they ever caught those singletrack vigilantes who steal into particular patches of wilderness, eyeing off the rise and fall of the land like a Howard Roark character gone wild, before pitching their shovel into the earth and getting dirt on their hands.

All in the name of delivering the alchemy of science, art, elbow grease and risk that is guerilla trail building.

I know a friend of a friend of a friend who has worked on the legitimate side of trail building but now lurks on the shadowier side.

He is approaching bald, hair left in meeting room after meeting room where he met with nothing but incomprehension, disinterest, intractability, and indeed hostility at the idea of building trails through suitable stretches of wilderness. Shock horror – he (and we all) wanted people to actually enjoy the environment. Not through a screen.

But in person.

While certainly we need rules and regulations for society to function, sometimes those bureaucratic black and legislative whites don’t pass the muster of logic, context or flat out reasonable-ness. And so civic disobedience has its place and sometimes that place is in the bush because a culture of risk aversion, red tape and burdened process often

grinds any moves to open up recreational access to a frustrating halt.

So now the singletrack shadowman, in complete anonymity and with a belief we all have a right to enjoy wild places, builds trails as he pleases.

Now, I’m not arguing that we should all be off ripping into national parks willy nilly, bashing spades into the dirt at the environment’s peril. We’re environmentalists, too. This particular individual has the nous and knowledge to only build sustainable tracks in areas he knows are tied up in riskaversion rather than any real environmental concerns. For the most part, few of us would have the skills and thus most of us should remain on the right side of the law.

But as knowers of the landscape, runners also understand a little footfall through large swathes of forest hurts no-one. If brumbys and cattle can run in the high country – backed by (to the writer’s mind and on ground experience patently false) arguments of minimal impact – then the impact of the odd runner sticking to a snaking path is beyond negligible. We don’t eat the bush (unless you’re Beau Miles – reference his Trail Muse piece later in this edition), we don’t hoove up the ground, nor destroy fragile peats, bogs or pummel riverbanks to the point of destroying whole river and billabong ecologies. No, we just run though, smile, appreciate, get back home and tell ourselves we’ll do whatever is necessary to maintain the nature of the

nature we love to be in.

The tide is turning, of course, as a new generation moves through the ranks of public and park service. They now ride and run, too. They ‘get it’. And with that turning tide comes greater collaboration with the communities who believe access to areas of wilderness isn’t a gift we are selectively given, but a right we should be given by those caretakers we, as taxpayers, employ.

Sometimes that collaboration just involves turning a blind eye to the odd bit of creative permanent wayfinding – “must be a busy roo run (chuckle).” We’re also sure there are some singletrack saviours fighting the good fight from within the system, keeping a sideways eye on those out there tilling under the moonshine, each in tacit agreement that all shall be done with an eye to environmental responsibility.

I’m no anarchist, but I believe a little activism is sometimes warranted in fighting for what Parks Victoria herald as: Healthy Parks, Healthy People. Its slogan, of course, implies that getting more people into nature is the aim of the game, one with which we trail runners fervently agree. To do that, however, you need to have access. For access you need trails. Legal trails preferably, but in the absence of land management motivation, what’s a renegade trail hound to do...?

Your bureaucracy fatigued AU editor, chris@trailrunmag.com

NB: I reiterate the point, I’m expressly NOT encouraging you all to head out to start blithely building trails! No, no, no…but if you find one, may as well run it.

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EDSWORD

AMANDA BROUGHTON, NZ

IMAGE: courtesy Amanda Broughton

Universally misunderstood

Yes but, why do you run? I can’t run more than a few hundred metres, I just don’t enjoy it. I don’t understand how you do it!

I GAVE THE KID A WIDE BERTH AS I RAN PAST, WE STARED AT EACH OTHER THROUGH PERSPIRATION IN THE AFTERNOON HEAT, WEARILY OBSERVING EACH OTHER’S FOREIGN MODE OF TRANSPORT. I PADDED PAST IN BRIGHT SHOES REDDENED WITH MUD, HIS FEET WERE MUDDY TOO AND DANGLED ABOVE ANOTHER SET OF MUDDY FEET BELONGING TO A LARGE BUFFALO. WE WERE EACH TOO FASCINATED BY THE UNFAMILIAR SIGHT TO SMILE A GREETING. Ever since playing the game Oregon Trail on MS DOS I’ve wanted to see a buffalolike animal in greater than 8-bit resolution, and now I had seen one. (I would also come pretty close to dying of dysentery that evening, staying true to the gameplay.) I was in Sa Pa in Northern Vietnam, 7km in to a run that had taken me through paddy fields, over makeshift bridges, alongside goats and through streams, and here was a child slouched across a beast twenty times his size, cruising down a dirt path as if on a push bike.

Unless you’re a runner yourself, you might not understand why people run. I still question it when I’m halfway down a hill feeling absolutely ravenous, stinging from chafe and the run is looking like it’s a good

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5km further than I estimated. Why are doing this again?

As I ran figure eights around the small farm buildings trying to find the way home, an old man watched. Leaning against the grassy bank, pulling his beard and poised as if to say something, something that if we spoke the same language may have been ‘What the hell are you doing!?’.

If he had ever seen a Rumba he may have compared my irratic back and fourth movememnts punctuated by a beeping GPS watch to this. Thankfully the facial expression and accompanying arm flailing for ‘Which way back to civilisation?’ is universally understood, and this soon had me back on my way to the road and the nearby town.

Running here would mean purchasing the extra food, the counterfeit Nike shorts, the counterfeit Salomon trail shoes, having the time, and having the energy after a day of physical work to get out there and run.

Suddenly I understood why people didn’t get it - and it all seemed superflous. Ridiculous, even.

The air in Saigon is hot-breath-on-yourface, and inescapable. Wellington’s highest recorded temperature is 31 degrees Celsius, this was an all encompassing 35 degrees and 6am runs ended in a self generated bath that dripped into your shoes. Running by scooters and commuters, walkers and dancers but very

rarely a runner, you can feel quite unnatural and out of place.

It was in this final week in Vietnam I found a group to run with, a mix of locals and expats and together we wove through streets, over bridges and across motorways in Ho Chi Minh City. It was the most natural thing, to get up at 5am to meet a group of complete strangers and trust in them to lead me safely through a city of 9 million people. They didn’t ask why I was running, they didn’t panic when we got lost, and they didn’t flinch when I ran too close and my sweat flicked on them.

You might find yourself misunderstood by people who haven’t found the joy in running yet or haven’t had the opportunity (or even need) to. But know that wherever you go you’ll find one of ‘us’, out running away from the streets and the pavement in search of something to test our navigation skills, dirty our shoes and take in epic views.

It’s your duty now to keep running wherever you go, to spread the joy and the addiction, to confront the challenges, the hills and the hiefers, and to sweat on people you’ve only just met, all before breakfast if you can, please.

Your itinerant NZ editor, Amanda Broughton (NZ)

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EDSWORD

TEGYN ANGEL, AU

IMAGE: Tegyn Angel

Have you ever bought a new car, perhaps something slightly unusual, and all of a sudden that’s all you see on the roads? Suddenly all you see are burgundy Toyota Tercels everywhere, like a Clone War of obscure imported All Wheel Drive station wagons?

Mix’n’match

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What about a new sport? You start rock climbing and you start to see routes everywhere. Every bluestone rock wall along the highway becomes an imaginary red point, every mountain a wonderland, every quarry a vertical playground. Familiarity and an increased interest in a subject prepares our subconscious mind and more readily attracts our conscious attention.

Long before I was a trail runner I was a hiker, climber and surfer; a generalist. Impatience inspired a natural shift from long hikes to fastpacking and then trail running, but the passion for being in the outdoors, comfortable and physically able, never left. Every hiking trail became a running track and campsites spread along multi-day hikes became water stops on a long run. Looking at maps was like a visual-learner’s version of Choose Your Own Adventure. The pause between ridgelines, peaks and rivers was henceforth measured in hours, not days.

While the outdoors came first and the running second, I often forget this proper order of things. As I’ve spent less time working in the field (hiking, paddling, educating) and more organising other people’s trips and training for trail races I’ve become more specialised.

Specificity has had a positive effect on my pace but has resulted in broader limitations and repetitive stress injuries I’d never even heard of.

Over the last few months I’ve been reminded of a number of subjects I’d previously studied but had largely forgotten: Phil Maffetone; Natural Movement Training; and

a Renaissance approach to life that assumes specificity = stagnation = death. Reading Christopher McDougall’s (of Born to Run fame) most recent book, Natural Born Heroes, has perfectly tied them all together. Fascinated by the connections, I now can’t help but see Toyota Tercels everywhere I look!

For those who don’t know of him, Phil Maffetone is an old hippy musician with a snow-white pony tail who just happens to be one of the all-time great endurance coaches.

He coached the likes of Mark Allen, Mike Pigg and Stu Mittelman at their peak and has worked to improve the endurance of everyone from stealth bomber pilots to Formula One drivers and musicians like the Red Hot Chilli Peppers and super-producer Rick Ruben. In short, his approach goes like this: develop your aerobic base (with a heart rate monitor as your guide), eat well, reduce stress, improve brain function.

Natural Movement, a concept largely developed by Frenchman Georges Herbert in the early 1900s, was based on the idea that:

have drawn heavily on Herbert’s work and philosophy. While the parkour videos you see on YouTube are normally set in urban environments, there’s a rapidly expanding community applying the same concepts to natural environments and physical training in general, regardless of the environment.

CrossFit, while perhaps the best-known, is just one of a growing number of generalist approaches to physical preparedness that shun specificity. The incredible explosion of Tough Mudder and Spartan Races is another expression of changing attitude.

I love running trails and I identify as a trail runner, but I’m afraid I’m paying for specialisation with my health and wellbeing.

Over the last few months I’ve been training for an obstacle course race and a freaky hybrid called the Survival Run. The training has involved a good amount of running to rebuild my aerobic base, but it’s been mixed with climbing, lifting and carrying. Survival Run even has me sewing, working with leather, crafting packs and (to my girlfriend’s raised eyebrows) learning how to swing a machete. All I can see when I look around are opportunities for movement, adaptation and improvisation. Welcome back to the land of the living, the thriving, the capable!

In the next edition of TRM I’m examining the cross-over of OCR and trail running and I can’t wait to share it with you!

The final goal of physical education is to make strong beings. In the purely physical sense, the Natural Method promotes the qualities of organic resistance, muscularity and speed, towards being able to walk, run, jump, move on all fours, to climb, to keep balance, to throw, lift, defend yourself and to swim.

If this sounds like parkour or an obstacle course race, you’re spot on. The founding father of parkour, David Bell, is known to

Your mix-it-up or die AU editor, Tegyn Angel

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NOW’S A GOOD TIME TO BUY

Head Lamps

Reviewer: Chris Ord

Led Lenser XEO19R

Reviewer: Chris Ord

Black Diamond Ion While some bits of kit try to be all things all the time to all people, sometimes it’s the simple things that become the handiest in your bag ’o outdoor stuff. The Ion for me is a bit of a favourite. No, it won’t light up the trail like an MCG 20/20 night grandfinal. Nothing this small, light and nimble will, although size to oomph ratio is outstanding at only 48 grams and 80 lumens. What it will do is suffice for all your neighbourhood training runs. Seriously, you don’t need roo-shooting lights for the majority of these. You just need a light that gives enough pizazz to lead the way safely. Admittedly this one’s not for seriously techy, rooty, trip-

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you-at-every-step night runs given its lack of contouring. But on silky singletrack at night, it does the job well. The benefit being so small and lightweight is that it is super comfy in a barely there way. It features full power to dimmed, strobe or red night vision settings, all adjusted at the swipe of a finger.

For me, the Ion has also become required emergency kit: I often snug it away as my backup light, should bigger lamps on bigger missions fail. This one’s light and small enough to stow and perhaps save the day (or night, as it happens). It’s also cheap as chips. Everyone should grab one.

VITALS

$49.95 www.blackdiamondequipment.com / Suppliers contacts from www.seatosummit.com.au

From one end of the spectrum (lightweight, stowable) to the other, the Led Lenser XEO would in all likelihood, light up the MCG. This thing is a bully to darkness, vanquishing it to the farthest reaches of the trail, making your run experience pretty much a daytime pursuit.

You’re talking 2000-lumen output in a dual LED ‘eye-ball’ configuration. To compare, its closest competitor (in some respects) the Ay Up run kit is 700 lumens and people are blinded by that! Most ‘bright-enough’ lamps on heads are back in the 100-500 lumen range. So to say this packs a punch of sun is an understatement.

Its burn is unparalleled. Perhaps one could ask what’s the point of a nuclear fusion-esque fireball raging on your forehead if you’re on tight twisty trails? Of course, on open ground, or bolting down an exposed mountain side, scree flailing beneath your feet, there are definite advantages to being able to see as much as possible in the field of run play. Even so, when moving fast through uneven, technical

enclosed terrain you still want to light up every nook and cranny for better reaction time. No doubt this kills it in that regard.

What’s also impressive is the Optisense technology – essentially an auto dimmer (and thus battery saver) that reacts to the ambient light via a sensor. Then there’s the ability to split beam, using one as a laser like sharp and pointy up to 300 metres ahead and the other as a spread beam, exposing the peripherals. Both lights are controlled by a top-mounted push pad.

For ultra dark side rangers, the 20 hour (on 200 lumens) battery life is appealing too (backed down to 4 hours if on full blast 2000 lumens).

So, the downside, only one: weight.

478grams (compared to Ay Up’s 260grams and other lower lumen lights are lighter still). On your head, it’s a definite bug bear. Not so much the light itself, but the ginourmous battery on the rear of the headband. The answer is to seperate the battery pack and stash it (long

lead allowing) in your hydropack. Fine if you’re an adventure racer, or perhaps a long distance ultra runner destined to be out running in the outer wilds, but moving slowly. Even then, weight is weight is annoying. Anyway, if moving slower you can get by with less lumens.

Ergo, in a way for trail runners the XEO is like driving a Ferrari to the milk bar: overkill.

Sure, the light is pants down one of the best on market as a purist’s light, but suited to trail running – especially short and faster night owl missions – you’re going to want to go lighter. The Led Lenser H7 Series (250-300 watts / 165grams) we suggest could be a more trail-tuned option for all bar the biggest of adventure run missions. That said - on two wheels, the XEO would kill it.

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$517

www.ledlenser.com.au

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NOW’S A GOOD TIME TO BUY Reviewer: Chris Ord

Reviewer: Amanda Broughton

Black Diamond Carbon Distance Z-Poles I’ll put it out there: currently these are the absolute go-to poles for any trail runner looking to employ a set on mountain courses.

Let’s assume for a moment that you are in the (growing) set who gladly admit that having poles in certain run circumstances (super beefy mountains with techy steep terrain on ultra to multiday courses) is 100% warranted. Having spent time in said grunty circumstances with and without poles, I’m now firmly in the club that believes they offer relief of knees and quads in particular when going downhill; improve posture and help propel forward going uphill; increase balance and stability on technical trails; help disburse weight and thus lessen muscle and joint fatigue; and aid in water crossings. Simply, the ‘hassle’ of carrying

is far outweighed by the benefits.

With 100% carbon construction, the Carbon Z weighs a paltry 255grams. A three-section foldable design matched to a pushbutton system allows for rapid-response deployment and stash away, so no stopping to fiddle with your poles. My experience using another brand on a multiday proved that if a pole design is too intricate, with too many moving parts (clasps etc), it is prone to failure. Here we have an ingenious design that sticks to simplicity and logic, the system essentially a tensioned line running through the pole that then pulls taught and remains so until a release button under the handle is pushed. They are a breeze to snap out on the run and then also to dismantle, clip together and jam into hydropack carry

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straps. Despite being lightweight they are robust, able to hold serious weight when being used to stabilise and take weight off the knees on descents. Non-scarring rubber tech tips (interchangeable with carbon tips supplied) keep the pointy end performing and gripping and a lightweight, EVA foam grip has hands comfortable all day. Our call: a mandatory bit of kit on any mega-mountain or ultra mission.

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$219.95

www.blackdiamondequipment.com / Suppliers contacts from www.seatosummit.com.au

Reviewer: Amanda Broughton

ASICS Fit-Sana Seamless Bra

ASICS Lightweight Jacket

The best feature about this crop is the bra hooks at the back.

This makes it really easy to get off and on, but it still looks like a crop top so can be worn on its own. The straps are easy to reach to adjust the fit over your shoulders so you don’t have to stop for anything.

The cut is feminine and the neckline is textured which makes this crop quite pretty; you won’t feel like you’re suctioned in to a wetsuit about to head out train your dolphin, as you can with other more practical-looking crop tops.

This has been put through the test on several longer runs and has always been incredibly comfortable. Because it is seamless it has little opportunity to chafe, the fabric is also super soft.

You can remove the cups from the lining, which makes this quick to dry in the winter months, and helps to dim the, umm, headlights.

It has become one of my favourite crops to run in – it has style, is functional, adjustable and very easy to get off and on, even when sweaty.

The perfect jacket for the safety-conscious runner, this super lightweight is for the runner who over-dresses and has to take off several layers of clothing five minutes into the run. Great for a rain shower run or just having an extra layer against the bitey elements, it allows a lot of movement so great for shorter faster outings that require less gear. It’s comfortable and doesn’t chafe or become irritating around the seams and wrists when wet.

The zip pocket on the chest of the jacket fits a gel and keys, and it comes with a small pouch that the jacket fits inside, so you can wear this around your wrist or ball it in to your fist.

It’s so light and compact that when it starts raining again and you need to use it, it’s easy to forget you have it on hand.

It’s designed to be slim-fitting and not worn over too many layers, so check the size guide as it can be tight in the chest area depending where your curves are placed.

This is the perfect light weight jacket for training in; it won’t meet the gear requirements for many races as it isn’t seam sealed but is a very handy piece of kit to have as we head in to spring.

VITALS

$65 nzd $50 aus

VITALS

Available from ASICS retailers

$130 nzd $50 aus

www.asics.co.nz

www.asics.co.nz

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NOW’S A GOOD TIME TO BUY Reviewer: Chris Ord

The North Face Mountain Athletics range The North Face has for a while offered awesome mountain running gear, proven in the field by elites the likes of Jez Bragg and our own Andrew Tuck and Hanny Allston. But it’s perhaps gear under-worn by the punter crowd – a shame as it’s some of the most functional and comfortable run kit on the market today and deserves to be hugging more trailites’ legs (shorts), hands (gloves), heads (beanies, visors) and shoulders (tshirts, wick layers, warm layers, wet layers, hydropack).

Here we have The North Face’s latest iteration of true performance clobber, the new Mountain Athletics range aimed squarely at those who are sweating it up in the wilderness. The gear focuses on TNF’s Flash-DryXD technology a material that keeps you dry but doesn’t snag, pill or pull, the bugbear of so many items of outdoor clothing copping a hammering.

The Mountain Athletics range is designed to stretch, flex and move with you as you duck and weave along the trail, and the range is backed (like so many things these days) with an App: this one containing focused, step-by-step instructional videos and calendar-based training programs that help you stay on track while building strength and learning proper technique, form and pace. The App covers off a range of mountain sports, but includes running drills formulated by some of the world’s best.

THE HOODIE: Quantum Full Zip Hoodie Some people (like my kids who never feel the cold) think running is only done in a tee. Or a light long sleeve at best. I live in Victoria where we’ve just gone through a damn chill of a winter. And I am a wuss. No surprise then that I tend to layer when on runs, even if it means taking the pack on a shorter run just so I can shed. This is a top for those scenarios. A midweight full-zip hoodie made from pill-resistant fleece and crafted with rugged triple-stitched seams. Simply this keeps you warm and snug. But you can run it– comfy, stretchy and the ant-pill means scrunching it into your pack is not a recipe for wrecking your favourite top.

VITALS

$120.00

THE SHOE: Ultra Kilowatt This is a minimal-structure trainer best described as an all purpose shoe perfect for training sessions that are more crossover in nature – a bit of running trails tied in with the threshold stuff, the lactic stuff, the strength and plyometric stuff. Instantly form fitting and comfortable, these are a super lightweight (271g) number ideal for the coming summer climes with Ultra Airmesh for breathability. Add to that a protection plate that features a little rebound energy return, the long-serving TNF Cradle in the heel, and a Vibram outsole for protection and comfort. Runners will notice a minimal approach to the sole, with a slim, contoured design nipping in under the arch – I found

THE TOP: Kilowatt ¼ Zip What I want a run top to do: firstly be comfy as all get out. Secondly, wick even better, Thirdly: still provide a layer of warmth to a degree when the wind whips a little. Finally: stretch with me, not against me. This does the lot. The abrasion-resistant fabric is breathable, and quick-drying, with specific stretch construction under the arms and between the shoulder blades for improved range of motion. Reinforced seams complete the tough test. Should be one in everyone’s wardrobe.

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this gives good foot mobility and natural, fluid motion through the range. Some used to a more flared or flat sole may feel a little skittish in these, with less overall ground contact and more movement across the board. The thin sole allows for substantial ground-feel but also a need to judge footfall wisely. Underfoot is a 13 mm/9 mm heel/forefoot EVA build with leaning to minimalist 4mm offset, again focusing on the need for correct run form and strength in the ankle.

Toe protection is sensational with a larger than normal moulded rubber impact impact zone, making these great for short, technical peak bagging exercises where the scree and rock ratio is high. Grip is middling – great

www.thenorthface.com.au

$130.00 18

for anything midrange but more suited to softer and finessed trails, although they did perform markedly well on the rocky steep surfaces tested up (when dry). Essentially this is a shoe that lets your foot roam free from gym to mountain top and is particularly friendly to sockless slabs. Super comfy, highly recommended for swinging a kettle bell and then topping a technical peak in the one

VITALS

$200.00

THE APP: DOWNLOAD

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NOW’S A GOOD TIME TO BUY Reviewers: Tegyn Angel

REHYDRATE

Garmin Fenix3 THE FENIX3 is what the Sunnto Ambit3 could have been: a legitimate step into Smart Watch territory. There’s no point in writing an in-depth review given how many are available on line (check out DC Rainmaker if you want to fully nerd-out), so this is more of a one liner question: hot or not? And a one liner answer: not really. And it comes down to reliability – the ability of software to not wig out.

While it’s no Apple Watch, the Fenix3 is sexy, well-integrated, easily customisable and most things work straight out of the box. With functionality like a 24/7 activity tracker, WiFi/ Bluetooth connectivity and an awesome level of customisability (both on-wrist and through remote installation of apps and widgets), the Fenix3 easily transitions from a very wearable

day-to-day casual watch to a professional training and outdoors device.

The Fenix3 is great, but it’s not perfect and the GPS in particular has suffered from chronic accuracy issues. The net is rife with people complaining about the watch, even now, more than six months after its release.

While updates are easily installed and regularly released, they still don’t seem to have brought the reliability of the Fenix3 in line with the Ambit3. And given the F2 was also plagued by bugs in the system that crashed the watch in too many instances, it seems the bug hasn’t been blown away – as it should have been – by the upgrade.

Purists think of it like this: if you want a guitar, buy a guitar. If you want something

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dynamic that will make lots of noise that sounds like all of a guitar, a piano, a harpsichord and a drum kit, then buy an electric keyboard. Just don’t expect the same quality notes that can be produced by the singular original instruments. The Fenix3 makes a lot of ‘sound’ and for the most part they’re indistinguishable from the original ‘instruments’. It’s just that most people aren’t demanding or discerning enough to hear the few slightly off notes. So, it’s no guitar, despite being priced like one.

VITALS

$669

www.garmin.com/en-AU

EVENT PREVIEW IMAGE: Damian Breach

PEARL IZUMI BUNDY RUN Bundanoon, NSW, AU

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lready home to one of Australia’s biggest mountain bike marathons, the bush township of Bundanoon is turning its trail love to us runners with the launch of the inaugural Pearl iZUMi Bundy Run, which will form part of a full-on festival of singletrack fun, being the same timing as the two wheel brigade racing.

Showcasing incredible views and landforms around the village of Bundanoon, the three-distance event explores the environs of Morton National Park, which hugs the southern side of town and includes quiet streams, soaring cliffs, inaccessible valleys and

diverse, lush vegetation.

On offer is The Teaser (6km), Quarter Marathon (10.5km) and Half Marathon (21km) outings, all starting and finishing in the heart of the historic village. Each distance is designed to test skill and endurance with 185m, 400m and 800m climbs respectively.

EVENT Pearl iZUMi Bundy Run WHEN 7 November 2015 DISTANCE 6km/10.5km/21km WHERE Bundanoon, NSW

COMPRESSION TECHNOLOGY FOR ENDURANCE

COMPRESS MUSCLES. CRUSH COMPETITION. THE WORLD’S MOST ADVANCED COMPRESSION TECHNOLOGY COMBINES WITH RACE PROVEN RUN TECHNOLOGY TO CREATE THE XTRM RANGE FOR THE ULTIMATE EXPERIENCE IN ENDURANCE RUN PERFORMANCE.

Check out the event

2XU.COM/XTRM 22

EVENT PREVIEW IMAGES: Sam Costin

SATURDAY 19 DECEMBER 2015

GRAND STRZELECKI TRACK, TARRA BULGA GIPPSLAND, VICTORIA

A stunning Gippsland trail run event held in memory of Duncan Orr.

SOLO 100km / 50km / 28km / 5km TEAMS 100km - Legs 50km / 28km / 25km DISCOUNTS FOR TRARALGON HARRIERS & AURA MEMBERS

BLACK DIAMOND AFTERGLOW Surf Coast, Vic, AU

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hat do you get if you make an alchemist mix of Cyndi Lauper, some sweepy singletrack, a little saxophone sexiness, golden beaches, a blast of “I Will Survive” cornball, a few more rollercoaster trails enjoyed in a golden twilight, and then a little festival of fluorescent as the night turns pitch and the 80s DJ turns up the amp as you cross the finish line?

You’d get the one-of-a-kind Black Diamond Afterglow Twilight-Night Trail Run, an event instantly famous after its inaugural outing last year for spectacularly bright, bold and some beautifully bad taste running get up; for Craig Mottram blasting a stupendous half marathon trail time while wearing a frog on his

head; and for a flat-out fun night of accessible and barely serious trail running. This one’s a little different than most: so don your headlamp, put some Devo shades on, and get your boogie going, it’s going to be a blast on the Surf Coast once more.

This year there will be the addition of a 12km outing matching the traditional 21km from Pt Addis to Torquay.

WHEN 28 November 2015 DISTANCE 21km/12km WHERE Torquay, Victoria

Check out the event

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WWW.DUNCANSRUNHUNDRED.COM WWW.FACEBOOK.COM/DUNCANSRUNHUNDRED

EVENT PREVIEW

THE TANIWHA Waikato River/Whakamaru, North Island, New Zealand

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leasing both trail runners and mountain bikers, the Taniwha event celebrates the endeavors undertaken by the Waikato River Trails Trust over the past 13 years, culminating in around 100km of top quality trails, most of it on previously inaccessible land along the mighty Waikato River.

This epic, challenging yet achievable event collates a bunch of point-to-point courses all finishing in the same place near Whakamaru, south of Hamilton on the North Island.

With runs of 7km-60km and rides varying between 22km-83km, there’s something for everyone, of every ability and fitness, for team and solo entrants.

Sidling alongside the river for the majority of the distances, the trails capture the essence of New Zealand’s natural beauty native bush, exotic forest, historic landmarks, interesting geological formations, open reserves, boardwalks over wetlands, and stunning single track taking in

expansive lake and river views throughout. And when the legs start to tire, it’ll help to know that part of your entry fee is helping our worthy event charity Shine, which works to prevent domestic abuse in New Zealand. And remember, ‘Waikato Taniwharau - he piko he taniwha he piko he taniwha’ ... on every bend of the Waikato River is a guardian.

EVENT The Taniwha WHEN 7 November 2015 DISTANCE MTB 22km / 42.2km / 60km / 83km Trail Run/Walk 7km / 14km / 21.1km / 42.2km / 60km Team Relay MTB 83km Team Relay Trail Run 60km

WHERE Waikato River/Whakamaru, North Island, New Zealand

Check out the event

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EVENT PREVIEW

VERTICAL K Warburton, Victoria, AU

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he all-new Vertical K event from Rapid Ascent (purveyors of the Salomon Trail Run Series) provides the ultimate test of strength and lactic acid threshold over a vertical kilometre. This epic challenge pitches man and bike against one of the most notable climbs in Australia – Mt Donna Buang, a peak located only an hour or so beyond Melbourne’s CBD. The Vertical K sets both groups against the clock and against one another in a race from the centre of the hilltown of Warburton in the Yarra Valley, to the lofty mountain summit of ‘Big Donna’.

For trail runners, that means a track that goes straight up, up, up… climbing 1,098m in only 8km, 85%

of the route being singletrack.

From a short riverside run you hit Australia’s steepest residential street and then weave a line through massive Mountain Ash on an incline that will smash your thighs and have lungs bursting from throats.

A certified VK Sky Race, this one will push your lactic levels beyond anything you’ve ever experienced.

EVENT Vertical K WHEN 29 November 2015 DISTANCE 8km WHERE Warburton, Victoria

Check out the event 28

OPINION

SPUTNIK’S SPRAY

He swears ‘cause he can. And yes, we let him. But in amongst the profanity (call it Sputnik’s ‘quirk of character’ or perhaps it’s just Tourette’s), thing is he’s mostly got some gems of fucking logic in there. Oh, swear word warning…close your eyes, turn the page if easily offended.

AS A GENERAL RULE, THE RUNNING COMMUNITY IS PRETTY BLOODY AWESOME. SURE THERE’S A TOOL HERE OR THERE, AND HEY, THERE’LL BE MORE THAN A FEW PEOPLE WHO’LL TELL YOU I’M ONE OF THEM. BUT FOR THE MOST PART, RUNNERS ARE JUST REALLY GOOD, POSITIVE, HAPPY PEOPLE. I FIGURE IT’S BECAUSE ALL THE MEAN, SAD WANKERS ARE TOO BUSY SITTING AT HOME ON THE COUCH BY THEMSELVES BEING MEAN AND SAD AND DOING WHATEVER IT IS WANKERS DO.

Follow Sputnik’s adventures (and occasional rants) @ SwashbucklersClub.com Facebook.com/Swashbuckler 30

Having said that, I’ve been known to grind an axe or two at times, and today I’m going to grind the litter axe. If there’s one thing more than any other that shits me beyond belief, it’s running along pristine, natural trails, only to come across used gel packets discarded along the way.

Some of you will think it doesn’t happen, and you’d be wrong. As someone who’s usually huffing and puffing my way along at the back of the pack, I can assure you it does. To be fair, in an event of three or four hundred people, there may be as few as two or three along the way, but why the fuck are there any?! Seriously?!

When you go into a trail race, you’re pretty lucky if there’s a few support stops along the way. And sometimes, although not always, there may even be a rubbish bin conveniently located there. These days with the move away from cups for cost and environmental reasons, there’s less likely to be a bin. And if you happen to chug your glorified baby food away from an aid station, you can be pretty sure there’s not going to be a bin in sight. Perhaps not for some time.

Maybe not even til the end of the race.

You know it. I know it. So if you’re one of the

few people fucking it up for the rest of us, just stop. Go back to running roads or wherever the fuck you came from. Run around a park with lots of bins so you can chuck your shit in a bin whenever you like. Or through the city and chuck it on the ground where every other ignorant, littering, arse hat else chucks their shit.

(Which is still lame, but at least you’ll fit in.)

If you go into a race with gels, you’ve got two choices. And chucking the empty pack on the ground ain’t one of them.

Choice one: only consume it at or near an aid station with a bin. Easy.

Choice two: knock it back whenever the hell you feel like it, then hang on to the wrapper when you’re done. I couldn’t give a fuck if you put that sticky mess of a wrapper in your pocket if you’ve got one, in your bra if you wear one, or down your jocks. You can run with any left over, sweet, sickly syrup dripping down your balls for the next however many kilometres for all I care.

You can even lay down when you get home and let your dog lick if off if that’s your thing.

But don’t chuck that shit on the ground. It’s nature, man. We love running there because it’s beautiful and clean and… natural. And we don’t want it full of your shit.

I don’t care how fast you are. I don’t care if chucking your shit in the bin means you drop three milliseconds off your time or costs you a PB. And I sure as shit don’t care if you end up with Gu Balls.

If you’re someone who does this, it’s time you got a mirror out and had a good, long, hard look at yourself. Then, punch yourself in the throat for me.

Happy running. #NamasteMotherFuckers

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TRAILCREW Answers by Steven ‘The Captain’ Kernohan Images: Tim Miller / www.dreamsportphotography.com

TRAIL CREW

Q&A

1. How did your group begin?

Queensland events, Glasshouse Trail Series – you put it on and we will come!

A conversation had with a wise old bearded man (who remarkably has the uncanny looks of a dinosaur) where it was said to him “I have this idea. I’m thinking of starting a trail running group as there does not appear to be one here in Brisbane. It will be open to runners of all abilities. What do you think?”

5. What single piece of advice would you guys give a newbie joining your group?

Do not be intimidated or scared. Get out there and give it a crack, but be prepared to become addicted!

2. Where does your group run mostly?

Brisbane Trail Runners

QLD, AU

Where doesn’t it run?! If there is a trail to be run in South East Queensland, BTR will be there.

6. If your trail group was an animal, what would it be and why?

3. What is your favourite local trail and why?

This is a topic for debate. Some would say mountain goats, some bears, others might say wolves or wild dogs, but the reality is if you could mate a hare with a tortoise and give the offspring a healthy dose of horse tranquilisers and red cordial you might be closer to the mark.

Mt Coot-tha. It has everything to challenge any runner. From 10kms to 50kms. So many interlinking trails not to mention plenty of hills, fire trails and singletrack. We are blessed to have such a great training ground only five minutes from the CBD.

4. What local event does your group rally around?

I think BTR are represented at most trail run events in the region now including Brisbane Trail Running Series, TRAQ events, Run

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7. If you were heading out for a solo ultra run and some bastard stole your pack so you can only take two things, what would you have in each hand?

Water bottle and a phone (selfies and to ring anyone who couldn’t run on the day and taunt and belittle them). >>

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BRISBANE TRAIL RUNNERS TRAILCREW

STATS: BRISBANE TRAIL RUNNERS

Birthday: October 2012 Region: Brisbane and South East Queensland

Members: 1700 Average runners at each hook up: can vary anywhere from half a dozen to up to 50

Average hook ups a year: Approx <<

ruN+ride The CamelBak Highland Fling, one of Australia’s favourite MTB marathons, takes place on Sunday 8th November also in Bundanoon. Can you back up after the Pearl iZUMi Bundy Run and ride the Fling? The weekend has options for all the family.

8. The world is ending - nominate a trail anywhere on the planet that your group must run, it’s the last trail you’ll ever see…what / where is it?

7tH NOVemBer 2015

BuNdanoON SOutHern HighlaNdS NsW

Does it matter!!! Find a trail, take a breath and just run! But Chamonix would be good.

Run with us in the inaugural Pearl iZUMi Bundy Run; a trail run showcasing the incredible views and landforms around the Southern Highlands village of Bundanoon.

The run starts and finishes in the heart of the village and sends runners through spectacular Morton National Park via cascading streamways, soaring cliffs, deep valleys and diverse vegetation.

6.0km The Teaser 10.5km QuarTer maraThon 21.0km Half maraThon

For more details see www.wildhorizons.com.au

email info@wildhorizons.com.au

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event

9. Your group can choose ANY three people on earth, living or dead, to come join one of your runs…who would they be and why?

Kilian, Anton and The Captain (aka me, Steven Kernohan). The first two are obvious!

And then, there is no way or how a BTR run with these two is going ahead without me running as well.

20 group runs, a handful of social engagements and God only knows how many splinter group runs.

10. How have you seen participation in your trail group change people and lives?

Shoes owned in total by all members: at a guestimate, at

I am humbled and gobsmacked at what we as a running community have achieved in such a short period of time. I have personally seen individuals achieve goals that I can guarantee you they had never even dreamt of or thought possible. Every group run I meet someone new who shares or puts up with our passion for the trails and the great outdoors. I personally have met lifelong friends and am sure I am going to make many more. BTR has gone from a couple of shonky middle-age, average blokes meeting in the bush for a jog, to a trail running community with over 1700 Facebook members whose distinct colours seem to grow at every trail race everywhere. Onwards and upwards!

least 10,000 ( I know of one shoe fetishist who has at least 20 pairs in circulation)

Unofficial clubhouse: Top Secret Location…just follow the pink tape

Web: www.facebook.com/groups/ brisbanetrailrunners/ http://brisbanetrailrunners.wix. com/brisbanetrailrunners https://instagram.com/ brisbanetrailrunners/

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INNERVIEW

ANNA FROST

HARD

INTERVIEW: Chris Ord IMAGES: Ricky Gates / Salomon

& FAST: Q&A - Anna Frost

It’s been a busy year for Kiwi trail queen, Anna Frost, who has returned from a period of injury with fresh legs and a fresh outlook – enough to secure her a cherished win at the venerable Hardrock 100 Endurance race quickly followed by an adventure run achievement in becoming one of the first females to knock over a Fastest Known Time over the fabled Nolan’s 14. We catch up with Frosty (just!) as she keeps the pace up with plans for runs in Japan, Papua New Guinea and Bhutan all before the year is out…phew!

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ANNA FROST INNERVIEW

Congratulations on you Hardrock Frosty – the event is layered with a lot of history and meaning: what in that context did winning it mean for you?

How has the wash up been for you both physically and mentally – talk me through the journey over the last few months since winning Hardrock?

transition came from being intrigued to explore and adventure the mountains more and more. So I naturally started running longer days and discovered longer races. I always like to try new things and after 11 years of racing, that has been the progress.

More than winning, was the huge sense of achievement in just finishing that beast! It scared me more than any other race has before so to get through it was an incredible feeling and the win was an unbelievable added bonus.

It has been weeks of rest, playtime with friends, travel to the UK to see my family and I have slowly begun to run again. Mentally I have gone through moments of disbelief and amazement. Physically, I started craving the mountains after about two weeks so I am back in Colorado to get another dose!

Transvulcania and Hardrock are two majors in terms of winning high profile events – how do you go about choosing your next competitive challenge?

Listening to post race interviews, it sounded as though you had the fight of your life out there – while it’s always a throwaway line to say ‘this was the toughest race of my life’, tell us how this one differed in terms of suffering from your other achievements?

Being an elite athlete who has had a share of injury niggles – how do you cope with the expectations of your followers, your sponsors and your own self-imposed pressures when the chips are down?

I can only do what I can do. And I have learnt that having pressure on myself to perform for others only does damage. If I am injured, I rehab, like anyone else should and when I am ready I get back into it.

I went to a place mentally and physically I have never been before so to climb back out of there was a huge fight of the unknown. Then to get back into a race mindset for the final 15 miles of the race was really giving everything I had (and didn’t think I had).

As a punter – I’m always curious: do elites hurt the next day, to the point of the John Wayne Amble, like the rest of us or are elite bodies attuned to the muscle exhaustion?

Your background was in racing the shorter stuff in Europe. You then started racing longer events to the 50km zone, but longer ultras are still (relatively) outside your comfort zone, or not? How have you managed the transition to longer runs?

I was sore! My feet and ankles swelled up, I had to hold onto the walls to go up and down stairs and to sit on the toilet. For about 2–3 days I was really broken and I took almost three weeks off before starting anything again.

I have done two 100 milers now (and definitely not in a comfort zone with those… can you ever be? Or is that the point of ultras?), and purely because I wanted to do HR100. Not necessarily a 100 miler. The 38

I always choose races that I do for the love of the race – the terrain, the area, the values and the ethics of the organisers. I really like to ‘get to know’ the course and the people around it.

You have a few big missions – not necessarily competition related – coming up in the next six months or so, tell me about a few of your missions and what’s the lure of them for you?

Obviously I love racing but adventure, exploration, travel and new challenges are just as important to me. After recovering from Hardrock, I managed to back up and achieve an FKT Nolans 14 in the Sawatch Range – Colorado. The challenge is to do 14 of the 14,000ft+ peaks in a row in under 60 hours.

I along with Missy Gosney, became the first females to finish. Then I am off travelling to Papua New Guinea and Japan with The African Attachment to film some stories and culture.

Then the most exciting part for me this year is visiting Bhutan for a 200km multiday adventure run with Tour de Trails >>

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ANNA FROST INNERVIEW

Keep up with Frostyâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s adventures (if you can) at: www.annafrosty.com www.sisugirls.org Interview references: www.hardrock100.com www.sisugirls.org www.tourdetrails.com www.theafricanattachment.com

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ANNA FROST INNERVIEW

<<

(www.tourdetrails.com), a first-ever on the Jomolhari-Laya-Gasa trail, which is part of the Snowman Trek, reputedly one of the hardest in the world. I have never been there and have long been inspired to go. So to run with a group of interesting and just-as-excited people through those special trails is going to be incredible. After Bhutan I will return to USA to race and have two months of winter (my first real winter in 8 years).

Looking ahead – where will we see the journey of Anna Frost go in the next 3-5 years?

Unknown, I have never been good at planning ahead…but I’m sure there will be exploration running, races, FKT attempts, a family, more travel, coaching, new sports, race organising…

You’ve been an ambassador for Sisu Girls (www.sisugirls.org), an organisation that promotes and supports young women leading active lives and being confident leaders and positive role models in all aspects of life – how do you see your role and what you can achieve for Sisu?

This is a natural part of who I am and what I do. I am proud and privileged to be part of this movement. To be a role model for young people to find their way. It inspires me so much to see young ones getting at it. I

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hope that this movement will give direction, motivation, empowerment and passion to those who haven’t been able to find it in today’s materialistic society.

can keep sponsors values strong we can keep the sport full of the beauty.

And to some whimsicals…A random eighteen year old young woman approaches you, tells you she loves running trails, and is considering having a serious go at the competitive scene – what is Frosty’s advice?

[Ed’s note: get a copy of Fearless Frosty, a book published by Sisu Girls about Frosty’s adventures, check the Sisu website]

You courted some online controversy when you commented on and didn’t race at the World Trail Champs in France earlier this year – how have you seen trail running change over the years, from your time living on cheese and bread out the back of a van on the short trail race circuit in Europe, to today’s exploded and some might argue quickly fragmenting global trail scene (in terms of organisations and events and corporates and the inevitable politics of such growth)?

I would say have a go…if it is a true passion.

Do it for your own reasons, for your own love of it. Not to please anyone else.

That eighteen year old is now actually Frosty from the past…so you are giving advice to yourself, specific to how your life has played out – pick one thing you’d tell yourself to do differently in the course of your life?

I wouldn’t change anything. All things I have done well or bad have been a learning curve and has created the person I am and experiences I have had.

Trail running has for sure changed, for the better or worse I guess it depends on whom you talk to. For me, I can see it changing for something I don’t run trails for. I run trail races to be a part of the community. To enjoy the same race as everyone else. I like to see races developing, but it is important to me that we keep the essence and real values alive in running. And that for me is the core values of why we run trails. Sponsors are playing a role in that change. Most are creating teams that can travel to races around the world bringing a new level of competition and pressure to athletes. This may be part of the change; if we

If you could pick the perfect ten seconds experienced in your running career – what trail was it on and describe what transpired…

I don’t know if I can pick one 10 second moment I have had so many wonderful experiences in my 11 years of running career. >>

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ANNA FROST INNERVIEW

SPRINTER • 130 lumes • USB chargeable • multiple settings • lock mode • IPX4 water resistant <<

Chuck Yeager, a space pilot pioneer) – and why?

Usually when I am most inspired is when I have adventured somewhere new, taking a new trail or path or mountain and feel totally free and within nature.

My parents. They have encouraged me to spread my wings, to aim high, they have always been proud, they have inspired to me travel, to explore and to be the best person I can be.

You can teleport to any trail in the world, of whatever length, and run it right now – what trail?

Best post run smoothie combo?

Berries, banana, Flora Healthy Greens, NZ Manuka 30+honey, coconut milk.

Khumbu Valley trail from Namche Bazar towards Everest. It is the most gratifying trail I have ever been on. Feeling so privileged and so small, so loved with so little.

Finally, when the competing stops, be that urge or simply the physicality of being at the pointy end, what then for Frosty?

There is so much life to live…surfing, travelling, teaching, new sports, family life, art, music, language, coaching…the list goes on and on…

SLEEP. RUN. REPEAT.

What makes Frosty frustrated?

Injuries!

What makes Frosty hopeful?

To inspire you to greatness along that trail, who is your all-time inspiration – can be trail runner or otherwise (for instance, mine is

Sunshine!

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EDSWORD FEATURE

CHRIS ORD // AUSTRALIAN EDITOR

Words and images: Ian Corless / Talk Ultra

Fast& Light Skyrunning has firmly embedded itself into the Australian and New Zealand trail scene via events such as the Hillary and Mt Difficulty in New Zealand and Buller and Buffalo in Australia. While these races do an admirable job emulating their bigger-mountain cousins in the northern hemisphere, the epitome – not to mention the origins – of Skyrunning is found in Italy and within the hearts and minds of founders, Lauri van Houten and Marino Giacometti. Talk Ultra’s Ian Corless catches up with the pair on their home turf.

SKYRUNNING’S MAESTRO MARINO GIACOMETTI ON THE FLY UP HIGH 46

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FEATURE SKYRUNNING

SKYRUNNING FEATURE

BIELLA, ITALY. A trickle of piano noise from the local music school weaves its way through open window shutters left ajar to allow some breeze, the heat of the day can be stifling. It feels and sounds like a scene in a movie. Cobbled streets, stone arches, a wonderful old square, the chatter of children playing and the smell of freshly brewed cappuccino in the air.

Biella, or should I say, the International Skyrunning Federation HQ (and home of Lauri van Houten and Marino Giacometti) is atop a hill in a walled village close to the Aosta valley, just over an hour from Chamonix and in close proximity to Monte Rosa and the Matterhorn.

It seems the perfect location for the home of pure mountain running. Biella lies in the foothills of the Alps in the Bo mountain range near Mt. Mucrone and Camino.

“We moved here as the sports brand Fila were based here. In the 90’s they were a key sponsor for Skyrunning,” says Lauri van Houten, Executive Director for the International Skyrunning Federation.

“When Fila folded, we were left with a dilemma; should we stay or should we go? Stay we did and it feels natural and relaxed to be here now.”

Mountains dominate the life of Marino and Lauri. It’s not a job; it’s a passion that dominates 12+ hours of every day. You will see the dynamic duo at all the Skyrunner World Series races every year. In total, that is 15 events in 3 disciplines, VK (Vertical Kilometre), Sky and Ultra. But these worldwide events are just

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the visible face of what the ISF does. Behind the scenes it’s a frenetic, highly-pressured stream of telephone calls, emails, logistical planning and negotiations that make the Skyrunner World Series tick.

It’s a scenario far removed from 1989 when Giacometti set a record running from the village of Alagna to the summit of Monte Rosa. 25-years of mountain running and today, iconic names such as Bruno Brunod and Fabio Meraldi are once again being talked about in the same breath as Kilian Jornet.

“Older generations were already Skyrunners.

My grandfather crossed the mountains working, for example. ‘We’ as Skyrunners added more speed but in essence it has always been the same thing, Skyrunners have always existed.” Bruno Brunod says.

“What I liked was going quickly to the summit. I felt the same when I was a kid in the pastures, I always ran up and down the summits that surrounded me. It is something I felt inside, something I liked.”

In 2012, Skyrunning went through a revival.

After careful and strategic planning, the ISF launched the new Sky Ultra Marathon Series with Transvulcania La Palma and a seminar, ‘Less Cloud, More Sky.’ The sport moved up a notch and became something that runners all over the world aspired to. It was dubbed the ‘the next big thing’ but as Giacometti explains, “there is nothing new in Skyrunning. It is just now that everyone is catching up with our vision from so many years ago.”

Midway through the 2014 season, between >>

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FEATURE SKYRUNNING

SKYRUNNING FEATURE

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FEATURE SKYRUNNING

SKYRUNNING FEATURE

THIS IMAGE & BELOW RIGHT: SKYRUNNING’S MARINO GIACOMETTI <<

and they want to take Marino back to his childhood, revisit old haunts and film Marino running in the mountains.”

I met Dean Leslie and Greg Fell from The African Attachment at Transvulcania La Palma back in 2012 and since then we have kept in-touch and often crossed paths at races all over the world. I am excited at the guys arriving and the opportunity to work alongside them and shoot stills, a real perk of the job.

Photographer, Kelvin Trautman is directing the film and although I haven’t met him before, we soon hit it off and I realise what is in store: two awesome days in the mountains.

The evening turns amazing. The sky is adorned with clouds and as we climb with cameras, Marino runs to the instructions of Kelvin. Looking for ridges and technical lines, Marino embraces the challenge and is arguably having the most fun he has had in ages.

Days don’t get much better than this… at the summit of Monte Padrio the light is incredible and as the sun disappears for the day we are rewarded with a colour palette of orange, red and gold. Marino is in silhouette on the Skyline and I realise I am in a moment, a moment that I won’t ever forget.

The following day starts early with a short drive and we are suddenly looking at Marino’s childhood home. Marino laughs as he recounts boyhood memories.

“I used to go mushroom picking in this area.”

Ice Trail Tarentaise and Trofeo Kima, I spend time with Lauri and Marino at their home in the mountains (the Casina) Corteno Golgi to get an inside look at what makes this couple tick and how the calendar and its logistics fall into place.

‘CASINA’, CORTENO GOLGI. ITALY. The ‘Casina’ is a mountain house in Corteno Golgi close to Marino’s birthplace of San Antonio. Spread over two floors it is almost two completely different buildings. Upstairs is all wood, a combination of rustic/ modern and a wonderfully relaxing place that has been heavily influenced by Lauri. Downstairs is the original building, untouched for years and one that harks back to Marino’s past. The garage is a Skyrunning museum of ice axes, helmets, shoes, race bibs, clothing, videos and old slides.

Surrounded by green fields and mountains on either side I suddenly see Marino in a new light. He is at home. He points at peaks and explains his childhood, his passions and I suddenly feel very honoured and privileged.

“The African Attachment (TAA) arrive tomorrow and you are going to be able to spend a couple of days in the mountains with Marino,” says Lauri.

“They are filming a piece on Skyrunning

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Marino confirmed his plans for the future.

“We need to expand, to grow and introduce Skyrunning to a new audience. We will go back to our roots moving forward. We would love to do a race from Cervinia or Chamonix to the summit of Mont-Blanc but this is not for everyone!”

As the day comes to an end, final preparations are made for Trofeo Kima. Kima, as it is affectionately known, is a shining beacon that personifies Skyrunning.

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Following him up the trail, Kelvin wants Marino to go back 50-years to those mischievous days as a boy. Immediately Marino finds a mushroom, he removes his Buff and ties a knot in one end to create a cloth bag. Moving left to right on the trail, the bag slowly fills with the rewards from the land.

“In the Valle Campo Vecchio I would go skinny dipping in the river.”

Marino may well have regretted this sentence as just an hour later he was running along grass banks barefoot and then submerging himself in the ice cold river water from the mountains.

The warmth of the log burner in the Casina provided that ultimate feeling of contentment that one longs for after a day in the mountains.

Marino’s body was aching, his legs heavy from the repeated running but beneath a tired façade I knew he had had a good day.

“We have plans for some very exciting races at high altitude that will be very technical in future years. 2012 was an important stepping-stone.

Less Cloud. More Sky was an important phase in the development of Skyrunning. One thing that was apparent is the desire from runners for technical and high altitude sport. So, here we are following our heritage for a new era.”

I wondered: was it a happy coincidence that the revival of Skyrunning coincided with the rise of Kilian Jornet?

“It is no coincidence!” says Lauri. “Bruno Brunod was Kilian’s hero. Kilian followed his dreams from the inspiration Bruno provided, Kilian is now the epitome of Skyrunning.”

Kilian first arrived on the scene in 2006 and impressed immediately. He was a natural Skyrunner. As the profile of Kilian has grown, so has Skyrunning. It seems a natural process of evolution of the sport and to that end

TROFEO KIMA, ITALY. Emelie Forsberg looked into the lens of the TAA camera, smiled in a way that only Emelie can and with a nervous and infectious giggle whispered the words, “Two years ago in my first year of racing I was fortunate to race at Trofeo Kima. I looked at this course and thought; really, you can run a race on this course?”

I, too, had found my first Kima experience equally mesmerising. My breath had been taken away by the drama and severity of the course.

I had never seen anything quite like it and the impact was profound. Hopping from one section of the course to another via helicopter added some serious icing to the Kima cake.

A vertical wall of rock and suddenly a flash of red and white. Kilian Jornet appears, handover-hand as he descends via chains and then flies past us with a wave as though running a 5km. He looks so incredibly relaxed.

Kasie Enman is the first lady and this provides some confusion. Emelie Forsberg had had a convincing lead; what had happened?

Finally, Emelie arrives 5th a lady in tears but running like a demon. She had gone off course and lost almost an hour. Trying to claw back

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PARTNERS IN THE SKY: MARINO GIACOMETTI AND LAURI VAN HOUTEN

FEATURE SKYRUNNING

IMAGE: Manaslu, Nepal running at up to 5200 metres. Photo courtesy Richard Bull / www.trailrunningnepal.com

déjà vu the process will repeat itself.

“Lauri, and you, your dreams?”

“To expand Skyrunning and see the growth continue with the collaboration from those who love the sport as we do.”

“Will you ever be able to let go?”

“Why, why would I want to let go? This is my life: I love it. Maybe I would like less stress but I like challenges, I like work and I don’t like to be bored.”

I smile knowing full well that her words are true and that in all honesty, I already knew the answer.

“One thing is for sure, I won’t be in the Bahamas filing my nails everyday, I can guarantee that will never happen.”

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time she takes risks; 4th place, 3rd place and then 2nd, was it possible to take back victory?

Unfortunately, no! Kasie Enman held on to a convincing lead and the records will show that the American was the 2014 Kima ladies’ champion. In the male race, Kilian Jornet had the race of his life and in doing so broke his own course record.

Fabio Meraldi makes an appearance at the awards and like a long lost son is embraced into the arms and hearts of the Skyrunning throng: “I remember the feeling, like a drug, feeling this moving energy! I still get goose-bumps just talking about it.”

The party atmosphere continues and minutes after the award ceremony, clouds turn from grey to black and a warning clap of thunder alerts everyone that a change is coming. The heavens open and rain falls from the sky like a series of rods being thrown. It’s a biblical storm and we all look at each other and simultaneously shake our heads.

Another race over, another successful event but there is no rest. This evening a glass of red and a nice meal but tomorrow it’s back to the grind. Another race is only weeks away and like

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Wonders never cease An outing at the inaugural Wonderland Run had Tegyn Angel wondering at some runnersâ&#x20AC;&#x2122; resistance to mandatory kit requirements.

WORDS & IMAGES: Tegyn Angel

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For a lot of people, the migration from road to trail often starts as a simple change of uniform.

While there’s no doubt that the migrants appreciate the beauty of the trails, the positive influence on our emotional state and the “sense of community” so often associated with trail running, there’s an element of naivety in urban running that needs to be left on the streets.

A trail race is a pledge that a runner makes to a Race Director: I solemnly swear that I have the best interests of myself, and my fellow runners, at heart and that I will not be a dickhead.

And that a Race Director makes to their runners: I solemnly swear I that will do everything that is reasonably within my power to protect you from the dangers of this race and environment, but I can’t protect you from yourself.

Heading into the backcountry in (as UTMB organisers put it) semi-autonomy requires selfawareness, preparation and an understanding that things can, and often do, go wrong. Playing Superman, whether by accident or by design, won’t stop a bullet.

Last weekend I was involved in a new Australian trail race, the Wonderland Run, in

the Grampians mountains in western Victoria.

I had a lot to do with the build-up, I ran the race and then I helped clear the course. Race Director (RD), Rohan Day, is well-known and highly respected as an organiser of quality trail races that attract large numbers of people and an incredibly positive vibe, and run like clockwork. His other two events, the Two Bays Trail Run and the Roller Coaster Run [now under new ownership], are often seen as good road-to-trail transition events and a Gold Standard for other RDs. Wonderland was organised in just the same way, with attention to detail and a strong sense of inclusivity. In the lead up to the event community interaction, through email and social media, was constant and there was an extensive and ongoing period of consultation with local authorities and stakeholders. The course was thoroughly reconnoitred and mapped and it was then marked, remarked and marked again. Extensive safety equipment, such as satellite phones for sweeps and off-road wheel chairs, were in place and minimum qualification standards were outlined (by no means a general rule in Australian trail events).

Conservative rules, regulations and mandatory gear were all clearly outlined in the Runner’s Handbook and a great

deal of emphasis was placed (verbally and through a constant stream of photos) on the fact the environment that the courses pass through involves areas of very remote, largely inaccessible, alpine rock-hopping and technical running. The RD and his crew were nervous, and rightly so, about the nature of the environment and took every realistic step to ensure the safety of runners.

Yet, in spite of this, I heard a number of complaints from runners about needing to carry the mandatory equipment: a quality waterproof jacket, a thermal top and gloves, a beanie or THIR, an emergency blanket, compression bandage, mobile phone and some food/water. That’s it. No bear bells, fleeces, rain pants, compasses, GPS trackers, maps, exhaustive first aid kits, emergency toilet bags, waterproof matches, firelighters...

In an emergency, these are items that could potentially save your, or someone else’s, life.

Planning for an emergency is a process of identifying, assessing the likelihood of, and considering the consequences of, hazards. Next we attempt to eliminate these hazards where possible, either through changing our plans or putting protocols in place. Where it’s not possible to eliminate a problem, and where the >>

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very particular end: an incident free race.

I’m the first to admit we live in an overlylitigious society, but discontent for having to carry a limited amount of safety gear is simply ridiculous. All it says is that the people complaining don’t fully recognise the potential for disaster, that they don’t properly respect their environment and that they aren’t taking every reasonable step to avoid becoming a liability.

Simply signing up for a race doesn’t negate the need for self-reliance and plain old common sense. Unfortunately, a race bib, just like a climbing harness or an airbag, is not a suit of impenetrable armour. Simply pinning one to our chest won’t stop us from abseiling off the end of a rope or wrapping our car around a tree. That is, it won’t stop us from making stupid decisions. While we expect that the people we pay to organise these races will do their due diligence and won’t send us running headlong into danger, that trust does not absolve us from responsibility for our own actions.

benefit of continuing in spite of the dangers is deemed sufficient, we attempt to mitigate their consequences or reduce their likelihood.

Now before anyone gets their back up, this isn’t an attempt at fear-mongering. Nor is it some sort of “Us vs Them”, “roadies you don’t belong on the trails” rubbish. Rather, it’s an attempt to highlight the need for education.

The decision of the Wonderland team to insist that runners qualify for the event is an attempt to reduce the likelihood of an accident by limiting novice runners on the course. The decision to thoroughly mark the course and position marshals at regular intervals, even though this reduces the “wild” or “natural” feeling of the race, reduces the likelihood of runners straying from the risk-assessed, controlled, swept course and getting lost. The decision of the RD to require runners to carry certain equipment is an attempt to mitigate the potentially fatal consequences of an accident during the race.

Race Directors and their crews make an untold number of decisions that are an intentional, rational, deliberate means to a

Editor’s note: while there were some in the lead up who complained of the minimal mandatories at Wonderland (see break out), notably there were zero major or even minor incidences, or lost runners at Wonderland. It is important to note that some items of mandatory gear were made optional very late in the game, based on a very favourable weather forecast. These optional items could either still be carried or delivered to a high checkpoint for use in the event of the weather turning. Whatever precautions the Wonderland crew imposed upon entrants – agree with them or not – clearly worked. This editor wonders how loudly the whingers would have howled should they actually have gotten lost, sans seam-sealed, wet-weather jacket, beanie and gloves, on a more poorly managed course.

WONDERLAND MANDATORY ITEMS WE THOUGHT IT PERTINENT TO GET AN IDEA OF WHAT A 36KM RUN IN A WILDERNESS AREA LIKE THE GRAMPIANS ENTAILS. FROM WONDERLAND WEBSITE: “So, it is the end of winter. Yep, shouldn’t be too cold, right? Wrong.

Mt Rosea can turn its scary face on and make your life difficult. And we have to try and protect your from it! It is beautiful, but it can be crazy difficult also!

So with that in mind, we have decided to have a mandatory list of items that could possibly save your life. Or someone elses – imagine saving someone else because you carried your mandatory gear! How awesome would that be?

The Wonderland list is reasonable • Thermal Gloves and minimal, compared to some items • Beanie or THIR (Noggin tube that some longer, more adventurous fabric thing) • Emergency blanket - lightweight runs in more rugged and remote country require. Other kit that can silver type is fine. pop up on weightier mandatory lists • Long sleeve thermal top include: • Compression bandage • Waterproof jacket (you know, waterproof, windproof with • Full emergency first aid kit sealed zippers) • Thermal leggings • 400 calories of food • Waterproof trousers • Mobile phone • Mid-layers • Capacity to carry 500mls water • Head torch • Whistle • Survival bag • PLB (Personal Locator Beacon) And that’s it. A list of equipment • GPS Tracker (sometimes that could save your, or someone incorporated into PLB) you loves life! This would give you • Compass enough time to keep warm and dry for • Knife us to organise someone to figure out a • Maps / map cover way to get you!” www.wonderlandrun.com.au

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Bavarian Boulder Dash James Hallet travels to Germany to link the high trails of Bavaria with lashings of beer and bratwurst at one of the nationâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s best festivals celebrating mountain running.

Words: James Hallett Images: Felix Lochner, Andi Frank.

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MPENDING ADVENTURE, THE HERITAGE OF MEDIEVAL TRAILS, SIGNIFICANT NATURAL WONDERS VIEWED FROM EVERY RIDGELINE…THESE ARE JUST SOME OF THE THINGS SWIMMING THROUGH MY SINGLETRACK MIND AS I ARRIVE AT THE SMALL GERMAN TWINTOWN OF GARMISCH-PARTENKIRCHEN, ONE AND A HALF HOURS SOUTH OF MUNICH. MY ATTENTION IS IMMEDIATELY CAPTURED BY THE TOWERING EASTERN-ALPINE PEAK OF THE ZUGSPITZE AS IT POKES ITS WAY THROUGH LOW CLOUD. THIS MAMMOTH ROCK TOWERING ABOVE THE BAVARIAN FLATLANDS IS THE BEACON THAT DRAWS HUNDRED OF RUNNERS. Centred on the originally separate but – courtesy of a take-no-argument Adolf Hitler directive – now joined towns of Garmisch and Partenkirchen, this region has long sporting tradition of mountain exploration. The landscape weaves into the everyday life and indeed the culture of those who have lived here over the centuries. For most, if not all, trail runners taking part in one or more of the 2015 Zugspitz Trailrun Challenge events, the central point of allure is to conquer the summit of Germany’s highest peak.

At 2962m above sea level, the Wettersteinkalk cliffs and buttresses of the Zugspitze seem to spire straight up towards the heavens from the relatively mildly undulating farmland that surrounds. It’s a sight that cannot help but evoke the pull to explore, to climb, to see what lies above.

Thought to have inherited its name from the German word Zugbahnen meaning “avalanche paths”, the peak first made its appearance on maps in the 1500’s. Fast

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forward 300 years, and although it is widely speculated that the mountain was summited by royal cartographer, Alois von Coulon, in 1804, it was in fact locals Josef Naus and Johann Georg Tauschl who were officially recognised with this accolade, summiting in 1820. Legends abound, however, of stories that include smugglers using the trails and multiple peaks of the Zugspitz Massif to hide stolen treasures in the 1700’s. Robbers on the run in the alps of Bavaria – ultra runners of the Middle Ages, perhaps, pending the tenacity of their pursuers?

Today, Zugspitze plays home to the Zugspitz Trailrun Challenge among many other adventure sports events. It’s a festival of trail running aimed at celebrating singletrack and in particular mountain running.

At the helm of the event is Plan B Events, the company also responsible for the wellregarded Gore-Tex Transalpine Run. Chat to the man behind the Plan, Heirich Albrecht, and it is clear that he has a vision not only to host quality events, but also to continually nurture the growth of the sport within the German and, to a larger extent, the surrounding Tirolean outdoor communities.

In designing the course, organisers aim to ensure every twitching trail running muscle is tickled by the tough terrain they have to play with. And tickle you red and raw it does.

Festivities get underway with a screening of the Trails In Motion Film Festival line-up, inspiring ‘trail porn’ to get motivations firing and give clues to the challenges ahead. The following morning runners are welcomed to the “platz” of Garmisch-Partenkirchen where pumping tunes and an expo entice runners to a total of six trail running races. The first is the City Lauf [lauf is German for “run”]. Adults down to children the age of two tow the start >>

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out of the platz to the sound of cow bells and begin their ascent out of Ehrwald. I’m disappointed in being unable to join them on the quest. Duty calls, however, so it is off to the first aid station then a race around to the cable car station of the Zugspitzbahn Bergbahn, allegedly the world’s highest single span cable car trip. I’m headed for the summit to welcome runners home.

As the swaying gondola tracks its way skywards, the views again impress, a window in the weather briefly delivering sweeping vistas across Garmisch-Partenkirchen, Erhwald and the Eibsee, along with a bird’s eye view of trails that creep up the slopes of the Zugspizte.

Upon arrival at the summit, as predicted by the meteorologists, a thick fog with intermittent rain showers descends making viewing of the reputedly amazing vistas from Sonnalpin impossible. I stand and clap tired, tickled-pink runners home, clearly Plan B delivering on its course plan. There is an obvious sense of understanding as to why we runners take part in events like these, ones that celebrate our dirty passion. Of course the view matters, but the sense of achievement and continued quest for something new – a fresh view, a neverbefore-experienced trail, its unique manner of exploring a particular landscape – is what brings us back time and again. That, and here at the Zugspitz Trailrun Challenge, perhaps the allure of tripping not over a rock, but a smuggler’s long lost loot hidden for centuries on the slopes of Germany’s highest mountain.

line of this frenetic 1.4km long course through the heart of the village and neighboring park. I enjoy the privilege of being sweep, appropriate as I have two aspiring trail running daughters of my own.

After heart rates lower, the focus shifts to the main events: the Scott “Rock The Top” Marathon and Vertical Challenge. This is where aspiring elite trail athletes and weekend runners alike navigate the surrounding foothills before making an assault on the summit. It’s also where the race village is meticulously dismantled and moved from Garmisch-Partenkirchen to Ehrwald in Austria, a 30-minute drive away.

Not short of its own heritage in the outdoor activity genre, Ehrwald is a town that quickly absorbs you into its quaintness. Skiing and outdoor shops are found on almost every street corner, a testament to the Tirolean adventure spirit. I even get to savour some of the region’s finest water, barley, hops and yeast combo (that’d be beer at 9:25am), to the sounds of an Oompah Band.

Unfortunately, due to poor weather forecasts the unmistakable voice of Wolfgang Pohl, proprietor of mountain safety and guiding business Vivalpin and the man in charge of ensuring that every runner’s safety is at the forefront of proceedings, is heard across the PA system announcing that the finish line has been lowered to Sonnalpin, 400m vertically lower then the actual Zugspitze summit.

A somewhat disappointed mood evaporates quickly as the clock counts down the final minutes to start. I watch as runners pour

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www.zugspitz-trailrun-challenge.com/en/

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FEATURE EDSWORD

CHRIS ORD // AUSTRALIAN EDITOR

Reasons Beyond WORDS: Chris Ord and Olga Poberezovska IMAGES: Chris Ord

Sometimes you run for yourself, other times you run in support of others. When a member of The Trail Beyond ultra team presented at Run Larapinta hobbled, another selflessly sacrificed her own race to support, but in doing so gained more from the experience that she lost.

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“HELICOPTER PILOT, ADVENTURE RACER, ENDURANCE TRAGIC, SELF-PROPELLED TRAVELLER.”

AS A JOURNALIST, I’M DRAWN TO DRAMA, CONFLICT, AND, HOPEFULLY, RESOLUTION. IN THOSE SOMETIMES MURKY WATERS OF OUR EXISTENCE, LAYS STORY; THE ONES I’M INTERESTED IN ANYWAY: HUMAN STORIES. So for someone looking for a little grist in the story mill, rather than an ideal partner (successful, smart, attractive, loves to travel, umm, flies helicopters), Olga’s Poberezovska’s profile on The Trail Beyond website does not invite more than cursory interest.

Her three team members of this all-woman crew draw more interest in terms of the potential for drama: busy working mothers juggling day to day demands of businesses, professions, kids, husbands and ongoing life issues aplenty thrown up against the chasing of athletic and adventurous dreams. Then there’s a 60 year-young runner struggling with serious knee injury, one whose doctor has just told her to stop running. Point blank. Don’t.

Do. It. The Good Doctor would be especially perturbed if he knew she was now running in some of the harshest terrain imaginable: the bone crunching, flesh ripping environment found along the Larapinta Trail, in Australia’s Red Centre.

Perhaps, at lest for this leg of the Trail Beyond’s four-ultra odyssey, Agni (Anne) Ziogos, has the most potential in the view of 76

this little ambulance chase (a derogatory term for a newshound addicted to chasing sirens across town for the sake of a story).

I’d been assigned as cameraman to help document the first outing for The Trail Beyond Team, a group of four women with various backgrounds, attempting to run four ultras in monthly succession: first the Run Larapinta stage race, the on to Japan, Hong Kong and Cambodia for varying forms of the endurance and adventure events.

Running alongside them on the Larapinta in order to document their inaugural journey, it was clear that the middle-aged paring of Caroline Pivetta and Donna Urquhart had the most in common: similar age, kids, marriages, professions and a decent degree of athletic experience. Caroline’s sporting background included running, triathlon, duathlons, swimming, netball, soccer, tennis, body building, and she is a black belt in Muay Thai kickboxing. Notably, she represented Australia in World Championship ultra-running events on three occasions, as well as being one of the few Australians to complete the Western States 100 mile. Then there are numerous Trailwalker 100km team events, club representative cross country and track, and road races including half and full marathons. She can run.

A reflective pea in the running pod – these two nattered away on trail like they were >>

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expedition adventure race in the Flinders Ranges, two 48hr events, more than ten 24hr races, some on foot, some on a mountain bike, and the rest multidiscipline outings (running, paddling and mountain biking). Then for fun, on holidays, she covered 4000km of unsupported bike travel (2500km of which was solo).

You could say she was a self sufficient, determined (you don’t get to be a helicopter pilot by being a slacker) individual. Often happier in her own company, she notes on her profile that “on the trails I finds peace, calm and incredible camaraderie away from man-made noises.”

Her journey to the Trail Beyond Team has been driven by a new focus on ultra running “to both enjoy the pure, simple joy of movement but also to explore deeper the ageless question: when should you listen to the little voice that tells you enough is enough and when is it holding you back from something amazing?”

It was a question that became ever more pertinent as she took up wingman duties to Anne, and in doing so became witness to Anne’s incredible effort of perseverance as she battled along the trail, a knee in pain, and a fear of heights crushing in on several long drop passes.

Throughout it all Olga did not leaving Anne’s side for the entire 133km.

Having crossed the finish line at Glen Helen Resort, Olga explained her perspective of the experience to the documentary camera. Her reasoning and motivations exposed as much story developing within Olga and her journey, as in any of these examples of strong women chasing dreams and juggling life. In a way, they are all fulfilling their stated aim to inspire other, regular women who may have an inkling within of a story waiting to play out but held back through the fear of attempting something that scares them.

sisters running on gym treadmills aside each other rather than up to a marathon a day on one of Australia’s hardest trails – is Donna, the driving force behind the Trail Beyond project.

An endurance athlete for 20 years, Donna went from humble beginnings completing a ‘mini’ triathlon (250m swim, 10km cycle, 3km run) to completing 5 ironman triathlons (3.8km swim, 180km bike, 42 km run), including the World Ironman Triathlon Championships in Hawaii. She also competed in national and international multisport and adventure racing events including the 48-hour Geoquest. So yes, she too can run, and certainly endure. Indeed, for these two, the inaugural Run Larapinta multiday trail event played out, as Caroline put it like “a tough, tiring, challenging training run, but still a training run. It didn’t really push us to places beyond.”

A great time on the trail, but no dramaconflict-resolution there. Perhaps that will come for the pair somewhere in the next few months as they tackle three more ultras in quick succession.

Which brings us back to Anne – who shouldn’t be here at her doctor’s behest – and Olga.

With the bung knee, Anne was the one to look out for and Olga knew it. From the first stage setting off looping around Alice Springs, she determined – to Anne’s outward chagrin but perhaps secret relief – that she would stay

by Anne’s side for the distance, while the other two ran ahead at their preferred pace.

Now, Olga can run. She could potentially run at speed with Donna and Caroline. In 2012 she crossed the finish line of her first ultra marathon, The North Face 100, less than seven days after deciding to enter it on the spur of the moment. In the two years that followed, she went on to race in a non-stop 700+km

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ere we recount Olga thoughts, reflecting on her Run Larapinta experience alongside her new running buddy.

On the Trail Beyond project

“The Trail Beyond Project means many things to me. The meaning constantly changes because there are so many facets to it; it tends to mean different things at different times.

“A lot of it is about personal growth. It started out being about being able to run, wanting to be a better ultra runner. Then the idea of the documentary came about and that scared me. Lately I have a bit of a test that if something scares me, it is probably a good idea to take it on.”

On inspiring others “Another thing is that if we are to inspire someone, what you do, and who you are has to be worthy. So in many ways for me The Trail Beyond is about growing into a person who is possibly doing something worthy.

“I have done lots of things in my life that I thought this is stupid but why not try. In the process of doing that I have had people come up to me and say ‘By watching you do that you have made me try to do something outside of my own comfort zone’.

It was a semi-uncomfortable but also an almost natural progression to try to do something with that purpose, to see if I can do something like that.

At the end of the day I am not an athlete – it is just something I love doing, something I

“...to both enjoy the pure, simple joy of movement but also to explore deeper the ageless question: when should you listen to the little voice that tells you enough is enough and when is it holding you back from something amazing?...”

- Olga Poberezonska

>>

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REASONS BEYOND FEATURE

THE TRAIL BEYOND The TB team will race: Run Larapinta 133km, 4 day stage race Central Australia (August, complete) www.runlarapinta.com.au

Shinetsu Five Mountain Trail 110km non stop ultra Japan (September) www.avid-adventures.com/shinetsu/

Salomon Lantau Trail 70 70km ultra Hong Kong (October) www.events.lantaubasecamp.com

The Ancient Khmer Path 220km Cambodia (November) www.global-limits.com/the-ancientkhmer-path.html

Follow The Trail Beyond journey at www.thetrailbeyond.org.au

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derive a lot of joy out of. One of the messages I think we are trying to deliver is that you don’t necessarily have to be good, you just need to want to do it. And the amount of joy you will get out of whatever it is you do is up to you. And has no bearing on where you are in placings (of a race). Besides, everyone starts somewhere and if you wait until you are good at something, you will never ever start.”

On the experience I took every day just as it came. I’ll take the next race as it comes as well. It is good to have started – the build up to the start of this project has been more stressful than the running. Just getting to the start line is always harder than actually starting. We looked forward to being here, putting all the organisation aside and just putting one foot in front of the other.

Being here, being surrounded by this amazing red rock, this amazing landscape, it still doesn’t fell like we have started – I feel like tomorrow we will get up again and put the shoes on and start running again.”

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On friendships of the trail “I’ve known Donna for a long time. I have started to get to know Caz a bit. Anne was always a bit of a mystery to me. Spending the last four days in close proximity, it was really good.

I think over my last 10-20 years I have fluctuated from being a lone wolf to a herd animal, but lately I have realised how much more worthwhile a lot of experiences are when you not just share it with others, but when either they are pivotal to you completing something or you are pivotal to allowing them to achieve their goals.

“Yes, there are certain individual pursuits which are really crucial to your own sense of self worth and personal development, whatever, but being part of something that you feel personally closely aligned to, and the friendship element … it grows through not just catching up for coffee, not just having chit chat about ‘how was your day’. It is about seeing each other at the lowest moment of your physical and mental capacity, and >>

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FEATURE REASONS BEYOND

#DUMPFRUCTOSE DISCOVER AN ENERGY GEL THAT WONT MESS WITH YOUR GUTS <<

knowing what you are really truly. Because we all wear masks. But when you are pushed against the wall, when you have nothing, that’s when the mask goes away. That’s when you know who a person is. You learn about that person and you learn about yourself and how you will handle it. And whether by example and just sharing that, that is what friendship is about. And that is how we will grow as friends as sisters as people.”

On running with Anne in upcoming races Japan is coming up and I guess the question is whether Ann and I will do together. I don’t think so. Maybe next race – we haven’t spoken about this yet. Even this race we didn’t speak about staying together that much. But I think I will be comfortable enough knowing that she will be able to do it, and if I am then I would like to see how well I can go.”

On reliance “Could Anne have done it without me? I think so, yes. Good question. I like to think I helped.

It’s a very selfish thing, because if I didn’t help, then it devalues what I did (in staying with her). But on the other hand – the type of person she is, she would have found a way. I definitely know that for her it was really, really 82

tough for her in places. By being there for her, at least I was able to make her feel like she was part of our team. Yes, I’d like to think that she would have been more than capable of doing the run; it would have been more difficult for her definitely, but I also think that I made the right decision by sticking with her throughout the run.”

On team dynamics “Should Donna and Caz have stayed with Anne, too? No. We had a discussion whether they were going to come with us on third day (which they didn’t end up doing), but I do think we still achieved the aim of being a team. They were able to be together and I was able to be with Anne. I will get to know them better in the next races. Hopefully I’ll be able to keep up with them. But there was no reason for them to not push themselves as well at Larapinta.

“If it was all four of us together, it would have been even more difficult for Anne because she felt responsible for holding me back a lot of the time. And it took me many times to say this is my choice. You are not making me do this, you are not asking me to do this. This is my choice to stay with you. So for all of us to hang back would have made it more difficult. I think they made the right decision. I never asked them.

And I would never ever hold that against them.

It was not something that was necessary and this way I think we achieved more.”

On personal gains One of the things I genuinely got out of it was that I was completely comfortable scrambling rocks – this is my territory, this is something I love doing. So it was something of a shock seeing someone (Anne) so strong, so strong willed, being so petrified of something that felt so natural to me. That put a mirror up to me, because here I am wanting to do something that will scare me yet there are so many things that you will throw me into and I would probably do exactly the same thing. It reminded me that I could be scared too, and that was okay. That was really valuable to me as a person.

And the other thing that was really, really amazing to see is that there were times she was crying, she was completely and utterly petrified yet there was no stage where she just froze and could not move. She was crying, but she kept on going. It was a really good example. I would like to keep that. I would like to share that. I take my hat off to her.”

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DREAMRUN IMAGE: Tegyn Angel

DREAM RUN. TIMOR LESTE 84

T

rails are woven into the geographical fabric of Timor Leste, the latest destination for Wildplans and Tour de Trails, curators of unique trail running adventure holidays.

TRM Co-Editor and guide, Tegyn Angel has spent numerous years hosting school groups exploring the small nation to the north west of Australia, and in down time, spent plenty of hours running the trails of its mountainous interior.

It was only natural that a tour would evolve.

Situating ourselves in the highlands of Maubisse, central Timor Leste, we will spend our days exploring the long ridge runs that encircle an old Portuguese homestead where we will camp, including runs to the peaks of some of Timor Lesteâ&#x20AC;&#x2122;s highest

mountains. So join Trail Run Mag, Wildplans and Tour de Trails on this inaugural trip o a running lifetime.

Limited slots on this small group expedition tour.

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EVENT Tour de Timor Adventure running holiday WHEN 1 - 10 July 2016 INFO info@tourdetrails.com Details will be posted on www.tourdetrails.com and www.wildplans.com

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FEATURE

Cloud Runner TRM’s Associate Editor, Ross ‘The Flash’ Taylor, runs high above the Unkai – cloud sea – and comes to grips with onsen culture while racing Xterra trails in Japan.

WORDS: Ross Taylor IMAGES: Simon Madden

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CLOUD RUNNER FEATURE

“JINGLE BELLS, BATMAN SMELLS, ROBIN FLEW AWAY…” GOES THE SONG IN MY HEAD. “JINGLE BELLS, BATMAN SMELLS, ROBIN FLEW AWAY…” THE HILL LOOMING ABOVE ME, SHROUDED IN MIST, SEEMS TO GO FOREVER, JUST LIKE THIS FUCKING ENDLESS MANTRA I CAN’T ESCAPE… “Jingle bells, Batman smells, Robin...”

I burst out of mist above an ocean of cloud, the sun a bright, burning ball of orange diffused by a halo of wispy cloud. The song is forgotten.

The runners around me whoop and stop to take photos, the pain of the climb momentarily forgotten at the sight of the Unkai – a vast vista of pillowy clouds, pierced only by far off green peaks. The hill drops and we plunge back into the mist.

Sometimes you find yourself in such strange situations you wonder how the hell you ended up there. In the men’s room at Sapporo airport I am confronted with a squat toilet. It’s totally different to ones I’ve used in the Middle East and I have no idea which way to face – do you shit in the deepest part or on the little platform?

Trying to take advantage of technology, I Google user instructions, but the wifi doesn’t pierce the deep confines of the men’s loos. Maybe it’s for the best anyway; I’m not sure it’s legal in Japan to watch videos of people shitting. I make the best of it.

How did I get here? Well, a little while back an email dropped into my inbox. It was an invitation to run the Xterra trail race on Hokkaido, the northernmost of Japan’s four main islands. It took me about 30 seconds to decide to go. I’d never been to Japan but I’d 88

always wanted to visit. Over the following month I was sent a few more scant details: it was a 30km trail race and I’d be going over with TRM photographer, Simon ‘The Kid’ Madden.

It was his job to make me look taller, more handsome and less bald. It wasn’t going to be an easy assignment for either of us.

It was the end of a balmy summer’s day when we arrived at Hoshino Resorts Tomamu, the site of the race, and met our genial host, Yoshi. As Yoshi led us through endless covered walkways to dinner he told us about the resort.

Built during the boom years of the ‘80s when the Japanese economy was going gangbusters and credit was cheap, Tomamu is a massive family-orientated ski resort, with four towers that stretch 40-plus storeys into the sky. Yoshi told us that summer was peak time for the resort, as tourists come to enjoy the resort’s many activities – mandatory golf course, Japan’s biggest wave pool, endless kids’ activities and the onsen (hot baths) – but also to see the Unkai (‘un’ in Japanese meaning sea and ‘kai’ clouds), a cloud inversion that fills the valley of the resort, and which can be seen from a specially built terrace at the top of the main gondola. We ate dinner in a huge, beautiful glassed dining room that felt like we were sitting in the midst of a forest. Before we said goodnight, we made plans to wake early to see the Unkai.

It took me ages to get to sleep and then, when I finally did, I was woken shortly after at 3.30am. I met Simon and Yoshi in the lobby, then we caught the bus to the gondola. In the

darkness of early morning we lined up with a surprising multitude of other tourists, before being lifted through the mist and above the thick forest. Ten minutes later we arrived at the Unkai Terrace, which looked out into… mist.

Leaving the expectant throng we instead took a thin ribbon of trail that climbed to the summit of the peak above the Terrace, and there we waited. And waited. And then, as the sun slowly slipped above the horizon, it happened, the high cloud and mist rapidly dissipated, leaving a vast blanket of cloud below – the Unkai. It was gobsmackingly beautiful.

The rest of our morning was spent watching the Xterra triathlon. The elite men’s division was won by Gold Coast triathlete Courtney Atkinson (who would make an awesome trail runner), while the women’s was won by an American athlete, Mieko Carey. Then we adjourned to Mina-Mina Beach, with it’s massive wave pool, and my first onsen experience. I was a bit nervous – not only about getting nude in front of a bunch of strangers, but also about getting my onsen etiquette correct. Luckily Simon had onsen-ated before, and took me through the process. In the change rooms we stripped naked, discussed whether it was okay to wear your glasses or not (decided not), then blindly groped our way to the next room, where we sat on little plastic stools and washed ourselves thoroughly.

Then, cleaner than I have probably been in a long time, we made our way into the calm, hot waters of the outdoor pool. The pool opened up to lush, green forest, and it was a magical experience soaking in silence in such a beautiful setting – and the most wonderful way to relax >>

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FEATURE CLOUD RUNNER

CLOUD RUNNER FEATURE

Trail Running in Japan While road running is super popular in Japan (particularly marathons), trail running is still a relatively undeveloped sport (although you may have heard of a little run called the UTMF – Ultra Trail Mount Fuji). Japan has huge trail running potential, though.

With more than 70% of its landmass being mountainous, it has unusual and spectacular terrain, which is made more mystical by its rich cultural heritage (trail running past ancient temples anyone?). One of the greatest aspects of running in Japan is the chance to bathe in hot springs – onsens – afterwards.

There are trail running opportunities all over Japan, but some of the best locations include:

Hakone

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breakfast before the start of the race. My prerace nutrition was unique: a bottle of Pocari Sweat (the greatest drink on earth), a can of Japan’s number one canned coffee (with milk and copious amounts of sugar) and a pre-made rice and seaweed snack (that I’d bought in the hotel’s lobby shop). As a mix, it went down surprisingly well.

Down at the start of the race, the runners were gathering nervously in the pre-dawn gloom.

Yoshi gave me my bear bell. As I jingled my way to the start, I felt somewhat like a medieval leper warning of impending drop limbs.

“G0” (or whatever GO is in Japanese).

Like a Santa convention but without the white beards, we took off running in a welter of ringing bells and whoops, Xterra t-shirted officials clapping and pointing the way. One hundred fifty metres from the start they turned us left, up a steep hill enveloped in the nowfamiliar thick mist.

The director wasn’t kidding about the course being up and down. The first hill was nearly impossible to run and the field fanned out rapidly as most runners dropped straight into a walk. I quickly realised that my running speed was not much more than a fast walk and 300m from the start line I was walking. It was going to be a slow 30km, and I suddenly realised that I should have brought more food than the Snickers and muesli bar I had in my pack.

It was the jingling bells that brought that old

before a race. Onsens should be part of every tapering program.

That night the 30km runners gathered up behind the towers to listen to the race briefing.

As the director gave us our instructions, Yoshi interpreted for me.

“The course is very hilly… straight up and down.”

The director slaps his quads; even I understood that.

“5am start.”

So we would get to run above the Unkai.

“Mandatory to carry a bear bell...”

“What?”

Yoshi explained that every runner has to carry a bear bell – to warn off any black bears that you might come across, which were apparently common around the resort. I had no idea that Japan even had bears, let alone bears that could eat you. Did my travel insurance cover being eaten by a bear?

Perhaps it was in the confusion of the bears and bells that I missed exactly where the course went, or perhaps Yoshi just didn’t interpret that part. It was a small but crucial bit of info that would come back to bite me later.

I went to bed early to catch up on sleep. When I finally drifted off, I dreamt about bears.

The irritatingly-cheerful ‘Ding di de dong’ of my iPhone woke me at 4am the next morning – I’d given myself 50 minutes to digest 90

Just an hour and a half west of Tokyo, Hakone is home to a large network of excellent trails and incredible vistas of Mt Fuji.

school-age rhyme back into my head: Jingle bells, Batman Smells, Robin flew away… Over and over. It was the soundtrack of that first big climb, following the wide swathe of a ski run, runners spread out and disappearing into the mist.

At the top of this first climb, with a suddenness that evoked magic, we popped briefly above the Unkai – fittingly the most glorious Unkai of the trip, all thick sea and bright sky – before we had to run straight back down the hill we’d just climbed and disappearing again into the murk.

The path down was freshly cut through low alpine bamboo and super steep, strewn with fallen bamboo leaves and loose rocks. I ran zigzags to try and take it easy on my knees. At the bottom of the hill I bounded past Simon snapping off images and tried to look taller.

The course took us out east from the resort through beautiful trails lined by Japanese fir trees and white-trunked birch. Blown apart by the opening climb and descent, the field was spread out now and I just had one runner near me, 50 metres ahead. On the steep sections of track we’d both drop to a walk. It was here that I realised one of the problems of running with a bear bell. Every time I’d start running again, the guy in front would start running as well, and he wasn’t looking back – the fucker could tell from the rhythm of my bell when I was running and when I wasn’t.

Tomamu Hoshino Resorts Tomamu has massive potential for excellent trail running, with brutal hills, thick, lush forest and, of course, the opportunity to run above the Unkai.

Okutama Two hours west of Tokyo by train, Okutama, has lots of excellent trail running on a network of trails, with train access meaning that you don’t have to do any doubling back.

Ibaraki Prefecture Just north of Tokyo is the Ibaraki Prefecture, which hosts one of the biggest Japanese trail races, the OSJ Okukuji Trail 50K, which follows paths around Mt Nantai (654m). The race is well supported by locals, who hand out pickles and pressed flowers at aid stations along the race.

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FEATURE CLOUD RUNNER

Staying safe Summer can be very hot and humid, make sure you always carry plenty of water and stay well hydrated. The terrain can be very rough and complicated, make sure to wear the right gear and know where you are going.

Check with locals as to the likelihood of coming across bears – there are brown and black bears in Japan – which can react badly if you startle them or come across their young. Always run with a bear bell in areas where there are bears. It is also worth considering carrying bear pepper spray.

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vast ocean.

From the terrace the trail dropped rapidly again, and again I tried to run zigzags as Japanese runners kamikazed down the hill with complete disregard for their knees. In no time at all I was back down the hill. As I ran back towards the towers, I thought to myself, those fuckers are going to make us run back up that first hill. But, no, they kept me running straight ahead. Ah hah, I thought to myself, we’re going to do a big loop out east! But soon I was directed back west, back towards the resort… and back towards the climb up to the Unkai Terrace.

No, I thought to myself, they couldn’t make us climb that again.

Of course they could. The climb to the Unkai Terrace the second time was brutal. If only I’d known I was going up twice. The sun was fully out now, and it was super hot and I was not acclimatised coming straight from a SoHem winter. At one point my watch was flashing up that I was doing 35-minute kilometres. It was all I could do to keep going. I was moving so slowly there was barely any jangle in my jingle bell.

But what saved me was the next verse of Jingle Bells suddenly came to me: Jingle Bells, Batman smells, Robin flew away… Wonder Woman lost her bosom flying TAA, hey!

At school we loved any mention of bosoms

After about 40 minutes the trail looped back to the resort, then past it and we headed towards what I knew would be the biggest climb of the run up to the Unkai Terrace. It was a killer climb, gaining about 350 metres in altitude in less than two kilometres, first up one long ski run to a notch in a ridge, then a final climb to the Terrace itself. It was about 7am now, and up above the Unkai the sun was fully out and it was hot labouring up the steep hill. I almost forgot to look back: when I did, the Unkai was there again, a thin quilt of cloud covering the valley.

Just below the Unkai Terrace I met Simon, who’d taken the gondola up to get into position to take photos. As I soldiered up the hill, hands on knees, I was a bit confused as according to my watch I’d only run about a third of the distance, and I knew from the race map that there wasn’t that much of the course left.

“I’ve only done 12km,” I said to Simon, “Where’s the other 18km coming from?”

“I’ve no idea, mate,” Simon said (the liar).

Simon gave me more food: some rice balls with seaweed, and as I passed around the Unkai Terrace I knew I had the worst of it under my belt. It was a good feeling running above a panorama of low clouds, with distant peaks poking their heads out like lonely islands in a 92

and would sing that line with extra verve.

Partway up the final climb I did the world’s slowest overtake, catching an older Japanese runner, who was finding the climb even harder work than me. It would be a unique overtaking maneuver for the ages. Then suddenly I was back at the summit and running back down.

I got my second wind. Knowing it was mostly downhill – and my knees were feeling good – I smashed it back down the hill.

Soon I was within the shadow of the towers and the finish. As I came into view of the Xterra banner marking the end I picked up the legs to put in a decent finish, when Simon, hands raised, stopped me three metres from the finish line.

“Sorry mate, you’ve missed the cut off.”

“What?”

“You’ve missed the cut off, you can’t finish.”

I was totally confused.

“But it’s just there,” I said, pointing to the finish line three lunges away, “Surely I can just walk over it?”

“No, you have to run the course twice.”

“Dude,” I said, “I have run it twice.”

And he made me wait while he ran back to get photos of me crossing the line.

2016

BOOKINGS

NOW!

TRAIL MUSECHRIS ORD // AUSTRALIAN EDITOR EDSWORD

THE GOAT IS TYPICALLY A SCRAPPY EATER, CHEWING ON EVERYTHING FROM A WICKEDLY THORNY THISTLE TO AN OLD NOKIA. NUTRITIOUS, ROUGH, POISONOUS, OR JUST REMOTELY EDIBLE (A GUMBOOT), ALL WILL BE TESTED IN THEIR SANDPAPERY GOB.

es story: Beau Mil

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n cole on: Jorda i t a r t s illu

Eating this way suits their nature: curious and easygoing, non-fussy and hardy. Bloody bombproof characters, really. They also have go-anywhere feet. Okay, hooves. Nimbly pimbly comes to mind. Australia has squillions of them, ranging through our temperate forests and roaming our deserts. They’ll pinch your undies off the washing line and saunter over the hill, grinding down whatever nutrition they can from your Y-fronts.

In the spirit of this beaut creature I decided to piece together a run of sorts; an opportunistic run in honour of these hardy dudes and dudine (I read train graffiti once that said ‘she aint a dudette, she’s a dudine!). It was

country roads of my home turf, sprung up as an idea; running, scrambling and eating like an opportunistic goat to get you there (to your weekend event, barmitsvah, dinner, 1st birthday party, 40th, art show opening…).

Take a wee packpack with a bottle of eucalyptus oil (makes you smell good) and some light weight dacks (pants, trousers) and you’re good to go for the gig. Your mates or better half can drive you home.

Starting from home, all geed up on a breakfast of ginormous homegrown apples and last night’s leftovers (a goatesque start to my daily intake) I headed for the bush. I live on a small farm in a hamlet of Victoria, Australia, where general stores are still the purveyor of all things local (food, gossip, info, fencing wire), and so would head to my first general store in Jindivick and buy a chocolate bar to stuff in my pack, before heading bush to find the edge of our local lake/reservoir.

It’s the end of the harvest so the roadside

also the weekend, where we juggle to do’s that might involve everything from a bar mitzvah to re-stumping the house…tasks and events of ‘ahh it’s the weekend, let’s fill the bastard up’! (Unlike the goat that cares little for the busyness of weekends and goes about Monday to Sunday as if days don’t exist, which they don’t for…the goat).

And so, I would have to make my weekend run (typically a longer one) fit around an event of some kind, in this case a 40th on Sunday. I decided to run to the shindig. I’d get to the event, a lashingly wide barbeque and homemade bar, and gorge.

Getting there, in the spirit of my goatness, I would be via a pathway of food and water, keeping the backpack lean and the opportunism ripe. If nothing else, the 40th itself would be a banquet of over-catering and micro brews to dream of whilst chaffing through the bush. And so what started out as a way of getting to the party, and a way of getting in a long run via the forest, lake and

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TRAIL MUSE FEATURE

LARAPINTA LUXE TRAIL RUN TOUR

G U I DED - O WN PAC E - ON TRA I L G L A M P I NG ACCO MMO DAT IO N H OT SHO WERS - FU L LY C ATE R E D - L I V E MU SIC & MASSAGE

19th-25th MAY, 2016 <<

2016

BOOKINGS

fruit trees are in their seasonal death throes and rotting a litter of waspy fruit. Blackberries are also everywhere (curse them for nine months of the year and gorge for a few weeks during summer and early autumn). These goatrunner favourites (YouTube a goat carefully navigating their head between gnarly stands of blackberry’s to get at the fruit – amazing!), and a bunch of other indigenous and nonindigenous morsels would be snacks as I went (bracken fern fiddleheads, buttercups). I’d eat these alone the way in getting to my next general store in Neerim, 20km away.

The run, like most long runs that carry with them a sense of anticipation (and usually a juggling load of food and water), was a ripper.

Varied over dirt track, 4x4 ruts with steep clay beeded washouts, across long sections of aqueduct pipe and linked together with singletrack and game trail, I spat out onto a shady country road that leds to the shindig. Thirty kilometers, two general stores (two chocolate bars!), a punnet or two of blackberries, half a dozen half rotten apples, fiddleheads and buttercups (for mindful taste sensations along the way – only a piss ant of calories) and two streams of tea-coloured water got me to the party without much of a need for canapés and pilsner on arrival.

And so, the story of my weekend shuffle was to run like a goat lives. Go chew on a gumboot and get there a little on the nimbly pimply side.

NOW!

Beau Miles is a Lecturer in Outdoor Education and Environmental Studies at Monash University and was the first person to run the Australian Alpine Walking Track.

He often eats like a goat. And runs like the mountain variety. www.beaumilesfilm.com 97

NUTRITION REVIEW WWW.CHERRYACTIVEAUSTRALIA.COM.AU

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VITALS 30ml shots from

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Concentrates, capsules and other products vary.

Cherry Active Reviewer - Chris Ord The nutrition crowd always throws up (no pun intended) a bunch of interesting approaches and vehicles for pushing better performance through what you ingest. But here are a few unexpected options: cherry and beetroot.

Thankfully not together.

First, Cherry Active, the mainstay product sent to us. Capsules, juice, shot or dried – you can get the cherry bomb a few ways, the thinking and research behind it being that 100% Montmorency tart cherries are a natural and high dose antioxidant and can “help to reduce exercise-induced soreness and promote rapid recovery, help improve quality of training, improve sleep and take sports performance to the next level.”

A big claim, especially if like me you’re not at the elite end where every little factor counts, rather you’re a mid-packer where the biggest difference in reality to any performance is simply to train more consistently!

Still, we all like the idea of little things that make us feel better if not physically, then mentally through the feel-good act of working them into our nutrition plans.

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The Montmorency cherries contain a mix of natural antioxidant compounds, including anthocyanins, a benefit being reduced damage from oxidative stress (free radical damage), which is high in runners. Anthocyanins possess natural, anti-inflammatory properties that can help joint pain caused by gout and arthritis. They also apparently help maintain healthy levels of uric acid and joint mobility and are a natural source of melatonin – which helps recovery.

This one is about being a jigsaw piece to the overarching aim of establishing a healthy nutritional lifestyle. The taste (for the juice and shots) is refreshing and slightly addictive, too, in the same way eating regular cherries is.

Worth a shot if you’re looking into the whole antioxidant sphere.

And the beetroot – okay, not being a fan of the vegetable, I didn’t go there. But basically the range extends to both beetroot products and blueberry products…both being supplements assisting a healthy dietary intake, the beets good for nitrates and the blueberries part of your general 5-a-day.

10 SERVE BOX

SOS HYDRATION Reviewer - Chris Ord When talking hydration, some look for miracles. And while there’s no need to get all biblical and turn water into wine when sweating out a big one, what you do want is your solution to taste as good as it can. That way, you’ll be more inclined to drink enough of the stuff and stay as hydrated as possible (without overdoing it) rather than suffer flavour fatigue.

Now, in hydration world, we all know water works best. Simple. Free. Easy to get. But sometimes - even just in terms of taste – we want a little more zest with our hydration.

That said, there is a dedicated ‘approach’ from the lab geeks at SOS. They take a stance on designing their product as a low-osmolarity drink. The theory goes that high osmolarity drinks like service station-available brands tend to pull water into the gut instead of absorbing it due to their attempt to hydrate and fuel simultaneously. They do this by adding too much processed sugar, increasing the

three times the level of sodium and six times the level of potassium as a regular Gatorade, so they are betting there is a difference to be made in replenishing these. Some in the debate point to benefits of such increasing with the length of the run, especially in the ultra zone where the body needs to grab at what it can.

Others report that SOS, being non-carb, is better on sensitive guts than others. This factor is important as lots of runners struggle with various brands on market belting their tummy around. Of course, you then have to ensure you get carbs from somewhere while drinking SOS. The debate rages on (quite fiercely between various philosophically and scientifically opposite corners as it happens), but one thing has to be agreed upon: we need to put something liquid back in while exercising at some stage. If SOS tastes good (it does) and has some extra electrolytes to juice things a bit, and is easier on the gut, it can’t hurt that it will keep us more hydrated rather than less.

amount of glucose and thereby increasing the osmolarity. Low osmolarity is meant to allow your gut to absorb water more readily and thus the SOS approach is strictly about rehydration, and not about replacing proteins, carbs, amino acids, or sugar.

There is a “very small amount of sucralose,” a non-nutritive sweetener. The majority of ingested sucralose is not broken down by the body, so it is noncaloric. The sucralose is simply about taste: a little like Lemon-Lime Gatorade, though not nearly as sweet; pleasant enough to notice and then be completely forgotten; and good enough to keep on swilling.

If you are a reader of Tim Noakes, you’ll no doubt look at any rehydration theories in general with a raised eyebrow – but then he doesn’t advocate not drinking. He’s just a skeptic when it comes to the absolute necessity for fancy additives and often pokes at the science of electrolyte replacement, especially sodium, potassium and the like. Now SOS has

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NUTRITION

Chief Bars

REVIEW

VITALS

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Reviewer - Tegyn Angel process? Chief Bars tick all the boxes on the Paleo wish list and are damn-tasty to boot. Sorry Vegans, this is a Meat Bar. As a long-time fan of jerky and biltong (dried and cured meat, popular in South Africa and marauding armies of history), and a staunch avoider of all things chemically preserved, flavoured, coloured or atomically screwed with, a bar containing 77% Grass-Fed Meat cured using traditional methods sounds heaven-sent!

What’s the other 23%? Well, in the Beef version you’ve got almonds, cranberries, vinegar, Tamari, salt, natural brown sugar (to help with the curing of the meat), cayenne chillies, lactic acid, spices (no, that doesn’t mean MSG), onion powder and garlic powder. The Lamb version features a whopping

My first thoughts when I heard about Chief Bars were, in very quick succession: A) What. The. F@ck?! and, B) That’s bloody brilliant!

Made in Sydney by a couple of athlete/nutrition experts (including one who’s a trail and ultra runner), featuring a sexy line work drawing of the hippy-cum-hipster “Chief” Mascot on the packaging and with product photography by our very own Lyndon Marceau (the man behind many of our cover shots and a car-boot full of Trail Porn), what more could you ask for? Well, how about no chemicals, preservatives, gluten or dairy and a recipe that uses only a pinch of sugar for the curing

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79% Grass-Fed goodness but swaps the cranberries for currants, drops the chillies and adds some Sunday-Roast Oregano, Rosemary, Mint and Black Pepper. That’s right folks, you can pronounce every damn one of those ingredients.

Lactic Acid, in case you’re wondering (I know I was), is 100% natural and is made by fermenting carbohydrates (like glucose, from cane sugar) in the same way as vinegar. It’s found naturally in yoghurt, kefir, cottage cheese and other sour milk products, is used to lower the Ph. of beer and gives sourdough it’s sour-ness.

While I’m yet to try them out during a race, I’d like to think that during a very long distance event (e.g. a 100 miler), a nibble here and there would get the thumbs up. I’ll definitely be taking a box along

as a safe, reliable food source to be eaten after each day of a multi-day event I’m running next month.

While clearly not a replacement for a healthy, wholesome diet, Chief Bars make on-the-go snacks simple and highly nutritious. Forget the traditional faux-chocolate, aspartame-laced, cheese-by-product protein bars you’re used to and #eatlikeachief.

DISCLAIMER: One each of the Lamb and Beef Chief Bars were provided by the Chiefs themselves for the purpose of this review. I loved them so much that since writing this review I’ve added them the Wildplans Online Shop so I can continue testing them over, and over, and over again!

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REVIEW

TRAIL SHOES // PEARL IZUMI E:MOTION TRAIL N2

Image: Chris Ord

take outs PEARL IZUMI E:MOTION TRAIL N2

Great for: Everything.

Seriously. Everything.

Not-so-great for: pronators at a stretch – but there is a pronator version. Otherwise, they are all round goodness.

Test Conditions: Larapinta Trail – rough, sharp, super technical, hard underfoot

Tester: Chris Ord, Trail Run Mag editor

Tester Mechanics: mid foot striker, tends to more technical style running routes, mostly 1530km range outings.

VITALS

$199 AU $209 NZ Information online at: www.facebook.com/ pearlizumiaustralia

PEARLER PERFORMER IT SAYS IT ON THE TONGUE OF THESE: “RUN LIKE AND ANIMAL.” SO I DO. OR I CAN. BECAUSE THESE SHOES LET ME. THEY GIVE ME THE CONFIDENCE TO. AND NOT JUST ON ANY OLD TRAILS BUT KNARLY, ROCKY, BITELY, SLASHY, TRIPPY ONES LIKE THE LARAPINTA TRAIL, IN THE HARSH BUT BEAUTIFUL DESERT HEARTLAND OF AUSTRALIA. THEY WERE WORN OUT OF THE BOX, TOO. AND DAMN DID THEY PERFORM.

Pearl Izumi E:Motion Trail N2

Germany, Pearl Izumi has a background in cycling, triathlons and road running, but has successfully extended to off road running, its shoes finding favour from the moment they hit the market. The secret – a focus on innovation in materials and design without too much of the waffle for the sake of sales, and with a dose of punk attitude. I like that.

There are two models for trailites in the main, the N1 and N2 (pictured), the former being a racing shoe and the latter a training, although they are essentially the same shoe with a few key point differences, so you can use both interchangeably. I mainly tested the N2 (pictured). Billed as a neutral shoe, the last has been dialed to accommodate a neutral

I’ve been waiting for Pearl Izumi to hit our shores for a while now, first being exposed to the brand overseas. With origins in Japan and the United States, now based in Colorado and 102

to supinator running gait in the main (okay they use a bit of waffle here dubbing it the E:MOTION – why do marketeers always feel the need to capitalise!?).

From the outset these shoes felt sublime on. The mid-foot fit and feel benefits from a foot-hugging upper with a seamless inner meaning no-socks is possible (not for this stinky duck, though). The thin mesh upper breathes beautifully (it got warm up in the Red Centre), the fine fabiric again providing comfort feel. The no-fuss, broad and flat(ter) outersole, is composite carbon rubber, which proved incredibly durable against the seriously rippy terrain. The grip at first glance seems less aggressive than the best performers in

And as we know, a pearl has long been a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable

this sphere, with lower and more spread out lugs. But the set up works nevertheless, the shoe locking on anything I leapt upon.

Underfoot protection is high, yet balanced by reasonable trail sensitivity and superior foot stability. It seemed to hit a sweet spot of balance between feedback and protection , delivered via a 24.5mm stack height (including mid and outsole), with a dynamic offset of 4 mm at initial contact to 7.5 mm at mid-stance.

Double take? Doesn’t a shoe usually just have one figure for it’s heel-toe differential? Not the Izumis. Designers pushed back the ‘spring’ action of its cushioning about 2cm towards the mid foot, and created a dynamic range of offset that changes through the stride. So this is a

heel-toe that ranges from minimalist 4mm to getting more traditional at 7.5mm (traditional rated as being in the 12mm+ range).

The result is a smoother ride than I have ever experienced throughout the foot strike.

I believe this especially suits me as someone who tries to strike in the forefoot but falls back a touch (maybe by 20mm?) as I run long.

The foam used throughout the sole gives good energy rebound – how that plushness plays out in durability, or disintegration of the stack structure over time, is still to be judged.

A rock plate in the forefoot adds further protection making it idea for the super techy trails we tested this on.

What about the N1 ‘race’ version?

Differences? It has a more minimalist trail cushioning platform with a dynamic offset of 1mm (rather than 4mm) at initial contact to 4.5mm (rather than 7.5mm) at mid-stance.

It’s lower profile with a heel stack height of 19.7mm (includes midsole and outsole), 4.8mm less than the N2 and it has been on a slightly better diet, at 261gm (size 9), 22grams lighter.

Overall both shoes seem to strike the perfect chord across all the major checkboxes: comfort, grip, stability, trail feel, durability.

Fittingly, then, Pearl Izumi literally translated, means, “fountain of pearls.” And as we know, a pearl has long been a metaphor for something rare, fine, admirable and valuable. Spot on: this certainly is a gem of a trail shoe.

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REVIEW

TRAIL SHOES // ICEBUG ZEAL

Image: chris ord

take outs ICEBUG ZEAL

Great for: grip, grip, grip and racing fast

Not-so-great for: fat feet, maximalists

Test Conditions: mixed singletrack, some technical, lots of downhill twisty stuff, soft mud

Tester: Chris Ord, Trail Run Mag editor

Tester Mechanics: mid foot striker, tends to more technical style running routes, mostly 1530km range outings.

VITALS

$189.95 /AUD Further information at: http://icebug.com.au/

GRIP ZEALOT THE SWEDES DO EVERYTHING BETTER. THEY DRESS BETTER (H&M). THEY DESIGN CARS BETTER (SAAB, AND, ADMIT IT EVEN A VOLVO CAN BE SEXY). THEY FLAT PACK FURNITURE BETTER (IKEA).

THEY DO BETTER THRILLER DRAMA (GIRL WITH DRAGON TATTOO). THEY DO BETTER VODKA (ABSOLUT). OKAY, SO YOU CAN’T COMPARE AN AUSSIE VODKA WITH A SWEDISH ONE – WE’VE NEVER REALLY PRODUCED A VODKA THAT DOESN’T REQUIRE A PAPER BAG AROUND IT AND AN AMBULANCE ON HAND.

Icebug Zeal

My point is that they do trail running shoes better, too.

And like a good Viking freshly landed on foreign shores, the Swedes are invading and conquering rather quickly in the form of Icebug, a range that in some respects is shifting the market. In our opinion that shift is twofold: firstly in terms of grip. Nothing on the market compares. Point blank. Secondly: in crossover – these like no other brand have blurred the lines between suitability for trail running, rogaining, orienteering and obstacle course racing. And in all of that it comes back to point #1: grip.

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A look underfoot makes it patently clear why the Zeals in particular are leading the mud-claw charge. You have to double-take and check you’re not looking at a footy boot: 14 rubber studs each with smaller rubber spikes a few millimetres high. Front and back the sets are joined in threes and twos by ridging that adds further to ground grab and forward propulsion assistance.

Midfoot there is a hard plastic bridge with small pyramid spikes that are pointy enough to bite your finger. These are aimed more at usage by the rogainers and those going really

wild (imagine landing midfoot on a black-spot slippery log mid-bush bash – this is the only shoe that will bite onto that log firmly).

These shoes are specifically designed for any mix of rough, icy, slippery, soft and sloppy stuff, but given the grip profile, they’re not for hard-packed surfaces on which the aggressive sole can unsettle a runner. But fire roads where grip isn’t the defining shoe feature required is not what these are designed for.

Rather, they are to charge up and down muddy banks and hills with confidence, and in that department they deliver in spades.

Indeed, they actually add to speed on twisty technical stuff, allowing cornering like you won’t believe. Tested on a favourite downhill section chock full of rapid twists and turns and rocks and roots, I repeatedly timed myself wearing these versus other shoes. The Zeals won out by seconds each time (the path is about 250 metres from top to bottom on a vertical drop of 50m).

The Swedes have few faults, but if one had to be picky about the Zeals, it’d be that they

keeping in foot warmth, which works well in colder conditions. The rubberised rim that rises around the heel further keeps out the guff. This all becomes a slight downside on hotter days, however, as they aren’t the most breathable shoe on the market (the Mist model is much better for this featuring a breathable mesh). Also, if you do dunk them in a river, they don’t drain overly well, keeping some of that H20 inside until you take them off to empty. Even so, their comfort factor rates highly, even when fully wet.

These shoes are for the serious grip monster, looking to tear up tight, technical courses with plenty of ascent and descent, but perhaps not much longer than 20-30km unless you’re on a super soft course, the likes of an ultra obstacle.

A famous Swede (Ingrid Bergman) once said: Be yourself. The world worships the original.

Well there’s nothing else like the Zeals on the Australian market, so a few trailites may start worshiping these exports from a country where true innovation is the rule rather than the exception.

are on the slender side. The last is thin and long with the rear in particular sweeping back to a minimal ground coverage heel.

Interestingly the heel houses some interesting function. A moulded midsole cradle on the interior has a heel cup height that is slightly reduced at centre back in order to reduce pressure at the Achilles tendon.

Your running technique in the Zeals has to be good (and preferably on a forefoot strike), not only because of the small landing platforms, but also because they aren’t full of cushion up front. Up rear there is a little but not lot more, adding up to a low-slung 6mm.

This allows excellent trail feedback despite the large lugs, meaning they favour a more minimalist runner.

Although originally designed for icy Scandinavian conditions (think snow slush and ice), I find the Zeals come to the fore in plenty of Australian conditions, especially winter and shoulder seasons. We have plenty snow and mud slush, so the sleek canvaslike (actually nylon textile) non-absorbing upper shed a bucketful of wet stuff while 105

REVIEW

TRAIL SHOES // RAIDLIGHT TRAIL DUAL FINGER

Image: chris ord

take outs RAIDLIGHT TRAIL DUAL FINGER

Great for: grip, trail response, lightweight racing, minimalist Not-so-great for: big toewebbed runners, those who like to keep things simple

Test Conditions: technical trail, steep ups and downs

Tester: Chris Ord, Trail Run Mag editor

Tester Mechanics: mid foot striker, tends to more technical style running routes, mostly 1530km range outings.

VITALS

$169 /AU Further information at: www.hardcorebrands.com.au/

SPLIT THE DIFFERENCE IF I COULD UNDERSTAND FRENCH, I COULD TELL YOU WHAT THE WORLD THOUGHT OF RAIDLIGHT’S DISTINCT TRAIL DUAL FINGER SHOES. BUT I CAN’T (PARLE FRANÇAIS), AND IT SEEMS THE ONLY RUNNERS REVIEWING (AND WEARING) THESE ARE FRENCH (NEVER SAY I DON’T ALWAYS DO MY HOMEWORK WHEN REVIEWING). YOU SEE IT’S ALWAYS GOOD TO KNOW WHAT OTHER THINK IN COMPARISON TO YOUR OWN EXPERIENCE IN CASE IT’S “JUST YOUR FOOT SHAPE”, BUT ON THIS OCCASION I’LL HAVE TO PROFFER UP IN A VOID OF ALTERNATIVE OPINION. A SHAME, AS I

BET THERE ARE MANY AND DISPARATE VIEWS ABOUT A PRODUCT LIKE THESE, SUCH IS THEIR POLARIZING POINT OF DESIGN DIFFERENCE: SPLIT TOES. Before we go further, here’s the obvious downside: you need a bunch of five-toe socks (Raidlight sells its own brand or you can get something like Injinji). But let’s assume you have a drawer full.

So do these provide a positive trail running experience and does the design add to the running experience in any way?

My initial concern: why slice up a perfectly good toe box, and thereby only introduce more points of potential weakness in terms of more 106

Raidlight Trail Dual Finger

rub zones and more stitching and exposed glued rubber that can come apart?

Raidlight’s answer is: “Proprioception; allowing your large toe to move independent of the other toes allows for a better feel of the ground, better grip and a more adequate deformation of the front of the sole on technical grounds. This dual support for the front of the shoe mirrors the double foot support references found in nature such as those of the Chamois and Ibex.”

There: it makes you more like a mountain goat. But does it?

Well, in a way, yes. Testing certainly turned my toes and mind around, in that there

was a noticeable (if slight) positive difference in my big toe moving, curling, reacting, gripping independently of the rest of my toes. The natural motion and movement felt good, no doubt, and the trail feel was definitely in a class of its own, aided by a minimal 3mm heel toe drop and unfussy outersole.

The grip pattern is sparse compared to many, but in fact does the job well, gluing to the ground where needed, but leaving no cling-on mud underneath.

But back to the toe-design. I found running flats and especially ups, it certainly aided running. I climbed like an Ibex.

Where I had issues was on the down, especially anything approaching steep. Toes forced forward on each impact, the incursion on my webbing began to grate, and indeed there started to gain some rub on the inside of my toes on either side of the hoof-split. It was only was present on the downhills, however, abating once I was on more reasonable ground.

Otherwise, the toebox was indeed roomy, with a good fit firming in the mid upper and around the heel.

In all other aspects these shoes were a joy

toughest of tough terrain – these have a line up of other clued-in features. Interchangeable cushioning pads can be swapped in and out to users and terrain. As with all Raidlight custom shoes, lifespan can be increased with the brand’s re-soling service (send your munted pair back and they will re-sole for free).

The split toe won’t be for everyone, but for those willing to give them an outing, especially on technical terrain, you will be surprised at the comfort and the fact that the most noticeable design feature actually delivers on being more than a gimmick.

Notably testing was not undertaken with these beyond 20km, and I would like to know the fatigue induced on longer runs with the big toe working (more) independently – does that action tax the feet more, or less, over the long run.

The only actual downside on test – a degradation of comfort on the steep downs – may also be down to my particular foot shape and the between toe webbing in particular. Who knows? I’ll tell you once my Google search finishes translating the French reviews online.

to ride. Lightweight, grippy as mentioned, comfortable in the main and super responsive.

The shoe was developed in conjunction with Lafeet, a Japanese brand that specialises in developing split-toe technology. The concept of isolated toes (confusingly dubbed Dual-Finger) comes from Japan’s long history of this type of footwear, called ‘Tabi-Shoes’.

Indeed punch that into Google and far from just getting a bunch of ye olde sandals from the pages of Samurai Ninja history (they are popular in martial arts), you’ll find there’s a plethora of fashion versions from leather boots to ones that you can wear with your thongs (flip-flops) still on.

The style has jumped across to trail running thanks to Raidlight founder Benoit Laval who drew a link between super responsive ninja footwear and trail running when he visited Japan.

Response is what this shoe is all about, even beyond the split toes. The secure fit means less movement around the foot, keeping things confident on gradients and technical terrain.

As with other Raidlight shoes – which traditionally have been marketed more at adventure racing athletes and thus the 107

REVIEW

TRAIL SHOES // VIBRAM FIVEFINGERS TREK ASCENT

Image: Tegyn Angel

take outs VIBRAM FIVEFINGERS TREK ASCENT

Great for: all variety of trails, especially rough, slippery, loose terrain.

Not-so-great for: Lovers of clown shoes, trails with a lot of small saplings/tree roots.

Test Conditions: Technical and non technical single track, urban trails

Tester: Tegyn Angel, Barefoot Lover and Associate Editor

Tester Mechanics: mid foot striker, downhill banshee.

VITALS

$199.95

aud

Information online at: www.barefootinc.com.au

STICKY FINGERS IT’S BEEN A LONG WHILE SINCE I DID MANY MILES IN A PAIR OF VIBRAM FIVE FINGERS (VFF), BUT IT WASN'T ALWAYS THAT WAY. EARLY ON IN MY ULTRA CAREER I SAW MINIMALIST, OR ‘BAREFOOT’, SHOES AS THE KEY TO INJURY PREVENTION AND DEVELOPING A NATURAL RUNNING STYLE. WHILE I'VE LARGELY MOVED AWAY FROM TOE SHOES EXCEPT IN GYM WORK, IT'S NOT BECAUSE I THINK I WAS WRONG. I STILL KEEP THINGS PRETTY FLAT AND THIN (A 6MM DROP IN A PAIR OF INOV8 X-TALON

Vibram FiveFingers Trek Ascent

212S IS ABOUT AS MAXIMAL AS I GET), BUT WHY DID I LEAVE THE RAISED EYEBROWS AND APE REFERENCES BEHIND? To be perfectly honest, I got injured on a damned bicycle. I smashed up my heel pretty badly and it was either put some rubber between me and the ground or stop running entirely. A simple choice, really. But given I had so many pairs of VFFs laying dormant, why reignite the love affair with a new pair of toe shoes? Peer pressure.

There's no two ways about it, toe shoes are 108

divisive. People either love the idea of them and can ignore the haters, or violently loathe them as an abomination, disgraceful to both good taste and podiatric good sense alike.

A law suit over some exaggerated health claims didn’t help matters much, but we mustn’t forget that the class action brought against VFF “does not suggest that minimalist shoes like FiveFingers are not good for you, only that Vibram may have overreached in its advertising claims” (OutsideOnline.com). I’m still a staunch supporter and it was great to see how far they’ve come!

Sporting a new outsole material called ‘Megagrip’ and a pretty damn aggressive tread-pattern Vibram, for those unfamiliar with the name, make the best outdoor shoe soles on the market, period. And they do it for a hell of a lot of name-brands, like GoreTex make waterproofbreathable fabric for garment manufacturers.

Five Fingers are the only complet product made

by Vibram and The Trek Ascent, as with all VFF, are an evolution of one basic premise: let your feet do their thing as freely as possible, but add a little sport-specific enhancement to help them do it better and more safely.

This model is targeted at trail runners and hikers and it doesn't disappoint. Aficionados will recognise this as a replacement for the KSO Trek, a model targeted more at hikers than trail runners, but it performs well for both. Sporting a new outsole material called ‘Megagrip’ and a pretty damn aggressive tread-pattern, the

Trek Ascent is designed specifically with loose, slippery, natural surfaces in mind.

With a 4mm sole and 4mm footbed (and woollen sock-line, lush!) the stack height is substantially more than some of the more minimal VFFs, but this doesn’t seem to come at the expense of groundfeel. It’s a little heavier and more cushioned than the trail runningspecific Spyridon MR, but this would probably to serve to make it better suited to long distance.

Up top is a polyester and spandex upper, with a ripstop weave along the toe box to maximise durability. The speedlace system, similar to that found on Salomon shoes, has been redesigned, too. While it not only allows for quick microadjustments, the ‘lacing’ approach makes it far easier to get the shoe on and off.

While there’s plenty to love about the

Trek Ascent (and the Leather/Hemp LR version), there’re a few issues, sure. The shoe, particularly around the ankle bones, is built up and wraps the foot to minimise debris entry but can rub on ankle bones if they’re prominent.

And not to mention… well, no, that’s about it. I really can’t find much else wrong with them.

Oh, well, maybe one thing. WHAT IS WITH THE SMELL? It seems no amount of antimicrobial treatment can stop these babies from smelling if you wear them without socks.

Really, surely there’s a way? Or are my feet just particularly prone to leprous decay and predisposed to violent beatings of nasal cavities?

Five Fingers aren’t for everyone, but that’s ok.

For those that like them, these are awesome!

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TRAILPORN

TRM EDITOR, CHRIS ORD, HITS A SPECTACULAR DEAD END AT AN OLD WEIR WALL, MITCHELL RIVER NP, VICTORIA, ON RECCE FOR A NEW 22/55KM TRAIL EVENT IN OCTOBER. SIMON MADDEN

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TRAIL PORN

PRESENTED BY

STILL ON THE (SUCCESSFUL) HUNT FOR SUBLIME SINGLETRACK IN MITCHELL RIVER NATIONAL PARK. EVENT: WWW.ADVENTUREFESTIVAL.COM CHRIS ORD

NIGHTFALL ON THE UTMB TRAIL 2015.

PASCAL TOURNAIRE

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TRAIL PORN

PRESENTED BY TRM COLUMNIST SPUTNIK GETS HIMSELF INTO A TIGHT SPOT (AS USUAL), IN THE SLOT CANYONS OF THE UNITED STATES. SPUTNIK SWASHBUCKLERS.COM.AU

BRIDGE OVER IDYLLIC WATERS, PUZEHEI, CHINA. CHRIS ORD

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TRAIL PORN

PRESENTED BY

TRAINING ON THE TRAILS OF THE NEW PEARL IZUMI BUNDY RUN IN NOVEMBER. WWW.WILDHORIZONS.COM.AU DAMIAN BREACH 116 116

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TRAIL PORN

PRESENTED BY ZAC MILLER, WINNER OF THE CCC, BABY SISTER (IT’S STILL 100KM) TO THE UTMB. MICHEL COTTIN / UTMB

BIG MOUNTAIN BACKDROP ON THE HIGH TRAILS OF UTMB 2015.

FRANCK ODDOUX

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TRAIL PORN

PRESENTED BY

VICTORIAN RUNNER KELLIE EMMERSON ON HER HOME-STATE SURF COAST TRAILS. SHE RETURNED AFTER THIS SHOOT TO WIN THE SURF COAST CENTURY 100KM ULTRA IN RECORD TIME. CHRIS ORD

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TRAILGUIDE Images: Damian Breach

1 to 1.5 hrs

BUNDY RUN

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Bundanoon, Southern Highlands, NSW

YOUR GUIDE: Huw Kingston, The Pearl iZUMi Bundy Run, www.wildhorizons. com.au

RUN IT:

The Bundy Run guide takes on the quarter marathon course of the new Pearl iZUMi Bundy Run, being run for the first time in November 2015 by Wild Horizons (www. wildhorizons.com.au). But this one’s so special we reckon it’s worth a recreational recce run (or a few), showcasing as it does the incredible views and landforms around the village of Bundanoon. The featured Morton National Park hugs the southern side hosts quiet streams, soaring cliffs, inaccessible valleys and diverse vegetation, all prime environment for a good trot.

Bundanoon’s cafe’s, head past the local school and down the aptly named Constitution Hill.

Before reaching the bottom of Constitution Hill take a turn left and head down Governors Street and a boardwalk trail winding through forest.

creek and begin to wind along the Glow Worm Glen trail.

3. 3km from the start, take a right turn where the trail comes out onto Riverview Road, a dirt vehicle track, then left at the next junction, signposted to Amphitheatre Lookout to now head toward the cliff lines and your first glimpses of the Bundanoon Gullies.

1. After a caffeine heart starter at one of

4. Follow a steady downhill grade on the Amphitheatre Track including steps, a rocky creek line and a walkway cut into the cliff itself.

You will be under no illusions now that you are in rugged country. The now undulating trail will compete with the views for the eyes attention as runners cross streams, rocks and narrow ledge tracks and brush up against ferns overhanging the trail.

2. You’ll come out onto some blacktop

and briefly head through some very quiet residential streets: up Panorama Ave, right into Viewland then right, to the end of William Street. Here begins the Glow Worm Glen steps away from town down into Morton National Park. There’s no point visiting the Glow Worm Glen to see the little critters unless you’re a night runner so turn right 160m beforehand (signed ‘Dimmocks Creek Car Park 860m’), duck under an ancient tree, skip across a small

5. After less than a kilometre beneath the cliffs, what went down must surely come up. But, before you do, at timber steps, 123

TRAILGUIDE trail tips NAME: The Bundy Run NEARBY TOWN/CITY: Bundanoon, 2 hours drive from Sydney or Canberra

EXACT LOCATION: Bundanoon Post Office or your choice of cafe.

TOTAL ROUTE DISTANCE: 10.5km TOTAL ASCENT/DESCENT: 400m TIME TO RUN: 1 to 1.5 hours TYPE OF TRAIL RUN: Loop DIFFICULTY: Moderate DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS: The Bundy Run has it all: a bit of running to start/ finish in a cute little town, big cliffs, cascading waterfalls, lookouts over what locals describe as the ‘undiscovered Blue Mountains’ and a real mix of vegetation.

A good half of the run is on narrow trail with some stairs and platforms along the way. There are sections of rocky, uneven ground, particularly once you head below the cliffline.

FEATURES OF INTEREST: Bundanoon

continue on a further 300metres to view Fairy Bower Falls from its base. A spectacular place particularly after rain and a perfect spot for a cold shower on a hot run. Retrace your steps to the steps and go up, up – the sign tells you there is no way other than ‘steep’ - then along a metal walkway to the top of Fairy Bower Falls. The Lyrebirds will be mimicking your every breath. A short stride to cross a little creek where a hundred years of children’s mini stick&leaf waterwheels have worn grooves in the rock. You may well see some spinning there.

6. The Bundy Run continues on the steadily climbing Fairy Bower Track toward Gambells Rest Picnic Area, ignoring the left hand trail that makes a much steeper climb to Fairy Bower car park. Once out on the dirt road, 7km into the run, turn left and let the legs loose on a loop past Sunrise Lookout, Grand Canyon (worth a very short diversion) and on around to Gambells Rest Picnic Area and Campground.

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(aboriginal for ‘Place of Gullies’) is a friendly little town nestled on the edge of the huge Morton NP. As the World’s First Bottled Water Free Town (www. bundyontap.com.au), this town takes its environmental responsibilities seriously and there are plenty of drinking fountains in town. The Bundy Run will take you to lookouts such as Grand Canyon and Sunrise and on one occasion weaves a route down the cliff face of The Amphitheatre via stairs and platforms hugging the cliff. A very short diversion will bring you to the base of Fairy Bower waterfall, a tempting spot for a cold shower on a hot day.

7. You leave Morton NP here and rejoin the blacktop for the final 1km back to town.

For those that remember the descent at the start of the run, trepidation will set in as the Constitution Hill looms in front. But it’s only short and soon you’ll be back in town having tasted your very own Bundy Run.

online

POST RUN GOODNESS:

MAP/S: Bundanoon & Southern Villages Tourist Guide, a free guide from local cafe’s/accommodation places has a good map of the run area. MTB Trails of The Southern Highlands is the best 1:25000 scale topo map of the whole area covering not only the run area but also endless trail run opportunities in the district including the well known trails of Wingello State Forest and routes from the Highlands to Kangaroo Valley. $16 from local tourist offices, cafes or online from www.wildhorizons.com.au (new 5th edition available November 2015).

Ye Olde Bicycle Shoppe or YOBS, an institution in Bundanoon for over 50 years, has great coffee and cakes and is perfect for a post run brekkie too (11 Church Street Bundanoon, (02) 4883 6043). Jumping Rock Cafe (1/3 Chrusch Street, Bundanoon) doubles as the town bakery and is the place to soak up the morning sun with a flat white and a fresh out of the oven snail.

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TRAILGUIDE Images: Alli Elliott

1.5 HOURS OR 2.5 - 3 HOURS

SWAN HILL Your guide: Toni Gracia www.therunningjourney.co Heading north along the Calder Highway towards a big expanse of tedious Mallee desert in north west Victoria, it’s easy for all hope of any trail running goodness to vanish, the flat expanse wedged between Swan Hill and Hopetoun promising nothing but boring dust paddock running. Then, as you round the corner 7km out of Sea Lake, all prayers are answered with the appearance of an apparent inland sea, Lake Tyrell. The largest salt lake in the state, complete with astronomer’s deck, it is a unique beauty just waiting to be explored. Stop and enjoy this popular spot and you’ll find a further 30km around this ancient lake, well off the beaten track, lays an undiscovered gem that you are guaranteed to have all to yourself.

RUN IT:

1. The trail starts at about 12km off the Calder Highway on Pier Millan-Chinkapook Road where you can see some orange flags.

If planning to run 14km point to point, you will need to organise a car further back on the highway near the entrance to Cheetham Salt Works or a nice friend who will pick you up. If 126

Lake Tyrrell, Victoria, AU

you are craving a little extra salt goodness, you have the option of the full 25km return.

2. You are instantly wowed as you enter the

start of the trail run with a jaw-dropping elevated view of the mammoth lake and its beauty covering 180 square kilometres. It is dry most of the year, but sometimes, especially in winter, there can be a shallow layer of water. After a few happy snaps, simply follow the rally track ahead along the fence line and you are on your way. Don’t expect to be highfiving runners along here – in fact I have never seen or heard of another runner here (yet)!

3. There are two running options as you run: the single tracks through the trees and cliff lines or the rally track which can be quite muddy after a rain (doesn’t happen often).

Either will get your heart racing.

4. Just under 2km along you will see some tyres on your left and a little access point which meanders down to the salt lake beach.

There are several points along the way that give you access to the salt lake, and depending on the time of year and the firmness, you can choose to run along the salt pans for a unique experience.

5. A couple more kilometres into the run you are graced with another breathtaking view and an accessible inlet that you are able to run on, followed by a series of small continuous

hills with equally interesting views. The next couple of kilometres of trail running will be slow as the photo opportunities are irresistible. This is the part of the lake that the tourists rarely see, so enjoy!

6. The next few kilometres of the track

get flatter and closer to the lake, but rather muddy. Expect to slip and slide occasionally.

7. From 9km onwards you can run on the salt pans quite easily – a soft and welcome ride that is peaceful. Soon you will see your first sign of civilisation; a farm located on your right. What a location to live!

8. Run another kilometre across the salt flats and you will start to see little islands in the middle of the lake. Weather permitting and if the lake is firm enough, sometimes you are able to wander across the lake to visit the islands and the seagull breeding grounds within. Just watch for the kangaroo tracks and follow their lead.

9. From here on in, the trail is relatively flat and covered in saltbush and bare trees. At about 12km there is an array of smaller salt pans coming off the lake where you may be able to find a stunning salt crystal to take home as a souvenir.

10. At 12.5km you will reach a warning sign as you are close to entering Cheetham Salt

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TRAILGUIDE trail tips NAME OF TRAIL: Salt Lake Safari Nearby Towns: Nandaly 17km (15 minutes), Sea Lake 40km (25 minutes), Swan Hill just over 1 hour

Exact location: Turn off is located between Sea Lake and Nandaly on Daytrap corner, 5km before reaching Nandaly.

Follow Elliots Road which veers right into Pier Millan-Chinkapook Road (a dirt road). The public access point (Box Clump) to your secret haven is located on your right at first sighting of the lake. There are no signs so keep your eyes peeled, although I don’t think you could miss this view in the middle of nowhere.

Total route distance: Approximately 14km or a 25km return loop Total ascent/descent: 66m/70m for the point to point

Time to run: Approximately 1.5 hours or 2.5- 3 hours hour return Type of trail run: Point to point, out and back

Difficulty: Easy to moderate (depending on how much rain)

POST RUN GOODNESS:

Works, Australia’s largest producer and refiner of solar salt. You can choose to turn around at this point for the 25km or take a sharp right around the side of a smaller pink lake for 1km as a diversion from the Salt Works. When you hit the road, take another sharp right and head up the entrance road another 200m and your run has concluded (and hopefully your shuttle car has arrived!).

You may be wondering where on earth you can eat in these remote desert lands, but if you pre-book, you may be able to convince the local Nandaly Hotel publican (8km) to open his doors for lunch and a beer if you make it worth his while (03) 50781220. If it’s a night time meal you are after, a spontaneous arrival will be no problem. A mere population of approximately 200 people, Nandaly will be sure to complete your whole country experience. Otherwise, you can venture back to Sea Lake, where you will be looked after at one of the two cafes for an enjoyable lunch or a feast of takeaway to enjoy under a staggering sunset at the Stargazing platform, followed by the clearest night sky that you will have ever laid eyes on.

Note: Avoid this run on the June long weekend each year if you want to avoid being knocked down by a rally car. Any other weekend you can expect an undisturbed paradise in the middle of nowhere. Heaven! For the more adventurous, it’s worth noting that it is 88km around the entire lake.

Defining characteristics: a mixture of undulating dirt road used for a rally once a year, some hillier single tracks and flatter salt pan running. It can be quite sandy or muddy in places depending on the weather, but comprises a varied mix of terrain and mind-blowing views to keep it interesting.

Features of interest: Noted as one of the best places in Australia to view the stars due to the light pollution free skies (an astronomer’s dream), it is worth taking advantage of the camping/accommodation options back in Sea Lake and visiting the star gazing platform for a total experience.

Additionally, wildlife is rife with a mixture of kangaroos, emus, Mallee reptiles and white-faced chats, and the ever-changing sunrises and sunsets are extremely popular.

Google Maps

Map of Area Web

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TRAILGUIDE

COASTAL CRACKER

South Wyrrabalong National Park, Bateau Bay, NSW, Australia

1 hour

Your Guide: Melissa Robertson www.crackneck.com Located on the southern end The Entrance, on the sea side of Tuggerah Lake on the midNSW coast, Wyrrabalong National Park (north and south) provides great opportunities for great coastal running. The southern section we’re focusing on here near Bateau Bay has spectacular coastal views, abundant wildflowers in spring and is known as an excellent place to watch migratory whales from late May to August.

RUN IT: 1. There’s plenty of places that you can start

this run from, but the best is Shelly Beach.

Head out following the path in the front of the surf club heading south, the initial run takes you up out of Shelly Beach carpark as you follow a narrow trail beside the road.

2. Turn left at the intersection with the stop

sign and follow the path beside Bateau Bay Rd. Don’t worry you’ll be heading into the bush soon.

3. As soon as you pass the sign for Blue Lagoon

Beach Resort take a sharp left, past the little wooden fence and follow the trail into the bush. This bush is pretty thin, so if you do get lost, you can’t get too lost. Follow the main trail as it winds along the edge of the headland past the lookout overlooking Blue Lagoon, then take a right hand turn and continue along the trail until you reach the open parkland above Bateau Bay beach. If you miss the right hand turn, don’t stress, all paths lead to Bateau Bay, but if you find yourself climbing down a cliff, that is wrong, turn around and try a different path.

4. Head straight across the park at the top of Bateau Bay (admire the view as you pass) and enter the little bit of a bush with a single trail at the other end of the park.

5. This will spit you out into another park with a couple of new cement paths; follow the path up onto the lookout platform (which was built

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12.Watch your footing on the decent from Crackneck as it’s well known for tripping runners up.

after a car managed to go backwards down the cliff). Admire the view while running the length of the platform then run past the top of the boat ramp and find the sign posted single trail at the end of the carpark.

Post run goodness:

6. From here you get to climb to the top of

Crackneck lookout, this is a nice little technical climb, just stick to the path the whole way up and watch your footing on the washed out track, lose rocks and random roots that will try to trip you up. If you get tired there’s even a seat at the halfway mark.

The run conveniently finishes at Shelly Beach Surf Club where you can get coffee and brunch at Muncha’s Café and enjoy it while sitting by the beach. www.munchascafe.com.au

7. You’ll emerge from the bush at Crackneck lookout, as you cut straight across the carpark turn around and have a look at where you came from, you can see Shelly Beach in front of the golf course.

TRAIL TIPS

8. Across Crackneck carpark enter the trail at

NAME: Shelly Beach to Cromarty (taking in all of The Coast Walking Track)

the other end, it’s a nice wide and easy to run trail, there’s a few paths which lead off it but stick to the main track, make a sweeping right hand turn and enter the sand trap as you turn to the left and continue running on a slight uphill along the sandy course. Depending on the time of year this section of the trail has some magnificent wild flowers, spring time is of course when it’s at it’s best.

NEARBY TOWN/CITY: Shelly Beach, the run starts and finishes in front of Shelly Beach Surf Club

EXACT LOCATION: Shelly Beach Surf Club TOTAL ROUTE DISTANCE: 8.8km TOTAL ASCENT/DESCENT: 210m

9. There’s a couple of track heads as you make your way to Cromarty lookout, but they’re all signposted, so stick to the main track and follow the signs.

TIME TO RUN: 1hr easy pace TYPE OF TRAIL RUN: Out and back DIFFICULTY: Easy

10. The track leads along the top of the

DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS: A good

headland with views to the ocean on the left and the mountains to the west of Bateau Bay on your right. Some of the best views are from the top of the metal stairs, where you can also see your final destination, the tower on the next headland. Descend the stairs and follow the track as it passes by one of the better whale watching lookouts, also known as “where the cows used to fall over” (according to the stories). Don’t worry, there’s a fence there now.

introduction to trail running with some technical tracks and a couple of good climbs, but with very little chance of getting lost.

FEATURES OF INTEREST: Lots of views, excellent whale watching (if you’re willing to stop) and a wonderful display of wildflowers, particularly in the springtime.

11. Climb the wooden stairs until you emerge at Cromarty lookout check out the view and take a short jog over to the tower for some more views. Of course make sure you circle the tower, then head back the way you came.

Online Map

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TRAILGUIDE GUIDE & IMAGES: Nic Hope / r6nic on movescount or GPSies

1.5 hours

WHITE ROCK RUN

Your Guide: Nic Hope Wherever you are in the world, it always pays to check in with the local trail running crew to snuffle out the best (usually hidden gem) trails. Here, is one from the files of the Springfield Runners Group (check them on Facebook), exploring some of the best trails within the 2,500ha White Rock - Spring Mountain Conservation Estate.

It features the rocky outcrop highlights of White Rock and Spring Mountain located within a culturally significant bushland.

RUN IT:

1. The trail head is in a small carpark in Paperback Plats picnic area at the end of School Road. Gates open at 6am and close at 6pm.

2. Six Mile Creek track is the first part of the loop and signed at the beginning of the trail.

It is a well maintained fire access trail, gravel under foot with a few sandy patches. There are a number of rocky outcrops off to the side. About 700m in the trail name changes to White Rock multi-user trail.

3. At 1.2km you come to a set of two

T-junctions where you will dogleg to continue south. Turn left then right after 50m. This is well signed so follow the White Rock trail signs.

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White Rock, Ipswich, Queensland, AU

4. A further 700m along you make a left turn

totally uninterrupted views but that’s another trail story. Check the view HERE

to start heading east towards White Rock.

There is a sign at this junction suggesting that the trail continuing south is closed, but we believe this to be incorrect – an outdated sign not et removed.

7. When you’re ready, head back along the single track to the top of the stairs. From here you can return along the same path but we are going to go straight ahead and head along the White Rock Ridge Track for some single track fun. Hey, you’ve climbed to the ridge top you might as well run it. Plus it’s a Strava segment so get your speedy on once you know the trail.

8. The trail from here is proper single track just worn from use and not maintained so keep a watchful eye out for massive roots and rocks.

Signage has reduced to random guideposts with some arrows on them every now and again. The track follows along the northern side of the ridge for about 400m where there is a little clamber not dissimilar to the White Rock scramble up onto the top of the ridge. Up on top is a large flat rocky area with views back to White Rock. Due to underfoot being just plain rock you lose the trail here. Just follow along the northern edge around and you will find where the single track continues.

5. Now the fun stuff starts. At the 3km mark

you make a left turn and start ascending towards White Rock. There is a random picnic seat here and a few other locations along the route. From this point you start to climb on a narrowing gravel trail that weaves up towards the ridge. This then turns into stairs taking you the last 50m. The stairs are typical of bush stairs, good construction but no rhyme or rhythm to the spacing. It’s a good fast little pinch if you like uphills.

6. At the top of the stairs is a T-junction.

Right is the White Rock Ridge Track where we will return on and to the left is White Rock itself. This is the first time you can actually lay eyes on the rock and it is a short 150m run along a single track to the front of the rock, and another picnic bench. From here the only real view is of White Rock itself due to the reasonably dense bushland surrounding. There is a little well used scramble path off to the left as you look at the formation. The views from the top are largely uninterrupted for 260 degrees from Swanbank around to Springfield.

Behind you is Spring Mountain where there is

9. The single track now follows along the top of the ridge. The bush is not as dense as down below so there is some pretty good views out both sides. There is no more real climbing so just run and enjoy. The bush starts to close in as you get lower and the trail flattens out. The odd kangaroo has been known to pop out of 133

TRAILGUIDE trail tips NAME: White Rock and Ridge Track loop NEARBY TOWN/CITY: Springfield Lakes – 11 km (7 minutes’ drive)

EXACT LOCATION: Car park located at end of School Rd Redbank Plains. No access off Centenary Highway directly onto School Rd. Short drive through Augustine Heights and Redbank Plains will get you there.

TOTAL ROUTE DISTANCE: 7.3 km TOTAL ASCENT/DESCENT: Ascent 147m / Descent 146m

TIME TO RUN: 1.5 hours conservatively with stops

TYPE OF TRAIL RUN: Loop DIFFICULTY: Easy DEFINING CHARACTERISTICS: Mix of fire access track and well-worn single track following a ridge.

FEATURES OF INTEREST: White Rock is

here and scare the life out of you.

10. At 5.3 km pop out of the single track back

onto the fire trail. 100m to the left is the dogleg turn taken earlier. Again you can head back to the carpark this way but we are going to go right and hook up with the Yaddamun Trail.

11. 700m along you come to a 5-way junction under the large power distribution lines.

These lines carve a path right through the Conservation estate and the Yuddamun trail follows mostly along here. Look right and you can see off to the distance where the trail continues along and follows these lines. Straight ahead is a dead end near the Centenary Highway. Sharp left is an access trail to the lines tower up on top of the hill. Left is where we are going and again has a guidepost sign with “YT” on it.

a place of high cultural significance and an important women’s area for the local Ugarapul people. It is referred to as “Nugum” or “Boogun” (dog). The traditional owners request that visitors respect their cultural beliefs and resist the temptation to climb White Rock. The White Rock – Spring Mountain conservation area functions as the headwaters for seven major waterways. Along the trails you will come across numerous dry sandy riverbeds.

flowing downhill to get the leg speed up again.

Follow this trail for around 1 km and it will pop you out at the top carpark.

Post run goodness:

Online

Springfield Lakes is a 7-min drive back from the White Rock Conservation carpark. This suburb is brimming with coffee shops, parks, large shopping centre with all of the usual retailers and a lagoon to start the legs recovery with a quick dip. Around the lagoon is Journeys Kitchen and Bar (www.journeyskitchen.com.au) which does killer coffee and breakfast. They welcome us not so nice smelling trail runners and have ample outdoor seating if you are of the extreme end of the scale of trail aroma.

Maps

12. The trail here is not a fire access trail but still relatively well maintained. Underfoot is mostly loose gravel and sandy dirt. Nice and

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