Editorial: change (and face the strange)

Bowie knew it. I tell it to my daughters all the time: change is the only constant in life. The presence of change never changes. Learn to embrace change or wither. Especially on trails. But more so in life. Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes / Turn and face the strange / Ch-ch-changes / Don’t want to be a richer man / Ch-ch-ch-ch-changes As the world turns and burns, the wistful almost pleading tone of Bowie’s voice seems like something I want to take onto…

Editorial: the Rocky Horror Show

If trail running was a movie genre, what would it be?   Is it a romance? We get soft and gushy when we talk about it (at least I do). And like any newly-minted relationship we can’t stop talking about it, much to the eye-rolling chagrin of those outside of the union.    Then there’s the three–month honeymoon period where it’s all rosy and you’re on a high. Inevitably trouble sets in – little niggles, arguments of the mind and body begin…

Editorial: Failure is for Winners

Feel like a bit of a loser? That ain’t no bad thang if the lessons are learned and you rise back up to continue the fight, writes TRM Editor and closet America’s Got Talent watcher Chris Ord, in his latest editorial, as published in Edition #32 (subscribe here, purchase single edition digital or print here).  My daughter fumbles on the piano keys. The storm clouds don’t rumble gently on over, rather with the instant crackle of lightning they snap-flood the room in darkness. “I’m no good at…

Editorial: Fear & Failure

“Make fear your tailwind, instead of your headwind.” – Jimmy Iovine.   I was watching Netflix instead of getting my daughters to bed. Instead of lifting kettle bells. Instead of doing squats. Instead of running. I hadn’t run in a week and a half. I could argue that it was because I feared exacerbating a potentially race-stopping injury. The truth is that I was paralysed by an all-encompassing fear of what lay ahead.    Jimmy Iovine’s comment is on point. Fear shouldn’t…

Tarkine to host new ultra

Everyone loves a new ultra but when it comes aligned with a cause that seeks to protect our wilderness, the announcement resonates all the more deeply within the trail community. So we welcome the news that the Bob Brown Foundation will host a new 70km ultra-marathon event, the takayna Ultra, in Tasmania’s stunning north west. The event will take trail-runners across a wild and remote region; over grass plains through coastal eucalypt forests, and along open beaches, dunes and impressive rocky shorelines along the rugged wild coastline of…

Trail running almost killed me. Twice.

Trail running almost killed me. Twice.  Both times I faced The Moment. That’s the one where, as melodramatic as it sounds, you think: “This is it. This is the moment it all fades to black”. It’s not so much a ‘goodbye cruel world’ moment; more a ‘you dickhead, what have you done?!’ moment. This is a bit drama queen-y, I know, and in retrospect embarrassing, because I know better. Trail running involves risk and therefore should involve risk management. Judge…

The Hardrock Diaries: kissing the stone

Via his Trail Run Mag blog, many of you followed Kiwi Grant Guises’ second journey to ‘kiss the rock’ at the Hardrock Endurance 100 Mile Run in Colorado, US. We know he finishes and puckered up after 100 gruelling miles, but how did the journey go down? Here’s his post-event take… (IMAGES: Clark Fox) My final week or so pre Hardrock was ticking along smoothly. I migrated south from Leadville to the San Juan’s and quickly started to meet up with old…

Trail Run Mag launches print quarterly

In a bid to become Australia’s first print magazine dedicated to the trail running lifestyle, Trail Run Mag (AU/NZ) has launched a Pozible fundraising campaign to encourage runners to become subscribers and help the magazine transform from digital entity to flesh and blood quarterly magazine. Readers can subscribe initially via the Pozible campaign HERE. **The special offer subscription period will only be available until October 24**  In taking up the inaugural quarterly print offer they will have the opportunity to take up a…

Trail Run Mag goes to print quarterly

IT’S COMING!  Yes, your favourite dirty magazine is finally going Back to the Future. We’re getting some flesh on our traditionally digital bones, and making the move to becoming a grown-up subscriber-based print magazine that will be delivered directly to your door. We are, after all, 21 editions old! Time to grow up! Sort of. So here’s the plan. We’ll launch in coming weeks (late September 2016), a Pozible campaign to rouse enough interest via your subscriptions to push the print button. You’ll have the…

Run Larapinta: a rollercoaster ride

TRM trail reporter, Nicki Letts, and her partner Mat head to the iconic Red Centre of Australia to take on the rough but rewarding ride that is Run Larapinta, a multi day running adventure along the eponymous trail.  “You’ve got to be kidding me!” My disbelief echoes around the towering red gorge walls as I watch my running partner, Mat, heave his tired legs up the vertical rocks. This cannot be the right way. For the past eight kilometres, we’ve been…