Rotorua’s Michael Voss knows the trails surrounding his hometown well but is under no illusion that will make for an easy day out at this weekend’s Tarawera Ultramarathon. Voss, who took victory and a course record in the Tarawera 50km race in 2020, has stepped up to the 102km event this year and is looking forward to his first taste of the Ultra-Trail® World Tour. “I live just down the road from the forest so I’m pretty familiar with the…
REVIEWER: LAUREN SHAY Trail Brew was a godsend at the Scenic Rim Ultra 110km in 2019. If it weren’t for the ample supply of this electrolyte mix at the checkpoints on that hot (unusually hot for October in south-east Queensland) day, I’m sure the DNF rate would have been much higher. Trail Brew is an Australian-made endurance sports energy drink and all-in-one nutrition source. There are various other all-in-one electrolyte and energy drinks on the market, some of which I’ve…
inov-8 and COROS Wearables have teamed up to help people reap the rewards that running and exercise bring to mental health. The two sports brands have launched their Step Up & Play Your Part Challenge in a bid to amass 21 million steps of responsible exercise before the end of January 2021. To do this they are calling on runners, walkers and all sportspeople to log their daily number of steps on the inov-8 website here. And while both brands are promoting exercise…
WORDS AND IMAGES: SARAH FOSTER Ultra runner Sarah Foster likes piña coladas. Fortunately, she also doesn’t mind getting caught in the rain! In 2020, she took a break from the cattle station she co-manages in outback Queensland to run and fast pack the rugged Thorsborne Trail on Hinchinbrook Island. Here, she shares her story for Trail Run Mag. I grew up on the coast north of Townsville, Queensland, in a little Italian town called Ingham (and no, it is not…
Comfort. Stretch. Support. Three critical factors when it comes to women’s running shorts, and I reckon RunFaster has nailed them. I’ve tried all sorts of running shorts over the years – loose, form-fitting, 2-in-1 – and found that most ride up, roll down, chafe, and irritate me to tears. But not RunFaster. These tights-style shorts are made of quality Supplex material that’s stretchy and comfortable with a supportive compression feel (there are also seawater and chlorine-resistant active swim material options)….
BY ANDY BLOW – SPORTS SCIENTIST AND FOUNDER OF PRECISION HYDRATION Much of the literature on hydration has focused on what athletes should drink during exercise, but your hydration status before you start exercising can have a huge impact upon your athletic performance… The benefits of starting exercise hydrated When people talk about hydration, most of the time it’s about what and how much athletes should drink during exercise. These are clearly important questions, but your performance is also massively influenced by how hydrated you are when you start exercising in…
Trail running is a niche sport, and a lot of trail runners like it that way. But as more people are converted to the trails, we need a collective voice and pathway for development. A group of Tasmanian trail runners is taking a bottom-up approach to this, creating a state association they hope will empower athletes and lay the foundation for national representation. Story by Lauren Shay. Tasmania’s wilderness is trail running at its best. Raw, gnarly and breathtakingly beautiful. You could even say Tassie is to Australia what Chamonix is to France in terms of pure trail–running awesomeness. More people around Australia and the…
The Surf Coast Century 100km and 50km ultra trail marathon has received the green light to proceed on 5 – 6 December 2020 in Anglesea, Victoria, with limited entries remaining for solo competitors and 90 relay teams remaining After processing the Victorian Governments COVID-19 road-map to reopening and Victorian Premier Daniel Andrews’s announcements on Sunday 8th November, Torquay based event organisers Rapid Ascent are very excited to announce that this year’s event can go ahead. It will now become one of the only…
Photos: Majell Backhausen Trail runner and ultra athlete Majell Backhausen explains why takayna Ultra, in north-west Tasmania, is full of heart, connection, and like no other event he has experienced in the world of trail running. I’d like to acknowledge and pay my respects to the traditional owners of the lands which this event is held, the people of takayna. And pay my respects to their Elders past, present and emerging. As I scan the space in Marrawah Hall, it’s…
82-year-old Hubert Zohrer. Photo: Michael Werlberger Organisers and participants – including a daredevil 82-year-old runner – had to overcome more challenges than usual at the third staging of the inov-8 Descent Race on the world’s most notorious ski slope. Featuring an insanely steep gradient of 80%, the legendary Streif – on the Hahnenkamm mountain in Kitzbühel, Austria – is regarded as the toughest on the world cup ski circuit. In this innovative event format, runners raced 350m down its fearsome slope, negotiating near-vertical blind drops…
