Kiwi Grant Guise has been using the mountains of Wanaka as a training ground for what he faces at Hardrock in coming weeks… his training regime is gruelling by any measure, but with a flight to States and the realities of Colorado hitting home, he ruminates on the past few weeks’ preparation which had its scares. My “Camp Hardrock” is done and dusted, and I am licking my wounds… I said in my first post about how my 200km “crash…
Dear Diary, this year I had a miserable run at Ultra-Trail Australia. Some days you have a great race, some days you don’t. 2017’s UTA was a poor one. I guess it happens? So what went wrong and what can I learn from it? Endurance sports are, at least at the amateur level, perhaps the most incredibly arbitrary of all sports. Dictionary.com defines arbitrary as “subject to individual will or judgment without restriction; contingent solely upon one’s discretion.” I can…
TRM’s Associate Editor, Tegyn Angel casts his eye to the bloom of multi day trail running events that spring up in exotic locations, with only a thin veneer of ‘competition’ but a thick layering of adventure. IMAGES: courtesy of events When my teenage self learned that people paid, and were paid, to go on guided hikes into incredible places like Everest Basecamp and Macchu Picchu, I couldn’t believe my ears. What a rort! How do I find some silly bugger…
Majell Backhausen previews an event that promises to change the lives of not just westerners who take up the seven-day challenge, but also the lives of a few Nepali locals… It’s already April. The year is passing by quicker than it did last year and funnily enough, quicker than the year before that, too. There has already been a few “where does the time go, how will I get through another week at this pace?” fretful moments. If the sentiment…
Adventure runner Beau Miles has released his trail running film, Trials by Miles, on You Tube for free viewing. Here he looks back at the adventure he documented… It was five years ago that I ran, ah, shuffled across the Australian Alps Walking Track. So here I sit, thinking about that wet-dry-dusty-snaky trail in what was seemingly one-long-day, yonks ago. Setting off from Tharwa ACT at 6:45am on day one and drinking Moet in the Walhalla rotunda 13 days-10 hours…
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…
Victorian adventure athlete and dedicated vegan, Jan Saunders, was looking to become the first Australian to run 866km through the French Pyrenees in an inaugural endurance event, the TransPyrenea challenge which began on 19th July. She’s still out there, competing but facing tougher conditions than imagined, she is now in the La Pastoral edition, an abridged section of the full course, that is still brutal at 450km+ This is an interview with Jan before she headed out, as seen in the latest edition of Trail Run Mag downloaded…
Everyone loves hearing the inspirational feats of the elite runners. Our jaws drop as we hear the winner’s time (9.20…how is that even possible?). But what went down in the middle of the pack? Is there anything to learn from those runners for whom a silver buckle is a distant dream?For anyone who is more likely to crawl up the Furber Steps than sprint, and who maybe had a little meltdown on Nellies stairs, this is for you. Here are some…
While plenty of attention is garnered by the front runners, we reckon the more moving and inspirational tales of ultra running are found further back in the pack, as with the likes of Brett Sammut whose story from 2015 ran in Edition #17 of Trail Run Mag. With Ultra Trail Australia happening this weekend, we thought it worth a look back at Brett’s experience in the Blue Mountains. WORDS: Chris Ord When life becomes too much, some run away to oblivion. Others, like Brett Sammut, reach…
Would you allow your 12-year-old daughter have a go at running 75 of the hardest trail kilometres in New Zealand? That was the quandary for trail event organiser, photographer and Hillary Trail legend, Shaun Collins and his wife Madeleine, faced when their daughter Zara decided whatever Dad can do, she should be able to. Just before the 2016 Hillary event kicks off, Trail Run Mag caught up to get an insight from both Shaun and Zara. [This article appears in the…
