Innholdsfortegnelse for Spring 2024 i Trail Run

The vast landscape of running equipment, spanning from high-tech footwear to advanced training methodologies, can introduce complexity and bewilderment into what is essentially To distil running back to its purest form, there exists a straightforward drill that can be performed at any time and in any place, which will transform you into a model of running efficiency, devoid of reliance on modern gadgets. The renowned 100-up exercise stands as a time-honoured technique that runners can adopt to both augment strength and cement a robust base for their running prowess. Christopher McDougall and Eric Orton, the collaborative minds behind Born to Run 2: The Ultimate Training Guide, are staunch advocates of the 100-up routine. They believe in the concept of invigorating our lower extremities by stimulating our joints and syncing our…

The Everest Base Camp trek is one of the most iconic routes on the planet. There are few outdoor enthusiasts who wouldn’t love to see this remarkable part of the world. I’ve been lucky enough to spend quite a bit of time in Nepal, and every visit brings with it new experiences and an even deeper love and respect for the people, culture and natural wonders the country is brimming with. On this occasion I was there with a unique purpose, to help a friend become the first paraplegic to walk using braces to base camp. His story is truly inspiring and worthy of an entire issue of the magazine, so I won’t go into detail about it, as a couple paragraphs wouldn’t do it justice. But let’s just say…

131 hours and 11 minutes. Say that out loud with me! That’s how long it took for this tired, broken, Aussie runner to move her sore and exhausted legs from the Santa Monica Pier in Los Angeles, all the way to the ‘Welcome to Las Vegas’ sign in a wild, unsanctioned foot race called The Speed Project (TSP). Of that grueling 131hr journey, only about 15 of these were allocated to sleep. Not much. The rest of them were spent breathing in thick desert dust, eating ridiculous amounts of food, and working as a team to navigate our way through the biggest “choose your own adventure” race of my life. The beauty of TSP is that each runner’s experience is entirely unique to them. With no set route or rules…

Many people get into trail and ultra running for different reasons: to improve fitness, curiosity, to tick off a bucket list item or to test physical and mental limits. My path to ultrarunning was a little different. I wanted to run to save a forest. Having run trails for years but not knowing it was an actual sport, when I saw the takayna Trail event down in lutriwita/Tasmania in mid-2019, I felt drawn to do something out of my comfort zone to protect it. I wasn’t overly sporty or competitive, so I needed additional motivation to go from half marathon to ultra, and this fight to save a rainforest was just that. Training for the 65km race along windswept beaches and through ancient Gondwanan rainforests felt more doable with the…

Notorious. Formidable. Herculean. What words spring to mind when you hear the words ‘Barkley Marathons’? If you’ve been running for any amount of time, chances are you’d know of this famous American ‘race’ that is as elusive to enter as it is to ride a unicorn. Okay, maybe not that elusive, but still… you get the point. The basics: Barkley Marathons is an ultra trail event held in Frozen Head State Park, Tennessee and is considered to be one of the challenging ultras. Having started in 1986, it holds a limit of 40 participants, and entry is by invitation only – there is no website, and we wish you the best of luck in finding out how to register. The course consists of 5x 20-mile loops (32km) which must be…

*WE WILL BE FEATURING A SIMILAR ARTICLE IN THE NEXT EDITION OF TRAIL RUN MAGAZINE WITH NEW ZEALAND’S TRAILS CLOSE TO CITY CENTRES! It happens. Sometimes you switch the bush for treadmills, cruisy downhills for pavement bashing, and your foam roller’s been gathering dust for weeks on end. But what if you could be on the trails in under an hour? The number of nature trails in or around our Australian cities is more than you think. Even Melbourne has some spectacular national parks and gorges all under an hour from the CBD. So, dust off your foam roller, prep your packs, and get ready to be racing along technical tracks, and puffing up punchy hills before you have time to put on your toe socks. Keep your eyes open…

17-19 MAY 2024 – LARAPINTA TRAIL, NORTHERN TERRITORY, AUSTRALIA: Back in March 2023, I ran Kunanyi Mountain Run, a tough 68km race in Tasmania which triggered my love of tough endurance runs. The pain of completing it though soon wore off and I was on the phone to my run coach, telling her I had found my next challenge – the West Macs Monster 128km. It was to be a gift to myself for my 50th birthday, and I thought this would be my first race in the next age category, maybe even standing a chance of a top 3 in age category! What I didn’t know at the time was there were no age categories for West Macs, and so not only was this to prove that 50 wasn’t…

As with all sports, trail running comes with its unique language. Terms are thrown about casually by the more experienced trail runners and can leave those of us newer to the sport a little perplexed. With trail running priding itself on inclusivity, let’s get you up to speed on the more common terms you will hear when you are next out on some ‘Single Trail.’ AID STATION/CHECKPOINT: To ensure you have enough support, aid stations will be situated at various distances on the racecourse. These are an opportunity to stock up on your hydration (water) and nutrition (food). If you have a support crew this will be a chance to meet up with them. Spend enough time to get what you need but not too long; beware of the chair…

KALORAMA MEMORIAL RESERVE, VICTORIA, AUSTRALIA Roll up, roll up! Melbourne’s Mountain Run is coming around again on October 19. This Australian trail running classic has had a makeover: all the same races and excitement of last year’s edition jam packed into ONE action packed, fun and fantastic day rather than TWO. Whether this is your first trail run or your 100th, this weekend has it all. Choose from the Kids Carousel 2k, 12k Twilight Mad Mouse, 23k Single Loop, 46k Double Loop Ultra, or go bananas and do both the 12k and the 23k (Full Throttle) or the 12k and 46k (Beast Mode) in the one, epic day. The Dandenong Ranges are an easy one hour drive east from Melbourne’s city centre with the trails a mix of smooth gravel,…

Rodney Rutherford can lay claim to some of the most enthusiastic applause at the finish lines of trail runs across the world, but it’s not because he’s the fastest or the most famous. The 72-year-old from Queensland’s Gold Coast hinterland is a true veteran of the sport known among the community for fostering joy and camaraderie in the more than 100 events he’s entered, and hopes to give people, especially those around his age, encouragement to think if he can do it, so can they. For almost 40 years, Rodney has travelled to marathons and ultras always with his wife Jan and daughter Jaylene in tow as supporters. “They’re my secret weapons, I don’t think I could compete without them,” he says. “I like to think that running has given…

01 - WHAT IS MENTAL FITNESS? Mental fitness has been described as the struggle to continue against a mounting desire to quit. More concisely, it’s a capacity to endure. Being mentally equipped to over-ride the desire to quit enables us to achieve challenging goals. Invest in your mental fitness through running. The skills are transferable to other areas of life. 02 - HOW DOES HUMAN ENDURANCE MANIFEST? Human endurance has physical and mental components. Physical endurance is assessed in laboratories by measuring HRmax, VO2max, lung capacity and lactate threshold. It’s also studied using time to exhaustion experiments on a treadmill or bike. Outside the lab, training improves physical endurance. Our racing performances reflect physical endurance…plus mental endurance. Mental endurance is difficult to study. Attempts have been made but results are…