Table of contents for August-October 2021 in Trail Run

Have you ever had one of those days when everything has gone wrong, and you think to yourself, “Well, at least I remembered to put pants on!” Then you get that sinking feeling. “Wait, did I?!” You quickly look down and yep, you do have pants on – phew! Almost every time I wear the T8 Women’s Sherpa Shorts V2, at some point, I have to look down to make sure I do actually have them on. That’s because these running shorts are so ultralight, it almost feels like you’re butt naked! The super lightweight 78gsm fabric keeps you cool and chafe free, making both longer and shorter runs a breeze. But these shorts aren’t called Sherpa for nothing. Like their Nepali mountaineering namesakes, the Sherpa Shorts V2 can carry…

WHY run one peak when you can run three? Or three plus one? 2022 marks the 38th annual Three Peaks Mountain Race, one of New Zealand’s longest-running trail events. Established in Dunedin in 1984, Three Peaks started as a 26km race named after the three peaks of Flagstaff (668m), Swampy (739m) and Mt Cargill (676m). The Three Peaks Plus One event was added in 2020 as a 52km ultra, but it’s now 55km. Not only does the Plus One include 22km of the iconic 26km Three Peaks route, but it throws in an extra mountain just for kicks. Organised by the Leith Harrier & Athletic Club Inc., the Three Peaks Mountain Race offers three distances: 55km, 26km and 11km. If tough is what you want, then that’s what you’ll get…

TRAIL CREW NAME: Alice Springs/Mparntwe Dusty Divas BIRTHDAY: September 2020 REGION: Mparntwe (Alice Springs, NT) MEMBERS: 199 AVERAGE RUNNERS AT EACH HOOK UP: 5–15 per run AVERAGE HOOK UPS A YEAR: Once a week SHOES OWNED IN TOTAL: Sooooooooooooo many UNOFFICIAL CLUBHOUSE: The great outdoors WEBSITE: Alice Springs Dusty Divas on Facebook 1. HOW DID YOUR GROUP BEGIN? A small group of female friends were training together for a big local event. Afterwards, we wanted to return to running for fun and friendship, so we started a regular meet up. The idea was to open up trail running to more women of any age, fitness and ability. 2. WHERE DOES YOUR GROUP RUN MOSTLY? We do a rotation of local mountain biking trails, usually a 4km–8km loop. The trails are…

IN THE WINTER OF 2011, I was an angry trail runner. As I am reminded by my inked words on page 10 of the first “Collector’s Edition” of Trail Run Mag, its debut in print. There I was, launching a new magazine on a whim, an agnostic prayer and a retrenched man’s budget, hoping to inspire Australia’s then-nascent trail running community with words and imagery of dirty goodness, and all I could commit to the page was anger. Anger at blood being spilled in Palestine. Anger at our addiction to screens. Anger at the pollution of our rivers. Anger at a close friend’s ultimately lost battle with cancer. Anger at my inability to pay an electricity bill. As I wrote 10 years ago: “I’m angry about big things tonight, and…

PERSPECTIVE IS A FUNNY THING. Events can look very different depending on where you’re standing as you view them, or when. Sometimes, one looks back at one’s life and ponders, “Did I really do that? What on earth was I thinking?” This could apply equally to blissfully setting off to hitchhike to India with only a few dollars to your name or attempting to eat a 2kg steak as big as your head. Nowadays, whenever I hear Easter Island mentioned in a nature documentary or tourist brochure, my eyes glaze over, and I’m back in 2016, in the pre-dawn glow at Ahu Tahai, a ceremonial platform just outside Hanga Roa, Rapa Nui’s only town. THE CORAL eyes of the moai glowed menacingly from inside its silhouette. The only sounds were…

THE LONE PEAK is now 10 years old (the same as this magazine!), and it has come a long way in that time. Previous models have been reviewed on these pages before, and this shoe still has a legion of loyal fans. It is Altra’s flagship trail shoe, mid weight and tough as nails. But does this latest iteration, the Lone Peak 5, still deliver the goods? I took them out to see for myself. Before lacing them up, let’s look at some of the updates for the shoe nerds out there. The Lone Peak 5 features Altra’s signature wide toe box and zero drop. The MaxTrac outsole remains but with an enhanced tread pattern, and there’s also an improved stone guard. The upper has been cleaned up considerably, with…

WE dirtbags like our trails rugged and tough, right? In fact, the wilder, the better! Sadly, our wild trails and ancient forests are increasingly under threat. One such area is Pilliga Forest in northwest New South Wales. But the For Wild Places crew and The Wilderness Society have decided to do something about it. The two organisations have teamed up to stage the inaugural Pilliga Ultra, which aims to raise awareness and funds to protect the forest from coal seam gas extraction. Pilliga Forest is a wildlife refuge that also feeds clean water into the Great Artesian Basin. Featuring spectacular rocky outcrops, stunning views and rare eucalypt woodlands, it has been home to its Indigenous custodians, the Gamilaroi people, for millennia. However, the planned 95,000-hectare Narrabri Gas Project will see…

Brad Dixon is a holistic physiotherapist, endurance coach and wellness evangelist based at EVERFIT Physio & Coaching. Connect with Brad at www.everfit.co.nz and on Facebook, Strava and Instagram (everfitcoach). His book, Holistic Human, is available through his site and Amazon – see our book review on page 28. Are you ticking off your training sessions week by week, then getting to race day and wondering why your results are plateauing? Do your sessions lack focus? Does your training detract from the rest of your day rather than enhance it? Nurturing an environment for absorbing training is paramount. Otherwise, your running training will not be effective. It’s the equivalent of using slick mountain bike tyres on a muddy track: a whole heap of energy goes in, but no traction or forward…

OPEN YOUR EYES, Look up to the skies and see … At irregular intervals during the day and night, this voice propels its owner – Claire O’Brien Smith – forward on the Cape to Cape Track. She’s alone, except for the occasional visitor – the kind she fears, the kind she’s hoping to sing away. The dreaded snakes. But the snakes, if they sense her, don’t mind. And after a while, either does Claire. Such is the power of song – especially during a 130km run on a rugged coastline trail in the southwest corner of Western Australia. Any way the wind blows doesn’t really matter to me, To me. In February 2021, Claire set off on an unsupported fastest known time attempt on the Cape to Cape Track, which stretches…

RUNNING ISN’T CANCELLED United States, 5 mins Director: Ben Clark We are excited to introduce the Pansa Boyz. Born and raised in New York, these heavyweight personalities celebrate inclusiveness in the New York City running community. In 2020, they were on a mission to race at Ragnar. Then, COVID-19 happened, impacting the team’s health and testing their ability to stay connected. This short film is an inspired journey where “social distancing does not mean running is cancelled”. PEAK OF POSSIBILITY New Zealand, 21 mins Director: Ben Wallbank – Cheeky Weka Productions This film from a grassroots New Zealand filmmaker shares the intimate and challenging story of Tanya Bottomley. Tanya spent years in a relationship marred by domestic violence, then discovered the world of ultramarathons, which became her saviour. In December…

THE FUTURE OF TRAIL RUNNING IS: Graphene! So believes UK footwear brand inov-8. And it may be on to something with its TrailFly Ultra G 300 Max – a moderately cushioned yet adaptive trail shoe featuring G-FLY™, the world’s first Graphene-enhanced foam. But before we get into the nitty-gritty, I need to get something off my chest… THEY’RE GREEN! These shoes are uppercase GREEN like no one’s business. I find myself shouting, “MY EYES!” every time I look at them. OK! Back to business. So, what is Graphene, and why should you care? Graphene is the thinnest material known to man (a mere one-atom-thick film of carbon). It is also incredibly strong – about 200 times stronger than steel – and flexible. In fact, this material is so versatile that…

I am not tech savvy. When it comes to apps, I am the poster child for the KISS principle (keep it simple, stupid!). Because if it ain’t simple and easy to navigate, I run for the hills … then get lost because I don’t know how to use my map app. Thankfully, the AllTrails Pro app is a well-organised, easy-to-use trail navigation platform that did not send me into a spin and actually got me excited about maps! AllTrails partnered with National Geographic Maps in 2012 to deliver a comprehensive map service. There are two versions of the AllTrails app: the free version and the Pro. The free version already has some cool features: you can find trails near you (there are 200,000 trails worldwide, 5,000 of which are in…

DO you have the physical and mental resilience to take on the gruelling yet stunning trails of the South Island’s former “Quartzopolis”? The Resilience Ultra will push you to your limits. Journey into New Zealand’s rich mining past via old mining roads and tramways, though native beech forests and the historic goldfields of Victoria Forest Park, while helping to raise funds for the New Zealand Red Cross. Resilience Ultra covers three distances: the 62km Ultra (2,285m elevation), 33km Painkiller (1,110m elevation) and the 10km Gold (142m elevation). All distances set off from beautiful private farmland on the outskirts of Reefton township, on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island. The 62km Ultra is a fully marked course along gravel mining roads and undulating farmland, taking in the infamous (and…

The hills are alive with the sound of trail runners cruis-inggggg! Have your own Sound of Music singalong while conquering the mountains that featured in the iconic musical at the mozart 100. Set in the stunning city of Salzburg, Austria, the mozart 100 offers the ultimate trail-running challenge. Bursting with beauty and variety, this epic event treats runners to spectacular landscapes of brilliant green fields dotted with wildflowers, magnificent lakes, and the imposing peaks of the Eastern Alps. And if you like vert, it has it in spades! There are six distances to choose from: the Mozart 100 (108km), Mozart Ultra (78km), Mozart Marathon (42km), Mozart Light (31km), Mozart Half Marathon (21km), and Mozart City Trail (9km). There is also a relay option for the 108km and 78km distances. The…

WHEN Mal and Sally Law fastpacked the Hardrock 100 course across the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, United States, in 2018, they returned home to Wanaka wondering why New Zealand didn’t have a classic event like that. It made no sense to them. New Zealand’s wild spaces were well known across the world. With so much to explore, the idea of creating a mountainous traverse like the Hardrock 100 was something they could not shake – nor did they want to. At home in the Southern Alps, Mal spent hours on end poring over topo maps, figuring out a traverse that made sense; a proper wilderness exploration that took runners on an epic voyage through Aotearoa’s wilderness, more than just a run from A to B. His weekends involved overnight…

IT ALL started with an American most endurance runners across the globe have come to know by reputation – Gary “Lazarus Lake” Cantrell, or Laz for short. The eccentric Barkley Marathons race director started the phenomenon of the backyard ultra with Big Dog’s Backyard in 2011. The distinctive race format quickly intrigued the ultrarunning community in the United States and then the world, gaining notoriety as “the race that never stops”. In mid-June 2019, Peter Munns brought the concept to Australia with the Mirrim Wurnit Back Paddock Ultra. Munns hosted the event on his remote private property in country Victoria. His inaugural race saw 34 participants battle it out with a 6.7km lap on the hour, every hour until there was only one person left standing. That year, West Australian…

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