Well folks we have officially kicked off the 2025 racing season with a bang and so far the accompanying content has been just as explosive.

With Black Canyon and Tarawera there were the usual pre race musings. It was great to see international media (outside of iRunFar) cover Tarawera and to some extent capture the spirit of the event.

The race doesn’t need more participants (it’s already massive) but having new folks discover racing in Australia and New Zealand and giving some of our local talent the attention they deserve would be fantastic for the sport down here.

I ran the 100 mile at Tarawera. (Here’s my recap)

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I’m used to people asking me if it’s my first miler, my first time at Tarawera etc. that’s pretty normal mid race conversation between runners. I’d never been asked before if this was “my first UTMB”. My less than polite response of “this isn’t UTMB” confused more than one runner. Did I miss something? Are we calling “by UTMB” races UTMB now? Surely not.

Anyhow, I digress, whilst panic shopping for my drop bags and quietly trying to manage the taper tantrums, I did get a chance to see some of the content over the past few weeks.

The Boulder Boys steal the show

Seth Ruling’s mate Dillan Forsey put together two absolute bangers of videos following the Boulder Boys adventures around Black Canyon weekend. It’s hard to fault these, just long enough, just enough inspo, just enough heart, stunning.

Make sure you check out the sister podcast that goes with it, for a bit more detail into Seth’s interesting training approach, Adam’s return and Moi’s trial by fire in the US scene.

A trip down memory lane

Confession: I’m a massive shoe slut.

It’s a relatively new era for me. I used to be a loyal, boring monogamous type, only buying from the one brand, until it stopped working for me, and we had to part ways. It was not amicable. It was not me, it was them.

So I loved this trip down memory lane on Conversational Pace with Jamil on his favourite shoes over the past 20 years. Maybe it’s because nostalgia is cool again, and the 2006-2008 fashions are back (can I wear the same look if I wore it the first time it was trendy, asking for a friend?) or maybe it’s because I was also a Mizuno loyalist, the Sayonara for me, but I really enjoyed this and would love to see more athletes go through their shoe collections. A new CP series?

Perfect is boring

We are all chasing that perfect unicorn race, tweaking, adjusting, risking it all for something special. I really appreciate athletes who share those less than perfect moments rather than saying “wasn’t my day”, pulling the pin and moving on.

Enter Heather Jackson, who is putting out the most compelling content in the trail and ultra space at the moment. Her Black Canyon video was raw, honest and compelling and I’m going to lie, watching her continuously stub her toes might be the most relatable content I’ve seen in a while.

And I can’t move on without giving a shoutout to the stunning cactus shot at the 7 minute mark!

Speaking of sharing the real stories of ultra running, Ultrarunning IT girl, Tara Dower and her mate Arlee Hiskey launched the DNF diaries podcast. Ive only listened to the first episode but I’m super keen to see where this concept goes.

I love that it’s a different format and I hope it continues. Tara is a natural and it’s no surprise, her YouTube is an absolute banger. Also if I had known the 2007 spray tan would make me run faster, I totally could have got one for Tarawera instead of rocking the runners tan lines!

Then there is Dani Moreno. Posted today over on Instagram, she shares her personal reflections on her recent rehab for a foot injury.

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It’s ok to push, it’s ok to care, it’s ok when you fuck it up trying to achieve a goal.

And Tim Tollefson who continues to push, to try keep up and refuse to give up on being at the front.

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Going long..,

I haven’t had a chance to watch it yet, but 91,000 people have! The National Geographic documentary capturing Timothy Olson’s FKT on the Pacific Crest Trail appeared on YouTube this week. I’m not much of an FKT person, but I love that the sport is getting big funding and big support from a company like Nat Geo.

I still have another week post Tarawera before we start training proper again, so send me over your fave videos, posts and pods over the last few weeks.

Unless it’s David Roche, I’m taking a break from that! 🙊