Explore every episode of the podcast The Endurance Asia Podcast

We caught up with Tomokazu Ihara after the Rinjani 100 miler to find out, is it really the toughest ultra marathon course in the world??

Follow / listen https://www.enduranceasia.com/ https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-endurance-asia-podcast/id1459460675 https://open.spotify.com/show/23YnHpmjPgyGiHLfgkiOAk https://soundcloud.com/enduranceasia https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUHv2YWma06vKwlzs53WZ5g/videos https://www.instagram.com/enduranceasia https://www.facebook.com/enduranceasiapod https://twitter.com/enduranceasia_ https://www.linkedin.com/company/endurance-asia/ https://www.instagram.com/sgfalconsrc/

We caught up with some trail running legends prior to them taking on the Rinjani 100 miler, arguably the toughest 100 mile Race in the world. to breakdown how they have prepared and what they expect from Rinjani.

Follow / listen
https://www.enduranceasia.com/
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-endurance-asia-podcast/id1459460675
https://open.spotify.com/show/23YnHpmjPgyGiHLfgkiOAk
https://soundcloud.com/enduranceasia
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUHv2YWma06vKwlzs53WZ5g/videos
https://www.instagram.com/enduranceasia
https://www.facebook.com/enduranceasiapod
https://twitter.com/enduranceasia_
https://www.linkedin.com/company/endurance-asia/
https://www.instagram.com/sgfalconsrc/

Chris Timms returns to the Endurance Asia Podcast fresh from Marathon des Sables, the legendary multi-stage race across the Sahara.

This episode breaks down the reality of MDS — from the race format and self-supported setup to the physical and mental demands of racing across multiple days in extreme conditions.

Chris shares how he trained in Singapore, how he approached pacing and fueling, what surprised him most, and what he would change if he did it again. The conversation also dives into the emotional side of endurance — including racing with grief, being disconnected from family, and what the desert teaches you.

Beyond performance, this is a story about community, resilience, and why stage racing is a completely different challenge.

Timestamps
01:15 Intro and Chris returns from the desert
02:35 Why Marathon des Sables had always been on the list
06:43 MDS explained: stages, format, and self-supported racing
11:20 The field, the stories, and DNF reality
13:10 Training for MDS in Singapore
17:45 Gear choices: shoes, pack, and foot care
23:20 Nutrition strategy and calorie planning
26:07 Sleep, recovery, and life in camp
31:22 Pacing the race and lessons learned
36:57 Race result and finishing top 30
38:35 Camp life and learning from elite runners
41:54 Finish line energy and community
43:49 Bag weight, comforts, and mistakes
45:30 Racing with grief and mental strength
47:18 Time away from family and isolation
49:34 Why stage racing is uniquely hard
51:46 What’s next after MDS

Follow / listen
https://www.enduranceasia.com/
https://podcasts.apple.com/gb/podcast/the-endurance-asia-podcast/id1459460675
https://open.spotify.com/show/23YnHpmjPgyGiHLfgkiOAk
https://soundcloud.com/enduranceasia
https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUHv2YWma06vKwlzs53WZ5g/videos
https://www.instagram.com/enduranceasia
https://www.facebook.com/enduranceasiapod
https://twitter.com/enduranceasia_
https://www.linkedin.com/company/endurance-asia/
https://www.instagram.com/sgfalconsrc/

A special Endurance Asia Podcast collab with Singapore Falcons RC on how to PB a marathon—from building a club-wide marathon block to nailing the taper, pacing, fueling, and race-day mindset. Falcons committee members Chris and Andy are share what worked in a high-PB-rate Seoul/Tokyo season, plus rapid-fire wisdom from guest contributors Alice, Andreas, Darren, Harry, Ben and D’Arcy — covering everything from “don’t cook the first 5K” to “get to 30–32K, then race.”

• Why marathon training makes you a better runner (even for trail/ultra)

• How Singapore Falcons structure a 4-month marathon block with flexibility

• The “core sessions” approach (and why Tuesday sessions matter so much)

• Pacing strategy: first 5K calm → settle → commit from 30–32K

• Fueling strategy: individual needs, carb timing, and avoiding GI surprises

• Mindset: gratitude, calm under stress, and reframing late-race suffering

• Race execution: groups/packs, course knowledge, water stations, problem-solving

• A simple recap list of the biggest “do’s” (and “don’ts”) in the final week

• The hay is in the barn: don’t chase fitness in the last week—protect freshness.

• Don’t win the first 5K and lose the last 10K.

• Fuel early and consistently—don’t wait until you feel it.

• Know the course and remove preventable stress (travel/steps/logistics).

• Use the pack when it matters, but don’t get dragged into the wrong pace early.

Note: these are based on the transcript order—adjust times to match your final edit/audio.

• 00:00 Intro: Endurance Asia x Singapore Falcons — PB’ing the marathon

• 02:00 Andy & Chris backgrounds + why marathons are “honest”

• 05:10 Falcons marathon block: how to coach many abilities at once

• 10:00 Community + pack mentality: why clubs beat generic training plans

• 14:30 Andy’s Tokyo execution: patience, pacing by feel, and staying calm

• 20:30 Fueling + carb strategy (pre-race + in-race)

• 26:30 Guest tip 1: Alice Brabham — mindset, course knowledge, “run the mile you’re in”

• 35:30 Guest tip 2: Andreas Wengner — expect the unexpected + don’t rush the first 5K

• 40:00 Guest tip 3: Darren Southcott — taper, carbs, pacing discipline, don’t chase groups

• 45:00 Guest tip 4: Coach Harry — 30K discipline, simple fueling, caffeine timing

• 49:30 Guest tip 5: Ben Khoo — common pre-race mistakes to avoid

• 55:00 Guest tip 6: Darcy — “sit on the couch for 30K,” run by feel, enjoy the day

• 60:00 Wrap: the shared themes + final mindset for race day

• 01:10:00 Recap from Chris on top 15 tips

• Singapore Falcons RC Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/sgfalconsrc/

• Alice Brabham: https://www.instagram.com/fit_as_training/

• Andreas Vagner: https://www.instagram.com/icyandi

• Buffalo Running Co (Coach Harry / BuffCo): https://www.instagram.com/buffco.hk/

• Website: https://www.enduranceasia.com/

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUHv2YWma06vKwlzs53WZ5g

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enduranceasia

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/enduranceasiapod

• X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/enduranceasia_

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/endurance-asia/

Dening Lo is the best Singaporean ultra runner. She has won 8 out of the past 10 races she has competed in. She has just finished 3 at the Asia Trail Master Finals, series that culminates in a final of the best runners in Asia and she took a podium in a hard fought battle with runners from across the region.

We cover:

- Her back ground and how you got into ultra running. 

- What is it that makes her a great ultra runner?

- Inspiring women. Mum with 3 kids, how do she juggle training and family

- In the past 2 years, she's won 8 of your last 10 races. Incredible record. What have been some of her highlights

- How has being part of a running club has impacted her performances

- Low lights. What have been some of the hardest or most challenging and why

- Why she loves racing in Indonesia.

- ATM finals: 

- Expectation going in

- How the race went

- Feeling to win

- What’s next?

Follow Dening on Instagram https://www.instagram.com/godeninglo/?hl=en

• Website: https://www.enduranceasia.com/

• YouTube: https://www.youtube.com/channel/UCUHv2YWma06vKwlzs53WZ5g

• Instagram: https://www.instagram.com/enduranceasia

• Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/enduranceasiapod

• X (Twitter): https://twitter.com/enduranceasia_

• LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/company/endurance-asia/

Following a 7.5 year journey of failures, injuries and upsets, podcast host Scott Pugh goes from interviewer to interviewee to share his story in finishing the Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge with co host and ultra runner Chris Timms. HK4TUC is one of the most brutal endurance tests on the planet – 298km across four iconic trails, with 14,500m+ of elevation, a 60-hour cut off, no poles, no music, no GPS watch no support on the trails. Scott shares the the full journey from DNFs to what he changed to how he evolved as a runner and human to finally get the job done in 58 hours 43 mins.

We cover:

• How he’s feeling immediately after the event 02:45

• The backstory that got him to the 2025 edition of Four Trails 07:35

• What he changed coming into the 2026 edition 21:18

• Preparation for the 2026 edition and pregame nerves 28:10

• Game time! How did it play at the event 32:27   

• Motivational voice notes from crew 50:30

• Reaching the point of 200 DNF on HK Trail 01:01:23

• Clip of meeting Tomo on HK trail 01:03:23

• Clip of running to Ferry Piers 01:08:06

• Clip of starting Lantau Trail 01:11:15

• Crew messages before taking on Lantau Peak and Sunset Peak 01:23:50

• The Finish 01:27:15

• What it felt like to touch kiss the green post box 01:29:15 

• How the Four Trails has changed him 01:31:00 

• Whats next 01:35:30 

To relive the Dot Watching click here.

Scott’s splits were as follows:

Maclehose Trail - 13hrs 55m

Transition - 1hr 30m

Wilson Trail - 15hr 23m

Transition - 35m

Hk Trail - 9hrs

Transition - 2hrs 30m

Lantau trail - 15hrs 35m

You can listen to the audio podacst on Apple and Spotify.

Follow Endurance Asia on Instagram and Facebook.

We are joined by the amazing Tommy Lewis @tommyrunpt off the back of running the @vietnamtrailmarathon in Moc Chau. Tommy is a personal trainer and coach that has been producing amazing running based content for the past few years. He has a deep level of experience coaching ultra athletes with a focus on strength and conditioning as a core part of an overall training plan, something runners are typically very bad at doing.

We cover:

• Background how Tommy and Scott know each other

• How he has turned his passion into his career

• His impressions of Vietnam so far

• Importance of strength and conditioning for runners

• Tommy’s beliefs around nutrition and veganism for athletes. How to maintain macros inc protein

• Supplementation, Creatine “every man and his grandma should be taking it”

• Injury prevention through S&C

• Racing - how often and how to prioritise

Check out Tommy on Instagram and his podcast and coaching That’s Runnable and on all podcast channels.

It’s that time of year ago before the adventure season kicks off where we are joined by Chris Timms to recap the highlights of 2025. In this special awards episode, we discuss the stories that moved us and the people who mattered. Here are the categories and nominees:

Male Athlete of the Year

• Hisashi Kitamura, with his win at TMBT

• Lodowijk Vriens, wins in HK and Bali and top 10 in Cape Town

• John Stingray Onifa, with multiple wins across Asia

• Guangfu Meng, 2nd win at HK100 and win at Chiang Mai by UTMB

Female Athlete of the Year

• Sunmaya Budha, 2nd in WMTRC and an miraculous win in Cape Town

• Hau Ha, another amazing year with wins in Tsiagu and Chiang Mai by UTMB

• Fuzhao Xiang, 2nd place at Western States and wins across many shorter distances across Asia

• Veronika Leng, 2nd place at HK100 on her comeback and 5th at CCC

Race / Challenge of the Year

World Trail Majors

• Hong Kong 100

• Vietnam Mountain Marathon

Asia Trail Masters

• Penang Skyrace

• Izu Trail Journey Japan

UTMB

• TransLantau 

• Chiang Mai

Others

• Tsaigu Trail 

• Godzone

Endurance Feat of the Year

• Stone Tsang solo traverse across Taiwan

• Grant “Axe” Rawlinson and Luke Richmond Row across “The Ditch”

Fundraising of the Year

• Natalie Dau’s 2nd Project1000 across Philippines, fundraising for female charities across Asia

• Jo Lodder and John Fan, 3100km UNBOUND ultra run from Beijing to China raising money for disabled charities

Listen to the episode to find out who the winners are..

We loved watching these people reset the limits of what’s possible in 2025 and would love to hear from you about who we missed. Here’s to even more amazing achievements in 2026!

We joined the 2025 edition of TransLantau by UTMB, a stalwart race in the Hong Kong trail running calendar that was included in the UTMB series from 2023. Following a few logistically challenges in 2024 edition we were keen to experience the race and see what adjustments they had made and take on the 120k distance, one of the toughest ultra courses in Hong Kong.

We are joined by:

• Salomon Wettstein pre race to discuss his preparation and plans 2:15

• Steven Carr, social media manager for TransLantau by UTMB and Race Director of 9Dragons, host of the 10t edition of Asia Trail Master in February 2026 10:50

• Salomon Wettstein rejoins to discuss how his race went 18:30

• Host Scott Pugh comes back to talk about how his race went and his overall experience of TransLantau by UTMB 36:45

To listen to Salomon’s first time on Endurance Asia after Four Trails 2021 you can listen here..

This week we cover one of the longest standing races in Asia, TMBT and interview the eventual winner Hisashi Kitamura prior to the race as well as Race Director Claus Pedersen at the 50k finish line. Chris Timms and Scott Pugh catch up to discuss the results of the race and Scott’s experience as well as what Happened at UTMB:

Hisashi Kitamura - 01:55

• Where Hisashi is from and lack of athletics growing up

• His time in Malaysia getting into Ultra Running?

• His start with Asia Trail Master Races and 9 Dragons

• Being the first ATM Golden Grandmaster to get to 20 ultra >70k.

• Vice champion year in 2019. In that year the format was just most points from 4 races and happened to end with a final race of the season where you and John Ellis battled it out. He talks about that season and what happened in the final race?

• Training on treadmill. How he does 95% of his training on Treadmill

• How he has competed in TMBT 4 times coming 2nd every time what this race mean to him

• Last year you came 2nd to Jeff in the ATm final talk to me about that race..

• His plan for ATM final in Oct.

• Race strategy for tomorrow? Pacing, nutrition, how to beat Milton Amat and Daved Simpat

• His preparation day before

Claus Peteresen TMBT Race Director - 49:30

• History of Borneo Ultra and their races

• The community and villagers getting involved

• How the race 2025 race is progressing

• Future races and plan

Scott Pugh and Chris Timms - 1:00

• Hisashi’s training on the treadmill

• Recap if TMBT 100k

• Recap of TMBT 50k

• Recap of UTMB

Chris Timms and Scott Pugh catch up to discuss what’s been happening in the South East Asia Trail Season and some of the races they’ve been running around the region

Races we cover:

• Silabur cave trail

• Penang 50k ATM and 30k Skyrace

• Bali Trail running Ultra

• Rinjani 

Checkout https://www.asiatrailmaster.com/ for upcoming races in SEA..

Other discussions

• David Roche 140g per hou

• Quicksilver Endurance Run

• Goal setting for races

• Natalie Dau Project1000, Russ Cook, William Goodge 

This week Chris Timms joins off the back of Seoul marathon to discuss how to set a personal best in a road marathon.

We discuss:

• Marathon block and training fundamentals

• How to get the most out of a taper

• What to do the week and night before a race

• How to get ready in the morning

• Pacing strategy

• Shoes choices

For training plans and to join track sessions with Singapore Falcons, check out https://www.singaporefalcons.com/ or on socials Instagram Facebook

Endurance Asia Awards Male athlete of the year for 2024, Jeff Campbell joins the latest episode.

Jeff talks about:

• His background and how he managed to fall in to ultra running in Asia after a chance dinner with John Ellis.

• How he came to realise his talent? Being part of the Join Dynamics team and realising he had a V02 max of high 70s.

• The impact of being part of the Gone Running, Joint Dynamics team and T8 team and how being part of a squad improved his running.

• We talk about Oxfam Trailwalker, his 4 consecutive wins and what the race mean to means to him.

• We discuss the 2023 edition where he ran with Fuzhou the female winner of the 2024 Endurance Asia awards and Eszter Csillag and recent GPT 100 mile winner Ryan Whelan.

• We talk about his preferred distances and training for a marathon Blok.

• What his plans for the rest of 2025..

Chris and Scott catch up at 01:03:00 to discuss marathon training for Seoul and up and coming Asia trail master races..

We are joined by Wen Fei Xie and her support crew Jo Lodder to discuss Wen Fei becoming the first women to survive the 2025 edition of Four Trails in 65 hours 20mins.

You can rerun the live tracker of the event here..

We cover:

• Wen Fei’s ultra running back ground.. Just check out her amazing Itra profile

• How long she planned for

• Her warm doing the Grand Sam at HroupK100 3 weeks before

• How Wen Fei and Jo planned the challenge strategy and reacted to change in rules

• How she executed on the plan around MTR timings

• Her eating and sleeping strategy

• Jo discusses his HK5in5 fundraising event that won the Endurance Asia award in 2023

• What’s next for Wen Fei and Jo inc World Trail Majors for Wen Fei and a charity run from Beijing to Hong Kong for Jo!

We are then joined by challenge director Andre Blumberg at 1:03m..

We discuss:

• How this years event went

• The smaller group of 15 athletes instead of usual 30

• The impact the Four Trails movie has had on the event

• What are the plans for 2026

Follow Wen Fei and Jo on Insta

Follow HK4TUC on Insta

We kick off the New Year with a look back at the most inspiring performances and challenges of the year just gone. In this special awards episode, we discuss the stories that moved us and the people who mattered. Here are the categories and nominees:

Male Athlete of the Year

• John Stingray Onifa, with a win at the Asia Pacific Trail Running Championship

• Tomokazu Ihara with his Barkey Marathons Fun Run and first Japan race win

• Sange Shepa, another year of prolific racing across the world with multiple podiums

Female Athlete of the Year

• Natalie Dau, with her epic Project1000

• Priya Rai, burst on to the scene with overall winner of the Asia Trail Masters final 2024

• Sunmaya Budha, who won multiple races across Asia

• Hau Ha, another amazing 4th place at CCC plus wins across Asia

• Fuzhao Xiang, with wins at the Asia Pacific Trail Running Championship and 2nd place at Western States

• Aurore Dacier, with exceptional wins at TransLantau and Should SKY50

Race / Challenge of the Year

• Hong Kong 100

• Vietnam Mountain Marathon

• Tsaigu Trail

• Izu Trail Journey Japan

Endurance Feat of the Year

• Fynn Mitchell, becoming only the 5th person ever to finish The Revenant

• Natalie Dau for her Project1000 run from Thailand to Singapore 

• Nedd Brockman, with his fundraising for homeless charities as part of his 1000 mile record attempt

Fundraising of the Year

• Natalie Dau, with her fundraising for female charities across Asia as part of Project000

• Nedd Brockman, with his fundraising for homeless charities as part of his 1000 mile record attempt

• Wong Ho Chung. For his community efforts with Hong Kong youth as part of Peak Hunters Foundation

Listen to the episode to find out who the winners are..

We loved watching these people reset the limits of what’s possible in 2024 and would love to hear from you about who we missed. Here’s to even more amazing achievements in 2025!

We catch up with Tomo for the first time since his US Grandslam effort in 2023. He’s been busy, knocking off another 6 milers.

We discuss

• What he’s been up to since Grand Slam inc taking on the Revenant Ultra Adventure Run in New Zealand, another fun run at Barclays and 6 milers on top of that!

• Backyard ultra World Championships and his role as Race Director 

• Goal setting for endurance athletes. 

• How he thinks about goal setting personally? 

• The positives and pitfalls of setting ambitious goals?

• How to manage when you don’t achieve your goals. 

• How to manage when you do??

  
  

We then catch up with Chris Timms to discuss

• Recent races with Malaysia UTMB and Chiang Mai Thailand UTMB

• Singapore Falcons RC Time Trial format

• X-Trailblazers Challenge

  
  

You can follow Tomo at Insta

Aurore Dacier is a native of France and has been based out of Singapore for the past 2 years and has fast become one of the best ultra runners in the region.

We catch up with her following her emphatic win at TransLantau and 4th position overall.

We cover:

• Her background and journey into trail running, how she grew up in the outdoors but with no specific sport.

• Her day job as a lawyer and how do you plan training around work, how she works with her coach and plans her training.

• Her races since being based in Asia and impression of the trail running scene.

• Her fascination with Hong Kong and specifically Lantau having raced there 3 times. 

• How she prepared for TransLantau100 this year, her first 100km. How she prepared for the distance. How did the race go?

• Future plans with Asia Trail Master races and CCC in Chamonix next year.

• We discuss the female competition here in Asia and how she thinks about inspiring other female runners to give it a go.

We also catch up with Chris Timms to discuss the Lam Dong Trail in Vietnam and Malaysia Ultra Trail this weekend.

Aurore is sponsored by Red Dot Running, T8.run and Salomon. You can follow her on Instagram

This week we catch up with Ned Phillips to discuss the Singapore edition of the Backyard Ultra Team World Championships. Thiis event saw another world record go down with the Belgium team putting in 110 yards, over 730km of running and the top 3 of Geerts, Steyaert and Gielen finishing together with none of them DNFing. An endurance feet of the ages!

Whilsts Ned’s effort was not at the same scale, it was done in far more challenging conditions with the Singapore humidity and if given the chance with the right assist, Ned could have been out there double the time and will get the opportunity to truly test himself against the world best in Tennessee at the World Champs next year..

We cover:

•⁠  ⁠Ned’s background with Backyard Ultra, this being his 4th attempt.

•⁠  ⁠What attracts him to Backyard Ultra

•⁠  ⁠The 2024 SG team and his expectations going on

•⁠  ⁠Plan on pacing, nutrition, support crew

•⁠  ⁠BIGS in Tennessee next year? 

We also discuss the other Nedd, Brockmann who just put in as fantastic effort on a Guinness World Record attempt of 1000 miles, completing it in 12 day and missing out on the record but finishing with debilitating ailments.

Following an epic Asia Trail Master Finals at TMB in Borneo, we recap the event and catch up with male champion Jeff Campbell.

Check out all the footage from ATM Finals:

ATM Facebook

Male final Podium winners video

Male Podium:

Jeff Campbell - 09:49

Hisashi Kitamura - 09:51

Arnie Macarenes - 09:56

Female Podium:

Priya Rai - 11:00

Vanja Cnops - 12:36

Rashila Tamang - 13:13

We are back with an exciting weekend of ultra trail racing with the ATM Championship at the classic TMBT race in Sabah, Borneo. Endurance Asia will be live at the race and finish line on Saturday and in preparation, we caught up with Series Director, Kris Van de Velde and previous guest Chris Timms who will be represeting Singapore.

With Kris we discuss:

• How the ATM season has gone. Some of the highlights? Best performances, most exciting races, best courses.

• The structure of the ATM points system and the finals. How the countries compete against each other. 

• The reason for choosing TMBT as the final race.

• Who he expects to be at the pointy end of the male and female race

• The teams he expects to perform well

With Chris Timms we discuss:

• How he feels representing Singapore at the ATM finals?

• How ATM season has gone for him? The highlights?

• After a top 10 finish in 2022, What his expectations are for this year?

• Who he expects the podium to be? Winning team?

• His recent addition to the T8 ambassador list

• The new Singapore Running Club, Falcons and how that came to be.

• His plans / goals post ATM final

You can follow the race and live streaming at:

• ATM FB page

• Instagram Page

• Dot Tracker

You can follow Chris Timms at:

• Instagram

• Facebook

• SG Falcons RC Insta

This week we were joined by Natalia Dau, Rockstar Arms, to discuss what she has been up to for the past couple of years and more importantly, what’s coming up in the next couple of months.

We discuss:

• Her 4 marathons in Sydney, Singapore, Gold Coast, Tokyo last year

• The 4 ultras she ran in 2023, all of which she won and a couple of the ultras outright

• Her first book Run like a Woman

• Project1000, Natalie’s goal to run 1000km from Thailand to Singapore and raise $150k for GRLS charity

You can follow Project1000:

• www.project1000.run

• https://www.instagram.com/rockstararms

• The charity https://www.womenwin.org/grls/

Ric and Scott catch up after to discuss what’s been going on the world of Ultra Endurance including Tomo’s 3rd fun run at Barkley Marathons.

After another year of this awe inspiring event, we are joined by a survivor and finisher, Alice Mcleod and Mayank Vaid.

We first chat with Alice to discuss:

• Her back story, growing up in Perthshire, Scotland and moving to HK from London in 2019 and exploring the trails

• Her awareness of Four Trails from seeing the legend Nikki Jan finish in 2019

• Her training block for 2024 and the volume and focus

• Four Trails goal

• Sleep and nutrition strategy

• What next?? As the second Scottish lady to reach the green post box, Will Alice come back to follow Nikki Han and finish?

And then we are joined by Mayank Vaid at 43m mark to discuss:

• The 3rd year taking on the challenge, what convinced him to come back after surviving last year.

• How last year went? What he learned from last year that he adapted in 2024

• What he’s been up to since 2023 edition when he did HK marathon just 2 weeks after! Competing in Hyrox and 4 peaks race, triathlons, 15k swim. Was cross training a big part of his plan.

• We go into details about the 4 Peaks Race in HK

• His plan going in to 2024 edition.

• How he got his wife and eldest son Bono to crew him

• The last 30k of Lantau chasing the clock and the 60 hour cut off.

• The feeling to finally finish the challenge.

Hong Kong Four Trails continues to show why it is the most epic ultra running challenge in the Asia region. The community, the difficulty and the drama. It always an epic dotwatching and social media follow. Congrats to Andre, Paper, all the athletes and crew, photographers and everyone involved with this event.

We kick off the New Year with a look back at the most inspiring performances and challenges of the year just gone. In this special awards episode, we discuss the stories that moved us and the people who mattered. Here are the categories and nominees:

Male Athlete of the Year

• John Stingray Onifa with his clean sweep of wins at Asia Trail Masters races including the win in the final

• Tomokazu Ihara with his Four Trails win, Barkey Marathons Fun Run and Grand Slam

Female Athlete of the Year

• Eszter Csillag, who placed 3rd at Western States and a win at Oxfam Trailwalker Hong Kong and Izu

• Sunmaya Budha, who won multiple races across Asia

• Hau Ha, who put in a heroic 4th place at CCC plus wins at Doi Ithanon and Ultra Trail Australia

• Rashila Tamang overall winner of the Asia Trail Masters final 2023

Race / Challenge of the Year

• Doi Inthanon Thailand by UTMB

• Hong Kong 100

• Vietnam Mountain Marathon

• Rinjani 100

• Malaysian Mountain and Trail Festival

• Izu Trail Journey Japan

Fundraising of the Year

• Jo Loder Run for Freedom, running HK 5in5 Trails inc Tinworth Trail, raising HK$880K

Endurance Feat of the Year

• Vincere Zeng Everest Lhotse and K2. Listen to the episode here

• Le Thi Hang of Vietnam who ran a marathon every day in 2023  inc a 2nd place finish in VMM

• Mark Agnew kayaking north west passage. Listen to the episode here..

Listen to the episode to find out who the winners are..

We loved watching these people reset the limits of what’s possible in 2023 and would love to hear from you about who we missed. Here’s to even more amazing achievements in 2024!

Joined by Valentin Orange, we recap last weekends Doi Inthanon by UTMB in Chiang Mai Thailand, the major UTMB race of Asia.

We cover:

• Race organisation

• Location,

• Atmosphere at start/finish line

  The races:

• 50k

• 100k

• 100 mile

And we go in to Valentin’s past year covering Sange Sherpa as he documents his life running ultras every weekend.

You can follow Valentin at Insta Facebook www.valentinorange.com

Phil Snowden, a. military veteran, Personal Trainer and all round machine, joins us to talk about his crazy endurance exploits and the importance of strength and conditioning for endurance athletes..

• His back ground in growing up in the military and getting into Personal Training after the miliirtary

• His first DNF doing the 24 hour Tough Mudder in the US

• Ultra in the Antarctic, Borneo 100 miler

• Pushing and pulling a body weight sled for 46km across the UfIt gym for 50 hours

• Ultra triathlon, 300 miles on Ski erg, Rower and bike

• Then we get in to Hyrox, the years of training that led up to becoming the perfect athlete for Hyrox, concept for the race and plans to commit to the race in future.

You can read more in depth info into Phil’s endeavours and the date on his blog https://www.philsnowdencoaching.com/

Check him out on Insta

Ric Stockfis and Scott Puigh catch up after to discuss:

• Trasnslantau

• World Trail Majors

• Everything else going on in the ultra endurance scene

We are joined again by the Asia Adventure Journalist turned explorer, Mark Agnew. Having had Mark on the podcast 3 years ago discussing all of the amazing endurance feats he has covered for SCMP, he has become the story!

He shared on that podcast (you can listen here) his passion for arctic exploration and his only plans to tackle the north west passage and be the first human as part of the team to cross it!

Well he’s only gone and done just that. Along with a team of expedition kayakers from Texas, The Artic Cowboys, he has become the first person to cross the North West Passage by human power.

Wr cover:

• Preparation and planning. Original plan for 2021 delayed. How did you train for it. What were the records you were targeting?

• Logistics and funding, team. Equipment.

• Record temperatures in 2023 made the pass possible?

• Distances travelled every day. How much camping sleep time.

• Biggest challenges, best moments / worst moments

• What’s next?

Check out some videos of Mark on ITV and BBC

Ric and Scott then catch up after to discuss:

• Adventure Race World Series Championships and previous guest Jay Jantaraboon’s

 Of The North Face Adventure Team getting 5th place as part of the Brazil Multisport Team.

• Bigs Back Yard World Champs and previous guest Joshua Toh doing 75 yards

• Salomon Forest Force Race in Singapore

• What’s next in the calendar inc MMTF, UTMB Thailand etc

We are joined on stage at VMM by some of the elites preparing to run. We get to speak to

• Ha Hau

• Sange Sherpa

• Jeff Campbell

• Trùn Nguyễn

• David Lloyd

Follow them live for this weekend at https://live.dottrack.asia/mountainmarathon23/

We are joined for a live on stage interview at the Vietnam Mountain Marathon by T8 Athletes 

• Jeff Campbell

• Vanja Cnops

• Kristian Joergensen

• Stingray, John Ray Onifa

Follow them live for this weekend at https://live.dottrack.asia/mountainmarathon23/

Repeat guest Tomokazu Ihara comes back to talk about his epic performance in the Grand Slam of Ultra Running in the United States, completing 5 of the oldest 100 mile runs in the same season and doing so in the fastest time of any athlete from Asia Pacific and top 20 in history.

His results included:

Old Dominion: 18:52:27 2nd overall
Western States: 20:19:58 39th overall
Vermont: Cancelled
Devil’s Gulch: 23:54:44 1st overall
Leadville: 23:31:18 40th overall
Wasatch: 23:17:17 6th overall
Best 4 x 100 times: 86:01:01 19th/403 finishers since 1986

You can find out more about the Grand Slam of Ultra Running

Follow Tomo Insta Facebook Website

Vincere Zeng at 31 years old is a record holder in the high altitude mountains, becoming the first Singaporean female to summit Everest and K2 back to back and also the first Singaporean female to summit K2 and to do this all in one year.

We catch up with Vincere to discuss:

• How it came to be. Where her passion for adventure and exploration come from. How she progressed to take on high altitude mountains from trail running in Singapore.

• How she planned for two expeditions in the same year and also 2 mountains in her Everest expedition

• The company she chose, 8k Expeditions and how she worked with them. 

• Tell me about some times you’ve been deep in the Pain cave and how did you get yourself out

• How do you Train for your major expeditions or races. Especially in Flat Singapore 

• How do you think about Nutrition leading up to a challenge and during

• Plans for rest of 2023 and Asia Trail Master

You can follow Vincere on Instagram, Facebook, Strava

We reconnect with Ben Pulham the founder of Coached, a Singapore-based testing lab and - surprise - coaching service for athletes of all stripes. A former pro triathlete himself, Ben - together with in-house sports scientist James (Jim) Webster - is an expert in helping people perform better. 

Listen to our first podcast with the Coached team that goes into more detail about the testing they offer and Ben’s background as a professional athlete. https://www.enduranceasia.com/podcasts/coached

Find them online at https://www.coached.fitness/,  https://www.facebook.com/Coached and https://www.instagram.com/p/CLdWCTzHu3x/?hl=en

In our interview with Ben and Jim, we discuss:

• Diet and the benefits of lower carb

• The athletes they are training inc top triathlete Arif

• State of Singapore athletics

• The track sessions they run every Tuesday in Singapore

• Goal Setting

• Sweat testing and importance or supplementing with minerals in Asia

Podcast hosted by Ultra Endurance enthusiasts Scott Pugh and Ric Stockfis.

We welcome Christ Timms to the podcast this week to discuss the trail running community in Singapore. Chris has been on the podium at a lot of races around South East Asia the past couple of years and was in the top 10 of last years ATM Finals in Mt Apo Philippines. We catch up in Red Dot Running Company store where he is an elite ambassador to discuss his background, training, the Mountain Goat Challenge and plans for the rest of the year.

• Chris’ background. Where he’s from and his day job

• How he first got into running.

• How his running has evolved.

• His recent race performances such as his win at the UTSG in Singapore and podium at Bukit Lawang Orangutan Trail

• His focus on building community?

• The Mountain Goat Challenge and how the event played out.

• How he inspires and motivates his kids so engaged in running, swimming.

• What’s next in his calendar, how he’s looking to improve.

• Favourite gear.

You can follow Chris at:

• Facebook

• Instagram

• Strava

Off the back of the 2023 edition of Hardcore100 H1 Ultra in Philippines, we catch up with race director Jonel Mendoza as well as competitors Nikki Han, Will Hayward and Viirginie Goethals to discuss one of the first and one of the toughest hundred mile races in Asia.

First up we speak with Jonel to discuss:

• The genesis of Hardcore100 and how Jonel decided to map an Ultra Marathon around Mt Pulag and Mt Ugo

• How he managed to get qualifying spots for Western States and HardRock

• How the race evolved over the years

• Notorious for being on of the hardest races in Asia, Jonel tells us how it has changed for 2023

• Talks about the partnership with Robert Watson to run the event

• The plan for 2024 and beyond?

We are then join (35:30) by Nikki, Will and Virginie to talk about how this yeaers event played out from an athletes perspective.

We cover:

• Recovery after H1

• Why they all signed up for H1 this year and what has been their history with the event

• What their expectations were with the new route this year?

• Their preparation and training block?

• How everyone prepared right before the event?

• How the race went for everyone, the high and low points

• The sleep depravation

• Organisation and check points

• Would you come back again?? 

• What they learned, do differently in future races or H1

• What’s next for each of them..

Checkout H1 and their other races https://kotm.intrepidspirit.com/

Follow on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kotmph

We talk with Janet and Steve about the 2023 edition of HK100, the first in person since 2020. How the race went and what they thought about the performances. We also cover:

• how they both first get into trail running 

• What made them decide to start HK100

• How the race has evolved over the years

• Discuss some of the returnees every year inc John Ellis and Jeremy Ritcey doing every year <16 hours.

• We discuss Janet’s role as President of International Trail Running Association.

• We talk about PTL, one of the toughest races in the world and their 2 finishes

You can follow HK 100 on Instagram and Facebook

Check out the website to look at prior results and sign up to 2024 - https://www.hk100-ultra.com/

Check out ITRA for your race results and score - https://itra.run/

We welcome back Tomokazu Ihara from his 4th attempt of the Barkley Marathons and his best effort yet, achieving a fun run in 35:55 and getting out on the fourth loop with 27 seconds to spare!

A momentous year that saw 3 finishers for only the second time ever and the first finish since John Kelly’s last finish in 2017.

Tomo has been dedicated to this challenge for the past 7 years and it’s inspiring to hear his story of dedication and tenacity to an event that has the highest DNF rate of any known race.

Follow Tomo on Insta, facebook and his site www.tomospit.com

GODZone Chapter 11 , Fiordland is in the books and what a historic week it was. We saw the very last expedition adventure race of Nathan Fa’avae’s career and one last win to cap of a tremendous career with Team Avaya.

We catch up with race director Warren Bates to recap the race and pay homeage to the leader of the greatest ever adventure racing team.

We suggest looking at the Dotwatch map as you listen to view the section discussed in the race

We discuss:

• How has the last week went for RD Warren Bates

• What it was like being back in Fiordland for the first time in 5 years. What makes the area so special and why they chose to go back

• Expectations going into the race. Who did Warren think would be competing at the pointy end, what parts of the course did you expect to be the most challenging 

• Talk about team Avaya. How good are they really??

• Honour Nathan Faavae and what has he meant to this sport

• What the future of the sport looks like. What Warren thinks of athletes and teams like No Idea and Fear Youth coming through.

• How to make GZ more accessible to international teams.

• Talk to us about your history in adventure racing

• What’s up next.. Inaugural GODZone AU event..

Listen to Chris Forne of Team Avaya on the podcast last week and Nathan Fa’avae on the podcast in 2020.

We are delighted to welcome Chris Forne, lead navigator for Team Avaya and winner of the Endurance Asia Male Athlete of the Year in 2022.

He and Team Avaya have just kicked off the GodZone Chapter 11 and you can dot watch here..

We cover:

• His back ground, how he first got into orienteering

• How he first got into expedition adventure racing and worked towards first world champs victory in 2007,

• How the team deals with major challenges when they arise, eg, when they lost their timing card at the last world champs in Paraguay.

• What non conventional navigating techniques he has found useful that you wouldn’t read in a manual. 

• How he and his wife both balance adventure racing competitively

• His typical training block leading up to a big race. Whether they train as a team. How he maintains elite fitness while working full time

• Dealing with sleep deprivation and whether it has taken any toll on him w so many expedition races. How he recovers.

• What this season looks like. GZ this week and then world champs in South Africa?

You can listen to the previous episode with Team Avaya Captain Nathan F’avae

In this episode, we talk to the inspiring Jack Thompson, aka Jack UltraCyclist.

In 2022, Jack climbed an astonishing million vertical metres on his bike, including 52 Everestings, as part of his Million Metres Challenge. That’s a crazy average of over 19,000m of climb each and every week!

It was his latest in a series of incredible endurance achievements, which we cover in the episode.

Jack is also very honest and outspoken about his personal struggles, as well as the centrality of fundraising and raising awareness to all of his challenges.

In our conversation, we talk about:

• His upbringing, family and struggles with his mental health

• His first big challenge, the Transcontinental in Europe

• Subsequent challenges, including the Taiwan KOM, setting a world record for kilometres ridden in a week and riding the Tour De France course in just 10 days

• The importance of fundraising and the challenges of creating a compelling narrative

• His work with Supersapiens

• Upcoming projects, including the Around the World record

Follow Jack:

• On Strava: Strava Cyclist Profile | Jack Ultra Cyclist

• On Instagram : JACK ULTRA CYCLIST (@jackultracyclist) • Instagram photos and videos

• At his website: Jack UltraCyclist – Professional Ultra Cyclist & First Cyclist in Space

• And his YouTube channel is packed with great films and updates: Jack Ultra Cyclist - YouTube

Permalink

We catch up with Tomokazu Ihara following his epic performance at HK4TUC. Ric and Scott also catch up to discuss all of the other amazing performances at the 2023 events.

Check out www.hk4tuc.live to rerun the dotwatching fun..

Here are the list off Finishers and survivors:

• Tomokazu Ihara 井原知 - 54:02:36

• Nugo Yamanath Limbu - 56:29:23

• Ryan Whelan - 56:54:19

• Wong Ka Kit 黃家傑 - 57:11:37

• Kevin Cheung Kei Fung 張 - 59:30:45

• Elvis Fu Chin Ping 傅展平 - 63:23:20

• Alger Cheng Sai Kit 鄭世傑 - 66:15:33

• Trevor Meding - 67:26:45

• Kenneth Chan Wai Tik - 67:46:49

• Mayank Vaid - 68:04:39

• Kimmy Leung Hong Kiu 梁 - 68:18:29

• Chan Kwok Keung 陳國強 - 69:43:10

• Chiang Chung Wei 蔣仲威 - 69:56:19

• Kurt Lynn - 70:23:18

• Karen Tse Tze Wai 謝芷蕙 - 70:39:39

Photo cred Lucien Chan.

the 12th Edition of HK4TUC is upon us and Ric and Scott connect to discuss the changes to start times and some of the athletes returning and as well as those taking on this epic challenge for the first time.

You can follow live at www.hk4tuc.live.

2023 competitor list:

• Chamelia Suhra

• Milk Li Lai Ting 李麗婷

• Sandy Xiaoqing Sun 孙晓青

• Karen Tse Tze Wai 謝芷蕙

• Kimmy Leung Hong Kiu 梁康翹

• Mayank Vaid

• Nugo Yamanath Limbu

• Kurt Lynn

• Kenneth Chan Wai Tik

• Yu Long Chai Harrods 余朗齊

• Yeung Wing Kent 楊永健

• Wong Ka Kit 黃家傑

• Elvis Fu Chin Ping 傅展平

• Michael H Gay

• Chiang Chung Wei 蔣仲威

• Kevin Cheung Kei Fung 張祺豐

• Steven Ong

• Alger Cheng Sai Kit 鄭世傑

• Chan Kwok Keung 陳國強

• Saranyabhong Singhakrittaya ศรัณยพงศ์ สิงห์กฤตยา

• Elliot Froidevaux

• Trevor Meding

• Ryan Whelan

• Tomokazu Ihara 井原知一

• Phairat Varasin ไพรัช วราสินธุ์

Ahead of the world premiere in Hong Kong, we talk to documentary filmmakers Robin and Ben Lee about their latest project, Four Trails.

Following the success of their 2017 project, Breaking 60, the two brothers return to this most iconic of Hong Kong trail running events to tell a more complete story.

Four Trails documents the 2021 edition of HK4TUC, which saw previous Finishers and Survivors invited back, with some wondering if the previously unthinkable 50-hour barrier might finally be broken.

We also talk to challenge founder Andre Blumberg, in advance of the 2023 edition.

Resources:

• Four Trails trailer

• Breaking 60

• HK Four Trails Ultra Challenge page

• Lost Atlas films

• Robin’s own site

Check out our previous podcast episodes on the HK4TUC here:

• HK4TUC 11th Edition Recap with Richard Kimber

• HK4TUC 11th Edition Preview Show - With Andre Blumberg

• HK4TUC 10th Edition Recap Show Part 2 - With Jacky Leung and Andre Blumberg

• HK4TUC 10th Edition Recap Show Part 1 - With Salomon Wettstein and Virginie Goethals

• HK4TUC 10th Edition Preview Show - With Andre, Stone, Sarah and Salomon

• HK4TUC 2020 Finishers

• Andre Blumberg - The Godfather of Hong Kong Ultrarunning

We kick off the New Year with a look back at the most inspiring performances and challenges of the year just gone. In this special awards episode, we discuss the stories that moved us and the people who mattered in the following categories:

Male Athlete of the Year

• Chris Thorne of Team Avaya: winners of both the Adventure Racing World Championships and the 2022 edition of Godzone

• Stingray with his triple win at the Malaysia Mountain Trail Festival

• Nimsdai, who set a new speed record for the Everest-Lhotse Traverse

• Arnie Macaneras, who had a breakout year on the Asia Trail Master circuit, winning the Championship decider at Mount Apo (watch the Tale of the Trail episode here)

Female Athlete of the Year

• Hau Ha, who ran away with the outright win in the 100k at Vietnam Mountain Marathon and went on to be both points winner and championship winner of Asia Trail Master

• Eszter Csillag, who placed 5th at UTMB and 4th at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships. Check out our episode with Esther here.

• Sunmaya Budha, of the North Face Adventure Team, who ran the second fastest women’s time in history to finish second at CCC

• Man-yee Cheung, who became the first Hong-Kong born female finisher of the infamous Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge, in 57h51m

Fundraising of the Year

• Nedd Brockmann’s incredible run across Australia which has to date raised over AU$2.2m for homeless charity We Are Mobilise

• Jack Thompson, who rode a million vertical metres and raised close to AU$0.5m for mental health charities

Race of the Year

• Doi Inthanon Thailand by UTMB

• Godzone check out this Video

• Hong Kong Four Trails Ultra Challenge

Endurance Feat of the Year

• Mayank Vaid’s 10 marathons in 10 days for a new World Record

• Stephen Redfern and other APAC participants in the 3,100 mile Sri Chinmoy Self Transcendence Race

• Nedd Brockman’s run across Australia

• Wong Ho Chung’s new record of 46h55m at HK4TUC

• Daiki Shibawaki, who ran 86 yards at the Last Samurai Standing

We loved watching these people reset the limits of what’s possible in 2022 and would love to hear from you about who we missed. Here’s to even more amazing achievements in 2023!

In reality there’s nothing accidental about Eszter’s rise to the top of the ultra running elites. She is an incredibly disciplined, focused and committed person, but seems to have even surprised herself at the speed at which that rise as happened and the speed she shows on the trails. 

A very humble but extremely competitive athlete, the last few years have seen Eszter rise from a trail virgin prior to arriving in Hong Kong, to rubbing shoulders with the worlds elite and finding herself on the podium of UTMB and WMTRC. We talk about:

• Her background growing up in Hungary in a family of 6 kids.

• Her tutor being her inspiration as a kid and teaching her discipline and getting her into running.

• What took her to Hong Kong and on to the trails.

• Racing as a mother of young kids and maintaining training during pregnancy

• Her initial races across Asia

• Stepping up to race even more competitive fields in Europe with top 5 places in CCC, Trans Gran Caneria, UTMB.

• Racing in the world champs in Chiang Mai with a 4th spot.

• Her training regime, what her coach plans for her.

• Plans for end of 2022 and 2023 inc possible Western States and a return to UTMB.

• The support of her husband and friends John Ellis of T8 and Andre Blumberg of HK4TUC

You can follow Eszter on:

Instagram

Strava

Itra results

Jay Jantaraboon is the without debt the best outdoor adventure athlete Thailand has ever produced. Part of The North Face Adventure Team, he has twice finished top 50 in UTMB. He also has an incredible record ultra running in Thailand races, coming 1st or 2nd in every race he has competed in on his home turf.

A Background in Mountain Biking and adventure racing, following a 10 year stint competing in Muay Thau as a child and teenager, now 37, Jay is hitting the peak of his endurance career primarily as an ultra runner.

He competes this weekend at the World Mountain and Trail Running Championship in his back yard of Chiang Mai.

We cover:

• His early child hood and starting his sporting career in Muay Thai.

• How Muay Thai set him up to be an endurance athlete.

• Meeting Ryan Blair and becoming part of The North Face Adventure Team.

• Starting in MTB and progressing to multi sport and trail running

• What has been the favourite adventure race you have done?

• Tell us about the team, who do you enjoy racing with and why?

• You have taken to Trail running and are absolutely smashing it on your home turf in Thailand, I think you have won or at least podium ever race in Thailand. What it’s like running on his home soil

• Thailand by UTMB and racing in the UTMB in France.

• What else is coming up? You’ll be racing the world champs in Chiang Mai?

• How have you been with injuries? What do you do to reduce and recover well?

• Are there any runners coming out of Thailand we should be aware of and looking out for?

You can follow Jay at the following channels:

https://www.facebook.com/TrainWithSuperJay/

https://www.instagram.com/jay_jantaraboon/?hl=en

https://www.facebook.com/TheNorthFaceAdventureTeam

In this episode of the podcast we talk to the winner and the assist - Joshua Toh and Deric Lau respectively - of the recent Singapore edition of the Backyard Ultra Satellite Team World Championships. Joshua set an incredible new national record of 51 Yards (or hours), after. the 14 other competitors had dropped out.

We’re also joined by former podcast guest - and the brains behind the event, Jeri Chua, with the interview conducted at her fantastic Red Dot Running Company store in Singapore.

In the interview we discuss:

• Both runners’ background and how they came to be at the start line. including Deric’s efforts at the HKSG Twin Cities Ultra and Joshua racing UTA, Northburn and Dragon’s Back

• Their training, tactics, nutrition and strategy

• The 2020 edition of the event:

  • Our interview with the competitors

  • Previous Endurance Asia interviews with 2020 winner Abimanyu Shunmugam and 2020 assist Hoong Wei Wong

• Events in Singapore organised by:

  • Ben Swee, including the Mountain Goat Challenge

  • XTrailblazers, including the Ultra Trail Singapore

• The scarcely believable 101 hours of running in the Belgian edition of the Backyard Ultra

For more on Joshua and Deric’s heroic performance, check out this Today article.

In our latest episode, we catch up once again with Kris Van de Velde as his Asia Trail Master series finally takes off again after two years. Among other topics, we discuss:

• Recent races, including TMBT in Borneo

• The incredible performance of Hau Ha at the Vietnam Mountain Marathon

• New events on the calendar, including Ulju 9 Peaks and Doi Nhok Trail

• Changes to the series format

• The season finale at Mt Apo in the Philippines

• Contenders for the crown, including Hisashi Kitamura, Arief Wismoyono and Milton Amat

• The late addition of Hong Kong’s Ferei Dark 45

• The return of past champions Alessandro Sherpa and John Ellis

• The tragic loss of Fredelyn Alberto

And in our chat after the interview, Scott and Ric discuss:

• Singapore’s Craze Ultra

• The Adventure Racing World Championships

• Hong Kong 4 Trails Ultra Challenge

Following an epic weekend up in the Vietnam hills in Sa Pa for the Vietnam Mountain Marathon. We catch up with David Lloyd the race Director to discuss the race and how it all played out.

We cover:

Firstly how are you feeling after an intense weekend organising the Vietnam Mountain Marathon

• Background of VMM and what was prepared for the 2022 edition

• Planning the route

• Torrential rain for almost 24 hours running up to the kick off of the 100M. How that effected the planning at the beginning of the race

• Some of the performances that impressed David most

• Any stories from the race. I saw 3rd spot on the 42k had broken his hand

• The support teams and aid station management

• Plans for Vietnam Jungle Marathon in 1 month

VMM Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/VietnamMountainMarathon/

Instagram - https://www.instagram.com/vietnamtrailseries/?hl=en

Website - https://vietnamtrailseries.com/

In this episode, we’re back with Ryan Blair of the North Face Adventure Team.

We talk all things UTMB after an INCREDIBLE weekend of racing around Chamonix.

with UTMB happening this weekend we dug out a never published recording from the archives with Mile 27 leader and coach Andy Dubois to discuss training for 100 mile races in Singapore and Asia.

Andy coaches some of the top Ultra Runners in Asia and has coached the North Face Adventure Racing Team in the past who will feature heavily at the 2022 UTMB with Jay, Stingray and Chung all competing.

Check out www.mile27.com.au for info on training for ultras.

Podcast hosted by Scott Pugh and Ric Stockfis

We are joined by by Romain Groleau, one of the top Singaporean based ultra runners prior to his relocation to Singapore. We discuss his recent podium of Rinjani as well as him closing in on 3 years of running consecutively every single day.

We cover:

• Romain’s background for endurance sports, triathlon etc

• What is it about running that captured him out of all the disciplines

• We discuss his race experience from UTMB and UTMR to Rinjani and TMBT. Toughest race? Most beautiful? Most remote?

• We talk about his consistency and his every day running challenge. How he thinks about rest days. What he does after a big race.

• Virtual runs during covid and Ben Swees challenges

• Rinjani 2018 and 2022

• Diet - stomach issues before and transitioned to vegan

• Plans now he is moving to NZ

Podcast hosted by endurance enthusiasts Scott Pugh and Ric Stockfis