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The Sub Stuff Ep 12 | This Week in Sub-Ultra - Golden Trail World Series Finals + 2024 Mountain Running World Cup Finals
Discover the secrets behind the thrilling world of mountain running and uncover the fierce rivalries that dominate the circuit. What's driving athletes like Scout Akin, Andre Elia, and Joyce Njeru to push their limits on the rugged trails of Italy and Switzerland? In this episode of Steep Stuff, previously known as This Week in Sub Ultra, we unravel the drama and excitement of the 2024 Mountain Running World Cup Finals and set the stage for the Golden Trail World Series. From the breathtaking Italian vistas to the upcoming Swiss showdown, there's something for every mountain running enthusiast to savor!
We'll take you through the epic showdowns from the 2023 and 2024 mountain running series, where Italian and Kenyan athletes have been battling it out for top honors. With a nail-biting finish, Andre Elia claimed victory, while American talents like Christian Allen and Joseph Gray made their mark despite setbacks. The unique staggered start format added an unexpected twist, leading to some unforgettable performances. And let's not forget the Atkins family, whose collective prowess continues to intrigue and inspire fans globally.
As the Golden Trail World Series Final approaches, anticipation is palpable for what promises to be a captivating finale in Switzerland. We'll spotlight top contenders and give a special nod to standout American athletes like Ali Ostrander and Lauren Gregory, who are ready to make their presence known. With lucrative opportunities and fierce competition on the horizon, this episode offers a comprehensive guide to the motivations and stakes for these elite athletes. Join me, James Lauriello, as we celebrate the passion, perseverance, and pulse-pounding action that define mountain running in this action-packed edition of the Steep Stuff podcast!
Guys, what is up? Welcome back to the Steep Stuff podcast. I am your host, james Lauriello, bringing you guys the 12th episode, or the 12th edition, of the Sub Stuff, otherwise known as this Week in Sub Ultra. Guys, I took a little time off. It's been a while since I've done this. I haven't done one since August, where we gave you guys episode 11. I think, finally, we have some stuff going on this week which really warrants and constitutes one of these episodes, which is why I decided to make one. So we've got some big things in store.
Speaker 1:A lot has happened this past weekend and a lot is happening this upcoming weekend. First off, oh my gosh guys, the 2024 Mountain Running World Cup Finals took place this past weekend. We had the VK and the trail race took place. Saturday was the VK October 12th, and Sunday, october 13th, was the trail race. We'll get into results in a little bit. And second of all, probably the biggest thing to talk about that I have so much stoke to discuss is we're finally at that point for the Golden Trail World Series final. It's going to be taking place starting this Thursday with the preludes on 1017, thursday 1017, and finishing up on 1020, which is Sunday, with the men's race. So that's actually going to be taking place in Ascona, larkano. We're going to talk about that really beautiful backdrop in Switzerland, so we'll get into that. First, though, I think we should probably pertinent to talk about what happened this past weekend. Um, we're going to get into the 2024 mountain running world cup finals.
Speaker 1:Um, as I said before, there was a vertical kilometer race and a troll race took place. On Saturday 10, 12 was the VK. On Sunday 10, 13 was the trail race in Italy. Uh, the VK, also known as the Kelo Metro vertical Laguna. God, I butchered that. Let's just say VK, I think it's probably the better way to do it. Um, was it very true? And traditional VK a thousand meters of climbing with 3.3 kilometers of distance. So that's climbing in 2.5, 2.05 miles climbing about 3,280 feet. So your classic VK distance.
Speaker 1:This race was the mountain running World Cup VK champs, as well as the Italian vertical kilometer champs, national champs. So we had a lot of talented runners, both the men's and women's fields, show up. It was really interesting the way they did these, because it's kind of an interesting small course. It's not like how we do in American VKs, where a lot of you might be familiar, or even in European VKs, where a lot of you might be familiar. Or even in European VKs you see a lot of mass starts where everybody will start out at once. I know Broken Arrow is just very, very famous for that where you all start at the base of the ski hill and just everybody takes off at once up the ski hill. You pick your line and then the field kind of whittles out from there.
Speaker 1:You know what these races are, so tight and just so elite in a lot of ways and the times are going to be so close together. So what they do is staggered starts. So the men's and women's field both had staggered starts. The women's field was spread out over about 46 minutes. Um, they had staggered starts with the top women starting in the back of the fields, um, and the lesser ranked women starting closer to the front Um. And it was the same thing on the men's side, um, the men's race started about 10 AM and over the course of every 15 seconds through 1143 AM we had athletes taken off, um, and the same thing women, women, same thing as the top women, where the top men were kind of seated in the back um, with the lesser ranked gentlemen in the front, um, and the fields were very deep. Italy themselves placed four runners in the top seven on the men's race and Kenya, um, had six runners in the men's field as well, and all of them placed very high.
Speaker 1:So just a really fun race to kind of follow along and just kind of get into the um. Yeah, just get get down and dirty, guys, just crazy, crazy. Um. Okay, let's talk about results. We're going to get into the top 10. I'm going to start with the women. Uh, just cause I think the women's race was a little more fun to follow along, it's just a absolute barn burner. When you guys see it, it's like how close these top women's times were. Um, I'll start out in first place.
Speaker 1:None other than scout Akin, um, uk runner. Uh took the. Took the win in 37 minutes 57 seconds. You might be familiar. Familiar with that name in seconds. You might be familiar, familiar with that name. Scott Atkin is a Hoka runner, uh, for Hoka EU. Um, she actually took second place at series, and all in 2024. So that's another reason you might remember that name.
Speaker 1:Uh, just an amazing athlete. And this is her, actual, her, third world cup win, um of the year. So third of the. I believe it was 12 world cup races. Um. Of those world cup races, she. This is her third overall win in a women's in the women's field, which is crazy. Good on, scout. That's amazing. Um.
Speaker 1:And second place was Filaris uh Kisang, a Kenyan runner. Uh took second in 38 minutes and 34 seconds. Um, she had a second place at the 2023 worlds Um. So at worlds last year I don't know what distance she ran, I did not see that in my research. I would assume um, because she is competing so high in the vk I would imagine it would second place at the world vertical um. But yeah, just amazing. Um.
Speaker 1:And second place was paola stamp stampinoni, um, switzerland runner. 39 minutes 13 seconds to round out the podium. And she was actually second at the sky running world vertical championship this year, world world vertical race. It was a championship as well for sky running worlds. Um, bam, second place at that vertical kilometer as well. In fourth place was susanna seppin, sepp cooney, seven seppinuk, sepp, nikki guys, bear with me here um. She was a finnish runner, um. So front finland took fourth place in 39 minutes 44 seconds. Um.
Speaker 1:And fifth place was a name you guys might be very familiar with none other than miss joyce naru um, the current first place um ranking holder for the golden trail world series and up until this race, was the first place ranking holder for the for the world cup as well. Joyce took fifth place, the Canyon runner, in 39 minutes 55 seconds. And she is such a beast, such a beast athlete. Joyce is just an amazing competitor. And sixth place was Gunnison local, now Australian, athlete, miss Lara Hamilton. You local Coloradans might be very familiar with that name. Lara's had top finishes at the likes of Kendall Mountain Run. She competes at the GoPro Games. Lara is an absolute beast. She had a great showing at the World Uphills last year as well, at Worlds competing for her native country of Australia. Like I said, she took sixth place in 40 minutes 18 seconds. What an amazing finish. So very big congrats to Lara Just amazing.
Speaker 1:In seventh place was Sarah Wilhoyt of the United Kingdom, in 40 minutes 31 seconds. In eighth place was Vivian Bonzi, an Italian runner, in 41 minutes five seconds. In ninth place was Clara Velopek, a Slovenian runner, in 41 minutes 25 seconds. And in 10 ninth place was Clara uh Velopec, a Slovenian runner, in 41 minutes 25 seconds. And in 10th place was Leria Varanosi uh, another Italian runner in 51, 41, I'm sorry, 41, 53. Um, guys, so for those Americans listening to this, which is probably most of you, um, we want to shout out the first American finisher of the race, none other than Miss Rachel Tomziak, who almost got 10th. She took 11th place. You could pronounce her name Tomziak Tomiak. I don't know Rachel personally, so I hope I didn't butcher your name too bad. Rachel Took 11th place in 41.55, so just behind the Italian runner, liera Varanozzi. Just amazing.
Speaker 1:Some storylines here. With that VK win, scout Atkin actually became the 2024 Mountain Running World Cup winner. She actually beat out because there was a second race. She competed alone with Joyce at the trail race, which was on Sunday. She actually wound up eventually beating out at, at the time, uh, the champion or the first place holder, which was Joyce Nauru. She beat her by one point, which is kind of crazy, kind of controversial. So it goes to show you just like how close these races are. Um, and she wins. Uh, because of that, she took a, took home a 5k Euro, uh purse for her win. Um, and she bumped Joyce Nauru down by one position. So, joyce with the second place, which is kind of just kind of crazy. Um. So, yeah, big shout out to the ladies in the VK race. Just such a fun race to follow along. Uh, so cool.
Speaker 1:Let's move on to the men. We're going to talk about the men in the VK. Um guys, wouldn't absolutely stack men's field as well. Um, none other than than the greatest one of the American, like the American goat, one of the greatest of all time. Uh, Mr Joseph gray showed up to this great event to throw down at the VK um, as well as the current vertical world champion, none other than Mr Patrick Kip, and Diego um, as well as his teammate and just another killer runner, mr Phil Monk, here, diego as well, you might. You guys might know Phil Amon's name.
Speaker 1:Um took first place at series, and all in 2023. And um, even more notably, a second place to Killian in 2024, where it just went down to the wire and just Killian was able to hold off Philemon by just a matter of seconds and just an absolute barn burner, um, guys. So, with the ranking, patrick actually started a fourth from last place, philemon started ninth from last and Joseph Gray started seventh from last. So what that means is that seventh from last night, the last, fourth from last. These are the way they like.
Speaker 1:I said, the race kind of started at 10 AM and every 15 seconds we had a runner go off in this kind of scattered start form and it was basically a time trial where, yes, you're racing each other, but more so you're racing on how fast can you go, how fast can you get to the top, uh, which is kind of a unique manner. I don't really like it. But because these athletes are so fast, we have to do staggered starts, because you can kind of get a lot of choke points, uh, on the trail and it just kind of creates a lot of um, just hecticness, um, so having these scattered starts really makes up the difference. Um, so we'll talk about the results, guys, at the end of the day. I mean kind of just my analysis of this it was really just the Italians versus the Canyons. I don't know what it was, but it is just amazing to see so many Italian athletes, as well as so many Kenyan athletes, just like throw down against each other and, yeah, we'll get into the, we'll get into the stats.
Speaker 1:Now, none other than Andre Elia, the Italian, took the first place, took the dub in 3108, and second place place was Henry Alamond. You guys might be familiar with that name. Henry's a North face athlete. Another Italian as well took second place in 3115. So just behind Andre. In third place was our great champion, mr Patrick Kipaniego, the Kenyan in 31.50. So running out the podium. In fourth place was Taziano Moari, another Italian, in 31.59. In fifth place was another Kenyan. So you can see, like I said, we had this constant back and forth with two Italians on the podium and just like a whole slew of Kenyans. So it's really interesting how back and forth this went.
Speaker 1:Um, if the place was Paul uh Michoka, kenyan, in 32, 16, and sixth place was Richard Atua in 32, 28, and seventh place was Alberto vendor uh, or Vedder Verder, italian, in 32, 31, and eighth place was a Kind of mixing it up a little bit Haikon Skarsgård, norwegian, in 32-51. And none other than in ninth place we got our first American, mr Christian Allen, the fastest mullet in the Wasatch. Big fan of Christian Allen Took ninth place overall Nike athlete in 33-09. And in 10th place was Clemon Spanring, um, in 3309. Um, actually I think it was like 3315. I kind of wrote I think I wrote that down wrong, um. So right behind Christian, a Slovenian athlete, um, some other notable athletes guys.
Speaker 1:For those of you who are the Americans out there listening to this, I'm sure you want to hear about some of our great American champions. Um, joseph gray did take ninth plate, 19th place, um 34, 22. Um, I know he was just coming off just a kind of a battered ankle um that he'd been racing on so kind of tough, great, crazy race. Um, ninth place, like I said I talked about already, was a Christian Allen 3309. Usa legend now, mr Christian Allen.
Speaker 1:Another big name you guys might be familiar with or definitely are familiar with, is none other than Phil Amon. Cariego took 12th place in 33-38. And another interesting little piece of information Scout Atkins' brother, jacob Atkins, took 17th place in 34-14. So it definitely these great athletes definitely runs in the family. Some. Definitely this, this great, uh, these great athletes definitely runs in the family. Um, some really cool things. This coverage, a lot of this. Uh, the notes and information that I was able to get from this came off of Iran far. So big outshot, big shots, iran far. I'm going to link a lot of their coverage and stuff like that in the show notes so you guys can kind of um, if you want to watch any videos or watch any of the pre and post um you know interviews with these athletes. It's definitely something you want to follow along and just kind of get some information on, just like what took down in our great sport or what went down in our great sport this past week.
Speaker 1:All right, guys, let's talk about the Sunday race. So Saturday was the VK, sunday was the trail race, the 2024 mountain running world cup final trail race. Um, sunday race was called the Val Bragalia trail race. I think I got that one better Bragalia, something like that. It's a course that stretched out over 23K with 850 meters of vertical. It was a beautiful point-to-point race and I don't know if you guys saw some of the photos, but the backdrop was just absolutely incredible these beautiful Italian mountains in the background and just it was kind of a gloomy, cloudy day, I don't know just very Alps, alps. He just kind of fit the bill. It's pretty cool.
Speaker 1:Um, so for those of you who are Americans listening to this, um, if you're wondering how far 23 K is, that's 14.29 miles and 850 meters in feet is 2,788 feet. Um, I think for a mountain race, this is kind of uh jumps out to me with 2,788 feet for 14 miles. It's kind of flat ish. Um, yeah, I, I would take that as a flattish course, so very fast course. Um, and yeah, like I said, I read far provided some great coverage of these great races.
Speaker 1:Uh, so we'll break down the results. None other in first place, none other than Mr Patrick Kipaniego, took out, took out the win in one 34, oh three3. And with that he won the overall 2024 Mountain Running World Cup, which is pretty amazing. Big shout out to Patrick. In second place was Paul Michoka, the Kenyan who also had a top finish at the VK the day prior. He took second place in 1.3422, so just 19 seconds behind Patrick. In third place was theodore klein uh, french athlete in 134, 53, so not too far behind. I mean, guys, look at that first through. Third was just a matter of just a quick seconds, um, so just amazing just how fast this, this sport, is getting. And fourth place was mr joseph at um, kipotrick, I think I got that right. Um, kenyan athlete, took a fourth place in one 35, 24. You guys might remember that name. He actually took fourth place this year, uh, at series, and all so very fast. Very talented athlete.
Speaker 1:In fifth place was UK runner, mr Ross Golan, in one 35, uh, 35, um. In sixth place was Michael Solani, another Kenyan, and 135. Looks like 135. Well, excuse me, 135, 47. In seventh place was Michael Gasolini, another Italian, in 135, 57. And eighth place was Henry Alamond, who had a second place showing the day before, second place at the VK where he ran himself 315 at the VK. In second place. He took eighth place overall, the Italian in 13609. And ninth place was none other than Philamon Cariego. Took ninth place, the canyon and one 37, 33. And in 10th place was Luca Morelli, um, the Italian one 37, 34. Um, so, yeah, just pretty amazing.
Speaker 1:Um, for the Americans listening, guys, if you're wondering where the top uh American finished, what that was? In 12th place, none other than Mr Liam Miro, um, the pride of Portland, oregon, a former bowerman track star. Uh, kids, an absolute beast. Took 12th place and won 37, 51 um. And yeah, just some some quick stats here. Kenyan had five runners in the top 10 and italy had three. So, just like this ongoing battle between the kenyans and the italians on the day.
Speaker 1:Um, yeah, let's talk about the women. Um, none other than the name you guys might be most familiar with, miss joyce naru, the great dominant champion from kenya, took first place in 147 45, and second place was phalaris gerudo, from kenya, also in 148, 51, and third place was scout atkin, from the united kingdom, in 148 58. With that third place and being so close to Joyce's time, that is how Scott was Scout was actually able to edge joy. Excuse me, that's how Scott was able to edge Joyce out by one point, um, and take the overall win for the world mountain running cup. In fourth place was Naomi Lang, also from the United kingdom, and one 50 oh seven. In fifth place was Susanna uh Sapunki, from Finland, and one 52 oh eight. In fifth place was Susanna uh Sapuki, from Finland, and one 52 0 8. In sixth place was Alice Gaggy, from Italy, in one hour 53 minutes flat. And then seventh place was Beatrice Balanci, in of Italia Italy, not Italia and one 53, 36. And eighth place was the Romanian, madalena Amorelli, in 157 20. In ninth place was Ellie uh Dagger stall, another Italian, in one 57, uh 25. And in 10th place was Sarah Wilholt, from the United Kingdom, in one 57, uh 37,.
Speaker 1:Um, guys, some, just some quick, quick information here. We had no American women in this race. It was really bummed to find out. I know we had quite a. We had a few qualifiers from our mountain running champs. That took place this past summer at Cirque series, snowbird, but it was just a really big bummer that none of the American athletes or none of the American women that qualified were actually able to go over and race. So kind of a bummer. Hope we can, uh, we can correct that next year and have uh, just a stout team going over for worlds in 2025.
Speaker 1:All right, guys, let's talk about what you came here for. Uh, we have the, the moment. You've all been waiting for the golden trail world series final. Uh, so excited to finally be talking about this. It's been a long golden trail world series season um, starting off in like April, may-ish with like the the uh, it was the four sisters um and the Kobe trail in Japan. Um, it was great, great races and over um on the other side of the world. So it's kind of crazy that we're now in October and, uh, we're concluding the season um taking place this October 17th to the 20th in Ascona Larcano.
Speaker 1:It's a beautiful area of Switzerland. If you guys are unfamiliar with that area, it actually sits on Lake Maggioli, maggioli, something like that Lake, which also borders Italy as well. So it's on the Italian slash Swiss border. It's actually in the southern region of Switzerland, which is pretty cool and it's much closer. If you guys are like trying to get an idea geographically, it's much closer to like Milan and areas like that, as opposed to like areas like Chamonix or somewhere in like that ends or fully.
Speaker 1:This is a. The race is actually going to be taking place on the 20th and it's going to be live on Euro sport If you guys want to follow along. I'm not sure if the prologue is going to be on Eurosport. I would imagine what they're going to do is probably have some component of the prologue that's going to be live on YouTube as well. I'm sure they'll have a whole YouTube following, as Golden Trail Series usually does. The way this works, 30 of the top men and 30 of the top women have been invited to compete um with some other national series contenders. You're going to see I'll talk about some of the Americans um that are national series contenders that um have been invited as well and will be out there to to race. So it's kind of unclear who's exactly going to be out there um on the national series contending side. I know golden trail kind of put up on their Instagram something for that, so it will be fun to see who shows up.
Speaker 1:Let's talk about the schedule. So the schedule on Thursday October 17th is going to be the women's prologue. On Friday October 18th is going to be the men's prologue. On Saturday October 19th is going to be the women's race. That's going to take place at 1135 am, and Sunday October 20th is going to be the women's race. That's going to take place at 1135 AM, and Sunday October 20th the men's race is going to be taking place at the same time, um, at 1135 AM. So kind of interesting. Um, so awfully specific time at 1135,. I don't know what the deal is there, uh, but yeah, let's go with it. Um, distance, let's talk distance.
Speaker 1:Let's talk prologue course first, and then we'll talk about the actual course, which they literally, as I'm recording this, I just got an Instagram message that they changed it, um, from what I understand. So the prologue course is going to be 7k with 400 meters of climbing. Uh, that's 4.3 miles with 1,312 feet of climbing. Um, so here's what interesting guys. I don't know if anybody knows this or has done their own homework on it, so it's undetermined. I couldn't find it on the website and I couldn't find anybody to answer this for me in the Golden Trail World Series, if the prologue is going to count for any points and how that's going to count for any type of placement in the race itself. Those points are not disclosed on the Golden trail series site, so I'm not really sure how this prologue is going to play into it for the final. They haven't fully disclosed it yet. Um, maybe someone with better information or that knows more about this and maybe didn't overlook it Like I did? Um might have that info. So, if you do, feel free to send me an Instagram message so I can, uh, I can include that going forward.
Speaker 1:Um, the course itself is going to be 23.5 K with 1400 meters of vertical. It's a pretty proper mountain race. So I'm just shy of 15 miles, 14.6 miles with 4,593 feet of vertical. I'd say that's a little more proper than the trail race that took place at the um at the race, uh you know, last week for the sky or the for the mountain running world cup. Um, so pretty dope. I like that amount of vert. Um, the course just looks beautiful. This backdrop looks amazing. Uh, just really exciting to see, like what golden trail series has been able to put on. All right.
Speaker 1:So I got a lot of names for you guys. I'm going to talk about the top 20 on each side men's and women's rankings, um, and we'll kind of break it down from there. This might be a lot Um, so just bear with me. Here. On the female side, we have Joyce in a row sitting at 600 points, um, her team. If you guys are unfamiliar, it's Athletica Saluzzo Um. So pretty, pretty interesting, pretty different name. I would imagine all the big brands are going to be coming for her um at the end of the season. Go, joyce, shout out to Joyce Um.
Speaker 1:And second place for the female ranking is Madalena Floria, with 564 points, the Solomon athlete. And third place is Maude Mathis, solomon as well. And fourth place is Malin Osa, with 500 points, um. And sixth place is, or fifth place is, june water, 487 points, the Hoka athlete. And sixth place is the res Lebeau of team compressed sport, with 478 points. And seventh place is Mal Yow of team Solomon, chinese athlete, for 476 points. In eighth place is Anna Gibson, team Brooks, american, with 470 points. In ninth place is Sylvia Nordskar, a Hoka athlete, with 457 points. In 10th place is Marta Martinez, the La Sportiva athlete with 444 points. In 11th place is Oriela Locauce with 440 points. In 12th place is Rosa Flory, another compressed sport athlete with 436 points. In 13th place is Naria Ndavi, solomon athlete with 420 points. In 14th is Caitlin Felter with 416 points. Another Team Solomon athlete In 15th is Julia Font 413 points from Team Brooks. In 16th is Rachel Tomciak 378 points from Team Merrill. In seventh place is Takoda Takamura, a Japanese athlete, also with Team Solomon, with 360 points. Tied with 17th is F Van Dogen, team VJ Shu athlete with 360 points. In 19th is katarina stentina with 348 points, um. And 20th place is rea lozelli from team brooks, with 345 points, um.
Speaker 1:I also want to give a couple shout outs to some of our great american athletes uh, that will be going over there to compete. Some big names, uh, just like. In 21th place is sitting ali ostrander, who's had some great showings this year, both at um. Uh, both at um. What is it? Mammoth trail, fast, um, as well as the headlands race. Same with Christina Mascarenas. Uh, the pride of Colorado Springs, um, our great friends and our great, uh, great Colorado Springs champion. Uh. Sitting in 22nd place Um. Another big shout out to American Lauren Gregory, who will be going over there to compete, as well as Giselle slot boom uh, who currently resides in Utah. So uh actually had the fortune of uh getting to race Giselle a few times this year at the Cirque series races. Very strong athlete, um.
Speaker 1:On the men's side, um sitting in first place is none other than Al Husein, the normal runner, uh 600 points. So perfect, perfect, 600. In second place is Patrick Kipaniego 588 points, running for team on run together, same with Phil Amon. Phil Amon sitting in third place, phil Amon-Kiriego with 552 points, again with team on run together. In fourth place is the great Solomon champion, mr Remy Bonet, with 520 points. In fifth place is Daniel Padas with 488 points from team Brooks. In sixth is Bart uh Pedro Liskey with 478 points, another Solomon athlete. And seventh place is none other than Swiss beast Uh, mr Roberto De Lorenzi I feel like he's at every race. Um 476 points, team Brooks, uh.
Speaker 1:And eighth place is Solomon athlete Joey held Iran with 456 points, team Brooks. In eighth place is Solomon athlete Joey Helderaan with 456 points. In ninth place was Alan Blanco 420 points from Team Solomon, another Team Solomon athlete. In tenth place is Marcin Kubiak 418 points. In eleventh place is Cesar Mastarelli with 416 points Nike athlete. In twelfth place is Miguel Rubulio 413 points nike athlete. In 12th place is mcgwell ruby rubulio 413 points. Uh, brooks athlete.
Speaker 1:And 13th place is none other than go to himself, mr kaylee and jorday kj sitting with 400 points team normal, although he will not be competing at the golden trail world series final, which is kind of a bummer. I kind of wrote that on instagram. I was like oh man, if kj is coming, take my money, um, but he will not be there, unfortunately. Definitely a bummer, um. 14th place is alex garcia 396 points from team brooks. And 15th is christian allen 389 points from team nike. Shout out to christian allen fastest mullet in wasatch, uh.
Speaker 1:16th place is fred tranchard 388 points from team spot scott, um. And 17th place is leonard matricia uh, 387 points, um. And 18th place is garrett corcoran garrett the parrot, um. Shout out to uh. Team run salt lake, um. Shout out to francesco sinceri um. Yeah, yeah, just google it, give it a look. Uh, yeah, garrett garrett corcoran is a beast. Uh, he has 380 points. And sitting at 18th. In 19th place is Robert Pomo 376. God, it must be so entertaining to listen to me sound out these words With 376 points, team Joma. And in 20th is Bogdan Damian. With 370 points, team Dekor.
Speaker 1:And we want to give a shout out to 30th Place, who just snuck in, none other than the legend himself, one of the godfathers of our sport, mr Andy Wacker, sitting at 288 points. We'll be going over there to compete, so excited to go. See Andy go over there and mix it up yeah All. See Andy go over there and mix it up yeah, all right, let's talk about some intangibles, some other things. So for you guys that don't know, the top 30 athletes, both men and women, after all eight races, get invited to go compete at this and that includes some things, but most of the things that are included that they're going to help the athletes out with include travel, accommodations and meals.
Speaker 1:Runners in the top 30 of 2024. So this is after the placement. After it's all said and done, runners in the top 30 get invited back to the races of their choice for 2025. If you're in the top 20 of the overall ranking, you're going to receive some support, and if you're in the top 10 of the overall ranking, you're going to receive pretty close to full support.
Speaker 1:Um, there is prize money. There's prize money for your overall placement in the race and there's prize money for your overall ranking. It's kind of kind of called an overall ranking bonus at the end, at the end of the like, when it's all said and done, after the race. So the prize money for the for the race itself first place is going to receive 3 000 euro. Second place 2k. Third place, 1 000 euro. Fourth place, 900 euro. Fifth place, 800 euro. Sixth place, 700 euro, and it goes all the way down to 10th place, which will receive 300 euro. Which even more compelling and interesting, is the overall ranking bonuses. So, al-hussein, if he's able to pull off the dub here, he can make himself 18 000 euros in a day he can get. If he wins. Okay, he's going to win the overall ranking and he's also going to get the prize money for the overall race itself. So it's 3k plus his overall ranking bonus, which, for first place, is going to be 15,000 euros. Uh, which is not a not a bad day at the office, um. Second place is going to be 10,000 euros. Third place 8,000 euros. Fourth place six five. Fifth place is 4,000 euros. Sixth place is 3,000 euros. Seventh place is 2.5 thousand euros. Eighth place is 2,000 euros, ninth place is 1.8 thousand euros and 10th place is 1.6 thousand euros, and that goes all the way down to 20th place, where 20th place will receive 300 euro. So it's pretty generous overall ranking bonuses that they give. 15 000 euros is not bad. It's pretty solid.
Speaker 1:All right, guys, we're at the 30 minute mark. You know what that means. We're gonna talk picks. We're gonna talk all kinds of picks. We're gonna talk paths to victory. We're gonna talk all kinds of fun stuff. I think I'm gonna start with the women. I think the women is a little more interesting. I I'm going to start with my first place pick in the women, just because it's. I think it's just there's a lot of good talking points here.
Speaker 1:Um, guys, this is a tough one. I'm going to have to say Joyce and a roof for the overall women's win at this race. And the reason I say that is because she took fifth at the VK and then goes and wins the trail race last week at the uh, at the us, or sorry, at the uh, world mountain running. Um, this is a funny name for all these things the mountain running world cup finals. I'm sorry. The reason, I think joyce naru. I just think she has all the tools to win.
Speaker 1:For those of you who aren't familiar with joyce naru she took first place at mammoth this year. She took first place, joyce Nauru. She took first place at Mammoth this year. She took first place at Headlands this year. She took first place at the Broken Arrow VK this year. She also took first place at the Broken Arrow 23K this year and even having a tough race at Series 1 and all, she also took first at Four Sisters. So just like an absolute monster athlete, and I think she's going to be motivated like an absolute monster athlete and I think she's going to be motivated. So, for the overall ranking of the mountain running world cup, she lost by one point to scout out Kim. So she lost out in some money. So if I was Joyce, I'm going to be motivated by it, I'm going to be motivated to go make some some dough by taking the overall dub I mean it's different of like 3000 euros If you're able to pull this off for first place as well. So she could make herself 18,000 euros if you're able to pull this off for first place as well, so she could make herself 18,000 euros on the day, 15,000 in the overall ranking, because that's where she sits right now, is first in the overall ranking and then another 3,000 by taking the overall win. So she's going to be motivated by money. I know I would be. Go get yourself Joyce, go get yourself that win. I got Joyce in first place.
Speaker 1:In second place I'm going to go with Judith Wider. I think Judith, despite having a 14th place finish at Mammoth and a fourth place finish at Headlands, I think Judith is just like one of the greatest trail runners of all time. I've heard her largely and very many times compared as one of the greats. I think she will go down as one of the greats. I think she's very motivated. She's a great technical runner and remember she's home trails. She lives and resides in Switzerland. She's not going to lose in her home country. I think Judith's going to be motivated. She's back home, she's ready to race. Maud is not competing this year. Maud is out with an injury. I think that just really opens up the second spot and I think there's going to be some serious motivation there to go get it done, especially having a disappointing race at Mammoth. So I'm going to go with Judith in second, in third place.
Speaker 1:This is going to be a little bit of a hot take. You guys are going to find this interesting. My Instagram sleuthing has really spurred my third place pick. I'm going to go with Sophia Lauchley. So right after I believe it was the Mont Blanc Marathon I don't think she competed at the series at all.
Speaker 1:It was very recent that Sophia Lackley decided to take a break from the golden trail series to get back, to get to prioritize her health and get back into training and get back to kind of just being healthy. Now, for those of you who don't know, sophia Lackley is she's arguably the best trail runner, if not the most fittest athlete in this race. Whether she wins or not, she's a dual sport athlete. She's an Olympic Nordic skier. She's won the golden trail series last year. She's, without a doubt, you know, just one of the like the the most beastly athletes that that's competing on this day. But she's kind of had a topsy turvy kind of up and down season. She's had a bunch of second places, you know, some top five finishes, just hasn't been at the same form she was last year. So what she wanted to do was take a break, prioritize her health and get back to it.
Speaker 1:Now what's interesting and why I bring this up as like, potentially like weird with the Instagram sleuthing is that, like she was, she's being a little slept on and I think Solomon Solomon is kind of sleeping on her in a lot of ways. Um, and the reason is is because she you know, they're kind of sleeping on her because she wasn't brought up in the by Solomon's Instagram, uh, as a favorite, which I thought was weird because, like, how could you, how could you sleep on Sophia Lapley? Now, solomon also like made a big deal about it and like posted a thing on October 5th about her, but when they just posted, like very quickly, the favorites, she was most notably left out. And if that was my sponsor, I'd be fucking pissed, Especially considering Sophia on a good day is like arguably like one of the best of the best in the world. So I'm going to go Sophia for third. Let's see what happens. You know this is this is me being the commentator here. You know drumming up some drama. I don't know where that goes, who knows.
Speaker 1:Um, and fourth place, I'm going to go with Madalina Floria, second place at mammoth. She's an absolute monster. Uh, one of the best as well, probably the best minute marathoner in the whole group. Uh, super fast, you can't count her out. In fifth place, I'm going to go with Mays Malinosa. Uh, she took some time off to focus on the final, actually, as well um, as sophia, um, and yeah, just hasn't been racing. She's kind of got herself fresh and fit. I wouldn't be, I would not, um, count her out of the top five. I think malin is that talented. In sixth place, I'm gonna go with mao yao. Um, just a, just a competitor dude. Mao yao is one of my favorite athletes in this entire thing.
Speaker 1:Took the dub at occ this year, six at headlands, 10th at mammoth, showing no signs of slowing down. I think male, male, y'all can compete for the top five, if not the podium. I do have her slated at six because, like, this is the same question I bring up every time we do commentary. It's like yo is mal y'all, like how does she have this amazing engine and not get tired? Um, so, yeah, she's gonna be at the final. It's gonna be fun to see her compete.
Speaker 1:In seventh place, I'm going to go with anna gibson. Took seventh at the headlands race and third at mammoth. Um, she's another one. Anna gibson is an amazing competitor and just freak athlete. It'll be cool and exciting to see her on the top 10. In eighth place I'm going to go with sylvia nordskar. Took first place at zagama this past year as well as fifth at the marathon Blanc Just absolute monster. In ninth, I think Allie Ostrander would be a good fit for ninth place. She took ninth at Headlands and eighth for Mammoth. She could very well do better in this race. She's starting to peak and get in good form. Top ten at both those races are incredible results. And in tenth place I'm going to go with our great Colorado Springs champion.
Speaker 1:I'm going to go out there with Christina Mascherinas, 19 at the headlands 15 mammoth. She's such a good downhill runner and has really just improved so much in the climbing department. She's the three-time Pikes Peak marathon champion. How can you not have Christina up there to compete? And I think this could be it. This could be the place where she cements herself in that top enchilada of the top women in the sport, because we all know she's capable of it. So I'm going to go with Christina in the top 10. I think she's definitely capable of doing it on the day.
Speaker 1:Guys, thanks for listening to me ramble for the last 37 minutes. I hope you guys have a great week. Hope you got some value out of this. Hope you can tune into the Golden Trail World Series final. I know I will be, like I said, eurosport and I'm sure YouTube there's going to be a lot of coverage and as well as on Instagram Uh, I know they like to kind of give a lot of good coverage there. So hope you guys enjoyed this one. Um, guys, keep a lookout for episode dropping. Um, on Friday, speak of the devil, speak of Solomon, speaking of golden trail series. Uh, on Friday, uh, the mr darren thomas um, our episode that we did just before the pikes peak marathon is going to be dropping so you guys get to learn all about our, uh, our great colorado. Another great colorado springs champion, mr darren thomas. Um, so hope you guys enjoyed this one. Have a great rest of your week. Thanks so much for tuning in.
