The Steep Stuff Podcast
The Sub Stuff Ep 3 | This Week in Sub-Ultra ! Hochkönig Skyrace & European Off-Road Champs - Uphill & Updown Recaps Plus Go Pro Mountain Games Preview
The Sub Stuff Ep 3 | This Week in Sub-Ultra ! HochKönig Skyrace & European Off-Road Champs - Uphill & Updown Recaps Plus Go Pro Mountain Games Preview
The Sub Stuff Ep 3 | This Week in Sub-Ultra ! HochKönig Skyrace & European Off-Road Champs - Uphill & Updown Recaps Plus Go Pro Mountain Games Preview
Hey, fam, welcome back to the steep stuff podcast. I'm your host, james Lauriello, and today we are doing episode three of the sub stuff this week in sub ultra. What an exciting week. We've got a lot of stuff coming up, a lot of stuff that just took place. Super excited to get into this and see what your guys's thoughts are. Some some exciting stuff in our sport is going down, especially now as we're starting to get into the summer months. We're going to have a lot to chat about. So you guys are going to be hearing my voice a good amount. I don't know if it's a good thing or a bad thing, so yeah, let's dive into it.
Speaker 1:First up this week was the Hachikong Sky Race. Sorry, guys, I butchered that. Um, this is a race in the sky racing world series that takes place in Maria Alma, so it's like the greater Salzburg area of Austria. Um, it's a 31 K race with about 2,580 feet of uh 2,800, 2,580 meters of climbing. Um, so that's about 19 miles with about 8,464 feet. Um, now, this course was a bad weather course, so they had to go with the B course due to some nasty, just disgusting weather. Um, really exciting stuff took spot, it took place. I mean, it was some really, really, really bad weather and, uh, we'll kind of dive into the podium and go from there as well as times. So on the female side of the house, we've got Hillary Girardi in first, representing both France and the United States, iris Presi in second and Ingrid Mutter. Hillary Girardi finished and she won the race in about four hours seven minutes 20 seconds. Iris right behind, in about four hours 14 minutes and 50 seconds. In about four hours 14 minutes and 50 seconds. And Ingrid Mutter of Romania, right behind her as well at four hours 15 minutes and 18 seconds. Some really cool athletes just do want to talk about Hillary Girardi, iris and Ingrid.
Speaker 1:Hillary represents, like I said, both France and the United States. She resides in France, in Chamonix, but she's an American. She runs for Black Diamond as well as Scarpa. Iris is a Scott runner and Ingrid is on the Scarpa team. Iris is a French athlete and Ingrid runs for is from Romania.
Speaker 1:I do want to dive a little bit into Hillary. I want to want to call out or shout out Hillary is kind of like my athlete of the week. I just thought her, her background was just really incredible. I've had quite a few athletes on the podcast say that you know she's in contention for one of the greatest of all time as far as the way they think, which I would not disagree with. I think she's a phenomenal athlete and she's just a sky running badass.
Speaker 1:So Hillary is only about 35 years young. She resides in Chamonix. Like I said, she's an American. She years young, she resides in chamonix. Like I said, she's an american. Um, she actually currently holds the fastest known time for mont blanc, the 15 777 um. It's a lot of sevens um foot mountain, which is in um uh kind of kind of splits between france, uh, switzerland and italy. Um, she actually set that fkt back in 2023. She is also the 2021 mont blancK champion. She's also the champion of the 2018 Tromso Sky Race and the 2018 Skyrunner World Series, so she is no stranger to some of these races. So it's not surprising that she continues to have dominance on the Skyrunning World Series. She's also a graduate of Middleburg College in Vermont, um, where she kind of, I think, found her love for the mountains from what I've read um working on the Appalachian trail and some of the Appalachian mountain club huts. So, yeah, shout out to Hillary Girardi just an incredible female athlete and a way to way to get it done 407, 20 in a disgustingly technical, rainy, snowy, nasty course, and yeah, so congrats to her.
Speaker 1:On the men's side of the house for the Sky Race, we have an Italian sweep, more or less. Lorenzo Beltrami took the overall win in three hours 15 minutes and 26 seconds. Daniel Antolini took the second place on the podium at three hours 18 minutes and 22 seconds and William Bocelli in third place at three hours 1959. So Lorenzo only got away by a few minutes, but not too bad. Uh, but just goes to show you this is actually a very similar course to what they ran last year. Um, the conditions again were pretty nasty, but just goes to show you, like, just the, the amount of um, just how, how the talent is really coming along and how talented um and just how competitive, easy races are getting Um, for example, in similar conditions on a similar course last year, cause they also ran the B course. The winning time, uh, was three hours 39 minutes 45 seconds for the men, compared to this year's win, three hours 15 minutes, 26 seconds. It's pretty serious. And on the female side of the house, four hours 23 minutes, 55 seconds, for it was Iris's. Actually Iris Pressey won last year and she really actually improved her time quite a lot and only coming in second place in four hours 14 minutes 50 seconds. So a little bit of a variance there in time probably. You know it was a little pretty similar course, but slightly altered. Uh, so not too bad. Congrats to all these athletes. Um, what an awesome race, really fun to follow along.
Speaker 1:Um, we're going to be actually June 15th is going to be the next stop on the sky runner world series at sky race Madeira. Uh, which is a bit longer of a race, and we'll get into that in the next few weeks. On the Euro side of the house, we also had the European Athletics Off-Road Running World, or I should say, national Championships that took place this past weekend in Annecy, france. These races ran from May the 31st to June the 2nd. In total, about 542 elite athletes took part in 10 elite races and these spanned from the up-down to the uphill, regular trail races. There was an ultra, there was like a 57K race that took place, as well as a bunch of masters races that took place as well. We're going to get into probably just the up down as well as the uphill.
Speaker 1:I think you're going to hear a lot of familiar names in these races that you know. You guys will uh be familiar with that. I think we'll um kind of gel with, uh, the sub ultra side of the house. Um, really interesting to one of the things, one of the one of the cause. A lot of these are just elite races for the most part. So, um, one of the races I think it was the men's field, uh, for the men's trail race, had an elite field of about 83 participants, which was the most um elite entrance they had in just one of the races for this year, which is pretty interesting. Um, lots of people turned out, so pretty fun to follow along. So we'll start with the men's up down race. Um, pretty interesting, the men's up down elite race. Pretty interesting, the men's up-down elite race.
Speaker 1:We'll start with the podium. It's going to be first place was Roberto Di Lorenzi. You guys are probably very familiar with that name. He's a Brooks runner and he represents the beautiful country of Switzerland. He took the dub in one hour 11 minutes and 28 seconds on the up-down, followed by Lucas Errol, who is a German runner, and he finished in one hour 11 minutes and 49 seconds, and in third place. We were backed up by Theodore Klein from France in. I actually didn't write his time down, my apologies.
Speaker 1:Um, on the women's side of the house um, in the women's up down, first place went to Nina Engelhard of Germany, in one hour 22 seconds, 22 minutes 44 seconds, and second place is fan favorite and probably one of the greatest trail runners of all time on the female side of the house was Judith wider. Uh, representing the beautiful country of Switzerland, and she ran in one hour 23 minutes and nine seconds. In third place was Madalina Floria, who's also in very quickly ascending the sport uh on the Euro side and probably will become a household name over the next few years. Uh, madalina. Madalina Floria took third place in one hour 23 minutes and 12 seconds and she represents Romania. Now, madalena you guys might be familiar with that name If you follow the Golden Trail World Series. She kind of just popped onto the scene last year where she really kind of made a name for herself. She was just actually introduced not too long ago as a new athlete on the Salomon International team, so it was kind of interesting to see, like Madalena and Judith, what a cool storyline to see these two duke it out again, because they duked it out last year as well at the Golden Trail World Series final. So that was pretty interesting, pretty neat storyline right there. So congrats to both of those, to all of those females and, yeah, storyline is pretty cool. There On the uphill side of the house we have the men's uphill race.
Speaker 1:Great Britain showed up for this race. Joe Stewart from Great Britain took the win for the uphill elite men's in 42 minutes 31 seconds, followed by Jacob Abkin he's another Great Britain runner from 43 minutes 31 seconds, followed by Jacob Abkin Um, he's another great Britain runner uh, from 43 minutes 55 seconds. And third place was Lucas Errol again, uh, from Germany, in 44 minutes 23 seconds. In fourth place was fan favorite Roberto De Lorenzi Um, who's in time I didn't write down. And in fifth place was Fred trench yard uh, representing the beautiful country of France, um, so, yeah, pretty cool race, lots of lots of big names, uh, lots of people turned out, so pretty fun to follow along.
Speaker 1:On the women's side of the house Uh, we did have Nina Engelberg, again from Germany, when the uphill, in 50 minutes eight seconds. We had scout Adkin from great Britain in 57 minutes eight seconds. We had Scout Adkin from Great Britain in 57 minutes 43 seconds, and then Madalina Floria from Romania in 52 minutes 33 seconds. In third and fourth place we had Christelle Christelle Delwar del well, I believe del well. Um, she's a French runner. And in fifth place we had fed and favorite, elise Ponchette. Um, who is another runner for team France. Um, rounding out the top five um, elise Ponchette, pretty exciting runner. She's actually going to be coming over pretty soon. Uh, she was just very discussed. Um, we discussed her a lot in our preview episode that's going to be coming out in a few weeks for the meet the minotaur sky race, because she will be coming on over to north america to race meet the minotaur. We're pretty excited about that. Um, it's a pretty fun race we just did a preview on, so super excited. Um. Yeah, so I'd say that's european off-road running championships.
Speaker 1:Um, it took place in tandem with the maxi race but was still like kind of its own separate thing, if you will. Um, still in anisee and, like I said, like a pretty large amount of uh professionals pretty turned out. Um, one of the things I did want to highlight as well, uh, the name lucas errol kind of popped up a bunch. Like I said, he took second place in the up down um, as well as third in the uphill elite um. One of the things I thought was interesting about him and he's just kind of popping onto the scene now because he's quite young, he's an A6 runner from Germany and last year he actually you guys might've heard his name he won the UTMB YCC race in 2023 in one hour 22 minutes 23 seconds. That's like a 15 K race that they have, starting in Cormier.
Speaker 1:One of the things I thought was really interesting about this race, cause I was like, oh, 15 K race for like UTMB week, that's kind of neat. You know somebody that's like maybe like a salt Bolcher kind of race. And then I looked into it and it's like this developmental race that they do and like you can only participate in it If you were born between the years of 2005 to 2010, can you run in it? And they have like different classifications and different tiers just kind of neat. So definitely something to follow along there. I had no idea this race even existed. Um, yeah, the things you learn pretty wild. Um, yeah, so that's European off-road champs. Um, if you guys have any comments on that, feel free to write me on Instagram or send me an email. Um, and I can also do, uh, do, a little more into that um, time-wise.
Speaker 1:Um, in this upcoming week, we've got some cool things to talk about. I'm pretty excited because in Colorado it's GoPro games week. Um, I don't know if you guys are familiar with the GoPro games. Um, actually otherwise known as the GoPro mountain games. They take place in Vail, colorado. Um, actually otherwise known as the GoPro Mountain Games. They take place in Vail, colorado. They're going to be happening this upcoming weekend, starting in the middle of the week, like Wednesday, thursday time, and running through Sunday.
Speaker 1:Some of the races that I'm interested in and I'm personally excited about there's a 5K race, there's a 10K race, there's a 20K race, a trail race as well, as well as Pepe's Face Off. We've got some big names coming out. You guys, I don't have a full, let's say, some interesting little backstory here. I did have an opportunity to talk with and shout out to GoPro games. Just a classy, classy race. They did reach out back to me because I've been trying to get a start list to do it. You know, to back onto this episode that I'm doing right now.
Speaker 1:I've been trying to get a start list to be able to, like, preview this race and talk about some of the storylines as well as the athletes that are going to be turning up. Unfortunately, due to their signup system, the way their signup system works they're unable to provide like an actual tangible race, like a, like a, just an Excel file of just like who, who, who the hell is showing up to this race. They also get a lot of last second entries. So, with that said, I'm just going to kind of throw some names out there. I do have, we'd know, quite a few people that are going to be participating. I know a lot of them are friends of the podcast or have been on the podcast, as well as people that are just local to the area. So we know we're going to be seeing Joseph gray out there. We're Andy Wacker uh, first bout all famer. He's going to be out there as well. We'll see him, um, and I think he's going to be bringing out some trail team um athletes as well, cause, uh, I do believe I did speak with Cade Michael and I do believe he is going to be out there. I just don't know which specific distance. Um, eli and Tabor Hemming are set to show up as well, um, I don't know which specific race they're going to be, from what GoPro games told me and I should have just asked them uh, they were sent up for the 20 K, but I'm not entirely sure if they are going to be. Uh, I didn't ask them before this, so I don't know. Just expect to see them. Um, as far as Pepe's face off goes, that's one of my favorite races. I was signed up to participate in that, but I'm not going to be out there this weekend, unfortunately, due to some family stuff. That said, I do want to preview Pepe's face off If you guys don't know what it is.
Speaker 1:In my opinion, it's like one of the sickest, just most like unique races that we've got in the state of Colorado or, if not, the entire United States. First of all, we get a world-class field that shows up. Second of all, it's the format. So it's this like 400 foot ski Hill I could be wrong on the vertical ski hill where you're running up this hill and you're doing laps and you're kind of cresting this little hill, turning off into this road, running down and then starting again and most of the elite runners if you're in that elite round I think Phoebus won last year somewhere. He got maybe five or six laps somewhere in that range and you only have so much time to be able to do this and, like I said, it's some of the sickest athletes in the world show up for this.
Speaker 1:Last year, danny Marino wanted on the female side. Janelle links was out there, just you know. Mercedes Segal Gaither participated. Just so many amazing athletes were out there throwing down. So this year we're going to have a very similar setup. It's going to be a wave start. It's a little bit different and on top of that, some of the best athletes. Like I said, I do.
Speaker 1:I can confirm Kieran may, who was just on the podcast, is going to be out there. Um, I probably don't know if I'm allowed to leak this, but Jackson Cole did say he was going to be out there. Ryan Phoebus is going to be out there, who's the returning champion from last year, so we're going to welcome him back. It's going to be veryited to see him out there. I believe Jacob Scraba, who's also on the podcast, is going to be out there. So lots of friends, lots of good people. So we want to go ahead and cheer everybody on.
Speaker 1:It's going to be a very exciting race, and now I'm rambling. So here we are. Shout out to the GoPro Games. Sorry, guys, you a little more information when it comes to this race as far as the storylines and who's going to be out there. But I just really got some limited information right there. So that is what it is. Uh, in other news, what's going on this weekend? Um sinks Canyon.
Speaker 1:I do want to give a special shout out to a Wyoming runner, um Gabe Joyce. His race this weekend is taking place. It's called the sinks Canyon trail races and it's going to be in Lander, wyoming. Um, this is like one of the things I love about our sport is like some of the grassroots races that pop up and like Gabe is just a good dude and he's got like just a really, really, really solid, like fun race in a beautiful area that he puts on. So I do really want to put you know, help promote this one and get this one out there. Um, it's got a 50 K distance and 18 K distance and a six K beautiful course um taking place this weekend.
Speaker 1:So I'm not really sure if startups are even open anymore. Probably not. I'm sure you've probably filled them up, um, but you know, if you guys are interested. It's definitely something to put on your schedule for next year, um, cause there's a little bit of something for everybody. So, all right, guys, this was a quick one for this upcoming week. Um, I hope everybody has a great week. Enjoy, enjoy it, take the most of it. If you're at the GoPro games, have a blast. Say hi to all the amazing athletes out there. Hope you guys like this, the sub stuff for this past week, episode three, and yeah, we've got some good pods dropping for you at the end of the week, so take care everybody. Thank you.