Cirque Series Snowbird Race Preview | US Mountain Running Champs !

Ready to conquer the peaks with us? This week on Steep Stuff, James Lauriello and Nick Tusa offer a compelling preview of the Cirque Series Snowbird race, doubling as the US Mountain Running Champs. Set your calendars for July 13, 2024, because we’re diving into every grueling detail of this 8.7-mile course featuring a punishing 3,566 feet of vertical gain. From Nick's latest FKTs, including his climb of Mount Shavano, to the anticipated rematch between Christian Allen and Meiki Rosseau, we've got all the high-altitude highlights covered. Plus, updates on standout athletes like Grayson Murphy, Jade Bellsburg, and Anna Mae Flynn will keep you on the edge of your seat.

Are you curious about who’s making waves in the mountain running scene? Tune in as we spotlight key contenders for the upcoming season. Seth James Demore's uphill prowess and recent victories make him a force to reckon with, and we also discuss the rising stars like Christian, Kieran Nay, Cole Campbell, and Hawk Hall. On the women’s side, keep an eye on Megan Lacey, Giselle Slotboom, MK Sullivan, and more. We also break down Taylor Stack's monumental performance at Broken Arrow and his potential to shake things up in future races.

To wrap up, we dive into the excitement building around the US Mountain Running events. Hawk Call’s impressive sixth-place finish at the Broken Arrow 23K and the legacy he’s following from his father, OCR legend Hobie Call, set the stage for an inspiring narrative. We highlight the relentless drive of athletes like Hawk Call, Cole Campbell, Kieran Nay, and others. For the women, Grayson Murphy and AnnaMae Flynn lead a fierce pack including Giselle Slotboom and Jade Belzberg. Get ready for a season full of strategic maneuvers, heart-pounding races, and unexpected twists, all set against the stunning backdrop of the mountain running community.

Transcript

Speaker 1: 0:00

Let's get this ball rolling, dude, welcome. Hi everybody, welcome back to the Steep Stuff Podcast. I'm your host, james Lauriello, and today I am joined by co-host for the sub stuff, mr Nick Tusa. Excited to be back. Dude, welcome back. We are here today, guys, to talk about and discuss the Cirque series, snowbird, kind of previewing that race. Yeah, nick's got a lot more, a lot more background in the cirque series than I do. I just got my ass whooped on saturday. So I'm glad we're glad we're here to talk about this race. No, I'm excited to talk about it. Can't wait. Yeah, dude, welcome back, welcome back.

Speaker 1: 0:37

Um, so those of you who are unaware of this race, this is the us mountain running champs. Um, again, it's going to be taking place at snowbird. It is a the second race in the edition of the Cirque series for this year. Um, it'll be taking place Saturday, july 13th 2024 at snowbird resort in Utah. Um, the race itself the course is about 8.7 miles with about 3,566 feet of vertical. Uh, some of the high parents of the course are Mount Baldy as well as Hidden Peak over 11,000 feet for both of them. So it's a pretty high altitude course, which I'm excited for because we finally have a US Mountain Running Champs in the Mountain West. Yeah, mountain West, dude, it's about time. I'm surprised you're not going there to race this weekend. I know I'm a little bummed. I thought one of us was going to go defend the name Next year, next year. So, yeah, bro, what's new these days? How's training going? How's life? Incredible? Yeah, I mean, we're in the thick of it right now. July Season's in full swing, having a blast, training hard and getting up high. Dude. Congratulations on two FKTs recently. Thank you. Hard and getting up high and dude. Congratulations on two fkts recently. Thank you.

Speaker 1: 1:47

I think the shivano one's pretty fucking dope. Do you want to talk about that one? Sure, yeah, I can. Yeah, uh, yeah, went up shivano, what was that? Last sun, or a week from sunday, and yeah, just kind of went out on like a moderate effort and kind of started upping the intensity the higher. I got up and surprisingly was feeling good, kind of looked down at the watch and was at like 13,000 feet, kind of trucking along and was like, wow, this feels really good, especially for June. I'm like I shouldn't be feeling like this. This is usually like an August feeling, so I'm like maybe the three years in Colorado is starting to kind of like set in now. I don't know what it is, but uh, but yeah, uh ended up going up in like under right around 90 minutes up and then it was like a little over 50 down.

Speaker 1: 2:28

Um new route on Shavano. Now that the there's a lot of trail work going on out there, when I was out there, the Colorado 14ers initiative was out um fixing a lot of the trail. Um, I think a lot of it has to do with the um with like the rock fall and everything like that, just keeping the keeping the trail intact, because it's it's a very um um highly trafficked 14. I've never been. I passed a lot of people, yeah, but it was really fun, just like everyone is like cheering me on and everything like that.

Speaker 1: 2:57

How many miles? How many miles is it? It's just shy of 10, uh, with like 4400 feet. A game solid. Yeah, that's a good training stimulus, dude, so good. The rut that's uh, getting you ready, getting you prepped and ready for the rut. Baby, that's what it's all about this summer. All right, so let's get, we can get back into it. Dude, thanks for telling me. I guess I wanted to congratulate you. It's pretty, pretty sweet.

Speaker 1: 3:20

Um, dude, we got some storylines. Could this be the return of Grayson Murphy? I don't know. She was supposed to be at Cirque Brighton last week racing me and everybody else, but she wasn't there. A little bummed. Jade Bellsburg is returning post Broken Arrow. We do have Anna Mae Flynn on the start list as well, so lots of strong ladies. The women's contingent looks awesome. On the men's side, really strong men's contingent as well. We've've got Christian Allen. Uh, the rematch between Christian Allen and Mecca Rosie.

Speaker 1: 3:47

Oh, um, post broken arrow VK, I'm sure Christian's probably gone into, uh, to get get some vengeance back on that one. Um, I don't know, do you feel the same way? This kind of looks like broken arrow 2.0, just Like we were talking about earlier Broken Arrow 2.0 for sure. I'm just excited to see Christian and Mikael go back at it again. I mean seeing them cross the finish line and the VK at Broken Arrow. They both left it all out there and I'm expecting them to do that again, collapsing at the finish line. Oh my God, dude, I mean that was bananas, right, that's like. See, that's the thing that. That's what I love about our sport when you see dudes like giving it, or guys and gals, doesn't matter whoever giving it 110, and you're collapsing at the finish line like mecca christian, laid right next to him. They looked like they were gonna die, like somebody was having a heart attack, you know. So that was pretty cool. I was.

Speaker 1: 4:37

I was actually listening to the to the swap podcast the other day and they were talking about mikhail and um cause they coach him and um, they were saying he's coming back from an injury and a lot of his stuff was done on the hand bike and so they kind of told him like hey, this is not his first race of the year. I guess he did go pro before it but um, they were saying kind of, take it out easy. And he actually took it out, I guess like uh, not that hard. And he worked his way up in the pack and I think he passed like 10 15 people to get back up there. So maybe now that he's got the confidence back that he can do this thing like I'm expecting him to really probably got mad triceps too from the hand. Oh, yeah, yeah, he looks like he might have got a little jacked running around throwing bows. Um, yeah, no, dude. And he even said like I think the injury he was talking about was like swelling in his knee or something like that, which is kind of crazy. Yeah, dude, I just so coming up getting ready for certain theories, brighton, it was like three weeks ago, dude, I tweaked something to my right knee and my right knee was swollen before the race and I'm like freaking out, what the fuck do I do, you know? So, finally, dude, I can, I can imagine that just the anxiety around that ready for a race is so, yeah, yeah, the confidence, and yeah, it does, it does a number, yeah for sure.

Speaker 1: 5:52

We have some other notable names coming up to this race, dude, for, first of all, whoever told Matt Daniels to finally do a short course race? You, thank you, matt daniels for listening, because I think he is deadly at these distances. Matt daniels is so talented, insane, insane. Yeah, I, I mean he was talking about recently going back and trying to make the olympic standard, I think, for for the mile. Okay, he's, so he's, he's fucking fast, dude. Yeah, yeah, I mean, like, so he used to live here in monument, so like, pretty much, dude, I, that's basically, the crowns I'm chasing are between kieran, nay, and matt daniels, so like, there's just it's like a common standard around here, um, so, yeah, it's really interesting to uh that someone finally I don't know that, maybe he decided to, just because I don't know, everybody's talked about it for a while like matt, he would look really good a lot of these golden trail series races, so it's kind of cool to see him mixing it up as in the us mountain running champs. So pretty fun.

Speaker 1: 6:46

Um, another big name seth james demore. Um, dude, the man, the myth, the legend. He is the up and down, specifically the up god, like that. I personally don't think anyone's gonna beat him to the top. I think his race is potentially gonna be lost on the downhill by maybe christian or mikhail. But but that up, that's all him. Dude, he's a, he's a beast. He's been tacking off a lot of fkts around the area recently and he's and, yeah, just last weekend he won um, the heavy half, yeah, uh, pretty convincingly too. So, yeah, no, he's, he's. I mean, he's also racing kendall this weekend too. So good, that's kind of wild. Yeah, he's got a high altitude stimulus before then. Yeah, yeah, so he's kind of wild. Yeah, he's got altitude stimulus before then. Yeah, yeah, so he's. It means he's, he's healthy, he's fit, so, and you know, those are types of races you can recover quickly from and be ready to go the next week. So, yeah, I'm excited to see what he can do.

Speaker 1: 7:35

Um, some other big names kieran, nay, um, shout out to kieran nay, friend of the podcast. Um, check out episode. What is he? Episode 11, maybe 12 of a 12, something like that. Um, cole campbell, another friend of the podcast. We're trying to get him on at some point. Um, hawk hall uh, we'll talk about him a little bit later because I know you've got some things to talk about in your picks.

Speaker 1: 7:56

Um, another big shout out to andy wacker, who will be there. Kade michael from the trail team. Liam hammonds I've got on this list, uh. And. And Jacob Dewey. Then, on the female side, we've got Megan Lacey, uh. Giselle slot, boom.

Speaker 1: 8:09

Um, mk Sullivan is going to be. I mean, we'll see if she decides to come through and do this race. I'm not really sure she is on the start list, though. Um cannot confirm nor deny if MK will be there. Um. Rachel Tomziak um, and then some ladies, uh, that actually just raced at Brighton this past weekend Alexa Aragon and Jamie Bursa are both super strong, so super fit ladies. Um. Yeah, man, we can get into. I think those are some of the kind of the news ish things that we can talk about get into picks and go from there. Yeah, yeah, let's do it. Yeah, uh. So I mean, like we said earlier, christian and Mikhail, I think that they're going to be going at it. Um, I think it's one of their races to win for sure. Um, they're in. I mean, for this early in the season they've been racing enough and I think they're. I think they're ready to go. Um, following them.

Speaker 1: 8:58

If Seth Damore can show up, uh, I think he can beat the college kids. I really do. Um, young whippersnapper, I think he can. I mean, he's getting up there in age but still, I think he's still only his mid thirties. Um, but, yeah, we'll see how he does this weekend at Kendall mountain and if he does get there, then it's going to be looking very good for him. I think, um, he, he's, and I bet he's excited, like he hasn't done something like this in a while and just to like burn the match, like that.

Speaker 1: 9:34

And then one that you didn't mention, um, that I think we talked about earlier, uh, who just took fourth at broken arrow taylor stack. Yeah, he's a sub whatever, 14, 5k or oh, is he really? Yeah, he's a, he's a fast guy. Yeah, he ran college, not sure where, I don't think in fort collins. He's residing in fort collins now. I think he's getting.

Speaker 1: 9:50

I think maybe he's a fast guy. He ran college, I'm not sure where, I don't think in Fort Collins. He's residing in Fort Collins now. I think he's getting his. Maybe he's from there. I thought he was from Salida, I'm not sure. Oh, no, you're right, he is from Salida, but he's living in Fort Collins because he's for college right now. Yeah, okay. So is he like, yeah, okay, yep, but I don't think he ran there. I'm not a hundred percent where they ran. I listened to um, their post, um, and they mentioned it, but I but I'm not remembering he's confident too. I was kind of impressed, like he was like yeah, not a lot of people expected me to be here, but I'm here, but I'm here. It Uh one that uh, I'm excited to talk about hot call. He just took sixth at broken arrow, 23 K, which is insane, like, like we said, the field last weekend, that race was ridiculous and for him to be doing that at I think he's early twenties, um is insane. So that was definitely a breakout for him. I'm expecting him to keep the ball rolling and really really drop it hard here.

Speaker 1: 10:51

Uh, a little background on him. His dad is Hobie Call and if you follow the OCR scene, hobie is on the Mount Rushmore of OCR. He was basically the first one winning all the races and truly dominating. And Hawk growing up watching his dad absolutely dominate at a professional level, balancing work and a family, like I'm sure that that inspired him and that's why he's at where he's at today, racing with some of the best in the world here at Zerg Series Snowbirds, so super excited, yeah, I mean, dude, like how old is his dad? Like, because Hawk's not very old, his dad is, I want to say mid 40s now, okay, mid late 40, that is, I want to say mid-40s now, okay, mid-late 40s. Yeah, that's that much older than me, jesus, you're yourself a little bit.

Speaker 1: 11:39

But a couple other notables Cole Campbell, like you mentioned, definitely going to be right up there Mason Coppe, kieran Nay, cam Smith, andy Wacker, just names you're going to be seeing on the sub-ultra scene. I mean, race in and race out. These guys show up, they throw down, they're going to be competing for the podium, some of the best in the world. Yeah, I think Cole Campbell's hungry. He just had a pretty pretty frigging awesome performance at broken arrow and the 46. I mean, I think two years ago he was, he was top five or six, if I remember correctly, at broken out. He was top five or six, if I remember correctly. Yeah, broken around, but, like this year was a, I feel, like a way more competitive year, so he still, you know, worked his way in there. So, yeah, cole's legit man, so excited to see what he can do.

Speaker 1: 12:21

And then for the women's side, uh, again, grayson murphy's race to lose. Uh, if she shows up, pretty good chance she's gonna win. It's a big if I. Yeah, we will see. Other than that, though, if she doesn't, this is, I think, anime Flynn's race for the taking.

Speaker 1: 12:37

I think she's, yeah, she's strong. Um, I raced with her at the GoPro games, uh, a couple of weekends ago and, yeah, she's legit Right, yeah, yeah, it was she. She was cruising on the downhills, not going to lie, she definitely dusted me a little bit, was it? Yeah, and, dude, I feel like strong on the ascents too. I mean, I know she's like a hardcore, like really good VK climber. I've never ran with her before. I mean obviously hung out with her but never ran so interesting.

Speaker 1: 13:06

And then a frequenter of the Zerk series, giselle Slotboom. Yeah, I raced with her, I think at every single race last year. Her and I were usually kind of neck and neck and she's strong, she knows when to hike and she knows when to run. That's one thing I really noticed about her In these races. Yes, you can get away with running the entire time, but there are points where especially, uh, at snowbird, where it is steep enough, where you're kind of doing yourself a disservice by running, um, and you can go much faster with the power hike and, if you can, if, if you can, if you can do that right, it's, you're going to have a good day. You're going to have a good day, uh.

Speaker 1: 13:49

And then, fourth year, jade belzberg. She just ran at broken arrow. How did she do there? Do you think your second on there? Okay, yeah, dude. So really interesting I. So it's really interesting to me. She was, I think, one of the, if not the most inspiring performances of broken arrow. So the reason I say that is because when I was covering yeah, I was covering her her race a little bit when I did the uh, the episode of the steep stuff and, like, dude, she got 55th, yeah, in I think it was 2022. She's coached by the roches they talked about on the podcast and then got second this year, yeah, like, that goes to say believe in yourself always, always, bet on yourself and just work hard. Man, that's fucking awesome. She's training out of san luis obispo in california, which is at sea level yeah, so this is she's legit, she's doing something right, bro, yeah, you can do it. That's that's so inspiring, yeah. And then, if mk does show up, I I think that she's pretty solid for top five, top ten, for sure. Um, yeah, she's super strong, but is she trending more towards the, the longer stuff? We'll have to see Um. Maybe. Maybe, if everything goes well here, maybe she'll, you know, tone it back and stick to the steeper stuff, but we'll see Um.

Speaker 1: 15:01

And then Rachel Tomziak and another one I wanted to mention to um, little Homer. Take Flannery davis love. She is based out of boulder, colorado, and she qualified for um the olympic trials in the marathon. I believe. She ran a 235, 234 marathon. So she has speed, yeah, and she lives in boulder, she trains, you know, on on this steep stuff and I think she's going to be a name that a lot of people maybe on this steep stuff, and I think she's going to be a name that a lot of people maybe don't recognize on the scene and she's going to surprise a lot of people out of the feeling. I'm sure, I'm sure that's my one. Uh, one little surprise pick, nice dude. But yeah, that's it for the.

Speaker 1: 15:44

Yeah, for my picks, all right, all right, I like it, I'm loving it. So, all right, I'll start off with the ladies. Um, just because a lot of this is like fresh in my head too, because I raced a few of them this weekend and they're all really strong, I was like really impressed. It's pretty awesome. First, I'm going to go first place. I mean, I always say this If Grayson Murray Murphy is going to show up, I'm going to. You know, I think she's a walk in for first, I walk in for first. Um, I don't know I, it remains to be seen. Um, but yeah, the pride of herber city, utah, if she does show up, that's all I can say about that is, I would not doubt her, I think it being a us mountain championship, like, I think she's gonna show up, like she, I feel like that's something she couldn't miss. I considered like sending her an email, because we did email back and forth last weekend about her being in brighton. That's how I knew she was gonna show up, right, and maybe it was not going to. Brighton was a strategy thing for waiting for for us mountain champs, we'll see. Yeah, because it is a few. What was it a few weeks later? So weeks, yeah, yeah, it's like peaking for this. I mean, this is, this is a competitive race. I mean, if anime flynn's showing up and jade belt like you've got, it's a deep race.

Speaker 1: 16:51

Um, and second place I have Anna Mae Flynn. I and I. I think like, if, in my opinion, I think, if Grayson doesn't show, or even if Grayson maybe is injured or whatnot, I think Anna Mae could definitely take that scalp, without a doubt. In my opinion, do you know if she's ran snowbird before? I feel I know she's run a bunch of Cirque series races. She's no dude Like you saw her last year. I mean, you raced her at um. It was a basin, a basin she's. She's fucking fast dude. So, yeah, I think anime.

Speaker 1: 17:20

Um, like I said, I reached out for comment. I'm not sure she was waiting for her to get back to me. I'm believe she will be there. So, and I'm rooting for anime. You know I've been seeing a lot. She puts a lot of cryptic uh like instagram, real like videos and reels up of her like training at like 14 000 feet. So you know she's doing reps up there. Hell yeah, um, and she's a super inspiring, cool human. So I want to, I want to root for her.

Speaker 1: 17:45

Um, in third place, I do have jade bellsberg. I think once you, it's like the johnny luna lima effect um, when you're on a heater, you never walk away from a heater, and I think you know. Second place, a broken arrow. I think I think it just as well could get you in the U S mountain running champ podium. I don't see why not.

Speaker 1: 18:02

Some other big names I do have. It's like kind of a toss up from like fourth through like seventh. I don't really know. I have Alexa Aragon from salt Lake in there. I did race her this past weekend, strong as fuck.

Speaker 1: 18:15

Um, jamie Bursa as well, kind of in that same category, extremely strong. She's raised the Montana race here before. She, like I said, just put up a strong performance at Cirque Brighton. Um, or yeah, cirque Brighton, really, really strong. I also have Megan Lacey on the list, um, and then you can never count out Giselle, slot Boom, I think she's right in there. She's like I don't know. I find like Giselle to be a little bit better than Alexa and Jamie, just from like watching them all three of them race and kind of like in that mix on Saturday. Um, I don't know, I think Giselle is extremely strong as well, as she performed really well in technical terrain. I think this race is a little less technical, I think this is a little more runnable, so we'll kind of stay with that.

Speaker 1: 18:54

And then, as Rachel Tomziak Now, this is interesting. So Rachel is one of the only females on this list, at least in the elite category that's going to be doubling up. So she's going to be at Loon the week before this upcoming Saturday. So what is that? Before this upcoming Saturday? So what is that? The seventh? Is that right? Yeah, I think she's. Yeah, the Saturday the seventh, she's going to be at Loon and then she'll go to Salt Lake. So now Loon's an uphill race, um, so that's why you're probably not going to take much damage there. Probably not, um, but who knows? You know there's some travel fatigue, like making team usa, team usa, yeah, so I wouldn't count her out. I think she'd absolutely get into that mix. A lot of us depends.

Speaker 1: 19:43

Like I said, one of the things I've learned a lot since I started doing and I'm almost like kind of cynical now as soon as I started, like when we started doing these preview episodes like we'll preview things, we'll talk to people, we'll make sure people are going to be there and then people still sometimes don't race. So, like you know, it's hard to see who's going to show up and what's going to happen. But that's kind of my um. The other thing I will comment on is like mk. Like I think mk, if she's been, had been racing short courses, um, I think she she'd be a block for the top five. Remember she just had a tough race at the broken arrow 46k did not go her way.

Speaker 1: 20:14

Um, you know, I I think when you have those ultra legs, that could go one of two ways. You could either get like the jeff moguvero effect, where you're just a freak and you get top 20 at series and all, or it could go the other way where maybe you know you're a little might, might have ultra, you might be a little bit slower. But one thing I will say, and I just I learned this this weekend because, like before I started racing the cirque series races, I'd done a lot of like mixing it up in like the 25 to 27k where you can make a few more mistakes and maybe like still kind of get away with it. Dude, in these races you know this, you've taught me this there's no room for error. You can not screw up. Um, you have to really like when people are making moves, you have to be, you know, to race your own race and like be able to be ready to make moves but always be opportunistic. Yep, you know there's. There's no opportunity for for, you know, for stopping and tiring your shoes or doing dumb shit, you know. So it's kind of way I look at it yeah, no, absolutely. And like you just have to take, take what the course gives you to. I mean, if you're stronger in some areas, like you know, if, if, if, you know that you're strong on that, you know final descent, you know, maybe hang back a little bit and then drop everybody, yeah, yeah. So yeah, it's going to be interesting.

Speaker 1: 21:23

I think there's um, like I said, the women's race is just going to be. There's a lot of. I think there's a few people that really stand out and then there's a lot of really similar talented ladies. So, um, you know, it's going to come down to, I think, who really wants it more. So, in a lot of ways, so it's going to be fun to follow along. Um, yeah, let's talk to, let's talk about the men's race, cause this is interesting too. I think there's a few guys that stand out and then there's a lot of like, really strong, talented men that are like trying to trying to cut their teeth at this.

Speaker 1: 21:53

Um, in first place, I have the one, the only, uh, the future of trail running. Uh, mr Christian Allen. Uh, super cool guy. He actually gave us a quote for this, which I'm pretty excited for. Um, just talking to him, he said I'm stoked to be back at snowbird Cirque series. Jillian puts on some awesome events and it all were. It's all where I got my start in trail racing. Overall, I think my fitness is coming around and stoke to see how it'll play out on the course. I've been dealing with some weird fatigue coming back off my track season that I've been trying to solve, but I feel like I'm trending in the right direction and hoping to be a hundred percent, as once snowbird kicks, it starts off, and I'll kick off a racing block where I'll be racing five out of the next seven weeks. But hey, that's what the trail season is all about Getting the most out of yourself before the snow comes. So shout out to Mr Christian Allen. I love that attitude. Oh, dude, he's, like I said, like big fan of this guy Fastest mullet in the Wasatch bro.

Speaker 1: 22:51

In second place I have Matt Daniels and I think Matt Daniels can compete for the win. I think it's going to be really fun to see these guys up front. I think, like I said, I'm really happy. I don't know if Matt made the decision or if someone said something to him. I know it's been talked about a lot Like I've even heard, like um, korean Malcolm, I've heard a lot of people say, like you know, dude, maybe you should, uh, you should look at the short stuff.

Speaker 1: 23:13

You know the steep stuff a little bit more Cause, like one of the things I've heard from um, from just like through the grapevine, about the way Matt races in some ways is like maybe not as much attentive to nutrition, maybe just kind of like gets caught up in the race a little bit, which I think is really like. That's kind of the way I race a little bit, and I think it's kind of smart for the short stuff. Right, it makes sense. You're not really paying attention to nutrition if you're running an eight mile race, you know. So that kind of I don't know.

Speaker 1: 23:38

And Matt just has such a high ceiling. He's a four sub four minute miler Yep Dude guys, just an absolute stud, like I said, big fan. And he's made team USA before, back in the day, back in the maybe 2018, 2019. It might've even been like 2017, 2018. Yeah, I think he was on the world's team and this is just out of memory, so don't quote me on this. There was a team. There was a time with Jim Hayden, I believe it was like Matt Daniels. Joe might have been on that team as well. Just like absolute, like first ballot Hall of Famers, some goats, like just absolutely insane. So I don't know if he was on that team. I'm pretty sure he was. I'd have to ask him. I'm not really sure. But yeah, I think matt daniels is a good, good pick for the podium. I think you can guarantee him on there if he's going to be there.

Speaker 1: 24:26

Um, in third place, I've got seth james demore. Um, I believe, two-time pike's peak marathon winner. I know one time at least. Um, yeah, guy's an animal. Um, absolute legend. Check out his youtube video. If you check out his youtube if you haven't already. Um, super inspiring. He butters that bread, yes, he does. Uh, also a big fan of his brother. Uh, joe demore, is joe gonna joe's not gonna be joe's not on the list? I should have reached out to him and found out. I don't know, maybe he's got other things, other fish to fry. Uh, maybe you're up actually. Yeah, I saw a lot of las partiva guys actually over in Europe. Yeah, la Verita, that could be it. That could be it. Yeah, everybody was in La Verita, I think. Yeah, kelly Wolfe had a great result. There's a lot of people I know John Kelly's over there. They had a lot of the big. I'm going to check out those results. Oh, yeah, yeah, shout out to La Ver sub stuff coming out this week anyway.

Speaker 1: 25:23

Um, in fourth place, I've got meke rosio, whose name buddy, I'm so sorry. One of these days I have to meet you and I will get your name correct. Um, one of these days I'll get it right. Um, the only reason I have him a little bit lower is and I think he, dude, he had an astounding result at at go programs. He had amazing results at broken arrow. I mean, is that, how's the knee holding up? That's my question. Yeah, I hope, and I hope he's healthy. I hope he's good, cause if it's getting better like this guy could very well go win the race. You know so, yeah, um, and you know, dude. So the fifth place is kind of a toss up for me, just cause there's like so many strong guys.

Speaker 1: 25:56

Um, I've got, like I fifth place for me is very open. So I wrote down Taylor stock Yep. I wrote down Kieran Nay Yep, um. I wrote down Cole Campbell, cade Michael, hot call. We got Andy Wacker, liam Hammonds, who I raised last week, who broken arrow, 11 K winter last year and I think he got top 20 this year in the VK kids Nasty Um, did I say hot call already? Yeah. And Jacob Dewey there's just like a lot of, and Jacob Dewey I don't think has made his, I don't think he did race broken arrow, at least I didn't. Didn't catch his name on the start stuff, so or the start list. So I wonder if he is going to be here. Um, again, I more people have to reach out to to see what the deal is. But, yeah, still top 10.

Speaker 1: 26:47

Oh my god, if you take top 10 at this race, like it's yeah, I think I, if I looked, if I remember correctly, I looked at so, like usually the broken or usually the um circ series, the pro is usually like the pro divisions, like never more than like 30 people. Right, it's like 72, 74, most pros ever. Yeah, it's like one of the biggest races they've ever had. Um, I'm so happy, like like giant kudos to julian for being able to get this race and then like because this is, I know, for me I know I'm rambling, but like for the us mountain running champs, like the energy is great, like they have this giant vendor village, like they give you a bunch of swag, like I don't know.

Speaker 1: 27:17

I just find this race to be now that I can kind of compare it against like Broken Arrow that I raced last year. I was like man. I think I like the Cirque series better. They're a little more fun. Yeah, I enjoy, I really enjoy it, and I think the courses I don't know their courses are really well done. Yeah, like Very thought through. Like, dude, like I run up Blodgett all the time and that's the most technical peak in Colorado Springs and I was expecting technical. That was a sneaky technical course. It was really hard. So I was like, all right, all right, this is. You know, we got a challenge here, baby. So yeah, I gotta say like Julian puts on a hell of a race and it's just like really well done.

Speaker 1: 27:55

The media is great. Like you know, free photos and stuff for your sponsors. Like, yeah, so I was know, free photos and stuff for your sponsors. Like, yeah, so I was really happy with, uh, the overall. Just like atmosphere and ambience like that that's what I would expect from like a mountain running race. Right, you know, right now, I'm curious now, with it having the us mountain running championship tag on it, is this even going to be bigger and greater? Like yeah, well, I don't know if I told you this. So, like brighton was sold out. Obviously, dude, dude, I thank God I got an Alta last week. I was like, literally on Saturday after the race, I signed up for Alta. I was like the last person in yeah, alta sold out. Um, snowbirds obviously sold out. So they sell these races out really quick. Yeah, I think this is going to bring definitely a new set of eyes on the race that maybe didn't know about it. There's probably a lot of people that still don't know about it. Now, with us mountain running champs, it's yep, it's gonna be on people's radar. It's for sure a big deal. Yeah, I think you know. And it it can compete too, like with these bigger, like broken arrow level races and stuff like that, because it's a series, yeah, kind of traveling around. You got different spots, I mean.

Speaker 1: 28:52

One thing I want to mention is we saw some international athletes show up. Oh my god, dude, it was all right. So I was a little so. I was standing at the start line because they tell all the pros or the elites, like go to the front right. And I look over my shoulder and Patrick and Phil Amant were standing right next to me and I was like hi, I'm James and Patrick's like hi, I'm Patrick.

Speaker 1: 29:13

I was like a little starstruck. I didn't know what to say. Almost my jaw would have just dropped and I would have just I wouldn't have even known what to do. That's unbelievable dude. So cool and like to feel that speed. I like it, like it just gives me that much more respect for like, like somebody, like a gym or like a Christian and my, my guy, like that, raced him last week, dude. So here's the deal. I'm not going to lie. Like, I kind of was like, oh, maybe you can exploit a move on the boulder field. Like, maybe he's not going to be that strong on the boulder field because it's it's not runnable, it's very technical. Yeah, good luck, because there's a mile long road that he's going to run a 530 on to get away from you before you can even get there. So I mean, kudos to david norris for like, trying to like keeping up with him for a nicely half the race. Yeah, I was impressed.

Speaker 1: 30:01

Um, yeah, race didn't didn't go my way, let's put it that way, but still fun, absolutely fun. Um, yeah, it was just like I said, shout out to the cirque series. Just what a fun, what a fun race. I'm curious who told them about it, how that got on their radar. It's because it's not like it's a ton of prize money. I mean, that sounds kind of bad, but like I, you do get a g for the winner, I guess, I guess it's worth it. I mean like, I mean they're already over there and the other things I was thinking about. They're on runners and on as a title sponsor, and I didn't realize it till after the fact.

Speaker 1: 30:32

But david kilgore was there. Okay, I didn't see him like, I didn't even know he was there. I definitely got him there for sure. Yeah, they were like you're here, yeah, come on, give you a free entry and come in. Yeah, win some money. Yeah, and yeah, because david norris was there and I knew david norris was going to be there. But, yeah, they, it was like a very last second thing that patrick and philomon showed up on the start list, like literally right like the day before. I was like, oh shit, because I remember I texted you. I was like, oh, dude, there goes my hopes. So, yeah, it was, it was, it was fun. Um, yeah, so I don't know. Uh, do we have anything else to talk about for this race? I think we're pretty, you know. I think we covered it all. Covered it all. Yeah, all right, sweet. Um. Ladies and gentlemen, I hope you guys enjoyed this one. No-transcript.