S7E4 -- UM Australia 2025 Race Preview

UM Australia race director, Jeff Morris, joins me to present the field 41 athletes who are toeing the line of the 10th anniversary race.  Trying to highlight this many athletes is tough work, so we also recruited the knowledge of the race announcer, Tim Franklin.  
In addition to finding out about the athletes, we discuss parts of the course and what the first ever Live Stream event will entail.  Use the link below to set up notifications.

LiveStreams links:  https://www.youtube.com/@515TheUltraPodcast

Resources mentioned in this episode:

• Kabi Kabi (Gubi Gubi) Indigenous peoples
• Tri Mob
• Alex Gadomski Fellowship
• Rottnest Island Swim
• Arc 2 Arch
• Lark Hill 100 Km
• Tim Runs the World
• UTMB 100 mile
• Ultra 355 Australia
• Caloundra Triathlon Club
• UM Israel 
• Cairns Crocs

Shout outs and mentions in this episode:

THE ATHLETES :Praveen Aggarwal, Sadanand Amarapur, Boris Bakouline, Tim Belstead, Ian Blatchford, Adam Bothwell, Reece Byrne, Nicholas Chapman, Rajpal Choudhary, Leanne Coghill, Aaron Croft, Richard Does, John Domandl, Shane Duffy, Josh Dutton, Anthony Elder, Trevor Garvey, Paul Giddings, Richard Gilby, Craig Jackson, Christiaan Jacobie, Greg Jenkyns, Darrell Kerkow, Stewart King, Kathy La Fauce, Vishesh Madan, NicoláMattheus, Joshua  McAskil, Ryan McKenzie, Adam Mort, Maheshkumar Prajapati, VishnuPrasad, Kellie Ridges, Kirsty Sheehan, Marcus Smith, Ryan Wasley, Andrew Wheatley, Matthew Wheatley, Oliver Whiteley, Ben Yates, Steve York

• Steve King (S1E1)
• Hayden Lyons
• Peter Hudson
• Hanno Mattheus 
• Lisa Gatt 
• Craig Churchward
• Mel Hauschildt
• Jessica Munday
• Nick Mallett
• Tony Hrton
• Craig Percival
• Dave Carroll
• Sharri Pyc
• Jason Clarke
• Damon Faint
• Zsolt Dallos
• James Belstead  
• Mark Wiliams
• Simon Cochrane
• Jessica Dudley
• Shane Kent
• Anthony & Stacy Vloedmans
• Ann Evans
• Peter Wheatley
• Catherine Wheatley
• Jay Gaffey
• Sam Cooke
• Alana Sharman
• Ava Wheatley
• Steven Naylor 
• Keith Maricich
• Gail Laux
• Kim Jenkins
• Stephen Foster
• Rose Cox

Transcript

Larry 0:00

But do we want to do we want to raise the no no no I can I can correct the belly? I I can edit later that's fine. And me, Larry Ryan. Today I have two guests on the show because we have so much to discuss. First up is a returning guest who is here to tell us all about the athletes who will be competing in the 2025 UM Australia race. Welcome back to the podcast, Jeff Morris.

SPEAKER_00 1:23

Welcome, Larry, and welcome to all your viewers on the podcast.

Larry 1:27

Yeah, thanks, Jeff. Thanks for coming and uh sharing this information about the 10th anniversary coming up. Also joining us uh to share about the lineup of athletes is the man who will be calling them in across the finish line each day, and that is Tim Franklin. Hi, Tim. Larry, how are you? I'm good, good. Thanks for joining us today, Tim. Um before we get into talking about the 2025 race, Tim, I know you were a racer in 2016, and in that year you actually pulled off second place. Congratulations to you on that. Um, that was year two of the race. Yeah. Um, so that was year two of the race. Uh, what I'm wondering is obviously something happened at year two for you. What brings you back to the race? And you know, now that we're 10 years in, what's been your involvement over the years?

SPEAKER_02 2:23

Um, so it all it all started in the very first one in 2015. I crewed for a good mate of mine. He went around year one. Um, and I was like, well, I might have to do it now. So I came back in year two as an athlete. Um, and then I just struck up a really good friendship, relationship with the guys behind the scenes um and have kept coming back in capacity as just a general dog's body um at the start. And then um I worked with Steve um helping him call and announce, and then obviously Steve being so far away a couple of years couldn't make it. So I undertook um being the MC of all um pre-race um and then during the race, and then obviously for the awards party. So I I just love it. I love to meet the people that are willing to undertake it and the camaraderie of the team behind the scenes. Um, it's great to catch up with them every year and and give back to to uh a sport and event that that has given me so much.

Larry 3:26

Absolutely. And and I think that's what happens for everybody who comes out to these races. And there's gonna be a lot of new people at the race this year, and hopefully they are hooked in for the next 10 years as well.

SPEAKER_02 3:39

Yeah, let's hope so.

Larry 3:42

Uh Jeff, uh, we as I said, we are celebrating the uh 10th anniversary this year, and you were there in year one as well. Can you tell us a little bit about your race history and how it you went from being um a crew member to the race director over 10 years?

SPEAKER_00 4:02

Yeah, so again, was there in in year one back in 2015, uh crewing for good friend Hayden Lyons. Uh so yeah, loved my intro to that world. Um, it was a little while longer before I became heavily involved, but uh most years I was there for at least a bit of it. Uh and then yeah, kind of took over the reins a couple of years ago uh when we needed someone to step up as as event coordinator. And yeah, it just it's so good working with the the dream team in pulling it together and the communication with athletes leading in, sort of being part of them for over 12 months, really. You talk to some of them before they even apply. Uh, then you know, that nervousness they put an application in, are they going to get a spot to race? And then the reality sinks into what they've done if they get a spot, and just watching that progression through people is is just awesome. Uh and privilege to be a part of that and get there, be there on Monday, uh, you know, hang medals around some next, just be there seeing it. Uh, and then hearing the stories on the Tuesday. Uh, it's just such a special event and format uh that keeps people coming back. So it's it's an absolute privilege to be a part of this race, to be honest.

Larry 5:15

Yeah, and when you were talking about hearing the stories on the Tuesday at the celebration, the awards, that's that's always been one of the parts that I've always enjoyed as well, because at that point you are hearing about the things that all the athletes have gone through on course, uh, what the crews were doing and the the funny stories that come out, as well as you know, some of the hardships that come out that people go through in these races and the the dark places that they were in as well. And and one of the things we're teaming up to do this year, as part of your 10th anniversary special, is we're gonna try and bring those stories to everybody in the world, even before the awards day, because we are gonna live stream this event all 36 hours to the world together, your dream team, me here in Vancouver working as producer director, and I'm super excited about this. Um, tell me, like, I came to you and said, Hey, I got this idea. What what happened on your end when you heard it? And other than thinking that I was crazy.

SPEAKER_00 6:21

Yeah, there's a bit of that. Uh, I think I've possibly said it before on your pod, Tuesdays as a as a race director, Tuesday can be a bit confronting because you hear these stories and you're like, Oh, there was a bit of drama in it on course that I just didn't know about. Um, yeah, the other the other big race I direct is a 100-kilometer long course race. Now we do 20 kilometer loops on the bike, we do a six kilometre run, so it's all very contained. Uh at UM, they're just everyone's spread to the wind, you know. Day two, people can be 150 kilometers away from me. You know, I'm sitting in a shipping container in Noosa, uh, and there's all these things going on. So I guess part of what when you came to me with that was I know Tim can talk, um, but can we actually talk for 36 hours straight? Um, but I had no doubt that it was going to be able to be engaging because so much happens across those three days. Um kind of it's probably gonna start off nice and cruisy. That swim, you know, you can't really talk to a lot of athletes while they're swimming, but um, once they're out of water, it's it's gonna be mayhem for the next 33 hours of racing because uh that day one, you've got the people, you know, the fast swimmers, slow cyclists, so swimmers fast cyclists, you've got crews of so many of our new athletes that are gonna be finding their way. It's it's such a uh skill, I don't know how you describe it, but you can do all the planning you want in the world. But when you hit that road on day one and you're like, are we seeing our athlete enough? Are we not seeing them? Are they are we getting to where they need to turn in time? And that first day is is massive for the crews um to find their feet and go, we're here for our athlete. This suddenly turns this individual sport into a team sport. Are we doing well? Uh, and those stories that uh we're gonna get you uh and the teams out of course to cover um are gonna give some people that have been around 515 UM stuff uh but not been involved. Uh it's gonna blow their mind. Uh and I think it's gonna show some people that this is an amazing thing that they want to be a part of in the future.

Larry 8:30

And and the concept that we have is that we're gonna show everybody out on the course. We're gonna have a few stations set up where there's cameras. Tim's gonna be out there um talking as people go by, and we're gonna have other people set up doing the same things. We're gonna have a lot of guest commentators coming in, past athletes coming in to give their perspective. And we also are gonna invite all of the crews to submit update videos as well. So we are gonna try and cover the entire course the entire time. So it's we're actually gonna cover it better than if you were there, because you're gonna be able to see what's happening on every part of the course, not just the part you're on. And and so often the part you're on is so much fun. You're you're leapfrogging with other crews and you're getting to know them. We're gonna get to do that all around the course. And I think it's gonna be a very special event. And and Tim, are you prepared to speak for 36 hours if you need to?

SPEAKER_02 9:26

Well, I think the people that know me know that should be pretty easy. To be honest. But yeah, it's it's it's always massive days, right? Like it's it's 12 hours on the race, but we've got a couple of hours of setup beforehand, then a couple of hours of packing down afterwards. So there's there, they are they are enormous days for for the crew. Um, but I consider myself the talent, so I try and avoid doing a big heavy thing as uh as much as I possibly can.

Larry 9:56

Do do you have a special badge that you wear around your neck, Tim? Do you have like an old accent?

SPEAKER_02 10:02

I don't think I need that anymore, Larry. I think people just know who I am now.

SPEAKER_00 10:05

It does. It says, My mum says I'm special. Well, Pete Hudson's in Melbourne at the moment, and a little shiver went down his spine. He's just like, what just happened?

SPEAKER_02 10:18

Uh there, um, yeah, they're they are big days. It's uh it's gonna be awesome. I think bringing it, bringing it to life. Um, the way that uh that you've you've gone about it this time, Larry, is gonna be pretty cool, I reckon.

Larry 10:31

Yeah, yeah. And uh I'm I'm hoping it all comes together. I'm sure there'll be some uh you know technical difficulties, as there are with any technology things, but we'll we'll get through those and and we'll make sure that we're we're presenting this out to the world and making it interactive as well. Um, one of the things I want the people to know, this is gonna be completely interactive where we're gonna have a chat going on the side and we want people to chat with one another. We want people to ask questions. We will be like having little cahoot quizzes for trivia for the past 10 years. We're gonna do all kinds of things to make it interactive. And if people watching are having their own little watch party, if there's like a family together somewhere watching the YouTube and they're following their athlete, we want them to send us a video of what this is us watching you watch. Like we want it to be completely interactive and hopefully if it's a super special event.

SPEAKER_02 11:23

Uh I think yeah, I think it will be. I think I mean 10 years, 10 years of of stories being told, and we get to write another chapter this year, and and it's uh you know, it's gonna be splashed all over the internet can only be a great thing.

Larry 11:39

So let's take the opportunity now to introduce the listeners to who the people are that are going to be racing this year. And some of them have crews out there with past racers as well and and experienced crew members. So we'll try and touch on some of those people as well as we go through the list. Now, I know that this year you have a smaller female contingent. There's five females, and as of recording this podcast, you are down to 36 male competitors for a total of 41 people. It was well into the 50s, uh originally signed up. And you have athletes representing seven nations. So uh, Jeff, maybe we'll come back to you on this and tell us um a little bit about these five women. We'll start with the women, uh, introduce uh who they are, where they're from.

SPEAKER_00 12:33

Yes, that's exciting. We uh we can kick off with one of the internationals. So uh someone that's been buying off uh a 515 distance race for a while, Nicola from South Africa. Um been sharing lots of her journey online, which is great. Um, her um doing a lot of training with her husband, uh Hanun. Uh yeah, it's it it's actually been really cool to see some of those videos and and she's really clear about um you need that support network to get to the race. So she's had a great journey so far. And uh I know she's excited about getting to Australia, uh coming across from South Africa and uh meeting a lot of people and and seeing some of Australia and doing the race. So uh great way to start off uh the introduction with one of our internationals.

Larry 13:18

And I saw that she also does a lot of the extreme races in in her application. She she has done the Norseman X-Tri. She's done a couple of X-Tries where she's often one of the top finishers, and that she has had multiple 70.3 podiums and age group wins. So at least at that distance, we know she's competitive. So it'll be interesting to find out how she does at this longer 515 distance.

SPEAKER_00 13:47

Yeah, exactly. Definitely knows uh knows how to knock off those uh hard races, you know, that that long distance, but plus the hard conditions that come with it. I think anyone that um that finishes Nawsman's obviously uh got uh a fair amount of physical and mental strength. So yeah, she's gonna uh give it a good crack and been knocking out some good training volumes, uh not knocking herself around too much. And I think it's gonna get here. And and obviously, as you mentioned, with those a few wins in in slightly shorter things, uh obviously has a bit of pace there. So let's see how that body holds together across three days in do something.

SPEAKER_02 14:25

Yeah, like you like you said, Larry, not just um not just turning up and right going through the motions, but by really giving it a nudge right at the front of the field each time she steps on the start line. Um and when you said earlier that it's a small female field, we've I think over the years we've like prided ourselves on having such a large female contingent where we've had up to 33% of the field being female. This one's a little bit shorter, but jeez, there's some quality amongst the five, that's for sure.

Larry 14:56

Oh, most certainly.

SPEAKER_00 14:58

I I did like Nicola's I did like Nicola's comment just before we move on. I I do like, yeah, she's only done, you know, only that's a terrible thing to say, but she's done one Iron Man, uh, and and her comment was I just like the extreme stuff more. So uh yeah, let's let's do an Iron Man. We've ticked that box, but let's go and do some hard stuff now. So, you know, jump onto Norse when another extreme tries. So yeah, that's um that's that's pretty impressive. So yeah. So yeah, next is Kathy Loughhouse. Uh so yeah, if you Iron Man's behind her have been to Kona, uh so can do the long stuff. Uh obviously got a bit of a bit of pace behind anyone that um gets a spot at Kona uh is doing pretty well.

Larry 15:39

So and and as though she she also has an ambition to get into stand-up comedy. So hopefully she has a great uh little speech at the end of this event.

SPEAKER_00 15:50

Well, yeah, let's let's get her on the live at the end of each day and uh see if she's got enough energy to be funny.

SPEAKER_02 15:55

Yeah, I'll definitely hit her up for a chat on the mic if she's gonna tell some tags.

SPEAKER_00 16:02

Uh so next one is Kirsty Sheehan, a returning athlete. So she's athlete 168. So race back in 2018. Um Kirst is a speedster. Uh she can punch out really quick times. Uh she's um well, she still is a coach. She's dropped off a bit of her coaching. Uh, she's actually moved to my neck of the woods uh lately, moved from Brisbane where Tim lives up to Harvey Bay for a bit of a C change. Uh has absolutely targeted. She was going to try and race last year, but she's had a bit of shoulder injury. Uh I think if she sneezes, sneezes violently, she pops her shoulder out these days. It's a bit second hand, that full shoulder of hers. Uh, but is a superb athlete. Uh look, not only probably will be the first female home, uh, she's probably gonna give it a nudge to be the first finisher overall. Uh, and I know that there's there's been a little bit of chat about looking at the course records. So um, look, it's it's gonna be amazing to see her out on course. Uh, I know that she's put a lot of time in and has targeted this race really now for two years. Um got a super experienced crew that were with her last time. Uh her husband's on that. Um, and then Lisa and Craig, who have been part of the dream team. So that whole team thing's coming together for her. Um and it could be a perfect storm uh in a couple of weeks, and we could see an amazing performance out of Kirst.

SPEAKER_02 17:35

Yeah, well, she's yeah, second, second, second, and second female when she raced back in 2018. So she's obviously coming here with intentions to go one step high on the podium. Um but phenomenal, something like 36 um Iron Man's under the belt, just pedigree after pedigree after pedigree. It's um it's gonna be pretty extraordinary to watch her roll around.

Larry 18:00

Yeah, and that Iron Man time, her best one that she has recorded is a nine hours 42 minutes, which is actually the fastest Iron Man recorded of all the athletes competing. So yeah, she might be right up there at the at the pointy end of this race. Uh her time in 2018 was 24-25. So I'm sure she's found many ways to uh take time off of that and and and get to the get to the finish line each day a little bit quicker.

SPEAKER_00 18:30

Yeah, so then we move on to Leanne Coggle. Uh so fourth of our fifth lady. So first time for Leanne, she was going to give it a crack last year, but uh the planets didn't quite align, but she's back here this year. Uh Leanne lives on course. She is gonna run right past her front door on day three twice. Uh so she's uh she's kind of excited about that. Uh a lot of time in triathlon. Uh she says she's been racing triathlons for 31 years, done a whole stack of IMs, 18 uh in total. So uh yeah, someone who's obviously knows how to get to that finish line uh and has definitely been preparing again for a couple of years to uh to make this happen.

SPEAKER_02 19:13

The same as um Kirsty. Leanne's just got years and years of experience and and just the number of races under the belt. I I don't think there's necessarily a direct correlation between Iron Man racing and racing five-line, five distance, but it can only help to have that bank um of training under your belt. So so another another another lady, another strong lady, unbelievable strength in the in the the five coming out racing. And not only um the crew that she's got racing, but um Leanne's got uh Mel Helshold as her coach, who's uh an X70.3 world champion, um and very, very experienced and very, very good athlete in her own right. So she'll be there on course, hopefully, and we might get to see her. But um, but yeah, uh pretty pretty good mentor to have coming into an event like this.

Larry 20:08

Yeah. And I also noticed that in in her crew uh she's listed um a woman named Jessica Mundy, and she says that she was a TV producer on the American Survivor for 15 years. So if we get the opportunity, can we connect her with Nick Millette? Because I know Nick has been trying to get on Survivor for probably 15 years. Nick has volunteered to be one of our guest commentators as well. So he'll be popping into the live stream and and sharing some of his knowledge of the course. Uh, he was one of the people that were there uh before day one, helping to design that course uh with Tony. So um we should uh get a lot of good information from Nick uh when he pops into the broadcast and and helps out.

SPEAKER_00 21:01

Yeah, he's another one that lives on course, knows, knows a lot of the space around that. And as you say, he was uh himself with Tony and Craig and Wayne and those guys that uh refined the course. That's pretty much stayed the same for 10 years now. Um as I remap a couple little bits of Coulomb that the police have chipped us about. But uh yeah, overall it's the same course that those guys design. So uh it's great to still have Nick around uh and uh be a part of the live coverage to hear his take on things.

Larry 21:32

Yeah, because usually he's pretty quiet and doesn't have an opinion.

SPEAKER_02 21:42

I won't say anything.

Larry 21:46

Who's the next female on the on the roster?

SPEAKER_00 21:50

Uh look, next next female is someone pretty special. Uh so Kelly Ridges is our our fifth and final female that's racing. Uh Kelly has Taken on UM Australia five times previously. So, you know, people kind of um the name Dave Carroll is synonymous with doing a lot of UM Australia's, but uh Kelly quietly went about her business for the first five years as well, uh, doing the race. Um now she's been a little bit quiet in the last few years, you know. As we know, life gets in the way. But I've actually been talking to Kelly for a couple of years. Uh since I took over the race, I kind of knew that she'd moved a little bit um away from the family, or the family had lost a little bit of contact with her, but I thought it was really important for someone who'd competed in the first five events that they were their family for life. So uh yeah, I'd been talking to Kelly for uh a couple of years uh leading into the 10th anniversary. She was going to be here uh regardless. Uh and it was just a question of whether she was actually going to race. Um, and much to your frustration, as you know, she uh she didn't actually put an application in, which is where we collect a bit of our data and and those couple of phone calls and emails should be going, what's going on with Kelly? I don't know anything. And I'm like, Yeah, well, she uh you know she's she's a special one. She uh she doesn't need to apply when you've when you've done five UM Australias. You uh you can pick up the phone to me and go, hey, I want to give it a crack and and uh and you're gonna get a spot. But uh it's really special to have Kelly back. Uh she's bringing some of her crew back that helped her back in those years. Uh and uh yeah, looking looking forward to to welcoming her back into the fold and uh seeing how she goes around. She's uh said that uh training, you know, five or six years down the track from her last one is uh is a little bit of a different beast. Uh so she's uh learning some lessons about her how her body's changed in the last few years. So uh, but she she'll be doing it with a smile on her face and uh looking forward to seeing her on that Monday uh hanging a metal around her neck uh on Main Beach on Monday.

SPEAKER_02 23:53

Yeah, and I think um I don't I think it can't be underestimated how hard completing five Ultraman Oz in um in five years is. I mean, but backing up the training, mentally preparing, logistically preparing, going again, making sure you've got that many friends that can support crew you because you're gonna burn a couple each time, each time you race. Um it's it's actually really phenomenal. So I think if she am I correct in saying if she undertakes her six, is that the most uh no because Dave's done six as well.

SPEAKER_00 24:32

Yeah, Dave's done six, yeah.

SPEAKER_02 24:34

She'll be and she'll be comfortably the female with the most yeah, yeah, probably. Yep. And not only that, but I love I love her background as well. I mean she goes in, she's she's classic Kelly. She goes into she was like world class jump roper. Um basically queen skipper. Um and not only that, she's also she's also launched into she's launches into pole dancing and all sorts of crazy stuff. So if you get a chance to um no doubt we'll get a chance to talk to her over the over the weekend.

Larry 25:08

Yeah. And you're talking about how you burn a few friends for a crew. Um she listed one of her friends, Sherry, as a friend of 30 years that's coming, who's actually going to be spending her 50th birthday there on the weekend. So um maybe make sure.

SPEAKER_00 25:24

What a beautiful spot to have your 50th birthday. Yeah.

Larry 25:29

And make sure you get her a little uh a little something from uh Kenilworth for her for her birthday.

SPEAKER_02 25:38

We will definitely head to the bakery for it. Donuts are always welcome.

Larry 25:44

All right. Well, um that that's all the women that are racing. And uh obviously, as as Tim has said, that for the fact that there might be few of them, there's a lot of quality there, and I think that'll be a very competitive race to be watching, including possibly even having the the overall champion come out of the women's field. So let's move over to the men's field. We'll go through them by age group, and and maybe Jeff, we can add their ages as we go by with these uh yeah, we have their ages. We can add their ages in as we go by. So starting with the young people, what do you have in your 22-29 category?

SPEAKER_00 26:23

Yeah, so we start with the 24-year-old Ollie Whiteley. Uh so Ollie's first time uh at an Ultra In. Uh he's done Iron Man Australia, so he has got an Iron Man under his belt and a couple of ultra trail runs. So uh he's super keen to come up. Um he's got a passion um to promote his indigenous culture here in Australia, uh, which dovetails great with the fact that we've got Zatisha's painting featuring uh on our merchandise this year to acknowledge um the gubby gubby country on which we race here and and touch many parts of the the country. So uh Ollie's super keen to connect with that as well and and be in a different space and and be welcomed here um by the gubby guy people from where he um welcoming him from where he's coming from. So uh yeah, you know, we know how hard these races are, and at 24 years old, uh that's that's pretty young in in ultra terms. Uh so but I know Ollie's got some good people behind him and uh and we'll give it a good crack.

SPEAKER_02 27:29

Yeah, he's part of um of Pri Mob, which is which is a huge contingent um of triathletes, indigenous triathletes here in Australia doing great things, not only for the sport, but for their community as well. And it is a family affair. I see his mom and dad are um uh his crew, so they'll tell him what to do, no doubt.

Larry 27:53

Yeah, I I noticed a lot of the athletes in your race have mom and dad coming to the race as their crew members. Um that's I mean, often people have spouses um that come, but you you seem to have a lot of moms and dads this year coming. Is is that normal at your race?

SPEAKER_02 28:14

I yeah, I uh probably not normal, but maybe spouses have got together and talked to each other about it. Um and thought maybe it's best off if someone else comes. But um but uh yeah, there's always there's always family involved, yeah, definitely across the time, yeah.

SPEAKER_04 28:32

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 28:33

I guess part of the the thing, and this is why um Australia is such a a cool thing, it's a fantastic destination to come. So yes, there's there's three pretty full-on days in there, but uh it it's a it's a plenty of place to come and visit and and have some family time. Uh and we all know what it takes to get to these races and and what an achievement it is. And I think you'd be proud of your child having committed to it and can completed it. And then the ability to literally be a part of it, a an integral part of it. Uh I think any parent would want to be involved. So, you know, if you've got the relationship with your parent, you know, we'd know it's it could be high stress at times. Uh that could be a good or a bad thing. They're the people that probably knows you best in your life. Uh, I think that probably if I thought from my point of view, it's probably a really good thing sometimes. Someone knows you, they've seen you be through tough times in whatever it was in life. Well, this is gonna be pretty tough, and they might know how to uh push your buttons to get you going when you're when you're in that funk in the hole.

Larry 29:37

All right, who do we get up next, Jeff?

SPEAKER_00 29:40

Uh so next one is Aaron Croft, so 27-year-old uh coming to us from England via uh Western Australia at the moment, is where he's living. Uh so he's uh looks like he's put it out there that he always can swim a bit. He thinks he's gonna swim under three hours, which we'll be interested to see. Um has recently done uh some 100k runs, so gonna be okay on uh on Monday as well. So let's see how he goes between the swim and the run. Right, so next one is Tim Belshead, uh 28-year-old. Um I would say he's from overseas, but uh he's actually from Australia, he's from Tassie. Uh he's was introduced to uh UM by knowing uh one of the dream team, uh Jason Clark. So uh Tim is an absolute superfish. Uh it's no secret. He's uh put it out that he wants to take the swim record off Damon Feint. Uh so he's probably going to be the first one that we see out of the water in your live coverage, Larry, on on the Saturday. So yeah, look, uh 947 Iron Man. So it might be super fish, pretty obvious. You can ride and run a bit too. Uh you don't get single digits in an Iron Man uh without being pretty quick. So uh yeah, let's see how he goes with the long stuff. Um you know, he's sponsored by Tassel Salmon, which is probably where the good swimming comes from. Um he's smashing the infinity nutrition into him, so he obviously uh he's gonna be fueled right. Uh and he's raising it for um a foundation called the Alice Gadovsky Um Fellowship. Um named after his cousin who died from uh bone marrow failure uh at a young age. So uh yeah, he's uh got some some extra meaning to be out there. Uh and he's someone that certainly uh has probably got a lot of information from Jace about what the race is gonna take to compete. And I know Jace was very excited when uh when Tim pulled the trigger to apply uh 12 months ago for the race. Um so yeah, gonna be cool to see that swim go because it's gonna be uh I think it's gonna be pretty special from from what I've seen of his training and what Jace has been telling us about how Tim has been going down there.

SPEAKER_02 31:56

And also he's um coached by Zolt Dallas, who's a big, big big name, great athlete here um Australia as well. So again, good pedigree, good knowledge coming in.

Larry 32:10

Yeah, and and just reading through his his bio, he he seems to put a little bit of uh a little bit of character into it as well, even just in describing his crew. Uh one of his crew holds a national master's record swim in in the breaststroke, which he was poking a little bit of fun at, but hey national record.

SPEAKER_02 32:33

Come on, I think it's yeah, it's for 1500 meters as well. That's no joke. That's a 1500 meters of breaststroke. That's no joke.

SPEAKER_00 32:42

Yeah, I'll just shut up because I just want to be juvenile.

Larry 32:48

So I I'm guessing that's his brother James. Yeah, brother James, yes. So um he he seems like he'll be a bit of a character and one that you might be able to get some good comments from, too, Tim.

SPEAKER_02 32:59

Absolutely. Absolutely. He's on my radar, that is for sure. Yeah.

Larry 33:04

Uh do we have to go to the next category now?

SPEAKER_00 33:07

So next one, yeah. So moving into the 30-year-olds. Uh so we've got Nicholas Chapman who uh lives in WA. He's got some heritage tracking back to Brazil. So he actually uh has noted that he's he's officially representing Brazil. Uh, but I know he's uh he is an Aussie, he lives in WA, he's a geologist, so he loves playing with rocks. Uh he did a pretty uh pretty entertaining why video uh up on uh up on Facebook. So uh yeah, you can get in get into Facebook and Insta and see a lot of the why videos. Not everyone does a Y video, uh these people seem to be able to train for 515 kilometres of triathlon and uh and three days of extreme pain, but uh it's it's too scary to sit in front of a camera. So we don't get everyone's why, but uh it's a good intro to some of them about uh what makes them tick. Uh and Nick's was certainly uh pretty entertaining. So he's another one that's going to be pretty speedy on the swim. Uh Rotnest Island, so racing the uh the sharks from Rottenest Island, uh 20ks in five hours, 24, he said. And uh his qualify with 10k swim was two hours 31. So, you know that that's up there um as far as fast swim times go. So uh maybe Timmy Bellstead will have uh someone on his toes for a bit of that swim uh in Noosa.

SPEAKER_02 34:24

Yeah, and uh and then he's put together some reasonable times as well. Um last year's IM New Zealand, uh he rolled around in in sub 12 hours, which is always good going, especially um when you're when you're just new to the sport, especially coming from a swimming background as well. You'll quite often see triathletes come from either a running or a cycling background, but coming from a swimming background, it's a little bit more adaptation. So yeah, I don't think um I don't think we'll we'll be mentioning his name a little bit, I would suggest, especially early on in day one, and then we'll see, we'll see how he goes from there.

Larry 35:00

And I see that he has a former Ultraman finisher on his crew as well, and that's Mark Williams, who was the final finisher um the year that he competed in 2022. Um so they will have the the idea of how do you you know make sure that they are making those 12-hour cutoffs each day, too. So he's getting the that the the stress that the crew goes through when your athlete is close to not making that cutoff. Um he ran an 1148-52. Um, some people have gone much closer to the 12 hours than that, and the crew are doing math like crazy. Um, this is one of the things that hopefully we'll get to see a little bit of in the in the live stream as well is the franticness that happens in the crew vehicle. Because up until now, what happens in the crew car has always kind of stayed in the crew car. But uh what we're hoping with the live stream is that we're gonna get some of this uh what happens in the crew car coming onto the live stream.

SPEAKER_00 36:10

And even just managing that as an athlete, like uh this is why I love UM. Uh I don't care if you're Simon Cochrane that does it in under 20 hours or you're you know someone that does it in in nearly 36, there's things to manage. It it hurts to go fast, but it hurts to go for 12 hours each day, too. And you know, if you finish a day in nine or ten hours, uh someone else finishes in 12, they're as buggered as you, but they've actually got two or three hours less recovery time. So, you know, someone like Mark on his crew is is going to be around that. And okay, how do we, you know, if you know how to get to that finish line, but you you've got to back up the next day, uh, and and that's a skill in itself. And yeah, that that that cutoff stuff uh can be pretty wild. Uh when early last year with Jess Dudley uh ran very close a couple of days, and yeah, you you you want to math the math because if you get it wrong, um there might be tears.

SPEAKER_04 37:03

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 37:04

We'll have to keep an eye on uh on Nick on the run course because he's his mum's actually a pan-American roller skating champion. Uh so that's uh something just to make sure he doesn't crack open mum's roller skates on run day, I think.

Larry 37:17

And and his fiance, who's the team captain, is also an artistic roller skater. Um and apparently that's how the two met. So a little setup by mom.

SPEAKER_00 37:28

Yeah, mom's done some work. And and his fiance's a dietitian. She needs to have better choice in clients because I think she's uh helping Shane Kent, a uh a UM lunatic who's doing arc arc to arch this year. She's uh helping him with his um his nutrition for getting from London to Paris um with the uh with the run-swim bike uh that he'll do. So uh yeah, I know that there's been a bit of a connection there across the country. So yeah, the UM family spreading far and wide and doing all sorts of cool things.

Larry 38:01

And and Shane is um scheduled to drop in and help us out with some uh commentary as well.

SPEAKER_00 38:07

Nice, nice.

SPEAKER_02 38:09

Who is all yeah, uh uh UM champion from a few years ago now? I can't do this.

SPEAKER_00 38:15

20, what was the year after COVID? 21? 22, 22, yeah. Yeah. So yeah, so then we uh move on to uh Vizesh, uh who's 30 years old, coming from India, uh competed last year. So he's coming back to uh give it another crack. Enjoyed it so much last year that he wants to come back again. Uh so yeah, that's that's really exciting. He's uh he's a really humble guy, uh just loves putting himself out there, getting the work done and and coming and executing. So uh it's always exciting when someone comes back. Uh and yeah, he's uh a really humble guy uh and and will love every day out there on course, I know.

SPEAKER_02 39:07

And an absolute, an absolute sports nut too. Yes, just a sports puffy, it's great because I am I am as well. So it's great to have another one that I can just talk to all day. All day.

Larry 39:22

Well, he he listed his uh hobbies and things that he does as sports writer and sports analyst, so and and data analyst. So I can only imagine how those all come together.

SPEAKER_02 39:35

Yeah, I'd say I'd say by the stands of it, he knows his way around a spreadsheet.

Larry 39:39

Yeah. And when I was looking at his results from last year, I saw he had a a 516 swim. Um so um hopefully he's uh picked up a few few minutes in the swim, so we're not waiting for him too long to come out of the water this year. And his overall time was a 3112. So uh it'll be interesting to see what parts of the course he's decided to you know focus on and and train to pick up some minutes.

SPEAKER_02 40:06

Well, I think he wants to go early fours this year. That's the that's the the talk of the town. Okay, is that he wants to he wants to take uh an hour to 45 minutes off his swim time? So we'll we'll see. Hopefully, we'll we'll have nice flat conditions for him.

SPEAKER_00 40:23

Makes uh makes it would be a much nicer ride having only swimmed four hours than swimming five hours. Uh it's a long time to be laying on your stomach in salt water at five hours. So yeah, let's hope he's uh he nails that that goal. You know, it's all about those little goals that you set yourself, and uh yeah, uh Tim Tim's got the inside running on that. So yeah, let's see how he goes. Next up, another returning athlete in Josh McCaskill. Uh so uh Josh is another WA person coming across, uh, all these miners from WA. So he uh another another quiet guy. You uh you couldn't tell he was enjoying it last year. He uh um, you know, a little bit uh low on the external emotion scale, but obviously loved it. And it was really good, you know. The the public stuff was a bit different, but I know I had a couple of chats with uh Josh and he did love it again. Just that challenge and and executing so much training to then bring Tanisa and nail the race, and and yeah, was was pretty early on the uh on the applications and is going to come back and and give it a crack with his team again this year.

Larry 41:33

Another one that has mom and dad on the team.

SPEAKER_02 41:37

Yep, yep, partner as team captain and uh and mom and dad. And his sisters as well. It's a whole of a whole family.

Larry 41:47

So uh his previous time last year was a 29-17, uh, which put him in 15th place. So let's see, let's see how much he can move up the ranks.

SPEAKER_00 41:59

So yeah, then we move on uh to Vishnu Prasad. So uh I think Vishnu off the top of my head's got a bit of Sri Lankan heritage, but been lived in Australia his his whole life. Uh I think he's down in South Australia from memory. Uh so yeah, um, another guy that's uh going about things uh just ticking boxes, so he uh gave Iron Man WA a crack as his qualifier. Uh so he can do that. And uh and then uh so did WA in 23. Uh and then yeah, just after applications closed, went around for Iron Man Cans in 24. So so again, uh knows how to finish events off and uh does a lot of uh long distance cycling. So he'll uh he'll be loving day two for sure.

SPEAKER_02 42:53

Yeah, so he's um he is probably at the other end of the field to a couple of other swimmers where he's aiming to get it done in under the six hours. Uh he's always it's funny because he's got a a YouTube channel based around him and him improving his swim, which is very entertaining. But ironically, he's a certified advanced open water scuba diver. So he's great under the water, just not on the water. Just not trying to move through it at pace. So um, so yeah, he's uh he's uh he seems a ripper ripper too, so that they'd be good fun to watch, I think.

Larry 43:34

Yeah, and and he's he he even says in his application that he's never swam more than four kilometers. So hopefully by now he has. Yeah, let's hope so.

SPEAKER_00 43:45

Yes, there's been been some conversations around uh swimming training. Uh so yeah, no, I think he's uh he's certainly been focusing on that. Um and and he'll he'll be right. He'll be right at NISA. So then we move on to 35-year-old Raj Chowdhari. Hopefully I've said that right for you, Raj. So I mean Kazakhstan was his uh qualifier. Um done a few races in short um short location to each other to try and simulate that that load, I guess. Um so yeah, super keen to uh give UM a go.

Larry 44:27

And and his his uh team is gonna be pretty good, is it not?

SPEAKER_00 44:32

His his team um I was trying to work out how to say this because I get goosebumps when I say this. Um look, this is this is what UM's about. Uh when we did uh our athlete field, we put out uh into the public that we needed some people to support our international athletes. Uh and mate, none other than 2024 UM Australia winner, Anthony Vlodmans uh rang me and said, Hey mate, I want to help someone else live their dream. Uh so his I was coming from India uh and his crew is Anthony and Stacy. So Anthony was the winner, Stacy was his team captain last year, uh, and they are helping him live his UM dream. Um, you know, I can't think of any sport in any sphere anywhere in the world where this sort of stuff could happen, you know. Um, Max Verstappen's not dropping off to someone's go-kart track to help a kid, you know, win his first race, you know. Um I just it yeah, it does, it gives me goosebumps. And and when Vloods rang me uh and said, mate, this is what we want to do, I just yeah, it blew me away a bit. Uh, but it's it's what I love about this this sport, what we do with this sport, that those sort of things are happening. Uh so yeah, so he's um gonna be here with his daughters. Uh, but yeah, Vloods and and Stacy are gonna uh run the team for him and uh get him around the course for three days in Musa. Who we got then? Next one in age, Josh Dutton at 37. Uh so Josh is a plumber from New South Wales, uh coming up to the race, 1116 Iron Man time. So pretty speedy. Uh and uh did a fairly fairly entertaining uh intro video as to his why. Uh so if you haven't haven't seen that yet, jump on the uh socials. It uh will be yeah, scroll, scroll through by the time the podcast comes back, it'll be about a week ago, I think. But uh have a little little look on the socials about his why and uh keep an eye out on the live because I'm sure that uh him and his team are going to be pretty entertaining uh across the three days uh on the live coverage too, given uh the strength of their videos they've submitted for us at the moment.

SPEAKER_02 46:56

Yeah, I'll see it's his it's his brother, his girlfriend, and then mates. So uh his his support vehicle might be the one to be around.

SPEAKER_00 47:06

And and another one who mum's there with him. So yeah, mum's coming along for the ride.

SPEAKER_04 47:10

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 47:11

Uh so next one coming back for a third crack, Boris Bacaline. So uh Boris is I think still living in Melbourne, but uh dreams of moving to Noosa. Uh I think he's still trying to convince Jess that that's a good idea. Uh he's a superfish. Uh he'll he'll be there, uh he'll be out of the water in in under three hours. I'd say I think he was faster swimmer last year. Um and yeah, so we're not uh we're gonna have to eat our breakfast quick to uh catch Boris out of the water. Uh but yeah, coming coming back for his his third crack this year. So yeah.

Larry 47:47

And his previous time, uh 2024, was 2655.

SPEAKER_00 47:52

Yeah, I'm trying to think, I don't think I've compared it to uh to uh his 23 time. Uh but he has said that uh he's gonna throw the roadie in the bushes and and get on a TT bike. So I think his 2025 is gonna be a bit more serious. Not that he wasn't serious previously, but uh we know the uh the TT bike, although it's a bit more uncomfortable, is definitely a bit bit quicker, especially when you're taking on 420 odd kilometers. Uh so you're gonna give up a little bit of time on those climbs, but uh definitely you're gonna be uh speedier on the bulk of the course on a TT. So uh let's see how we go.

Larry 48:29

You know, Jeff, this might be a good time to talk a little bit about your course. Uh for people that aren't familiar with the course. How how challenging is the bike course? How much elevation do you have? How many hills are there? I mean, seems to me you're you're living in Australia, it's on the beach, it's got to all be flat, right?

SPEAKER_00 48:47

Well, it's it's interesting pretty much when we talk about you know Tony and Craig Percival and Nick and those guys going around in you know, 2013, 2014 building a course. Pretty much what they did was search the Sunshine Coast for where there's hills and headed in that direction. Uh so yeah, we're on the coast, but we we we head west away from the coast and uh and hit quite a number of uh hilly areas. Uh so I think a ballpark where about 1500 metres day one and about 25 to 2800 metres day two. Uh look when you add that into um some there's a there's a there's a few uh real dead roads out there, they don't give you much love. Um, you know, the road surface is is good, but it's not uh beautiful, smooth stuff because we're using, you know, to use a British term, we're using B roads. Uh we can't use A roads because they're too busy. So we're on some roads that don't get used as much. So the road surface isn't amazing. So you don't get a lot of love from the road surface, and then suddenly you're uh you you hit a climb. Uh so yeah, there's a couple of little sneaky little pinches on day one, uh, and then the same day two. It's it's it is a really um I use the term honest course. Uh so yeah, there's not not a lot of resting out there. Um and yeah, we'll see day two. Day two can go one or two ways because we ride back up the coast. Now the the coastline on the Sunshine Coast is actually rolling hills all the way, uh, which is fine if there's no wind or if you've got a southerly pushing you back up towards Nisa. Uh, but if you've got a northerly uh in the afternoon on the Sunday, uh it's not a nice ride back. It's beautiful scenery looking at the ocean. Uh, but if you're riding into a 20 kilometre an hour, 30 kilometre an hour headwind uh for about look, I'm gonna say it's about 40 kilometers that ride from uh from Bly Bly back up to Nisa, uh that's that's tough at the back end of day two. Um and that's where we talked about crews doing the math. Uh, you know, you you're working on averages, but averages aren't good when you when you know you're you're now doing point-to-point into a headwind, you're doing some hills, they're hurting. Uh yeah, it's it's it's a beautiful course. Um, and and I really encourage people to get up here and and drive it that are crewing because when you crew, you're going to miss some of it. But if you've done some course reckies in the days leading in, uh it's not just nice, it's spectacular. Some of the places we take you on the Sunshine Coast are truly spectacular. You know, you're driving past literal lookouts uh on some of these climbs. Uh, and and it's a place you would come to holiday and have a little driving holiday and go and visit this pub and this cafe. And they're literally places that we take you past um each day, day one and day two, uh, to a pure holiday destination, and uh, and you're doing it as part of a race. So yeah, it's tough, but it's uh just when it's gonna break you, it gives you a beautiful view somewhere and and some nice scenery and and and you go, right, I can do this and keep going.

SPEAKER_02 51:57

Yeah, I I completely agree. It's uh it's just a really honest course. If you do the if you've done the work, you'll be rewarded. Come race day. But it is um I think on my on my um speech at the awards dinner, I said I've been lucky enough to be a fair few places around the world, and I think you go a long way to find a better bike course than the one that we've got over the 420k's. Yeah, it's it's it's pretty amazing to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 52:26

I didn't say day day two, sorry, day one is is out and back. Uh but but day two, because we loop, uh there's there's a short bit that we touch twice, but uh it's actually um yeah, it's almost unique road the whole way. Um, and we take you from the coastal stuff uh out to some farming land, or almost rainforesty some of it, uh, and then and then back again. And yeah, that that last ride up the coastline's just beautiful. And it's and it's then that bit of the road is what you're gonna run along the coastal path on day three. So uh you then get a different view from from ground level and and literally a beach level as you run it, whereas you've kind of been up on the the elevated road riding back on uh at the end of day two. So it is it is pretty special. Uh and anyone wants to come out and and give it a crack or wants to come out and crew for someone, uh, always looking for helpers, and and it's a beautiful way to see an amazing bit of the world. Right, yeah, so we got Adam Bothwell. So 38. So we're almost at the end of our uh 30s to 40s. So Adam, Adam's been on a bit of a um recovery journey. He talks about having lived a bit of a wild life early on, uh and then yeah, did his Iron Man but went, There's something more here. Um, I've got more to give. And uh and here he is on uh on the start line for Ultraman. So looking forward to see him uh give it a crack. He obviously uh has battled some demons and uh and then and then wants this to be another another thing that he uh achieves in his life in uh in getting through it. So yeah, it's uh gonna be uh an interesting one to see out there on on course that's got his uh mates here crewing for him, uh, and then uh mum and dad coming to to watch him and be part of his race as well.

Larry 54:16

Yeah. And and that's not an uncommon story, like for all the people that I've talked with on the podcast, there are a number of people who are making exercise their way of exercising past demons or addictions that they've had issues with. And obviously, the exercising part that goes into this becomes the new addiction for a lot of them. Um, I guess it's a healthy addiction in some ways. Um, but that is that's totally a common thing amongst the people that are taking part in these uh in these 515 events.

SPEAKER_02 54:52

Yeah, it's definitely a well-worn path um um in endurance sports for sure.

SPEAKER_00 54:58

Well hey, so the next one's another international. Uh sound and Marapol from India. So he's coming out uh with his family again. So his wife's coming uh and a brother-in-law all um to crew where we're getting some extra help for him out here as well. I think my memory serves me correctly. Um crew legend Ann Evans. I can't think, but yeah, we've got uh got someone that's uh helping him out. Um so yeah, uh has got a couple of uh 10k swims under his belt. Uh so yeah, it looks like uh he'll be uh nice and slow and steady. And uh so he's got ambition to swim the English Channel, so yeah, see how that goes for it.

SPEAKER_02 55:50

Yeah, and got um some Iron Man Kazakhstan under the belt, uh 70.3 at Goa, um numerous marathons, so uh numerous long swims, so so definitely a lot of uh endurance pedigree there. So I uh yeah, I'd I'd be surprised if the if it worried him, but it's just about how fast he can go.

Larry 56:12

And and he's done something that probably not a lot of people have done, and uh that he is he has cycled across India. So uh he did a total of 3,800 kilometers in 14 days and 14 hours cycling across India, which I'm guessing is C roads in a lot of cases, not just B-roads.

SPEAKER_02 56:34

I think C roads might be better.

SPEAKER_00 56:37

I think C roads is where they start. Uh last in our 30 to 39 age group is Ryan Wesley. So Ryan um another uh of our WA athletes, so coming across the country. So uh yeah, for those of you outside Australia that don't realise, um we are pretty much, I don't know exactly, but we're we're as big as the US. Uh so when we say someone's coming from WA, they're they're sitting on a plane for you'd probably know better than me, Tim, five hours is the flight from five and a half WA. So it's uh it's you know, if you lived in Europe, you've just gone across the whole continent. But uh yeah, in in Australia, they're uh there's still Australians and they're they're they're five and a half hour flights to get here. So it's a big logistical effort from them. Uh so he's done his local IMAR, so I man Bustleton, which is over on the the west coast. Um 1041, which is uh nothing to sneeze at, and has knocked off some ultra runs to uh to to build that as well.

SPEAKER_02 57:42

Yeah, not just knocked off these ultra runs, but he has got some fairly good pedigree in there. He's uh Lark Hill, it's a 100k trail run, and he second placed it. So he ran, I mean, he's he's running sub seven minute kilometers across uh a hundred kilometer trail run. So uh so I I I think he can move, to be honest, when it comes to running. Um so it'll be interesting to see where, like how he's placed come day three. Uh he obviously can swim, he can ride a bike to a degree. I mean, he's gone 1040 um in Iron Man multiple times. So so that'll be that'll be good. That'll be a good little test come day three to see to see where he's positioned and if he can if he's in a position to push it and put maybe pressure on people that that potentially could be ahead of him.

Larry 58:32

Yeah, that's another one of the things about 515 racing is that so much can happen in day three. You you can have an hour lead or more. And if if something goes wrong for you and you blow up or even you just mess your nutrition up a little bit, people that are an hour behind you can be catching up and passing you because it's over such a long distance that 84 kilometer double marathon.

SPEAKER_02 58:57

Well, that's yeah, I mean that's exactly right. And that's why um you see people that that potentially uh not as strong in the swim, but then um then can put big, big, big time into the athletes come the bike and the run because it's just so long.

Larry 59:14

And and I should probably at this point bring you around to to Tim's long run, uh, listener, because um some of you I think in Australia you're getting to be pretty well known. Uh from what I can tell. You're on all the news channels and people are like asking for autographs and things like that. But uh Tim's been uh working on a a big event that that he completed, and that was to just you know run around the world, nothing big. Uh Tim, can you tell us a little bit about the Tim Runs the World?

SPEAKER_02 59:51

Yeah, so uh I don't think my fame's fame's that much. Um I don't often have to sign. I mean, Jeff always asked me for photos. Um uh so on the 30th of December, sorry, that's not true, on the 30th of June last year, 2024, I actually completed um my run around the world. So I covered um 26,245 kilometres on foot to um run across five um continents, starting in Brisbane in Australia, which is my hometown, and then finishing in the same place. So um it took 576 days, uh averaged about 50, just over 50 kilometres a day, um, ran across 19 countries, as I said, five continents, um, and just became the eighth person in history to complete the endeavor. And and I was aiming to be the fastest, didn't quite get there, and I'm I'm the second fastest to come to complete the endeavor. And um, yeah, it was one hell of a journey. So it all started with trithlons back in the day, and then into ultra triathlons such as UM Oz, and then and then morphed into ultra running, and then the challenge to to run around the world was presented to me as a thing in 2017. Um, and from then I just I just worked towards it. And then on the 3rd of December in 2022, I started. Um, and then yeah, 576 days later, I finished, and it was um amazing journey. I got to run the length of New Zealand, I ran across the US, ran across South America, uh, Chile and Argentina specifically, then ran the length of the Thames River in uh in England, um, and then crossed Europe from Portugal uh all the way across to Romania, so uh from sea to sea, and then and then I did a little bit of Asia running uh Singapore and Malaysia, and then I finished um by running just under 8,000 kilometres, taking the long way across Australia and just hugged the southern coastline. So started in Perth and then ran all the way along the coastline through South Australia, Victoria up along the coast of New South Wales and into Brisbane to finish. And it was um yeah, uh a journey that I'll I'll never forget that had the highest of highs and the lowest of lows. So so that's it. And it's good. I mean, uh I loved it, but it's good to be back, good to be back uh with the UM team doing this. But yeah, amazing, amazing journey.

Larry 1:02:22

Yeah, and and it's I I think there's probably some more stories there that we gotta get you back on the podcast and and just do you as a as a guest, and and we can hear a little bit more about those things.

SPEAKER_02 1:02:34

Yeah, well, if I um I apologize immensely, but if I ever responded to one of your um emails, we would probably make it happen. So uh yeah, I'd love to do it, yeah, go into a bit of a deep dive um because there's so much I learned. Um, and then I want to you know inform and educate people, not just that want to do really long events like endurance events, but to be fair, I learned a lot about what life is like and then and that knowledge I want to impart on as many people as possible.

unknown 1:03:04

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:05

Pretty sure you guys are gonna have some time in uh the 36 hours across UM weekend to have a little chat here and there about that, just quietly.

SPEAKER_02 1:03:13

That's true. I don't think that'll leave much time for anything else, though. Ultra talking Tim's new sport.

SPEAKER_00 1:03:22

I think that's my initial sport. Let's keep going. We've got to get to our 40-year-olds. All right, that's true. So uh we got another international kicking off the uh 40 to 49. So Praveen Agaball uh coming to us from India. So done some I IMs around the world, so Copenhagen, Kalmar, Bustleton. Uh so obviously got some uh Australian stuff there. Um sadly, his uh his dad won't be with him. He lost his dad uh just over 12 months ago, and uh yeah, so he's dedicating doing uh UM to his dad. Uh, but his mum will be out here uh along with his wife and and children. So that's that's a pretty good reason to be out here and uh and finishing the race.

Larry 1:04:09

And and he's actually he's got quite a few races, he's got 40 full distance Iron Man races and a hundred marathons over the last 25 years, he's he says. So um, I don't think we have to worry about him being prepared for the race.

SPEAKER_00 1:04:26

Right oh, so next one is Richard Gilby. Uh so Richard's 42. Uh so obviously Australian. Uh pretty sure Richard's from my neck of the woods. Brizzy. I was gonna say he's then Brizzywake, yeah. Obviously a good guy. Obviously. Uh so yeah, so his uh his team captain's his dad. There's a theme here, Larry. We'll have to have to do some stats on uh who has a who has a parent that uh is their team captain. But mum and dad, uh I don't know how you decide. Mum and dad are there, he's put put dad as team captain, mum is his next crew member. So uh yeah, we'll see uh see how we go. But his his daughters and son are coming along too to uh to help out. So uh yeah, let's see how uh Richard goes.

SPEAKER_02 1:05:19

Yeah, plenty of um plenty of racing as well. Um and and a really solid um I man Australia um just over 12 hours, but he had bike issues. Um so so that's rock solid. That'll be if he take those bike issues out, and suddenly he's uh not out of the realms of some being around if he if he's got the um the endurance, he could be there and thereabouts come come Monday.

Larry 1:05:49

Yeah, and I see that he has also got 24 years of service in the army. And I know for Tony Horton, the originator and owner of the race. The people that do the race that are part of any of the services is an important part for him. Maybe maybe you can expand on that a bit, Jeff.

SPEAKER_00 1:06:10

Yeah, so we have an award called the Ultramate. So basically, when when people enter the race, we just ask them if they have served. So we're talking uh defense forces, also police fire ambulance, some of that frontline important stuff, people don't keep us safe. Uh and as mentioned, Tony um has a lot of service with the Australian Army. So we have an award for the fastest finisher, who uh is someone who's served in the defence force or those frontline services. So uh yeah, so Richard will be in the in the running for that one, along with a few others that have uh let us know that they've they've served their country. Moving along to 43-year-old Ryan McKenzie. Uh now Ryan was going to have a crack uh last year at UM, but uh scored a spot by accident. I know he do this by accident, do a hundred miler by accident, but uh qualified at Cosy Osco to uh go to Mont Blanc and uh and race the 100 miler at UTMB uh Montblanc, which was uh a couple of months after last year's UM race. But uh Coach's instructions were hey, let's let's focus on running and uh and knock the hundred miles out of the way in Mont Bloc in uh 2024 and then uh come back and do UM in 2025. So I know uh Ryan Super Keen put a lot of prep into it um and is keen to uh have a good time up in uh up in Noosa.

SPEAKER_02 1:07:30

Yeah, and again, really some really good pedigree there. A lot of racing, 70.3s, uh handful of Ironman's and then um then heaps of running. I mean, seven plus hundredk ultra marathons is just nonsense.

Larry 1:07:47

Yeah, because who who would do that?

SPEAKER_02 1:07:50

Um exactly I don't know, it's too far in the day. Stick to 80 max, 84. You know, there's no point for more than 100.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:02

Oh dear. Right. Well now we come to uh a famous UM Australia name, and then the the name is Wheatley, but it's uh it's a different Wheatley that we introduced first. 43-year-old Andrew uh is coming to uh have a crack at UM Australia this year. Lots of UM experience with his family uh as crew and supporting, but uh first time for him. Now uh you'll be pleased to know this uh gives an insight to the mind that is Andrew Wheatley. His occupation is a jelly wrestling coach. Uh maybe give you some tips, Tim.

SPEAKER_02 1:08:37

Yeah, uh yeah, jelly wrestling's right up there in my full phase.

SPEAKER_00 1:08:42

Yeah, uh look, I've no doubt Andrew's been around the race long enough. He's uh he's gonna uh break it down day by day. He'll he'll get there. Um, yeah, he's a 13-hour Iron Manor, uh, so he knows knows how to finish off those races, but uh yeah, has has lots of experience. Um mum and dad are his crew, uh and just quietly his dad's dad's done a few UMs, Peter Wheatley. Um we'll have to jump in to see. I think three. Has he done three or two?

Larry 1:09:14

He's got three.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:15

Yeah, off the top of the two. I couldn't quite remember what quality on nice teaching when it comes to the data.

Larry 1:09:22

I I I I took a I took a few uh moments to check out some of his stuff earlier. So he's done 20, 15, 16, and 17. Yeah, and they're all right around 29 hours. He's super consistent on on all three of those.

SPEAKER_02 1:09:36

Yeah, and I think Pete has done six something like sixty, some extraordinary number of Iron Man as well. Like so yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:09:48

So Pete's got Pete was Pete Andrew's dad was gonna race this year. He uh initially did put an application in, but then he withdrew it. I don't know whether he was uh worried about his body holding up or whether he just wanted to be there for the boys uh as they took on their race. So uh yeah, but uh it'd be very amazing to have all the wheatleys back. Um yeah, obviously lots of family coming up to uh to crew and cheer. Uh but Andrew's the first of the boys that he's actually racing. So yeah.

Larry 1:10:18

And and another note about one of Peter's races that he had raced in the same year as Matt, and he beat Matt. So I don't know how the family competition level goes with those three, but uh Pete has at least one on Matt, so we'll have to see uh how that works out with Andrew and Matt.

SPEAKER_02 1:10:38

Well, I just had a look. I was like, I wonder if they scissor pay scissor paper rocked it for who um who the parents, Pete and Catherine, who are they gonna crew for? Andrew or Matt, how how that worked out, or whether Matt said you can have them, Andrew. No, no, we'll get to the bottom of that.

SPEAKER_00 1:10:57

Oh dear. Right hey, so next along the line is Reese Byrne. Come along, 44-year-old. Um, so loves his Iron Man Australia, done that a few times, and uh yeah, done a few ultra running events as well. So uh Reese is not not too bad on 45 Iron Man Australia. So uh yeah, I'm trying to think. Reese, I think Reese's got um, yeah, there she is, Jay Gaffey. So previous winner of the race is on his crew. I was trying to just confirm that one. I knew I'd seen Jay's number come through, Jay's name come through as a as a crewer. Um and yeah, she'll be on on Reese's crew. Uh so having a a former race winner's got to be uh a good step in the right direction to get into that finish line.

SPEAKER_02 1:11:42

Definitely. And one of the one of the the things that I love reading about like, you know, we get these people to do bios and a little bit of their why, if you will, and so many of them have is to show like loved ones, like to set goals to achieve them, to show discipline, to be dedicated to something and get to the start line. I think it takes a lot of courage to to put your foot on the start line in an event like this, but then obviously also achieving that goal, getting to the finish line and really showing and in a lot of cases it's kids that um that you know anything's possible if you work hard towards it, which is which is is exactly what our sport is about, to be honest.

SPEAKER_00 1:12:18

We're not allowed to say that. That's trademark that line, mate. I think I trade. That's that's that other race.

SPEAKER_02 1:12:24

I think I trademarked. Um and yeah, it's it's it's awesome. And I think and the uh what these athletes will find is they'll they'll there'll be that competitive edge. Uh like probably the Thursday, the Friday, they'll be sizing each other up, who's doing what, and then five minutes after the gun goes, no one cares. And it's about getting everyone to the finish line and having as much fun and working as hard as you can. And that's that's probably another great thing about events like this. They stop being they stop being uh that ultra competitive, arrogant to uh to uh just a really supportive community bearing themselves to achieve something far more ordinary um and extraordinary.

SPEAKER_00 1:13:14

Right, so our next one is interesting one. So Greg Jenkins, uh 46-year-old, he's a local, he's from uh down Cleandraway, Dicky Beach, officially. Uh he's first the two athletes from uh local tri-club, Kleandra Tri-Club. Uh Kleander Tri-Club has uh an interesting quirk in their club where everyone gets a nickname, which is an animal. Uh now, Jess Dudley raced last year. I can't actually think uh what her nickname is, but Sam Cook, who's been uh an athlete here, done UM World Championships, been on the dream team. So Sam Cook is two can Sam, uh, for those of you that know Cookie. Uh, but Greg Jenkins is actually pidgin. So uh let's uh maybe have a chat uh in in race time and uh talk to his crew and find out why he's pigeon, because I actually don't know why he's pigeon. Uh but he's uh he's someone that did Ultra 355 up in Harvey Bay, uh so has experience in three-day racing at eight hours a day. Uh and uh knowing Greg, he'll transfer that to uh three 12-hour days pretty easily and uh and we'll have some fun out there for sure.

SPEAKER_02 1:14:22

Yeah, definitely. And a really solid crew, cookies is captain. Um so all the knowledge will be there. And he's done plenty, plenty of racing over the years.

Larry 1:14:35

Yeah, and he's he's done something outside the racing world. Uh he's he sailed from New Zealand to Fiji on a 42-foot yacht. So that that's another uh, you know, you you you put sailing into to anything and then you're you're risking your life. So he's he's willing to go out there and put it on the line, I'm guessing. He might get along with uh Shane Duffy, maybe then go fishing.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:06

I don't know how much sailing Duff does. I think Duff just drops the line in.

SPEAKER_00 1:15:13

Oh dear. Right, Anthony Older, 47-year-old. Um so he's been uh putting in the hard yards with his sponsor, the Brighton Jetty Bakery. So he is primed for Kenilworth Bakery. Uh so yeah, he's uh he's got uh former uh UM athlete Alana Sharman on his crew uh that he attributes with his uh his desire to complete the race. So yeah, looking forward to uh Anthony give it a crack. He was an army medic. Uh this is a long time ago, but uh another one that's uh served the country and will be in the running for that ultimate award.

SPEAKER_02 1:15:50

And his wife is a sports nutritionist. So I don't know how that necessarily weighs up with his um donut fueling strategy, but uh well, we'll see what sort of Nick he is when we when we see when we get to meet him on Thursday and Friday.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:06

Right A, so then we move into uh our second Wheatley, Matthew Wheatley. Uh so Matt is athlete number 77, carrying the number uh from his early years competing. Yeah, as we mentioned earlier, um has had a crack at it a couple of times to four uh and went about 28 hours back in 2021. Um is he done four? I thought he had four.

Larry 1:16:30

He's got four. He's got four. 16, 17, 19, and 21.

SPEAKER_00 1:16:37

So you'd uh you'd be betting on Matt to uh hit that finish line. Yeah, it might be a little bit of the family rivalry. Who's gonna get there first, Andrew or Matt, uh this year?

SPEAKER_02 1:16:46

And uh also known as the mayor of Lawnceston. Um here's another one, another international athlete from Tassie. Um and uh I'm not sure if I came up with the nickname of the mayor of Lawnceston, but we will continue to push through one of the one of the one of the all-time great blagues you'll ever meet. So for anyone that's um in the race or crewing, make sure you get around and get and say hello to Maddie. Um, and we will well, he'll steal the microphone from me, I've got no doubt. Over the over the course of the three days to have a yarn. So he's he's he he's a ripper, he knows what it's all about. He basically embodies what this event is, to be honest.

Larry 1:17:30

Yeah. And uh his daughter is also an Iron Man athlete, and and she was going to do the Ultraman race at one point. Is that correct?

SPEAKER_02 1:17:41

That is and that is correct. Um, um, and I I went to look down at the the crew names and I noticed that she wasn't there. Um, so she might probably got a better offer um than sitting in a car with dad for a few days.

SPEAKER_00 1:17:55

She's she's team captain. Good good work there, Tim. Oh, I know she is.

SPEAKER_02 1:17:59

Oh, yeah, I missed that completely. All right. Well yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:03

So well she she's actually the best athlete at the race of the weekly, is she's a world champion. Well, that's true. And they uh island dancing.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:13

And they they all did um they all did an Iron Man together. There's three generations. So Matt, Ava, and Pete. Was it New Zealand? I think they did New Zealand together.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:26

Let's ring a bell. Let's can we chalk that up for you guys to sort out over the three days? Just that about the list.

Larry 1:18:32

I I I do remember reading something about the three generations competing together in one. I don't know which one it was.

SPEAKER_02 1:18:38

Yeah, they um yeah, they're uh yeah, they're yeah, that'll be good fun. They'll be good fun. They're they're a crew that you want to be around. That's a good thing.

Larry 1:18:45

And so she was signed up for for doing the UM in 2020, which of course did not happen. So why did she not come back in the year since? Wait, that's something else we gotta get to the bottom of that.

SPEAKER_00 1:18:58

Yeah. I think uh think things study might have played a role there, but uh yeah. Yeah, we'll get to the bottom of that, no worries.

SPEAKER_04 1:19:07

Yeah, all right.

SPEAKER_00 1:19:08

Okay, so uh next one down the list is Ben Yates. Uh so Ben's 47, he uh was part of the dream team last year, uh, knew a bit about the race, but wanted to be sure that this was his thing and what he wanted to do. So he came along last year uh and was part of the dream team, helped execute uh the 2024 race. Uh 2025 is going to be on the start line. So uh yeah, he um was gonna do Ultra 355 in 2024, which we uh ended up not being able to run. So he uh just held his own and uh and and went around. He ended up doing about 383 kilometers. Uh so uh yeah, did uh did it did a three-day race by himself just to make sure he was gonna be ready to to uh crush UM Australia.

SPEAKER_02 1:19:58

He's ready to rock and roll. Um plenty of plenty of racing over a number of years and just really consistent. Um and then and then also like surf boats as well, water rowing. So will we strong, endurance? Yeah, I'm not. There's um how fast is my only question when it comes to Ben.

SPEAKER_00 1:20:20

Uh so our second Calandra Tri-Club member, Daryl Kirko. So Daryl is the bearded dragon. Uh, now that will become extremely obvious when you meet Daryl as to why he got that nickname. You will not have to ask questions about that. Uh Daryl's a new dad. Uh, he's just had a bub in the last couple of weeks with his lovely partner Fee. Um, who's also heavily into triathlon. Uh so yeah, looking forward to seeing Daryl go around. We've got lots of support from Kleandra Tri-Club uh there as well. President of Kleandra Tri-Club is uh on his crew. Uh and uh Jess Dudley, who I mentioned earlier from the Kleandra Tri Club, who finished UM last year, is uh is there. So uh yeah, it's uh looking forward to seeing Daryl go around. He's a lot of personality and he'll uh be good value for you guys on the mic, I think.

SPEAKER_02 1:21:10

Yeah, definitely. He hasn't been in the sport for all too long, but has thrown himself right into it. I think sort of kicked off his triflon career around 2019. Um, but has raced a lot since then. So plenty of plenty of K's in those legs for Dell.

SPEAKER_00 1:21:31

Okay, and the last in our 4049 is Mahesh from India now. Um Mehesh has got a story to tell. It's a bit a bit of a tragic, annoying, expensive story, whatever you want to say. But uh actually he's visa denied last year. Race week, he was due to fly out, and uh someone somewhere found out that he'd uh coloured outside a box somewhere on his visa application and actually had it revoked. So he uh he missed getting to the race last year. Um but the uh the number he was allocated he's gonna run with again this year. So even though he's athlete 371, which kind of falls in our 2024 numbers, he wanted to use that number that had been allocated to him in the 2025 race. So first UM Australia for him, um racing with 371. Uh lots of lots of running um in his background and lots of iron bands.

SPEAKER_02 1:22:24

Yeah, and and yeah, and also also he's jumped on the bike too. Another another Indian with a lot of cycling. Um so when they get over here, they'll probably really, really appreciate our road system. Um so he'll he'll have uh I don't think he'll have any again, no trouble with uh being accustomed to the distance. Yeah, as you said, Jeff, like eight iron men completed five half iron men, he knows his way around a course.

Larry 1:22:52

And and when you're talking about the cycling, he actually did what he lists as a super roundineer of 200 kilometers, 300 kilometers, 400 kilometers, and 600 kilometers. So um that's that's gonna be uh good times on the bike. That'll lead to hopefully a good time on the bike.

SPEAKER_00 1:23:13

Righty ho. Well, we're gonna move into 50 to 59s. So starting off with Craig Jackson, who raced in 2023. Craig's actually a new Aussie. He's uh actually migrating to Australia from New Zealand, he's seen the light. Um, so he's he's bought himself a one-way ticket to come on race this year and uh won't be going home. Uh but yeah, Craig, Craig's a lovely guy. I uh I first met Craig, I think, on the Wednesday of the race. Um he had a lump in the back of his wetsuit uh when I saw him in the Noos Surf Club car park because a dolphin swam past him when he went for his test swim on the on the Tuesday or Wednesday. And I don't know if anyone swim with a dolphin, but if you're swimming and you're focused on swimming, and a grey fish-looking thing goes past you. Um he walked out of the water, he was about 200 metres offshore, and I think he walked across the water to the beach. Um, and he had a little lump in the back of his wetsuit when I saw him. So uh he's he's keen to get in the water and enjoy the wildlife in does it.

SPEAKER_02 1:24:17

And he's got he's got heaps of races. He's I think he's something like hasn't he got something like 30 half Iron Man and 17 Iron Man. He's done.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:27

Yeah, but I don't think you miss as many Iron Man New Zealand races, that's for sure.

Larry 1:24:32

And and he's been in corner as recently as 2024.

SPEAKER_00 1:24:37

So next one in that age category is Stuart King. Uh so Stuart King's a good character coming up from Victoria. Uh Stu actually I spent a little bit of time with Stu in Mexico. He was uh registered to race Ultra 355 in in Mexico, where we had a a little bit of a political issue that uh meant the race didn't happen, but we had a really cool holiday anyway. Uh went over and and stayed in in Tony Horton's uh place in Cosumel. Uh but but Stu's a racer. Um, he did uh Harvey Bay 355 in uh 2023. Uh does a lot of racing, lots and lots of racing, and and anything and everything just to uh to have an experience. I think what do you say? 40, what do we got here? 42 half Iron Man. Uh had a massive bike crash in Vietnam. Finished uh 70.3 Vietnam a few years ago with a broken arm, uh fell off his bike, and uh yeah, thought, uh well, I'm close enough to the end, let's uh just finish it off with a broken arm.

Larry 1:25:35

So that's an ultraman.

SPEAKER_00 1:25:37

That's some pretty pretty impressive photos of that uh that day around. So yeah, but uh Kaylee uh is his wife that uh travels with him. Um, he's she's awarded Stu the Wanker of the Year award, 25 years running. Um so bit of a bit of a character Stu. So you'll you'll enjoy meeting him and uh and getting him on uh on some of the coverage uh in a couple of weeks.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:06

Yeah, obviously, as you said, Jeff, I've plenty of plenty of race experience. I mean 42. Half Iron Man's is extraordinary. That's that's almost a house.

SPEAKER_04 1:26:22

Oh dear.

SPEAKER_00 1:26:24

Okay, getting towards the the end now. So Ian Blackbird 51. Uh so Ian raced with us last year uh and uh just didn't get enough time on course, so uh he's coming back again for 2025. He just missed out not having Tim call him across the line, actually, was what he said.

SPEAKER_02 1:26:42

I think that's that's probably bringing a few back, to be honest. Yeah, and again, he'd like you say he's done it last year. He's um been to the 70.3 world championships, finishing on the podium more often than not. Um and uh he does say it was a long time ago, but he's um a lifetime iron distance best of 945. So absolutely no slouch um across across the endurance racing scene. So he'll be I think he might be one to watch. I I I um I'll just say that and just put heat pressure on him.

Larry 1:27:24

Well, well, last year he finished 11th in 28 hours, three minutes. So uh yeah, that's uh that's gonna be that's gonna be up there again, I think.

SPEAKER_00 1:27:35

Okay, and the next one we'll introduce him. He doesn't need an introduction. Athlete number 286, Mr. Shane Duffy. So uh back for another crack at UM Australia. Obviously, famed for uh doing six UMs in a in a calendar year, UM, Ultraman, 515s, however we want to classify them. But uh a guy that loves the distance and uh and the people love Shane.

unknown 1:27:59

Oh

Larry 1:28:00

And I can personally attest to that. Sorry, Tim. Like I I got to meet Shane at the UM uh Arizona and I was crewing for him there and then spent some time with him again in Canada uh when he came back to crew for Simon Cochran. And yeah, he's he's number one stand-up. He's got that uh Guinness Book of World Record for doing those six UMs in one year. Um and he has a ton of experiences other than that as well. And uh one thing that uh I when I talked to him on the podcast as a athlete in profile, I got to find out that he had spent some time in Canada previous to coming to the uh Ultraman event here because he was with the Women's World Cup uh of soccer, where he was one of the coaches. Uh so he's got a lot of different experiences and uh a super nice guy. You you don't meet a nicer guy than than Shane Duffy, other than maybe Tim. I haven't met Tim yet, but that's true.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:02

No, I don't think so. I think Shane got me covered to be fair. Uh but Shane also came um and met me. So he raced, I'm pretty sure he raced uh Ultraman Florida.

Larry 1:29:16

Florida. It was between Florida and Arizona.

SPEAKER_02 1:29:18

Yeah, and drove overnight, something like 24 hours, like literally drove straight through the night, uh parked up his car and ran with me for a day on my run when I was running um running a c running around the world and I was in the States at the same time he was, and he came and um ran with me, which was pretty extraordinary. Uh two days I think he ended up doing with me, and then and then when I was running up the the coast of Australia, he also came out and and looked after me for about a week. So uh ripping bloke, one of the one of the one of the real good guys. And if you look at his racing summary, you need about three or four pages to go through it. There is so much of it.

SPEAKER_00 1:29:59

Yeah. Yeah, and uh yeah, lots of obviously he's got a lot of experience, but uh on his team, Steve Naylor, who's uh managed Chains Ultra stuff for a long time, uh, is along again. And uh his paddler and and uh integral team member will be Keith Marichic, who's uh uh UM alumni as well. Keith raced with us a few years ago and uh used to have the bike shop that looked after everyone, uh, and is another another crack and bloke. So uh yeah, that's a that's a great team that'll have lots of stories uh across the weekend and uh another chapter to uh Shane's UM journey.

Larry 1:30:33

And and Shane also stalled one of your dream team to accompany him on some of his races when he was doing the the six in one year. He he had Gail come over and uh you know be his.

SPEAKER_00 1:30:50

Yes, so Gail's along uh she's one of those people that's been involved in every single event. So she's she's ponied up for her for her tenth event. Uh so her and Mike uh do a wonderful job for us now with their modified format with the breakfast. So we we made the breakfast a little bit more informal, and it's an Aussie barbecue breakfast. So uh her and Mike uh managed that for us on the Friday before our our race briefing, which is awesome. And then yeah, Gail gets her crew out to uh massage everyone at the end of the feed race day. Uh and it's a thing that that she loves doing. Uh and you know, she probably says she's massaged every UM Australia winner. So uh I think she's claiming that that's uh that's the thing that gets them across the line. Uh but yeah, these these are the people that uh we collect along the way with this sport. Um, you know, we talked about the way that Shane helped him on his run. Um Gail's someone who is always willing to help, and I get messages from her just just checking in, you know, is there anything I can do? She's local down there. Uh, you know, the rest of the team are uh, you know, not miles away, some of us, but some of us are a long way away. And and having people on the ground uh in NUSA to execute some things leading into the the event are necessary. And and Gail's one of those people, uh so yeah, our our our tribe, our family uh is is really pretty special um around the country and around the world, as we know.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:12

Well, Gail actually flew down to Sydney to massage me from the Sunshine Coast whilst I'm whilst I was on my run. So I think it just speaks to the caliber of person that she is. And I was just gonna say, yeah, if you can get Jeff off the massage table, then Gail will potentially uh you will get a massage from her if Jeff's depends on the case.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:35

I can I can say with confidence that I think I'm the only dream team member that has not had a Gail massage. Well, it's in my contract that I get two.

Larry 1:32:44

I've I've had one. I've had one when she was in Canada.

SPEAKER_02 1:32:48

Yeah, what's going on? Maybe I think that's a you thing, Jeff.

SPEAKER_00 1:32:54

Actually, I think Jason, up until last year, Jason hadn't had one, and I uh I I forced him into having one just so I could be the martyr and say that I'm the only one that hasn't had one. So yeah.

Larry 1:33:06

Hello, listener. Just jumping in here with a quick apology because as we were recording, Jeff's AirPods ran out of juice. So we're gonna have just a little bit of a different sound from him for the rest of the episode.

SPEAKER_00 1:33:21

Hello, so Marcus Smith, 53-year-old, uh having his first crack uh at this. Uh Marcus is super keen. Uh he won't won't mind me saying. He I think he did three applications in the end, uh, and after each one, he emailed me to make sure I got it, and then so thought about some more things that he could put in to uh to make sure that uh we we selected him for an invite to the race. So uh super, super keen uh guy to uh give this a crack. Uh is it PT? No, physio. I knew he was something kind of medical. So he's a physio, so he knows how to look after himself. Um and I know he's absolutely looking forward to uh having a good go around at uh um UM. Done 37 Ironman's. Uh that's that's up there with uh with the tallies that we've seen. Uh so yeah, uh been to the IMAN World Championships eight times. So uh, you know, he's his most recent times is just under 13 hours. Uh so you know, um that's that's an amazing time for an I-MAN, uh not not the fastest in the field, but uh certainly someone that knows how to get the races finished. So uh pretty sure he's he's gonna go well, and like I said, was super keen to do this race and uh is is looking at uh giving it a good crack. Richard Dose is our next athlete, so he's 55 years old. Uh Dozer is uh is the name he goes by. Um so he's uh been um by man Port Mac was his latest result, 11 and a half hours, uh, but done lots of ultramarathon, so plenty of 100k and and 100 mile races uh under his belt. Um so yeah, got uh got cleaned up by a car back in 2022, but he's um he's got back from that and got back to full fitness, and uh it's gonna be another one who's gonna be pretty speedy in the swim. So uh he's his official 10k time for a swim that he's got is uh is just a minute over three hours, but that was in uh pretty rough conditions. He's managed a 12k in in under three hours, so 248 for a 12k swim he did back in the day. So he's um yeah, he's gonna be out of that uh that water not long after we finish our breakfast on Saturday morning. Um he is coached by Steve Foster, uh, who's uh you know, we'll call him a legend. He's been involved in in this race here and in triathlon in Australia for a very, very long time. So uh yeah, lots of experience there for him. Um and uh yeah, uh no doubt that uh Steve will be cheering for Afari, he's not coming up to crew for him. Uh he's got his wife as his team captain and a couple of friends. So uh yeah, let's hope uh Dozer has a good three days out in Musa.

Larry 1:36:28

Um and and I see for all of the races he's done over all of the years, uh he he's also put on there that he's never DNF'd. So that's an impressive thing when you're doing ultras to be able to say you've never DNF'd. So we know he'll he'll carry himself to the finish line somehow.

SPEAKER_00 1:36:49

He'll tough it out. So yeah. Um next one in the 50 to 59 is Trevor Garvey, uh, he's 55. So he's coming to us from North Queensland, so he's from up in Cairns, so he'll be he'll be used to the heat. If we get some heat down in Nisa, he'll be prepared for that. But uh generally it's the the weather's pretty mild, except for the odd monsoon that we get. Um so he's a sub-30 hour Iron Manner, so can do that. He's done seven Ironmans and uh just again wants to uh to test himself and uh become part of the tribe and meet some people that have that that ultra uh psyche and uh and love of life and pushing themselves. So uh active member with the Cairns Crocs, the uh triathlon club in Cairns, which is great. Uh, and he's bringing his wife down to uh to crew for him and his son. So uh he's coach there in the car as well, so uh be able to uh keep him keep him on track. And uh yeah, it's always always good to see someone like a coach who's put in the time in getting the athlete to the start line, then come along and and crew as well, because that that crew is just so important. So someone that knows you and your body is is super important. We're down to the last couple of that age group. So Paul Giddings, returning athlete. I love Paul's story. Paul Paul raced last year and he uh said to his lovely partner Rose, I'll never do another Ultraman. And true to his word, he's not doing another one, he's doing the same one. So he uh he cruised around course last year. Um, the boys called me from out on course on uh on day two and said, There's this bloke at the back of the field, and he's just he's wobbling along on his bike and he's just like he's out for a Sunday ride. Well, he was. It was Paul. He lives on the Sunshine Coast, he rides the course most weekends, he knows exactly how long it takes him, and he knows exactly how hard he wanted to push. So he was doing the pace he wanted. So he'd been dropped by the bunch. We do our our lead out on uh on on the start of day two to get everyone safely through the main part of news. It's about eight kilometres. Uh, and Paul had been dropped by the the police car and the lead car and and the other 50 athletes, but he knew how fast he wanted to ride, and our leado was too fast for him. And true to his word, he uh he cruised around that course on day two. I don't think it's ever cruising to do 270 plus kilometres, but he knew exactly what pace he needed to do and where he needed to put the effort in, and uh had the biggest smile the whole weekend. Uh loved it uh and loved it so much he's coming back again this year. So um he's been a rock to a couple of athletes this year. Kathy and and Leanne have um done a lot of riding with Paul across the the course, both day one and day two course. Um and I know there's been uh lots of um lots of chats and catch-ups in the athlete chat that we have for the athletes competing this year, and uh Paul's taken them out um a lot of times, and uh they're they're very familiar and confident in the course now because of uh Paul's tutelage. So a lovely guy. Um Paul helped a few years as team captain again for some people before he he took on the race. So someone who who gave back before he actually participated in the race. So um got a lot of time for Paul. It's great to see him out again. Um, probably won't see him back next year. Well, hopefully, he's applied for uh London Marathon. Uh, had a chat to him just a couple of days ago. So he's hoping to get a spot in the ballot to uh to the London Marathon next year. So if he gets that, we definitely won't see him helping or racing at UM, but uh we do get to see him this year for for his second consecutive crack at it. Right. So at 56 years old, uh someone that's well known to the UM Australia family is Christo or Christian Jacoby. Uh so Christo's knocked off a couple of UM Australias, a UM Ultraman Canada, uh he's also done Israel uh as an interesting side. So uh Christo's part of the dream team, being part of our crew uh as the technical official, so a referee, uh and uh and being integral to the race for a very long time. And we love that Christo's out there giving it a crack again this year.

SPEAKER_02 1:41:08

Yeah, it's all awesome to see. So I um obviously been away for the last couple of years, and then before that, Christo couldn't make it for one reason or another. So I haven't seen him for a few years, but again, just like a few other people that we've spoken about, he is one of the good guys. Um so it'd be great to see him towing the start line as opposed to having to play the villain all the time as our technical official on course. So so um so it'd be really good. He's uh another ripping bloke, plenty of experience. I mean, as you said, Jeff O for ultramans, but one thing that keeps coming up, so many South Africans athletes, you know, and you always look at their bio and always have Comrades Marathon. Um, so that's uh that's on my hit list as well. Um, and he's done it five times. So for those not familiar with Comrades, Google it, but it's 96, 94, 96 kilometers, and it changes direction each year. So one year they run, they call it uphill, and the other year they call it the downhill. So so he's done it five times, and it'll be great to see him out racing, it'd be awesome. I bet he's bet he's done a downhill every time. That wouldn't be a proposal.

Larry 1:42:18

Now, I I saw one thing, and and maybe you guys you can you can check into this and see if this is legit, but he says he's gonna compete on a mountain bike to challenge himself.

SPEAKER_02 1:42:31

Yeah, I reckon him getting through the distance will be the challenge. I uh I'll believe the mountain bike when I see it, I reckon. What do you think, Jeff?

SPEAKER_00 1:42:39

Yeah, I I think it was a dream. I think he's possibly given it up. He's had some shoulder trouble, which probably would be more comfortable on a mountain bike, but I think it's about the time he kind of knew it was going to take every bit of 12 hours to do it on the mountain bike, and he doesn't want to be on the bike for that long. So yeah, I I I don't I can't confirm or deny that, literally, don't know, but uh if he gives it a crack, it'll be interesting to see. Right, and so the last athlete in our 50 to 59 age group is also a returning athlete, is Steve York. So Steve's coming to us from New Zealand. Uh, he's got some demons. He was a little bit slow on day three last time we finished, uh, and and missed the cutoff. So he he was a participant, so he finished the whole course, uh, but he didn't make the cutoff for day three. So he had had some knee problems. Uh, I've had a couple of chats to him this year, and uh he's still got knee problems, but he's managing it. Um, and he's absolutely um wanting to make the cutoff each day this year. So um he's had a little bit of chopping and changing with crew with some illness, which is a bit sad, but uh he's got uh good crew coming with him uh and is is ready to to make the 12 hours each day there um this year. So we welcome welcome Steve back and uh see if we can see he had a um a kit on that was like a V black and yellow stripes. Uh and Steve's a big bloke, he's probably a couple inches taller than me, so he's well over six foot. Um lovely, lovely guy. And uh I know that we'll all be be cheering for him to uh to get there. Um with him we'd packed up uh two years ago when he raced. Uh literally, everything was empty. We were over having pizza across the road. Um off the top of my head, it was about 14 and a half hours. So it was a good couple of hours after we packed up the finish line. But uh his crew sent us a message saying he'd just kept walking. He'd uh he'd walked about the last 20 kilometers, I think. Um, and uh was just determined to finish the distance. He knew that he wasn't going to be classed as an official finisher, uh, but he just wanted to get the distance done. And uh yeah, we all we all paused having our our dinner late at night on the the Monday night to uh duck back across to the beach and uh and welcome Steve in. But uh I know he's super keen to uh get down number 12 hours this year.

Larry 1:45:07

Yeah, he did put on his uh application unfinished business.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:12

Unfinished business indeed. So yeah, so let's let's hope he gets to finish that business. That would um yeah, be be deserving of him. He's uh definitely giving it a good crack. Uh I didn't check, but uh now he did uh Iron Man New Zealand again this year. Uh so he's in good shape and uh just needs to uh double double that run on uh uh on day three from his Iron Man.

Larry 1:45:36

That's all.

SPEAKER_00 1:45:37

There you go, that's all so we look at the 6269 H3. We just got two athletes in there, both returning, both pretty special. Uh so the first one is John Demandel. Uh so some of you might remember that name. He raced 2015. Uh John's visually impaired, so he's his blurry blobs, I think, is about how he describes it. Uh, but yeah, needs uh needs a guide all the way. So uh has tethered to someone in the swim, uh jumps his stoker on the uh the back of the tandem bike for the end of day one and day two. Uh, and then he'll have uh both a tethered guide on uh on the run and also have he's got a big run crew because he needs a little bit of safety people sort of running in front um just to make sure the path's nice and clear for him and the guide to come through behind. So uh pretty amazing athlete to be taking on the race at 64 to be taken on the race visually impaired, both amazing things, let alone adding those two together.

SPEAKER_02 1:46:37

Yeah, first uh yeah, and another so Johnny D, very good friend of mine. Uh I actually stayed at his house on the run. Um, he actually came and ran with me, which was awesome. Um, for a day when I was running through he's from Newcastle. Well, I don't know if he's from Newcastle, but that's where he resides now. Um yeah, 2015 he did it. He was the first vision impaired person to complete it at the time. Um, he's also got the world record for fastest vision impaired Iron Man. Um went to the Paralympic Games in 1988. His Walker Coder track, mate, if if in New South Wales Fitness Professional of the Year, like he's he's an extraordinary uh extraordinary guy. Um and his Kim, his partner is just as extraordinary. Um there's two of the two of the great people. Um, but if you want a quick conversation, Johnny's not your guy. But if you want a quick short, sharp end if you want to if you're there for the long haul, have a chat to Johnny because he can tell a story. I think he could out talk me.

SPEAKER_04 1:47:47

Yeah.

SPEAKER_00 1:47:48

And you know, one of the best stories of John was we were at the pub one night, I forget what year it was, and if Peter Hudson listens to the podcast, he'll already be on the floor laughing. Um, a young lady lost her contact lens, and John swung into action on his hands and knees looking for the contact lens on the floor. So as we all laughed, because we knocked over his white cane in the process of looking for this girl's contact lens on the on the floor at the Noosa Surf Club.

SPEAKER_02 1:48:19

Very funny.

Larry 1:48:22

When I was looking up some of the athlete information, I can't remember if I saw this in a video or I read it. Um, but in his previous race at Ultraman, I guess they got to a hill, him and his pilot, and they were like, Well, you know, we need to make up a little bit of time. So that they went for it down the hill. And apparently afterwards he asked, like, well, how fast did we go? And it was like over 90 kilometers an hour. And I can only imagine like going 90 kilometers an hour when you're controlling a bike is one thing. Most people aren't going to do it, they're going to be too scared. But doing it as a tandem, where if one of you does something a little bit off, it's got to be next level. So the the bravery of doing something like that.

SPEAKER_00 1:49:09

You'll ask uh ask Jason Clark. We at the time they're doing a bit of a course recognizing, and John was in the back, and uh they're driving along the course, and you know, the blind guy in the back says, Did you just take a wrong turn? And sure enough, he was right, Jason had just taken a wrong turn on course, and the blind guy corrected him. There's Jason's navigation for you. So yeah, the other athlete in our uh our 60s to 69 to round out the field is awesome returning athlete Adam Moore, uh, who's 64 years old, uh giving him a crack uh this year. So he raced uh back in 2017. Um so he'll race with number triple one um on his back from uh back in 2017. Um from down in rural New South Wales, uh he's gonna go on and give uh uh i Man Australia, Port Macquarie, a crack this weekend, and uh and then back up for I Man uh Ultraman Australia a week later. So uh he's he's pretty serious about it and uh yeah is uh is a really good personality uh coming along to uh have a have his second go after uh an eight year hiatus from UN Yeah so obviously he's got plenty of plenty of pedigree as well um I mean uh he's obviously getting on now but multiple Iron Man trythons I think something like 15 15 and but he'll have by the time we get to the race he'll have done 16 because he's doing one this weekend um and then really cool really cool is that uh he's been in the local of the rural fire brigade for something like 43 years um which is which is which is pretty cool out in Mudgy in New South Wales so regional New South Wales so yeah that's it's gonna be awesome to see him again too it's been a while and his his previous time back in 2017 was a 2933 so something for him to use as a marker on on this race so with all of these athletes now profiled uh I know that people in Australia from time to time once in a while like to put a little wager on sports Jeff so if you were going to put a wager on on some sporting events here are there of these people who do you think we we should be looking at as being some of the favorites look I don't think you get very good odds on it but I I think uh Tim Belstead is going to be the athlete that we say hello to first out of the swim on uh on Saturday morning. Uh look I don't know whether it's head or heart betting but I I do think Kirsty Sheehan uh is going to take the tape uh overall winner uh I've probably got little doubt I don't know probably a little bit of doubt but I think she'll probably take the tape literally on on run day uh early I know she's in fantastic form she's been looking after a body and and training really well she's very smart with these distances so I I would I would bet very good money that she'll be the fastest runner on uh on day three um it just depends how much time she's given up to uh some of the guys on on day one and day two as to uh whether she can actually take take the win but uh yeah if you're gonna make it and she does have the fastest Iron Man time of anybody in the race yeah so definitely definitely fast yeah um there's there's no doubt about that so yeah I'll uh I'd I'd put my uh I'll put my 10 bucks on on curse for the win uh but you know it's it's my race so I I won't bet on it that's it that's insider trading and and I think probably Greg Jenkins might be uh one there as well to to watch out for I think Greg's um yeah pigeon from the Pelandra tricup I think he's he's gonna be looking after himself he wants to make sure he gets to that finish line um you know you you've got to belt yourself a little bit to get through the race overall but uh I think he'll be building himself just enough to make sure he gets to that finish line each day uh and and probably racing himself more than anyone else uh it's gonna be interesting to see you know I mentioned Tim Belstead on the swim uh obviously very very quick uh elsewhere and a very good athlete uh but we all know this three day racing is is strange uh and you fuel yourself uh that's one of those biggest things is day one and day two you want to get through it if you're going for speed you want to get through it quick uh but you need to eat and eat and eat all the things um day one and day two so that your body's able to recover and is ready for that day three run. Kirst obviously has the runs on the board she's she's finished the event before um very in very good time um so we know that she's got all those things she's got a good team with experience behind her uh so but I think Tim's gonna keep her honest and and the swim's gonna be interesting with those few people that we mentioned that uh that have good swim times yeah uh and you know 10k swim it's a hell of a way to start an event um you can knock out that swim under three hours which we look like we've probably got half a dozen people at will uh that's that's pretty impressive uh so yeah looking forward to to getting down there in no server and kicking off for for our 10th anniversary and celebrating that um yeah with these these athletes we profile but also a lot of people that are coming along uh for the breakfast on Friday with us um to uh to celebrate the the fact that we started this you know effectively 11 years ago but it's 10 10 years 10th anniversary we lose one because of covet sort of everyone's dealing with that uh but it's it's going to be an exciting time and and yeah it'd be interesting to see who who gets it all finished uh you know we talk about the fastest ones but but I love those people that tough it out and keep grinding away uh and and get there under the 36 hours uh I really you know we're down down to 41 we've lost a few um in the last few weeks through injury which is a it's always disappointing but uh I you know if if we start with 41 as it looks like we will uh my dream is to get 41 to the finish uh that's that's always the goal is that everyone that that manages to hit that start line uh gets to the finish line and that's that's the the best feeling uh because they've put so much into it.

Larry 1:55:35

And again our partnership on doing this live stream uh is something that I'm truly looking forward to. I I'm not looking forward to losing the sleep but I'm looking forward to trying to pull this off and and bringing it to the rest of the world. And for people that are worried about well I don't want to tune in during the swim because they're just going to be off swimming for a few hours I've got lots of things planned to make sure that we are filling that time.

SPEAKER_00 1:56:01

We are going to be going out on the water we are going to be seeing the swimmers we're going to be seeing the swimmers from the shore we have some uh athlete profiles that we're gonna run as they're out on the swim to introduce you to all the athletes and there will be lots of stuff to make sure that we are introducing you to the to the dream team and the crews that are sitting on the beach waiting we will we will fill that time with interesting stuff so please don't wait to join in after the swim join us right from the beginning on day one yeah it's a great time to uh to be covering some of that stuff um from uh my team's point of view and from having been crew um that is typically it's a nice little bit of downtime it's quite there's not a lot you can do um you know where myself and Jason run that swim course and we're in regular comms with the the water safety guys but there's not a whole heap you can do unless there's a problem. So yeah that's the time when we are going to catch some crew uh we know that we've got uh David and Ben yet teed up to uh talk to some of the crews go and have breakfast with some of them and see what what their prep looks like getting ready to head out on the road for day one uh and and yeah hear some of those stories and and yeah we're gonna have have the jet ski out uh so we will we'll video some of that uh you know we'll chat to some paddlers we'll chat to some water safety people to uh to hear how they're all going out there and you'll get to see a bit of beautiful news so let's hope the weather behaves and it's nice and flat it's been pretty amazing weather the last couple of days um Sean O'Clancy who's uh a big supporter of ours and a lifeguard down at the beach down there keeps sending us these amazing photos through of the beach so let's hope it stays like that and yeah the um the coverage is just gonna be glad gonna be so good we're glad that you uh came on board Lara to do this uh to to show our our race and our country to the world um it is yeah it although it sounds huge at 36 hours uh our team always says to you we kind of work so hard and you get to Saturday morning and then you snap your fingers and it's Tuesday night and the awards are over and you're like what just happened in four days so I think that's going to be a bit with the coverage you know I if I wasn't there on the ground running the event uh I know it'd be for for my parallel it's like uh at Bathurst our endurance car racing event over here you know it the TV goes on at six in the morning and it's still on at six at night and you've you've ducked in and out you've done a couple loads of washing or made some done some meal prep and I think that's what it's going to be like for uh for the three days of UM that you're gonna see it. Um you know you're probably gonna watch it because of the athlete that you know but you're gonna fall in love with some other athlete that's got a story that resonates with you or they've had some drama and they're coming back from it and you're rooting for them to make that cut off those stories just organically happen. And it's it's gonna be amazing to see it happen and see it recorded and be able to show that. So uh it's awesome what you're doing and uh we're glad that we've got a few crews out here that can help you do that. And uh yeah the worldwide coverage um you know coming from Australia via Canada. So it's it's great stuff.

Larry 1:59:11

Yeah absolutely so listeners just check the check the website uh sorry check the Facebook site uh all the times are listed depending on where you are in the world for start times obviously running uh a little bit ahead of what is the actual race start and then running until the final finisher comes in and a couple stories after that so we'll probably be running closer to 13 hours a day um each day so hopefully you will be able to join us and you'll be able to follow along with these people that you've now learned about in the podcast and see what it is like to be at an Ultraman race if you've never been at one before and the UM Australia 2025 is celebrating its 10th anniversary and uh you all get to be a part of it if you tune into that so that's our dream dream team is going to make it happen I'm gonna facilitate a little bit of it along the way can't wait to can't wait thanks again Jeff and uh thanks again Tim for for joining us yep look forward to uh having a cracker across the three days in the stuff you like the ego today we should interview and look at the