Welcome back to another issue of The Blue Line - our 16th, as a matter of fact. Hooray for us. To celebrate, Jess Hull ran another Australian Record over the weekend, Fraser represented Australia overseas, and the Sydney Marathon picked up a new old major sponsor.
This period in June is always full of excitement - we’ve got Aussies racing track all around Europe, Diamond League is well and truly alive, and on a domestic front all eyes are on the upcoming Gold Coast Marathon. Speaking of - we’ll have a For The Kudos Shakeout Run happening on the Saturday morning after the half marathon - ideal for any marathoners, and a good cool down opportunity for half marathoners. Keep an eye on Instagram in the next week for full details.
Let’s get into the issue.
by Fraser Darcy
Regular readers of The Blue Line will know that in Issue 11 I reported on the Australian Mountain Running Championships and other trail events on that weekend in a prelude to the World Mountain and Trail Running Championships in Innsbruck. Well, it’s that time of the year for the World Champs and in honour of Hunter S.Thompson and Gonzo journalism I bring you the links and the news from Innsbruck as over 1400 athletes chase the trail runners dream in the Alps with me, myself and I hiding in the shadows.
First the facts. *At the time of writing, the bender of running hadn’t started but by the time the pigeon brings this story back to Grattan House HQ it’ll have kicked off*.
Day 1: Wednesday 7th. Vertical race. 7km. 1000m up.
Day 2: Thursday 8th. Trail Short. 45km. 3100m up.
Day 3: Friday 9th. Trail Long. 85km. 5500m up.
Day 4: Saturday 10th. Mountain Classic. Junior and Senior Races. 7 and 13km Respectively. 370m+ and 750m+ up.
Raw observations from the ground:
Cows have cow bells on them here as if they were designed for that and not for Year 3 music students...
Everyone in Innsbruck either owns a bike or a pair of trail runners (On seems to be very popular here too especially with their casual shoe choices).
If some of these trails were in Australia they’d have fences and gates and warnings and you-name-it’s everywhere. Here, it’s all ‘follow the red and white dots and don’t fall off the goat track down the scree slope you silly person’.
The racer with the biggest profile is probably Emelie Forsberg (316k Insta followers and wife of Kilian Jornet). Jim Walmsley was running but pulled out with injury so the mantle of highest profile male runners is up for grabs I guess…anyone heard of Nathan Pearce?
What can we expect from myself and the rest of the Aussies: As this is my first ever international race and also first time representing Australia I can confidently write it will be a PB result no matter what. Woo-hoo.
But we all know championships are not about PB’s, they're about putting the best execution of a race out there for you, your teammates and your country. So, how does one know what a good result is for any Aussie athlete? By the look on their face and bodies as they cross the line, that’s how. Yep, keep an eye on the results link, but really if you see an Aussie athlete in the livestream absolutely cooked at the finish line you know they’ve done their best which is all we ask at The Blue Line/Athletics Australia.
Editor’s Update: Fraser finished 88th in the ‘short trail’ event (45km WTF). What a king!
by Elise Beacom
The closest I came to liking cross-country as a kid was during primary school, and it wasn’t very close.
Our “cross-country” course looped a couple of suburban Adelaide streets that started and ended in the school quadrangle. I can’t recall any actual grass on the course. All I can remember is one name: Emma Bailey. I always came second to Emma Bailey.
Both Emma and I were duty-bound to represent our school at the state cross-country championships. Bless my dad who tried to drag me out of bed several times to “train” for the 2km race. I would stubbornly clamp my hands around the corner of my mattress, refusing to get up. I arrived at the muddy race unprepared, and my teacher told me off for walking up one of the hills (albeit briskly). I hated every second of it.
Fast forward more than 20 years and the transformation is astonishing: I have voluntarily signed up to run a whole cross-country season and paid my hard-earned pennies for the privilege. And most bewilderingly of all, I love it.
The series is Athletics Victoria’s winter cross-country, known as XCR. I’m running for Geelong Region (unofficially known as the Geelong Pussycats – shout out to any pussycats out there). There are 10 senior races in the season, including four team relays and six individual events (you earn points for your team according to where you place in the field). The courses vary from traditional cross-country (steep hills, long grass, potholes, mud, sharp turns) to road races across a range of distances from a lap of Melbourne’s famous Botanical Gardens, affectionately called “The Tan” (3.8km), all the way to a half-marathon.
I’m not going to lie, I found XCR intimidating as hell to begin with. When I arrived at Jells Park for the 6km team relay in round 1, seeing the coloured marquees in the event village charmed the bile from my stomach. But the school carnival atmosphere was a mirage, dashed by hundreds of adults donning club colours, pinning bibs on one another, and munching on finger sandwiches. I pulled my first ever pair of spikes on (hot pink!) and replaced illogical fears of failure and humiliation with feelings of wonder and exploration.
Freed from the shackles of paces and data, I discovered cross-country was about running as hard as you could without blowing up, or blowing up later/less severely than your opponents. It was about gauging effort over the number of laps and picking up as many bodies as possible along the way, driven by a hunger to run well for the team. Yes, the fields are deep and there are often Olympians out there, but there are also committed runners in the 60+ age category. It’s tough, gritty and painful. It’s equally inclusive, celebratory and fun.
But mostly it’s addictive. Three races in and I’m hooked. I lovingly clean the mud off my spikes, foam roll my calves which say “hello” after every round and repeatedly pacify my coach who says I’m racing too much in my marathon build (this is true to be fair). I signed up for cross-country wanting to become a better and stronger runner, but as a bonus I’ve found a community of fellow running nerds, good banter, and to top it off, an esky of cold beers at each finish line.
by Elise Beacom
Our hallowed Jessica Hull is such a champion that she deserves her very own space in this week’s edition of The Blue Line.
Jess broke her own Australian and Oceania record in the women’s 1500m at the Diamond League meet in Florence last week, running 3:57.29 (1.5 seconds faster than her previous mark of 3:58.81 set at the Tokyo Olympics).
It was the same history-making race in which Faith Kipyegon took the women’s 1500m world record (3:49.11), breaking the 3:50 barrier for the first time ever.
The pace was hot from the gun. Laura Muir (UK) and Jess were the only ones to (sort of) go with Kipyegon, and the trio stretched out a huge lead on their competitors within the first lap. Jess was hanging on a few metres behind Muir. The commentators called Jess “brave” and said they weren’t sure how long she could keep up the pace, but anyone who’s seen Jess race recently knew we were in for something big. She almost managed to reel Muir in just before the line in a massive performance. The ensuing scenes of Kipyegon, Jess and the rest of the women’s field celebrating together was eye-watering stuff. (See Jess’ Instagram post here.)
Jess has had a cracker of a year. After getting married in December 2022, Jess spent the domestic track season racing in Australia (and winning almost everything). She has been in flying form, from running the strongest leg in the World Cross-Country Championships Australian mixed relay team (culminating in a bronze medal), to setting a new national record in the 3000m (8:31.81) at the Sydney Track Classic.
She now holds Australian records in the 1500m, mile, 3000m and 5000m.
And the best news is that she’ll be sticking around. Jess made an announcement in April that she is stepping away from coach Pete Julian and Union Athletics Club to return to Australia after more than seven years living and training in the US. We haven’t heard anything more on what her coaching set up will look like, but Nike continues to support her.
On ya Jess.
One of the best and most underrated events on the Australian calendar is the Launceston Running Festival, encompassing the Launceston 10km and Launceston Half Marathon. Race Director Richard Welsh will surely get a plaque at Athletics Australia one day for services to the sport - he works tirelessly to put on great events for elites and punters alike.
10km Preview
On the men’s side, we have friend of The Blue Line Brett Robinson the warm favourite - Robbo has won the half marathon at Launceston before and will be taking on the 10km as a lead-in race before the upcoming Gold Coast Half Marathon. James Hanson is the defending champ and local hero, and will push Robbo to the limit. Andre Waring is also one to watch. Look out for Logan Janetski and Archie Reid - two names with big futures in Australian running. We’re also partial to local youngster Bailey Murzecki-Hince - currently with a PR of 29:34 but that seems likely to come down further in 2023.
The women’s race is the one to watch here. It should be a fantastic battle between Izzi Batt-Doyle, Leanne Pompeani, and Lisa Weightman. Genuinely hard to know who to pick here - it might come down to race tactics - there might be a couple of male competitors around them, so who-slots-in-where might play a role in deciding the winner. The women’s 10km also has friend of FTK Saskia Lloyd in the field - one to watch.
Half Marathon Preview
The women’s race will be a good old-fashioned head to head between Ellie Pashley and hometown favourite, Milly Clark. Ellie has had a strong 2023 so far, her first year back after becoming a mum last year - she finished 13th at the London Marathon in April, and had a very good run at World Cross in February as well.
We haven’t seen as much racing from Clark recently so it’s hard to know where she’s at, but as a 70 minute half marathoner and 2:26 marathoner, you can never count her out.
The men’s race is deep, with many athletes seemingly using it as a warm up for Gold Coast in 3 weeks. Friend of the show Joel Tobin-White lines up alongside Ed Goddard, Riley Cocks, Benny St Lawrence, and plenty more. Andy Buchanan will also prove difficult to beat, while Tim Vincent is one who will be looking for a tune up ahead of the Gold Coast Marathon in a few weeks. Finally, we’ve got the half marathon debut for Ryan Gregson - fresh off his win in the 10km in Brisbane last weekend, and using this race as a lead in for Gold Coast Half Marathon.
It should be a genuinely good race - on paper Ed Goddard would stand a good chance, but tactically he wouldn’t want to tow anyone around and risk being out-kicked at the finish. There’s also the matter of freshness - Ed is deep in a marathon block, while others like Joel don’t have quite the same volume of training in their legs, and that freshness could play a role on race day. Still, Ed is a strong chance here.
You can usually watch the livestream via Facebook, so search Launceston Running Festival and you should find it.