There’s seems to be something awesome happening every week at the moment and this week was no different. Throughout the week was Run Larapinta an epic four day stage race that kicks off in Alice Springs.  There was also the Walking 4 Warriors Challenge in Gladstone, a 24 hour timed race (with some shorter options) that was focused on raising money to help young veterans.  The 24 hour finished just in time for everyone to make it to the dawn service.  WA missed out on events due to the snap lockdown.  Melbourne had Run the Tan where Linden Hall smashed the old Tan record and Stewy McSweyn got within 2 seconds of the men’s record.  Now I know these two are not part of our group (yet) but will definitely be names to watch on the track in Tokyo. 

Maybe not going to Tokyo but definitely a legend in our eyes is the Ultra Grandad Stephen Wright and he was back this week topping the distance leaderboard with 226.5km.  Steve participated in the Walking 4 Warriors Challenge in a virtual capacity and completed 165.1km around Oxenford Lake in Queensland, the same location he ran for six days straight last year.  Massive week Steve, congratulations. 

Second place this week with 173.9km was Margie Hadley.  Despite the lockdown in Perth Margie still managed to put together a big week of training which looks like it included lots of laps of some paddocks. 

168.2km was enough to get Tony Smith into third spot with week.  It looks like Tony’s not just a great running coach but he can also predict the future.  He managed to squeeze in a big long run the morning prior to the snap lockdown! 

Super solid work on the elevation this week, with over 50 people climbing more than 1,000m for the week.  There must be some big trail ultras coming up soon! 

At the top of the leaderboard this week was Eve Lanoux.  Eve ascended 4,852m and it looks like she’s training for the 231km Sonder Monster which is run on the Larapinta Trail later next month.  Eve is part of the North Gold Coast Running Club (Norths) which is full of gun trail runners and we can wait to see how she goes next month! 

Less than 50m behind with 4,806m is second place was Rhys Drummond.  Rhys has been stringing some really consistent training together these last few months to have a crack at UTA100 in a few weeks time.  I have the please of running with Rhys most Wednesdays and cannot wait to see all his hard work come together in the Blue Mountains. 

In third is another running heading to UTA, Reesha Lewis.  Reesha climbed 4,630m for the week as she prepares for a red hot crack at UTA50.  

Well done all you runners this week, plenty of people getting the Ks in as the weather cools down and the longer races start to get closer.  Full top 5 leaderboards are available on our website. https://hillbillyendurance.com.au/pages/hillbilly-endurance-run-crew

Firstly before we get into the Epic Run of the Week winner, I want to congratulate Hayley Teale on her fantastic run at Larapinta.  Hayley was fourth overall and second female on the long course. An incredible effort to string together four huge days in some pretty tough terrain.  Well done Hayley. 

As you know the Epic Run of the week is something we select based on a purely subjective criteria and from time to time there are things that stand out to us and either make us laugh or cheer. This week’s winner was not only a great run but also had a segment pop up that made me laugh out loud.  Our winner this week is Laurence Billing and his big 64km training run along the coast and harbour foreshore from Bondi to Manly.  The map on Strava looks like it would have been a pretty spectacular run and banking a strong 64km effort leading into UTA100 will have Laurence in great shape.  Now as I mentioned it wasn’t just the great run that impressed us, it was also a short Strava segment that Laurence also set a PR on called “F*ckwit Alley 1.”  I saw this and had to have a look at exactly where it was located and it looks like it’s just before you start to cross the Sydney Harbour Bridge on the south side.  In my head I picture someone on their run being so frustrated with someone or a group of people that they had to go home and make a segment specifically describing the people they encountered.  If anyone knows the origin of this segment I’d love to hear it.  

Even though the segment with a harsh title gave me a giggle, the big run by Laurence was still very impressive and is our Epic Run of the Week.  Well done Laurence, we’ll be in touch to arrange a 25% off discount voucher for use at hillbillyendurance.com.au