The Endurance Asia Podcast

This week we were joined by Natalia Dau, Rockstar Arms, to discuss what she has been up to for the past couple of years and more importantly, what’s coming up in the next couple of months. We discuss: Her 4 marathons in Sydney, Singapore, Gold Coast, Tokyo last year The 4 ultras she ran in 2023, all of which she won and a couple of the ultras outright Her first book Run like a Woman Project1000, Natalie’s goal to run 1000km from Thailand to Singapore and raise $150k for GRLS charity You can follow Project1000: www.project1000.run https://www.instagram.com/rockstararms The charity https://www.womenwin.org/grls/ Ric and Scott catch up after to discuss what’s been going on the world of Ultra Endurance including Tomo’s 3rd fun run at Barkley Marathons.

After another year of this awe inspiring event, we are joined by a survivor and finisher, Alice Mcleod and Mayank Vaid. We first chat with Alice to discuss: Her back story, growing up in Perthshire, Scotland and moving to HK from London in 2019 and exploring the trails Her awareness of Four Trails from seeing the legend Nikki Jan finish in 2019 Her training block for 2024 and the volume and focus Four Trails goal Sleep and nutrition strategy What next?? As the second Scottish lady to reach the green post box, Will Alice come back to follow Nikki Han and finish? And then we are joined by Mayank Vaid at 43m mark to discuss: The 3rd year taking on the challenge, what convinced him to come back after surviving last year. How last year went? What he learned from last year that he adapted in 2024 What he’s been up to since 2023 edition when he did HK marathon just 2 weeks after! Competing in Hyrox and 4 peaks race, triathlons, 15k swim. Was cross training a big part of his plan. We go into details about the 4 Peaks Race in HK His plan going in to 2024 edition. How he got his wife and eldest son Bono to crew him The last 30k of Lantau chasing the clock and the 60 hour cut off. The feeling to finally finish the challenge. Hong Kong Four Trails continues to show why it is the most epic ultra running challenge in the Asia region. The community, the difficulty and the drama. It always an epic dotwatching and social media follow. Congrats to Andre, Paper, all the athletes and crew, photographers and everyone involved with this event.

We kick off the New Year with a look back at the most inspiring performances and challenges of the year just gone. In this special awards episode, we discuss the stories that moved us and the people who mattered. Here are the categories and nominees: Male Athlete of the Year John Stingray Onifa with his clean sweep of wins at Asia Trail Masters races including the win in the final Tomokazu Ihara with his Four Trails win, Barkey Marathons Fun Run and Grand Slam Female Athlete of the Year Eszter Csillag, who placed 3rd at Western States and a win at Oxfam Trailwalker Hong Kong and Izu Sunmaya Budha, who won multiple races across Asia Hau Ha, who put in a heroic 4th place at CCC plus wins at Doi Ithanon and Ultra Trail Australia Rashila Tamang overall winner of the Asia Trail Masters final 2023 Race / Challenge of the Year Doi Inthanon Thailand by UTMB Hong Kong 100 Vietnam Mountain Marathon Rinjani 100 Malaysian Mountain and Trail Festival Izu Trail Journey Japan Fundraising of the Year Jo Loder Run for Freedom, running HK 5in5 Trails inc Tinworth Trail, raising HK$880K Endurance Feat of the Year Vincere Zeng Everest Lhotse and K2. Listen to the episode here Le Thi Hang of Vietnam who ran a marathon every day in 2023 inc a 2nd place finish in VMM Mark Agnew kayaking north west passage. Listen to the episode here.. Listen to the episode to find out who the winners are.. We loved watching these people reset the limits of what’s possible in 2023 and would love to hear from you about who we missed. Here’s to even more amazing achievements in 2024!

Joined by Valentin Orange, we recap last weekends Doi Inthanon by UTMB in Chiang Mai Thailand, the major UTMB race of Asia. We cover: Race organisation Location, Atmosphere at start/finish line The races: 50k 100k 100 mile And we go in to Valentin’s past year covering Sange Sherpa as he documents his life running ultras every weekend. You can follow Valentin at Insta Facebook www.valentinorange.com

Phil Snowden, a. military veteran, Personal Trainer and all round machine, joins us to talk about his crazy endurance exploits and the importance of strength and conditioning for endurance athletes.. His back ground in growing up in the military and getting into Personal Training after the miliirtary His first DNF doing the 24 hour Tough Mudder in the US Ultra in the Antarctic, Borneo 100 miler Pushing and pulling a body weight sled for 46km across the UfIt gym for 50 hours Ultra triathlon, 300 miles on Ski erg, Rower and bike Then we get in to Hyrox, the years of training that led up to becoming the perfect athlete for Hyrox, concept for the race and plans to commit to the race in future. You can read more in depth info into Phil’s endeavours and the date on his blog https://www.philsnowdencoaching.com/ Check him out on Insta Ric Stockfis and Scott Puigh catch up after to discuss: Trasnslantau World Trail Majors Everything else going on in the ultra endurance scene

We are joined again by the Asia Adventure Journalist turned explorer, Mark Agnew. Having had Mark on the podcast 3 years ago discussing all of the amazing endurance feats he has covered for SCMP, he has become the story! He shared on that podcast (you can listen here) his passion for arctic exploration and his only plans to tackle the north west passage and be the first human as part of the team to cross it! Well he’s only gone and done just that. Along with a team of expedition kayakers from Texas, The Artic Cowboys, he has become the first person to cross the North West Passage by human power. Wr cover: Preparation and planning. Original plan for 2021 delayed. How did you train for it. What were the records you were targeting? Logistics and funding, team. Equipment. Record temperatures in 2023 made the pass possible? Distances travelled every day. How much camping sleep time. Biggest challenges, best moments / worst moments What’s next? Check out some videos of Mark on ITV and BBC Ric and Scott then catch up after to discuss: Adventure Race World Series Championships and previous guest Jay Jantaraboon’s Of The North Face Adventure Team getting 5th place as part of the Brazil Multisport Team. Bigs Back Yard World Champs and previous guest Joshua Toh doing 75 yards Salomon Forest Force Race in Singapore What’s next in the calendar inc MMTF, UTMB Thailand etc

We are joined on stage at VMM by some of the elites preparing to run. We get to speak to Ha Hau Sange Sherpa Jeff Campbell Trùn Nguyễn David Lloyd Follow them live for this weekend at https://live.dottrack.asia/mountainmarathon23/

We are joined for a live on stage interview at the Vietnam Mountain Marathon by T8 Athletes Jeff Campbell Vanja Cnops Kristian Joergensen Stingray, John Ray Onifa Follow them live for this weekend at https://live.dottrack.asia/mountainmarathon23/

Repeat guest Tomokazu Ihara comes back to talk about his epic performance in the Grand Slam of Ultra Running in the United States, completing 5 of the oldest 100 mile runs in the same season and doing so in the fastest time of any athlete from Asia Pacific and top 20 in history. His results included: Old Dominion: 18:52:27 2nd overall Western States: 20:19:58 39th overall Vermont: Cancelled Devil’s Gulch: 23:54:44 1st overall Leadville: 23:31:18 40th overall Wasatch: 23:17:17 6th overall Best 4 x 100 times: 86:01:01 19th/403 finishers since 1986 You can find out more about the Grand Slam of Ultra Running Follow Tomo Insta Facebook Website

Vincere Zeng at 31 years old is a record holder in the high altitude mountains, becoming the first Singaporean female to summit Everest and K2 back to back and also the first Singaporean female to summit K2 and to do this all in one year. We catch up with Vincere to discuss: How it came to be. Where her passion for adventure and exploration come from. How she progressed to take on high altitude mountains from trail running in Singapore. How she planned for two expeditions in the same year and also 2 mountains in her Everest expedition The company she chose, 8k Expeditions and how she worked with them. Tell me about some times you’ve been deep in the Pain cave and how did you get yourself out How do you Train for your major expeditions or races. Especially in Flat Singapore How do you think about Nutrition leading up to a challenge and during Plans for rest of 2023 and Asia Trail Master You can follow Vincere on Instagram, Facebook, Strava

We reconnect with Ben Pulham the founder of Coached, a Singapore-based testing lab and - surprise - coaching service for athletes of all stripes. A former pro triathlete himself, Ben - together with in-house sports scientist James (Jim) Webster - is an expert in helping people perform better. Listen to our first podcast with the Coached team that goes into more detail about the testing they offer and Ben’s background as a professional athlete. https://www.enduranceasia.com/podcasts/coached Find them online at https://www.coached.fitness/, https://www.facebook.com/Coached and https://www.instagram.com/p/CLdWCTzHu3x/?hl=en In our interview with Ben and Jim, we discuss: Diet and the benefits of lower carb The athletes they are training inc top triathlete Arif State of Singapore athletics The track sessions they run every Tuesday in Singapore Goal Setting Sweat testing and importance or supplementing with minerals in Asia Podcast hosted by Ultra Endurance enthusiasts Scott Pugh and Ric Stockfis.

We welcome Christ Timms to the podcast this week to discuss the trail running community in Singapore. Chris has been on the podium at a lot of races around South East Asia the past couple of years and was in the top 10 of last years ATM Finals in Mt Apo Philippines. We catch up in Red Dot Running Company store where he is an elite ambassador to discuss his background, training, the Mountain Goat Challenge and plans for the rest of the year. Chris’ background. Where he’s from and his day job How he first got into running. How his running has evolved. His recent race performances such as his win at the UTSG in Singapore and podium at Bukit Lawang Orangutan Trail His focus on building community? The Mountain Goat Challenge and how the event played out. How he inspires and motivates his kids so engaged in running, swimming. What’s next in his calendar, how he’s looking to improve. Favourite gear. You can follow Chris at: Facebook Instagram Strava

Off the back of the 2023 edition of Hardcore100 H1 Ultra in Philippines, we catch up with race director Jonel Mendoza as well as competitors Nikki Han, Will Hayward and Viirginie Goethals to discuss one of the first and one of the toughest hundred mile races in Asia. First up we speak with Jonel to discuss: The genesis of Hardcore100 and how Jonel decided to map an Ultra Marathon around Mt Pulag and Mt Ugo How he managed to get qualifying spots for Western States and HardRock How the race evolved over the years Notorious for being on of the hardest races in Asia, Jonel tells us how it has changed for 2023 Talks about the partnership with Robert Watson to run the event The plan for 2024 and beyond? We are then join (35:30) by Nikki, Will and Virginie to talk about how this yeaers event played out from an athletes perspective. We cover: Recovery after H1 Why they all signed up for H1 this year and what has been their history with the event What their expectations were with the new route this year? Their preparation and training block? How everyone prepared right before the event? How the race went for everyone, the high and low points The sleep depravation Organisation and check points Would you come back again?? What they learned, do differently in future races or H1 What’s next for each of them.. Checkout H1 and their other races https://kotm.intrepidspirit.com/ Follow on Facebook https://www.facebook.com/kotmph

We talk with Janet and Steve about the 2023 edition of HK100, the first in person since 2020. How the race went and what they thought about the performances. We also cover: how they both first get into trail running What made them decide to start HK100 How the race has evolved over the years Discuss some of the returnees every year inc John Ellis and Jeremy Ritcey doing every year <16 hours. We discuss Janet’s role as President of International Trail Running Association. We talk about PTL, one of the toughest races in the world and their 2 finishes You can follow HK 100 on Instagram and Facebook Check out the website to look at prior results and sign up to 2024 - https://www.hk100-ultra.com/ Check out ITRA for your race results and score - https://itra.run/

We welcome back Tomokazu Ihara from his 4th attempt of the Barkley Marathons and his best effort yet, achieving a fun run in 35:55 and getting out on the fourth loop with 27 seconds to spare! A momentous year that saw 3 finishers for only the second time ever and the first finish since John Kelly’s last finish in 2017. Tomo has been dedicated to this challenge for the past 7 years and it’s inspiring to hear his story of dedication and tenacity to an event that has the highest DNF rate of any known race. Follow Tomo on Insta, facebook and his site www.tomospit.com

GODZone Chapter 11 , Fiordland is in the books and what a historic week it was. We saw the very last expedition adventure race of Nathan Fa’avae’s career and one last win to cap of a tremendous career with Team Avaya. We catch up with race director Warren Bates to recap the race and pay homeage to the leader of the greatest ever adventure racing team. We suggest looking at the Dotwatch map as you listen to view the section discussed in the race We discuss: How has the last week went for RD Warren Bates What it was like being back in Fiordland for the first time in 5 years. What makes the area so special and why they chose to go back Expectations going into the race. Who did Warren think would be competing at the pointy end, what parts of the course did you expect to be the most challenging Talk about team Avaya. How good are they really?? Honour Nathan Faavae and what has he meant to this sport What the future of the sport looks like. What Warren thinks of athletes and teams like No Idea and Fear Youth coming through. How to make GZ more accessible to international teams. Talk to us about your history in adventure racing What’s up next.. Inaugural GODZone AU event.. Listen to Chris Forne of Team Avaya on the podcast last week and Nathan Fa’avae on the podcast in 2020.

We are delighted to welcome Chris Forne, lead navigator for Team Avaya and winner of the Endurance Asia Male Athlete of the Year in 2022. He and Team Avaya have just kicked off the GodZone Chapter 11 and you can dot watch here.. We cover: His back ground, how he first got into orienteering How he first got into expedition adventure racing and worked towards first world champs victory in 2007, How the team deals with major challenges when they arise, eg, when they lost their timing card at the last world champs in Paraguay. What non conventional navigating techniques he has found useful that you wouldn’t read in a manual. How he and his wife both balance adventure racing competitively His typical training block leading up to a big race. Whether they train as a team. How he maintains elite fitness while working full time Dealing with sleep deprivation and whether it has taken any toll on him w so many expedition races. How he recovers. What this season looks like. GZ this week and then world champs in South Africa? You can listen to the previous episode with Team Avaya Captain Nathan F’avae

In this episode, we talk to the inspiring Jack Thompson, aka Jack UltraCyclist. In 2022, Jack climbed an astonishing million vertical metres on his bike, including 52 Everestings, as part of his Million Metres Challenge. That’s a crazy average of over 19,000m of climb each and every week! It was his latest in a series of incredible endurance achievements, which we cover in the episode. Jack is also very honest and outspoken about his personal struggles, as well as the centrality of fundraising and raising awareness to all of his challenges. In our conversation, we talk about: His upbringing, family and struggles with his mental health His first big challenge, the Transcontinental in Europe Subsequent challenges, including the Taiwan KOM, setting a world record for kilometres ridden in a week and riding the Tour De France course in just 10 days The importance of fundraising and the challenges of creating a compelling narrative His work with Supersapiens Upcoming projects, including the Around the World record Follow Jack: On Strava: Strava Cyclist Profile | Jack Ultra Cyclist On Instagram : JACK ULTRA CYCLIST (@jackultracyclist) • Instagram photos and videos At his website: Jack UltraCyclist – Professional Ultra Cyclist & First Cyclist in Space And his YouTube channel is packed with great films and updates: Jack Ultra Cyclist - YouTube Permalink

We catch up with Tomokazu Ihara following his epic performance at HK4TUC. Ric and Scott also catch up to discuss all of the other amazing performances at the 2023 events. Check out www.hk4tuc.live to rerun the dotwatching fun.. Here are the list off Finishers and survivors: Tomokazu Ihara 井原知 - 54:02:36 Nugo Yamanath Limbu - 56:29:23 Ryan Whelan - 56:54:19 Wong Ka Kit 黃家傑 - 57:11:37 Kevin Cheung Kei Fung 張 - 59:30:45 Elvis Fu Chin Ping 傅展平 - 63:23:20 Alger Cheng Sai Kit 鄭世傑 - 66:15:33 Trevor Meding - 67:26:45 Kenneth Chan Wai Tik - 67:46:49 Mayank Vaid - 68:04:39 Kimmy Leung Hong Kiu 梁 - 68:18:29 Chan Kwok Keung 陳國強 - 69:43:10 Chiang Chung Wei 蔣仲威 - 69:56:19 Kurt Lynn - 70:23:18 Karen Tse Tze Wai 謝芷蕙 - 70:39:39 Photo cred Lucien Chan.

the 12th Edition of HK4TUC is upon us and Ric and Scott connect to discuss the changes to start times and some of the athletes returning and as well as those taking on this epic challenge for the first time. You can follow live at www.hk4tuc.live. 2023 competitor list: Chamelia Suhra Milk Li Lai Ting 李麗婷 Sandy Xiaoqing Sun 孙晓青 Karen Tse Tze Wai 謝芷蕙 Kimmy Leung Hong Kiu 梁康翹 Mayank Vaid Nugo Yamanath Limbu Kurt Lynn Kenneth Chan Wai Tik Yu Long Chai Harrods 余朗齊 Yeung Wing Kent 楊永健 Wong Ka Kit 黃家傑 Elvis Fu Chin Ping 傅展平 Michael H Gay Chiang Chung Wei 蔣仲威 Kevin Cheung Kei Fung 張祺豐 Steven Ong Alger Cheng Sai Kit 鄭世傑 Chan Kwok Keung 陳國強 Saranyabhong Singhakrittaya ศรัณยพงศ์ สิงห์กฤตยา Elliot Froidevaux Trevor Meding Ryan Whelan Tomokazu Ihara 井原知一 Phairat Varasin ไพรัช วราสินธุ์