The Home Trails Podcast

Get in touch with Ultrarunning Sam here ⬅️
In this episode of the Home Trails Podcast, I'm joined by by James Nobles and Martin from Kelp&Fern to discuss UTS by UTMB.
James has been very vocal in his criticism of UTS changing the iconic Snowdonia route last minute, especially after selling further places in the race.
UTS has come under heavy fire from some prominent names in the trail and ultra running community. But is this just a genuine landowner/route issue that couldn't have been avoided? Or is it another example of the giant corporate machine steamrollering trail runners and using another race as a licence to print money, without giving runners what they signed up for?
James represents the angry pro runners and Martin shares his local route knowledge and years of experience in fell, trail and ultra running media.
Should the trail running community start to boycott UTMB races? 
Have a listen to find out!
* UTS were contacted and given the opportunity to join the conversation. No response as yet......

@ultrarunning_sam
@hometrails_
http://www.youtube.com/@ultrarunningsam

Get in touch with Ultrarunning Sam here ⬅️
Louise returns to the Home Trails podcast for her second appearance. 
The first was as part of a short format Spine Race preview episode, so we didn't dive too much into her life story. In this episode we go right back to her early days, especially her wild days back at uni in Manchester, when she was fully immersed in the early 90's rave scene. 
She talks about going to the legendary Hacienda club in Manchester, how she help Madonna to shimmy over a wall to escape the venue and how she raved until the sun came up at every opportunity.
Louise now channels her addictive personality into endurance sports. Where she's competed at road races, masters marathon, won silver medal at duathlon and more recently has dominated ultramarathons, including our favourite race, the Spine.
Louise is also a coach, so we talk about her coaching methods to prepare for ultras, including some very specific work in tough conditions!
Louise is a real character and was a pleasure to interview!
HT
@ultrarunning_sam
@hometrails_
http://www.youtube.com/@ultrarunningsam

Get in touch with Ultrarunning Sam here ⬅️
Hayley Wilson - Podcast listener and Home Trails WhatsApp group member, joins me for a run down of whats been happening in the sport over the weekend!
We chat about the results from the 2 separate golden ticket races that were held over the weekend - Black Canyons 100/50k held in the USA and Tarawera 100k held simultaneously down under in New Zealand. Multiple golden tickets were up for grabs in each of the races, so we chat about who won what.
Obviously we talk about the shock news that Barkely Marathons were held the earliest in the year yet! With 22 names....named we only had one runner complete a "fun run" of 3 loops and 4 others complete 2 loops. Laz is back up his old trick of making the race impossible to finish it seems!
HT
@ultrarunning_sam
@hometrails_
http://www.youtube.com/@ultrarunningsam

Get in touch with Ultrarunning Sam here ⬅️
Anna Troup joins the Home Trails Podcast to talk all things Spine Race!
Anna has a long history with the race and this year saw her win the women's race in 109 hours, in some epic weather conditions. Anna talks about her preparations (or lack of) going into this race. Off the back of winning the summer edition of the race, Anna yet again had to deal with reoccurring issues with stress fractures that almost put her out of the race.
We dive into the ongoing issue of injury and how she has kept her huge endurance  base that she's built over 40 years in sport! How doctors told her not to race and how she came to the start line in January with one goal......finishing the race.
We talk about her drive to encourage more women to sign up to the race and the small community on WhatsApp that's now grown to include over 300 members! We talk about the changes to the race and how it's perceived to affect women signing up going forward and her plans to continue building the women's support group.
Anna was a pleasure to interview and I'm sure she will be back again for more episodes in the future!
HT

@ultrarunning_sam
@hometrails_
http://www.youtube.com/@ultrarunningsam

Get in touch with Ultrarunning Sam here ⬅️
In this episode I'm joined by Kris Jones!
Kris recently won the Arc of Attrition by UTMB 50 and he shares his experience at this years mud-fest!
This is Kris's first appearance on the Home Trails Podcast, so we obviously start with the obligatory Superhero Question. Kris comes from a background that combines world class orienteering with world class track and road running. Which clearly is the perfect combination, because he seems to win and set course records at every trail and ultra race he enters!
Kris talks in depth about his approach to training which prioritises fitness first, before moving into specific race phases. Something I will take home is his point about fitness trumping all other factors. He believes that if he's half marathon fit, then he's ready for most races, longer or shorter!
So time to dust off those road shoes and get the intervals and tempo runs flowing again!
HT
@ultrarunning_sam
@hometrails_
http://www.youtube.com/@ultrarunningsam