The Endurance Asia Podcast

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 trailsHer awareness of Four Trails from seeing the legend Nikki Jan finish in 2019 Her training block for 2024 and the volume and focusFour Trails goalSleep and nutrition strategyWhat 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 2024What 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 HKHis plan going in to 2024 edition.How he got his wife and eldest son Bono to crew himThe 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 YearJohn Stingray Onifa with his clean sweep of wins at Asia Trail Masters races including the win in the finalTomokazu Ihara with his Four Trails win, Barkey Marathons Fun Run and Grand SlamFemale Athlete of the YearEszter Csillag, who placed 3rd at Western States and a win at Oxfam Trailwalker Hong Kong and IzuSunmaya Budha, who won multiple races across AsiaHau Ha, who put in a heroic 4th place at CCC plus wins at Doi Ithanon and Ultra Trail AustraliaRashila Tamang overall winner of the Asia Trail Masters final 2023Race / Challenge of the YearDoi Inthanon Thailand by UTMBHong Kong 100Vietnam Mountain MarathonRinjani 100Malaysian Mountain and Trail FestivalIzu Trail Journey JapanFundraising of the YearJo Loder Run for Freedom, running HK 5in5 Trails inc Tinworth Trail, raising HK$880KEndurance Feat of the YearVincere Zeng Everest Lhotse and K2. Listen to the episode hereLe Thi Hang of Vietnam who ran a marathon every day in 2023  inc a 2nd place finish in VMMMark 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 organisationLocation, Atmosphere at start/finish lineThe races:50k100k100 mileAnd 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 miliirtaryHis first DNF doing the 24 hour Tough Mudder in the USUltra in the Antarctic, Borneo 100 milerPushing and pulling a body weight sled for 46km across the UfIt gym for 50 hoursUltra triathlon, 300 miles on Ski erg, Rower and bikeThen 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:TrasnslantauWorld Trail MajorsEverything 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 momentsWhat’s next?Check out some videos of Mark on ITV and BBCRic 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 yardsSalomon Forest Force Race in SingaporeWhat’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 toHa HauSange SherpaJeff CampbellTrùn NguyễnDavid LloydFollow 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 CampbellVanja CnopsKristian JoergensenStingray, John Ray OnifaFollow 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 overallWestern States: 20:19:58 39th overallVermont: CancelledDevil’s Gulch: 23:54:44 1st overallLeadville: 23:31:18 40th overallWasatch: 23:17:17 6th overallBest 4 x 100 times: 86:01:01 19th/403 finishers since 1986You can find out more about the Grand Slam of Ultra RunningFollow 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 expeditionThe 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 outHow 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 duringPlans for rest of 2023 and Asia Trail MasterYou 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/coachedFind them online at https://www.coached.fitness/,  https://www.facebook.com/Coached and https://www.instagram.com/p/CLdWCTzHu3x/?hl=enIn our interview with Ben and Jim, we discuss:Diet and the benefits of lower carbThe athletes they are training inc top triathlete ArifState of Singapore athleticsThe track sessions they run every Tuesday in SingaporeGoal SettingSweat testing and importance or supplementing with minerals in AsiaPodcast 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 jobHow 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 TrailHis 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:FacebookInstagramStrava

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 UgoHow he managed to get qualifying spots for Western States and HardRockHow the race evolved over the yearsNotorious 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 eventThe 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 H1Why they all signed up for H1 this year and what has been their history with the eventWhat 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 pointsThe sleep depravationOrganisation and check pointsWould you come back again?? What they learned, do differently in future races or H1What’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 HK100How the race has evolved over the yearsDiscuss 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 finishesYou can follow HK 100 on Instagram and FacebookCheck 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 raceWe discuss:How has the last week went for RD Warren BatesWhat 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 backExpectations 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 sportWhat 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 racingWhat’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.