Kristian Blummenfelt Gets Revenge + Our Controversial Public Apology!

Yeah, it's pretenders way up back at the end of the day.

Yes, pretenders. We are back and God have I missed this. Today's going to be a fun one.

We're going to catch up on all the weekends, triathlon action down at Jolong 70.3 and

the T100 Gold Coast and just catch up in general on what's been going on in the triathlon

world while we've been away. And then hopefully at the end of the podcast, we've got enough

time left to make some funny observations about some things that the road to ocean side

boys have been saying that we've been picking up on. And nothing makes me happier than

saying we've got the whole team here for the first show back starting with the baldest

man in triathlon, Hayden Wilde's biggest hater and enemy to all 301 marathoners, Greg

Harper. Oh, it's so great to be back, Jack and seeing your beautiful faces. Now, you know

what something says random, but something I didn't obsess with since we've last chatted

is baguettes, because you told me the story that Jonas Schoenberg only eats baguettes

and ham. But then I come to realize that the story is actually croissants. So now I'm

eating baguettes every fricking day. I'm at the grocery store. These things are sticking

out of my cart. And apparently he eats croissants, not baguettes. So honestly, I'm upset about

the whole thing, but I don't know if you guys know Jonas Schoenberg. He's kind of my

idol. But anyway, so I've been obsessed with baguettes and ham and I'm hoping it makes

me faster. Yeah, the story is that apparently for about three or four times a day, Jonas

Schoenberg eats ham and cheese croissants. I think he would go baguettes as well, Greg,

for sure. He's a European. You would have to dole in a baguette occasionally as well.

And of course, the fence sitter is here. Regan Holyoke's biggest fan, the newly appointed

head of Iron Man commentary, Sam Appleton. Thanks, Jack. It's good to be back. It's been

a long hiatus, but something I want to say, Greg and I haven't really spent too much

time together outside of the pod, right? Like we haven't really spent too much time face to face.

Mainly it's like a parasocial relationship on this podcast and he texts me sometimes that I

ignore, but at Dallas last week, Greg comes up to me and I was shooketh to not only notice that he

is not bald, but the man, the man is fit and he is so vascular, I could not believe how good this

man looks in the flesh with a short shorts on T-shirt. Anyway, I just wanted to shout out

Greg and he looks like a 113 runner, absolutely. Yeah, a surprisingly good looking man apple and

a surprisingly good runner. Do we have to admit that a 301 marathon is actually very slow for

Greg coming off his 113.5 marathon of five minute PB at Dallas 70.3? Surely there's some sort of

algorithm conversion, right? Double the half marathon time and add, what, 10 minutes?

Yeah, like 10 minutes? You know, Greg, you might be a 236 guy. I think it's actually double your

half off the bike is actually around what you can run for a marathon. Before we introduce the most

important guests on the show, who's last, I heard there was this gentleman on course who was talking

shit to you mid-run, Apo. Can you enlighten us on that on the Dallas course because I heard this

and I was actually quite, I was laughing quite a bit. Yeah, so on the course, there was one

Dean Harper and he just emerged from the bushes and he actually told me halfway through the run.

Greg is running faster than you and I was said, not over my bloody dead body, so I picked up the

pace, pushed through the blisters and made sure that I got to that finish line in a faster run than

Greg and sure enough, I was able to close it out with a bit of a quicker run, but not too much.

Greg, Greg, that run is coming along. Push through the blisters. I can just imagine my dad being like,

hey, good job Apo, hey, Greg's running faster than you. All right, yeah, take it easy, mate. It's

just like, what the hell? Do you think he was doing it on purpose to kind of shit talk Apo and

get in his head Greg or his Dean Harper, not that kind of guy? No, he's not that kind of guy.

He just was like, hey, here's some information about what's happening on course. My son's running

faster than you. Good luck. Yeah, Apo's running in the battle for fifth and sixth place, like

potentially a podium and Dean Harper doesn't give him time to Ben Kanut or Rudy Vomberg. He gives him

time to Greg Harper, who's in 17th place at the moment. Honestly, it's probably the only info

that I wanted to know because I wouldn't live that down if Greg had a faster run than me, so

valuable information. Thanks, Dean. Shout out, Dean. And as always, the Olympic bronze medalist and a

person who took this podcast from probably about a five to five point two out of 10 to a strong

seven to eight out of 10 immediately upon her arrival, Vicki Holland joins us. Ah, it's a

bloody pleasure to be back with you all lads. I have missed you all. And, you know, Greg, chatting

about, you know, things that you've become obsessed with since the last podcast, I have to say,

not as niche as yours, I would say. And it's probably without wishing to turn this into the

parenting podcast again. I mean, we've only just started again. And here we are chatting about

parenting, but I just am really obsessed with getting a routine in my life. I cannot cope with my

life being just one giant mess at the moment. I don't know when I'm sleeping, when I'm eating,

when I'm exercising, when I'm going to start doing any work, trying to build in podcasts times.

And, you know, I dream about the day when I can have a routine again. And I've got such

fomo when I hear you guys talking about your training plans on our WhatsApp chat and stuff.

So I'm a bit obsessed with that, but it'll come around. You know, I'm not going to wish away

this early time with my daughter, but right now I am a mess of a human and I can't wait for a routine.

Speaking of routine, Vicki, obviously I do a little bit less than you three. You've got the kids.

You're pretty much a single parent with how much Reese's Off at work at the moment. And then

Apple and Greg obviously training high volume. I really just record a podcast once a week and

take my dog for some walks. So I've had a bit of spare time on my hands and I've been obsessed

with the traders UK. Have you watched that? Yeah, it's good, hey. God, it's good.

Fucking love the traders, dude, except I watched the US version. I've been telling my wife that

we need to watch the UK version because I just want more traders in my life. There is an Irish version

as well, which I haven't started yet, but apparently it is really good. Well, what I'm saying is

I've heard it's really good. So I'm going to get into that soon. So I've watched them all at this

point, US, UK, Australia, New Zealand. I've watched all of them celebrity UK. And I would say the

two best seasons, I think the best season is the UK season two. If you haven't watched that,

you've got to watch that one. Like you obviously don't really have to watch them in order. You can

start one, two, three, four. You can start with any of them. But if you just want to watch one

season of traders, I would go the traders UK season two. And actually the first season of the

Australian one is really good as well. All of the US ones are a little bit average. I would say

they're still good because it's a good game. But I would say all of the UK ones are better than

all of the US ones. So if you haven't watched the traders go and watch it. You'll binge watch it.

It's so hard to stop watching like it's one of those shows where as soon as you watch it an

episode and it finishes, you're like, okay, next one, next one. I literally thought about applying.

I'm like, I want to get on this game. But it's like kind of celebrities or like pseudo celebrities,

you know? So it's yeah, I'm not exactly sure. But I like want to get on kind of celebrity one.

I don't know if there is one in America as well. But the celebrity one in the UK is really fun.

And they've got some like big British celebrities in there. It's fun. Yeah. The UK celebrity one is

good. Just the UK one in general. I think is the best one. Vicky. Okay. Let's get into triathlon

though now guys. And before we start, I was watching Jolong 70.3 today. And it was a nice little

surprise that our man Apo was on the comms. I was like, okay, finally, we've got one of us in the I

man stream. We've done it. We've infiltrated both commentary teams with Vicky heading up the T100

commentary team with yard nodding at this year. And now Apo, part of the I man family. And I'm

thinking finally, there's going to be no talk about running gates and how smooth everyone looks

that Apo's there. And he won't just be another boring I man commentator. And he's credit. He was

bloody good like his jab at are about the blisters comedy gold. I really enjoyed that. I enjoyed

everything you did Apo. However, I did notice Vicky and Greg. And I don't know if you guys noticed

this while you were watching that Apo was talking about some other races that had happened. And he

kept referring to these middle distance races that other athletes in the race had done. And they'd

had good performances like I noticed Apo thought Hayden wild had had some good performances last

year in middle distance races. It turns out Apo was banned from saying the word T100. And he is

no different. He's just another Rini, Crowey, Dee Dee, grease bower. And he's bought and paid for by

I man. Look, I don't make the rules. Okay. They invite me on. I follow the rules. I don't know.

I had a good time doing the commentary. I think it was fine. And I got some good feedback. And if

you guys listening, if you liked it, maybe let I man know and they might they might be able to call

me back for some more commentary gigs. But yeah, I absolutely had to slide in that Ari joke. And

I was actually so when I said it, I kept checking my phone to see if it was going to blow up with

jokes or anything. And I was a little bit disappointed that not many people messaged me with the joke.

But then I went online and Jack, you had done that Instagram post. And some people said they

enjoyed it live. So yeah, I wasn't going to let Ari off the hook and had to slide that one in there.

But yeah, it was good. So let me ask you, you're in the studio in Boulder, right? So is it just like

this banner that's like, don't fucking say T100 or you're fired. Like is that like, is that above

you guys? Are you guys looking at that all time? Or how does that actually work? No, that you know

what? Nobody actually said it to me in person. But I think I don't know who someone told me years

ago. I don't know who it was. It could have been like a Matt Lietto or something that they're not

allowed to say T100. And I just had that etched into my brain. Like this is my first

they're probably like testing the waters, trying to see if I'm okay and whether or not they want

me back. So I wasn't going to come in and just like, you know, destroy the place. So I tried to keep

it buttoned up a little bit, but you were great, by the way. Yeah, you were annoyingly good at

well, thank you guys. I appreciate that. Obviously, you would be terrible if you hadn't been doing

this podcast for the last six months. And now I mean, I'll take the credit or Jack and Vicki too.

Like we've made you who you are. So you're welcome. Hopefully we hear you again. Well, actually,

I did think that maybe they did ask me because of this podcast. I don't know. I don't know why

they reached out and invited me on. I don't know. Wait, let me check my email. No, I don't,

I didn't get one. So I don't know if that's the reason, but because I would definitely have one

as well. Let's just say. I think they said you had to have minimum 10, 70.3 wins to get the

the invitation, but they need one to five. So I don't qualify. It's why I've I've never been asked

by Iron Man either because I've got nothing. So I'm an uninterested in me. I did wonder,

Apple, how many people said no before the email got to your inbox? I mean, yeah, it is difficult,

though. Like you guys, Jack, you've done some commentary, Vicki, you've done quite a lot, but

like the race for gelong yesterday, like with cat just out in front, just doing her thing.

And the camera is just on cat and I'm just thinking to myself, like, what else can I say here?

Like, I'm just trying to think of other things to talk about. And I feel like I'm just repeating

myself and I'm just praying that the camera is going to switch to the men's race or, you know,

another woman that we can talk about because there's only so much you can say about someone

riding a bike, right? And it gets quite monotonous and you just end up repeating yourself. But,

yeah, I'm sure you guys have experienced that, Jack and Vicki. Don't say they look smooth.

Don't say they look smooth. Don't say they look smooth.

All right, guys, we can't actually start the podcast really, can we? Without, I mean, we kind of

have started, but we have to address the elephant in the room. And that is that we did disappear

on you all pretenders. We disappeared for 56 days. That's almost exactly two months that you

didn't hear from us. And we're not going to just carry on as if nothing happened and that we

didn't just vanish. We're not going to gaslight you like that and make you feel crazy.

We have felt guilty. I promise you. But we hope you've enjoyed the interviews, Jack's been doing.

And also, of course, you've had the Roto Ocean side podcast. And hopefully that's, you know,

kept you entertained while we've been away. Now, we've been talking in the group chat this week

and have collectively decided that instead of coming on here and feeding you all these

rubbish excuses that instead one of us would write you an apology song. So we all voted in a

poll in the message group. And of course, it was decided that it had to be Jack who would bring

you a song in today's podcast to say sorry for our absence. So Jack, the floor is yours.

I do want to preface this Vicky by saying this is the first time I've ever written a song and

it was a little bit daunting. I apologize in advance for how bad my voice is. There's a few things.

If you're a long time listener of the show, you'll understand everything in this song.

If you listened last year only, you'll understand most things in this song. If this is your first

episode, you're going to understand absolutely nothing in this. Hopefully you can still find it

funny or maybe come back to it in a year's time and you'll find it funny. So can we just say that

we have not heard this? This is completely fresh to the other three of us. Like we have not heard

this. And I'm half expecting to find out that Jack is actually like a rap god or something.

So I'm really excited about this. Like let's do it.

Okay, here it goes.

Yeah, we shouldn't have left. We're back. This is for all of you.

I

got a podcast, but I haven't eaten my lunch. My name is Andrew Messick. I hope this apple don't crunch.

Why do you all keep saying that I'm out of last touch? 1500 bucks or a century doesn't seem

like too much. Thanks a lot for my early retirement or did I get fired? Can you all keep that quiet?

Benjamin Zorke naughty is the people's champ. Christian Blumentfeld don't have half the

gold that he has. Speaking of all men. Greg's back for this year. He still can't speak properly.

Gonna be rough on your ears. Professional triathlon. Swim back run.

But Greg can only fucking do one. Sorry pretenders. We never should have left you.

We didn't need to make you have to listen to the other porn triathlon podcasts.

Sitting on fences. It's not what we're about. But since we left triathlon has a strong opinion.

Draft. Jack Greg and Dickie. They're never afraid. Um, like Apple, who's a giant pussy?

Patrick Langer. He really hates us ever since.

Ari Klaus said he drafted that once. He's an idiot. That's what Patrick messaged me about.

Ari that mentally weak. List of freak.

Ask your TKH. Discover the club. We all know where all of Alexander Boulac to shove.

Is the mama to into all those poor athletes. Now none of them can even sit on their bike seats.

Kim Moore House. That lovely old lady with the prediction system that was so halleshaky.

The weirdest part. Shit. Kim wasn't an elderly chick. Nope. He was a middle-aged bloke that

catfish and prey. We never should have left you. We didn't need to make you have to listen to

the other porn triathlon podcasts. Vicky. Where do I even stop bronze metal?

World champ for her the seas day part. It's so annoying witnessing one person be.

So absolutely fucking amazing. Except on Strava. Where her bike is subpar.

She needs to spend a month on the threshold farm. We all get to see you on the TV.

Standing next to you on that giant shirtless anomaly.

Something's missing. What could it be? Oh, Yarrick's Jack Kelly because they fired me.

And Samran knew for a place to me immediately. But hey, at least nobody put the gandrol in me.

We never should have left you. We didn't need to make you have to listen to the other porn triathlon podcasts.

Weekly podcast every week. Oh yeah. We're back baby.

You're back baby. That was incredible.

Jack's got bars dude. Those rhymes were good. I'm trying to picture recording.

Like you recording this. Like you're in the mirror or like you're like how many takes you doing it?

Like you're just freeful. Like oh my god. So many questions.

I mean, I particularly enjoyed where you fit. We shouldn't have made you listen to the other

boring triathlon podcasts into one line. I mean, it didn't fit but you went for it and I love that.

We need that released on Spotify. That's going straight into the threshold farm playlist.

You really worked a lot of stuff in there. Like yeah, I need to re-listen because I feel like every

line was actually intentional, you know, congrats on that Jack. Great work. I'm impressed.

But not surprised really. He's got a lot of time on his hands, hey?

Yeah. Yeah. As he was saying like five minutes ago that we've got kids and we trade and

Jack's like, oh, I've just been watching the traders UK while riding this M&M.

Yeah. How's your week been? Yeah. Traitors are rough. Brilliant.

I think one of the most underrated ways to be a faster athlete is to just be healthier.

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in today's show notes. All right, all right, guys, I think we need to actually start talking

some triathlon. So shall we go to our first topic? First proper, I should say triathlon topic

of the day. Guys, what's been happening in triathlon? I mean, we've got the racing back again,

shall we? Should we start with Jolong? Yeah, let's start with Jolong. I thought it was super exciting.

Like the battle between Christian Blumentfeld, Hayden Wilde, Yellow Gaines for a March race in the

Southern Hemisphere in Australia. You don't get that kind of battle all the time. That might be one

of the best races we watched this year, I think. I don't think there'll be that many better races

than that. So if you didn't watch it, go back onto Iron Man's YouTube. If you're in America,

obviously you'll need Nord VPN to do that link in description. Great race. I thought that at some

points it looked like Christian Blumentfeld's race was done and Crowey, who was commentating with

Apple, actually at one point said that Christian Blumentfeld hasn't been the same athlete for about

18 months now and that his race was done. He called it and then yeah, Christian Blumentfeld ended up

running through the field. 10630 Hayden and Yellow had good runs, but I wouldn't say great runs.

Like, Yellow's obviously been a bit sick, probably not at his fittest training for an Iron Man. I've

also been noticing over the preseason that Hayden hasn't looked like the same Hayden of 2025 so far.

Like, he had a short course performance. I was like, Oh, that's not that good for Hayden. He

did a 5K on the track where he was a little bit slower than I thought he would have been. So,

obviously Hayden and Yellow big seasons ahead, not as fit as what they are going to be later in

the year. And Christian Blumentfeld coming off that disappointment at New Zealand where he was

a long way off what we all expected, but again, he was sick the week before. So maybe that explains

it and had a point to prove and he did it on that run. They were building up this race between KB,

Hayden and Yellow, who are probably like, you could make an argument that they're the three best

middle distance races in the world. And the race delivered, right? And I was a little bit apprehensive

going in that Hayden, if he has one of his days that he had at T100 last year, he's just going to

run away with it or bike and then run away with it. And it'd be quite easy for him considering how

KB looked at New Zealand and Yellow didn't really go that close to Hayden last year in the T100.

So I was kind of a little bit worried that Hayden, not worried, but I thought that it could be,

had the potential to be boring if Hayden just got away on the bike and then run away with it,

but it fully delivered. And I just couldn't believe Christian just like,

absolutely. He was just feeding himself on that run. He's just like open palm sprinting like

up on his toes. I was just in awe. And yeah, to your point, Jack Hayden looked a little off,

he didn't, he looked a bit tight running. Yellow looked good running as well. I think that's good,

you know, he should take some confidence from that going into Texas. But yeah, absolutely.

The men's race delivered super exciting. Great race. Great to have those guys racing in Oceania as

well. They are to my mind anyway, the three best middle distance races on the planet right now.

And to have them all in the same event where they weren't in the same event, I don't think

ever in 2025. And yet in March of 2026, we've got them all in the same race was pretty stunning

really. And as you said, they delivered, they delivered a really exciting race to watch. And

there's arguments to be made that maybe they weren't all on their absolute best day. But

that doesn't matter. It was still really exciting to watch it. And yeah, I just hope that we get it

again later on in the season. They've never raced over middle distance, Vicki. That's the

yeah, the only time they've been in a race together is short course until then. And I bet you

that's the T100's dream. The T100 would have killed for that last year. And then Jolong,

this random Australian 70.3 with a thousand age groupers on the bike course, Hayden nearly killed

every single one of them. And then blames them for it. I have to say, I really didn't like that.

I did not like the bike with the way we're watching it. I mean, obviously you're commentating on

an app. And you can just see all these age groupers and the pros trying to overtake them. But

there's like these bunches of age groupers, which frankly, they were drafting like really badly

anyway. And then they're trying to get their professionals through the motos through the cyclist

coming the other way. Like it felt kind of dangerous to me watching it. And I thought I love the

idea that you can have professionals and age groupers on the course at the same time. But on a

lapped course like that, I think it's really difficult and like borderline dangerous.

Jolong is sketchy as hell, Vicky. Jolong has always been like that. It's got it's so narrow now.

It used to be that the both sides of the highway were open. And so you would go out on one side of

it and come back on the other. But now it's all on the one side of that highway. And so it's

super narrow. And I agree. It was it was flashback to Iman Hamburger a few years ago. It's

like there was times where the motorbike was in the middle of the road filming like a Hayden or

a yalla. So they were on the middle line. And then there was like age groupers on the inside line.

But the age group field was too big like so that they would take up two lines. And then that

would push Hayden over and then push the motorbike over. And there was multiple times where the

motorbike or Hayden had to go over the other side of the line and into oncoming traffic basically.

And I reckon if you counted up Hayden's middle line violations, throw back to line or send us

DNF at the 70.3 world, I reckon it would have to be between 500 to a thousand. But I would

let him off. I would not be voting to penalize Hayden for those violations because it was that

or mow down a few age groupers. And I think this was the better option.

I want clarity on the rules because, you know, I'm friends with Hayden, like we're close, but I,

you know, he was slingshotting age groupers so hard. Like he was coming right up on the back

of him and then slotting right back in. And then like yellow was kind of behind him kind of

doing the same thing. I mean, if I was in second to Hayden wild and I saw Hayden doing that,

you're like, I'm going to do that too. But I don't know if the people in the back were doing it

as much. And Hayden kind of opened up a gap too. Like what are the rules there? Because obviously

as pros, you can't slingshot. And like I thought, but like so blatant. And it wasn't for safety.

Like these were in times where the age groupers were in a line. Hayden comes out, comes in, comes

out, comes in. And it's just slingshotting around. Not when there's multiple people or whatever.

So I'm not really sure. And you know, they were all doing it. Um, it wasn't just Hayden,

but I'm, I don't know what the rules are in that scenario. First podcast back Greg is already

after Hayden said. I'll say one more thing before we go on. I made a little prediction last year.

And you guys thought it was the most ridiculous thing. Hayden wild will not win a race in 2026.

Oh, I don't know. What race? Didn't he do a short course race? Yeah, he won the one in New Zealand.

Yeah, keep up with it Greg. Greg means an actual triathlon, Vicky. Yeah. Like what? That was like

a oceanic cup. Sorry, so he didn't stipulate the level of triathlon. I meant one that I,

people care about. I really didn't even know that happened.

If I can win the race, it doesn't shout out to everyone who raised the oceanic cup.

They're shooting for more. Okay, Vicky. Greg, you did make that prediction, but you also made

the prediction that the Norwegians wouldn't win a race in the Norwegian method was dead.

No, I said there wouldn't be on the podium in the world championship. You did say that as well,

but you you in your rant, I can bring up the clip of you want. You said they were in fact,

they won't win a race all year. I don't know. All right, let's move on.

There was a women's race as well. It's like it was a great race upfront at the end. Grace

tech obviously running towards the end of the half marathon was running up to Kat Matthews,

but Kat Matthews just strong enough to hold on. I mean, I kind of didn't, like it was exciting

in a way, but it also kind of wasn't because for the majority of the day, Kat was just out front

dominating. It's the Kat show in a race of this level, isn't it? Kat is the queen of this at

the moment. She goes to races where she is very clearly the class of the field, the same thing

at New Zealand as Jolong, and she just dominates as she should. She doesn't really stuff up. She

doesn't make too many mistakes, and I feel like we've got two races from Kat this year,

and both of them we haven't seen anything near the level we're going to see a corner later on in the

year. I feel like she jogged both runs in. Now, I don't know if she'd admit that, but I don't think

that that race yesterday was as close as you think. Sure, she was probably struggling a little

bit. It was a little bit hot. Her legs are probably a little bit cooked from New Zealand still,

but I don't think she went to the Wallet New Zealand to win that race. I reckon she kind of jogged

that 251 marathon, and I reckon she kind of jogged that run yesterday, and it was great from

Grace, and at least it made it somewhat exciting, but I still think it was just a dominant race from Kat.

Well, we know that Kat can run 10 to 12 minutes faster than that at New Zealand, right? So she's

definitely run that 251 by Kat's standard is quite slow. So she had time in the bank. She had that

room to play with Run. She was probably thinking about banking maximum points at New Zealand,

and then recovering as quick as possible to bank maximum points at Jolong. And to your point,

Jack, I did think that she looked like she was in control on that run, and I'm not sure I haven't

spoken to her, but Grace was coming back at her, and I think with that two or three K to go,

they did that you turn, and then Kat just put on the afterburners, right? She saw that Grace was

within that 50 seconds, and then she just turned it on and closed it out, and quite just in

awe of her ability to just be so consistent. And I said this on the commentary, like she's just

come and banked two perfect scores, and I'm just surprised that other people that are chasing the

pro series like Europeans and Americans haven't done the same thing as Kat. Yes, I know it's a big trip

to New Zealand and to Australia, but she's just in the box seat already in its only

march. And yeah, I just think that she's just so consistent, so consistently good in her ability

to back up and race consistently so well is impressive. Well, she announced her schedule, and

if you want to score well in the pro series, don't go to Kat Matthews Ironman. I mean,

let's be real. I'm like, unless you're, you know, Laura Philip or like someone who's also a world

class, it's like, ah, well, you gotta head your bets, maybe somewhere else. So, but yeah, Kat

in the driver's seat again for the year. And I would just be so surprised if she didn't win the pro

series. It's already one Greg. She's already won it. Like, she's won it. She's won the pro series. But

I don't think that's the question for Kat. I think can Kat win an Ironman world championships?

That's all I really care about from Kat this year. I don't care if she wins the pro series. I'm sure

the money's nice. And I'm sure that's a big incentive for Kat. But like from our perspective,

I don't really care if Kat wins Ironman New Zealand or 70.3. I know she's going to win them if

she races them. I want to see what she does at Kona this year. And my big question is,

is the way Kat setting up her season going to lead to the best day at Kona? Or is she going to be

cooked Kona Kona? Because I know that Taylor nibs, you know, planning her whole season around Kona.

And she's taken things slow right now. You know that solving loft sets are going to do the same.

You know that Laura Phillips probably going to do the same. So I just want to know, will this come

back to bite Kat, the trip down to New Zealand and Australia? And you know, you have to be somewhat fit,

although she's clearly not anywhere near as fit as what she's going to be to do what she's doing

right now. And like for me, if I was Kat, I would take no racing all year or shit races all year

if it meant I won Kona versus, you know, a consistent year where I come second or third or fourth at

Kona. I totally agree with you, Jack. I think if you were inside the Kat Matthews camp,

they would be saying their main focus for the year is the Ironman World Championships. It's not

to win the pro series again. It's surely got to be at this point. It is the thing that she hasn't

done yet. And does this trip and this this amount of early racing lend itself to being in peak

shape in October? I don't know the answer to that. It's just a question, but I would be thinking

purely about Kona. I think if I was her given everything else she's achieved so far, what an amazing

career she's had, but there is something missing from it to really put the icing on the cake for

her. And on the flip side of all that, I sort of agree with Apple. I want to see more Europeans

coming over to these races. And you know, yes, it's an expensive trip. Yes, it's a big trip,

but they're being paid so well now in these series. Go and make a trip of it and base yourself

down in Australia or New Zealand for a month or so and take on these early races. And it goes to

the T100 as well. I would have loved to see more of our big hitters going over for the T100

and making these races more exciting. Because yes, OK, you may be, as Greg said, you don't want to be

at a pro series race where Kat Matthews is doesn't mean that all the other pro series races are going

to be soft just because Kat isn't going to be there. There's probably going to be another superstar

at those races. So you've got to choose some races where there's hard athletes that are going to

be there to beat. So yeah, I just wish that especially in the women's side, we'd had in both

Jalong and in the T100 just as slightly stronger depth in those fields. It's funny how different the

Jalong fields were, isn't it? Like it's literally so polar opposites. We had Christian blue and

felt Hayden wild and yellow geese going head to head to head and then Kat off the front solo all day.

Like the flashing between it was just to me so so polarizing and going back to a point you made

about Christian blue and felt sprinting from the moment he left his bike. It couldn't have been

more opposite to Kat. Kat jogged out of T2 and I'm like, oh, Kat is just so in control of this race.

Whereas Christian blue and felt explode letter T2 like he was running a three K, you know,

like Apple Apple said he had his palms open fully sprinting from the style of race and I actually

messaged one of my athletes and was like, look, I think too many people put limits on themself

in the half marathon off the bike. Whether you think you are or not, I think when you start

your run off the bike, you kind of have already self limited a little bit. You're like, okay,

let me get into this. Let me settle in. Let me find my pace and my rhythm and and then I'll see

where my legs are today and then I'll kind of check my watch and okay, I'm running that pace,

let me try and build into this. I think that's what almost everyone does. Christian didn't do that

yesterday at Jalong. He literally didn't look at his watch. He got out of T2 and he sprinted

and he went out of the pace that was probably a little bit suicidal and yet he hung on.

And then he had all this positive momentum like he caught Jala and Hayden and got in a little bit

of a battle with them for a little bit and then he broke them and and then I just feel like the way

he ran that is the future of how at least men's half marathon racing is going to going to start

happening over 70 point three and T100 distance where people are going to be way more aggressive

early on the run. So I just wanted to put that on the agenda for like this is a watch this space

over the next year or two with how the next evolution of middle distance racing is going to be

more like brownlee style in short course like everyone is going to start taking out these runs

harder and we're going to see more blowups not not what we're seeing right now which is a lot of

even splits or slow blowups. Dare I say the Yona Schomburg method. Yeah maybe the Yota Schomburg

method a little bit but I'm talking after T2 not T1. Well he did that in the world champs though

like he ran up to yellow and KB and then he just slowly died and got bored but that is what he

does. So yeah I think there's something really to be said about that check but we'll watch this

space and you know 20 meters different dynamics like things are shifting and it's going to take

we're going to see over the next few months how race has changed race to race based on

these factors because we're all actually having to figure it out a little bit differently now

you know I can speak from experience now that I've done one apple might feel the same it is

slightly different and it plays a role in the run as well say it gelong do you think that changed

with the 20 meter draft zone or do you think it would have been the same anyway do you think at

the top level it's not really changing that much or do you think it is changing. I personally do

I don't see this narrative I've read it I've heard people's opinions that results aren't changing

and okay maybe results aren't changing that much I think the best people are still going to win

races right I think the dynamics are changing a lot though like a lot a lot I don't think Hayden would

have got away on the bike the way he did if it was 12 meters so yes Christian might have still one

yellow might have come second and Hayden might have come third but the way the race played out

I think wildly different Christian would not have got dropped off the back of that bike I don't

think so he would have probably been in T2 with yellow and Hayden and then the races is different

and I think it Dallas as well what we saw with Lionel and Ari Klaus on that battle like that would have

been so different if it had have been a 12 meter race and I think New Zealand with Trevor Foley I'm

not saying Trevor wouldn't have won that race at 12 meters but he wouldn't have won it in that

fashion in that dominant fashion I think it's opening the door for people like Trevor Foley

and I think it's making it harder for other people like maybe yourself Apo as an example I reckon

you're someone who's hurt probably more than anyone by the 12 to 20 meter rule change so yeah I do

think it's changing things a little bit if you look out if you look at cat yesterday it's along I

think that I think that group chasing cat would have ridden a little bit more time into her not

or not lost as much time so I think the gaps are going to be bigger in some of the women's races where

the strong cyclists can actually show that out in front yeah it's interesting I will say like Christian

said in his post-race interview that it was kind of like half a conscious decision to drop off

that group and half like he didn't blow up because we saw him like get dropped and then he kind of

sustained like just held that 50 seconds behind and I actually think that the 20 meter draft zone

could actually make people like run faster because you saw with Christian he was just riding his

own race for that second lap of the bike like he's able to ride the peaks and valleys of you know

how he's feeling he's not getting the pace dictated to him by Hayden he's able to fuel

and hydrate on his own discretion rather than held to the packed dynamics so I don't know I think

I think you're right with Trevor I think that was probably a big advantage for him the 20 meter draft

zone in New Zealand but yeah I wonder if we'll start seeing some faster run splits because we

I mean we've seen fast run splits at New Zealand and then at Jolong so I'm wondering if the 20 meter

zone is giving people more ability to ride their own race and their own effort like a bit more

measured rather than packed dynamics and getting off and running faster just a bit of a hypothesis

that I have I just think it depends who you are let me use like yellow gains as an example here

he's always had the drafting benefit because he swims well enough to stay in that front group he

can sit in and then he can run fast off it so I think with 20 meters yellow won't run faster unless

he's like much fitter I think yellow will run a tiny bit slower all the same whereas if you're

someone who has never really had the benefit of the 12 meter draft yes now maybe you will because

you're not destroying yourself for the first 20k the bike to try and catch a group so that you do

get the benefits so you ride a little bit more consistently over the entire ride like I think we

saw Christian do and then you run faster so I think for some people you'll run faster and for

others you'll run much slower actually I think that's a great insight that's a secret to

griggs five minute P.O. yeah well I never had the 12 meter draft you know effect I just got dropped

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TTH that one was all right there was one other race this weekend so we had the T100

season opener in Gold Coast and I think I touched upon it before I was a bit disappointed purely

from the strength of field and I don't think that's a reflection as much on T100 as maybe

some of the athletes potentially just choosing to skip we also had quite a few injuries illnesses

there's at least one pregnancy so there's been a kind they've had a bit of a hit I think especially

to that women's start list I mean last year we obviously had amazing performances from Kate

Waffle season she's been a bit injured so she wasn't able to start Lucy Charles Barclays coming

back from injury as well you missing hometown hero Ash gentle who's now pregnant so all

immediately those things kind of wipe out some of your hitters from the field but I think it was

an opportunity and I said this about you know when I was talking about Jelong as well I really wish

some of the probably more European or American based women had decided that they were going to

go over to whether it be Australia or New Zealand and train over there for a month or so and

you know invest in that as a kind of offseason or winter I should say if you're from the northern

hemisphere camp and go and then hit those early races because I think some of them will be kicking

themselves I think some of them will look at that and say I had an opportunity to go there and get

a really good score on the board and earn some serious money I mean $50,000 for the win is no joke

and Taylor nibb turned up and I don't know how fit Taylor is right now but she's arguably the best

to ever do this and so having her there is always a draw and dominated the race but then because

so many other athletes chose not to be there open the door for someone like a Jess Fuller

short course athlete who's never race longer than an Olympic distance has only done three

weeks of training on a borrowed TT bike and turned up and showed that another star is born and so

it's has given opportunities to other athletes but I would have loved to see some of the more you

know regulars turning up to to the season opener and you know I guess we've got many more races to

go in the year so far but a bit of a bit of a more moderate start maybe now it's kind of weird you

brought up Jess Fuller I mean I know she had a great race and this one to see but I heard she was

coached by your husband so you're obviously bringing her up on the podcast you know I'm holy biased

yes so is she does he coach her just through British track on or like just like they actually have

a one-on-one like he's her coach I'm just actually curious oh no she trains in his squad every day

here in Leeds you know there yeah I mean that's kind of how the the coaching tends to work with

in British travel and without going into the boring details of it but yes she is his athlete he

is coached for a little while now yes yeah yeah he's fully coaching her I was fun to watch her and

it's someone to watch the future I enjoyed watching her and Nusa at the end of last year just like

kind of right off the front and be like what's up everyone she's a racer akin to Georgia Taylor

Brown both of whom have a racing head unlike pretty much anyone else I've ever met the way that they

can just turn it on in a race is something really special to watch in it obviously lends itself to

being a really high level triathlete and not many people can do it some people can be excellent a

training and can't really get there that racer out that dog out of them on on race day but Jess

is absolutely someone who can do that and yeah it was pretty exciting because I'll be honest she's

not targeted this race in a training it's been her training has sort of lent itself to this race

at this time of year but it's not been the main focus by any means and to do that was was pretty

special I thought do you think it will become a focus for her because second behind Taylor and

what is it for second like $40,000 like she's got to be thinking it's a serious day if I can

yeah if I can do if I can bank another couple of podiums this year like I'm walking away with

you know 150 grand this year and just prize money like is that yeah is that what she's thinking

or I mean you don't have to tell us on the podcast but yeah I mean I can't I can't speak for her

and obviously these are the conversations that her and Reese will be having but I know that it was

all a bit up in the air she really wanted this wild card which she got to do the racing goalco

she's been over there for a month already training on a on a British triathlon training camp

so it's sort of fitting quite nicely and then that hope was always that she would do well

enough that she got an invite back to a race or maybe two races later on in the season

they were working out which ones might fit and what which ones they might ask for for entries too

but now that she's done so well she's kind of thinking well how do I get the whole series in

or at least enough to score overall in the series and that will be the challenge because as much as

it's exciting and it's really good money and it's it's enticing to go and do the more

she is a short course athlete at heart and she's got other aims which mean that she's got to stick

in there with a short course and continue to make improvements there because I'm pretty sure

that it would be no secret to say that the Olympic dream burns pretty brightly for her

and to get there is incredibly difficult with the likes of Beth Potter, Georgia Taylor Brown,

Kate Woff of course you know there are others as well it's really hard to make that team so

yeah a bit of a split focus possibly this year. Vicki I'm sick of seeing these great Britain

women waste their time in short course okay for some of them it's great. They're not wasting their

time they're going for the greatest sporting event on earth the greatest on that. No I love the D-100

but no it is of course the Olympic Games I get it I dreamed of it from being a kid come on.

But Vicki come on like someone like you or non-stanford or Helen Jenkins you a few of you have

success Georgia Taylor Brown but so many of you don't and Kate Woff is the perfect example of it

just wasting her time in short course comes over to T-100 she's now got close to a million bucks

in her bank account after one year in the sport she would never have got that if she just stayed

tucked away in the short course world coming 18th in these races that Greg's never heard of

and just fully get is another example she has podiumed at the grand final like she's not bad and

how much did she make Vicki eight grand she made eight grand for it and who did Greg did you

know that she podiumed at the grand final? Yes. Thank you Greg. Absolutely. We have all conviction

next time please. Let's redo that. We do that. Don't get me wrong Vicki short course is a higher

standard than what the race that just did on the weekend is it undeniable it is short course

racing is the pinnacle of this sport when it comes to performance so don't think that I'm saying

that short course is not like a high level or not something that you should pursue I'm just saying

why would you if you're just full ago like why would you she's just made more money in a day

than she's probably made in a year in short course last year? Why wouldn't she just stay there and

try and build upon that and then you know build upon that the net the following year and so many great

Britain women fall into this kind of pitfall because the Olympics and short course is so popular in

Great Britain more than it is in probably any other country when it comes to triathlon so we've

seen with Kate Woffer now just full ago these women are kind of laying dormant in the short course

world come across to like middle distance racing and make heaps of cash and like don't get beaten up

and destroyed by this Olympic dream that's kind of I would say fruitless for most of the women

in Great Britain like there's three or four that have that have gone and won medals.

Yeah Vicki's so pissed right now and then the rest haven't and look at Jess Fullerga she's

made 40 grand yesterday Vicki. She's not all about the money thank you it's not all about the

money. It is like okay there's a balance. No, no, no, what's the balance? If you're 24 years old

you don't have kids you're like Olympic dream okay if you're 32 you have a kid maybe you're like

I'm gonna do longer I mean look right I'm not in this position but like your priorities change

when you get into your 30s and have real responsibilities and shit. Yeah but you're gonna make

hey while the sun's shining Greg like you can't you can't teach 24-year-old and 25-year-old's

lessons like that they have to learn that they're on their own. No really like about life and

responsibilities like they want their Olympic dreams like that's that they've dreamed of. If you

guys convince Jess Fullerga to stop doing short course and leave and go off and do middle

distance I'm gonna have to leave the podcast because my husband will divorce me.

So can you just stop it please now. All right we've just spent 15 minutes talking about Jess's

second place but we brushed over Taylor's pretty dominant win like I mean did we expect anything

less from Taylor though really like she's she was the far out favorite for that and I think like

you said Greg it was good that she went and traveled and probably didn't really feel like

traveling all the way to Australia for that race but yeah I think great that she went and did it

and I think she's backing up and doing ocean side in six days as well so pretty quick turnaround.

I want to quickly be critical on Taylor for a second because yeah I'm just not impressed with

her ability to navigate tough swims and you know she's always like the student of the sport and

like I you know even her transitions and things like the women are getting so she was so dominant

and I feel like all the women are catching up she needs to she needs to be better at that shit

like she's let out at the short course level like Jack said highest performance there is

there's no way she should have been dropped in that swim she should have been at the front

it's navigation it's planning it's homework it's all that type of stuff so I want Taylor to be

better on that front because as a fan and a late friend I think she can do better I don't think

it that Taylor's problem is the homework or the preparation trust me Taylor if you haven't

noticed is a little bit on the spectrum when it comes to that kind of thing no one does more homework

or preparation than her but I do think she's timid Greg I think she lacks a little bit of that

you know I'm going to kill myself here in this sketchy situation you look at her bike handling

her bike handling suffers because she's a little timid so she doesn't corner like a psychopath

and I think when the ocean is really really choppy and there's waves that you have to run through

and you can't see that well it feels a little bit chaotic I think that's where Taylor suffers

like no one is better at Taylor when it comes to homework and preparation I just think she is

a little bit timid that's all you got to go over that you want to win Olympic medals and stuff

like that you know can we also address another elephant in the room which is just the T-100

as a whole and single sex race so we had the women's race at Gold Coast Vicki the T-100 I don't

know whether you have insight on this but they seem to be making a lot of budget cuts everywhere

I know the commentary was remote on the weekend I know they're not paying people nearly as much I

know you know yarns not doing it and Alex I don't think he's doing it as well I think budget cut

reasons I think they've made changes behind the scenes can you give us some insight into the

financial side of things and what did you think about the single sex race do you think it's going

to be a success or a failure I can't give you any insight into budget cuts because it's just not

my wheelhouse as you know I work in commentary I don't work behind the scenes I don't work in

their London offices I'm not involved in these kind of discussions what I can talk about I guess

is how I feel that the single sex dynamic plays out and I think I said about it last year when

it was first announced that it wouldn't be my preference I would prefer to keep the men and the

women together I think it makes a more exciting weekend of racing to have both of them there I get

the reasons that they've done it it gives them the opportunity to keep as many races and not have

athletes have to race as much so I kind of understand that I still wish we'd had the men there as well

I think it would have been a better weekend of racing with the men and I guess that's probably where

yeah and I look guys I want to implement a rule in 2026 we can't sit here and bash the T100

every time they have a race because we actually we do like I man racing is it's better than ever

middle distance and long distance racing it's better than ever and I'm just now at the point where

I'm not even willing to be critical about what T100 are doing because they don't listen to us so

where it's not it's at this point it's not constructive criticism because they don't listen to

anything anyone else says they just do their own thing and spend their money how they want so

that's not getting us anywhere and if I reckon they're on the borderline I reckon they're they're

very close to just not being a thing anymore so I just want to support him this year because we

actually need them and we need the competition and yes the race at the goal coast was very boring

it was one before it started it sucks there wasn't a men's race they need to go back to it in 2027

let's hope that 2027 is a little bit better than what 2026 looks like it's going to be but

this year has to be a year of just putting out arm around the t100 and trying to get people to

still watch their races because the viewership you know I checked just before we went on this

37,000 people had watched the YouTube stream that is very very low compared to the 110,000 that

have watched the Jolong stream so yes we could be critical I don't think they're doing everything

perfectly but let's just kind of try and avoid that this year and not be the the pile on to the

t100 podcast because look we need him and we need the strength of middle distance and long distance

triathlon to keep growing moving on though I wanted to bring a little bit of a discussion point

to the podcast and that's that Colin Shartier's three year ban for taking EPO is coming to an

end this Thursday on March 26 which is crazy I bet you a lot of people haven't thought about that

and the potential he has for coming back to racing so guys I knew that I've had this date saved

him my calendar for a long time it came up on my Apple calendar and so I sent Colin Shartier

a message and I said mate your ban ends this Thursday what are you going to do what race you're

going to do and he said I will come back to Iron Man racing I promise you that and I said yeah cool

which one and he goes well I'm actually still banned my band doesn't actually end this Thursday

and I said why what happened and he goes well after I got banned I went on a bike packing trip

and I wasn't filling in my location but you have to constantly fill in your location when you're

serving a doping ban and therefore because he had to missed like where whereabouts kind of things

for lack of a better word violation he actually has to serve a longer ban so he's actually got

2.5 years additional ban so he's three year ban has actually turned into a 5.5 year ban so I was

really excited and thinking oh Colin's going to be back this will be fun no he's is banned

doesn't actually end this weekend and a funny little anecdote on this is he tried to enter a

UTMB half marathon that was coming up really really soon and he got an email back from them and

for those of you who don't know UTMB is Iron Man they're owned by Iron Man so Iron Man sent Colin

Shartier an email saying that his entry to this half marathon had been rejected and he was not

welcome to race and that's how he found out about all of this extra ban stuff because he thought

he's banned was lifted turned out now he's almost got another 3 years to serve how could you not know

I've been curious about this because you know it's like oh you get banned are they still testing

you and I figured they were I didn't know so I'm kind of happy this happened because athletes

could kind of cheat the system that way so obviously they're still you know checks and balances

even when you are a ban but yeah and in either way I don't give a fuck about Colin Shartier so

I don't care when he comes back to Iron Man I don't think he's very good and if he's not

taking Epo he's going to be he might be shittier than me so he probably shouldn't come back because

it's going to be a tough life for you out there and yeah Jack what was this I think the words

that came out your mouth where I was I'm excited to have you back mate what excuse me

well they're friends they're friends but you're not excited to welcome them back into the world

of professional sport when they've been a drugs cheat no thank you yeah I mean I'm excited in

the way that it would have been kind of funny for a little bit but then once he actually started

racing I would have been like oh this is kind of shitty don't worry I'm not pro drug cheat

and we've had other people who failed tests and and come back to the sport in the past so

it's it's not like he would have been the first Thomas Rodriguez I don't know if you've been

following his Instagram Vicky but he is posting like a mad man he looks as fit as ever he's coming back

and that's going to be exciting because he's going to caught hate like no one else in the history

of triathlon I think yeah I think you're right Greg you had some thoughts on a uh

past convicted dope from last weekend didn't you well you know yeah you know we raised Dallas

last weekend and I'm just leaving inspired like there was a man convicted drug cheat

at the age of 45 set in a 20 watt power PB on the bike this is like it's just stuff out of

fairy tales like I'm just leaving the weekend so inspired by such a performance by a man like that

and I don't know I just I just have butterflies in my stomach like they should make a movie about it

or something because it's freaking amazing like how it's amazing like congrats to that to that

gentleman you don't want to name names Greg you know legal told me about it but uh maybe his power

means it was just broken right yeah you know but you know I did post a story it was from Joel

Philly all right he he put the TUE list is like it's not public but they're they say what TUE's

are like being applied for right so saw some peptides in there so yeah maybe wonder

speaking of Dallas Greg wasn't the only thing you were a little bit unhappy about that day

well look I'm not going to go into the details of like how swims get shortened and stuff

because I'm you know I'm trying behind the scenes to make that better contingency plans

but what I wanted to rant about is they're like we're pro triathletes who were like laughing when

it happened like oh I'm going home early today and I just want to say go fuck yourself like

I know who you were and I beat your ass too without a swim so you really suck like honestly

if you're a pro triathlete and you're like cheering and making light of a situation with

the like canceling a swim I just think you're just like so bottoms barrel scum that like

I don't even want to share the race course with you because you're a joke so that's really what I

care about I just want pros to respect the course in each other like that someone like Lionel

Sanders he's like yeah this that kind of suited me but he's not cheering for it the real athletes

want to race the whole thing so you know that that's just like they're those guys are not even

professionals and like I feel like disrespected that I even have to share the course with someone

like that because you suck a triathlon and you shouldn't be in the sport if that's how you feel

Greg is going after someone and none of us know who it is I'm real curious is this person Greg can

you say it will be about their name here no no because it was like a group of people and you know

I'm not exactly quite let's just move on from it I don't I think your point about Lionel not

cheering it is a really good one because I coach Ari who was going to come second in that race

don't tell me he wasn't before blister gate and Lionel who won that race they're the two who

are benefiting from that more than anyone and Ari was pissed off Ari wants to show his whole triathlon

performance even if it means he has a worse race like he doesn't want that toathlon I guarantee

you Lionel doesn't either he's like yes it makes my race easier but I want to do the full swim

bike and run so I think you're right Greg I think most professional triathletes want the full

swim bike and run and would be a little willing to incur the risk that comes with a dodgy swim

obviously there's there's other things you know there's the water safety of the people who are

guaranteeing swim safety that we need to take into account there's ways around that but anyway

like you said Greg let's not get into that but the bike was just as dangerous not at one point

was anyone like let's cancel the bike it apparently was the craziest bike ride ever a multiple people

got hit there was crashes out there no one cares about that this isn't hyperbole it was the

windiest conditions I've ever ridden in yeah it was insane like just some of the corners you

would take if you were turning into the headwind and the wind would like pick up your front wheel as

you're turning like there was times where I was 100% sure that my front wheel was going to get

wiped out but it was crazy like I like I know people say I was the craziest windiest of it but

honestly that was pretty insane and there was some crashes Jack like you said but you know I don't

know if we can talk about that I think it's probably the state of Texas for somebody else it's

still still open it's still an open open case but you just know there'll be some big lawsuits

given that it was an American race like some Americans crashing into 70.3 is guaranteed law

suits isn't it 100% and shared out to you as well Greg one 13 obviously a five minute half

marathon PB that was that was a great race by you and fifth place for you as well Apo good start

to your year shout out to both of you boys you're both doing ocean side this week I assume

I am I got scared listening to the road to ocean side podcast from all their hard training

and talking shit on me so I actually decided to pull off their headwind. We've been eating good

with that road to ocean side series and I mean not necessarily just the content but there's some

nuggets in there that I just like sometimes I'm out on a run and someone will say something and I

legit have to like stop and pause and like rewind and just double check that I heard that correctly

like I don't want to go after someone in particular but we talk about Justin saying that

he's in 107 30 to 108 30 half marathon shape the guys never broken 117

the absolute bonus on this guide you just casually drop that and no one push back that's

what pissed me off the most actually is that not even are you just like went along with it and

Jackson and I'm just like are you guys really not gonna push back on this okay let's do this let's

do this I've been waiting all summer for this Apo or all winter for the the northern hemispheres

while I've been listening to the road to ocean side so many things have been said that I've just

been like is anyone is anyone else hearing this and I bet you there's so many people like us

that are listening to this who don't have anyone to talk to about who have just heard some of the

most insane shit out of jacko arey and Justin's mouths and it's just like are these bloke serious

right here and that's a perfect example Apo I did the same thing when Justin was like yeah I'm

probably in 108 30 uh fresh half marathon shape oh well you know somewhere between 107 30 and 109

30 like how is 109 30 the slowest point there like yeah maybe somewhere between 107 and

124 like if he said that I'd be like oh yeah that sounds reasonable like definitely not 107 maybe

closer to 124 but he's he's telling the world the slowest I'm not running slower than 109 30 and 8

minute PB well we've got a week to wait I mean to his credit he did say that is fresh he didn't say

that was his off the bike um but you know unless we're seeing Justin some serious wheels in an

open half marathon I'm I'm calling bullshit on that one or I'm calling the gandrol on that one

the blind confidence of Justin reality though it's just like damn it makes him a god damn good racer

and he races you know every race he shows up to he usually like performs I feel like at the upper

end of his capacity because he has no fear and he has this great confidence so it's you know

obviously don't go out at you know 109 30 pace Justin because you won't make it to the finish line

but I'm looking forward to a run PB from you we're just adding fuel to the fire we probably

shouldn't know he's gonna listen to me yeah he's gonna listen to this and go I'm gonna show you guys

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love it all details for that are in today's show notes. I actually had beef with one of my old

athletes Jackson so basically he said that he wasn't swimming hard over the winter and I just

want to say you literally stopped following my plan last October you muggle is it really coaching

if you're telling the coach what you need and when to swim hard on what days no and you're uncouchable

and you've been uncouchable since October and that's why you swim like shit in that world championship

the most important race of the year because you stopped listening to what I was saying so

that's all I got to say about that. It's hard to see why you got fired from that coaching job Greg.

You're so personable. Jacko wasn't feeling the love I don't think.

He wasn't feeling supported in his work hours.

This has kind of been done to death but I want to have the final word on this because we as a

podcast haven't actually come together and discussed our opinions on the R&K blisters and

I feel like there's two sides of the fence on this one and I'm not sitting on the fence I'm

definitely I'm firmly on one side. We've all had blisters right. Have you ever like

dropped out of a race? And you know I might be a little bit harsher on Ari because I feel like

I've extended the olive branch ever since I said that his beats were mid some time 12 months ago

Ari doesn't respond to any interaction that I have with him like I'll see him and I'll give him

the wave at a you know to probe reefing or something or like the you know the two fingers up the

deuces goose egg and on the run in the race after the first lap I saw Ari was catching Lionel

and I gave him a bit of encouragement you know I'm kind of one of those athletes that kind of

likes a bit of camaraderie out there with my competitors and then when I saw him walking

I actually passed him and I was like you are right man like what's going on nothing again

and I just like I just feel like he's snobbed me he never writes back to my messages or anything so

I'm on the fence that I think it's a bitch move to drop out and yeah I mean honest yeah I'm just

baffled by it and I think it's weak thoughts discuss open forum just the classic Ari Clare

is this opinion though just because you're a bit miffed and offended by him potentially

okay okay blisters though like yo dog you've got to win a 70.3 the first like even making

YouTube videos you're out there crying on your YouTube after Indian Wells and here we are two

years later you're about to win a race and you drop out because blisters were any what was he not

wearing socks I heard I mean like I don't know what the dude is out there doing it's just a

classic Ari Clare move and then we had we went up to get barbecue and then he wasn't even sitting

with us he had to go hang out with his girlfriend and his friends and I wanted to hang out with my

boy and hear about his blisters but I couldn't like we weren't we weren't hanging out so I feel snobbed

as well and I don't really know it's hard to say why he wouldn't want to hang out with you folks like

this is sounding a little bit high school here lads you you're a little bit but because you wanted

to be with the man of the hour the one everyone's talking about because of his bloody blisters

and he didn't want to talk to you I'm just gonna put it out there that if I'm not the top

finisher at ocean side out of the guys on the road to ocean side series and myself Greg's not

racing I'll come on air and I'll sing you know that song loser by Beck I'll come on this podcast

and I will sing that for you guys if I'm not sure out of this podcast I wanted to I want to change

tact because I've got no comment on Ari's blisters I think that something that has been an underlying

theme throughout the road to ocean side is that Justin and Ari are relatively unproven neither

of them have won a race whereas Jackson Laundry has literally one ocean side and has the course

record and yes that does get brought up occasionally but what happens is they go through their weeks

and they discuss their training and it's like Justin on the fittest I've ever been you know my

legs were smashed my legs were so smashed but I still have 420 watts for 60 minutes and Ari's like

yeah I did four by 15 minutes at 480 watts and then Jack oh come on and be like yeah I did like

eight by one minutes at 400 watts and then I went into 20 minutes at 280 watts and he just like

he has these really underwhelming sessions he doesn't go into this like hyperbolic detail about

how good he is and how fit he is and he never pulls them up on it either he's never like guys I've

beaten your ass I'm the course record holder of one this race I beat Alistair Brownlee like you guys

aren't beating me I'm the big dog here like he's let these two young pups come in and kind of

assert dominance over him and he doesn't call him out ever and it's been frustrating because Jackson

you are the course record holder you beat Alistair Brownlee put these boys in their place

and Apple just the unassuming Canadian isn't he all right enough fun about these boys let's

let's do some predictions Vicki Greg and Apple with ocean side coming up this weekend give me your

first to third out of the three boys in order to finish this weekend I'm gonna back Ari I think

if he can sort his bloody feet out he's on the cusp of something pretty special so I'm going for him

number one going for Jackson as our reliable course record holder at number two and just in at number

three sorry Justin yeah I think I pretty much agree with that the only question mark is how much

time does Ari lose in the swim right and even with the new 20 meter rule does Jackson and

Justin get enough time when Ari into t2 I think not the way that Ari rode at Dallas and the

ways running I think he'll be within striking distance so I'm gonna go Ari Jackson Justin as well

I was gonna do that but I'm changing because I don't want to be like you guys so I mean some say

Jackson takes the win you know easy to say he's the course record holder and it seems like he's

running really well and that was his question mark last year when these guys are like in the mix

with them so if Jackson runs 112 like 113 he's gonna be Ari I think Ari number two and just

number three and our man apple probably win the whole thing and beat him all thanks Greg I think I

agree I think Ari I think it'll be really close between Ari and Jackson if Ari can finish I think

that's the big question can Ari actually get through the race like honestly I'm not taking the

piss there at all I reckon there's a chance he's I honestly think there's a chance this blister

thing pops up again I'm not joking he's got the glue method I know I know he's got the super glue

method I'm telling you I reckon there's a chance it pops up again I just have a bad gut feeling on

it but let's see let's see let's wait and see if he gets through the race I think it'll be super

close between him and Jackson but I'll pick Ari then Jackson I think Justin I just don't think he's

runs where he thinks it is I think he'll be really really good swimming bike like he'll be in a

position where he looks like he's going to win it out of these three but I think the run will get

long on him and I think he'll run no faster than 113 and I don't I don't think that's enough to

beat these two so yeah that's my order right guys that was fun a really fun first episode back

I've missed you guys and I think it's time that we went back to our respective families and

agreed to meet again next week we won't go stool for two months this time and just quickly before

we leave Vicki just like last year we loved getting you all involved in the show it really was

the best part of 2025 here on the triathlon now in fact we wouldn't have half of the in jokes that

I I wrapped about earlier in the show if it wasn't for your Spotify comments so just like last year

after this episode jump onto the Spotify comments leave a comment about something we talked about

in this show take the piss out of one of us all of us take the piss out of each other take the

piss out of arey clownies blisters do whatever you want but get in those Spotify comments and leave

them if you have any questions or topics that you want us to discuss on the podcast then put them

there as well because next week we'll read out the best Spotify comments just like we did last year

and yeah if it's if it's a question that you have will answer that if it's if it's a discussion

that you want us to have we'll talk about that or like last year if you do say something funny

that makes your chances of getting read out all the higher uh apo gregg vicki so good to be back

just honestly so so good to be back this is this was so fun um let's do it do it all again next week

it's good to be back baby plug baby