Full Transcript for 2026 OCC Recap: Lauren Gregory's Race For The Ages (Our Analysis)

00:04:23.759 --> 00:04:45.759 Like it wasn't like there was huge tabs being kept on her, but be it's and obvious I understand why, because there's so much star power in the race, and you know, Naomi Lang seemed to be dominating up front, and the only one who was a close chaser the whole time was Sarah Alonzo. 00:04:46.480 --> 00:04:56.079 I think at one point Lauren was seven or nine minutes back from Naomi, like at the first point, you know, two hours into the race. 00:04:56.319 --> 00:05:20.480 And then, you know, just as just being a Lauren fan, I'd been tracking Lauren's progress pretty much individually relative to just the lead, and just the way it was going was Lauren's trending much closer to the front than anyone like some of the commentators might be realizing. 00:05:20.800 --> 00:05:24.800 And you know, it was like seven minutes, six minutes, four minutes, two minutes. 00:05:25.040 --> 00:05:32.879 And then I was like, wait a minute, the way this is going, Lauren's gonna be around the lead by the finish. 00:05:33.120 --> 00:05:45.360 And I think the last night before the race, I was talking to Leah, and I was like, if if Lauren's within 60 seconds of the leaders within the last 5k, she's going to win the race. 00:05:45.759 --> 00:06:01.040 This is something that I might have talked with to you in previous episodes, or maybe it might have been with like Mike offline, but I was trying to compare eras of coverage in our sport and kind of how that influences our perception of where people are at in the field and what is possible at the end of the race. 00:06:01.199 --> 00:06:10.959 And I think when it was really just I run far on the scene, we had this like very broad, deeper appreciation of the entire top 10 on both sides and kind of where they were in the fields. 00:06:11.120 --> 00:06:21.519 And I think because of the constraints of live streams right now and where you can put cameras, um, there's like necessarily a fixation on the very, very, very front of the races. 00:06:21.600 --> 00:06:26.000 It was like Fred and Naishon, and it was Sarah and Naomi forever. 00:06:26.160 --> 00:06:34.639 And it was kind of like there had to be some sort of massive shakeup for anyone behind to come in, or you'd see uh people on like a static KmAT and Aid Station. 00:06:34.720 --> 00:06:35.839 But otherwise, it's very tough. 00:06:36.399 --> 00:06:45.920 Unless you have like the live tracker on your computer and the live stream side by side, um, the live stream is not necessarily going to give you that perspective, I feel. 00:06:46.000 --> 00:06:46.160 Right? 00:06:46.480 --> 00:06:46.959 Yeah, yeah. 00:06:47.040 --> 00:06:54.000 And as a commentator, it it gets so difficult to keep an eye on one individual person. 00:06:54.079 --> 00:06:57.279 Like I was able to do it because I was not talking about the race. 00:06:57.439 --> 00:07:11.680 You know, you're so it's so hard already just watching the race from however many different cameras that they're

trying to navigate, then to be like see that out of the woodworks, you know, Lauren is trending upwards. 00:07:11.920 --> 00:07:14.240 Um yeah, so yeah, it's tricky. 00:07:14.319 --> 00:07:19.279 And you know, then it comes up to like, yeah, how many follow cams can we have on course? 00:07:19.439 --> 00:07:24.160 Or someone like Lauren's case, Lauren didn't even move up into third for a while. 00:07:24.399 --> 00:07:29.360 So it still would have been Lauren out of like way out of contention. 00:07:30.000 --> 00:07:43.040 But I mean, and also in a way though, that added to some amazing excitement because I was watching the live stream while standing at let's call it like a quarter mile to go. 00:07:43.199 --> 00:07:45.600 Less no, half mile ago, probably half mile ago. 00:07:46.079 --> 00:07:54.720 So we're standing there, we're watching the live stream, and you know, they're talking about yeah, at one point they they had a follow cam on Sarah, and you could see Naomi. 00:07:55.120 --> 00:08:01.040 It was on the final climb uh before you descend down into town into Chamonix here. 00:08:01.519 --> 00:08:07.920 And you could see Sarah and Naomi in the same camera, and they were talking like, oh, Sarah seems to be closing. 00:08:08.079 --> 00:08:09.839 Oh, maybe not, Naomi's still going. 00:08:10.000 --> 00:08:15.759 And then all of a sudden, Lauren just pops up into the frame, and it was like uh like they got scared. 00:08:15.839 --> 00:08:19.040 They were like, Wow, oh my gosh, and Lauren's right here. 00:08:19.120 --> 00:08:24.959 And then Lauren just went around and they were like, Is is is Lauren actually going to be the one that catches Naomi? 00:08:25.120 --> 00:08:37.919 And then Naomi started blasting that final descent, and it was like, oh, this is not a given because the rate at which Lauren passed Sarah was not the rate that Lauren was catching up to Naomi. 00:08:38.080 --> 00:09:01.120 I was like, okay, so this might actually not be in the bag, and then and then I turned my phone off because I heard heard some noise, and then when they went by me, they were together in the streets of Chamony along the river, and then popped the live stream back on to watch the final two minutes, and Maddie and I are just standing there screaming at our phone. 00:09:01.200 --> 00:09:02.080 It was it was incredible. 00:09:02.399 --> 00:09:09.919 From what you can recall, just based on both of their body languages and kind of like what was going on with their face, could could you have already predicted the winner right there? 00:09:10.000 --> 00:09:11.360 Or was it up in the air still? 00:09:11.840 --> 00:09:12.159 No. 00:09:12.320 --> 00:09:19.039 They like Lauren was in the lead, but Naomi was so close, like the elastic had not been broken. 00:09:19.360 --> 00:09:25.200 And like looking at Lauren's face, I was like, Lauren's going all out. 00:09:25.360 --> 00:09:26.879 Like there is there are no more moves. 00:09:26.960 --> 00:09:33.440 So like Lauren has to just squeeze this one down, but there will be no like additional big kick gear. 00:09:33.600 --> 00:09:35.120 And that's what ended up being the case. 00:09:35.279 --> 00:09:46.240 It was over the next like 90 seconds that where the gap went from like a foot to a meter to two meters, and then it ended up, you know, ballooning all the way up to three seconds. 00:09:46.639 --> 00:09:53.039 And again, this I this was I was just sitting in our Airbnb watching the live stream, and it had sort of like the Sky Cam. 00:09:53.120 --> 00:10:04.159 From the Sky Cam perspective, and it sounds like my perception here was wrong, but from the Sky Cam perspective, it looked like Lauren was totally informed Naomi's biomechanics were faltering. 00:10:04.399 --> 00:10:15.679 And again, maybe because I'm biased and I'm thinking about Lauren's track background, it looked from the Sky Cam like she was teeing up a final lap track style kick, and everything was in control. 00:10:16.159 --> 00:10:38.480 So I ran into Lauren after at the finish line, after like she did all the media interviews and we were chatting a little bit, and I was like, you I was like, you made it look like you wanted to make this a very dramatic race where it's like, I'm gonna sit, I'm gonna sit, I'm gonna go by in the streets of Chamony, I'm timing this to perfection, blah, blah. 00:10:38.639 --> 00:10:43.679 And she was like, I had no idea what a single gap was the entire day. 00:10:43.919 --> 00:10:48.159 She was just running her race and slowly moving up. 00:10:48.320 --> 00:10:52.480 She was like, I didn't know how far the lead was, I didn't know how far like second or third was. 00:10:52.720 --> 00:11:00.000 People, you know, on course would yell at me and tell me numbers, but like, how how believable is that ever? 00:11:00.639 --> 00:11:03.919 So she was like, I never knew until I was there. 00:11:04.080 --> 00:11:11.279 And then and then she said, Yeah, once we got into town and I went around Naomi, that was it. 00:11:11.440 --> 00:11:12.639 I had nothing left. 00:11:12.720 --> 00:11:17.600 Like that was my gear, and just had to hope that was gonna win, and that wasn't just enough. 00:11:17.759 --> 00:11:23.840 So she just happened to play it to perfection, but that was not on purpose. 00:11:24.159 --> 00:11:32.639 It's crazy that what can look theatrical to us and in practice or in the field is actually just like it's it's a little bit up to chance. 00:11:32.879 --> 00:11:36.159 Yeah, she was just like, no, that was the way I was planning to race. 00:11:36.320 --> 00:11:42.320 I was all out at the end, and it just happened to be extremely dramatic the way that played out. 00:11:42.639 --> 00:11:45.759 We'll definitely have more to say about Lauren and Fred in a moment. 00:11:46.000 --> 00:11:57.440 The other I think the other storyline that could be worth touching on here is some of the course-cutting penalties that we saw, especially in the men's field, that affected the middle of

the top ten. 00:11:57.679 --> 00:12:05.200 And the the live stream commentators were sort of defining the ground rules and how tight the parameters were around what constitutes it. 00:12:05.279 --> 00:12:17.919 Like it can be even just barely stepping off course and trampling on some of the vegetation, or it can be like a what you would traditionally conceive of a course cut as is like taking a bunch of cutting through a bunch of switchbacks and really taking off time. 00:12:18.159 --> 00:12:20.399 But uh this cost a lot of people in the race. 00:12:20.480 --> 00:12:33.759 I mean, there were two of the ex-bionic athletes who this audience might not be totally familiar with, uh Francesco Poopy, a few other, and it definitely played a major role in the outcome of the top ten, but you have insights here as well. 00:12:34.000 --> 00:12:35.759 Was there any on the women's side that you heard of? 00:12:35.840 --> 00:12:37.200 I actually didn't heard on the men's side. 00:12:37.600 --> 00:12:38.639 It was only on the men's side. 00:12:38.960 --> 00:12:45.360 So I must have like it's funny how like you feel like you walk, you know, you walk around chamony. 00:12:45.600 --> 00:12:49.200 It's like you run into everyone, but at the same time, you never run into anyone. 00:12:49.759 --> 00:12:56.879 I like it was just me walking from like where I was standing to trying to get around behind the finish line, but ran into Francesco. 00:12:57.039 --> 00:12:58.799 And you know, he was affected by this. 00:12:58.879 --> 00:13:01.360 He stood for head was forced to stand for it was three minutes. 00:13:01.600 --> 00:13:02.080 Three minutes, yeah. 00:13:02.320 --> 00:13:02.799 Archantier. 00:13:02.960 --> 00:13:04.960 Yeah, so I told him, I was like, dude, great race. 00:13:05.039 --> 00:13:07.440 Like, what a gear change from Western states. 00:13:07.519 --> 00:13:10.000 And he was like, Yeah, it was pretty good. 00:13:10.080 --> 00:13:14.559 I definitely still feel a bit tired, but he was like, I had to I had to serve a time penalty too. 00:13:14.639 --> 00:13:15.360 And I was like, Really? 00:13:15.440 --> 00:13:16.320 Tell me more about this. 00:13:16.399 --> 00:13:23.759 And he said, Um, I figured it was coming off of maybe cold a bomb or lower, like towards the bottom of that. 00:13:24.080 --> 00:13:26.799 I I believe don't quote me, but I believe towards the bottom. 00:13:26.960 --> 00:13:27.360 Yeah. 00:13:27.600 --> 00:13:35.600 He said uh there was a flag, and like when you came out of, you know, there was like a couple different trail options coming down. 00:13:35.679 --> 00:13:43.120 There was a flag, and he he told me that it wasn't very clear which side to go on, and he chose the wrong side. 00:13:43.200 --> 00:13:46.320 And then the marshal there was like, that's course cutting. 00:13:46.480 --> 00:13:47.759 That's a time pulled you need. 00:13:47.919 --> 00:13:49.120 And he was like, All right. 00:13:49.279 --> 00:13:54.720 So then at the next aid station, he had to stand there for three minutes, which I always thought that was interesting. 00:13:54.799 --> 00:13:58.240 I didn't I didn't actually know how that they do the like time penalty serving. 00:13:58.320 --> 00:14:08.399 So it's like F1, you know, if you do something stupid on course, they make when you next time you pit, they just you just have to sit in the pit and then and then you can go back out. 00:14:08.480 --> 00:14:10.240 And you just like sit there for 15 seconds. 00:14:10.480 --> 00:14:14.720 I always thought that they might have just added it on when you finished, but he actually had to just stand there for three minutes. 00:14:14.799 --> 00:14:23.519 Uh Elaine Blanco, uh, who was fifth overall, uh I saw online, had to serve a five-minute time penalty. 00:14:23.600 --> 00:14:35.679 And then Francesco said he heard that there was another person who I don't know if this was a language barrier problem or just defiance, but they did not serve their time penalty and got disqualified. 00:14:35.919 --> 00:14:38.320 I don't know which runner that is, but that was what he said. 00:14:38.399 --> 00:14:38.720 Okay. 00:14:39.120 --> 00:14:48.480 Um but three minutes for Fran, if he just if we just subtract three minutes from his finishing time, that moves him from seventh to fifth. 00:14:48.799 --> 00:14:54.080 And I was telling you, just if you even factor in other things like momentum, race energy, et cetera. 00:14:54.240 --> 00:14:56.320 I mean, it could have been a lot more than that. 00:14:56.639 --> 00:15:01.759 Yeah, especially if he was like, say he was like really starting to roll, feel good, you know, get to that. 00:15:02.000 --> 00:15:08.080 That's that that's actually the part of the course where the Western stage training would have really kicked in as it gets more runnable, hot, descending. 00:15:08.639 --> 00:15:11.519 Like you just imagine standing there and getting sore. 00:15:11.840 --> 00:15:13.919 Yeah, that sounds terrible. 00:15:14.159 --> 00:15:18.320 And then he still passed a couple people because I think he was in like 10th or 11th at that point. 00:15:18.559 --> 00:15:23.120 So um that was interesting to hear that because I I wasn't aware. 00:15:23.200 --> 00:15:31.440 Um, I didn't I wasn't hearing everything that the commentators were saying just because it was so loud around the finish line. 00:15:31.759 --> 00:15:34.879 I would say for our American audience, it's probably a bit of a novelty. 00:15:35.039 --> 00:15:40.240 This whole like having course martials and enforcing these penalties. 00:15:40.320 --> 00:15:46.799 Like the the last one that I can think of that happened on the American scene would have been, I think, like 2012 Speed Goat with Killian. 00:15:47.120 --> 00:15:48.960 I think that was really a misunderstanding. 00:15:49.360 --> 00:15:53.440 Well, that was the other thing that Fran said that I agree with this. 00:15:53.519 --> 00:16:02.559 He was like, it was unclear because there was

obviously spots where they wanted to put they wanted you to stay on sections of the trail and they were taped off. 00:16:02.639 --> 00:16:07.039 There was red and white, like checkered tape that would cross off the trail. 00:16:07.919 --> 00:16:13.600 Why would they have the course martial and be so stringent on a spot with a flag? 00:16:13.679 --> 00:16:17.759 If they really didn't want us to go that way, why not just tape it off like they did with the other ones? 00:16:18.399 --> 00:16:25.840 So um, you know, of course, it's maybe there's two sides to every story, but it does make sense. 00:16:25.919 --> 00:16:31.200 I'm like, yeah, if they really wanted people to not go that way, why not just make it a little bit close it off? 00:16:31.600 --> 00:16:32.080 Close it off. 00:16:33.519 --> 00:16:33.840 Okay. 00:16:35.279 --> 00:16:40.080 Coming back to Lauren, just any other I mean, maybe I'll say a few things. 00:16:40.159 --> 00:16:43.440 I I'm just thinking like performance takeaways, but also career takeaway from this for Lauren. 00:16:43.600 --> 00:16:45.919 For me, it's just like what a season so far. 00:16:46.320 --> 00:16:53.519 Especially like the jump up to 50k and the focus here, second at Canyons, first at Speed Goat last month. 00:16:54.000 --> 00:16:54.799 Now a win here. 00:16:54.879 --> 00:16:55.679 I think it was really interesting. 00:16:55.759 --> 00:16:59.919 When we had her in studio last week, I I sort of pressed her on this. 00:17:00.000 --> 00:17:01.919 I was like, like, do you want to win here? 00:17:02.000 --> 00:17:02.799 Like, can you win here? 00:17:02.879 --> 00:17:05.359 And I think at the time we still thought Tovey was in the field. 00:17:05.440 --> 00:17:08.799 She called it like the Tovey category, basically. 00:17:09.519 --> 00:17:10.880 Being in a league of their own. 00:17:11.119 --> 00:17:13.279 And uh, but she felt like she could win here one day. 00:17:13.359 --> 00:17:20.079 Wasn't sure if it was gonna be this year, but felt like a win was definitely like within the cards one of these years. 00:17:20.240 --> 00:17:21.200 She gets it done now. 00:17:21.359 --> 00:17:22.240 Amazing. 00:17:23.039 --> 00:17:32.240 Yeah, it's funny how amazing of a season Lauren has had, but it's spanned sub Ultra into Ultra now. 00:17:32.400 --> 00:17:40.960 So like you only get to put like half of Lauren's races in a Uroy type ranking, but like three stellar 50ks. 00:17:41.039 --> 00:17:47.039 I'm like, I'm like, I would say Lauren's definitely in the top 10 for Uroi. 00:17:47.200 --> 00:17:57.680 But it's it's interesting how this is one of those situations where like like Jen's gotten screwed like this, where Jen has some like four world class 50k results and then gets like ninth in the Euroi gets left off. 00:17:57.839 --> 00:18:04.319 Um this will be interesting, you know, just where this shakes up looking looking down at the end of the road. 00:18:04.480 --> 00:18:09.759 But you had mentioned, you know, like yeah, Lauren's now an OCC champion. 00:18:10.480 --> 00:18:21.440 And, you know, Lauren was training most of the year for this race, and you know, it sounded like she's taking a lot of it of like, yeah, I want to be competitive, but I know this might take a while. 00:18:21.680 --> 00:18:27.200 I wonder how much internal pressure there is to be like, okay, I won OCC. 00:18:27.279 --> 00:18:29.359 Now next year I have to win CCC. 00:18:29.839 --> 00:18:37.680 Or you just go back and like do OCC again, because this is still this was the longest race Lauren's ever done. 00:18:37.839 --> 00:18:44.160 Um, I'd be curious what what she feels about like moving up in distance and having that success. 00:18:44.319 --> 00:18:52.720 Is there curiosity to keep moving up in distance or curiosity to improve at these distances that she's still very new at? 00:18:53.519 --> 00:19:05.279 I I got the sense that maybe there was some distance curiosity, but I f from the last time we talked, it was more so like she had really gotten a ton of experience racing the same cohort of runners in the Golden Trail. 00:19:05.759 --> 00:19:21.440 And she was really curious to have the chance to race people like Yudith and uh at least Sarah Alonso at this distance, and Tovey, McKenna, Bailey, like Tabor, that whole squad. 00:19:21.519 --> 00:19:23.359 You know, like just like a new cohort of runners. 00:19:23.759 --> 00:19:23.920 Yeah. 00:19:24.240 --> 00:19:26.240 So we had the three American women in the top ten. 00:19:26.960 --> 00:19:29.119 That's a great day for the great day for the American women. 00:19:29.279 --> 00:19:29.599 Yeah. 00:19:29.839 --> 00:19:36.799 And then, you know, like I guess like UTMB championship debuts for Lauren and McKenna. 00:19:40.480 --> 00:19:42.079 That's that's cool. 00:19:42.960 --> 00:19:43.599 That's great. 00:19:43.839 --> 00:19:44.240 Yeah. 00:19:44.480 --> 00:19:48.799 Uh I I mean, I'm really happy for Bailey Kowalczyk. 00:19:48.960 --> 00:19:55.039 I think that she she's had a rough go of it the last few years with injury and then just like getting back on the professional scene. 00:19:55.200 --> 00:19:58.880 But you know, ninth year is fantastic. 00:19:58.960 --> 00:20:05.599 I'm not even sure it was like the most perfect training block either, but I think she's been in cham or in the in the valley the last month or so getting ready. 00:20:05.680 --> 00:20:09.839 And um I feel like this has got to be a massive confidence booster. 00:20:09.920 --> 00:20:15.119 I also think, I mean, now that I think about it, she had a great she was in that Gorge 50k race too. 00:20:15.279 --> 00:20:15.759 Yeah, great gorge. 00:20:16.160 --> 00:20:21.039 Like her Tara uh Jen and Marion. 00:20:21.200 --> 00:20:21.519 Yeah, yeah. 00:20:21.680 --> 00:20:24.559 You know, so like just another, I think those are two great results. 00:20:24.720 --> 00:20:25.599 Yep, 100%. 00:20:26.319 --> 00:20:27.599 Yeah, great bounce back season. 00:20:27.680 --> 00:20:27.920 So

far. 00:20:28.079 --> 00:20:31.119 Yeah, I missed I missed her spot by one on Fantasy Free Trail. 00:20:31.359 --> 00:20:31.519 Nice. 00:20:31.680 --> 00:20:34.720 So that was on the men's side. 00:20:35.359 --> 00:20:38.400 You know, it was uh it was a little less dramatic. 00:20:38.720 --> 00:20:50.000 Fred, who I think both of us had either one or two in our power ranking, so it wasn't unexpected, but Fred took the lead very early, and then he held that lead. 00:20:50.079 --> 00:20:54.559 I think at one point uh through Arjun Tier, he was up as much as nine minutes on Naishon. 00:20:55.359 --> 00:20:56.720 Nayon did close that. 00:20:57.039 --> 00:21:01.279 I think he cut it in half by sham, but wins by four and a half minutes. 00:21:01.359 --> 00:21:01.680 Yeah. 00:21:02.000 --> 00:21:03.119 Dominant victory. 00:21:03.200 --> 00:21:12.720 He talked in his post-race interview about how, especially when you factor in some of these other races like Worlds last fall, he's gotten more comfortable with like taking and holding leads. 00:21:13.279 --> 00:21:16.319 But I just love this guy, super versatile, orienteering. 00:21:16.720 --> 00:21:18.640 He's had a great sky running season. 00:21:18.799 --> 00:21:19.839 He's raced a lot this year. 00:21:19.920 --> 00:21:24.400 So like I think he's already had a complete season coming into this one, just really impressive. 00:21:25.039 --> 00:21:30.319 I would say the the word that I would describe his racing style for today was reckless. 00:21:31.200 --> 00:21:35.920 It looked like he was like balls out the whole time. 00:21:36.880 --> 00:21:48.400 Aside from is it just me, or did it seem like the first like 10 to 15 minutes, like 10 minutes of this race, it seemed like it started very casually and like nonchalantly. 00:21:48.720 --> 00:21:49.119 A little bit. 00:21:49.279 --> 00:21:56.000 It looked like everyone was kind of teeing off Remy, and then Remy was looking around being like, I'm not blasting this thing. 00:21:56.079 --> 00:21:59.759 And then like everyone just looked kind of like they were jogging. 00:22:00.160 --> 00:22:04.880 at the start, which was interesting because the women's race strung out a little bit more pretty immediately. 00:22:05.039 --> 00:22:08.240 And it looked like the the the tempo was higher. 00:22:08.400 --> 00:22:13.119 Whereas the men it didn't really look like that until there was a Chinese athlete that went off the front. 00:22:13.440 --> 00:22:20.319 Um and then and then Remy and then on one of the first steep climbs where nearly everyone was hiking, Remy was not. 00:22:20.559 --> 00:22:31.920 And then that almost it looked like a move, but I I don't see I don't see it as a move because it was just simply Remy not hiking and running, you know, just going a couple seconds a mile faster than everyone else. 00:22:32.160 --> 00:22:38.000 And then that was the thing that kind of strung it out and then and then Frederick took off from there. 00:22:38.400 --> 00:22:47.519 And then going up and over I think the last thing I saw in the live stream before we started making our way to the finish was him going up and over Cold de Baum and descending it. 00:22:47.680 --> 00:22:51.200 And like one, it looked like he was racing to the top of Coldbaum. 00:22:51.279 --> 00:22:59.359 And I was like he looks tired and even he goes up the top and he's just flailing everywhere just massive stride. 00:22:59.519 --> 00:23:04.160 I was like this guy this guy now there's like quite a bit of running left. 00:23:04.319 --> 00:23:20.640 And granted he looked tired he looked gassed at the end but he was going to win so who cares and I felt throughout again trailing the entirety of this whole thing but like Naishon looked beautiful throughout like the stride bouncy smiling. 00:23:20.880 --> 00:23:56.319 Yeah yeah he looked it almost looked effortless effortless like very like rhythmic uh no big changes here or there and then Frederick was just like I thought the funniest thing well so we did we called Nation a dark horse in our previous episode so there was a little bit of an expectation that he could be a factor on the day but I thought I don't know if you caught this on the live stream well I guess the bigger thing is these aid stations they couldn't get any volunteer help right like the volunteers would put out all of the water jugs and stuff but like the the runner themselves had to handle everything. 00:23:56.559 --> 00:24:39.680 Yeah I definitely noticed a hand a good Argentier specifically the it was cola first then sparkling water then still water and I saw I think it was multiple athletes pull the cola tap be like damn it pull the sparkling water tap be like come on and then the still water was around the corner they're like dumping sparkling water on their heads um but good yeah continue well I was just gonna say and I you probably saw this too but Naishon had like the most unique way of refilling his bottles he wouldn't take his bottles out of his pack he would like get into like a squat position and open the top of the cap and like lean over into the jug. 00:24:39.920 --> 00:24:50.400 Huh and the commentators were talking about how just like how much extra effort this was and like he was going into like a squat position and like putting additional pressure on his quads and hamstrings and it didn't look easy. 00:24:50.640 --> 00:24:56.000 So I think Martin even said like someone needs to go bring this guy to an eight station clinic before his tax raise. 00:24:56.319 --> 00:25:00.160 But on the other hand he didn't have to worry about taking bottles out of it's true. 00:25:00.240 --> 00:25:01.519 It just it looked it looked awkward. 00:25:01.759 --> 00:25:21.359 Yeah funny I also can't that's I've never I guess I've never tried but it feels like if I opened up the lid to my bottle with how snug the packs are I would be squishing all the water out but it's it somehow worked and it didn't seem like a ton of different what if

this is like a new Solomon innovation and it's actually maybe the joke's on us. 00:25:21.599 --> 00:25:24.319 Yeah because I hate taking my bottles out of my pack. 00:25:24.559 --> 00:25:25.440 It is annoying. 00:25:25.680 --> 00:25:51.119 So hmm maybe this is an advancement in gear technology few others from the men's side you know I I had open questions he wasn't our power rankings but I did have open questions about Robbie Simpson coming into this one because if you if you look at his his career at OCC dating back to the beginning of this decade he's been automatic but you've kind of seen his spot dropping to the point where like he's on the chopping block for the back half of the top 10. 00:25:51.440 --> 00:25:52.720 Bench is eighth in this one. 00:25:52.960 --> 00:26:08.559 So huge shout out to Robbie sounds like it was a great race and then I I'm not sure if Naishon would be the one here but I I think that the the biggest like underdog performance just based on a UTMB index has to be Miguel Benitez. 00:26:08.640 --> 00:26:12.880 I think he had an 850 X UTMB index score. 00:26:13.039 --> 00:26:19.680 And he moved way up on way up I'm gonna I'm gonna pull up his splits right here to see how he trended. 00:26:20.079 --> 00:26:24.240 Because I was convinced that Sylvan was going to take that spot he ended up taking fourth. 00:26:24.640 --> 00:26:30.079 So Sean Pay uh like 38 minutes into the race 24th place. 00:26:30.319 --> 00:27:04.640 Wow yeah and then two hours into the race at triant 21st place and then what is going on cold de bomb one hour and 10 minutes later fifth place he moved up 16 spots from triant to cold de bomb and then passed two more people to get into third I want to see the straw of data for that triant to cold de bomb section because that that like that's a that's a move right there. 00:27:04.880 --> 00:27:07.119 I do too and 16 spots. 00:27:07.279 --> 00:27:17.680 I also maybe we need more time to think about it but I wonder if this complicates the the popular notion that you kind of still have to like are you it is essential to like stick your nose in it early. 00:27:18.000 --> 00:27:27.440 Yeah it's it's interesting because the men's podium was really spread out and the women's podium was separated by a minute. 00:27:28.000 --> 00:28:02.400 You know if we look at so Lauren and Naomi were three seconds apart but then Sarah Alonzo was one minute back from that which that was actually kind of funny on the live stream too because then the two cameras went to Naomi and Lauren all of a sudden Sarah was off into the abyss and they have the straight down the finish line camera and it was like Lauren and Naomi like high five and catching the breath and then all of a sudden Sarah just rounds the corner basically right after them and they're like oh my gosh and that rounds off the podium and it was amazing. 00:28:02.480 --> 00:28:12.400 And then on the men's side even from a cheering standpoint we knew that there was big gaps so like everyone lined up got ready for Frederick to come in. 00:28:12.480 --> 00:28:26.960 Yeah he goes by everyone steps away from the barriers and like sits down in the shade because they're like we've got five minutes and then you know or four minutes and then Nishon came in and then it was three more minutes when Miguel came in. 00:28:27.200 --> 00:28:41.279 So it was like kind of already you know for the last 30 minutes of racing we're like yeah we kind of already know what's going to happen and it's spread out like people are just going to be able to you know celebrate do their thing jog it into town. 00:28:41.519 --> 00:29:09.519 So yeah it was it if anything it just built the anticipation for the women's finish more because they were like okay the men are coming in all right this this women's podium race is friggin' legit here's another sort of miscellaneous but I think interesting pivotal race moment so at Argentier if someone had required me to make a bet on the women's race I would have very confidently said that Sarah Alonso is going to win. 00:29:09.680 --> 00:29:17.200 She was chasing Naomi and looked the strongest coming out but the commentators picked up on one thing refilling bottles. 00:29:17.279 --> 00:29:24.960 I think Sarah took maybe half a bottle maybe a full bottle but it was just one and it was getting hot I think it was 31 degrees Celsius at that point. 00:29:25.200 --> 00:29:32.400 Well she was probably pissed because she had to pull 15 taps at that point to finally get to still water I think the commentators were like will she pay for that? 00:29:32.720 --> 00:29:54.319 I don't know if she did I don't know if like at the end of the race it was a fueling or hydration thing that forced her to kind of lose ground and I mean so to me it was just it was remarkable what happened in that final 10k yeah and I would be curious if we if we were able to talk to Sarah whether she would if she could relive that Arjun Tier 8 station if she would take a little bit more time, take more stuff. 00:29:54.960 --> 00:30:04.799 Well I guess if you if you don't look at Lauren's finish, Naomi and Sarah the gap stayed about the same from Argentier to the finish. 00:30:05.680 --> 00:30:19.279 They finished 61 seconds apart from each other, which I think the gap was about a minute the whole time and then it did get down to it was about a hundred meters but they were going up the climb. 00:30:19.440 --> 00:30:24.319 So like you know that I bet that was probably still 30 or 40 seconds. 00:30:24.480 --> 00:30:24.880 Yeah. 00:30:25.119 --> 00:30:30.480 And then and then and then Naomi had Lauren to race with in the finish. 00:30:30.559 --> 00:30:33.200 So then that's probably where the other 20 seconds came back again. 00:30:33.359 --> 00:30:48.319 So I don't know I don't know if filling up another bottle for Sarah's sake would have actually gained that extra man because it's like didn't really fade actually maybe a little bit of uh maybe a little bit

of conversational pace talk here. 00:30:48.559 --> 00:30:54.640 Yeah I did a little roundup of the shoes in the OCC podiums here. 00:30:54.799 --> 00:31:02.480 So we got two ASICs two Solomons ACG and a Merrill three ASICs that's right three ASICs. 00:31:04.160 --> 00:31:05.839 Or McKenna's not listed at ASICs in the end. 00:31:06.000 --> 00:31:25.599 Oh no McKenna was fourth I'm talking about the podiums oh the podium two ASICs two Solomon ACG and Meryl two ASICs two solomon ACG and Meryl thoughts there I I mean I guess I guess I just didn't really I didn't I guess I didn't know or didn't realize that Frederick was sponsored by Merrill. 00:31:25.680 --> 00:31:27.920 I I guess maybe I did but I just like wasn't thinking about it. 00:31:28.079 --> 00:31:45.279 So then when he crossed the finish line I was like oh wow Merrill just won OCC that wasn't on my bingo card but like Frederick winning OCC was kind of on my bingo card so I guess it should have been but um did you catch which model he was wearing by chance was it the new super shoe? 00:31:45.599 --> 00:31:48.880 I don't think so it it looked lower than that. 00:31:49.599 --> 00:31:53.359 The long sky it might have been a long sky or a variant of that. 00:31:53.519 --> 00:32:14.799 It didn't look like the Skyfire the super minimal one but maybe something in between so maybe long sky yeah it didn't look like their new super shoe but then uh I think Nishan Kiplema was wearing like the Pulsar 4 like the S Lab Pulsar so a little bit of cushion but not much Miguel was wearing MetaFuji dress up. 00:32:15.519 --> 00:32:27.920 Yeah Sarah Alonzo Sarah was also in Metafuji and then um I can't remember what Naomi was wearing also Solomon Athlete Lauren. 00:32:28.240 --> 00:32:36.319 I think Lauren was in the Ultrafly the ACG Ultrafly that's what she was holding after she walked out of the finish line so I think it was ACG Ultrafly for that one. 00:32:36.799 --> 00:34:41.679 But then looking past podium I mean we had uh one two A6 on the women's side went three four five and then Hoka six Kyla seven A6 eight ACG nine ACG ten so yeah it is interesting you know normally we see I mean we we usually see the most Solomon they've always seemed numbers at at UTMB week um but just a single Hoka representation no Terex that's actually interesting um I'm just looking at the women's top thing let's look at the men's Simpsons Terex okay so Merrill Solomon Asic Hoka X Bionic Six Holy I don't know if that's even I don't even know if that's a shoe brander okay we're gonna have to do some more research on Anton Gustafsson uh Francesco's Hoka Simpson is Adidas Terex Terex Yoma so uh interesting yeah who's so no ACG on the men's side uh one tericks uh a couple Hokas yeah interesting uh kind of disparate no oh one Solomon so um yeah I'll I'll try and keep a good like top ten tally across CCC and UTMB as well and then um I believe in the runs the Dirt Division they do a great job of listing the shoes of all the podiums and

you know one of the things that I've noticed is a lot of their posts especially this year a lot of the shoes like first second third a lot of them are just blurred out and it says something something prototype because there's been so many more prototypes that people have been wearing and full on custom shoes. 00:34:41.840 --> 00:35:15.440 So it'd be interesting to see what what it's like uh for this one a few more I didn't know where to put these so I'll just state them here just some background interesting stats around Naomi and Fred Naomi in particular so there's never been there's never been a female podium finisher at OCC from the UK so I think it's a huge even though you know Naomi lost the lead about as late in the race as possible really impressive performance and last year finished 20th year. 00:35:16.159 --> 00:35:18.480 So fantastic year over year improvement. 00:35:18.559 --> 00:35:21.440 Like there's a lot I think there's a lot to be stoked about there. 00:35:21.599 --> 00:35:29.440 And then with Fred he's the I didn't really he's the first French male winner of OCC since Xavier in 2014. 00:35:29.760 --> 00:35:31.760 Wow that's quite a drought 12 years. 00:35:31.920 --> 00:35:34.639 And there hasn't been a Frenchman on the podium since 2018. 00:35:35.199 --> 00:35:40.079 So huge and then he lives here in the Chamony Valley I think he lives in Argentier. 00:35:40.800 --> 00:35:44.559 So this was very much like home turf type race for him. 00:35:44.800 --> 00:35:53.440 Okay so then now knowing that what potentially looked like huge risks were probably actually very calculated for him yeah knows the course like the back of his hand. 00:35:53.519 --> 00:36:04.400 Yeah that's nice um for Sarah Alonso the last two years of her career especially around this race pneumonia two years ago and then attacked by a cow in training. 00:36:04.639 --> 00:36:13.199 Oh I remember that yeah so again I think that there's a lot to be I mean to finish on the podium here after those two misfortunes I think is fantastic. 00:36:13.280 --> 00:36:20.960 So there's there's a lot of there's a lot to be um stoked about for even though Sarah was so close Naomi so close fantastic. 00:36:21.280 --> 00:37:03.599 Sarah has one has had one of the most consistent like pretty long like golden trail to 50 60kish kind of race uh careers with just like like she's she's always like every race she's always in it yeah and you know I think the last bullet point I put here under final thoughts was just the impact of Tobey dropping in the vacuum that that creates and I now that we've seen what that opportunity ended up looking like out in the field with like Lauren Sarah and Nanwe battling I actually think it's gonna be an interesting prelude for UTMB because there's a similar vacuum with Ruth gone you know we're gonna have a sprint finish. 00:37:03.840 --> 00:37:16.480 Well do you okay do you think this is the only sprint finish we're gonna see in the Shamini Valley I want to put out the energy that it will happen again so I'm gonna say no. 00:37:16.880 --> 00:37:17.199 Okay. 00:37:17.519 --> 00:37:29.599 But but I don't think I mean I think last again last year I considered the women's race at CCC to be the best race of the weekend and it was very theatrical but it it actually kind of paled in comparison to this. 00:37:29.920 --> 00:37:34.159 This just set a really high bar very high as far as entertaining racing goes. 00:37:34.559 --> 00:37:35.119 Very high bar. 00:37:35.440 --> 00:37:40.800 I mean Jim and Christian was really cool last year but that pass happened couple K out couple K out. 00:37:40.960 --> 00:38:25.920 Yeah yeah that was yeah that was very entertaining I think this was even one notch more entertaining especially because the gap like was never more like the gap from the leader to second place was I don't think any ever more than a minute the entire day and I just love when that happens where it's like nobody can give an inch and then when you do Lauren Ray Ori comes and scoops it up so we'll be back tomorrow night probably late in the evening local time to recap CCC and then back for the final time the following night to recap UTMB but Brett from either this race or what we can look forward to tomorrow any final thoughts? 00:38:26.960 --> 00:38:51.199 Even though there's been what seems like a very heavy attrition week there's still a lot of people who are really fit and ready to roll here so I don't think that's going to take away from just the quality of racing that we see and actually I gotta we gotta point this out very last thought as it stands right now Brett is currently the highest placing American in any UTMB race. 00:38:51.519 --> 00:39:01.760 American male American male sorry American Lauren has has Lauren got me Lauren and a lot of other women as of right now I am the highest placing American male from a UTMB race. 00:39:01.840 --> 00:39:06.639 I actually should double check that with uh but you finished what was 32nd at MCC? 00:39:06.800 --> 00:39:32.960 Yeah 33rd 32nd okay and Cole Campbell finished 34th at OCC and we gotta just assume that those races are even you know dude does your back hurt from carrying the team oh is that why there's that kink in my neck right now no the women have been great I mean shout out to our friend and colleague Alyssa Clark who took third at TDS a few nights back just amazing. 00:39:33.360 --> 00:39:38.400 Glad we get to talk about that and then yeah it's been it's been a great showing for the American women so far. 00:39:38.719 --> 00:39:58.400 I just pulled up TDS I think I think Henry Harris was the top male finisher from TDS and he was 50th but that under the team recognition team Chick-fil-A so I just wanted to shout that out well thank you all we will be back tomorrow night and thanks so much Brett