Welcome to The Guzzler Ultra, 2021 race preview, providing with an insider's glance at the faster end of the field with some hot tips from Queensland Trail Queens', Meagan Brown.
THE BIG SIPPER 21KM
The Big Sipper is back after a successful inaugural year. This event is timed nicely to coincide with the finish of the tail end 100km runners on Sunday morning. Be sure to give them a big cheer out on the course.
For the ladies look out for Elisabeth Spits who finished fourth last year so could definitely crack the podium. Bridge Muir who won The Gladiator 8km (in costume!) could be in contention, along with Anita Ramage who had a nice run at Wild Horse nabbing third in the 22km event. I’m also looking forward to giving it a red hot crack with the fierce females out there.
“Be sure to give them a big cheer out on the course”
Meagan Brown
On the men’s side it’s hard to look past Ben Duffus. Ben showed he is in fine form taking second at the recent BTU30 in a cracking time of 2hrs 1min, just 17seconds behind first place. Flying behind him might be Christopher Hill who cracked the top five last year, has a top ten Blackall 50 finish and good old speedy Parkrun. John Razenberg and Matthew Beeston are backing up from the recent BTU20, where they finished second and third respectively.
“The glass is definitely not half full for the podium potential in The Glass Half Full 50km”
Meagan Brown
THE GLASS HALF FULL, 50KM
The glass is definitely not half full for the podium potential in The Glass Half Full 50km.
Last year’s ladies reigning champ Reesha Lewis is back, hot off a win in the BTU60. Reesha did this double last year so I can’t see why she won’t be able to do it again. Last year’s second place Sonya Alba-Miller is also returning and has repeat podium potential. Claire Game is also running, who took third at Brisbane Trail Marathon earlier this year. Other ladies in contention are Madeline Shield (3rd Guzzler 100km 2019), Malin Olsson (4th Blackall 50k 2019, 4th Guzzler 50km 2019) Rebecca Hollindale (5th Guzzler 100km 2020) and Rebecca Goad (1st BTU30 2020).
The men’s reigning champ Nicholas Tuttici is back to defend his title. This could be upset by an interesting name on the start list in Blake Hose. Only trouble is Blake is a Victorian based athlete. If he is unable to come up this year, hopefully Blake is able to run in the future, as he would set the course on fire being a multiple Australian Sky Running Representative and winner of a bunch of events down south. Last year’s Blackall 100 winner Casey Munro is racing, perhaps looking for redemption from his BVRT miler race. Other men in contention are Ian Stuck (4th Guzzler 50km 2020), Luke Davison (2nd Hightail MGTRS 2020, 9th Guzzler 50km 2020), Andy Churchman (2nd Blackall 21km 2020) and Jack Gill (1st Long Course Scenic Rim Trail Series).
“It really can be anyone’s day in a 100km event”
Meagan Brown
THE GUZZLER, 100KM
It really can be anyone’s day in a 100km event with there being so many factors to manage. There can always be a dark horse, which is what makes it so interesting.
The ladies have an exciting entrant in Robyn Koszta. Robyn is an obstacle course racing athlete who is very familiar with OCR podiums. Robyn won the 2020 Spartan Ultra Beast. Earlier this year she won the True Grit Aussie Title, which is a 24hr obstacle race where she completed 11 laps of a 11km obstacle course. Chrissy Redwood is always up there, being a past Blackall 100km winner and taking fourth in the Guzzler 50km last year, while she was just out enjoying herself.
The hot tip for the men’s race is Shaun Pettit. He has logged some incredible training – take a look at his Strava, but maybe make sure you’re sitting down first. The people’s choice award would have to be Alex Murphy. Alex is a very strong runner and knows the course well. He placed 3rd in the 100km event in 2019 and then 4th in the event last year where he hiked it in with a group of mates.
Now there’s nothing to it, but to do it! Good luck and enjoy everyone.
You can follow the action and track your runner live at The Guzzler Ultra on July 24–25th, 2021
