National Trail Running Conference Q&A
Conference director Lucas Trihey gives us the lowdown on the National Trail Running Conference. It’s an exciting initiative that brings together runners and race directors to learn about the future of the sport, the latest research and loads more!
What is the conference about?
The Conference will bring together some of Australia’s most experienced trail runners, coaches and race directors for two days of presentations, discussions and Q&A sessions. Topics include lots of the things we see discussed at events and online forums such as training and race plans, how do you select an event, choosing nutrition, hydration, the best/lightest gear. A focus will be to give runners strategies to delve into the more complex issues themselves and demonstrate ways to cut through the many sources of information and find the best and most reliable. I’m working with Dr Ursula King who is an experienced medical conference organiser (who has worked with at North face 100) and we are both excited to be assembling such a stellar cast of presenters. It’s also great to see a great mix of delegates signing up, there are some very experienced runners and organisers coming along which will lead to lively discussions.
What inspired you to create it?
I work at lots of trail running events where I meet thousands of runners and lots of event organisers. I see a sport that is growing rapidly and while there are lots of similarities to the more mature disciplines of marathons and road running I also see a lot of trail runners confused by conflicting information. We hope that by bringing many of the sports “wise elders” and successful athletes together we can expose runners to reliable and sound practices and pathways to making informed decisions about their training, race plans, food and fluids.
What can people expect from attending?
Lively presentations. lots of audience interaction in discussion sessions, inspiring stories and even some scary statistics about anti-inflamatories and the risk of kidney damage. The chance to ask questions of Dr Marty Hoffman, the world’s leading authority on the health issues of ultras and some of our leading coaches and athletes.
Who will be speaking at the event?
Dr Marty Hoffman is an experienced ultra runner and he leads the medical research team at Western States Ultra in the USA. He’s done thousands of blood tests on athletes and has some informed insights about how runners can improve performances and stay well through a race. MArty will be involved in most sessions and is our keynote
World class althletes Brendan Davies and Hanny Allston will talk about preparing, training, race plans. Jo Brischetto is an amazing athlete who is a late comer to the sport but in just a few years has podiumed at some of Australia’s toughest ultras and trail runs. Jo is also a very active ambassador and role model for the sport. Coach Andy DuBois will cover preparation and the physcological aspects of long runs.
Our wise elders include Tom Landon-Smith, Alina McMaster, Andy Hewat (Bogong to Hotham), Sean Greenhill who have a wealth of experience participating in, and organising events.
What will be the highlight of the race directors day?
The RDs day will be packed with information on the things that happen in the background to run good events: planning templates, course marking, runner tracking, first aid and insurance. It will also have a strong element of seeking consensus via discussion sessions and workshops to come up with “industry best practice” for organising events. I’ve seen the delegate registrations coming in and lots of experienced event organisers from all over Australia will be there. A highlight for me will be to see all these experienced people in the same room and working together, throwing ideas around and learning from each other.
How do people register to attend and what does it cost?
Cost is $220 for either the Runner’s Day or Race Director day or $440 for both.