TRAIL RUNNING
BRIMELOW
WINS WILD EARTH
COASTAL HIGH 50
BY CRAIG TURCO
W
ild Earth recently caught
up with Tom Brimelow, the
recently crowned Wild Earth
Coastal High 50
2016 Champion.
Wild Earth: Tom, first things first, a huge
congratulation from us all here at Wild
Earth HQ. What an amazing performance
at the Wild Earth Coastal High 50. Being
your first race at the ultra distance, how
did you find stepping up from the smaller
trail series distances?
Tom Brimelow: Stepping up from the
trail series distance was a really different
challenge. It was a much less painful
run for the most part as the pace was
a lot slower, so it was nice not to have
your lungs and legs burning, but it was
very tough going towards the end. The
last section through Purlingbrook was
especially difficult because everything
had started to cramp up and this was
only the third time I'd experienced this
while running. Luckily I managed to keep
moving!
WE: As it was a slightly altered course
from the 2015 event, what did you make
of the 2016 Wild Earth Coastal High 50?
TB: I thought the course was amazing.
The views were fantastic! It was really well
marked out and the track was incredibly
clean. I think I only fell over three times
and didn't get lost once! All in all, a really
beautiful course especially through the
Binna Burra section.
WE: What kind of training did you do to
get ready for the extra distance and what
does it take to dominate the King of the
Mountain segment in 1:03?
TB: I had been training for the Gold Coast
marathon in July so I had been running
plenty of mileage, but mostly on flat tracks.
I really missed the trails while training for
the road run, so I loved getting back out
on the long slow trail runs with friends.
Troy Lethlean put together a training
24 | MULTISPORT MAGAZINE
plan for me to get ready for my first ultra
distance. I had to run lots of hill repeats
(which I hate), some speed work, and a few
40-45km runs on the trails. I did well on
the KOM (King of the Mountain) segment
because I had Charlie Boyle beside me,
and he made me run up that first hill,
which I definitely would have walked if
I was on my own. I was lucky that there
were some downhills in that section and
I figured that everyone would walk the
stairs, so I tried to be the first one to get to
the bottom of those, knowing that Darryl
Taylor and Boyle wouldn't be far behind.
WE: This is only your second or third year
of running, so what brought you to the
sport?
TB: Yes, I've been running for just over
two and a half years now. My brother-inlaw signed me up to Park Run and told
me I was going. Being a weekly, timed
event, Park Run really stoked my selfcompetitiveness; I always ran it all out
trying to run a PB every week. After a while,
running got easier and I started to really
enjoy it. After starting running trails, it
became a lot more fun.
WE: What's your favourite thing about
running on the trails as opposed to roads?
TB: I love running trails because you are
out in nature, and there's a real sense of
adventure when you're running through
the bush or rain forests. The constantly
changing terrain means it never gets
boring, and racing trails is great because
you're not putting yourself under pressure
to keep to a certain pace, you're just
running to the conditions.
WE: What’s your favourite piece of running
gear?
TB: My favourite piece of kit would be my
UD (Ultimate Direction) running vest. It
was great to be able to put fuel in the
bottles in the front pockets and a bladder
of water in the back. The thing has so many
pockets I'm still finding new ones!
WE: What's next on your running calendar?
Are you looking 50 or 100km runs in the
future?
TB: I haven't got any races planned at this
stage. I would love to do 50km race in
the UTA (Ultra Trail Australia), but I just
think it will be too hard for me to get to.
I definitely don't plan on any 100k runs,
I couldn't imagine turning around and
running that distance all over again!
It really was a fantastic event. I was
exhausted and a bit delirious after the
race, but the atmosphere was great. I've
enjoyed every event put on by Matt and
Chris (from Those Guys Events - Event
organisers of the Coastal High 50), so
I'll always be looking to see what they're
doing next.
WE: Thank you for your time and once
again Tom, congratulations. We can’t wait
to see what you do next.
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