I came across this little tub of gold after a not so nice experience at GNW this year. If you read my race report, I go into fine detail with regards to the nature of this problem, but suffice to say I think the phrase went something along the lines of this, “I felt like someone had placed razor blades down my compression shorts.” That last 25kms of GNW really was a case of grinning and bearing it.
So why the issues? I couldn’t tell you to be honest. I’d never really suffered from those kind of issues before, but once was enough. Low and behold, I was in the Footpoint store the other day and Tom, who runs the shop flicked me a tub of this Gurney Goo. “Try this” he says, its magic.
Now I personally don’t believe in magic, but in for a penny and in for a pound I thought. But how is this different from other anti chaffing brands? Again, something I was keen to find out. Until now I’ve only ever used Vaseline to help the crown jewels from suffering a massacre, but seeing as it literally fell on its ass at GNW, I wasn’t too keen to repeat the experience.
Gurney Goo, so it appears has tea tree oil in it and is silicone based, and this supposedly helps enormously with friction on the skin. So try it I did, and low and behold, the results have been very good to date. I’m yet to use it on a super long run, but I must admit to being very impressed thus far, especially as I’ve been trying out the new Salomon S-lab shorts of late, which could potentially cause issues having stuck with one brand for so long and moved over to the Salomon’s.
The ‘goo’ is made by a bloke called Steve Gurney. Now I don’t know this guy from Adam, but apparently he’s a Kiwi fella who’s won the coast to coast quite a few times, and according to his website, nearly died once in the jungle. That’s all well and nice Mr. Gurney, but aside from that you do make some bloody good anti chaffing formula.
You can be pretty economical with it too, which helps when it costs $24.95 a tub, but I guess when compared to bodyglide, they all play at the same level. I’m just a tight wad who is used to paying $3 for a tub of Vaseline. But I must admit that this stuff is pretty good.
Anyway, if you interested the good fellas at Footpoint have a bucket load ready for your nether regions to take full advantage of 🙂
*The open and transparent bit: This tub of Gurney Goo was generously supplied to me by the guys at Footpoint to try out.
does it smell??
Hey Dan I will send you some SportShield from 2Toms to test and compare. Roll-on applicator for before your run but the little towelettes in a sachet are soaked in the stuff and are perfect for carrying on any run. And can be folded up and reused over the course of an ultra. Surprised you haven’t already discovered them.
Use the old vasoline and Ronhill running shorts and never have issues. Does look interesting though the Gurney Goo. Also have heard of the Sportshield too, so these can all be a personal choice.
Hey Tay yeah it does smell of tea tree oil, it’s pretty pleasant to be honest. And totally agree with you Otis that it’s all personal choice. I’ve been using vaso for years too, but then it takes something like a GNW to find out that some of the things you’ve been doing for years might not be right in the long term. Again all personal choice I agree. It’s good to try out these little things though and see what they’re like.
Whippet, I remember you mentioning sportshield. I’ll give it a go in the interests of science and maybe we could do a group test of all these products to see who runs out top. Nice 🙂
Thanks for this review Dan, very useful. I had major issues at my TD100 attempt in December despite using Bodyglide, so I was after alternatives. The good folks at the PaddlerZone in Christchurch ship Gurney Goo internationally, so I’ve tried it on a few long training sessions and thus far I’m very pleased with it.
Great to hear. Look after Keith this weekend, or as we call him, the “cowboy”. He’s the Sydney oxfam record holder.
Ha … it seems the comms down to Sydney are working very well indeed. Small world, will make sure to break him in for the HK trails 🙂
I’m a big fan of the Goo, having discovered it last year and using it during GNW and C2K with great results i.e. zero personal chafing and no screams during that first hot shower after the races. I get mine from the Linebreak guys.