Over the last few days we’ve featured a couple of our Aussie stars as they seek glory over at the World Trail Running Champs in Portugal, which kicks off tomorrow evening, Australian time. But if you ask me, some of the special talent for this race lies just over the ditch (or the Blue Mountains), in the form of Scotty Hawker and Fiona Havice. With just a two person team, the ‘Silver Shoe Trailers’ as I’m going to affectionately christen them, will most likely punch massively above their weight as their famous counterparts in the rugby discipline do so on a regular basis.
2016 has been a special year for both Scotty and Fiona. Starting with the latter, Fiona was probably a bit of a surprise win at the Tarawera 100kms, but she’s proven that’s no fluke, beating the inform Lucy Bartholomew at the Hillary 34kms a few weeks after that and then following that up with an excellent second place at UTA and then eighth at Ultra Trail Eiger. It’s not bold to say that she’s certainly regarded as one of the prominent female trail runners globally now with those string of results and she’ll go well on this course.
Scotty is a raw talent, going toe to toe with Dylan Bowman at UTA a few years ago and producing what I think is one of the best runs by a Kiwi-Aussie in this country in that race. He’s taken a bit of time out this year with the birth of his first child, but since coming back, is probably stronger than ever. He finished fifth at Lavaredo and just recently took out the Hounslow Classic 21kms in under 2 hours, which when you consider the extreme elevation in that race (1,300m), that’s a super quick time. And I hear on the vine that he was taking the first half of that relatively easy. Scotty is more than just a name to watch, if his day goes well, he’s a contender.
Thanks again to Brendan Davies for the share.
