The final episode in this series in the lead up to 2025's edition of the Great Race.

Zed Zlotnick finished the race in 2022, joining the Coast to Kosci family with a determined finished, spending more than 45 hours out on course.

Growing up in South Africa, Zed has completed the Two Oceans Marathon five times, and the Comrades Marathon (Down) twice.

But, after moving to Australia and connected with an incredible group of endurance runners, Zed himself has completed some amazing feats, including 14 Six Foot Track finishes, multiple 48 hour track races, backyard ultras and he is also part of the 100 Marathon Club.

It's not just his finish at Coast to Kosci though that links him to Australia's great race. He was part of the legendary Jane Trumper's crew for her 10th finish, helped Adrian Whatmore put a crew together in 2023 and this year will be back crewing his mate Ben Munro in his first attempt at the race.

Throughout this chat Zed speaks with humour and shares some insights into a life time of running. I loved this one and I hope you do too!

Sophie Geraghty was this year unveiled as a 'Feel Good Ambassador' for the Surf Coast Century, and it's not hard to see why.

But when you scratch under the surface of this bubbly, incredibly strong, self described mediocre ultra runner, you get a deeper story.

As Sophie tells in her bio to Rapid Ascent:

"𝐴𝑏𝑢𝑠𝑒 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑖𝑛𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑡𝑦 𝑠ℎ𝑎𝑝𝑒𝑑 𝑚𝑦 𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑙𝑦 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑒𝑟, 𝐼 𝑤𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑡𝑙𝑒𝑑 𝑤𝑖𝑡ℎ 𝑎𝑛 𝑒𝑎𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑜𝑟𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟 𝑡𝑤𝑜 𝑑𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑠 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡 𝑎𝑙𝑚𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑐𝑜𝑠𝑡 𝑚𝑒 𝑒𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝐼 ℎ𝑜𝑙𝑑 𝑑𝑒𝑎𝑟.

𝑅𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑟𝑒𝑏𝑒𝑙𝑙𝑖𝑜𝑛, 𝑚𝑜𝑟𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑛 𝑗𝑜𝑦, 𝑖𝑡 𝑏𝑒𝑐𝑎𝑚𝑒 𝑚𝑦 𝑤𝑎𝑦 𝑜𝑓 𝑟𝑒𝑤𝑟𝑖𝑡𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑡𝑜𝑟𝑦. 𝐼 𝑤𝑎𝑛𝑡𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑏𝑒 𝑝𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑑 𝑜𝑓 𝑚𝑦 𝑏𝑜𝑑𝑦 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑑𝑖𝑠𝑡𝑎𝑛𝑐𝑒𝑠 𝑖𝑡 𝑐𝑎𝑛 𝑚𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑡ℎ𝑟𝑜𝑢𝑔ℎ. 𝑊ℎ𝑒𝑟𝑒 𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒 𝑢𝑠𝑒𝑑 𝑡𝑜 𝑠ℎ𝑟𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑚𝑒, 𝑛𝑜𝑤 𝐼 𝑠𝑝𝑒𝑎𝑘 𝑙𝑜𝑢𝑑𝑙𝑦 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 𝑟𝑒𝑠𝑖𝑙𝑖𝑒𝑛𝑐𝑒, 𝑐𝑜𝑚𝑚𝑢𝑛𝑖𝑡𝑦, 𝑟𝑒𝑐𝑜𝑣𝑒𝑟𝑦, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑟𝑖𝑠𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑢𝑝. 𝐼 ℎ𝑎𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑒𝑛 𝑎 𝑟𝑢𝑛𝑛𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑐𝑜𝑎𝑐ℎ 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑏𝑜𝑢𝑡 five 𝑦𝑒𝑎𝑟𝑠 𝑛𝑜𝑤, 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑒𝑥𝑎𝑐𝑡𝑙𝑦 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑠 𝑟𝑒𝑎𝑠𝑜𝑛. 𝐼 𝑙𝑜𝑣𝑒 𝑏𝑒𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑣𝑜𝑖𝑐𝑒, 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑠𝑜𝑢𝑛𝑑𝑖𝑛𝑔 𝑏𝑜𝑎𝑟𝑑 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝑡ℎ𝑒 𝑐ℎ𝑒𝑒𝑟𝑙𝑒𝑎𝑑𝑒𝑟 𝑓𝑜𝑟 𝑎𝑛𝑦𝑜𝑛𝑒 𝑤ℎ𝑜 𝑑𝑜𝑒𝑠𝑛’𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑡ℎ𝑒𝑦 𝑐𝑎𝑛."

Sophie is now such a powerful voice in ultra running, and is incredibly passionate about women's representation in the sport

She became part of the Coast to Kosci family last year, completed her first edition, and proudly earning her Akubra. But, her events list is like a greatest hits of Australian ultra running.

I hope you enjoy this episode as much as I did!

Liv Compton is coming back for her third attempt at Coast to Kosci, with two really good finishes to her name already.

The Norwegian Born Queenslander is no stranger to the warm weather and looked at home in last year's sweltering conditions. Her running career has seen her run in some of the country's most interesting Backyard Ultras, including Phil Gore's win at Dead Cow Gully in 2022.

Earlier this year she ran a Norwegian Women's Backyard Ultra Record, with 40 loops at Sydney's Backyard Ultra, which will see Liv invited onto the Norwegian team for next year's Satellite World Championships.

She's also such a versatile runner, winning a number of recent marathons in the sunshine state, and pushing runners have her age each weekend at the Airlie Beach parkrun, Liv brings her humour to this chat, and I can't wait to see how she goes at this year's edition of the great race.

Matt Pilley is coming back to Coast to Kosci for the third year in a row, and he's already had incredible success in his two starts at the race being on the male podium in year one, and then finishing as the second male behind Benn Coubrough.

Now, a father to Hugo, this year's lead up is a completely different ball game for Matt, who as you'll find out in this podcast will be bringing another experienced team to Coast to Kosci.

With nothing to hide Matt shares a number of his tips and tricks for the race, so if you're a first timer to the race this is a must listen.

Lisa Richards earlier this year completed a multi-year dream of running in the Atacama Stage Race. An incredible 250 kilometre journey that takes place in the Atacama Desert in Chile.

But, not only did Lisa run in the stage race, she finished as the fifth female, completing an incredible transformation, from someone who grew up avoiding school athletic's carnival, and only took up running in 2018 through parkrun, to becoming a finisher of one of the world's toughest stage races.

In this podcast Lisa talks about her incredible journey, and in my opinion it will leave you putting a world class stage race on their running bucket list.

Ben Bailey is heading back to Coast to Kosci in the hopes of claiming his third pin on the Akubra from his fourth attempt.

The last few years have seen Ben complete some mind bending races including the Unreasonable East 200 Miler, Bigfoot 200 Endurance Run, Tahoe 200 Mile Endurance Run and earlier this year the Arizona Monster 300.

It's an incredible resume that also includes a handful of finishes at UTA 100 as well. Ben shares his wisdom, including the great pride that he has at recently becoming a grandfather.

This episode kicks off this year's Road to Coast to Kosci series, where I'll chat to some experienced campaigners, and first timers, and as always your support is very much appreciated.

Seven years ago, I wrote about my friend Courtney Chapman as she prepared to take on one of the most grueling endurance challenges in riding: the Shahzada 400, held in St Albans in the Hawkesbury region.

At the time, doctors had told Courtney she shouldn’t compete due to her autoimmune condition, Crohn’s disease. But she did it anyway.

Now, seven years later, Courtney joins me to reflect on that experience, and to explore how trauma can lead us to take on extraordinary feats of endurance.

Courtney is now a mental health advocate and educator who understands the importance of feeling safe, seen, and supported. Through her work with Mental Illness Education ACT, she shares her lived experience to break stigma and spark honest conversations. In her role within the Australian Public Service, she helps build trauma-aware environments where people can thrive, blending personal resilience with a deep commitment to community connection and hope-led change.

If you enjoyed this episode (or any others), please consider leaving a review, and if you’re able to support the show, you can do so for just $2 a month via the Peak2Soon Patreon:

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If you or someone you know is struggling, you’re not alone — support is always available:

📞 Medicare Mental Health Centre Canberra - 1800 595 212
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Jordan Nukunuku suffered a heart break which kicked off his running journey, and it's been a journey of incredible ups and downs.

The young Kiwi from Rotorua recently won The Guzzler Ultra, after the first placed finisher was handed a time penalty, but it's a win at Brisbane Trail Ultra 110 kilometre race in 2023, after suffering an ACL injury in the months prior that shows how tough Jordan truly is.

A self described 'amateur dirt vert surfer' Jordan flashed onto the major scene with an impressive run at Tarawera 100 miler this year, only fuelling the fire in wanting to win his home major.

Jordan also took part in for what is now considered the last Down Under 135, an incredible endurance event that attracts the toughest long distance runners in Australia.

It's already a serious resume for the Spring Energy and Trainade Athlete, and I guarantee this won't be the last you hear of him.