The North Face 100 is one of the big events on the Australian mountain running calendar. Each year thousands of athletes descend upon the Blue Mountains to pit themselves against the grueling 50 and 100km courses. With strict cutoff times at each checkpoint, completing the course within the allotted time is no mean feat and for the pro athletes, the top 10 will all usually finish in under a staggering 10 hours. [read more..]

Back in the day there was Brown and Whillans – an unstoppable working class UK duo that dominated the climbing in the UK and the greater ranges. Later there was Livsey and Fawcett, Ben and Jerry – each pair synonymous with hard climbing, travelling and crushing wherever and whenever they chose.

Then in 1996 Hard Grit changed all that – the gritstone edges of Derbyshire and the Yorkshire became the focus of everything and everyone. These diminutive crags with their bold technical climbs had been elevated to the status of folklore in many circles and they held a special place in many hearts and minds.
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Hard rock climbing has long been the realm of the men. From the pioneers of bold and hard free climbs, to the powerful modern sports climbs, many could view women as not being able to compete in an arena where pure strength and power are often looked at as the be all and end all.

This of course – is all completely untrue. Women have steadily been pushing the envelope for years. Indeed the first free ascent of the worlds most famous big wall, the Nose on El Cap was claimed by Lynn Hill back in the early 90′s and even now, 20 years on, it’s only seen 3 other repeats. [read more..]

Its been a pretty hectic few weeks over the Christmas break. I headed over to the UK with the rest of the family for a few weeks of R&R with the folks and a good old bit of UK festive cheer. It Was great to catch up with family and friends and although the weather wasnt kind to us (pretty much 3 weeks of rain) we did our best to get out as much as possible. [read more..]