Sam & Katie chat with Bridie Temple — a rising star in the trail running scene. Bridie’s already stacked an incredible resume: she won her trail debut at just 17 at the Alpine Summit in Victoria, claimed victory at the Kiama Coastal Classic 21km, set the women’s course record at the 2024 Jabulani Challenge 45km, and finished 2nd in both the UTA22k and Buffalo Stampede 100km. Bridie first found trail running exploring her family property just outside of Wollongong and hasn’t looked back. With eyes on the 100-mile distance later this year, she’s training with serious intent — clocking 131km of running, 50km hiking, 20km cycling, and 4 hours of strength work weekly, including some sharp sessions on the track.

Sam battles a cold but gets through a big week with a 45-minute yo-yo tempo and 8 x 800s to hit 95km. Katie recaps her brutal Hyrox Pro Sydney effort — 8th place overall and a fresh round of knee trouble.

Café Kit of the Week:

• Posture Correcting Brace

• Heel Lifts

• Lululemon Wunder Train High-Rise Shorts

• Swiftsick Socks

Round the Club Shoutouts:

• Bradley Sawyers – Nowra Athletics Club

• Jeremy Quinn – Kiama Running Club

• Rhys Murray – [Club not listed]

Sam & Katie chat with Riley Kilham Riley boasts some impressive PBs including a 16:33 5k at a Christmas Eve parkrun, 34:48 for 10k, and a 1:17:33 half marathon time trial. He got into endurance sports in his late teens after using CrossFit to get healthy and quickly realised he excelled at the running portion. From there, Riley began working with a coaching group via Peter Clifford in the Sutherland Shire to fully embrace triathlons. These days, his focus is purely on running, though he still cycles for cross-training.

Riley runs Evolve Human Performance, where he manages running programming alongside strength development.

Excitingly, Riley joined us just before the highly anticipated launch of Run Havoc, a boutique running store opening in Wollongong on Saturday, July 12th. Riley and his team aim to bring premium, high-quality running gear to the Illawarra running community, reflecting the strong depth of talent in the area.

Training Wrap: Katie gears up for Hyrox Sydney with some sharp 800s on Tuesday and a 5/4/3/2/1/5 session on Friday, hitting 86km for the week with plenty of Hyrox intervals baked in. Sam balances a cold and his return from Bali, still clocking 83km including 6 x 1km at 3:32s and an 8km tempo. Riley, just back from Greece, walks us through a typical training week including lactate testing and double threshold sessions.

Café Kit of the Week:

• On Hat

• Choccy Milk

• Alphafly 3’s

• Tattoo

Round the Club Shoutouts:

• Amir Hashemi Pour – Never Lazy Run Club

• Jamie Bartolotta – Kiama Running Club

• Holly Bond – Evolve Human Performance

Don’t miss the Run Havoc opening! 🗓️ Saturday July 12th, 8am 📍 126 Crown St, Wollongong Group run from the store, coffee, and an e-bike giveaway! Visit runhavoc.com.au for more info.

Mack has impressive PBs of 17:11 for 5K, 35:16 for 10K, and 1:19:40 for the half marathon—set just a couple of weeks ago at the Wollongong Running Festival. Originally from Canada, Mack moved to Australia nearly a decade ago to begin medical school and now works in the ICU at Wollongong Hospital. He’s on a demanding schedule—one week of 12-hour (sometimes overnight) shifts followed by a week off—but continues to find ways to train and improve.

A former triathlete, Mack still spends plenty of time on the bike. He shares the story of a crash down Macquarie Pass that led to a significant injury and how he came back from that. Mack now has his sights set on breaking 17 minutes for 5K and 35 minutes for 10K in upcoming races, and he talks through how he plans to adjust his training as he settles into his new work rhythm.

Katie hits the track for a controlled 6 × 1K session, follows it up with a 12/10/8-minute threshold effort later in the week, mixes in some Hyrox training, and rounds out a strong 96 km week.

Sam gets back into some lighter workouts as his body begins to tolerate running again. He logs 80 km for the week, including an impromptu fun run while on holiday in Bali.

Mack walks us through a chaotic training week that included short runs and bike sessions off just two hours of sleep, a hard parkrun hit-out at North Gong, and a cheeky cycling segment claim.

Café Kit of the Week

• Yoga Bolster

• Tarkine Autopilot

• On Echo 3

Round the Club Shoutouts

• Pat Miller – JT Running

• Glenn Edmonds – Sapphire Coast Runners

• Trudie Barnes – Wollongong Track Club