Episode Summary

Sam, Mitch, and Katie sit down with Morgan Clarke, the driving force behind Your Local Run Club in Shellharbour. What started as a small group of friends meeting for a weekly run has grown into a thriving community, with 50-70 runners hitting the Marina every Wednesday morning. The club welcomes runners of all levels, kicking off from the Shellharbour Ocean Pool, looping around the Marina, and wrapping up with a swim and coffee at Darley St Local.

Morgan is a standout athlete in her own right, with experience in Surf Life Saving Ironman events, triathlons, and even Hyrox. She shares insights into her training, which includes a consistent 50km running week complemented by plenty of gym work. With the Shellharbour Half Marathon on the horizon, Morgan focuses on maintaining fitness and enjoying the sport in 2025.

Training Recaps

• Katie takes on a hybrid training approach, prepping for Hyrox Brisbane next week. She balances 105km of running with strength training and plenty of Hyrox-specific workouts.
• Mitch nails a solid track session, running in reverse direction in the outer lanes with Josh Engel and Liam Henderson—acknowledging that GPS accuracy might be questionable. He clocks 14km at roughly 3:25/km pace before heading to Bathurst for a long run in cooler conditions.
• Sam hits some faster splits on Tuesday, then tackles Friday’s threshold session with a strong finish, closing the final rep at 3:40/km pace with Pat Miller. He wraps up the week with a two-hour long run in Shellharbour, totaling 90km, along with some cycling and strength work.

Café Kit of the Week

• Endura Hydration
• Pillar Performance
• Wooden Stick Roller
• OzTape Nasal Strips

Round the Club Shoutouts

• Marijke Walsh – Sea Cliff Coasters
• Kane Najdovski – Your Local Run Club
• Tim Waters – Never Lazy Run Club
• Andy Waters – Never Lazy Run Club

Sam, Mitch, and Katie catch up with NSW 5000m Champion Luke Hince. Luke shares insights into his past nine months of training since breaking 30 minutes for 10K at Sydney10 last year. Despite dealing with minor niggles and work stress, he has maintained consistent training.

He recaps his thrilling victory at the NSW State 5000m Championships, clocking 14:11. After making a bold move to the front at 3K, he was caught with 400m to go but surged back ahead with 150m left to take the win. Luke credits the unwavering support of the Wollongong Track Club for his progress.

This week, he split his time between Canberra for work and Wollongong for the weekend, logging 160km, including solid tempo sessions at Stromlo Forest Park.

• Mitch hit 122km but decided to withdraw from the Canberra Marathon due to a work trip to Singapore. He has plenty of other races lined up.
• Katie managed 50km despite receiving a cortisone injection for a cyst and a torn meniscus.
• Sam raced his first-ever track event with Kembla Joggers on Thursday night, finishing third in 10:34 for 3K in hot and windy conditions. He then made the most of the cooler Sunday weather with a long run of 1 hour 45 minutes at 4:26/km.

• Soundsleep Band – dreamsleepaustralia.com.au
• New Balance FuelCell 5280v2
• Precision Gels
• Dates with Peanut Butter and Chocolate

• Brendan Hince – Wollongong Track Club
• Luke McNeilage – Kiama Running Club
• James Lukassen – Sapphire Coast Runners
• Vanessa Donald – Narooma Run Club

Sam, Katie, and Mitch catch up with Jack Ratz. Jack resides in Canberra and runs with the Deagony of Defeat Run Club. However, his partner's family is from Pambula, so he often visits the Sapphire Coast. Jack started running during COVID. He used to play AFL and coaches gymnastics, so he has an impressive power base. He has run some blistering times in a short period, including a 16:10 for 5k and 2:39 for the marathon. Jack trains with power as a metric, with Zaine Upton as his coach.

Katie recaps her week of sickness, missing her heat for her race but managing to get into the community B race, where she runs 17:40 for the win. Mitch runs 16:33 to come in 2nd in the community race after leading for the majority of it. He also gets a bit of a down week as part of his taper. Jack is getting back into the swing of training since Melbourne but still manages to complete an impressive 7 x 1k at a pace faster than 3:30. Sam logs 78km this week and continues to rebuild his mileage positively.

Café Kit of the Week

• Underwater Camera
• Denneroll for lower back pain
• Puma Deviate 2
• Adidas Terrex Shorts

Round the Club Shoutouts

• Jack Caldwell – Sapphire Coast Runners
• Michael Piela – Never Lazy Run Club
• Fiona Shand – Kiama Running Club
• Daniel Randell – De Agony of Defeat