Race Report – Kosci 100k 2024 – Zali Steggall

By Zali Steggall

I started running trail ultras in 2016, with UTA50 my first race.

Despite my sporting experience from my previous skiing career (4 x Winter Olympian, Bronze medalist and World Champion), I learned the hard way that you cannot be cavalier with your approach and training to ultra trail races.

My ski races were all about explosive power, speed and agility, race runs over in around 55 seconds!

Now it’s all about endurance, elevation, race plans and nutrition plans to keep going for many many hours! It’s seems crazy now looking back that I went into my first ultra trail race with good road running fitness, but no real appreciation or focus on trail running and the gear needed, stairs, elevation or nutrition demands of the race.

The good news is that you learn a bit with every race but it just makes such a difference being able to access the expertise and experience of the team at Streek to maximise your chances of a good race.  I have been following Streek training plans for a number of events for over 4 years now and feel like I am getting stronger and stronger. 

A DNF at 75km in TDS taught me a lot

I signed up for 2 big events in 2024. TDS (148km, 9300m elevation – part of the UTMB running festival) and Ultra-Trail Kosciuszko 100. My prep is never ideal with limited time available before events, but I am still always keen to give it a go. TDS was great until 35 kms, then I had a vomit, and felt absolutely cooked in the 33 degree heat going up to Fort de la Platte at 55km. I never really recovered. Feeling nauseous and unable to hold anything down, I DNF’d at 75km. The big lesson for me was: if you are not eating you are stuffing up!

So I was keen to approach UTK100 differently, take more time at checkpoints and make sure I was getting more food in.

I made a rule: “not allowed to leave any checkpoint without consuming decent food and/or at least a gel” (food options were Up&Go, soup, Maurten bar, fruit purée, fruit cup, mini ginger beer). It seemed like a lot but it took the pressure from having to eat while running which I always find difficult, especially as I find gels really difficult after about 8 hours.

Enjoy your day

As I was arriving late on Thursday night from Canberra, I kept my plans loose, keen to go by feel and enjoy the day rather than stress about time. Perisher to Charlotte Village and then up to Kosci was steady and great. I was careful not to use up too much energy too early. I was lucky to be on the way down, nearly at the cheese grater on the main range track, when the storm hit so I pressed on, only getting a bit of rain. I didn’t mind the 1hr30 hold at Charlotte Lookout as it gave me time to rest, eat and catch up with crew. The next section was a bit congested but I was able to run most of it.

Base Camp at Guthega was chaos and I was without crew so I didn’t hang around after a quick hot chocolate. Note to self: bring salt tablets to take the gas out of ginger beer or coke in front flasks – I was snorting it for a while! The rain started from here and never stopped.

My main stop was Perisher, with crew, where I ate heaps (veggie soup/fruit cup/ mini ginger beer and some chips) and changed into dry clothes which felt nice for about 5 seconds. I was drenched within 5 minutes on the way down to Bullocks but loved this section, finding a great pace and ran the whole way, despite the mud and torrents of water everywhere.

My shoes were great in the mud (Saucony Endorphin Edge) which made it easy to go with the flow. I managed soup/fruit cup/chips/mini ginger beer again at Bullocks so felt pretty good. I wasn’t looking forward to the next kms as I have faltered in my last couple of races around the 75 to 85km mark, so I was keen to get through the next 2 sections. I definitely slowed down along Thredbo river but stayed focussed on challenging conditions with the mud, puddles, rocks and roots. This section definitely felt long and I really don’t know why we had to do the extra 2 kms around Thredbo before the checkpoint. It is also always tough when you know there is still a way to go and you can hear others finishing!

My Thredbo village stop was not so great. There was nowhere to get out of the rain and I was too tired to eat and kind of thought it’s nearly done, it will be all right. The next section was tough, I think I was sleep walking for a bit going up to Dead Horse gap.

My learning was that I need to treat the last checkpoint like the first checkpoint: don’t slacken off from eating/fuelling and take some caffeine as it’s been a long day! It’s too easy to think you are nearly there when in reality, the last 14 kms were still very challenging. I got to the top eventually, after stopping for a few micro sleeps on the way up. I am used to the cold so just had a quick stop at Eagles Nest then headed down the stairs. Luckily I had done them before so knew what to expect but still, they were dodgy, with mud and overflowing water, so had to be taken carefully, with full use of the poles to hop down some of the big drops.

All in all, a big day, finished drenched but satisfied.

Key learnings:

• Have more clothes options available with crew (I was more focussed on coping with heat after my TDS experience and should have had more rain/cold weather gear)
• I found that I like Pure gels the best
• Don’t have tailwind after 6 to 8 hrs
• Take salt tablets
• Stay focussed on the last checkpoint as if it was the first!

Thanks for the great training programs, it’s been a solid 10 months this year and the body has coped really well. Now here is to 2025!

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