 | Tearing up the trails: Bare Creek Trail RunHow do you like to spend your Sunday mornings? These Pulsies like to hit the trails! The Bare Creek Trail Run in Garigal National Park at St Ives on Sydney's north shore is fast becoming a favourite on the trail runners' calendar, with 2km, 10km and 15km distances.
Our proud Pulsies lined up for the 15km event, running home with awesome results! Toni finished 2nd and Nicole 3rd in their categories; Julie claimed 5th, Tony 13th and Gabrielle 14th. Mark took on the 10km race, finishing in the top 10. |
Not for the faint-hearted: Great Ocean Road 100km ultramarathonCoach Dani was joined by Bernie and Pete, two of our hardest-core Pulsies, to take on the Great Ocean Road 100km event in Victoria.
Covering mixed terrain of road, trails and sand, it's a gruelling event in anyone's book!
Big congrats to the nutty trio and an extra shout out to Pete for finishing fifth overall.
Melbourne Running FestivalWhile Coach Dani was getting down and dirty on the trails in Victoria, Pulsies Tony, Simon, Lachlan, Leah and Trevor lined up for the more civilised on-road Melbourne Running Festival, in the marathon and half marathon events. |  |
Sydney Running FestivalOne of our all-time favourite events, the Sydney Running Festival was a little different this year, with some tweaks to the marathon and half marathon courses, and a brand new certified 10km course for runners to record new PBs and official race times.
The Pulse team was out in force once again, with Nicole, Gabrielle, Jo and Lachlan posting new PBs in the half marathon, and Simon clocking another sub-3 hour marathon.
Shout out to Danny for finishing his first marathon with a terrific time of 3.52.43. |
Coach Dani gives Jane Fonda a run for her money!More than 2000 men, women, children and superheroes took part in the Run2Cure Neuroblastoma event in Sydney's Royal Botanic Gardens last Sunday - and most of them would have spotted our own Coach Dani onstage, leading the warm up exercises before each race.
Pulse Performance was a proud sponsor of the event, which raised more than $160,000 to fight one of the most serious childhood cancers. Read more about the event at run2cure.org.au |  |
Pulsies fly the flag at the Sydney Half Marathon.The Sydney Half Marathon held in May is always a favourite among the Pulsies. For some, it was there very first 21.1km race while others chased PBs or simply ran the event for the fun of it. Our familiar blue tops with red and yellow Pulse insignia was seen around the course, prompting smiles and cheers from teammates. Well done to everyone who crossed the line!
Pulsies hit the trails in the UTA 100km and 50km events.In the beautiful (and chilly) Blue Mountains, Pete and 'Bags' took it to the next level, lining up for the 50km and 100km races as part of the Ultra Trail Australia Championships in May. It was an early start and a long day on the trails. It was Pete's first time lining up for the event, and he finished in under five hours and with a Top 10 placing in his category. That showed them trails! |  |
 | Pulsies run their way into the Guinness Book of World Records!It was at the end of April when Coach Dani, Tim, Luke and Jayden formed one-quarter of the 12-man team of elite runners including Australian Olympians that ran their way into the record book by setting a new world record for distance run on a treadmill in a 24-hour period. The team clocked 424.63km - impressive, by world standards! It was one of three new world records set that day, organised by runtocurecancer.com.au to raise money for Camp Quality.
Coach Dani is a legend... but we already knew that.On Sunday 9 May, Coach Dani completed Ironman Australia for the 10th time! It was a long hard slog, due to minimal training and the emotional journey as Coach Dani raced in memory of his long-time friend and Pulse athlete Trent Saw. Dani and Trent met for the very first time at Ironman Australia 25 years ago and became the best of friends, training and racing together many times. We're sure Trent was with the Coach every stroke, pedal and step on the way as he battled to complete the event for the 10th time. Especially when we realise Dani's bike-leg time was the same, to the minute, as Trent's time in his last Ironman. |
There's something truly awesome about taking part in an event overseas. So on a recent trip to the United States, Trevor busted out his Pulse colours for two half marathons - just five days apart! Both races - the first in Washington DC and the second in New York City - were held in near freezing conditions, but that didn't stop Trevor from proudly wearing his Pulse singlet (with a thermal long-sleeve underneath). And to top it off, he achieved a new PB, breaking 90 minutes in The Big Apple. Well done Trevor!
A huge congratulations to two of our superstar young triathletes, Luke and Jayden, who represented Pulse at the NSW Club Championships in Orange. Having celebrated their 18th birthday just last month, they went up against much older competitors in the Under 30s category but still finished in fourth and fifth place.
Six Foot TrackCovering 45km of trails from Katoomba to Jenolan Caves, Six Foot Track isn't exactly a stroll in the park! Following the same route as the first explorers, it's an event worth doing... if you're brave enough. So a big congrats goes out to long-time Pulsies Julie and Ros, who lined up for the gruelling event for the very first time - and in good spirits. And a massive shout-out to Pulsie Tony, who completed the event for the eighth time! Australian Sprint National ChampionshipsA relatively new Pulsie triathlete, Sam surprised himself by sneaking onto the podium for third place at the Australian Sprint Championships as part of the Queensland Triathlon Series. |  |
What a fantastic weekend of competition for all the kids who took part in the State Little Athletics Championships - especially the Pulse Juniors who took home a bunch of medals and PB times. Angus won three state titles in the 3km, 1500m and 800m races. Angie also took home gold and three State titles in the U9 400m, 800m and 1500m races. Josh also took home two gold and State titles in the U10 800m and 1500m events. Leon nabbed a silver with a PB in the 800m while Luca took home a bronze medal in his 800m and finished fourth in the 1500m. Awesome effort everyone!
The longest and most gruelling triathlon there is, Ironman is not for the faint of heart. With just two triathlons under his belt, Pulsie Simon signed up to take part in Ironman New Zealand, held in picturesque Lake Taupo on the North Island.
With his wife and little girl on the sidelines to cheer him on, Simon crossed the finish line in the more than respectable time of 12:28 - finishing strong with an awesome 3:38 marathon. Well done Simon!
The "BIG" Husky Triathlon FestivalOne of the favourite events on the triathlon event calendar, it was another terrific weekend on the south coast for the Pulse Performance crew, with our athletes taking part in the Sprint and Long Course triathlons, as well as the 10km and 5km fun runs.
Husky Long CoursePulsie athlete Simon proved that every second counts when he finished his first Husky Long Course (and second triathlon ever!) in 4:58 - beating the five-hour milestone by two seconds and posting sixth in his category. Ben also had a great race, coming out of the water first in his category (and clocking the second fastest swim overall) and finishing 10th in his category and 41st overall in a time of 4:23:59. Fraser crossed the finished line not long after Ben, in a time of 4:45:15, just two minutes outside his race PB. Fraser's strength that day was undoubtedly the run, as he set himself a new PB on the course. Danilo posted an awesome time of 5:11:53 while Trevor posted his second best time for the Husky Long course, jogging it in at 5:44. Deanna chose Husky as her comeback race and a tribute for Cheri Lutz, a dear friend of the triathlon community. It was a tough and very emotional race for Deanna, but she still crossed the finish line in less than 9.5 hours. |  |
Pulsie athletes Victor and Stew formed two-thirds of the Happy Wheels team that took out first place for the third consecutive year! Stew's powerful bike gave Victor a nine minute lead on the run, which he put to very good use, smashing the field who were left fighting for second place. Leone, Gillian and Sarah came together again as the red-lippy-wearing female Pulse team "LeGS", proving that you can race hard and still look great doing it! It was Sarah's first race back since becoming a Mum four months ago. Sam lined up for his first tri in two years while Leah posted a new PB of 1:32:34 and 200m track sprinter, Pulse Junior Anson conquered his first ever triathlon and placed 4th in his category.
Yousef was 12th across the finish line in the 10km race in a time of 42:05. Not his best time at Husky, it was a good hit out to test his current fitness after some time off. Coach Dani came 3rd in the 5km in 17:33, showing he still has a lot of work to do to return to peak fitness after relaxing taking a little too long to recover from The Great Australian Alpine Ascent two weeks before. Naomi was happy to cross the finish line of the 5km after Coach Dani talked into it at the last minute!
It has been designed to be one of the single most gruelling one-day triathlon events, mainly due to the elevation of both the bike and run legs.
Coach Dani knew he was alive (then thought he wouldn't be for much longer!) after completing the 3km ocean swim (930m above sea level) and the first 90km of the 124km ride, which climbs up to 3200m elevation, which is roughly one-third the height of Mount Everest! Riders go to the famous Dead Horse Gap, ‘The Gate’ into the Murray River Valley and Charlotte Pass - all famous for their gruelling climbs.
And if that wasn't enough, the final leg is a 28km off-road run winding along undulating snowy mountain roads visiting Perisher then back to Charlotte Pass before beginning the most gruelling stretch: a 9km climb to the peak of Mount Kosciuszko.
But Coach Dani does like a challenge... so when he was approached to take part, he immediately accepted, even though he had not properly trained for the very unique conditions. Ouch!
Thankfully, he had the help of his support crew Pete, Robert and Louise to help keep him motivated and hydrated! Despite the challenges and the pain, Coach Dani still managed to finish the race in under 10 hours. |  |
Part of The Great Australian Alpine Ascent Festival, the Tri Kozzie is a shorter but still remarkably tough triathlon at Mount Kosciuszko. Pete was a trail runner when he joined Pulse but with some encouragement from Coach Dani, decided to give multi-sport a crack. After completing his very first traithlon last December (a Sprint Distance at Kurnell) he signed up for the Tri Kozzie - 1.5km swim, 50km ride (1800m elevation) and 9km run. Coming out of the water in 12th spot, he quickly made up ground on the ride, entering T2 in fifth position. Finishing strong with the 9km of-road run, Pete finished the race in fourth place overall and first in his category.
