Meet the Team - Mike
Mike joined the team a little over a year ago as a member of the retail staff but then, as his running career started to take off and he started winning races, he found he had less and less time to be in the store selling you shoes. With this being the case he left his role on the shop floor but has come back to us as a podcast guest and now Summit Gear sponsored athlete and we couldn't be more stoked. Read on to find out more about the most lactic acid resistant calves in the business.
How long have you been running/running competitively?
I’ve been running very occasionally since I was in primary school, as my dad used to coordinate the Northam Running Club in the town I grew up in Western Australia. The last 4 years I’ve really enjoyed more consistent trail running, and my first race was in June of 2022 in Western Australia at the Transcend 65km Ultra. During COVID, I made a bet with my good friend Dan Hedley to give up alcohol for a year, and the resulting change in lifestyle was huge. Performing lots of music live, the presence of alcohol in my life was slowly chipping away at my mental and physical health. It was a positive change that led to spending more time exploring outdoors instead, and realistically moving to the Blue Mountains too!
What does your race calendar look like for this year?
This year is pretty minimal race wise! I just raced the Buffalo Stampede 100km which was a lead-up race to the year’s main goal of the 170km Ultra Trail Mont Blanc in Chamonix this August! Depending how the body and mind feels post that race, there may be one more race late in the year.
What inspires you when picking your race calendar for the year?
- The course profile and scenery. I love challenging, steep races that have a big sense of adventure and ‘I’m not sure if I can do this’. If the sense of adventure is there, if the day doesn’t go to plan I still feel like I’m exploring a place that I’m curious about and can find meaning and joy in that.
- Competitive fields, there’s nothing more exciting than being pushed by amazing athletes, who show you that you are capable of more than you think. The times I’ve raced overseas have inspired me and shown me that there’s so much room to improve!
- A specific type of running. Sometimes I’m really excited about technical running, next year perhaps something more runnable. Follow the curiosity and whatever is bringing joy at the time!
- New experiences.
Favourite shoes to run in and other stand out pieces of kit?
Favourite shoes currently would be the La Sportiva Prodigio Pro. They perform incredibly, but above all I feel like running is fun in those shoes. I can take them anywhere too!
Also a big fan of the Salomon Genesis S/Lab, epic shoe.
Living up here in the Blue Mountains, a stand out piece of kit that I couldn’t imagine being without, is the Leki hiking poles. The glove attachment to the poles, makes using poles feel like an extension of your body, there’s something so nice about steadily flowing on a climb with poles. Very meditative!
What’s it like juggling a music career with running ultras?
It’s actually great, purely because it’s hard to do both at the same time. Therefore it’s this forced break that keeps each passion feeling fresh, as one seems to take most of my focus for a while, and then post race I get to pivot back into writing music or scheduling in recording. This is good recovery for running, it’s great to properly switch off and decompress.
The life experience from travelling, training, exploring, racing, community, are all things that actually feed into the music and give it substance too!
What brought you to the Bluies?
I visited the Blue Mountains regularly when touring Australia performing live music. It’s somewhere I’d come to spend my days off and enjoy the trails. I loved it. In 2023 I travelled to Madeira Island in Portugal, and noted how much the locals loved and were shaped by the beautiful place they called home. My curiosity grew regarding where I could find a similar environment to enjoy life and trail running at home in Australia. Above all, I just had an undeniable gut feeling to move here. Every time I visited, I felt so relaxed, content and at home. It’s approaching two years living here now, and I feel so lucky to live here, it’s truly incredible.
Some career highlights from the last 12-18 months
- 2023 GPT100 Miler - 1st Place
- 2024 UTMB Snowdonia 100 Miler - 3rd Place
- 2025 Buffalo Stampede 100km - 1st Place
