Tarkine Elite's Alice McGushin Buffalo Stampede 100k Q&A
1. How did your training block leading into the race go?
This training block was my first time with my coach, Justin Hiatt. It's always a test, placing your trust in someone, and I was keen to see how it would work out. We went through blocks with changing focuses: speed; elevation; distance. This was new to me, as I'd usually just try and pack in everything in every week. Every long run had a target elevation. Most of the time this would mean I would just run between different hill repeats between Mount Majura and Mount Ainslie, which are 3km from where I live. Caring for a two-year-old means I don't get many opportunities to venture much further than that because I needed to minimise the number of hours I was away in the morning. But I did manage to make my way out to Mount Tennent - a Canberra favourite for mountain training. Most of my runs and most of my hill and speed sessions were on fire trail, which also helped me prepare for the Buffalo terrain.
I went on holiday to New Zealand with my family in the middle of my training block. I wasn't able to do a huge amount of running while I was there, but we hiked the Queen Charlotte Track. I carried my daughter the whole way - 71km over 4 days - which was pretty good training too!
Over 2025 I really struggled with illnesses. It was my daughter's first year in daycare and she came home with a virus every other week and 90% of the time I got sick too. But I think a combination of it being summer and Sofia getting through that first year of exposure, we managed to both stay well over the entire training block!
2. How do you feel about your performance on race day?
Justin mapped out the whole race for me - my arrival times at each aid station, my nutrition, when to take caffeine, and my finish time. All I had to do was execute it.
My biggest struggle was sleep the night before. I didn't think I had serious race day nerves, but hour-by-hour, the time passed and I still wasn’t asleep. I tried a range of different tactics but none worked and I was still awake beyond 1am, meaning I had less than 3 hours’ sleep.
I felt a bit tired at the start line, but once we were off, I was carried by the excitement of the race and powered up the first big climb. Climbing is one of my strengths, but I was amazed at how long I held the lead. Fuzhao Xiang passed me halfway up the Big Walk - about 30km into the race.
Some of the tougher parts of the race were not quite what I had expected. Running along the plateau between the Chalet and Cresta Valley was a slog both ways. Because it was relatively flat, I felt I should be pushing it fairly hard, but as I already had many kms and most of the elevation in my legs, I couldn't move very quickly. These sections were also the loneliest parts of the race. I spent almost the entire time running alone, with barely anyone in sight. On the other hand, climbing up the Horn was the highlight of the race. Although I barely took it in, the view was incredible. And the atmosphere heading back along the road was lovely - everyone was cheering each other on - especially the women!
When I crossed the finish line, I was so happy with my result. Not only had I run well and come third behind two internationally acclaimed athletes, but it was the first time I had completed 100km of running since 2022. The last 100km race I completed was Ultra Trail Snowdonia in 2021 - a race which has the honest tagline, "beautiful beyond belief, savage beyond reason". Confined by London lockdowns, I hadn't prepared for the terrain, and gave myself severe rhabdomyolysis and an acute kidney injury. I spent three nights in hospital and couldn't run at all for a month. I had two 100km DNFs in 2024 and 2025. In 2024 I attempted the Sri Chinmoy Canberra Trail 100 less than 6 months after my daughter, Sofia, was born. I was recovering from a cold as well and made the tough decision to pull out at 85km for fear of getting rhabdo again. In May 2025 I was in great shape to race UTA 100, but in the days before the race I got sick with one of Sofia's daycare viruses. After coughing all night, I turned up to the start line, but pulled out at 37km as I felt my energy levels plummeting. So, after several years of setbacks, I'm over the moon to have finished Buffalo - strong, fast, and with my legs still reasonably intact!
3. What were the biggest challenges you faced out there?
My husband, Cesar, very kindly agreed to crew me - and to solo parent Sofia for the day. Doing one of these jobs requires a lot of focus and attention - to do both together is no mean feat. We had planned for him to meet me at Eurobin Creek and Cresta Valley aid stations (23km, 46km, 53km, and 76km). His main job was to swap my empty flasks with full ones and refill the empties, ready for the next stop. When I met him at Cresta Valley, he handed over two unfamiliar flasks and explained to me that he'd left my others at Eurobin Creek. Sofia had wanted cuddles and had distracted him from his crewing duties. When he got to Cresta Valley and realised what he'd done, he had frantically asked around if anyone had spare flasks he could use so he didn't mess up my plan. After an initial "what the hell?" moment, I accepted the flasks and kept running, telling Cesar he better fill up the ones I'd just given him and find the other ones when he got back to Eurobin Creek. However, heading out to the horn, I realised I just could not get the fluid out of one of the flasks. I tried biting it like the straw on a baby water bottle. I tried all different angles. But nothing came out. Troubleshooting, I realised I had only 7km and less than an hour before I'd be back at Cresta Valley and would be able to swap over to my own full flasks again. So I drained the other flask and then handed them both back to Cesar when I returned to the aid station. When I saw Cesar again 23km and almost 3 hours later, he had found the other flasks and had filled them up for me. The saga was over.
For the first 75km, my nutrition had been very clockwork, emptying my two flasks over 2 hours or so and taking a 40g gel every hour. However, I started to feel really hot when I was running from Eurobin to Buckland and I needed to take in a lot more fluid. I was only carrying carb mixes and no water or electrolytes only. I drained one of my flasks with 80g carbs over about 15 minutes, so I decided to skip my gel that hour and instead take one half an hour after previously planned. The heat remained and I refilled my flasks with electrolytes at Buckland and Clear Spot aid stations and drained another flask pretty quickly as I started to climb Dingo Ridge. Being 85km and about 10 1/2 hours into the race and my initial fuelling plan now being off kilter, I lost track of my hourly carb intake. But, knowing what was ahead of me, I decided to just try and pack in as many carbs as I could over the long climb, ready to take nothing going down the other side.
Those last 15km were definitely the toughest for me - not just because it was the end of the race, but because the terrain is pretty brutal. Dingo Ridge is a 800m climb over about 6km and seemed to go on forever. It was the one point in the race where I regretted not having poles. But I just turned my watch to the elevation profile, kept walking up at a consistent pace, and counted down the remaining metres of climbing in the race - metre by metre. I was also concerned about the descent down Middle Track - a steep, technical single track. Technical downhill is not my strength - especially after already running over 90km. But I managed to get down it unscathed. Knowing that Sarah Ludowici is much stronger on that terrain, I was expecting her to fly past me. She certainly gained a lot of ground there, and then zoomed past in the flatter single track section before the finish.
4. What did the course teach you?
The course is absolutely stunning and wherever I could, I tried to appreciate it. It's so much fun starting a race in the dark and climbing a big hill with your head torch on. The sunrise through the forest over Snake Ridge was magical and I could feel the joy of trail running surging inside me - made even stronger by Justin's whoops of delight. The course also reminding me just how much I love the trail community. All the conversations I had with solo and relay runners as we ran together, all the words of encouragement as we passed each other. I was amazed by how many people knew my name - maybe they could just read my bib. I even didn't mind too much the mid-race interviews, where I struggle to string a few words together (starting up Dingo Ridge, "what's the plan from here?" My reply, "get over this hill and then get down"...). Buffalo was definitely one of the best races I've run. It reignited what I love about trails and the trail community and I'd love to come back for more.
5. What’s next for you?
With a handful of weeks of recovery, I'm heading to Queenstown, Tasmania, to race the inaugural DIVERGE Mt Lyell Skyrun on 2 May. This race has so much meaning for me. I was born in Queenstown and spent my entire childhood living there. Queenstown is a pretty unique place. The West Coast of Tasmania is home to some of the world's most luscious temperate rainforest and has beautiful mountains (it is also home to the Tarkine), but it has also experienced severe environmental damage, caused by over a century of mining. The DIVERGE runs will take us through it all - through rainforest, over mountains, and alongside old open-cut mines. I didn't start trail running until after we'd moved away, but I did a lot of bush walking with my family, school and cub scouts while I was there. Going back there and running this race will bring me so much joy and nostalgia. And if this Queenie girl wins the race, that would be even cooler.
