World Champs: Jackson Cole
"Honestly I can’t believe it’s happening! "
Jackson Cole was a new name to me when the team was announced last year. All I know about him is he’s originally from Wellington, is a fearless descender and has been living in MURICA🌭 for a few years.
I asked as many of the Kiwi team to fill out a short Bio and answer 10 questions from a pool of about 30, so us suckers back home have a better idea of who we’re supporting over in the Pyrenees.
Take it away, Jackson
Jackson Cole
Hometown: Wellington
Club: Wellington Scottish
Coach: Myself
Notable Races:
1st Meet the Minotaur SkyRace
4th Matterhorn Ultraks Extreme
6th VK Skyrunning World Champs
1st Wy’East 50k
1st Alyeska Cirque Series
2nd The Rut 28kNumber of Worlds: First time!
Race: Short Course
10 Quickfire Questions With Jackson
Uphill Grind or Downhill Send?
Downhill send! This is the way.
Lone wolf mission or group run shenanigans?
I do enjoy the banter and suffering with others on the hills. But I honestly enjoy running by myself most of the time.
Favourite post-race feed:
A few beers
Every run on Strava or keep a few sneaky ones off the grid?
I only share the super epic runs I do on strava. To keep the illusion that my life is awesome and nothing I do is monotonous or boring.
Favorite running movie/ film:
That film of Kilian and Anton krupicka running up the grand Teton. To me that video epitomizes everything I love about the sport!
Do you have any pre-race superstitions? Lucky socks? Album you've gotta listen to pre race etc?
I can’t wear a cap during a race. Which is annoying because I actually like wearing caps while training. But I wore one during the Grigne SkyMarathon 2 years ago and the race went poorly. So I’ve had to swear off wearing them unfortunately.
What workout strikes fear into your soul when you see it on the schedule?
Anytime I have some flat interval session. Usually in the winter I force myself to do these to try and be a well rounded runner on the trails. It seems to work, but I wish it didn’t.
What is your biggest strength when it comes to racing?
My biggest strength in racing is the downhill. And if it’s technical even better. It’s usually my only hope in winning races. If there is a long and steep descent, then I might just have a chance.
What's something you think people over value when it comes to trail running?
I think people tend to overvalue the gadgets and data in trail running. All the data can obviously be useful, but if you get too caught up in it, you become a robot.
I think what’s undervalued, is listening to your body. Just running for the love of it and not being afraid to push the pace when you feel good, or take the day off when you feel like rubbish.
What does it mean to pull on the black singlet and rep NZ?
To represent New Zealand means everything to me. Putting on a black singlet is something I’ve wanted to do since I was a young kid. I remember receiving a yellow Wellington jersey for cross country in year 9, and being really really stoked. Now I have that feeling x10 as a 29 years old, which feels special.
What are you most fizzed for in Spain?
I’m most fizzed for the course, it’s really steep and fairly technical. More akin to a SkyRace than anything else.
I need to learn all the new Kiwi slang from my teammates. I’ve been in the states too long…
How has your build-up been in this final training block? Feel free to leave all your sandbags here!
My build for worlds has been great. It’s always tricky racing this late in the season, but I’ve prioritized shorter races and bigger training weeks up until this point. Which has me feeling pretty psyched and ready to race on the big stage.
Have you had a chance to get on the course? What were your takeaways from that?
I’ve ran the last 16kms of the course so far. It wasn’t as steep as I had anticipated, but the terrain is what makes this race challenging. The trails are on uneven grassy slopes and sharp limestone rocks!
Awesome, thanks for that, Jackson! All the best for the World Champs!