Meet your host, Sputnik.

Sputnik is Chief Swashbuckler at The Swashbucklers Club and will be your 'host' on the Bali RunVenture Tour. He has been to Bali about 20 times over the past 20 years and is ridiculously passionate about showing people the 'real Bali' away from the usual tourist hot spots.

In February 2013 Sputnik visited Bali to research this trip and personally run and do evey single thing that now makes up this tour. He also stayed in every hotel guests will be staying in to make sure they met the standards of The Swashbucklers Club. (It has to be said, there were a number of things he did, places he ran and hotels he stayed in that have not made it into this tour so if it's in here now, you can be sure it deserves it's place!)

A few things you should know about Sputnik: He is not a world champiom ultra runner. So if you are thinking about coming on this tour to break the land-speed record, you'll be doing that on your own. As a former Nike Run Club Leader in Adelaide, South Australia he is, however, experienced at running with, supporting and guiding runners of varying abilities - particularly those of more 'modest' abilities. And after running many of the planned routes in February 2013 he made the decision to make the majority of them more manageable to less experienced runners - often with shorter alternatives.

Because many of the courses will not be marked the runs will predominantly be 'group runs' where runners run together and will be speed-limited by Sputnik's own pace or the slowest runner in the group. To give you a reference point, here's a few details of Sputnik's running in 2012:

Adelaide Marathon: 3:44

Tarawera 100km trail race (Rotorua NZ): 14:35

The North Face 100 (Blue Mountains, Australia): 19:30 (injured)

Manaslu Multi Stage 212km Trail Race (Nepal): Completed 3 stages of 7/(approx 90km) in just over 22hrs before suffering altitude sickness and recording his first ever DNF (Did Not Finish). Thankfully there will be no altitude issues on this trip!

Since 2010 Sputnik has completed 7 trail ultra marathons, 12 road marathons and 15 half marathons.