🏃🏃♀️Backyard Recap & Rocky Point Results
“I hobbled home, bowed by embarrassment and the ongoing pain from my"
Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news
We’re here for you like a bottle of Tui. It's not your first choice, but it's good enough to get you through if there’s nothing else on offer😝
Here’s what’s in the drop bag this week:
😵💫Backyard World Champs Results
🏃🏃♀️River Run Backyard Results
🏃🏃♀️Rocky Point Trail Results
🎯Things You May Have Missed
💩Worst Run Ever by CurraNZ🟣
🏁Upcoming events: Mission Mt Somers & Remutaka Rail Trail
⛰️💊Mountain Skag Pic of the Week
Note: Due to the length, some email browsers will hide some of the content - make sure you click ‘view entire email’ or click through to substack.
World Backyard Ultra Results
When I sent out last week’s newsletter, the warm-up was just ending.
The team was all still in the race, 29 yards deep.
I wasn’t sure what to expect next.
Wow! That blew past all of my expectations.
If you’re interested in the Backyard Scene, I’m sure you’ve already devoured all the content on Instagram & Facebook, so I’ll try to keep this short.
Team Result:
🥝NZ — 6/63 countries — 811 yards / 5,433.7km
Belgium proved once again that their controversial ‘Must be an identical twin’ selection policy should be outlawed by Laz. They took the victory, amassing 1147 yards / 7,684.9 km🤯.
They also recaptured the World Record, with 3 (or 6, if you run with the twin theory)runners posting a mind-numbing 110 yards / 737km.
Google Maps tells me it’s 727km from Wellington to Otematata.
Let that settle in.
Unfortunately, Straya🦘 smashed us in 2nd with 971 yards / 6,505.7km.
Individual results:
Sam Harvey - 73 yards / 489km
John Bayne - 72 yards / 482.4km
Glenn Tomlinson - 69 yards / 462.3km
Simon McLean - 65 yards / 435.5km
Jeremy Pelvin - 65 yards / 435.5km
Caleb Pearson - 61 yards / 408.7km
Julia Chamberlain - 51 yards / 341.7km
Johan Bergman - 50 yards / 335km
Carl Read - 48 yards / 321.6km
Brion Matthews - 48 yards / 321.6km
Anthony Kerr-Taylor - 45 yards / 301.5km
Jane McAlpine - 43 yards / 288.1km
Chris Taylor - 43 yards / 288.1km
Shannon Rhodes - 40 yards / 268km
Glenn Sutton - 38 yards / 254.6km
What an extraordinary effort from every single member of the team and their support crew.
We’ve all had long training runs where we cbf running, and it’s only been 20 minutes in🥵.
I can’t imagine what that first 24 hours must have felt like. Dealing with the pressure to perform on the world stage, even in this niche sport.
Adam Keen was the man on the ground in Otematata. You just can’t keep him away. I think I counted 6 runners out of his AerobicEdge stable in the event.
He had a great Instagram post summing up the teams’ efforts:
Everyone on the team got to 38 hours / 254km the only other team to do this was Belgium and um well they are freaks clearly. Great result out of 63 teams. And was awesome to see NZ stay strong as other countries had runners drop.
6th overall out of 63 countries
Julia Chamberlain New Zealand Female Record 51 Hours 342km and top 10 finish out of over 100 females around the world
11 NZ runners set new Personal Bests with some big jumps from John Bayne from 51 to 72, Glenn Tomlinson 41 to 69, Simon McLean 51 to 65, Jeremy Pelvin 50 to 65, Caleb Pearson 42 to 61 and Julia Chamberlain 40 to 51.
10 of the 15 NZ Runners hit 48 hours / 200 miles or more! Mindblowing. More on this later.
2 x 300 miles / 72 hours or more Sam Harvey & John Bayne.
Carl Read ran the fastest 200 miles, had the most rest time out of almost a 1000 runners around the world. Average lap time 41.07 for 6.7km, running time 33.06 for 200 milesBeast!
Sam Harvey last one standing for New Zealand 73 hours / 489km. Legend and secured his spot for Bigs Backyard in America next year.
John Bayne, Assist with 72 hours / 483km Dunedin Pub Runners represent
Adam Keen from AerobicEdge
One of the other great things to come out of the event was The Rocky Allan Show.
His updates on Facebook were on point, capturing some amazing moments with his photography.
I’ve put a selection in the gallery below, but check out this Facebook Group for more photos and reports.
A big shout out to Chris Taylor & Steve Tripp from Inch Events. Shaun Collins from Lactic Turkey. Chris Macdonald from Runners with Beards. Huntaway Run Co. for supplying the kit and the countless other people who contributed financially / helped out during the event or both.
River-Run Backyard Results
Saturday, October 28th
9 am Saturday, A&P Showgrounds, Waipukurau. 150 freshly inspired maniacs jammed into the starting corral to kick off the 2nd edition of River-Run Backyard Ultra.
Organised by Joshua Lloyd & Michael Courtney with a tonne of support from the local running scene and sponsors. This must be the best free race in the country 💪.
Overall Winner:
🥇🏆👑 Fiona Hayvice - 37yards / 248km
Top DNFs
☠️Ketina Chivasa - 36yards / 241.2km
☠️Taikona Wheadon - 32yards / 214.4km
☠️Ryan Hattle - 30yards / 201km
Congratulations to Fiona Hayvice, your 2024 River Run Backyard Champion and NZ’s 2nd female overall winner💪.
What a week she’s had. From Otematata, crewing Glenn Sutton to 40 yds to Waipukurau, where she smashed out 37 of her finest.
She may have been the most qualified prerace, but you still have to go out and run the yards. Like any backyard, the champion is only as good as the competition. 150 starters whittled away through the day. When the headlamps came out, it was down to just 16.
The crew held strong, only 5 falling victim to the darkness. 11 would hear the knock of 100 miles, with 2 answering the door. The high of the new sunrise wore off. 4 more fell shortly after. The top 5 was formed.
🏃♀️Fiona Hayvice, 🏃♀️Ketina Chivasa, 🏃Taikona Wheadon , 🏃Ryan Hattle, and 🏃Lee Greer.
The warm fuzzy feeling of 200km was enough for Lee Greer.
Ryan Hattle fell 1 lap later, making it a 66% chance of NZ seeing its 2nd overall female Backyard Ultra Champion.
When Taikona Wheadon started getting Air NZ check-in notifications, he knew it was time to call it quits. The Kiwi Expat had a flight to catch back to the UK.
Fiona vs Ketina. A female champion was assured. The question was, who?
The battle raged into the 2nd night. 4 rounds of back and forth, but Fiona would claim the glory, completing her 37th lap to take the win.
I’m sure it will be a little bittersweet for Ketina, but hold your head up high. Ketina moved her PB from 26 at Kings Backyard to 36 at River Run. Her continued improvement at each event over the last 18 months is phenomenal.
I would not be surprised to see Ketina Chivasa on the starting list come the World Champs in 2026.
Joshua Lloyd took a break from drinking all the beers pack up duties to answer the call. Here’s what he had to say about River Run 2024.
“It’s always a bit nerve racking putting on these events. What’s the weather look like, are people going ot turn up, have we forgotten something major?”
“But when the online regos started turning into faces, and the tents started going up, it was time to get excited.”
“Last year, I made the ill-informed decision to run in the event as well. This year I just ran a hotlap the night before to check the course, and I can confirm that’s a much better idea.”
“There was a tonne of cool things to take away from the weekend. We had 50 more runners starting this year. The race went longer, and we had 2 female runners battling it out for the overall win. River Run is here to stay.”
Joshua Lloyd
Rocky Point Trail Run
Sunday, 27th of October
You may be surprised to read this, but it was wet AF in Buller on Sunday for the new-look Rocky Point trail run*😂. Not that you could tell by the winning times.
*I had 25km in the preview. It’s actually 22.5km
The Gutbuster -📏22.5KM | ⛰️150M
🏃♀️Women’s Podium
🥇Maggi Forsyth - 1:40:05
🥈Lynn Irving - 1:54:04
🥉Pip Dalley - 1:57:18
Maggi Forsyth showed off her full range by taking out The Gutbuster at Rocky Point on Sunday. You may recognize her as the weapon that dominated the 100 Miler at Naseby this year in 19:34.
She took it out hard, leaving Lynn Irving (2023🥈), Pip Dalley, and Jo Lawler to duke it out for the remaining podium spots.
Irving matched her 2nd place from 2023, grinding out a 1-minute lead over Dalley and Lawler over the first 5km. She dragged away to finish ahead of Dalley by 3 minutes, with Dalley pipping Lawler by just 28 seconds.
I managed to find the fax machine number where Maggi was staying down on the coast, and she was kind enough to reply.
How did the race play out at the front and what are your thoughts on the new Rocky Point long course?
“Firstly, the new Rocky Point course is stunning - super scenic with a combination of farm, bush track & running along the cycle trail by the beach.”
“Highly recommend if you want a challenging course with beautiful views of the rugged coastline.”
“Mathew Stokes a young guy from Greymouth led right from the start, all the way through for an easy win.”
“There was a group of about 9 men and me at the front for the first couple kilometres. I passed three of them, and then the order stayed the same for the duration of the run (me sitting in seventh behind 6 guys) - my friend Jesse Rhodes who I train with finished 5th overall!”
“The 7 of us seemed to be somewhat spread out and the distance didn’t change much. I kept my eye on the guy in front for the whole race, but couldn’t catch him.”
“Great race. Well organised & got a cool trophy, rocky point cap & some cash for the win.”
Maggi Forsyth
🏃Men’s Podium
🥇Matthew Stokes - 1:25:38
🥈Steven Gibson - 1:27:02
🥉Silas Carey - 1:30:06
Matthew ‘Stokesd As Bro,’ the young gun from Greymouth, notched up his first top spot on the podium, making it a clean sweep of The Gutbuster by Greymouth Harriers.
Stokes took this one out harder than David Goggins on Viagra. Steven Gibson (2023🥇) was sticking tight 12s back, with Silas Carey a further minute back.
Stokes kept dropping bombs, throwing down a 36:22 over the next 10km, laying another 33s on Gibson with Carey slipping back another 1m30. The elastic wasn’t quite broken, just a little strained. More like those old undies you should have thrown out 3 years ago.
The young gun from Greymouth Massif kept his finger on the trigger, executing his race to perfection, taking the win by a comfortable 1:24 margin over Gibson, with Carey adding a bronze medal to his gold in the 12.5km race in 2023.
Check out the FULL RESULTS HERE.
Rockypoint Facebook also has a few pictures up.
Things You May Have Missed
She’s done it—Ultra in a row #300 in the bag(now 302). Shannon started Ultra #300 at 1.45 am on Saturday before work. That demonstrates the commitment you need to hit your out-of-this-world, crazy af, mind-bending goals.
Are you running or crewing at Tarawera 100 miler this year? Kerry Suter posted a link to this tool which you might find useful to plan your Aid Station A,B,C,D,E, and
DNF splits.
An anonymous tip came through on the hotline this week. Last week, I missed one of NZ’s oldest races, the Kelly Canter in Palmerston. Of note, Ryan Carr is back racing. You’ve all been warned. Coming to a race near you.
Worst Run Ever by UTMB 🟣CurraNZ
“Soph” has answered the bell and ended the ‘Worst Run Ever” drought.
Let this be a lesson to all of you holding on to your stories. It’s time to set them free.
Take it away, Soph.
“It's fair to say that the run didn't even start out particularly well. I'd been support crewing for an event in the morning and by the time I finally got out the door I was tired, it was a bit too warm, and I'd eaten an interesting combination of snacks - you can probably already see where this is going.”
“The slog up the hill felt harder than usual but I finally settled into a bit of a rhythm and started to think my terrible run was going to have a less-than-terrible conclusion. Oh, how wrong I was.”
“The stomach cramps began about 7km from home. I was in an area with nice thick bush and in hindsight, I should of course have taken advantage of this at the time. Ever the optimist, I instead opted to push on. Another mistake.”
“By 9km, the cramps had intensified and I made the call to head straight down the hill to the riverside track which would make for easier running, and which leads to a conveniently located toilet. Who would have thought that scrambling down a steep bank with a dodgy stomach was a bad idea? Not me, apparently.”
“The planned dash along the river track turned into more of a snail-paced intervals session with about 200m of pained jogging interspersed with deep breathing/clenching breaks. By the time the toilet was in sight, I was genuinely unsure if I was actually going to make it. The final 100m took about 10 years. The pain was immense.”
“Thankfully, the toilet was unoccupied and undeterred by the door which wouldn't lock, I set about releasing the demon from within. Five minutes later, I emerged, shaken but relieved, only to see that a camper-van load of tourists had parked up about 5m away and were observing me with silent horror. The unleashing of the demon had not been a silent event.”
“I hobbled home, bowed by embarrassment and the ongoing pain from my bowels. We've all been there but somehow, that knowledge never makes it any better when it's your turn for the sh💩t run."
Soph
Thanks for the story Soph!
You’re in the draw for some little purple pills from 🟣CurraNZ.
They won’t help with a red face, but they may magically make you not almost sh💩t your pants next time!
Keep the stories coming in! Send them to trailrunningnz@gmail.com
They can be short or long. Funny😂 or sad😭. You can own it, or it can be made anonymous. They can even have a happy ending.
Upcoming Events
Mission Mt Somers
Saturday, 2nd of November
Next up is Mission Mt Somers. Now, I admit it. Until last year, I had no idea about this race or where Stravaly Staveley even was. Learning about races and places has been one of the best parts of writing this thing.
If you’re not Mazda Familia, the race starts in Staveley, around 25 minutes from Methven or 1h20 inland from Christchurch.
Clearly, it’s not that much of a hidden secret. If you scan the back of the trophies, you’ll find Dan Jones, Katie Morgan, Weston Hill, Julia Grant, Kate Loye, Ryan Carr, and the great Sjors Corporaal all etched into the back.
There are 4 distances on offer:
📏42km
📏21km
📏10km
📏5 km
Check out Julia Grant’s video from 2013; it will give you a good idea of what to expect on race day.
Now, who better to ask about the race than Katie Morgan (🥇2023, 🥇2022, 🥈2021)
You’ve had an incredible run at Mission Mt Somers with two wins and a second. What are some of your memories from those races?
“I remember the first one in 2021 pretty well as this was my second ever trail race. Learnt a good lesson about the importance of fuelling in a race!”
“Think I led till just after half way until Kate Loye (underestimated ultra machine and current OGU champ) caught me and took the win by a couple of minutes.”
“Will also always remember the start of the race - running up the river which can be rather fresh!”
How would you describe the terrain of the course to someone coming to race in the area for the first time?
“Pretty gnarly! The first half especially so to be honest works quite well and makes it easier to take it steady at the start of the race!”
“There is some good runnable stuff in the second half on the Woolshed Creek track. Awesome varied terrain though and amazing views.”
With your experience, what advice would you give to this year’s runners—both those at the front and those just hoping to complete?
“Don't over cook the first half and perhaps don't pummel yourself on the downhill to the half way point aid station as you want to save some legs for the second climb!”
What does the racing calendar look like for you over the summer, and has someone woken up and offered you a shoe sponsorship yet?
“For me it's Queenstown half for a bit of fun and to try get some speed before Kepler in December. I'm then considering Tarawera 50k and will also do 3Peaks plus 1 as I thought they was an awesome race.”
“As for the sponsorship - unfortunately no luck there despite trying. Probably something to do with my terrible social media presence.”
Follow EnduraNZ Events on Instagram or Facebook for coverage and results.
Remutaka Rail Trail Run & Walk
Saturday, November 2nd
Philip Broughton from Trentham Harriers gives us the low down from the Remutaka Rail Trail Race.
“This is a fun run & walk on the Remutaka Rail Trail through the Remutaka Ranges. We start at 254m above sea level and cruise up shallow gradient all the way to the turn around near the summit.”
“This is a scenic and historic route that is a jewel in the Wellington region. The steep, bush clad valley, the river below, tunnels, bridges and plenty of sweaty people make for a great morning out.”
“This is the main fundraising event held by Trentham United Harriers and Walkers Club. Proceeds enable us to subsidise registration fees for our members and maintain the equipment required to run the club.”
For more info, check out the Trentham Harriers site.
The home of UPPER HUTT HARDCORE.
Also, make sure you lock your car😂.
#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week
Chris Lucas from CMF Running got out over the long weekend and proved there’s quality Mountain Skag in the mighty Bay of Plenty.
Chris and his group took the ridgeline from the Tuahu track to Waiorongomai in the Kaimai Ranges.
Send your entries in by Tagging @trailrunning.nz (NOTE THE “.”) and use #mountainskag, DM on Instagram, or email trailrunningnz@gmail.com to enter.
Every entry has a chance to win the monthly giveaway of a Mountain Skag T-shirt or hat.
Next week, we will have the Mission Mt Somers results and whatever else I find procrastinating before a run.
It takes hours to write this newsletter but only 8 seconds to forward it to a friend.
P.S.: Paid subscribers, if you missed last week’s Bonus Fritter, you can read it here.
🥔The Bonus Fritter 24/10
🙈Bradley’s Ramble
👟Shoe Review Stu: Overland GS:PGH
🏃UTMB Recap with Fabiano & Simon
❓5 Watts
P.P.S: To those of you who entered the guess the order our Backyard runners will finish in competion, I’ll announce the winner next week. This was way more effort to mark than anticipated😂.
Josh and Mike the best race directors ever.
Thanks for sharing the love re sat champs 📸