🏃🏃♀️2024, So Far So Good
"To continue would result in a devastating eruption🌋 and a pyroclastic flow that could destroy a nation ☢️"
Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news
We’re here for you like the Easter Bunny. Sneaking into your inbox, leaving you little chocolatey trail running treats.
Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:
🏃🏃♀️1st Quarter Roundup
🎯Things You May Have Missed
😭Worst Run Ever
🤯Mission Corner
🏁Upcoming events: Mt Oxford Odyssey
⛰️💊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.
2024, So Far So Good
I don’t want to alarm you, but … F🤬CK. We’re now 1/4 of the way through the year.
If you’re like me, and your former self has let your current self down by setting some stupid goals for the year, it’s time to panic!
There have already been some massive highlights (and lowlights) this year, so let’s look back at the year so far. (Yeah ok, so there were no events this week, so I’m waffling more than an episode of Dirt Church😝)
🐐The passing of the baton at The Goat
Sjors Corparaal has had The Goat locked down tighter than the fist of a toddler trying to eat whatever they just picked up off the ground.
He's won 8 of the 20 years the event has run. However, his son Kaya put it all together this year and knocked over his old man. I don’t think that’s the end of the story, though. I sense a big rematch for 2025…
🌏Tarawera is as popular as ever #trailsfullofmoneyheart
If you had believed the Facebook group comments, you would have thought only 100 people would turn up to race Tarawera this year.
“Greedy bastards”
“I can’t believe there won’t be any champagne at the Blue Lake this year”
“FarRCK iRONMAn”
Well … turns out those UTMB stones have some pulling power. There were more patchy beards and Lulu Lemon leggings in Rotorua than ever.
There may have been more water supply issues than the Wellington Council, but there was some fantastic racing. Danny Jones and Ruth Croft crossed their i’s and dotted their t’s to take home the 102km titles.
Caitlyn Fielder won her 3rd Tarawera 50KM title, and Konoka Azumi never looked in doubt in the miler.
But for me, the performance of the weekend came from Sam Harvey, who pushed Adrian MacDonald🌭 to the brink in the 100-miler.
We’re used to seeing Sam do some crazy sh💩t, but somehow I think this impressed me more than his efforts at Deadcow Gully and Bigs Backyard.
😵💫Backyard Ultra’s continue to evolve
Speaking of Sam Harvey, the backyard scene in NZ continues to grow. Pigs Backyard saw ‘Runners with Beards’ livestream their first event. Anyone watching would have seen Glenn Sutton go on to win his 2nd Backyard Ultra.
Runners with Beards packed up their cameras and a pile of learnings and headed to Riverhead ReLaps. On a new course and with a record field, it was no surprise to see a new Riverhead ReLaps record.
Stu Lynch may have won the silver ticket, but how good was it to see #pussyriot, led by Brooke Thomas, take on the lads and fight deep into the championship rounds (4th Overall, 254.98 KM).
💀🥀The Circle of Life
We’ve seen some events run for the last time, and some come back from the dead.
‘Loop the Lake’ by Nelson Events was one that was held for the last time, signing off after 29 years.
The Tararua Mountain Race returned from the dead. This was no small feat in today’s minefield of H&S paperwork and liability. Andy Carruthers and his team put on a flawless day (including the weather).
I have a feeling it will explode in popularity in the next couple of years as true wilderness races become harder to find.
☀️3Peaks Dundein continues to shine
Steve Tripp and Leith Harriers continue to improve and grow the Dunedin 3 Peaks mountain race. This year, the racing was better than ever, with Ali Wilson and Cam Kerr taking come-from-behind victories to lift the Short Course Trail Running National Titles.
Not that you would know any of this if you followed Athletics NZ, which designates the National Championships.
As far as I can tell, there wasn’t one preview article on their site or Facebook, and the results were swept into the bottom of the weekly round-up.
I know that the National Athletics meet was on at the same time (Sam Tanners's hair was looking amazing), but surely you could have one article dedicated to the trail running national champs?
🍭It hasn’t all been rainbows and lollipops
The Jumbo Holdsworth Trail Race, Old Ghost Ultra, and The Tussock Traverse have all been weather-affected.
Jumbo Holdsworth race director Andrew Thompson pulled a rabbit out of his jacksey with a last-minute B-course hail mary that saved the day.
Jim Hickey also cursed the Old Ghost Ultra, as the decision was made to avoid the exposed tops, AKA the best part of the course. The racing was still fierce, but there was a lot more actual running involved, which definitely destroyed a few souls who were there for the views🤮.
Tussock Traverse wasn’t quite so lucky. With a late summer snow sh💩tstorm forecast and nowhere else to run, the Victory events team had to cancel the event only 2 days before the race.
Sh💩tty for the runners, sh💩tty for the organisers. Fingers crossed, they persevere, and we see the Tussock Traverse in 2025 and, with a bit of luck, the much-maligned Ring Of Fire.
What I’m Keeping An Eye On Over The Next Couple Months
👑Faultline Ultra is just 3 weeks away.
Is the Faultline crew going to pull it off? They’ve bitten off a lot with 6 trail races (including the world's MOST UNIQUE 6km race🤣) and 4 MTB races covering the whole Wellington Region (escaping Upper Hutt as fast as humanly possible due to H&S risk). Think of all those forms.
There have been a tonne of nervous people getting busy in the Facebook Group comments due to an apparent lack of detail about the course and aid stations. I can understand their concern as The Wild PTSD is hard to shake, and most people have seen the Fyre Festival documentary.
Bengy (Race Director) has clarified many of the concerns and got in front of the camera, which should quash the fears that he’s off in Guatemala with everyone’s money.
Watch this space. If Faultline nails it, there could be a new big dog on the NZ trail running scene😎.
🎟️Krayzie K’s Backyard Ultra, the last NZ Team Silver ticket.
There is one guaranteed spot left in the NZ Backyard team. To win the silver ticket at Krayzie K's Backyard Ultra, all you gotta do is run around in circles for days on end in the middle of winter in Christchurch, freezing your balls/ and or flaps off in the process. Good luck.
🐆It’s 88 days until Danny Jones attempts to pick up a cougar.
Last year, Danny Jones headed to Murica’🌭 with the dream of winning Western States. There were a lot of unknowns.
Could he run 100 miles? Could he handle the big stage? Would he be intimidated by the North Americans with their sleek speed moustaches?
He went on to finish 5th in one hell of a debut. This year, he heads back with the weight of last year’s performance on his shoulders.
You can follow Danny’s build-up to the Western States with his weekly substack; it’s well worth a read.
Things You May Have Missed This Week
Jenny Rankin was part of a team that helped guide a legally blind person through Goat Pass🤯, which went pear-shaped due to bad weather. Read her account of it on Instagram (Posts 1, 2)
All smiles at Riverhead ReLaps Photo: Hadani’s Instagram Hadani Woodruff shares her experience at Riverhead ReLaps. A++ would read again.
Shannon-Leigh Litt is tough AF. She’s on an ultra-distance run streak of 92 days, during which she's run the Tarawera 100-mile race and the infamously tough Northburn 100🤯.
Sam Harvey has just completed a four-week training block, averaging 300km a week. WTF does he have planned🤔?
Yesterday, I had a little April Fools fun on Instagram. Just to be clear, Dirt Church hasn’t acquired this newsletter. It was all for the LOL’s
Worst Run Ever Throwback
It’s been quiet on the Worst Run Ever desk.
I can only presume people are too embarrassed to tell their stories😳.
I know they’re out there. I just need to pry them out.
My wife had the idea that if I retell her Worst Run Ever now that there are more than 3 readers, it might encourage others to send theirs in.
I’m not quite that optimistic, and I know that most people don’t do anything unless there are freebies involved.
Every Worst Run Ever submission for April will go in the draw to win a sweet Mountain Skag jumper.
Without further ado…
“Inspired by binging Goggins vids, I decided I would do a triple 'tip track' session the following morning💪🏃♀️. For non-Wellingtonians, imagine a steep gravel track next to the tip. Beautiful. My husband and friend decided they would come too.”
“We planned to go early, like still dark early🌒. That’s when the badasses run and we were badasses.”
“11:00AM⌚ - whoops. I could feel my enthusiasm draining😱. Maybe I would find it in a pack of salt and vinegar rice wafers? The cheap extra salty kind. I ate the entire pack. No enthusiasm in there. Just an ungodly level of internal dryness. I was crusting up. How could I run up tip track 3 times while feeling like a desert? So I drank a 750Ml bottle of ginger Kombucha. Weird choice I know. My stomach wasn’t a fan either😵. This run is rubbish already and I'm still in the car.”
“We finally made it to the start of the track and slowly made our ascent. Bugger, I needed to pee already... no good hiding places so I just pop a squat and hope for the best. Take two, and off we go again… ah oh, I felt those recognisable pains and the building of pressure😰… I tried to ignore it.”
“I started to waddle🐧…keep going, keep going. I was squeezing my butt cheeks together so tight that no amount of anti-chafe could help me now. I was stuffed. To continue would result in a devastating eruption🌋 and a pyroclastic flow that could destroy a nation ☢️. I couldn’t make it back down to the car🚙 either. I was past the point of no return. I had to deal with this right there and then.”
“There were no trees🌲 or bushes. Just long brown knee-length grass, but beggars can’t be choosers. There were people in the distance, I could see them clearly, could they also see me🧐? Probably…”
“Don’t worry I buried it💩, along with my dignity…”
“We had made it a few hundred meters, and we had already stopped for me twice. This was a disaster.”
“The triple tip track session was downgraded to a single. Momentum gone, as well as my dignity. This was my worst run ever.”
The Tip Track Bomber
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.
Mission Corner
Kaimanawa Kaweka Traverse 124km and 8100m vert
This week’s mission is from Liz Palmer. A twist on the classic KKT (Kaimanawa Kaweka Traverse.)
The report is long, just like the mission. I’ve posted the full report separately, and it’s well worth reading in the loo on your boss’s time.
Kaimanawa Kaweka Traverse – 124km and 8100m vert
Well, this was the run that almost didn’t happen! Delayed a year by cyclone damage then the dates window for our key swap was limited to the weekend of 1-3 March. We lined up access permission for the start at Kiko Rd only to discover it would be closed until June.
I had a quick google, but I couldn’t find any reports of sickos who have gone full sausage and done it in one push.
I’m sure plenty of people must have done it. Drop us a line if you have or have a link to anyone who has done it in one push.
Send in your mission reports and intel to trailrunningnz@gmail.com or DM on Instagram.
Upcoming Events
Mt. Oxford Odyssey
Saturday, March 6
Another week, another final year of an event.
The team behind Mt. Oxford Odyssey has decided that 10 years of filling in endless forms, worrying about runners snapping ankles or getting lost is enough, so they are going out on a high💪.
The race was formerly marketed as “the toughest mountain marathon” until this year. They’ve got the bulldozer in, flattened out the course, and put it on the rack to stretch it out a little.
It’s no longer the 42km / 3500M monster that has been cutting runners down to size for the last 5 years.
It’s now a 50km / 2250M loop rather than the traditional out-and-back course. The second ascent and descent of Mt. Oxford are gone, and they’ve openly said you should find the course easier and finish it faster.
In saying that, it still looks to be a tougher course than the majority of 50km races in the country.
I’m sure it will be bittersweet for the team.
Sweet, knowing it's the last time they’re out all weekend marking and packing up the course.
Bitter, after the massive high at the finish line watching people smash through their perception of what they thought they could achieve.
All the best for the final dance.
If you’ve been hit with a sudden pang of FOMO, there are extremely limited spots still available.
If you’re up for Type 2 fun but don’t want to tackle the 50KM, they also have 33KM, 21KM & 15KM options.
Check out their website for more details, and follow them on Instagram
#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week
This week’s mountain skag is from Kyle Malone.
Lake Angelus, taken from the deck of the hut. Sh💩t spot, but at least the weather looks good.
This will go into next week’s March vote to keep things simple.
Tag @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 results from Mt. Oxford Odyssey and whatever else blows my way.
It takes hours to write this newsletter but only 8 seconds to forward it to a friend.
PS. I’ve been testing out a new Mountain Skag running T. If you’re bored of the standard offerings on the market, would you be interested in this?
