🏃🏃♀️21 addicts run 105km for Undies
"1 very happy guy who was so nervous and really wondered if this Undulator thing was possible"
Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news
We’re here for you like that friend who stays by your side for the whole song at Karaoke night, even though you sound like a drowning possum.
Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:
🏃🏃♀️The A100 & Aorangi Undulator Results
🎊Dan Jones Subscription Giveaway
🎯Things You May Have Missed
🏁Upcoming events: The Remutaka Rail Trail, Mt Isthmus Traverse, The Taniwha, Arrowtown Backyard
⛰️💊Mountain Skag October Vote & Pic of the Week
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A100 RESULTS
Friday-Sunday, November 3rd-5th
Friday 6:55 AM. 21 skag addicts huddle together at the end of Muritai Road, waiting for instructions on how to get their next fix. Their dealer? Chris Martini.
Many are unaware of what they’ve signed up for, some should know better, and others have long forgotten the pain from last time. What on earth could bring such a motley crew together on a Friday morning?
It’s the A100 baby🥳! 3 days of wilderness, meeting new mates, racing old ones and sinking a few recovery ales. After all the drama over UTMB the last few weeks, what a timely reminder of what trail running is all about.
✅Get a bunch of good sorts
✅Pin on some bibs.
✅Make sure everyone has a GPX and knows roughly where they’re heading
✅Set up the finish line, kick back and sample the beers
🏃Men’s Podium
🥇Thomas Barnes - 11:22:38 (D1 4:15:50 D2 4:32:43 D3 2:34:05)
🥈Nick On - 13:21:15 (D1 5:15:42 D2 5:23:49 D3 2:41:44)
🥉Joshua Campbell - 14:14:18 (D1 4:58:30 D2 6:07:58 D3 3:07:50)
🏃♀️Women’s Podium
🥇Hannah Fletcher - 13:35:23 (D1 5:01:45 D2 5:31:24 D3 3:02:14 🥉Overall)
🥈Ursula Schwarzenbach - 19:20:24 (D1 7:17:08 D2 7:59:03 D3 4:04:13)
🥈Nicole van Vledder - 19:20:24 (D1 7:17:08 D2 7:59:03 D3 4:04:13)
For 3 days, Thomas “Backwards Cap” Barnes stormed away from the A100 field. I hope his earbuds were charged, as there was only his shadow around for conversation.
There was no doubt heading in that Tom is an out-and-out speedster🔥, but whether he could get it done over 3 back to back days over some very technical terrain was yet to be known.
Day 1 (50 km) Barnes came within 1:50 of the legend Tim Sutton’s course record😮. You might think not breaking a record isn’t impressive, but if you know Tim Sutton, he lived and breathed this course before setting that time.
Josh Campbell was next in, breaking the sub-5-hour barrier for the first time, but over 42 minutes back from Barnes. Hannah Fletcher let the boys know her intentions by rocking in 3rd overall on Day 1, just a few minutes back from Campell and 14 minutes ahead of Nick On.
The stage looked eerily similar to 2022 when Ali Wilson came in 3rd overall on Day 1, who then went on to dominate the remaining 2 days and take 1st overall. For this to happen, it would take an injury to Barnes or him to get horrendously lost. However, both scenarios were a distinct possibility in the wild Aorangis.
Day 2, aka the ‘Aorangi Undulator’. Barnes didn’t let up, ripping off a 4:32, extending his lead by a further 50 minutes. At one point, it looked like he may tip over Tim Sutton’s Day 2 time of 4:19, but a couple of “wanders”, off course, cost him some time in the back half.
Nick On moved up to 2nd overall, with Josh Campbell having a tough day at the office🥵 (by his harsh standards), and Hannah Fletcher maintained 3rd overall, with lightyears back to 2nd place in the female standings.
Day 3. In theory, the easiest day. A 25 km cool down to finish the weekend. Except, you’ve already travelled 80 km and 3000m of vert over terrain that would blow up the Wild Things Gnarl meter🤯.
It’s like trying to motivate yourself to get up for your Grandad’s birthday brunch after you’ve already been out on back-to-back 5 AM benders☠️.
Nothing changed on day 3 at the pointy end of the race, with Barnes and Fletcher maintaining their undefeated status, making it 3/3 stage wins.
Thomas Barnes finished with the 2nd fastest male A100 time ever (11:22:38)
Hannah Fletcher finished with the 3rd fastest female A100 time ever (13:35:23)
Special mention to Sean Martin. He won the Super Vet category for the 3rd time. He also claimed the prestigious Papatahi award by running an extra 2km(each way) to Papatahi Hutt on day 1 after missing a turn-off.
The legend Cambell Forlong from Raglan took away the Steven Neary A100 Spirit Award. Here is what he had to say about the event.
“3 days, 20 new mates, 105.4 kilometres, 4396 metres elevation gain, and 1 new pair of undies, 1 very happy guy who was so nervous and really wondered if this Undulator thing was possible, and discovered it was!”
”By the way, I came 20th, my best result ever in an ultra … oh yeah, and there were 21 in the race!”
And, of course, when it was all said and done, everyone got their undies. At the end of the day, it doesn’t matter if you run for 12 hours or 24. If you’ve got the undies. You Are Not Weak💪.
Check out the full results here.
If the A100 has caught your attention, check the website for more info and add it to your matrix for next year. You won’t be disappointed.
Aorangi Undulator📏30KM | ⛰️2000M
🏃♀️Women’s Podium
🥇Hannah Fletcher - 5:31:24
🥈Louisa Bostock - 6:40:32
🥉Shamini Mahadevan - 6:45:16
🏃Men’s Podium
🥇Glen Chesterman - 4:26:46
🥈Thomas Barnes - 4:32:43
🥉Hamish Laing - 4:47:39
The Aorangi Undulator is the 2nd day of the A100, but you can also run it as a stand-alone race. The 3 dayers set off early, with the 1 dayers starting 30-60 minutes later, chasing their way through the field.
Anyway, this is getting longer than the next coalition negotiations🤣, so here are some pics to round up the weekend’s action.
Power move from Glen. The old “Putting on the jeans to make it look like I finished ages ago” trick.
But it’s not all about the front. There was plenty of pain and suffering to go around.
Sally McRae‘Choose Strong’ Winners
October’s Paid Subscriber Giveaway winners have been drawn.
Congratulations to:
🥳Alan Crowe
🎉Lisa Penfold
🎊Sarah Bridges
Please reply or DM me on Instagram with your address details.
Danny Jones ‘Lessons from The Long Run’ Giveaway
Race season is upon us. You can almost smell the panic training whenever you open Strava. So what better to give away than…
2 X Annual Subscriptions to Dan Jones's Paid Newsletter ‘Lessons from The Long Run’
Every month, Dan hosts an ‘Ask me anything’ video call (to accompany the weekly newsletter). So far, he has covered topics like his recovery from UTMB and his training strategy heading towards the Queenstown marathon and Kepler.
If you miss the call, it’s all recorded and can be watched later.
The best thing I’ve taken away so far is Dan’s patented post-race recovery technique😉 (and no, I’m not talking about little purple pills).
Paid Subscribers: To enter the draw, reply to this email with the answer to the below question:
How many times has Dan Jones won the Kepler Challenge?
Not a paid subscriber? No drama. Upgrade below and automatically enter this month’s competition.
Things You May Have Missed
Crush the Cargill forced Gareth Morris to release evidence of the moisture level at this year’s Blue Lake Challenge
Upcoming Events
The Trail Running Calendar is JAMMED. 4 events on the same weekend!
Remutaka Rail Trail Run & Walk
Saturday, November 11
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.
Mt Isthmus Traverse
Saturday, November 11
The Mt Isthmus Traverse takes place on privately owned Glen Dene Station in Lake Hawea. It first ran in 2020, had a gap year and was back in 2022. It’s the type of race that makes us North Island folk green with envy🤢.
I quote from the website…
“If you are up for a challenge and enjoy running on a variety of terrain including mountain trails, single track, ridge-lines and 4wd farm tracks whilst enjoying spectacular mountain and lake views – this is the event for you!”
I guess if you’re not up for that, you can run in circles in Arrowtown?😵💫
Entries are open until Wednesday the 8th.
Check out their website or Facebook for more details.
The Taniwha
Saturday, November 11
Speaking of North Island boring bush … Did I mention that The Taniwha is next weekend 🤣?
Now, I’ve heard great things about the Taniwha. It’s a fantastic offroad, runnable marathon along the banks of the Waikato River. It has even considered all the injured runners by putting on 3 mountain bike distances.
BUT, sometimes, you gotta know what cards you’ve been dealt.
I quote straight from the Taniwha’s mouth:
“If too much amazing scenery were possible, this would be it!”
I’ll let you decide🤔.
All jokes aside, with 7km, 16km, 22km & 44km trail run options as well as the mountain bike races, which include e-bikes, the Taniwha is a great event to take the whole family (Make sure you’ve fully charged Grandma’s e-bike or you might have a longer day out then you bargained for.)
Entries are still open.
Check out the website for more info.
Next up on the NZ Backyard Circus Tour🎪 is Arrowtown. Brandon Purdue from Highland Events is the Ring Master, and it looks like he’s come up with a beauty of a course.
6.71km course of predominantly hard-packed trail while also including a winding single trail through the bush.
It follows Bush Creek and the Arrow River, which provide plenty of shade.
Cross Bush Creek twice, 2 pedestrian bridges over the Arrow River – no wet feet!
There are a few small inclines that you will probably walk, but otherwise, this is a hard and fast course!
The Strava course elevation is 48m.
I asked Brandon about his prediction for the weekend.
“Predictions all depend on if Sam Harvey shows up or not 😉
Either way, I think we’ll push into the 3rd day and knock off the NZ record💪
But you never know🤣”
Brandon Purdue
Brandon knows a thing or 2 about running long. If he says this thing is going into the 3rd day, I believe him. I’m sure Arrowtown locals won’t mind smelly, hallucinating runners taking over the town for 4 days. It will be a good warm-up for The Wild🤣.
#Mountain Skag Pic Of October
It’s time to decide the winner of #Mountainskag October.
Make sure you vote for your favourite below.
#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week
This week’s #mountainskag is from Katie Smith on a trip up Mt Oxford. Summed up perfectly by the tag #smallmountainbighill.
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 somehow jam in all of the results and announce the Mountain Skag & Dan Jones Subscription winners.
It takes hours to write this newsletter but only 8 seconds to forward it to a friend.
PS: Big goals for 2024! Whoops, who knew A0 was so big (A4 bottom left for reference) Watch this space …
