🏃🏃♀️Alexandra Airport Carousel Results & Faultline Preview
"Bryant was knocked unconscious with the sudden altitude drop. It was up to Philip to save the day."
Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news
Here’s what’s in the drop bag this week:
😵💫Alexandra Airport Carousel Results
🎁TRNZ Get FKT Challenge Update
🎯Things You May Have Missed
🏁Upcoming events: The Faultline Ultra
⛰️💊Mountain Skag 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.
Alexandra Airport Carousel Backyard Ultra Results
Easter has traditionally been a desert for trail running events, left open for mad missions and ill-advised family hikes.
But not this year! Alexandra Airport Carousel Backyard saved the day, kicking off on Easter Saturday.
If you’ve never heard about Backyard Ultras, check out the Backyard NZ site, but here’s the TLDR.
Run a 6.71 KM loop on the hour every hour.
If you don’t start the loop, you’re out.
The race continues until only 1 runner remains.
Alright - let’s try something a little different.
*The following extract is from the Air Incident Report lodged on Sunday and is intended to be read in a narrator’s voice like on Air Crash Disasters.
✈️AIR INCIDENT REPORT #ALX‑174KM: “Alexandra Airport Carousel—Endless Right‑Hand Holding Pattern”
*Re‑enactment footage shows 50 runners boarding the flight, excited and oblivious of what is about to take place.
Investigators determined that Flight ALX 174—a Backyard Ultra Marathon masquerading as a jet—rotated cleanly at 0 km before encountering its first issues at the 20 km mark.
The Cockpit Voice Recorder captures panicked breathing, followed by a high‑pitched wail from Row 3. Three passengers had pressed their DN‑F (Do Not‑Fly) buttons, citing they had come down with a case of “WE-FORGOT-TO-TRAIN-FOR-THIS-ITUS.”
DAYLIGHT ATTRITION ANALYSIS
Between the initial illness-induced withdrawals and the final catastrophe, investigators observed a steady drip‑feed of DNFS throughout the daylight hours.
Flight Data Recorder timestamps show runners peeling off the circuit at almost clockwork intervals—roughly every 6.7 km—citing an array of sandbag “system failures,” including:
Blister Blowout – tape delamination, resulting in rapid‑pressure loss at the sole.
Catastrophic Chafing – inner‑thigh friction exceeded safe operating temps.
Sunscreen‑in‑Eye Blindness – UV‑defence fluid breached ocular seals, forcing emergency navigational shutdowns.
Hamstring Cramp Cascade – sudden muscular lightning strikes rendered propulsion impossible.
Gastro‑Grenade Syndrome – rising nausea triggered thunderous, highly suspect farts, forcing rapid detours to the nearest bush.
Collectively, these mid-flight incidents reduced the passenger manifest from 40 to 24 by dusk.
*Cut to night‑vision recreations at 100 km.
This is where things took a serious turn for the worse. Six passengers popped the rear hatch and bailed out the moment they realised the flight was cruising directly over their intended destination—“100km”😮.
Joel Neilson, Teresa Noble, and Jayde Kruger leapt into action, wrestling the hatch back into place while simaltaneously being sucked out, sacrificing their race so everyone else could keep looping(107KM).
Investigators cited a textbook “hydration‑system / HVAC cross‑failure” at the 120 km checkpoint: Claudia Cooke’s soft‑flasks ruptured, drenching both her and Cameron Day; soaked to the bone and exposed to the plane’s AC, they called it a day🥶.
Barely seven kilometres later, Simon Munro’s autopilot slipped into hallucination mode—sleep‑starved eyes began fantasising about a pint and a burger at the Chatto Creek Tavern. He pushed the eject seat at 127.49km, parachuting into the garden bar before realising that last drinks had already been called😝.
*Dawn‑light re‑creation with only three passenger silhouettes in 1st class, celebrating making the mile high 100 mile club.
At 160 km, Jonty McKinnel ducked into the loo for a quick systems check, jammed the lock by mistake, and missed the start of the next lap— this was officially logged as a Loo‑Lock CFIT (Crash From Inside Toilet).
Jub Bryant and Kieran Philip would fly through 167km before the free 1st class Tui caught up with Bryant🍺. He attempted to enter the cockpit, triggering a catastrophic sequence of events🤯.
The pilot caught a glimpse of Bryant’s long beard, mistook the muesli bar in his hand for a box cutter and fainted. The pilot’s arm caught the centre stick as he crashed to the ground, setting the flight into a violent descent.
Bryant was knocked unconscious by the sudden altitude drop. It was up to Philip to save the day.
He jumped into the captain's chair, shouting “I DON’T KNOW WTF I’M DOING” before grabbing the controls, safely landing the plane at Alexandra Airport.
Kieran Philip disembarked down the emergency slide as the sole survivor of flight #ALX‑174KM.
Overall Winner:
🏆👑🥇Kieran Philip - 26 yards (174.46KM)
Top DNFs - Men 🏃♂️🏃♂️🏃♂️
☠️Jub Bryant - 25 yards (167.75KM) - 🍺Most Beers Drunk - 4
☠️Jonty McKinnel - 24 yards (161.04KM)
☠️ Simon Munro - 19yards (127.49KM)
Top DNFs - Women 🏃♀️🏃♀️🏃♀️
☠️Claudia Cooke- 18yards (120.78KM) - 🏆Last Women Standing
☠️Teresa Noble - 16yards (107.36KM)
☠️Jayde Kruger - 16yards (107.36KM)
TLDR: Kieran Philip won with 26 yards (174.46km) with Jub Bryant taking the assist. Claudia Cooke took out Last Women Standing with 18 yards (120.78km).
Full results here. For more pictures and coverage, follow them on Instagram.
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Trail Running NZ Get FKT Update
We have another GET FKT winner!
Congratulations too …
Caris Teo
Caris took on the short, sharp Dobbies segment up Mt. Parihaka - I’m pretty sure lowering her own crown.
You’ve won yourself a Merrell Gift Voucher!
169 people are currently registered for the challenge through the Strava Club. This is the easiest way for me to track the segments, so please join if you want to enter the prize draw.
Remember, every attempt on the segment enters you into the Merrell prize pool, which is open until May 4th.
If you have no idea what this is about, read the post below!
Things You May Have Missed
Hannah Wall Drops A Midweek Beneverest
Hannah Wall was up to her usual tricks, dropping a ‘Beneverest’, starting at 11.30 PM Wednesday.
What exactly does a Beneverest look like, you say?🤔
100km, 8852m Vert, 6 Ben Lomond summits over 21 hours💪.
Sounds like some good training for Vert Day at the end of May.
Aditya Kesarcodi-Watson Sets New Mt Arthur FKT
Nelsonite Aditya Kesarcodi-Watson has set a new FKT on Mt Arthur at 58:18🔥 (I THINK I’ve got that right.) He reckons there’s plenty of room in that still, but he may have snaffled it at a good time, just before the worst of the wintery weather hits.
Golden Trail King & Queen Of The Crater Returns
The Trail Blaze events team is putting on a trail running series in May, consisting of four events in the Port Hills, Churchur on Wednesday nights. The races take place on 4 iconic routes: Mt. Pleasant, Scarborough Hill, Mt. Vernon, and Sugarloaf.
The purpose of the event is to fundraise for students in the NZ Junior World Orienteering Champs team, supporting them in their travels to Italy in July for the Junior World Champs.
Sam Harvey on Zach Bitter’s Pod
I haven’t got to this one yet, but I always love hearing our athletes on international podcasts. If you’ve had a listen, let me know your thoughts.
Josh Lloyd AKA Hardest Geezer Finished With The South
Josh Lloyd Russ Cook AKA the ‘Hardest Geezer’ has completed the Southern leg of his TA in 37 days. Some rough days ahead, slogging through the Tararua after all that rain. I wonder if he knows that running the TA South to North is a bit like starting with dessert?
Upcoming Events
The Faultline Ultra
Saturday, April 26
After a successful first year, the Faultline Ultra is back, ready to jolt NZ’s trail seismograph once again.
If you missed the preview last year, here’s why I think this event has the potential to become our biggest endurance event outside of Tarawera.
All races finish in the heart of Wellington
Airport nearby & lots of accommodation
Council Co-operation & Funding
Runnable trails with enough hills to keep the hardcore Harry & Harriettes happy
Point-to-point 100K & 100 Mile options
Let’s take a quick look at the race options on offer:
📏162km 👆4808m
📏100km 👆2966m
📏50km 👆1607m
📏24km 👆728m
📏11km 👆289m
📏6km 👆27m
For me, it’s the 100-mile option that catches the eye. There’s something about a 100-miler point-to-point race - just look at that map!
This course has a little of everything:
🔭360* views from several points of the course
🥵100% runnable climbs
🐂Farmland
🚵MTB tracks
🌆Inner city running
🍻Dodging drunk partygoers along the waterfront
It’s a bit like a Lord of the Rings movie. Farking long, and just as you’re getting over it, the scenery changes once again.
With such an exposed course, the weather will play a large part in the overall enjoyment of the trails and the finisher rate.
Last year was a perfect mix of overcast and sunny, mild weather.
What are the chances of two in a row?
It looks … good enough at this stage. With all the rain over Easter, the trails are going to be a bit slippy regardless. The wind looks like it will be coming from the North … so a TAILWIND(use code TRNZ for 50% off) for a large part of the course.
After the weather, the elevation is the next most significant factor. Nothing on the map looks scary, especially if you’re from the South. But the constant ups and downs throughout the whole course add up. Mt Vic will feel like a giant towards the end.
Alright, it’s time to shine up the crystal balls again and take a stab at who’s gonna be standing on top of the podium.
Based on the current starters’ list:
📏100 Mile Insanity:
🏃♀️Lara Zoeller: 22:35 🏃Simon Cochrane: 16:56
I’ll put up my hand here and say I don’t know too many names in the female races. I picked Lara because she’s local, won the Wai2k 100km and is also the current NZ 24-hour champion with 198.041km💪.
Simon is a verified killer, Ultra Man World Champion, the first holder of The Claw, and was 2nd at Tarawera behind Sam Harvey in February🏆.
He won’t have it all his way with last year’s silver medalist Luca Ahumada-Percoco on the start line. Luca was 4th at Tarawera and is the 2nd person to win The Claw at Blue Lake behind Simon.
In the mix: Alex Jones, Josh Campbell, Stefan Ozich
📏The World’s End 100km:
🏃♀️Mel Brandon: 13h48m 🏃Chester Holt-Quick: 12h01m
The distance is unknown, but the terrain is not. Mel is a Wellington Scottish local coming into her first 100km race, after a strong training block with a 4th at 3 Peaks + 1 and a win at the Ian Priest Memorial in Jan. If she sticks the distance, she’s going to be hard to beat.
Chester has been getting stronger with every race. He’s had a string of 4th places in the last 12 months, notably at Jumbo Holdsworth, Shotover and just last month getting into a vicious fight with a Ferret at 3 Peaks + 1.
He took 2nd last week at the rugged Tararua Mountain Race - I’m cheering for Chester to find the top of the podium!
In the mix: SIMON ANGUS
📏Shake & Bake 50km:
🏃♀️Jane McAlpine: 4h50m 🏃Nick Craig: 4h31m
Jane McAlpine has been focused on Backyards for a while now, but if she can remember, she’s “only” running 50km, she has a good chance to take the cake.
Nick Craig has been flying under the radar on the Wellington running scene for too long. With a 5th at Jumbo Holdsworth and a 3rd last week at TMR … if the legs have bounced back, I think he has what it takes to leap into the winner’s circle.
Follow Faultline on Instagram and Facebook for race updates and results.
Also On Next Weekend:
Skedaddle, Canterbury
Saturday, April 26
Skedaddle is back for year 3 and looks bougie AF!
It runs through private land at Island Hills Station, about 1.5 hours north of Christchurch.
Distances on offer:
📏42KM | ⛰️ 2097M
📏30KM | ⛰️ 1397M
📏15KM | ⛰️ 718M
📏10KM | ⛰️ 316M
Click here for more info, and follow along on Instagram and Facebook.
Cardrona Climb
Saturday, April 26
I feel a bit sheepish not knowing more about this one, considering it’s the NZ Mountain Running Champs. There’s not much info online about it.
Here’s what Afletikz NZ say about it:
“With Wanaka’s iconic alpine landscape as the backdrop, and over 1000m of climbing over 8km on offer this is an event that will be hard to miss.”
I couldn’t find a map or course description on the website, but here’s what’s on offer:
Distances on offer:
📏11KM | ⛰️ ?
📏5KM | ⛰️ ?
Click here for more info (not much more info😝)
Mauao King and Queen of the Mountain
Sunday, April 27
King & Queen of the Mountain is back for its 78th running! If you’re overdue a trip to the beach and want a short, sharp race, this one’s for you.
The race is approximately a 4km run along the beach to the summit of Da Mount, then descends and returns along the beach. The start and finish line is on the Mount Main Surf Beach opposite Mt Drury near Leisure Island/Moturiki Island.
Click here for more info
#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week
This week’s hit is from Kendall Peacock, supplying some Raging Ruahine Skag.
“Atuauparata just south of sunrise hut looking NW at Mt Ruapehu”
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’ll have results from The Faultline Ultra, Skedaddle, and maybe I’ll figure out what happened at Cardrona Climb.
It takes hours to write this newsletter but only 8 seconds to forward it to a friend.
PS. With the wild weather over the weekend, it feels like we’ve moved into the next phase of the trail running year. What events are you looking forward to? What imagined finish line has you getting out the door even when it’s pissing down?