🏃🏃♀️Crater Rim Results & World Champs Update
“Turns out I was feeling pretty good, so just kept the legs ticking over and tried not to blow up."
Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news
Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:
🏃🏃♀️Crater Rim Results
😵💫Backyard World Champs Update
🌎International New Desk
🎯Things You May Have Missed
🏁Upcoming events: River Run Backyard, Rocky Point Trail Race
⛰️💊Mountain Skag Pic of the Week
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Crater Rim Results
Sunday, October 21
Over 1,000 athletes got a taste of summer, throwing down in the port hills in the new-look Crater Rim on Sunday.
The 80km NZ long course champs were gone, replaced by the new-look 6—and 12-km NZ Mountain Running Champs.
It went off without a hitch, apart from someone leaving a boomer in charge of the Instagram account, posting up the race results with the female results cut off🤦 (This has now been fixed👍)
Crater Rim Ultra📏53KM | ⛰️2250M
🏃♀️Women’s Podium
🥇Katie Smith - 6:13:21
🥈Rose Pearson - 6:15:11
🥉Bridget Douglas - 6:24:28
Katie Smith and Rose Pearson traded blows through the first 20km of the Rim before Smith slowly pulled away to lead Pearson by close to 2 minutes at the first 23km checkpoint.
It was still very much game on, with Bridget Douglas only 2 minutes back and Katie Wright also in the mix.
Smith continued her assault through the middle stages but couldn’t shake Pearson, with Smith’s lead never stretching past 3 minutes.
Both Smith and Pearson have two silver medals in the sock draw from past Crater Rims, but there could only be one to grab the gold.
Smith held on over the final 10km, fighting vertigo and the heat to kick home to claim her first victory after peppering the bottom two steps of the podium over recent years.
Bridget Douglas would hold on to take the bronze ahead of a fast-finishing Emma Timmis, who moved up from 9th to 4th over the final 30 km.
Katie was kind enough to put her champagne down and string together some words.
What was the plan going in and how did the race play out for you?”
“So much fun out there today!”
“I went in with no plan other than to enjoy it and hopefully stay on my feet (vertigo trouble this week - I managed only one of those goals…), and with no pressure I just ran to feel.”
“Turns out I was feeling pretty good, so just kept the legs ticking over and tried not to blow up. Rose kept me honest - she was on my heels (or in front) the whole way round - and for the last ten kms it was just a case of holding on.”
“It’s a great course - kudos to the organisers and especially the volunteers - all the big smiles out there made my day!”
🏃Men’s Podium
🥇Tom Chrétien - 4:59:40
🥈Aditya Kesarcodi-Watson - 5:07:04
🥉James Masson - 5:12:49
Tom Chrétien broke the 5-hour barrier to lift the Crater Rim Ultra trophy ahead of top Nelson athlete Aditya Kesarcodi-Watson, or A-dawg for short.
It may look like a comfy 8-minute victory, but it wasn’t all finish-line beers and post-race sh💩ts.
It was all up for grabs at the 23km checkpoint. James Masson, fresh off his 2nd place at Race Tekapo 50, led Chrétien by 1 minute, with Matt Odgen chasing hard. Dwight Grieve was next, with A-dawg in tow.
Chrétien swallowed Masson’s lead and found a way to break away through the middle stages. 40km in, he had a 3-minute lead over A-dawg, who had moved up from 5th, with Masson now 2 minutes back in 3rd.
That’s how it would finish, with Chrétien making sure it was Churchur on top of both sides of the Ultra podium🏃🏃♀️.
Bellbird Ballbuster 📏30KM | ⛰️890M
🏃Men’s Podium
🥇Thomas Grant - 2:49:48
🥈Odie Ruegg - 2:57:00
🥉Lee Grabarek - 2:57:03
Thomas Grant executed his plan to perfection. Running in 8th, 4 minutes off the lead through the first 10.5km, a little off the pace, but within striking distance.
He then went about his work, sniping off 6 runners over the next 10km to sit in 2nd, 30s back from Noah Burbank.
Grant hit the afterburners, taking full advantage of the long downhill finish, while Burbank faded back to finish 5th.
Odie Ruegg and Lee Graberak were joined at the hip all day, ripping past Burbank on the final descent to move into 2nd and 3rd, with only 3 seconds separating the two at the finish.
🏃♀️Women’s Podium
🥇Nora O’Connor - 3:13:56
🥈Charlotte Cahill - 3:21:05
🥉Isabel Clarke - 3:26:44
Nora O’Connor made light work of the infamous Bellbird climb, leading Charlotte Cahill and Meg Ryan by 1m30s onto the Crater Rim Trail.
She kept her foot to the floor, burning away from the field, leaving Cahill, Ryan, and Isabel Clarke to fight over the 2 remaining podium positions.
Cahill couldn’t keep pace with O’Connor but was too strong for Ryan and Clarke, finishing comfortably in 2nd, with Clarke moving up past Ryan into 3rd.
Mountain Champs 📏12KM | ⛰️414M
🏃♀️Women’s Podium
🥇Lisa Cross - 55:10
🥈Beth Garland - 58:39
🥉Andrea Peat - 1:00:04
Lisa Cross annihilated a classy field through the first 6km, building close to a 3-minute lead, which she would hold on to for dear life back down into the finish.
Beth Garland suffered her first “loss” on NZ soil, with the Tarawera 21km champ having to settle for 2nd ahead of fellow Wellingtonian Andrea Peat.
Shout out to Lisa Cross, who broke the NZ Masters 10,000m track record in Auckland the weekend before.
🏃Men’s Podium
🥇Joseph Lynch- 48:40
🥈Eric Speakman - 49:26
🥉Michael Sutton - 51:32
Joseph Lynch ditched the compass and dealt out the pain. The NZ Rep Orienteer translated some strong Orienteer World Cup form into a scintillating up-and-down mountain run.
Lynch held a 1 minute lead over Eric Speakman, the current NZ 5km road champ (and pretty much every road race in Welly this year), with Jonothan Jackson and Michael Sutton clinging on for dear life.
Lynch thundered back down the hill to victory, with Speakman making inroads but not enough to take the title. Sutton managed to turn around a 40-second deficit to Jackson to squeak home to take the Bronze by 20 seconds.
NZ Rep Michael Sutton, fresh off the Iron Eagle from a season of mountain running in Europe, answered the bell to tell us how the inaugural Crater Rim NZ Mountain Champs went.
“How did your race play out? What did you think of the course?”
"Was a good day out, a bit gnarlier than the naysayers were saying, there was a lot of single goat track with the feet being pushed out from you espiecially going down.
Joseph and Eric ran confidently and pushed the boat out hard from the start with a sub-3 first k and were rewarded for their confidence, holding on pretty well.
Personally I was still a bit jetlagged and a bit tired coming off all the races over in Europe, but thats racing. Surprised myself with the strength in the technical downs and pulling a 2:39/k on the rapaki.
Looking forward to being back home Monday into some strength and speed work. Lisa ran well in the womens, off some strong 10k track work and national record last week."
Click Here for the full results, including the 6km & 22km.
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World Backyard Ultra Champs Update
Sunday, the World Backyard Ultra Champs got underway. NZ drew the short straw once again, having to start at 1AM.
Who knows, this could work to our advantage; with many of our runners struggling to make it through the second night. This starting time could help change the rhythm and be the secret beet juice that helps power them into and out of night 3.
(If you missed the preview, you can read more about the event and our team here.)
This is where things currently stand as of this morning (Monday) at 6:00 AM … NZ is one of only six teams that still has all 15 team members in the game. That’s hardly surprising since we’re only at 29 laps, 10 lower than our lowest seeds PB.
It’s important to remember that even though the team is used to running mega distances, it’s still a lot of hard work. It’s pretty crazy that they’re about to tick up 200km, and it all just feels so normal. The reality is that after the initial couple of laps catching up with everyone, that first day must be boring AF.
Day 1 Highlights
Glen Sutton being attacked with a leaf blower to cool him down between laps
Backwards cap = Hot lap Photo: AerobicEdge Simon McLean running a 31minute hot lap so he could have a shower
Steve Tripp putting on a 1 man show out on the lake.
It feels like the warm-up is just finishing, and the race is about to begin.
We’re in a great position, but I think if we’re going to have a crack at the title, we will need at least 6 to 7 make it into the 60s and someone is going to need to sacrifice their mind, find a new religion, become reborn and follow the majestic goat around the course and let Sam do his thing. Who knows where that might end up?
As always, follow Adam Keen from Aerobic Edge for updates.
You can follow the team on the NZ Leaderboard HERE.
You will also find links to the NZ live stream, international live stream, and international leaderboard.
International Results Desk
We are back in action on the International News Desk
From Straya🦘 to France🐸, we’ve got it covered.
Caitlyn Fielder took out the 80km Grand Trail Des Templiers in the French Pyrenees. It's awesome to see Caitlin back on top of the podium and crushing a longer distance after mainly racing in the 30-50 bracket for the last few years.
Daniel Jones tested positive this week … for WINNING.
DJ took out the Cappadocia Ultra Trail 38km race in Turkey.
It may not be THE podium he envisioned standing on top of in Europe earlier this year, but it’s great to see another strong performance on the international stage from DJ.
A great showing by two Kiwi lads out of the Single Track Collective stable, finishing 10th & 13th overall in the Blackall100 50km on Saturday in Straya🦘 over the weekend.
Things You May Have Missed
ElvisEugene has left the building. This week on Dirt Church Radio, it was revealed that Eugene would leave after their upcoming live 300th episode. Don’t panic. It sounds like the show will go on. My pick is Steve Tripp will answer the bell, slowly taking over and rebranding DCR to Crush The Cargill Podcast Take 2.
Mel Mac from Trail Snacks (another cool read) crossed the ditch and ran the Taupo 100k. She’s even jumped out of the warm comfort of Substack and made her first YouTube video.
Episode 6 of Inside Track by Salomon TV follows Caitlin Fielder’s build-up and race day at OCC. A quick 5 minute watch.
In one week, Shannon will have run 50km+ 300 days in a row. Just take a second to let that sink in.
Upcoming Events
River Run Backyard Ultra
Saturday, 26th of October
You're in luck if you’re inspired by what's happening in Otematata.
River Run kicks off at 9 AM Saturday at the Waipukurau A&P showgrounds. This is your chance to land a spot on the NZ Backyard team for 2026.
Over 150 runners have already signed up, and with plenty more walk-ups expected, this is turning into one of the more popular backyards. These days, you can barely get 150 people to an NPC game.
I covered some of the best bits of Waipukurau in last year’s post here.
But here’s a quick recap on all you need to know about Waipukeonatowel:
💩It’s the 4th biggest place to take a sh💩t at on the way to Napier from Wellington.
🥧 There are 3 pie shops within 500m of the River Run Backyard Ultra
🗡️ Stabbings at the pub have gone down by 29.94% in the last 3 years
If that hasn’t convinced you that you need to cancel your long weekend plans to go run River Run, did I mention that it was FREE?
Yes, you read that write. A FREE running event. What is this madness?
For more information and to follow along next weekend, check out their Facebook
Rocky Point Trail Run
Sunday, October 27th
From the Metropolis of Waipukurau to the big smoke of the Buller region. Rocky Point Trail Run is back for its 3rd year after debuting on the NZ Trail Running Calendar in 2022.
For those who are geographically challenged, we’re talking Buller Buller, West Coast, not Bula Bula Fiji.
The Rocky Point event runs on the Kawatiri trail network.
There are 3 distances on offer.
📏25km
📏12.5km
📏5km
If you’ve never run in the area, it’s run on double-width groomed cycle trails and is a quick course. You’ll be running closer to your road running times than your “oh damn, another hill, I guess I’ll have to walk” pace.
There has been a major change to the 25km course for this year. Runners will start at Pamu Farmland instead of Tauranga Bay (same as the 12.5km.)
This makes the course a nice, simple point-to-point race instead of running past the finish to Westport before turning back around like the previous course.
If you’ve been dicking around and meaning to enter, you better pull finger, there’s only a few spots left.
Check out the website for more details, and follow us on Instagram and Facebook.
#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week
Caitlin Knox is your Mountain Skag dealer this week, smuggling over the border this great shot from Paradise, Mount Rainier National Park.
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 Rocky Point Trail Race results and either an update or full results out of River Run Backyard Ultra and The Backyard World Champs.
It takes hours to write this newsletter but only 8 seconds to forward it to a friend.
P.S: No Worst Run Ever entries again this week. Do we just knock it on the head?
Cut our losses and start … start talking about our “Best Run Ever?”🤮
What about “Best Trail Injury”. People can share images of broken bones 🦴, great wounds 🩸 and the like, together with a short story.
Oh wow! Thanks so much for the shout out! Here’s me just hanging out in between Caitlin and Dan!