Event Preview | The Wild
"Let’s just say it involved a very prolonged session in a pub in Silverton after Hardrock last year and a completely drunken midnight beer mile on the back streets of said town…"
December 6th-10th, 2023.
The week Malcolm Law finds out if he needs to file for refugee status somewhere in Eastern Europe🤣.
It’s been a wild ride, but we are almost there. Waiting for this event has been an endurance event in its own right. But for those of you training for it, these next 2 months are about to fly by.
If you’ve somehow missed the EPIC COURSE PREVIEWS, here is a rundown of what races The Wild team is putting on.
I’ve got to admit, I’ve suffered a little from “I’m-a-tough-mountain-man-itus” and hadn’t looked too closely at the shorter courses until now.
Beast of Beetham 9KM📏 | 550M⛰️
The Beast of Beetham is the opening act of the show. It’s the band you watch while waiting for the band you’ve kind of heard of play before the headline act hits the stage.
It weighs in at 9 km, with 550m of climbing, and is being run in a time trial format. The current record is 50 and change.
Prediction: The record goes 42 and below (Vodka sponsorship, anyone?)
This could be an awesome way to start the festival off. A crowded finishing chute, music blaring, MC screaming, and a live top 10 list on the big screen could make for quite the atmosphere.
Beast of Brow 11KM📏 | 1050M⛰️
At first glance, I thought:
“Sh💩t, that’s pretty steep. That’s almost 100M of gain for every K”.
Then I remembered the whole going down thing. So it’s suddenly twice as steep. So pretty much, The Beast of Brow is an up-and-down VK.
There aren’t many 11K races worth traveling too far for. This could be one of them, especially if you’re from the North Island, where a lot of climbing taps out at 500-600m. I can’t think of any other races quite like it in the country.
It poses a few questions. Do you burn all your matches on the way up and let gravity take you back down? Or keep a measured approach up and try and blitz it down?
Either way, there will be a quad-cramping dance party at the finish line. Fingers crossed, there will be pickle juice by the keg load.
V1600 30KM📏 | 1600M⛰️
If you’re just getting into bigger terrain or have a hot date on Saturday night, this is probably the course for you. It has the same tough climb up to Brow Peak as the V3000 & V5000 before traversing across the ridge to Coronet Peak.
This is where you’ll say goodbye to the ridge line and enjoy a net downhill 12km finish to your race. Beautiful beech forests, rugged ridgelines, flowing descents, and fast single track. It’s like a Caesar salad with all the lettuce taken out—just the highlights.
V3000 64KM📏 | 3000M⛰️
The V3000 starts to get ‘The Wild’ meter heading in the right direction. It’s not quite in the espresso range, but it will certainly get the eyes wide open.
When you look at the V3000 & V5000 maps, it seems as though they share the exact route until the V5000 turns off after Greengate towards Vanguard peak. But a closer look reveals that the V3000 actually travels roughly 10km less between Arrowtown and Greengate with a significant amount less vert.
I’ve taken this from the course description on The Wild website.
“It suits those who prefer fast, flowing trail over steep mountainous terrain.”
What I take from that is the course will suit the speedsters who like running hills rather than the mountain tanks who grind all day. You can view the epic terrain without too much off-track travel through tussock-infested waters.
V5000 86KM📏 | 5000M⛰️
The jewel in the crown. The big kahuna. The icing on the cake. The spring energy gel. The V5000 is the biggest, baddest MF on the block. With the 100-mile race (presumably penciled in as the V100000000) not on this year, the V5000 is the drug of choice for the Harry Hardouts and the Tessa Tryhards.
Looking at the course, it’s crazy to think just last year, people were peddling the line
“Yeah, nah. I’m only gonna do the 50-miler.”
If the 100-miler went ahead last year, I think 50% of the field would have been rolled onto the 50-mile course with only 30% of the remaining field finishing.
The V5000 will allow you to get a first-hand account of the terrain and decide if you have what it takes to take on the V10000000 next year.
I will throw out an utterly uneducated claim that this is NZ’s most challenging mountain race outside of the Mega Munter😆.
Q&A with Malcolm Law
Big Mal was kind enough to take the time for a Q&A
What sets the Wild apart from other races in the area, e.g. Motatapu, Shotover, and Northburn?
“ Ah, now there are 3 events that are very close to my heart, and I love them all. I’d like to think that The WILD offers the best of each of these races - epic terrain, a true adventure, primo single track, big climbs - and then adds in the destination appeal of a long weekend in Arrowtown. Of course, we also have Courtney Dauwalter coming this year!”
What is your favourite part of the 50-mile course?
“Tricky question because there’s so much to love. But if you put me against the wall and demand an answer, then it’d be the ridiculously spectacular ridgeline over Vanguard Peak and beyond towards Advance Peak. It’s a truly world-class ridge run with the most stunning views over the upper Shotover deep into the Southern Alps. Everyone I’ve ever taken over there is just awestruck by it.”
What is your least favourite part of the 50-mile course?
“The finish, because then the adventure is over! But even the final few km running down through the woods on Tobins Track and along the cruisy riverside trail to Butlers Green is beautiful!”
Your Number 1# tip for having a fun day on the 50-mile course?
“If it’s fun you’re after, then my advice would be to put in the hard yards in training - hills, hills, hills (the bigger, the better) - and then pace yourself really conservatively on race day, taking time to drink in the views and chat with your fellow crazies (including Courtney and hubby Kevin, who are treating this as an adventure rather than a race & so could be mid-pack mingling with the mortals)”
What does success look like for the first year of ‘The Wild’?
“We’ve put in hundreds (okay, thousands) of hours of work, so I’m confident that the organizational side of things will be smooth. Taking that as a given, I think more than anything, success would be measured in smiles - we just want to showcase the beauty (and brutality!) of the courses and see people finish with a huge sense of achievement. Failure would be nobody calling me “a sadistic bastard” when they cross the line.”
What needs to happen for the 100-mile course to be a goer for next year?
“Not a lot, to be honest. The main reason we didn’t do it this year is that we wanted to prove we could walk before we try to run (soz, bad pun), and because with so many 2022 entrants discouraged from entering again, the numbers just wouldn’t be there to make it work financially.”
“Proving we can organize a piss-up in a brewery and earn back some trust, I’m confident we can get the numbers next year. Then it’s just a case of putting in place the massive logistical jigsaw that was pretty much all sorted when last year’s event got canceled.”
Do you have a minimum numbers target this year to make the 100-miler viable next year, or is it logistic/land access-based?
“We’ve already got the numbers this year to give us the confidence that we can make the 100-mile event work next year, especially if we innovate a little and introduce Pairs and Relay entries as well as Solo, which is something we are keen to do. Access and landowner permissions were all sorted last year, so we just need to refresh these.”
Have you had good buy-in to the shorter courses?
“Yep, they are pretty solid, especially the V1600 (30k) option, which is actually the most popular distance of all. We’d love to see more folk taking on the Beast of Beetham (9k, 550m run in ’time trial’ format on Friday pm) and the Beast of Brow (11k, 1050m - our ‘VK’ option), but these are the ones that will probably attract the most late entries as they don’t require quite such a committed training regime.”
How did you land Courtney for the event?
“Ah, now that’s a very long story that can really only be told in full over a beer. For now, let’s just say it involved a very prolonged session in a pub in Silverton after Hardrock last year and a completely drunken midnight beer mile on the back streets of said town…”
Tell us a little more about the Trust
“The Wild For Nature Charitable Trust has been set up to both organise The WILD and mobilise the trail-running community to get involved in native habitat restoration work.”
“I’m an unashamed lover of native trees and native birdlife, so bringing The WILD and the restoration work together is, for me, a great way of combining my two biggest passions and ensuring there is a lasting legacy that outlives the prize giving at the end of the race.”
“To this end, 5% of all entry fees (plus optional extra donations made by athletes when registering) goes straight into our Planting Fund to be used in the control of invasive species (especially wilding pine) and the replanting of native trees in areas through which our courses run.”
” and “s”
“Our first ‘Plant & Run’ working bee happened this weekend, which saw some 25 runners combine some course recce runs with helping put 400 mountain beech into the ground around Greengate Hut on the V3000 & V5000 courses. “I’m massively excited about doing more of these in the future.”
Is there anything else you would like to say to the NZ trail-running community?
“I’d like to say a huge thanks to the many who have sympathized with me over the unfortunate events leading up to last year’s cancellation.”
“The outpouring of support was huge and very instrumental in my decision to pick up the baton, create the Charitable Trust that will now run the event, and not give up on my long-held dream of creating a very special mountain running event that will draw people from all around the world in future years.”
“And an especially huge thanks to those who have kept the faith, put aside their own losses, and backed us by entering this year’s inaugural edition - you guys rock!”
A big thank you to Malcolm Law for taking the time to answer the questions. Also, a big shout-out to Sean Beale and Wyatt Stevens for their awesome photography.
Whether you’re running, supporting, or following from home. There is no doubt that The Wild will be one of the biggest weekends on the New Zealand Trail Running Calendar
Good news for those who now have FOMO, like I do after writing this.
Malcolm Law has offered a 15% discount code for Trail Running NZ Paid Subscribers. (This is not an affiliate link)
This will roll back prices to just below what they were before the October price hike. It’s like Day Light Savings for your wallet.
Please email me at trailrunningnz@gmail.com for the code. I don’t want it spiraling around the dark net.