Kepler Challenge: Jones & Morgan too strong
“Yea, some good close racing going on. A bit like how my first Kepler played out. But deeper competition and faster times."
Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news
We’re here for you like the giant Pig🐷 at Kepler, giving out shots of goodness🥃 right when you need it.
Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:
🏃🏃♀️Kepler Challenge & Luxmore Grunt Results
🎯Things You May Have Missed
🏁Upcoming events: Crush the Cargill, The Wild, The Valley Ultra,
⛰️💊Mountain Skag of November & 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.
KEPLER CHALLENGE RESULTS
Saturday, December 2
Kepler Challenge:📏60KM | ⛰️2000M
🏃♀️ Women's Podium
🥇Katie Morgan - 5:36:17
🥈Nancy Jiang - 5:47:37
🥉Royb Lesh - 5:48:00
Katie Morgan weathered an early Nancy Jiang storm to defend her title and put her name in the conversation of best NZ female trail runner without the last name Croft💪.
Morgan and Jiang led the field through Brod Bay (5.6km), with Robyn Lesh, Julia Chamberlain and Elina Ussher heading the chasing pack just over a minute back.
Jiang attacked Morgan on the climb up to Luxmore Hut, but Morgan wasn’t going anywhere, trailing by only 11 seconds into the checkpoint.
Morgan seized control, stretching out a 3-minute lead descending into Iris Burn Hut. She kept her UNBRANDED SHOE on the gas, and her decision not to run the Queenstown marathon looked good as she held her speed to the finish, winning by an impressive 11 minutes and over 20 minutes ahead of her 2022 time😎.
Through the final third, Jiang went from chasing Morgan to looking in the rearview. At one stage, Jiang was 8 minutes clear of Lesh, but her lead halved at every checkpoint, with Lesh only 01:35 behind with 10km to go.
Jiang did enough to hang on, with Lesh finishing strong to take the bronze only 23 seconds back.
I got hold of Katie Morgan late Sunday night, and here’s what she had to say:
“Apologies for not getting back to you sooner; I’ve just been inundated with sponsorship offers; I just can’t decide.”*
*May or may not be a fake quote. But surely someone’s giving her a call on Monday with some free shoes?😝
🏃 Men's Podium
🥇Daniel Jones - 4:40:59
🥈David Haunschmidt - 4:45:12
🥉Dan Balchin - 4:50:42
Danny Jones made it 6/6 in a good old-fashioned shootout. The final margin was comfortable, but Jones found himself in the unusual position of responding to an early challenge from Dan Balchin.
Through the first 5.6 km, it was all tied up. Haunschmidt and Balchin meant business. They weren’t here to make up the numbers. Balchin then made his move, taking it to them on the steep climb to Luxmore Hut.
Balchin’s aggression paid off, being the first one through Luxmore Hut(13.8km), over a minute ahead of Jones and 2 minutes ahead of Haunschmidt.
Balchin maintained his gap through Forest Burn Shelter, but Jones began to return serve. Jones took back the lead through Hanging Valley Shelter(23.6km), but Balchin held on tight, running into Iris Burn Hut together.
With all the big ups and downs done, Jones's marathon turnover kicked in, pulling away from Balchin over the final 20km. Was he paying the price for his early aggression🥵, or was Jones just too good?
Jones never looked back, keeping the hammer down🔨 with Balchin now falling back with every km. Haunschmidt picked up Balchin and kept the chase alive, but he couldn’t put a dent in Jones's 5-minute lead.
Another Kepler victory for Jones, but it was far from a cakewalk🎂.
Congrats on the win, Dan.
How does that compare to the other 5?
“Yea, some good close racing going on. A bit like how my first Kepler played out. But deeper competition and faster times. Good feeling to get a decent time, training is coming along well and got a good base again to do some epic stuff next year“
Dan Jones
Translation: It was fun to be pushed a touch, but I always had it in the bag. I can’t wait to carve it up in 2024 and bring on the Western States, UTMB Double💪.
Check out the full Kepler Challenge results here
Luxmore Grunt:📏25KM | ⛰️1200M
🏃♀️ Women's Podium
🥇Stephanie Willis - 2:37:22
🥈Sophie Williamson - 2:43:37
🥉Lena Sutherland - 2:46:46
Stephanie Willis came out firing🔫, shooting out to a 1-minute lead over Lena Sutherland through Brod Bay (5.6km), with Sophie Williamson and Niamh McMullan chasing hard a further minute back.
With the warmup complete, Willis stepped up a gear and went to work climbing to Luxmore Hut. Now with a 6-minute lead over Sophie Williamson (who had moved up from 4th), Willis could be heard yelling “Yippee-ki-yay mother f🤬ckers”, before taking off back down the track to Brod Bay, powering her way home to victory.
Williamson held off Sutherland to take 2nd by 3 minutes. There was some tight racing throughout, with 4th- 8th all finishing within 1 minute of each other😮.
🏃 Men's Podium
🥇Jonothan Jackson - 1:53:27
🥈Liam Dooley - 1:56:55
🥉Michael Sutton - 1:57:11
Jonothan Jackson went one better than 2021, with a commanding victory over a deep field.
It was a scorching pace🔥 early to Brod Bay (5.6km), with Michael Sutton leading Jackson through in 18:48. Patrick Higgins was half a step back in 3rd, with Liam Dooley keeping an eye on the action in 4th.
Jackson, who knows the course well, attacked Sutton (in his 2nd “proper” trail race) on the climb up to Luxmore Hut, opening a gap of over 3 minutes. With the field out of the rearview, his focus shifted to Dan Balchin’s 2021 record (1:48:49).
It was full throttle to the finish, but the ghost of Balchin👻 held firm, with Jackson finishing just over 4 minutes back of the record.
Sutton chased hard, only dropping a further minute, but Liam Dooley, representing Whakatane Hardcore, unleashed the beast to chase Sutton down. He powered past inside the last 500M to snatch the silver, both joining the elite sub-2-hour crew.
Here’s what Liam Dooley had to say:
“4th at the bottom of the climb, climbed well to reach hut in 65mins, so I knew sub 2 was on. I descended well, sitting in 3rd at 5km to go. Last 500m I spotted 2nd and gave it a go and managed to get into 2nd!!!! Absolutely stoked!”
Liam Dooley
Check out the full Luxmore Grunt results
Congratulations to everyone who ran at the Kepler Challenge this year. For many of you, it’s a once-in-a-lifetime race. I hope you had the chance to soak it all in😎.
Special shoutout to Paul Helm, who ticked up his 30th Kepler Challenge. If you ever need concert tickets, Paul’s your guy. How on earth does he keep snaffling an entry every year🤣?
Funky Pants Paid Subscriber Giveaway
Everyone has those special shorts. You know, the ones that make you stronger, faster and better looking.
The ones that you keep ONLY for race day.
For example, check out young Chris Martin below, repping his Ice Blues🥶 at the Kepler Challenge back in 1972.
“Nothing makes me feel more alive than pulling on my Ice Blues. Standing on the start line, you can tell everyone is intimidated. No one can look me in the eye.”
Chris Martin
So this week, we’re giving away 2 x $50 Funky Pants NZ gift cards.
Either reply to this email, or comment below with which Funky Pants you want to line up in this summer to enter the draw.
If you miss out on the vouchers or aren’t a paid subscriber, you can use the code TRNZ10 for 10% off your order
Things You May Have Missed
Amy Whitehead completed her Adventure 4 Dementia Challenge for the year. She completed 12 laps of the Pipeline of Pain, raising over 10K for Dementia Canterbury. Check out her Givealittle page and her Dirt Church Episode for more context.
FreshChoice Te Anau with the craziest Aid Station 9km from the finish at Kepler Challenge
Upcoming Events
Next weekend might be the most highly anticipated weekend ever in NZ trail running history. The Wild
Crush The Cargill is finally here🤯.
CRUSH THE CARGILL
Saturday, December 8-10
In the latest Colmer Brunton poll, 89% of NZ trail runners didn’t know that Crush The Cargill is a running event.
“Isn’t it just a meme account🤔”
“I have no idea wtf Crush The Cargill is😕”
“Is that those fellas down south that sit around drinking speights and run up a hill a couple of times?😬”
Ok, maybe not that highly anticipated. But they have entrenched themselves in the NZ trail running scene.
They’re a bit like your drunk uncle at Christmas.
They’re here to have a good time and call out anyone taking themselves too seriously.
So what actually is Crush The Cargill?
I reached out to the CTC Comms department to find out more.
What is Crush The Cargill?
“It’s simply the hardest, toughest, meanest, most EPIC, super duper trail event in the universe.”
Right… but like, what do you actually do?
“You run as many laps up and down Mt.Cargill as you can in 24 hours.”
“Do 1 lap to celebrate our wonderful
mountainhill, or go for broke and aim for a new world record (currently sitting at 18 laps).”“The winner gets to take home the Cargill Twig for the year – the largest trophy in the world of running.”
What do you have to say to anyone who doesn’t think that sounds very hard?
“It’s tougher than Hardrock and UTMB combined. Keep in mind that God rested on the 7th day of creation, that’s because he created Mt. Cargill on Saturday”
“If you wont take my word for it, here is what some past competitors have to say.”
“Probably the hardest thing I’ve done”
Jillian Kornet
“I’ve raced all around the world, and that was by the most EPIC race I’ve ever had the pleasure of competing in.”
Ruth Craft
“Challenging the body & mind – physically, mentally, emotionally & spiritually whilst absorbing you in some of the world’s most magical natural places.”
Oprah Winfried
Tell us about the new 100-mile race you’ve added this year. Is that some kind of EPIC point-to-point race taking in Dunedin's best trails and sights?
“Kinda. It is EPIC. But in an EPIC brewery gone into liquidatin kind of way. What we’ve done is taken the same coure as the 24hour challenge and added an extra 12 hours. Why change a winning formula?
The best part? You start 10pm Friday night so the first 7 hours are in the dark.”“To earn the worlds heaviest miler buckle you’ll have to complete, 19 laps in 36 hours (161km) with 10,830m of vert.”
Anything else you would like to add?
“Blue Lake 24 Hour Challenge. It’s time to drop ‘Challenge’ from your name.”
Check out Crush The Cargill for more details, and follow on Instagram for maximum LOLs.
THE WILD
Wednesday-Sunday, December 6th-10th
THIS IS NOT A DRILL.
⚠️IT’S ACTUALLY HAPPENING. I REPEAT. THE WILD IS ACTUALLY HAPPENING⚠️.
We are one week away. One week from discovering if Malcolm Law is a genius🤓 or forever doomed to the Crush The Cargill Meme Hall of Fame.
It’s been a long time coming, with more twists and turns than a dinner party on Married At First Sight, but I think we can all agree that we are excited to see this all come together.
Back in October, The Wild was the featured preview in the quarterly Trail Running NZ E-zine, where we took an in-depth look at the courses, and Malcolm Law gave us the inside scoop on the Wild.
I thought I would lower my carbon footprint by recycling the previews below.
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 travelling 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 race quite like it in the country (maybe Pirongia?).
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 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 travels roughly 10km less between Arrowtown and Greengate with significantly 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 pencilled 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.
Good luck to everyone competing, crewing and volunteering at The Wild next weekend. Fingers crossed, this is the start of something truly EPIC.
Check out The Wild for more details, and follow on Instagram and Facebook.
VALLEY ULTRA
Saturday, December 9
The Valley Ultra is back under new management!
The Valley Ultra never really reached its full potential before it went careering off the Fusion Events liquidation cliff.
Set in the Craigieburn Valley west of Christchurch, the Valley Ultra allows runners to race in some of Canterbury’s most challenging terrain.
It’s got all the ingredients to be a must-do on the NZ Trail Running Calendar.
Native beech forest
Tussock grasslands
Technical trails
Stream crossings
Mountain peaks
Unfortunately, in the 3 years it ran (2019,20,21), weather issues stopped it from stamping its place among the premiere NZ mountain races. (I’m sure one year it ran on the D course?)
Races on offer:
The Whole Hog: 📏54km 👆3000m*
The Piglet: 📏24km 👆1200m*
The Teacup:📏10km 👆500m*
Looking at the entry list, there’s been no hangover from the Fusion Events scandal, and being on the same weekend as The Wild Crush The Cargill hasn’t been an issue.
Fingers crossed, the new owners have bribed the weather gods, and runners experience the best of the Craigieburn Valley as intended.
Check out The Valley Ultra for more details,and follow on Instagram and Facebook.
#Mountain Skag Pic Of November
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 entry is from Hami Tangiora.
Sunrise on Avalance Peak in Arthurs Pass National Park.
Wow, just wow😍.
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 be packed to the eyeballs with The Wild, The Valley Ultra and Crush The Cargill results.
It takes hours to write this newsletter but only 8 seconds to forward it to a friend.
PS: This is the last week to preorder your Momentum Calendar for 2024
With the Momentum Calendar, you can:
✅See your whole race Calendar for 2024 at a glance.
✅Quickly see how many more days you can procrastinate before you start training.
✅Feel your BIG GOALS stare down at you while you sleep
✅Avoid your family ever double-booking you again
$65 | $50 for Subscribers (use the code skagilicous)
Size: A0 (84.1 x 118.9 cm or roughly 2 fully stretched-out cats.)
Material: Duraprint. It will survive in your bathroom, so you can stare at your BIG GOALS while sitting on the can.