🏃🏃♀️Kinloch Offroad Challenge Results
"I would do anything for blue skies. I don’t even care if the All Blacks lose to France …”
Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news
We’re there for you like your favourite anti-chaffe cream. Reducing the sting of Monday morning back at work.
Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:
🏃🏃♀️Kinloch Offroad Challenge Results
⛰️Tararua Mountain Race Confirmed
🎯Things You May Have Missed
🤢Worst Run Ever
🏁Upcoming event: Race Tekapo
⛰️💊Mountain Skag Pic of the Week & August winner
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.
Kinloch Offroad Challenge Results
“Dear great running gods. Please, oh PLEASE, can we get some blue skies for Saturday? The last 3 years have been sh💩t putting on the Kinloch Offroad Challenge. Last year was a mudbath with torrential rain, and we all know what 2020/2021 looked like with Covid. I would do anything for blue skies. I don’t even care if the All Blacks lose to France …”
Well, now we know who to blame for the ABs losing their first-ever World Cup pool game.
Total Sports prayers were answered, and runners were welcomed to Kinloch, Taupo, with mild temps and blue skies.
Kinloch Offroad Marathon
Women’s Podium
🥇Caris Teo - 3:32:18 - 5:01 min/km
🥈Nikki Everton - 3:34:18 - 5:04 min/km
🥉Sarah Bauer - 3:52:10 - 5:30 min/km
The weather was great, and the trails were dry. Defending champ Nikki Everton ran over 19 minutes faster than last year, but it wasn’t enough to defend her title.
Caris Teo ran away with victory, posting an impressive 3:32.18 - one of the faster times at Kinloch in recent years.
Men’s Podium
🥇Dan Rae - 3:00:36 - 4:16 min/km
🥈Richard Ellison - 3:07:54 - 4:27 min/km
🥉Tom Sabey - 3:08:17 - 4:27 min/km
It was a 3 horse race on the men’s side. Rae, Ellison and Sabey pulled comfortably away from the field -flat tire aside, it was a question of which order they would finish.
Rae ended up with a comfortable victory (if such a thing exists in a marathon?), with Ellison and Sabey having a tight battle for 2nd and 3rd.
Kinloch Offroad Half Marathon
Men’s Podium
🥇Casey Thorby - 1:27:46 - 4:09 min/km
🥈Campbell Gray - 1:39:08 - 4:41 min/km
🥉Mark Gray - 1:41:38 - 4:49-min/km
Casey Thorby blazed his way to a hat-trick of titles with a comfy 12-minute victory and his fastest time at Kinloch.
🥇2022 -1:32:47 (entered in the bumfluff mustache category)
🥇2019 - 1:33:03 (entered in the Under 14 category)
4th - 2018 - 1:33:57 (entered in the Under 14 category)
It’s the fastest time since 2015 when Hayden Wilde took victory in 1:26:03 as a teenager.
Women’s Podium
🥇Katie Stone - 1:52:29 - Avg pace - 5:19 min/km
🥈Sarah Davidson - 1:53:01 - Avg pace - 5:21 min/km
🥉Sarah Carr - 1:57:57 - Avg pace - 5:35 min/km
It was a much tighter race on the women’s side. Katie Stone kicked clear of Sarah Davidson by 32 seconds, and it was a further 5 minutes back to Sarah Carr in 3rd.
Full results here, and check out their Facebook Page for photos.
Entries Are Now Open For Tararua Mountain Race
Andy Carruthers and his team have been working hard to put one of the oldest mountain races in the country back on the event calendar.
I’m excited to announce it will be back for 2024.
Saturday the 9th of March - Entries are now OPEN
I’m sure it hasn’t been easy. There are ongoing issues with the Otaki Fork access road, Health & Safety up the wazoo, and the pressure of keeping the tradition of the Tararua Mountain Race alive is enough to make anyone have second thoughts.
The team has made a few fundamental changes to make it a safer and more accessible event. These changes are below:
📡The race will be using GPS tracking to monitor runners. This means you no longer need to run as a pair if you haven’t run the route before
2 new races have been added to the event, so there are now 3 races on offer:
🏃🏃♀️Beast in a Field Field Dash - An out-and-back to Field Hut from Otaki Forks
💪Beast of a Klime Kime Climb - An out-and-back to Kime Hut from Otaki Forks
⛰️V2300.67 Southern Crossing - Running from Kaitokie, Upper Hutt Hardcore to Otaki Forks.
💯Numbers are capped at 100 for each distance
If you’re keen to enter but haven’t run in the Tararua Ranges, I highly recommend running the Jumbo Holdsworth Trail Race on January 27th. It’s a chance to get some time in the Tararua Ranges under race conditions before March 9th.
If you’re unfamiliar with the Southern Crossing, check out a young Andy Carruthers in the 2015 race in typical Tararua conditions.
Check out the website for more details.
$50 Hells😈🍕Giveaway(Paid Subscriber)
🎈🎉🥳Kyle Malone is the lucky winner for this month’s giveaway🎉🥳🎈
“I'm not just saying it because it's a prize from hell pizza, but pizza is a go-to in the mountains.”
-Kyle Malone
Something for Kyle to look forward to when he gets back from Murica’🌭.
He’s currently on the great Iron Eagle, heading to Tennessee for the Barkley Fall Classic next weekend. It’s been nice knowing you, Kyle.
😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄
😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄🍕😄
Things You May Have Missed
Stay vigilant out there! Prince Nabutu and his friends are out in force at the moment. Remember, if the price is too good to be true, it is. Top brands won’t have ‘factory’ ‘direct’ or any other variation in their domain.
Worst Run Ever
The stories have dried up.
Maybe I’m the only one who enjoys hearing people sh💩t their pants, have their headlamps fail, break their glasses, or pack the wrong shoes.
I’m taking it to a vote. Persevere with the segment, or is Worst Run Ever that awkward track on your favourite album that you always skip?
I’m biased because I love making artwork for it!
Some of the AI-generated masterpieces from the past.
Upcoming Events
Race Tekapo
Saturday, September 16th
Race Tekapo is back for its 2nd year. Close to 1000 runners made the trip last year - Tekapo only has just over 500 permanent residents!
I’ve been picking up a lot of excitement on the airwaves, so it will be interesting to see how big the field ends up.
Tekapo is world famous for its scenery, and Race Tekapo looks like it takes full advantage of its surroundings.
There are 5 distances on offer:
50km📏 | 1100m👆
32km📏 | 800m👆
21km📏 | 550👆
12km📏 | 300m👆
5 km📏 | 1.6m👆
The courses are a mix of fast, non-technical trails with some sealed and gravel roads.
Mt. John provides some much-needed Vert relief in all but the 5km course. I mean, look at this elevation profile for the 50km - it must be one of the flattest in the country!
Looking at last year’s results, I hope you’ve done your speedwork. You’re gonna need it.
Good luck to everyone who’s entered. Check out Jess’s journey to Race Tekapo below. It’s a great reminder that it’s just as much about the journey to the start line as the race itself.
#Mountain Skag Pic Of August Winner
🥳🎉🎈Congratulations, Scott Bougen🎈🎉🥳
You might not have had the day you were after at UTMB, but at least you won a T-shirt🤣🤣🤣.
You’ll be back. I look forward to bugging you for a quote after doing something borderline insane🤪 in the near future.
#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week
This week’s Mountain Skag is from Sean McWilliams, who competed in CCC last weekend.
Well, the race didn't go as planned. Mont Blanc looks pretty damn good though!
Tag @trailrunning.nz and use #mountainskag 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.
We will be back next week with Race Tekapo Results, the fate of Worst Run Ever, and more.
It takes hours to write this newsletter but only 8 seconds to forward it to a friend.
PS: I dropped the ball on the Strava Segments last week - but there is now a segment up for Dunedin & Wellington in the Strava Club and a more detailed post here