⛰️Routeburn Results & Worst Run Ever🤕
There was the time I bonked💀, had the sh🤬ts💩, and heat stroke🥵 (the holy grail trifecta), but that’s another story….
Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news
We’ve got you covered - like that friend who brings over their tomato sauce for Fish & Chips, just in case you’ve had a Sauceastrophe.
Here’s what’s in the drop bag this week:
Routeburn Classic Results
Skedaddle Results
My Worst Run Ever
Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week
Upcoming Events: T42 Central Plateau
Routeburn Classic Results
It was a crisp, clear morning, and the Routeburn Classic team breathed a collective sigh of relief. With a history of weather cancellations and a C🤬vid cancellation last year, it was fantastic to see such an iconic event get its day in the sun☀️.
Not a bad day for a race - Photo: David Haunschmidt Instagram
Women’s podium:
🥇Maia Flint - 3:27:28
🥈Kate Morrison - 3:31:03
🥉Maureen Stachowicz -3:36:00
“Maia Flint edges Hannah Lund and Kate Morrison in a tight race.” - Last week’s prediction.
Slap me pink and call me Nostradamus - 2 out of 3 ain’t bad.
What better way to build towards the World Mountain Running Champs than race each other along the Routeburn? And that’s exactly what Maia Flint & Kate Morrison did.
They say the victors write history, so I’ll leave it up to Maia Flint to tell us how the race went.
I’m no stranger to South Island scenes but this race blew me away. Being a north island girl, I was a bit nervous about the forecast🥶, but the weather played ball and made for an all round awesome day.
I ran conservatively during the first half, letting Kate Morrison and Maureen Stachowics take off up the first climb and settling into my granny gear👵. I caught Maureen about 12ks in on the technical downhill section to Mackenzie Hut and hung with her for middle section of the race.
Climbing up over lake Mackenzie was truly spectacular. We left the trees🌳 to bluebird skies with the mountain side⛰️ dropping away to the left and lake Mackenzie glistening down in the valley - absolutely breathtaking and I would’ve taken a million photos if not for the two fast ladies I was chasing!
I stuck with Maureen up until the final pinch to Harris saddle then decided it was go time🚀. As I passed she told me to ‘go get her’ and continued to encourage me as we passed each other on the switch backs - a testament to the supportive comradery of the trail community.
I could see Kate up ahead and I started to reel🎣 her in, eventually passing her at Falls Hut. The final 10kms from the hut were the most brutal despite the fact they were mostly downhill. The legs were pretty done and the flat sections, bridges and little climbs made it tricky to get into a rhythm. I was very happy to come round the corner and see my coach, James Kuegler on the track telling me there was 600m to go.
Overall it was a truly fantastic race and I’ll definitely be back for round two in the near future.
Maia Flint
Kate Morrison also had a fantastic race, leading for the first 2/3rds of the race. Even though she was in full race mode, it sounds like she was just stoked to be out running an amazing trail. Kate was kind enough to send through the below.
There's something very special about running from Fiordland to Aspiring in a day. The race was tough as with a bunch of very strong women, but honestly for most of it the epic scenery was all I could think about.
Kate Morrison
Maia Flint on the way to victory - Photo: Maia Flint Instagram
Men’s podium:
🥇David Haunschmidt - 2:43:45
🥈Toby Batchelor - 2:45:39
🥉Hamish Elliott - 2:54:20
It would be easy to call David Haunschmidt a freak, but that would discredit all his hard work and sacrifice.
In the last 6 months, he has come:
🥉 Kepler
🥉 The Goat
🥇 Jumbo Holdsworth
🥇 Tarawera 50K (+ CR)
🥈 Old Ghost Ultra
🥇 Ring of Fire 50K
🥇 Routeburn
Actual footage of David Haunscmidt mid-race at Routeburn Classic
Oh, and did I mention he is an emergency doctor?
I’m surprised he wasn’t flying the helicopter to the start line.
Since he can do everything, I thought I would let him tell you how it went.
What a beautiful run and we had a stunner of a day for it.
Toby has a really strong ascent, so I just let him go on the uphills. I knew he’d come back to me on the technical descent. I took the lead soon after the highest point and didn’t look back.
I saw that you had him down to win! - glad to have exceeded your expectations!
I would love to do that one again now I know the track. I can definitely shave a few mins off.
David Haunschmidt
NZ Mountain Runner Toby Batchelor, who got the better of Haunschmidt at The Goat earlier in the year, couldn’t hold him off this time. Here is Batchelor’s account of how the day played out.
David’s a machine🤖. I knew I needed a decent lead going up to Harris saddle before he let it rip on the downhill. I wasn’t able to get that lead big enough. He came flying✈️ past and that was that! It was my first time on the track, and it won’t be my last! Stunning scenery and and the course itself is a glorious mix of everything a trail runner could ask for.
Toby Batchelor
David Haunscmidt putting the burn in Routeburn. Photo - David Haunschmidt Instagram
Skedaddle Results
Skedaddle made its event debut on Saturday, and it looked like the Trail Running gods smiled upon them. No hastily bought seal seam jacket required🌞.
It was great to see good numbers for a brand-new event. 344 runners came to put Skedaddle through its paces, and by all accounts, it went off without a hitch - even making an appearance on One News!
An absolute ripper of a day - Photo: jennyhitsthetrailsnz
Two Tunner: 📏42KM | ⛰️ 2097M
Women’s podium:
🥇Margie Campbell - 4:59:02
🥈Emma Timmis - 5:07:31
🥉Emma Roch - 5:20:48
Margie Campbell is your inaugral Two Tunner Champion. A strong race finishing 4th overall in a field of 57 guinea pigs. I might have this wrong - I think this is the same Margie Campbell who won the 2022 Dunedin Marathon in 2:56.
That gives you an idea of how challenging the course is.
Men’s podium:
🥇Richard Melton - 4:19:18
🥈Reubon Jones - 4:33:35
🥉Aaron Shaskey - 4:55:56
Richard Melton took out the Two Tunner in the men’s just 2 weeks after taking 2nd 🥈 at the Mt. Oxford Marathon. So he clearly doesn’t follow the “1 day of recovery for every 1KM of your race” philosophy🤣.
Wilderbeast: 📏30K | ⛰️ 1397M
Women’s podium:
🥇Jessica Schofield - 3:40:10
🥈Stacey Goble - 3:50:04
🥉Angela Bishop - 3:54:24
117 runners in total set off on the Wilderbeast. Jessica Schofield came out on top in a deep field of 62 women and 7th overall.
Men’s podium:
🥇Ben Williams - 2:50:10
🥈Alex Braun - 3:12:12
🥉Matt Pepler - 3:14:47
Ben Williams has had a productive couple of weeks. He is the last-ever champion of the Mt. Oxford Marathon (they’re changing it to a 50KM) and is now the first to get his name engraved on the Skedaddle Wilderbeast trophy.
Here is what Williams thought of the event.
Awesome new race, great track, awesome scenery and really nice people.
Two weeks after Oxford might not of been enough recovery time. But so glad that I Made the effort to head out there. Well worth it!
Ben Williams
Ben Williams showing off his latest 2 titles
⚠️⚠️⚠️WARNING: SATIRE AHEAD⚠️⚠️⚠️
This week’s newsletter is brought to you by CarroNZ.
Sick of charging your headlamp for those post-work winter runs?
Do we have the deal for you!
It is made from the finest carrots🥕 from Ohakune, NZ.
We bring you CarroNZ.
Each little orange pill💊 is packed with the beta carotene of 100* carrots🥕.
After 2 weeks, you can use your headlamp on the lowest setting.
After only 4 weeks?
You will be dancing down the most technical trail by the dullest illumination of a crescent moon🌙
My Worst Run Ever
This week’s Worst Run Ever is from a legend of NZ trail running - Jean Beaumont. 5-time Northburn Champ. Premium Tararua SK member and all-around Superwomen. However, I think she needs to get a restraining order against the tip track.
The Tip Track has a lot to answer for!
My worst run ever ( lots of times) is the Tip Track.
My dog🐶 and I were at the top of the track when she began coughing blood🩸. It took me an hour to carry her back to the car. She is 20kg. Luckily it was just an abscess, and on reflection, I think the reason I carried her was those big brown eyes👁️👁️ …
I was racing down the track during the WU2K. I fell over and ripped the tendons in my shoulder. I made it to finish but couldn’t drive to the prize giving or anywhere else……
Running down again. My dog🐕🦺 got too close behind me and tangled in my legs. This resulted in a swan dive into the rocky track, which in turn resulted in an enormous bruise on my quad, a bloody🩸 knee, and no running for two weeks. (Doggo was fine though)
I was smashing down the Tippy and unexpectedly became airborne✈️. I fleetingly decided to save my palms🤲. Unfortunately, this came at a cost. My head. Which connected with a rock, and blood poured out🤕. I had to walk 4km to the car with no top because I was using it to soak up the blood🩸.
On a brighter note, I had an excuse to miss a stupid meeting that I didn’t want to go to…..
There was the time I bonked💀, had the sh💩ts, and heat stroke🥵 (the holy grail trifecta), but that’s another story….
Jean Beaumont
Keep the stories coming in! Send them to [email protected]
They can be short or long. Funny😂 or sad😭. They can even have a happy ending.
Upcoming Events:
T42 Central Plateau
Saturday, May 6th
The T42 is a mountain bike and running event based in the Tongariro Forest Conservation Area. Unfortunately for injured runners🤕, the 48 KM mountain bike race has been canned❌ this year due to a significant slip on the track with no viable bypass.
However, the slip isn’t enough to keep a bunch of hardy trail runners away. So the T42 team has put together contingency courses for the 42.2 KM and 24KM, and there are still the 11KM & 6KM options.
This is an excellent opportunity to run in the Central Plateau if you missed out on running at the Ruapehu Running Festival.
Entries are still open - to enter or for more info, check out https://www.t42.co.nz/
#Mountain Skag pic of the week
This week’s #Mountain Skag pic is from Kate Morrison. Ridges & rainbows. Hard to beat.
Tag @trailrunning.nz and use #mountainskag on Instagram or email [email protected] to enter.
Every entry goes into the monthly draw to win a Mountain Skag T-Shirt or hat.
We will be back next week with the T42 Race results (and hopefully Old Forest Hanmer) & and more.
Tag us on Instagram @trailrunning.nz with all things trail running.
If you’re picking up what I’m putting down, please subscribe 😀.
It takes hours to write this newsletter but only 8 seconds to forward it to a friend.
PS- Apologies I couldn't get my hands on the results for Old Hanmer Forest 100 - I will update the newsletter / include it in next week’s edition.