🏃♀️🏃Run The Forest Results
"It’s estimated the event brought in 2.5 MILLION to the local economy"mindblowing scenery"
Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news
We’re the buffet breakfast of the trail running world. A little bit of everything to get your day heading in the right direction
Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:
🏃♀️🏃Run The Forest Results
📰International Results Desk
👑RIP The Wild
🤣NZ Trail Running Meme Unmasking
🥳August Paid Subscriber Giveaway
⛰️💊Mountain Skag Winner of July & The Week
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Run The Forest Results
Rotorua sure knows how to put on a running event. First, the Rotorua Marathon. Then Tarawera, and now ‘Run The Forest’.
Over 2,500 runners participated across 3 distances. That’s a 500-bib increase from last year during the cost-of-running crisis! Is there a nice forest near Arrowtown…🤔?
Apparently, 90 per cent of participants were from out of town, and it’s estimated the event brought in 2.5 MILLION to the local economy. Buzzy.
Many races describe themselves as a ‘festival’ with a party atmosphere🎊. Well, after checking out the Run The Forest Instagram, I see that it looks like they nailed it.
*The results below might not be accurate; they changed twice while I was writing this.
21KM Pohutu Geyser Trail
Women’s podium:
🥇Jule Vetter - 1:32:33
🥈Katherine Oberlin-Brown - 1:33:40
🥉Jess Walley - 1:36:06
Jule ‘No One Better’ Vetter turned around a 48-second deficit at the 15km mark to snatch the victory from Katherine Oberlin ‘Kenobi’-Brown, kicking clear by 1m7s.
Jess Walley failed to close the gap on the front 2 but clung on to the bronze ahead of Nikki Everton (Taupo 100km Champ👑) in 4th, who was in her first race back from a fractured cankle.
Men’s podium:
🥇Ben Hennesy - 1:21:27
🥈Ethan Verner- 1:22:53
🥉Jamie Hall- 1:23:44
Ben ‘On The Rocks’ Hennesy led this drag race from start to finish. Through the first 15km, Hennesy had a slender 53-second lead over Ethan Verner, who had Jamie Hall right up his jacksye, only 10 seconds back.
That’s how it would finish, with Hennesy extending his lead to 1m26s over Verner, who skipped clear of Hall by 51s.
Click Here for the Full Results, including the 10km & 7km.
Follow Run The Forest on Instagram & Facebook
International Results Desk
It’s been a busy week on the International Results Desk.
From Straya🦘 to Switzerland🍫, we’ve got it covered.
Sierre Zinal
Caitlyn Fielder said she would never race Sierre Zinal, but here she is, taking 10th (in a stacked field), only 8 minutes back from the podium.
This result puts her in 10th place in the World Golden Trail Series Standings.Sarah Douglas (2023 NZ Mountain Running Champ) had herself a day, finishing 45th, 26 minutes back from Fielder after having to start in the 2nd wave.
Full Results.
Swiss Alps 50
With possibly his best-ever performance, the Flying Doctor crushed the Swiss Alps 50km field and shattered the CR by 14 minutes.
Was that the race of your life?
“I've been lucky enough to run and win some incredible races in my time, but yeah, this is definitely in the top 3, I reckon.”
“This race was one of the main reasons I came back to Europe after spending a day here last year and witnessing the mindblowing scenery, glorious trails, Aletsch glacier, and the lovely people. And it was the main one I really wanted to do well in all trip.”
“Mission accomplished, with a bonus 14 min course record🎉. Incredible day. The entire 52k is stitched together with some of the most fun and interesting trails to run, with incredible views throughout. Super tough, but I enjoyed every minute😃.”
David Haunschmidt
Also, a shout out to Peter Robinson, who had a great day out finishing in 16th.
Clint Eastwood BYU
3 Kiwis were in action doing doughnuts over at the Clint Eastwood Backyard Ultra in Straya🦘. It was a strong showing by all 3, expertly crewed by Scott Bougen from Rep Endurance.
💪Carl Read 40 laps / 268km 🥳PB
💪Helen Waterworth 32 laps / 214.14KM 🥳PB
💪Fiona Hayvice 32 laps/ 214.14KM
It looks like Carl has taken Jane McAlpine’s spot on the NZ team (if he chooses to take it)
Ultra Race Romania
Inia Raumati moved up to 4th across the final 2 stages in a total time of 41:03:46 (6 stages, 250km). This was the 5th stage race of his 8 Continents. 8 Races challenge for 2024. It sounds like Inia also had the makings of a terrifying “Worst Run Ever” after a near-miss mauling after being surrounded by 8 dogs😰.
Xtrail Courchevel
Last week (August 4th), Scotty Hawker placed 2nd in the XTrail Courchevel 2024, 44km, 2900M. Looking good for UTMB … or is it
From Scotty’s Instagram
“I ran the time I was hoping to pre-race, which was cool 4h59min, 44km, 2900m+ 🥈 but a bit gutted that an abdominal injury (osteitis pubis/ pubis symphysis) that I’ve had since February keeps reminding me that it’s definitely not gone and prevents me from running properly.”
”With a month until UTMB it’s going to be a balancing act to get to the start line 100% healthy but I’m confident under guidance from @ultrabritton that we’ll get it right 👌🏼”
Scotty Hawker
RIP The Wild
To the 2 people who haven’t heard…
The Wild announced on Friday that the event is cancelled.
Here’s the TLDR (To Long Didn’t Read):
Last year didn’t cover costs.
After positive feedback from last year's entrants, the Wild were confident they could increase entries this year.
Entries were way down on last year at the same time.
Even the most optimistic forecasts showed a significant financial loss if the event went ahead as planned, and as a Registered Charitable Trust, it was a simple decision.
All entries will be 100 per cent refunded.
So what now if you entered The Wild and need to find a home for your fitness:
Go to Arrowtown anyway. ‘Not The Wild Take 2’ will happen in some shape or form.
Enter one of the other South Island December 14th Events.
Crush The Cargil, The Valley Ultra or The Spectacle.Run the WAI2K (Wairarapa/Upper Hutt) 3 weeks earlier on November 23. It’s holding the 100k National Champs but also has a challenging 50km course and a fast and furious 12 & 25km
Taper over the new year and run the Aotearoa Ultramarathon on January 11th.
Some other thoughts I have:
Sh💩t collapses, and it sucks when it does. But most of the time, things run as expected. Keep entering events (if you have the means to do so). This can turn into a chicken-and-egg situation. People start entering at the last minute to ensure the event is going ahead, but the event has to be cancelled because there are not enough entries.
The NZ trail running scene is small. Yes, trail running has exploded around the world, but it is still very niche. We live in a global social media world where it’s easy to feel like the scene is much bigger than it is. There are already so many events in NZ that we may have hit saturation point.
New Zealand now has 10 Backyard Ultras. While these events might not match the EPIC scenery of races like The Wild, they make up for what they lack in scenery by offering a unique human experience.
The hours spent running together (often in the dark) make new runships and bonds that outlast any view. It also helps that Backyard Ultras are typically more affordable and are a proven way to push your limits and run further than you have previously.
That marks the end of the roller coaster ride that was The Wild.
Runners With Beards Need Your Help
If you’ve run a Backyard Ultra lately, you may have noticed the creepy dudes with beards filming you. Don’t worry. It’s not for a weird OnlyFans account🤣. They’ve actually started live-streaming the NZ Backyard Ultras on their YouTube channel.
They’re now looking to expand their event coverage to other trail running events outside of Backyard Ultras.
How cool is that?
What races would you like to see?
The WUU2K? Taupo? Crater Rim?
You can help out by taking this 1-minute survey.
Take The Survey
They’ve managed to snare 3 bags of Tailwind out of Mark Drew to give to 3 lucky survey fillerinerers.
If you’re like me, I’ve seen the Runners With Beards hats around but didn’t know what it was.
After chatting to Head Beard (Heard?) Chris MacDonald, and having a scope of their website, I think I’ve worked it out.
Runners With Beards is a group of people who love nothing better than helping runners discover more about themselves by assisting them to do hard sh💩t.
Take The Survey
Click Here to learn more about Runners With Beards
NZ Trail Running Meme Account Unmasking
6 PM Sunday. No delivery😥.
So, I have no other option but to reveal who is behind the NZ Trail Running Meme Account.
It’s been an entertaining 4 weeks … but let’s do this …
Drum Roll Please …
…
Winston Peters!
Who would have thought? Old Uncle Winnie, trolling NZ since ages ago😉.
August Paid Subscriber Giveaway
This month, 5x Lucky Paid Subscribers will win a 1KG Pouch of Morwots Drink Mix
Christchurch pedal basher Bede Torrance, the man behind Morwots Drink Mix, reached out to see whether there would be demand among trail runners for his drink mix.
There is only one way to find out.
How can you get Morwots up in your grill?
Sign up as a Paid Subscriber (if you’re not one already.)
It’s $5 a month. WTF can you buy for $5 these days?Comment below or Email trailrunningnz@gmail.com.
What would you name your sports nutrition brand if you started one?
Lines of Mountain Skag, anyone?Get your name drawn out on the 1st of September.
Full disclaimer: I haven’t tested this yet (it’s on the way), so I can’t confirm that this is not a cyclist trying to knock off a few pesky trail runners
Don’t want to wait?
Click Here & use the code ‘trailrunningnz’ for a 15% discount
A big THANK YOU to ALL the Paid Supporters who help keep this snowball rolling.
#Mountain Skag Pic Of July Winner
Congratulations, Harriette Carr. You’ve won Mountain Skag for July.
#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week
There were no entries this week, I repeat, no entries 😥. We’ve gone from being overloaded to none!
Ah, well, that means those who do enter have a better chance of winning the monthly prize.
The best way to enter is to email trailrunningnz@gmail.com; my Instagram skills are at a boomer level.
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 more trail-running news, yarns, and glory.
It takes hours to write this newsletter but only 8 seconds to forward it to a friend.
PS. It’s Gene Andrews.
Bushwhacker Bites
Crushed Cargill Carbs