🏃🏃♀️Taupo 100KM Course Record Nikked & an Italian Stallion On The Loose In Christchurch
“I loved seeing how proud my boys were when they realised what I’d achieved – it shows them that dedication and hard work pays off."
Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news
We’re like a palate cleanser. You've come to the right place if you’ve had enough politics and rugby.
Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:
🏃🏃♀️Taupo Ultramarathon Results
🏃🏃♀️Crater Rim Results
🎯Things You May Have Missed
🤢Worst Run Ever
🏁Upcoming events: Rocky Point Trail Race
⛰️💊Mountain Skag 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.
Taupo Ultramarathon Results
Sunday, October 14th
Taupo 📏100KM | ⛰️1853M
🏃♀️Women’s Podium
🥇Nikki Everton - 9:21:04 🔥NEW CR🔥
🥈Meghan Macardy - 10:55:41
🥉Justyna Blajerska - 11:13:55
Nikki Everton broke Cecelia Flori’s 2016 course record in a dominating start-to-finish victory, finishing 4th overall. No disrespect to the rest of the field, but she was in a class of her own, winning by over 1.5 hours!
I can’t state just how impressive this victory is. We lost a couple of years to C🤬vid, but no one has come close to this record. The 2nd fastest time was also from Cecelia Flori in 2017 in 9:21. No one else has gone sub 10.
Nikki was generous enough to answer a couple of questions.
What does it mean to you to win the Taupo 100KM, and did you know you had a chance to break the long-standing CR going into the home stretch?
“I was pretty pumped to win this year’s 100km. The Taupo 74km was actually my first ever ultra back in 2017, and I did pretty well in that, so I was excited to come back and give the full distance a crack. This year, I competed in the Tarawera 102km, my longest-ever race, but I didn’t quite get the result I wanted, so Taupo was a big focus for me.”
“I love the runnable trails and the bush – it’s so peaceful out there. They’re definitely my favourite trails in Aotearoa! I realised at the 50km mark, I realized that if I kept a consistent pace, I would be in with a shot to crack the CR, so when I picked up my pacer (hubby Tom) at Kinloch, I told him we had to boost it.”
“We cut it down to the wire and were running flat out for the last few km’s, and I just managed to crack the CR by 45 seconds. It was the icing on the cake after a fantastic day out. My three young sons, mother-in-law Sue, and friend Kristine were all waiting at the finish line, and I loved seeing how proud my boys were when they realised what I’d achieved – it shows them that dedication and hard work pays off.”
Shout out to Hubby Tom. Great job not stuffing up the pacing duties!😂
🏃Men’s Podium
🥇Nathan Ryken - 8:26:43
🥈Cullen Rhind - 8:41:14
🥉Denis Finn - 8:53:31
Nathan Ryken channeled his inner Carl Read and went full beast mode, sending it full jandal from the gun to the chequered flag. Ryken posted the 3rd fastest time at Taupo 100km after Carl Read’s CR 8:03:32 and Nick Johnston’s 8:23:16.
Cullen Rhind and Denis Finn were left to battle it out for the remaining 2 podium spots. Rhind eclipsed 16 minutes off his time from last year, to make it back-to-back silvers🥈.
Denis Finn should be stoked with the bronze. He last ran the Taupo 100 in 2019, finishing in 12:31:11. That’s a whopping 3-and-a-half-hour PB!
Taupo 📏70KM | ⛰️1455M
🏃Men’s Podium
🥇Stuart Munro - 6:27:02 🔥NEW CR🔥
🥈Sean Martin - 7:08:26
🥉Ryo Miyanami - 7:15:42
This year, the 74 km course was redesigned into the brand new 70km course. Less road and more trail. Sounds like a winner😎. The best thing about a new distance is, if you win, you set the course record.
Enter Stu Munro, aka Shoe Review Stu. Stu took full advantage, dragging away from the field to post a sizeable victory, and set the first and new course record at Taupo 70km.
Sean Martin kept things close early, before holding on for dear life☠️, fending off Ryo Miyanami in 3rd. Sean finished 2nd male and 4th overall, scoring one for the old buggers (50-59)!
Here is what Stu had to say about his day:
“Taupo is a special event and brilliantly organised. My race went way better than I could have hoped. My build-up wasn’t great. Lots of niggles, but it all came right just in time.
“The field started conservatively, so there was an opportunity to take the initiative. By 20km, I could see I had a reasonable lead and knew I’d pay for the lack of training later in the race, so continued to push while I could. At Kinloch, I grabbed my pacer (Blair)feeling great, moving ok, but my legs were already fairly shot.”
“The last 20km was very tough, especially the downhills, but I managed to will the legs on and was running scared! It was a great feeling to cross the line, cheered on by Welly & Kapiti friends!”
🏃♀️Women’s Podium
🥇Anna Williams - 7:05:38 🔥NEW CR🔥
🥈Isis Metcalfe - 7:06:55
🥉Emma Alexander - 7:30:32
Anna Williams took the win on the female side of the draw. She would have been pleased the course is now 70 km, as that extra 4km might have been just enough for Isis Metcalfe to close the gap. A fantastic run by Williams, which saw her also finish 2nd overall.
Metcalfe started conservatively, and by conservatively, I mean paced to near perfection. Sitting in 5th at the 20km mark, Metcalfe charged home to move within minutes of Williams and finished 3rd overall.
Emma Alexander rounded out the podium with a strong display. Some of the faces changed in front and behind her, but she ran in 3rd all day.
Taupo 📏50KM | ⛰️1155M
🏃Men’s Podium
🥇Thomas Barnes - 3:32:03 🔥NEW CR🔥
🥈Brent Kelly - 3:47:25
🥉Karl Frisk - 3:59:34
Thomas Barnes lit up the Taupo 50 km course🔥. He gapped the field from the gun and never looked back. 10 minutes ahead by the halfway mark, it felt like he would lose this only if he blew a fufu valve.
The flying French Yorkshireman who lives in Wellington kept his pace across the course to demolish Kunaal Rajpal’s old course record by 10 minutes🤯. Taupo is known as a fast 50km course, but that’s just rude.
Brent Kelly and Karl Frisk also ducked under the 4-hour mark in impressive races to take 2nd and 3rd. This could have been their race on another day, but ‘Backwards Cap Barnesy’ was in the house.
Tom, Congratulations on the win. Tell us about how your race went. Were you targeting this race, or is it a stepping stone to bigger goals this summer?
“I only signed up for the race last week tbh. It's a really fast course, and didn't think it would play to my advantage (not at all technical and no vert)”
“But yeah, I've been putting some good miles in the legs recently, so it's always nice to run for a reason and enter a few events. Think it was my first event outside of Wellington, so nice to run with some new people.”
“The first 5k were all downhill, so set off pretty fast and try and make a gap with the rest of the field. Ended up running by myself for the rest of the day, so got a bit lonely. But yeah, overall happy with the outcome. Feeling fit atm and nice to get a new CR to my name.”
🏃♀️Women’s Podium
🥇Michelle Ashley - 4:44:57
🥈Sandra Sturgess - 4:45:35
🥉Katie White - 4:51:40
Michelle Ashley won the Taupo 50km in a tight race, despite being weighed down by the giant rock💍 Dan Jones has put on her finger (power couple, anyone?). At this rate, Dan might need to chuck out some of his road marathon trophies to make room for Michelle’s (WUU2K 43K🥇).
Sandra Sturgess made Ashley work for the victory right to the end, finishing only 38 seconds back. Katie White was a further 6 minutes back in 3rd.
Check out the full results here, including the 24km race and 100km teams relay.
Crater Rim Results
Sunday, October 15th
On Sunday, Crater Rim saw its largest field to date, with over 700 entrants across 5 distances. I wasn’t sure that the race would go ahead (not on the A course, anyway) after gale-force winds ripped across Christchurch on Saturday.
Luckily, Sunday was a new day. Jenny Rankin was up early, cheering the runners on, and had this to say about the weather.
“The wind was gusty on and off all day, but nothing like yesterday’s crazy level. There was a rain shower that passed through unexpectedly at midday, and in the afternoon, the sun was out in full force, so I’m sure some people enjoyed the wind!”
Ultra 80 📏80KM | ⛰️3500M
Much like the Taupo 70km, the Ultra 83km has been trimmed down to a new sleek 80km model. As a result, the 2023 field gets to set the standard going forward.
🏃Men’s Podium
🥇Daniele Danesin - 08:05:53 🔥NEW CR🔥
🥈Greg Bassam - 08:39:15
🥉 Sam Mowat - 08:48:15
Daniele Danesin, aka ‘The Italian Stallion’🐎, annihilated the 80km course to add to last year’s 53km title. Will Bell kept Danesin company early, before fading back in the field to finish 8th.
From there, it was open waters for Danesin, as he pulled away from Grag Bassam and Louis Schidler, who were chasing hard.
Sam Mowat closed in on Schindler to move into 3rd in the back half of the race. Mowat finished strong but, like at Race Tekapo, couldn’t quite cut into Bassam’s lead.
All 3 went below the 9-hour mark and well below last year’s 83km winning time of 9:35:25. Without taking away from this year’s top 3, it would appear that the alterations have produced a faster overall course (factoring in the shorter distance).
🏃♀️Women’s Podium
🥇Jessica Campbell - 09:30:32 🔥NEW CR🔥
🥈Shannon Litt - 11:20:19
🥉Samira Sultan-Rouse - 11:48:13
Jessica Campbell has been giving me FOMO for the majority of the year. She road-tripped around Europe, living the sweet van life, competing at the World Champs in Austria, and notching up some impressive results in several Sky Races.
I was watching this race with interest to see how she would go back in NZ. Would her momentum continue, or was this too much too soon after a busy racing schedule?
Well … Campbell put on a clinic to lead from start to finish. She finished close to 2 hours ahead of the legend that is Shannon Litt. The World Champs are in Spain next year, Sky Race Road Trip 2.0 could be on the cards.
I managed to catch Jessica before full post-race zombie mode was engaged🧟♀️.
What does it mean to you to take the National Long Course Trail Running Title?
“I didn't enter this race this year for the national title, I just wanted to have a good day and see how I fared at a longer race again, and being in my backyard seemed like a perfect opportunity.”
“My day went way better than I imagined, which meant so much to me. The win was amazing, with the national title being a nice bonus.”
“ However, it is such a shame that for a national championship, there were only 37 runners, of which only 5 were females! I don't know what is needed, but I would really like to see this change in the coming years to showcase our sport and make it a true championship race.”
Crater Rim 📏53KM | ⛰️2250M
🏃Men’s Podium
🥇Sam McCutcheon - 04:59:19
🥈Tommy Henson- 05:08:30
🥉Hywekk Dinnick - 05:32:13
Sam McCutcheon put his Dad Bod 2.0 to the test and proved that class is permanent and is still one of NZ’s premier trail runners. Sam has been bunkered down in Wellington over winter with a new addition to the family👶.
However, this race was closer than it looked. Tommy Henson trailed by only a few minutes through the race's first half and pegged it back to just 36 seconds at the 40 km mark. However, McCutcheon tested out the new model’s afterburners to power away to an 8-minute victory.
Hywekk Dinnick was in contention early on, then found himself in no man’s land. McCutcheon and Henson pulled away through the second half, leaving Dinnick running to defend his podium spot, which he did successfully.
🏃♀️Women’s Podium
🥇Kate Loye - 06:02:11
🥈 Rose Pearson - 06:16:02
🥉Hannah Bartram - 06:22:54
Kate Loye took home the win but didn’t have things all her way. She trailed Hannah Bartram at the 8 km by 4 minutes. However, from there, she took control of the race and never looked back, running away to an impressive 14-minute victory.
Bartram dropped to 4th through the race's middle stages before a strong finish pulled her past Carla Lunt, and onto the podium.
Rose Pearson started conservatively, finding herself 14 minutes off the lead at the 8km mark. BUT, it turns out(unlike me), she had a race plan and knows how to pace.
By halfway, she had moved up to 2nd and would go on to finish strongly, improving on last year’s 4th place (6:56:48).
Bellbird Buster 📏30KM | ⛰️890M
🏃♀️Women’s Podium
🥇Sarah Douglas - 02:56:23
🥈Genevieve Coffey - 03:03:10
🥉Laura Wallis - 03:09:21
Sarah Douglas ran the 2nd fastest time by a female at the Bellbird Buster, behind Kirsty Sclater’s 02:51:52 from 2018.
I don't know if there were any musical chairs in between the checkpoints, but according to the splits, the top 3 ran the entire race unchanged.
🏃Men’s Podium
🥇Oska Inkster-Baynes - 02:15:13 🔥NEW CR🔥
🥈Byron Mann - 02:54:10
🥉Oliver Evans - 02:56:13
Oska Inkster Baynes (that’s one hell of a name) left the field for dead on his way to setting the new course record in the Bellbird Buster.
Byron Mann and Oliver Evans were left to duke it out for the remaining podium spots.
Scotty Hawker - 02:17:52
Hayden Zervos -02:23:58
Ryan Carr - 02:24:00
These are just some of the big names who have run the Bellbird in recent years that Oska eclipsed on Sunday.
Click here for the full results, including the 10km & 22km.
Things You May Have Missed
Worst Run Ever
I guess it was only a matter of time before this happened…
I entered the Blue Lake Challenge. Worst Run Ever!
-Some lad in Dunedin
Keep the stories coming in! Send them to trailrunningnz@gmail.com
They can be short or long. Funny😂 or sad😭. You can own it, or it can be made anonymous. They can even have a happy ending.
Upcoming Events
Rocky Point Trail Run
Sunday, October 22nd
Rocky Point Trail Run is back for it’s 2nd year after making its debut on the NZ Trail Running Calendar in 2022.
Located in Buller (West Coast, best coast), it utilizes the Kawatiri trail network.
Rocky Point offers punters 3 distances.
📏25km
📏12.5km
📏5km
To save space, here is the elevation profile of all 3.
I confess I don’t know anything about Rocky Point!
The website course description says the trail is on a double-width groomed cycle trail, and judging by last year’s times, it’s a fast course. Rocky by name, not by nature. Last year’s champion, Emma Timmis, was kind enough to answer a couple of questions.
What are your memories of last year’s race?
The rocky point trails run is one of those that even if you’re really struggling and battling the pain, at any point you can look around and see spectacular views to distract yourself. The trail is almost flat making it great for beginners or people wanting to run a fast time.
What is your top piece of advice for someone taking on the 21K course next week?
Don’t overdo it in the first half. There’s a lot of excitement when you see the finish line for the shorter event but you’re going to pass this and still have the majority of your race left. Slow and steady (at the beginning) wins the race! 👌
At $80 for the 25km, it’s great value. As of Thursday, there were still 25 spots on the start line available.
Check out the website for more details and follow on Instagram and Facebook.
#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week
No entries this week! (If I’ve I’ve missed some entries this week re-tag @trailrunning.nz / DM or email in if that’s the case.)
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Next week, we will have the Rocky Point Trail Race results and whatever else gets blown my way.
It takes hours to write this newsletter but only 8 seconds to forward it to a friend.
P.S: I agree with Jessica Campbell’s comments about the national title. I know Crater Rim 80K is a challenging course, but a handful of females and 35 total competing for the national title is bonkers. Make sure you vote below, and feel free to leave your opinion in the comments.
P.P.S: I’ve had a few emails asking for the newsletter in a podcast format aswell. Let me know if that’s something you’d be into.
I recently self published a book which you might like, "Supplement Your Stride: The Complete Runners Supplements Book", available on Amazon, very reasonably priced. As a runner myself, I found the information out there contradictory, biased and overwhelming, so did my own research on the science and hard evidence and studies behind all the major supplements.
https://booksbyajcameron.substack.com/p/runners-supplements-book