The Bay Results & Vert Day Recap
"For me, the race was like running in my backyard- for 7 years"
Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news
We’re here for you, like that volunteer who passes your mandatory kit even though you’ve got your toddler's thermals😝
Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:
🏃🏃♀️The Bay Results
👆Vert Day Round-up
🎯Things You May Have Missed
📰SK News Desk
🏁Upcoming events: Kings Backyard
⛰️💊Mountain Skag 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.
The Bay Results
The third-ranked ‘The Bay’ (1. Bay of Plenty, 2. Hawkes Bay)kicked off for the first time at the Cable Bay Adventure Park early on Saturday morning.
Just under 200 runners took part across 4 distances, and by all accounts, it was a great success.
There were no splits on the results, so I can’t give you the usual hyped-up BS race story; I’ll let the results speak for themselves.
📏55KM | ⛰️3000M
Women’s podium:
🥇Nancy Jiang - 6:43:09
🥈Francesca Harris - 8:02:37
🥉Kate Annan - 8:12:18
No stranger to the podium, Nancy Jiang narrowly took the win on her local trails. A good hit out on some testing terrain before she leaves for Europe in a couple of weeks for UTMB.
Francesca Harris, Kate Annan, and Roisin McQuillan played musical chairs throughout the day, but when the music stopped, Harris and Annan found a seat on the podium.
Nancy was kind enough to give her impressions of The Bay 55KM course below:
“I would say that the Bay ultra is definitely one of the tougher ultras in NZ. 3100m of vert packed into 55km makes for very steep terrain - both the climbs and descents.”
“Big variation of running terrain too from nice single track, to ‘make your own way to the next flag over farmland’ sort of track to 4wd roads, to a trail that’s barely visible through the dense bush.”
Nancy Jiang
Men’s podium:
🥇Aditya Kesarcodi-Waston - 5:31:08
🥈Matthew Moloney - 6:25:47
🥉Sarn Hunnisett - 6:41:32
Nelson local Aditya Kesarcodi-Waston CRUSHED ‘The Bay’ 55km course. Just like in the women’s race, daylight was 2nd before a string of runners went back and forth, with Matthew Moloney being next over the line with Sarn Hunnisett rounding out the podium.
Aditya Kesarcodi-Waston tells us about his day and his impression of the course below:
“For me, the race was like running in my backyard- for 7 years, I lived 100m from CP2, so it was my regular trail running area, and I must have spent 100+ hours running there.But I haven’t run there for 4 years, so I reminisced along the way.”
“The views are incredible and something I have fond memories of. Heaps of elevation to sort your legs out, and it’s the place to make or lose time. The race involved fast runnable sections, bush-bashing, river crossings, boulder running, native bush, pine forests, farmland- a bit of everything.”
Aditya Kesarcodi-Waston
📏34KM | ⛰️2442
Men’s podium:
🥇Dean Stewart - 3:46:06
🥈Louis Schindler - 3:49:19
🥉Sanjeev Deo - 3:55:29
Dean Stewart did enough to edge out Louis Schindler, who bagged another podium spot for 2024. The racing looked much tighter across the board in the 34KM race, with Sanjeev Deo only 6 minutes back in 3rd.
Here is what Dean Stewart had to say about his day:
“The Bay 34km was an awesome event. Fantastic coastal scenery with great variation in terrain. Just worked hard on the steep climbs to get off the front then took it easy on the downs. It was a perfect race to fine tune before heading to Tamba100 ultra in Japan in a couple weeks.”
Dean Stewart
Women’s podium:
🥇Nikki Kear - 4:25:08
🥈Erica Chapman-Oliver - 4:50:51
🥉Harriett Wells - 4:52:31
Nikki Kear took a comfortable victory, kicking well clear of the field to finish 25 minutes ahead of Erica Chapman-Oliver, who had a good tussle with Harriett Wells in 3rd.
Congratulations to the team behind The Bay. I haven’t seen any reports of missing people in the Cable Bay region, so you must have pulled it off.
I’ve seen a lot of chatter on Strava and Instagram; it sounds like this is the start of something good.
Click Here for the full results, including the 24 & 10KM races.
You can follow The Bay on Facebook to check out some of the event photos
This Week’s Newsletter Is Brought To You By…
“That Green Is Gangsta”
That was my first impression of the Foster Trail Shorts.
I’ve been squeezing the last bit of juice out of my T8 shorts, but the time has come for them to retire. There’s a new big dog in the house.
What I love about their Foster 01 Trail Shorts:
📏Streeeetchy: They stretch in all the right places. My trail-plodding stride has never felt so free.
😄Pockets: That actually f🤬cking work. The phone pocket is mint. Zero bounce. 2 x zipped, and 2 x elasticated pockets also means I can fit all the snacks I need for my 10km weekend warrior suffer-fest.
😎Light and breezy: They’re super light but built like a tank. Just like the Trail Tee, they’re built to last.
I rate these higher than my T8s.
If you’re in the market for new running shorts,
CLICK HERE to check out the Foster 01 Trail Shorts.
Vert Day Wrap-Up
6 AM Saturday marked the kick-off of the 5th edition of Vert Day, AKA Christmas Day, for all the Vert addicts out there.
Forget total distance and speed per km. Vert day is all about dat sweet, sweet VMPH😎 (Vertical Meters Per Hour).
Here is a brief recap of what Vert Day is if you missed the preview last week:
Vert Day celebrates the day Sir Edmund Hillary and Tenzing Norgay “knocked the bastard off.” It is a virtual event, so you can participate anywhere in the country.
The goal is accumulating as much vertical gain as possible between Saturday at 6 AM and Sunday at 6 AM.
Entrants are encouraged to donate to the Himalayan Trust, which funds projects that improve the health and education of remote communities in Nepal.
Traditionally a Wellington & Christchurch Big Sunday Run event, it’s fantastic to see people all around the country lining up to take a hit on the vert pipe🤪.
Nelson and Queenstown joined in this year. There was even an entry in Auckland from Sarah Bauer(3607M), who spent 8 hours grinding up and down Mt. Eden.
I managed to get a pitch report from Brad Spiers from the pipe in Christchurch, who was out early to photograph the occasion.
“Conditions on the Pipe were cool and crisp, perfect once warmed up a little. In previous years the Pipe has been pre-moistened by overnight rain making for a slippery old time. Some like their Pipe more slippery than others, each to their own.”
Brad Spiers
Top Vert Results
You can take the h out of Whanganui, but you can’t take the Hardcore out of Kerry Bennet💪. With last year’s winner, Chris ‘Vert Monk’ Fahey, not running, it was Kerry Bennet (10,375M) who carried the boats.
But it was a tight contest, with Kerry just edging out last year’s 2nd place, Martin Sedy(10,070M), by just 300M.
Now, because I’m a bit sh💩t, I didn’t read the results until I had already asked Martin Sedy about how his day went, thinking he was the Top Verter.
So here is what 2nd placed Martin had to say about his day (and night) on the Dawn Wall.
“Te Whiti Firebreak was groomed again this year by the feet of runners celebrating vertical day. There was mud, slippy rocks and a vertical river in the afternoon when the clouds gave way.”
“But there were also smiles (maybe not during the rain), jokes, good chat and sunny reward after the rain followed by a beautiful sunset. Generally good vibe.”
“My day went well. A few dark places when I turned on my brain and it instantly started asking why the hell I dont go home already. I figured out brain is not necessary when running up and down a hill for 24h and it is better to just focus on each next step and that helped me to go through the night.”
Martin Sedy
Vincent Smith rounded out the podium by going OVER 9000 (IYNYN), just edging out Liz Palmer(8,905M), who takes this year’s Top Female Vert Crown.
Olivia Lawrence(7160M) was 2nd, and Queenstown local and Vert Day debutant Eva Dethlefsen(5253M) took the bronze.
So it was a clean sweep for the Wellington possie.
Top Verters outside of the Wellington region were:
6335M - Iain Gover - Christchurch
6054M - Jordan Uegene Bryant - Queenstown
4255M - Michael Morrison - Palmerston Nth
3607M - Sarah Bauer - Auckland
3328M - Holly Barclay - Nelson
Top City Total Vert
The special votes are still being counted, but once again, Wellington has come out on top.
Wellington - 139,151M
Canterbury - 84,381M
Queenstown - 15,371M
Nelson - 15,186M
It was great to see Queenstown and Nelson get involved this year. There were also small contingents from Tauranga, Hawkes Bay, Auckland, Manawatu and Dunedin.
There are so many running groups around NZ - if you think you and your running mates are up for the challenge - spread the word for next year and see if you can become world-famous on some random trail running internet newsletter.
Congratulations to everyone who participated and, most importantly, donated to the Hilary Trust.
Things You May Have Missed
Shoe Science Albany is looking for great people to share ownership of the store—email mike@shoescience.co.nz for more info.
SK News Desk
💪Brendan Varty - SK Carkeek - 21:08:36 New FKT🔥
Brendan, ‘The Masterton Kid’ Varty, took one final swing for glory before the close of the SK season.
He came up big, taking down the SK Carkeek FKT.
Brendan now holds the Carkeek and Tarn FKT’s (Knocking off Tim Sutton on both routes.)
Here is what Brendan’s had to say about his latest effort:
“What a way to round out the season! This one was all about challenging myself. With a typical cold and claggy autumn weather forecast and only 10 hours of daylight to play with I decided to go as deep as you can go in the mighty Taraua Range and attempt S-K Carkeek.”
“S-K Carkeek is the latest flavor of S-K that was brought to life by SK GOAT Tim Sutton. An absolute epic route that takes you right to the heart of the Tararua.”
“I arrived at the Carpark of Glory at 1:08 this morning 100% exhausted from a combination of this particular effort as well as the prior 6 months efforts which for me was a great way to end my 23/24 S-K season.”
And with that, The SK season has come to a close, which can only mean one thing.
SK Awards night.
Tomorrow (Tuesday the 28th), Big Sunday Run Wellington will host the SK Awards at the Southern Cross Bar in the function room.
The run starts at 6:45 PM sharp from the front of the pub, with the awards starting around … 8ish. (Get there early, just in case.)
The awards are a chance for the extraordinary endurance feats of those brave enough to take on the SK to be formally recognised (apparently, Strava Kudos isn’t enough).
All eyes will be on who wins the Patupaiarehe Award, which is given for extraordinary endeavours in the Tararua.
To learn more about the SK Traverse, click here.
April Paid Subscriber Giveaway
This month 2x Lucky Paid Subscribers will win a Huntaway Run Co Ranger 01 Trail Tee (Unisex)
How can you get your sweaty torso into one of these?
Sign up as a Paid Subscriber (if you’re not one already.)
It’s $5 a month. That’s 1/3 the price of a pint these days.
Email trailrunningnz@gmail.com a picture of your pathetic stretched, holey moley, stinks-like-sh💩t, stained, ratty AF running top you know you should have thrown out 3 years ago.
Get your name drawn out on the 1st of June.
A big THANK YOU to all the Paid Supporters who help keep this thing rolling.
Upcoming Events:
Kings Back Yard, Whangarei
Saturday, June 1 … to Monday?
Next up on the NZ Backyard Circuit is Kings Backyard. Hosted by Helen Waterworth and Chris Newson at the Barge Showgrounds, Whangarei.
If you don’t know what a Backyard Ultra is, stop reading this and escape while you can. There has been an explosion in the last 12 months, and it’s getting to pandemic levels.
Runners who fall victim to this mind virus have reported:
😵Only being able to run in loops.
💰Running up massive debt, which is spent on food & shoes to fuel the addiction.
😴Partners leaving because they only sleep for 10 minutes at a time and refuse to stop eating in bed.
Reading through the course description for Kings, it sounds like you need to prepare for a bit of everything… and I mean EVERYTHING.
Farm paddocks
Single trail
Gravel road
Tar seal roading
Some native fauna and flora along the creek side
Horse showjumping equipment will be placed for visual effect
Wait whaaat🤔? All I can see now is those crazy fake horse show-jumping peeps.
As of the 15th of May, there were 63 starters. Of the 63, 30 are doing a Backyard for the first time. It might be a small field, but it’s another chance to join the NZ Backyard team.
Several runners who have been pushed out of the team in recent backyards will be looking to get back on. The magic number is 40 loops at this stage, AKA 40 hours.
Looking at their Instagram, they’re adding a bit of Northland Flair to the event.
Registration is still open, so if you fancy an extra-long weekend running around in honour of King Big Ears, get amongst it.
For more info, click here and follow along on Instagram.
#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week
This week’s #mountainskag pic is from Katie Smith's trip up Mt. Brown on the West Coast.
Tag @trailrunning.nz (NOTE THE “.”) and use #mountainskag. DM on Instagram or email trailrunningnz@gmail.com to enter (email is the most reliable method).
Every entry has a chance to win the monthly giveaway of a Mountain Skag T-shirt or hat.
We will return next week on TUESDAY with the rundown on Kings Backyard and more.
It takes hours to write this newsletter but only 8 seconds to forward it to a friend.
PS. If you were wondering who took out Top Dawg on Vert Day … Long live Queen Maisey. Last year, she posted 2500M; this year, she PB’d with 3000M. That’s roughly 15,000M in human vert.