The Tararua Mountain Race (Free Preview)
"I will never forget my second time, hamstrings cramping so badly I had to"
TMR - Tararua Mountain Race
Saturday 9th of March
The Tararua Mountain Race is back.
Plagued by road access issues for several years, it looked like the mountain gods had doomed TMR to the faded memories of mountain men and women retelling their tale of woe over a pint after a pub run.
With the Otaki Forks road slipping into the river, a permanent change to the Holdsworth to Kaitoke route was considered. That is a great route, but it’s not a mountain race!
Murmurings swirled around that the organisers were looking for some new blood to take on the massive task of organising the event.
Enter Andy Carruthers. A seasoned mountain man and a staunch Tararua explorer.
The director of the award-winning SK film has covered more territory in the Tararua than most and has experienced everything the weather can throw at you up there.
I can’t think of anyone better to bring back the glory of the Tararua Mountain Race.
If you’re not familiar with TMR, it’s got a bit of a cult following in the capital.
It’s considered to be the toughest wilderness race out of the many on offer.
I would put them in this order:
Courses
The new team have added 2 shorter options starting from Otaki Forks.
Both options are great for getting a taste of what the Tararua is all about and shouldn’t be taken lightly.
The Field Dash, in particular, is a great option if you’re just getting into mountain running.
The Kime Climb
24KM 📏 | 1300M⛰️ 3.5-7 hours… ish
If you can’t bear the thought of running up Marchant Ridge, the Kime Climb is a good option.
The Field Dash
13KM📏 | 770M⛰️ 2-5 hours… ish
(Same video as Kime Climb; keep an eye out for Field Hut. That’s the turnaround point.)
The Southern Crossing
36KM📏 | 2300M⛰️ 5-10 hours … ish
Course Records:
🏃Andrew Symonds(2006) - 4:27:20
🏃♀️Klaartje van Schie(2015) - 5:31:30
Kaitoke to Alpha Hut 16KM’ish
The race starts at the car park of glory in Kaitoke, Upper Hutt Hardcore, at the southern foot of the Tararua Range.
The first couple of KM will suck you into thinking you’re in for a nice easy climb up to the tops. Don’t fall for the trap, sh🤬ts about to get real.
The Marchant Ridge has quite the reputation. Known to be mysteriously uphill in both directions, notoriously muddy and known to slow down time.
If you haven’t run up the Marchant Ridge before, you’ll probably enjoy it … for the first hour. Then the novelty will wear off. You’ll be over the boring bush, checking your GPX to see how close to Alpha Hut you are.
Just when you think you’re stuck in a wormhole, Alpha Hut will pop up out of nowhere. Time to refuel here and if its cold put on another layer, the warm-up is done and the race is about to begin.
Alpha Hut to Kime Hut 8KM’ish
Once you leave Alpha Hut, you break out of the bush line pretty quickly and get up onto Alpha. If the correct sacrifices were made by Andy Carruthers, you should be getting your first chance to take in the view. Most likely, you’ll be swimming through clag with the northerly, trying to rip every piece of clothing from your body.
From Alpha, it’s “runnable”. If you’re used to running on slippery, boggy AF trails that are hidden by all the tussock with the occasional ankle-breaking pothole thrown in.
Once you’re around the dress circle, you hit the Beehives. A rocky scramble around the hives takes you to the final push-up to Mt. Hector. A good honest push up this rocky pinch will have you standing at the foot of the cross on the summit in no time.
Now it’s time to find out if you have anything left in your quads. A steep rocky descent will get you off Mt. Hector before another short climb up to Field Peak and down to Kime Hut.
Kime to Field Hut 4KM’ish
Top up your bottles and give your quads a pep talk, they’re about to get busy. Leaving Kime, you need to pay attention to your GPX in this section as it opens out, and the trail can be faint. Many a tramper and trail runner has gone for a wander off into the abyss on a whiteout.
Get your mind focussed, forget who's behind you, forget who’s in front of you. This is one of the best descents around. It’s steep, it’s rocky AF, but it’s f🤬cking amazeballs.
Once you’ve got down through all the rocky descents, the tops will level off and open up as you arrive at Table Top and the glorious boardwalk. Make the most of the runnable terrain and power your way into Field Hut. This is your last pit stop before glory.
Field Hut to Otaki Forks 7KM’ish
You’ll soon be back into the boring bush, but the descent down to Otaki Forks from Field Hut, unlike Marchant Ridge, is a true downhill. Get yourself ready, as you’re going to lose 700M over 6.5KM.
The trail is a lot less technical than what you’ve seen so far today. Keep focussed and pick up your feet. Gravity will do the rest. It is a long descent, so make sure you don’t blow out in the first KM.
Once you leave the bush onto the wider track, you’ll know you’ve almost made it. You should be able to smell the sausages from here (or maybe that’s just the dude in front of you?)
The track will level out onto some rolling grass fields, if you’ve got someone on your tail you need to put one last kick in to make it to the footbridge accross the river to the finish.
Job done. Go soak your beaten body in the river and trade some war stories with the other finishes.
Race Director Andy Carruthers was kind enough to answer a few questions about the Tararua Mountain Race.
What is your favourite memory/memories of the Tararua Mountain Race?
“For me swimming in the river after the finish and having a sausage is a highlight.”
“I will never forget my second time, hamstrings cramping so badly I had to hop and hobble to the finish.”
“I will never forget the day after, hobbling around the house like someone 50 years older.”
“I will never forget my mate throwing up after the event, his body didn't know what had hit him”
“I will never forget the time it rained so much that the route on the tops was a stream.”
“I will never forget the snow and sleet on the tops for many of the years.”
What is your #1 tip for having a good day at TMR (outside of making sure you train for it)
“Enjoy the wilderness, make sure you eat and drink enough in the first half of the race before you get to Alpha and if you think you need to put another layer on do it straight away.”
What sets the TMR course apart from others you've experienced around the country?
“The Southern Crossing is a wild historic tramping route, it has a great variety of terrain and there is something special about traversing the range from Kaitoke to Otaki where on a good day you can see most of the lower North Island and the top of the South.”
Marchant Ridge has quite the reputation, how would you describe it to someone who hasn't stepped foot in the Tararua Ranges?
“The Marchant is a fabulous ridge, lots of fun running. Its reputation comes mainly from heading south at the end of the famous S-K when it feels like it just never ends. The track winds through beautiful bush and has many little ups and downs. Before you know it you are off the ridge and into Hells gate.”
What does 'Success' look like for the first year of the new TMR? Do you have any minimum numbers you need to hit to continue on into 2025?
“Success for the first year looks like the community enjoying a swim in the river and a sausage at the finish after a hard day's adventure in one of our special wilderness places that we all wish we spent more time in.”
Is there anything else you would like to say to the NZ trail-running community?
“Thank you to the community who have supported the event this year and in the past. The event supports LandSAR who keep us safe in the outdoors. I hope to see you swimming in the river after some blood sweat and tears that the Tararua Mountain Race always delivers.”
If that hasn’t convinced you to add it to your 2024 matrix, have a listen to Tim Sutton and Chris ‘Martini” Martin describe their experience of the race below.
For more information, visit https://tmr.org.nz/ & follow on Instagram
Let’s go 2025!