๐๐โโ๏ธThe Wild(ish),Crush The Cargill & The Valley Ultra
"Are you local, have you run these trails before... your pace is a little hot?!"
Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news
Weโre here for you like the giant tin of Nescafe in the staff room. A little bit sh๐ฉt, but gives you what you need to get the week started.
Here's whatโs in the drop bag this week:
๐๐โโ๏ธThe Wild Results
๐๐โโ๏ธ Crush The Cargill Results
๐๐โโ๏ธThe Valley Ultra Results
๐ฏThings You May Have Missed
๐ฅณFunky Pants Winners Announced
โฐ๏ธ๐Mountain Skag Pic of December & the Week
Note: Due to the length, some email browsers will hide some of the content - make sure you click โview entire emailโ or click through to substack.
THE WILD RESULTS
Wednesday-Sunday, December 6th-10th
Mal Law & Co. pulled it off! They wonโt have to flee the country. The Wild finally EXISTS!
Iโm sure Mal Law had the most EPIC nightโs sleep on Sunday for the first time in years.
Sure, he didnโt get the weather he wanted, but it was far from a disaster.
There is a stack of EPIC results, so letโs kick into it.
Beast of Beetham 9KM๐ | 550Mโฐ๏ธ
The Beast of Beetham time trial kicked things off on Friday afternoon, with the Beast of Brow running on Saturday morning.
๐โโ๏ธ Women's Podium
๐ฅKate Morrison - 55:01
๐ฅCaitlin Knox - 1:07:58
๐ฅZoe Van Mil - 1:14:22
Kate Morrison showed why she wore the black singlet in Austria earlier this year, trashing this EPIC short course and her quads, coming 12 minutes ahead of Caitlin Knox in 2nd.
๐ Men's Podium
๐ฅJack Mckay - 50:18
๐ฅMatthew Gummer - 51:45
๐ฅSam Hoskins - 51:53
It was tighter on the menโs side, with Jack McKay coming EPICLY close to going sub-50 minutes. Matthew Gummer, whoโs no stranger to the podium, beat Sam Hoskin by 8 seconds to snaffle the silver
Beast of Brow 11KM๐ | 1050Mโฐ๏ธ
๐ Men's Podium
๐ฅFinn Lydon - 1:21:50
๐ฅTom Schenk - 1:27:54
๐ฅLaurie Harding - 1:33:52
Finn Lydon left it all out on course to become the first EPIC slayer of the Beast of Brow.
He dominated the climb, taking a 6-minute lead into the descent, where he rolled his way to victory.

๐โโ๏ธ Women's Podium
๐ฅKate Morrison - 1:36:05
๐ฅEllen Crombie - 1:46:19
๐ฅSonia Mariano - 2:10:58
Kate Morrison made it 2/2, successfully becoming the double beast slayer from the east.
Here is what Kate had to say about her weekend:
โI went into the weekend with some serious fatigue from a 5-day tramp, so I was a little worried about my quads lasting the weekend.โ
โThe Beetham was a real grunty race with a super painful gradual incline start followed by a short steep section. After the down, I hit the flatter trails on the way home, and my legs were just gone, but I ground it out and tried to chug as much protein as possible to prepare for the next day.โ
โThe Brow was definitely the highlight for me, though I started the day with very sore legs and honestly didn't think they'd pull through. I started out conservatively on this one and followed Ellen until we hit the VK section, and then I hit a second wind.โ
โI'm a fiend for a VK. I spent the rest of the race trying to hang onto Sam and was stoked with how it went! Such good mountain courses and such an awesome event - kudos to all volunteers, marshalls and organizers.โ
Kate Morrison
โV5000โ 75KM๐ | 3900Mโฐ๏ธ
Unfortunately, the Fusion Events weather plan was never deleted when the new crew took over The Wild.
The call was made Friday that the V5000 would be run on the โBโ course due to gale-force wind warnings for Saturday. It was a disappointing way to start, but at least there was still a viable โBโ course option.
The new course took out the major climb of Vanguard Peak, with a much larger portion of the race being on 4WD tracks.
๐โโ๏ธ Women's Podium
๐ฅAlison Wilson - 8:59:19
๐ฅEszter Horanyi - 10:05:33
๐ฅHannah Wall - 10:17:17
Iโve said it before, and Iโll repeat it.
Ali Wilson races and Ali Wilson wins.
She even made a decent attempt at sandbagging the week of the event. As soon as I saw this post, I knew she was a lock to take out the V5000, maybe even overall.
Ali only knows one way: racing hard from the front. Through the first 12km, she built a 14-minute lead and was running in 3rd overall.
She dragged away from those behind her, eventually chasing down a cramping Benje Patterson to move into 2nd overall.
An EPIC result for an EPIC athlete๐ช.
Here is what Ali had to say:
โA fellow runner said to me around 2kms in as we started climbingโ
โAre you local, have you run these trails before... your pace is a little hot?!...โ
โNot local. Not run them before. Potentially a little hot, but it seemed to do the trick (crossing the line before said fellow runner).โ
โMore runnable than I had thought it would be across the ridge line, no real reason to let the pace go apart from the ups.โ
โDisappointed not to get the chance to race the full course, but it was the right decision to be made.โ
Whoever asked Ali if she was running too fast at the start might have just got yourself a new job. It looks like you fired her up for an EPIC race๐คฃ.
๐ Men's Podium
๐ฅCullen Rhind - 8:24:00
๐ฅBenje Patterson - 9:08:09
๐ฅMatthew Gummer - 9:32:44
Cullen Rhind added the inaugural V5000 trophy to an already packed 2023 mantle pieceโ2nd at Taupo 100 in October and taking the win at Hunua Hillbilly just last month.
However, he didnโt have it all his way. Benje Patterson was setting the early pace as the 2 ran together for the first 40km. Patterson ran into a few issues, and Rhind pulled away to take the victory by over 45 minutes.
Matthew Gummer backed up his silver in the Beast of Beetham on Friday with a bronze on Saturday. It was a great effort to back up. I wonder if he regretted that decision 60km in...๐ค

Hereโs what Cullen had to say about his day:
โThe race was amazing, the most beautiful course, truly breathtaking!โ
โ The first 40km, I was running with Benje Patterson, and we had a good pace going.โ
โUnfortunately for Benji, he had some cramp issues, and I managed to pull away. I was doing my best to push the pace, but the legs were definitely feeling it!โ
โThe last climb off Macetown Road almost killed me. I managed to make it home! Absolutely stoked with the result ๐โ
Cullen Rhind
The rest of the races went ahead without course changes.
Some EPIC racing went down, with some familiar faces ending up on the podium.
V3000 64KM๐ | 3000Mโฐ๏ธ
๐ Men's Podium
๐ฅVajin Armstrong - 7:05:53
๐ฅDai Lawson - 7:29:50
๐ฅJaco Du Plessis - 7:32:10

๐โโ๏ธ Women's Podium
๐ฅLouise Murray - 8:18:03
๐ฅDelphine Touzouli - 8:25:22
๐ฅAlexandra Knights - 8:58:39
V1600 30KM๐ | 1600Mโฐ๏ธ
๐โโ๏ธ Women's Podium
๐ฅNancy Jiang - 3:24:05
๐ฅHannah Fletcher - 3:28:56
๐ฅSabrina Grogan - 3:34:14

๐ Men's Podium
๐ฅPaulius Auryla - 3:02:12
๐ฅBrendan Clark - 3:13:00
๐ฅChris Dunell - 3:15:01
Check out the full results here.
CRUSH THE CARGILL
Saturday, December 8-10
100 Mile Race
Friday, 10 pm. A bunch of crazed runners began their quest to win the inaugural edition of the Crush the Cargill 100-mile race, the toughest race in the Southern Hemisphere.
Unfortunately, due to a slight chance of rain, and wanting to avoid the same fate as The Blue Lake Challenge, the D course was activated.
Turns out the D course just goes up and down Mt. Cargill as well๐คฃ.
๐ฅChris Bisley - 27 hours 32 min
๐ฅNick Tweed - 29 hours 13 min
๐ฅAdam Keen - 35 hours 30 min

Steve Tripp (RD) had this to say:
โThere were 8 real contenders, not counting the 2 DNSs and the โone and doneโs.โ
โThe 5 other serious contenders looked really good until they really werenโt.โ
โApparently, starting a 100-mile race at 10 pm is quite tough โ who knew?โ
24 Hour Challenge
There were 145 weird and wonderful starters in this yearโs Crush The Cargil, but it was Petrus Hedman who took out the Crush The Cargill 24-hour challenge with 14 laps.


Other Notable Results:
๐โโ๏ธSally Nicoll - 7 (plus another 3 in the 100-mile race before DNFing and starting the 24-Hour Challenge)
๐โโ๏ธSaskia - 7
๐Joshua Smith - 12
๐Christoph - 12
๐Jamie Ward - 12
In typical CTC style, there were shenanigans aplenty.


For years, โCrash The Cargillโ has been trying to get a fridge to the summit. Well, this year, they got it done.
An amazing effort to get up all the stairs.


Oh, and there was also a Courtney Dauwalter sighting.

OTHER EPIC THINGS OF NOTE, ACCORDING TO RD STEVE TRIPP
Someone slept in a hammock in the rain
Pascal and his son misunderstood the direction of climate change and turned up in full snowboard/ski gear. 8.5km up and down a rocky, muddy, gravelly walking track is quite difficult in ski boots.
Ella, who was spending her birthday running up and down a
mountainhill, baked herself a cake and brought it along to shareA dinosaur ate Chris Bisleyโs head โ possibly wondering if it would double the effectiveness of Curranz
Chris whipped Steveโs arse at Scrabble
At least $3000 was raised for The Valley Project to support environmental initiatives in North Dunedin


VALLEY ULTRA RESULTS
Saturday, December 9
The Whole Hog: ๐54km ๐2500m
๐ Men's Podium
๐ฅDayle Mclauchlan - 5:34:50
๐ฅGreg Bassam - 5:46:03
๐ฅNick On - 6:06:05
It was the Dayle Mclauchlan show at the Valley Ultra, outlasting Greg Bassam in a trott around the valley.
By the 22km checkpoint, it was a 2 pig๐ท race, with Mclauchlan leading Bassam by 30 seconds. Allan Broomhall was a further 8 minutes back, with Nick On chasing hard.
Mclauchlan kept his trotter on the pedal, pulling away from Bassam, who couldnโt keep up, taking the victory by 11 minutes over Bassam.
Nick On had a late charge to move past Broomhall with 2km to go to take the bronze.
๐โโ๏ธ Women's Podium
๐ฅRebekkah Middleton - 7:13:04
๐ฅGeorgia Whiting - 7:31:54
๐ฅSteph Nevins - 7:39:04
Rebekkah Middleton led this race from start to finish. At the 18km mark, she had ground out a 5-minute lead over Georgia Whiting, with Steph Nevins a further 10 minutes back.
Her lead continued to bloat. With 20kms to go, she had it all โsownโ up, leading Georgia Whiting by over 12 minutes. The final margin was 18 minutes, enough time to kick back, relax, and wallow in the mud.
Nevins made things interesting, pulling within 3 minutes of Whiting with 14 km to go. Whiting rallied, finishing the final segment with a sizzle, taking home a well-deserved 2nd place and stretching the gap back to 7 minutes.
The Piglet: ๐24km ๐1000m
๐ Men's Podium
๐ฅLaurence Pithie - 2:12:33
๐ฅJames Millar - 2:15:01
๐ฅSam King - 2:18:08
Laurance Pithie trailed 3 minutes to James Millar at the 14km mark. However, he pulled himself together to be the first swine across the line.
Pithie roasted Millar in the final 10km, but he had enough chops to hold off Sam King for 2nd place.
๐โโ๏ธ Women's Podium
๐ฅHannah Lund - 2:24:56
๐ฅRuby Knight - 2:27:50
๐ฅKatie Smith - 2:33:40
In a mirror image of the menโs race, Ruby Knight was the first piglet through 14km, leading by 3 minutes over Hannah Lund and Katie Smith.
However, Knight couldnโt bring home the bacon. Lund finished strong in the final 10km to finish just under 3 minutes ahead of Knight, with Smith finishing 6 minutes back.
Check out the full results here, including the 10km Teacup results.
Things You May Have Missed
Feet issues and a potentially broken tailbone meant Shannon-Leigh Litt didnโt get the race she was after at UTMB Thailand (175km). However, she gritted it out to the endโone tough cookie.
Funky Pants Paid Subscriber Giveaway


Decemberโs Paid Subscriber Giveaway winners have been drawn.
Congratulations to:
๐ฅณStuart Munro
๐Arran Whiteford
Please reply or DM me on Instagram to confirm your details.
Upcoming Events
Christmas Road Trip With The Family
Sunday, December 24
Next week will be the final newsletter for the year.
Thank you for all your support this year๐ค.
What started in January as an idea on a rainy Sunday afternoon has exploded into the 8th biggest Trail running newsletter in New Zealand.
If you get up to any cool adventures over the break, make sure you email it through.
Iโm hoping for some amazing โoops. I got drunk dressed up as Santa, 'Worst Run Everโsโ, to start flooding into the inbox.
Trail Running NZ will be back running the singletrack into your inbox on the 8th of January 2024
#Mountain Skag of November
Congratulations Bogdan State.
Your entry was voted most skagilicous in last weekโs vote.
Youโve won yourself your choice of a Mountain Skag Tshirt, Beanie or Cap
#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week
This weekโs #mountainskag entry is from Peter Robinson.
Duck Creek looking back into the Greenstone Valley.
Tag @trailrunning.nz (NOTE THE โ.โ) and use #mountainskag, DM on Instagram, or email trailrunningnz@gmail.com to enter.
Every entry has a chance to win the monthly giveaway of a Mountain Skag T-shirt or hat.
Next week, we will look at some of the big missions that have gone down in the last couple of weeks and recap the year that was.
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P.S: Did the Wild live up to your expectations?