🏃🏃♀️Trail Running NZ 2023, The Year That Was
"Yeah nah, it was a run of 2 halves. Started steady and gave it the jandel at the end. Trail running was the winner on the day"
Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news
We’re here for you like that friend who sends you a photo of your Strava mileage graph and asks you WTF you’ve been up to.
Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:
🧐2023 Round Up
🤢2023’s “BEST” Worst Run Ever
🎯Things You May Have Missed
⛰️💊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.
2023 has been a massive year for trail running in NZ
January saw the launch of this newsletter, which has grown to the 8th biggest trail-running newsletter in NZ😂.
At first, I was a bit worried that there wouldn’t be enough content to do this weekly and that I might need to change it to monthly.
Well, it was a struggle to fit it all in each week!
It’s been the first full year of events since C🤬🤬🤬D, and man, there are a sh💩t tonne more races than I remembered.
2023 saw the rise of the Backyard Ultra in NZ.
Pigs Backyard🐷 kicked things off in February when Shannon Rhodes took home the bacon and announced himself to the backyard scene.
The OG, Riverhead Relaps, was next. With Lazurus Lake in attendance, this event was destined to be special. Sam Harvey was back at it, taking down Caleb Pearson for the win.
Then there was Dead Cow Gully Aussie Masters… where we got a feel for how f🤬cking insane Sam Harvey is.
Sure, he had dominated the NZ scene, but I don’t think anyone but Sam knew what he had inside.
We all sat glued to our screens for most of the work week as we watched Sam propel Phil Gore to the world record, fighting a chest infection, among other things.
We also saw the backyard spread to the regions. Timaru held Scenic Circles, and Waipukasomewhere had River Run. Just last month, Arrowtown hosted a sold-out backyard event.
There was even an event held at Brighton Beach, Dunedin, where the funds raised from entries went towards a camping trip to Stewart Island for years 7 and 8 students at the local school.
Katie Morgan is still on the rise.
Speaking of Dunedin, Katie Morgan took home the 3 Peaks+1 national championship title after a gutsy 2nd🥈 place at OGU after popping a calf muscle💪.
She also won at Mt.Oxford and Mission Mt. Somers, as well as a strong showing in Austria at the World Champs.
Chuck in a Kepler title defence in a deep field, and it’s been a great year for Katie Morgan😎.
David Haunschmidt collected titles for fun.
He started slow with a 3rd🥉at The Goat🐐 before winning 13 titles and a 2nd🥈 at OGU behind Sam McCutcheon. However, in a rivalry that goes across 3 Keplers and the Mukamuka Munter, he still hasn’t managed to beat Danny Jones.
Will 2024 be the year The Flying Doctor👨⚕️ knocks him over?
Is he going to jump into the Tarawera 100K and go head-to-head?
I would love to see that.
Speaking of Danny Jones … what a year he’s had.
Taking down Hayden Hawks in a blistering Tarawera🔥.
He grabbed his golden ticket and his opportunity to show the world what WHAKATANE HARDCORE can do.
2nd place behind Weston Hill at the National Champs was a blip on the way to placing 5th in front of a fast-finishing Courtney Dauwalter at his debut Western States.
He wasn’t back in NZ for 2 minutes before he announced he was going for glory at UTMB.
It seemed the who’s who of NZ trail running was in France for UTMB.
Danny Jones, Scotty Hawker, Ruth Croft, Katie Wright, Brooke Thomas, Nancy Jiang, and Caitlyn Fielder, to name a few.
Unfortunately, COVID robbed us of seeing Nancy Jiang and Ruth Croft make the start line. But we still got to watch some brave performances over the week.
Highlights from UTMB
Caitlin Fielder finished 4th in the OCC
Brooke Thomas bravely ran the CCC with a broken arm.
Scotty Hawker and Danny Jones moving their way through the UTMB field to finish 12th & 15th.
We can’t forget about the South Island Ultra debacle…
which saw the race make international headlines after offering a 💰10K prize for the first person to break 8 hours in the 100km race.
Andy DuBois became a household name, Camille Herron weighed in on the matter, and at the end of the day, Danny Jones took the 💰10K and had his spending money for Vegas sorted.
Konoka Azumi came painfully close in 8:13:43 (after all the kafuffle, the organisers put up a 2nd 💰10K for the women's field).
The Wild Is Born
Speaking of controversy, after a 4-year pregnancy, The Wild was finally born on a wet and windy day on the side of the road.
A weather-effected but successful first year, with a bit of luck, it should grow up to be the 100-mile mountain event that Malcolm Law first dreamed up.
Let’s rock it 3rd form English style.
In Conclusion …
It’s awesome to see Kiwis smashing it overseas, but it’s all our local races that bring us all together as a trail-running community.
Like the Wuu2K in Wellington, which saw Tim Sutton make a triumphant return to racing this year after a scary mountain bike accident.
Northburn, with its legendary race briefing and infamously tough terrain.
The Great Naseby Water Race, where you can run from 50km up to
200 miles500 km🤯.The Mega Munter, which has no portaloos, a hiked-in water station 38km in, and the only guarantee is there will be tonnes of mud and a sausage at the finish.
These are the types of races that make up our collective trail-running community.
These races provide the war stories, where we meet our new trail BFFs, and where we find our limits.
Make sure you get out there and support them, whether it’s volunteering, racing or just telling ya mates about the race.
So, what should we expect to see in 2024?
🏆Danny Jones wins the Western States after Jim Walmsley crashes and burns chasing his course record.
👑Ruth Croft avoids the lurgie and adds the UTMB title to her CV, running the fastest none Courtney Dauwalter time in history.
🍺Crush the Cargill crash the Blue Lake Challenge, taking over the spa and setting a new world record for most men crammed in a spa drinking for 72 hours.
💩More miscredited photos, made-up fake cash prizes, misspelled names, and just general sh🤬thouse-ness on my behalf.
This week’s newsletter is brought to you by…
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NZ Last Person Standing 2020 (234.5km)
Coach to NZ record holders and Guinness world records👊
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The “Best” Worst Run Ever for 2023
We’ve had some rip snorters this year, but I got more emails from this one story than anything else this year.
If you missed it the first time, get comfy and give this bad boy a read.
It’s autumn, Sunday, also known to some as long run day. I’m running along a path In Wainuiomata on the way to some hills and a golden sparkle catches my eye. I’m in no rush so I let the sparkle take my attention and it’s lucky I do.
It turns out to be a gang of gold top mushrooms🍄 and it looks like they could turn blue at a moments notice.
I decide, after a couple of seconds of deep thought, to store some in my stomach for safe-keeping. They will surely be picked by another keen mycologist before I can return so it’s the safest option.
“Good decision, Sam. Sound reasoning, backed up with solid evidence in the form of a likely scenario”
Future Sam wasn’t as impressed and he thought maybe a few more seconds of deliberation wouldn’t have hurt. In a review of that day, it would be found that this decision, to eat the mushrooms, likely turned out to be one of the biggest influencers on how the day unfolded.
We’re probably 25 minutes in after ingestion and 23 minutes into digestion - things are going good. Indifference has morphed into interest as scratchy branches and rough terrain is replaced by softly glowing nature, and I’m covering the ground smoothly.
I keep flowing along with all sorts of questions making their way to the forefront of my mind.
“Why aren’t roads made of tyres? That way everyone could just drive on the hubs of their car wheels. Does wind really need to exist? Would moths fly to the moon if we didn’t leave our lights on all night?”
I’m already a big fan of running but the run is going great, no doubt about that. However, the early reaction to the mushrooms is a little worrying as this often indicates high potency🤯. As it turns out, these mushrooms are strong and not long after reaching the peak, I’m ready to start heading back to my car.
“Wrap it up.” I signal, rotating my hand in a circular motion👆 which means it’s time to start closing up shop. Not long after deciding to call a close to the run, my first issue of the day arises - my vision isn’t keeping up with my pace so I change down a gear. Easy-fix, issue resolved.
My next issue is a little more difficult to figure out. I don’t know where I am. It’s all very familiar and I’m on a track so I’m not overly worried. I had been following my nose up til then but decide keeping to the track is the best option from now on. My nose is ready to explore new ground, off track.
“Not today, Nose👃, it’s time to go home”
The track leads me to a carpark which has no car that is owned by me contained in it. Here, I’m able to recover my bearings but the memory of where I parked my car must’ve been orbiting on the dark side of my brain and is still unrecoverable.
There are plenty of other cars here though and my current mind-set is leaning towards a communist’s approach to life.
“All of these cars are mine and my car is free for someone else to use as well”.
It’s a good thought but I have no idea how to follow through with grand theft auto so I leave it with the other cars in the carpark. My key won’t work on other cars, that much I do know. For this communist car system to work in the future, universal keys will be needed. Off to the next carpark.
After what feels like 200km of travel (probably less), three carparks, and a vast but unknown amount of time, I’m still without my car. I’m also still fronting the costs of an expensive mushroom bill. It’s time to give up on the car.
Dishevelled and forsaken😩, I start the trek home which my drug-addled brain has calculated as being 10. Unit of measurement is not specified. Whatever the distance, it’s a long way for a man coming down from a flight✈️ whose pilot was a mushroom🍄.
The trip home is an arduous one due to the above and the busy road producing, louder than usual, car noise. As I approach my gate, I see my grey car sitting in the driveway.
“Oh yeah, great.”
I give it a little pat as I walk past and head straight for my bedroom. On the way there, a memory of me leaving for my run from home plays in my brain. It would’ve been a very helpful memory at a particular time of that day but unhelpful at that moment.
Now was time for a nap😴, I’d deal with a thorough analysis of the day’s events in the morning.
-Sam The Man
Things You May Have Missed
Rob Soper, AKA '“The Rock n Roll Runner”, has started his TA campaign. You can track his progress here, give to his campaign and follow him on Instagram.
Scouse Racing☕ has dropped their latest vid. SK Valleys yeeeeeow!
Gareth Morris, AKA Westie Runner, is back with his Tarawera tips series.
Tonight (Monday), DCR is holding its live annual awards show. I’m picking Jub Bryant to win the hotly contested ‘Best Beard in trail running.'
#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week
This week’s #mountainskag entry is from Tamsen Walker.
A great shot from the V3000 at The Wild last weekend.
With only 3 editions in December, Tamsen, Peter, and Hami have a 33% chance to take home the goodies.
2023 Mountainskag Monthly Winners
Here is a look at all of this year’s winners.
Make sure you send in all your #mountainskag entries over the Christmas break. All entries will be competing for the first January newsletter.
Tag @trailrunning.nz (NOTE THE “.”) 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.
That’s it for the year. Check your inbox on January 8th for the first 2024 newsletter, previewing the Aoteroa Ultramarathon and Ian Priest Memorial.
It takes hours to write this newsletter but only 8 seconds to forward it to a friend.
P.S. The 2024 Momentum Calendars are now printed and will be shipped out today (Monday). I hope you love them and they help you achieve your big goals for 2024.
I’ll leave them up on the site until next year. I can’t guarantee when you’ll receive them.
P.P.S. 🤟Another big thank you to you, the readers. Without you guys sending in your stories, photos and ideas, this newsletter would be nothing.
Thank you for your kind words Dan. Hopefully catch up at a start/finish line or trail sometime soon.
Enjoy the last of your 2023!
Thanks for all your work on this newsletter this year Brad - it has been awesome to see it go from strength to strength!