Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news
“Probably the best Wellington based NZ Trail running Newsletter launched this year” - Someone
Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:
The Wuu2K results🏅
Things You May Have Missed📁
New Event Announcement - Faultline Ultra⚡
Sox Footwear NZ giveaway🧦
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.
The Wuu2K Results
Warning: The below content is sponsored by -
WELLINGTON ON A MF GOOD DAY LTD.
It’s true. You really can’t beat Wellington on a good day.
Gareth, the race director, got the call midweek from Metservice,
“You’re good to go. We’ve whipped up a beauty for you Saturday”
And man, they were not wrong.
I made the early morning hike up to the top of Mt.Kaukau to see the runners whizz by at the start of the race.
There was heavy fog early on for the start of the 63km race. However, it lifted for sunrise providing views of the city and the course that lay ahead for the rest of the day.
The air temperature felt more like Autumn, and there was only the slightest of breezes. FOMO was at an all-time high😝.
63KM (64,65ish?):
Women’s podium:
🥇 Ali Wilson - 6:49:10
🥈 Erin Vaughan - 7:09:43
🥉 Konoka Azumi - 7:22:19
A wise man once said - Ali Wilson races and Ali Wilson wins💪. The math checks out.
By the time she crested Mt. Kaukau, she had over a 1-minute lead. This was as close as the race would be. Up went the spinnaker⛵, and she pulled away from the field to win by 20 minutes.
Erin Vaughan took 2nd for the 2nd year in a row. Starting conservatively, she passed Konoka Azumi, taking up 2nd place before the wind turbine (30 km).
She couldn’t make inroads into Wilson’s lead, but she did put 13 minutes on Azumi over the back half of the race.
Not only that, she took 21 minutes off her time from last year😮.
Here is what Ali Wilson had to say:
“You can't beat a day on the Wellington trails, especially when the weather and trail conditions are top class, and the support on the course is second to none.”
“I ran my own race from the off, trying not to get carried away too early. My downhill legs seemed to fall apart descending to Red Rocks, but the course always allowed for a good change of terrain when you wanted it the most.”
The Tip Track out and back, my kind of fun and the first opportunity to see how much of a lead I had. I raced 'scared', just over halfway on the descent, thinking I was going to get caught and most definitely forgetting just how lumpy it was to the finish line.”
“Having missed the memo on the additional couple of kms this year, the final climb to Mount Vic certainly made for a solid day out. I couldn't have asked for better support, so thank you to everyone who was out there cheering me on.”
Men’s podium:
🥇 Tim Sutton - 5:56:55
🥈 Gerald Macpherson - 6:03:45
🥉 Chris Sanson - 6:32:46
It has been 7 years since Tim Sutton won the inaugural Wuu2k 60K.
A lot has happened in that time. Multiple Tararua SK adventures, an attempt at the Revenant. Canyoning and mountaineering. But trail racing wasn’t one of them.
Did he still have the magic🧙? Would his body hold up? Could he hold off the young bucks?
Some things don’t change.
6:41AM and the first headlamp🔦 flashes towards me. It’s none other than Tim Sutton already starting to pull ahead of the train of torches behind.
It would stay that way as he lead every step of the race. Gerald Macpherson from Straya’🦘 kept him honest, pushing him all the way, finishing 6 minutes back.
Chris Sanson rounded out the podium, holding off a fast-charging Stephen Molineux.
I’m not gonna lie - I was rooting for Tim. I’m a bit of a fanboy. When I first discovered trail running, I was in awe of his times at the Mukamuka munter & A100.
To see him come back and win on Saturday was something special.
Here are some of Tim’s thoughts reflecting on the race.
“After my mountain bike crash and subsequent neck injury earlier this year, if someone had told me I'd be racing and winning an ultramarathon, I would have laughed and told them to pull the other one (but maybe not so much laughter, there wasn't much of that for a good part of the year).”
“But yesterday it happened. 64km after the start gun, in my first race in a number of years, I crossed the finish line to take line honours, and somewhere in between, re-found a belief in myself that I'd lost in the years before and months following the crash.”
”The many messages of support, often with people sharing battles much bigger than my own, with humbleness and kindness. For anyone who has reached out in any way, you don't know how much it has helped.”
”Finally, my precious family, you've had my back from the start and have weathered the bad with the good. It's not easy dealing with a Tim who can't do the things he's taken for granted for most of his life!”
43(44,45ish?)km:
Men’s podium:
🥇 Thomas Barnes - 3:36:50
🥈 Glen Chesterman - 3:50:21
🥉 Simon Angus - 4:10:22
It was no surprise as I was nestled down just below the skyline, busting to pee, but knowing 100+ runners were about to come flying over the hill that Thomas Barnes and Glen Chesterman were the first to come hammering down🔨.
Chesterman was leading Barnes, but it mustn’t have been long before Barnes surged ahead and took control of the race.
At 30 km, he had pulled 7-8 minutes ahead. But coming down the Tip Track, he started suffering cramps. There was still a sniff for Chesterman.
Fortunately for Barnes, he got the cramp under control, so much so that he doubled his lead by the time he took the tape, along with an electrifying new course record⚡.
Simon Angus rounded out the podium. A planned conservative start-up Mt.Kaukau before working through the field and taking up 3rd at the 25 km mark.
He dug deep to hold on, with Johnny Atkins closing the gap to just 44 seconds by the finish.
Thomas Barnes was kind enough to answer a couple of questions about his day.
How does it feel to break the CR? Did your race go to plan?
“I didn't really have the CR in mind because this year’s course was longer than the prior year, meaning the CR would have been hard to get, especially with Sam's epic CR.”
“The goal was to go for a 5:00/km pace and see how I was going from there and also keep an eye on Glen ‘cause he's obviously a class runner. I let him do the pacing up Kaukau and felt very comfortable behind him and decided to give him an early push on the skyline.”
“I managed to pull away a bit and knew I was having a great day... 20km in, I looked at my watch and saw I was averaging 4:40/km.”
“I thought I had set off way too fast but also was still feeling really strong. With 10k to go started to realise I could push for the CR and gave it a last push up Mt Albert, which was brutal, and managed to bring home the win and take the CR on a longer course.”
“I felt amazing all day, and I really did give it everything out there! Just wanted to say a massive thanks to all the volunteers and supporters out there. It was one hell of a day.”
Women’s podium:
🥇 Michelle Ashley - 4:44:13
🥈 Michelle Law - 4:57:31
🥉 Joanna Johansen - 5:09:43
Michelle Ashley defended⚔️ her title and went 4 minutes quicker on a longer course. However, she didn’t have things all her own way.
She was first to the top of Mt.Kaukau, but both Michelle Law and Joanna Johansen pulled ahead on the slippery skyline descent.
3rd into the first aid station, but only a couple of minutes back. Here she began to turn the screws.
First, picking up Johansen between the two Makara aid stations. Then Law, heading up Wrights Hill.
From there, she pulled away, only giving a few seconds back on the Tip Track descent.
Back-to-back Wuu2K victories - will she be back next year for the three-peat? Or will she take on the 63 or 21 km?
Michelle was generous enough to answer a couple of questions.
How was your day out on course? From the outside looking in, it looked like you ran a smart race and put the hammer🔨 down halfway to pull away for the win- Was that the race plan?
“Wellington put on a stunner of a day for the race, so I had the views to distract me throughout.”
“I started the race on the conservative side but made sure to keep the other ladies in sight as I knew that I needed to save my legs for the last 1/4 of the race as the tip track is part of the race that destroys the legs.”
“I slowly started to build and pull away on the climb to Wrights hill. Then it was just a matter of focusing on holding it together for the last part of the race.”
21KM:
Women’s podium:
🥇 Hannah Fletcher - 2:13:40
🥈 Rebecca Elliott - 2:28:32
🥉 Johanna Milius - 2:30:11
I didn’t know who was going to do it, but I did say someone would break Michelle Law’s course record in the 21 km😎.
Hannah Fletcher had an absolute rip-snorter of a race, lowering the old record by 6 minutes and finishing 5th overall💪.
The race for 2nd and 3rd was much tighter. Rebecca Elliott and Johanna Miius were only seconds apart through the first 2 checkpoints.
It wasn’t to 5 km to go that Elliott managed to break the elastic and edge out a small lead.
Men’s podium:
🥇 David Haunschmidt - 1:42:01
🥈 Jonas Lehmann - 2:10:00
🥉 Justin Martin - 2:12:43
Another race, another CR for the flying Dr. Haunschidt👨⚕️. This time breaking his own record from the infamous “slightly damp” year.
It was anticipated that Jonas Lehman might push Haunschmidt into 3rd gear⚙️.
Lehman never had a look in, with Haunschmidt stamping his authority on the race by putting over 2 minutes on Lehman in the first 3.5K along the coast.
Unfortunately, Lehman made a wrong turn and headed up the Tip Track from Spooky Gully👻 rather than down.
Looking at the splits, it wouldn’t have changed the results with Haunschmidt running every section quicker than Lehman.
Justin Martin had a strong finish running through the field, picking up 5 places in the final 9KM to finish 3rd.
Here is what David Haunschmidt had to say:”I’m sick of winning these races so easily, I’m flying to Europe next month for some real competition”
“I was invited back by the WUU team to beat my own course record of 1hr47m from the 2021 “weather bomb” event. It was nice motivation to be competing against myself from 2 years ago.”
“Happy to have taken 5 mins off my record in MUCH better conditions. Reckon, I could definitely shave a few more minutes off. I'd had far from the best race lead-up as we have been incredibly busy and short-staffed at work, meaning I have been working most days, often skipping meals and feeling pretty wrecked.”
“Finished up with an on-call overnight Thu night-Fri morning. Felt like I didn't have the normal spring in my step to tackle the many hills. So considering that I was pretty chuffed with my performance. Might have to come back for another go though 😅.”
Things You May Have Missed
The Deputy Mayor of Queenstown, Jub Bryant placed 4th at the Galiyat Mountain Trail race in the Himalayan foothills in Pakistan.
Upcoming Events - NEW EVENT ANNOUNCEMENT
Xterra Wellington has been dropping hints for weeks that a new trail festival with a 100-mile race was on the cards. This week they finally spilled the beans out of the cat🙀.
There will be a 100-mile, 100K, 50K, 24K, 10k & 5k - quite the smorgasbord.
Wellington NZ is on board with funding which is great news as starting an event like this requires a lot of cold hard caaash🤑.
Let me just say …
F🤬CK YEAH
The North Island has been starved of options when it comes to the 100-mile distance.
Yes, there is Tarawera, but it’s been around a while now, and variety is the spice of life.
The South is blessed with 4 milers, but they are all looped courses (Northburn, not so much).
This is a point-to-point that will get all Strava map geeks hot under the running vest.
The 100-mile in a nutshell:
⛱️You start on the Kapiti Coast just south of Paraparaumu
🌲💀Run over to Upper Hutt HARDCORE via Akatarawa forest
🌲Escape Upper Hutt as fast as possible to Belmont Regional Park
🍆Head over to Porirua and sprint through Cannons Creek to Rangituhi, aka Colonial Knob.
🐄Head into Wellington via Mt Kaukau and the skyline trails.
🍞At this point, it doesn’t really matter, as you’re gonna be toast
🍺Finish on the waterfront dodging all the drunks or small children on scooters, depending on how fast you run.
The 100KM & 50KM use the same course, just starting further along.
Taking a closer look at the website, it’s clear that there is still work to do in finalizing the exact course, as some parts mentioned are closed.
However, nothing should be terminal as there are multiple options for the majority of the course.
After last year’s Fyre Festival The Wild debacle, it’s understandable you may want to wait and see what happens.
The late entries will come in cheaper than the early bird Tarawera prices, so you can afford to sit on your hands.
Check out all the details here.
Sox Footwear NZ Giveaway
This week we have our second winner in the paid subscriber giveaway🎉.
🥳🥳🥳Phil Secker🥳🥳🥳
Email through your address, and I’ll get your choice of fancy schmancy Sox your way.
Each month there will be a paid subscriber giveaway. As the kitty grows, so do the giveaways.
Like what you see? Use TRAILNZ25 to receive 25% off and free shipping if you go bananas🍌🍌🍌 and drop over $100.
#Mountain Skag Pics Of The Week
This week's #Mountain Skag pic is from Elspeth Knewstubb from a recent loop of Mt.Reeves, Tararua, the geographical center of NZ.
Tag @trailrunning.nz and use #mountainskag on Instagram or email trailrunningnz@gmail.com to enter.
Every entry goes into the monthly draw to win a Mountain Skag T-Shirt or hat.
We will be back next week with more trail-running news, yarns, and glory.
It takes hours to write this newsletter but only 8 seconds to forward it to a friend.
PS - Steve Tripp won the vote for #Mountainskag of June. Does this get me qualification into Crush The Cargill🤔?