Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news

Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:

🏃🏃‍♀️The Great Naseby Water Race Results

🏃🏃‍♀️Lake Dunstan Trail Marathon Results

🏃🏃‍♀️Summit Forests Kaitaia Trail Run Results

🥝Kiwi UTMB Results

🎯Things You May Have Missed

🏁Upcoming events: Kinloch Offroad, Scenic Circles Backyard Ultra,

⛰️💊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.

Holey Shirt! Someone hassle The Hoff, cause there’s a ranga out at sea slowly drowning in results😝.

Not a great weekend for a family road trip, so I’ve sacrificed quality (LOL, first joke of the day) for quantity in an effort to cover as many bases as possible.

And just to save anyone emailing me to say the UTMB recap should be at the top because it’s the biggest week in trail running, hit that unsubscribe button, top right. This is Trail Running NZ.

This great nation of trail runners was built on events such as The Great Naseby Water Race. UTMB is cool and all that, but we must honour our roots😎.

The Great Naseby Water Race

It wasn’t just a buffet of distances on offer at Naseby last week. Every weather option was also available, with rain, sleet and snow all making an appearance before the sun took over and shone a light on the fasties in the shorter distances.

Let’s see who put their hand up and declared themselves a big name.

200 MILES AKA 320KM!

8am Wednesday, 16 runners hurried to the start to toe the line in NZ’s original 200 miler. Conditions were already a bit shit, and I’m sure everyone knew they were due to get a whole lot shitererer💩.

Men’s Podium

🥇Glenn Sutton - 57:05:53

🥈Simon Budd - 59:56:48

🥉Geordie Scott - 61:50:36

It was the James Quaife show until it wasn’t. I don’t know if he thought he’d signed up for the 200km race, but that’s unfortunately where his race ended.

Quaife had 3 hours and change over Glenn “Double N” Sutton before Sutton once again found himself at the front of the Naseby 200 miler. He’d seen off Rocky “Foung & Yit” Allan, who I’m going to go out on a stump and say set the record for the longest lap in Naseby history: 26:35:33 for lap 14😮.

Sutton put the demons of 2025 to bed after dropping out 270km deep last year, finishing this time in 57:05:53. That makes him the first 2-time winner of the Naseby 200 miler.

He was more than 7 hours slower than in his other 2 finishes here. That tells you everything you need to know about the conditions.

Simon Budd finished strongly, clawing back more than 3 hours to take 2nd in 59:56:48, with Geordie Scott completing the podium in 61:50:36.

The Hero of the Year Award goes to Rocky Allan, who mixed it up at the front before thinking his day was done at 140km. Then he was pressured back onto the course (hence the 26-hour lap).

He ran like a farking maniac, peeling off easily the fastest laps for the next 160km before rolling an ankle. Nothing a bit of tape can’t fix. Rocky hobbled home to finish in a heroic 73:00:37.

Women’s Podium

🥇Naomi Louisa- 63:22:49

🥈Kristina Anglem - 66:03:53

🥉Barbara Verlinden - 68:58:02

Last year’s 200km champ, Naomi Louisa, led the women’s race from the get-go and, at one stage, looked like she could give Sutton a run for his money for the overall win. She slipped to 4th overall during the final quarter but remained comfortably in command of the women’s race.

Behind her, Barbara Verlinden held 2nd early before Kristina Anglem moved ahead on lap 4. Anglem finished 2nd woman and 5th overall in 66:03:53, with Verlinden completing the women’s podium and placing 7th overall in 68:58:02.

#hereforthewomensrace fact of the day: The women’s race had a 100% finish rate. 3 from 3.

I managed to get hold of Naomi to hear about her foray into the land of 200 milers:

Keeping tabs from my warm North Island office, it looked like the 200 milers copped the worst of the conditions - what was it like out there for you, and did it change your approach to the race?

“The conditions were definitely pretty wild😂. I think we got a bit of everything out there, rain, snow, wind, cold, mud… it definitely made things more challenging but how often do you get the chance to say you ran in the snow!”

“I remember someone shouting at me, “You don’t get this in the Waitaks!!”😂. It made the race feel like a proper adventure and definitely added to the experience.”

“I tried not to let the conditions change my approach too much though. The main thing was just staying patient, looking after myself and getting through each loop.”

“At that distance, you know there are going to be good and bad patches, so I just tried to keep moving forward and not overthink what was happening around me.”

You took the 200k win and CR last year- after 20 laps this year, with 16 to go, how were your body and mind heading into uncharted territory?

“After 20 laps, I think the biggest thing was realising that I genuinely had no idea what was coming next😂.”

“Last year I had done 200k before, so I had something familiar to hold onto. This time, everything beyond that was completely new, or as someone said to me, “every lap is a PB lap”. So I stopped thinking about the finish and just focused on the next loop. Eat, drink, move, repeat.”

“There were some very low moments, but I think those are the moments where you learn the most about yourself. You don’t grow when everything feels easy. You grow when you’re tired, uncomfortable and unsure, but choose to keep going anyway.”

“At that point it became less about how far I could run and more about how long I could stay patient and keep putting one foot in front of the other. You don’t necessarily need to believe you can finish 200 miles at every moment, you just need to believe you can do the next loop.”

Thanks for that, Naomi. Congratulations on the 200 miler buckle … add that to the 200km win last year, and you’re halfway to the 1000km buckle club!

And because anyone who lines up for 200 miles deserves a ‘Kudos’, here are the full results.

💪Elliot Cole - 67:49:27
💪Andrew Aitken - 71:41:51
💪Rocky Allan - 73:00:37
💪Andrew McCrory - 78:31:50
💪Andy Smith - DNF
💪James Quaife - DNF
💪Deen Abu Bakar - DNF
💪Stefan Rapley - DNF
💪Dougie Kyle - DNF
💪John Mergler - DNF

200KM

Women’s Podium

🥇Jean Beaumont- 27:45:06

🥈Shannon-Leigh Litt - 30:03:29

🥉Kerrie Hanley - 33:36:11

Men’s Podium

🥇Matt Cutter- 31:26:08

🥈Steve Anderson - 32:34:38

Jean “Little Old Lady” Beaumont once again found herself on top of a podium, outduelling fellow legend Shannon-Leigh Litt, who was 1 of 3 Nasebiers to receive their 1,000km buckle (along with Kieran Philip and Karen Aulelio).

Kerrie Hanley returned for vengeance after being cut off on the final lap last year, 34 hours deep. This time, she got it done.

So, so good! Not all victories happen at the pointy end.

Matt Cutter paced his race to perfection. He ran the first 20k in 4th before ever so slowly moving through the ranks, spending 9 laps in 3rd and just the tahi in 2nd. Then he took the lead and ran away from Steve Anderson, the only other men’s finisher, for the win.

100Miles

Men’s Podium

🥇Theo Atkinson - 16:13:13

🥈Paul Simpson - 19:48:08

🥉David Grimes- 21:18:25

He’s Crushed The Cargill and brought home the bacon at Pigs BYU. Now he’s only gone and put his name alongside the Southern legends who have won the GNWR 100 miler💪.

Theo “Super Worm” Atkinson set the early tempo, almost 7 minutes clear of Paul Simpson after lap 1, with women’s favourite Samira Sultan-Rouse the closest chaser, just 2 minutes back. By halfway, Super Worm’s lead had stretched to 1h16m, with David Grimes entering the podium chat for the first time, another 5 minutes back.

Having lapped the field, Atkinson found himself in the bizarre situation of being pushed along by his good friend Rocky Allan from the 200-mile race. Rocky had risen from the dead and, despite already having 140km and 26 hours of downtime in his legs, was now running faster than anyone else on course.

Unfortunately, Theo suffered the same fate as Allan, finding an untrustworthy rock that almost ended his day. A bit of strapping and a “she’ll be right” later, Atkinson snuck just under the previous young buck’s record.

Here’s Super Worm on his performance over the weekend:

You ran 16:13:13 for 100 miles, almost sneaking under the great John Bayne’s PB - How does it feel to have a performance like that?

“I was chatting to John Bayne a few weeks back who mentioned that if he was going to be on the Naseby miler start line he would want to be done by midnight to get a good nights sleep. I thought that sounded mental but also a pretty good idea so sub 16 hours became the goal.”

“With less than 20ks left it was going to be tight but sub 16 was still in sight, until a rock came out of nowhere and tried to turn my foot upside down. Stoked to still have managed to hobble in with an age group CR and a big confidence boost of where the fitness is at heading into the satellite champs in October. Hopefully the foot will be facing the right way up by then.”

“A huge thank you to the Naseby organisers and volunteers. The community spirit and grassroots vibes really brings out the best of this sport.”

Those rocks have a lot to answer for! Well done Theo - All the best getting the foot turned up the right way for the Satellite World Champs in October.

Women’s Podium

🥇Dana Young - 25:37:35

🥈Mia Roadley -26:03:19

🥉Anika Hunt - 29:14:54

Samira Sultan-Rouse tore through the opening 60km in just under 6 hours before her race came to an early end. Last years 100km Silver getterer, Kate Poulsen then took over, leading through 100km before she also bowed out.

That left Mia Roadley out front, before Dana Young chased her down and finally grabbed the lead with a lap to go. Young won in 25:37:35, with the final gap over Roadley coming in at 25m44s.

Anika stayed in the podium Hunt, moving into 3rd on lap 11 and holding it through to the finish in 29:14:54.

100km

Women’s Podium

🥇Maggi Forsyth - 9:54:14

🥈Reagan Boniface - 12:52:34

🥉Gina Lowden - 14:32:33

Maggi “Noodles” Johnson Forsyth threw off my intel machine last week by entering under her maiden name. She may have forgotten her last name, but she still remembers how to run a smoking-hot time at Naseby🔥.

After defending her 100-mile title and setting the course record last year, Forsyth gave up the chance at a 3-peat to chase the 100km title instead.

She may not have broken Morgan Lowe’s record, but she still went sub-10 and finished 2nd overall, well clear of fellow Coaster and my pick from last week, Reagan Boniface. Boniface finished 2nd woman in her first-ever 100km race after running in that position all day.

Gina Lowden moved into 3rd halfway through before losing the position to Lea Melrose on the 2nd-to-last lap. Lowden retook it on the final lap, turning a 5-minute deficit into a 10-minute gap by the time it was all said and done.

Men’s Podium

🥇Hayden Warren - 9:11:05

🥈Jesse Rhodes - 10:22:00

🥉Oliver Henry - 10:43:11

Ran out of time. TLDR: Hayden Warren returned from last year’s disappointing Mega Bonk to right the wrong.

It’s not often you get to live out the full movie hero arc in your own life, but Hayden just did.

Here’s Hayden on what this win meant to him:

It sounds like you’ve had this race circled, underlined and highlighted since last year - how does it feel to come back after last year and take the victory?

“For me this year was about proving to myself that I could run and execute a 100km race in the way that I thought I could. After going out hard and not performing last year I wanted to return to this course and re write that race, although looking back on last year I can see that I probably didnt have the experience or edurance for it.”

“My goal for this year was to go under 10 hours and to do it in a way where I felt controlled and never reaching too far outside of my limits, I was having a really great race but I wasnt 100% confident that I could keep it together until around 80k when I saw that my body was still giving me what I asked from It and I knew that that I could continue to keep the hammer down and run relatively smooth to the finish.”

“This race was a big confidence builder, to get a 100km under the belt where everything clicked feels great and I have lerant alot from the experience.”

There you go. Dream it, speak it into the world, do the farking work and your dream might just come true too. Great stuff Hayden.

80km

Out of gas, sorry!
Emma Steedman pulled a smash’n’grab on the women’s 80km trophy, taking it home to Whangas, while Robert Soper rocked and rolled his way around Naseby to claim the men’s win.

Women’s Podium

🥇Emma Steedman - 8:10:02

🥈Lucy Mills - 9:03:47

🥉Jaime Stevenson - 9:08:32

Men’s Podium

🥇Robert Soper - 8:03:31

🥈Scott McRodden - 8:54:49

🥉Jarrod Graham - 11:46:28

50km

Men’s Podium

🥇Jack Belcher - 3:44:14

🥈Ben Sutton - 4:18:17

🥉Christopher Holmes - 4:37:02

Jack Belcher let rip a 42-minute-and-change opening lap that no one could match. He dominated from start to finish, taking the men’s victory by over 34 minutes.

Benn Sutton did his best to cling on for dear life through the opening laps, but by 30km he found himself 16 minutes behind Belcher and out of the title race.

Sutton kept on the grind to finish 2nd, comfortably ahead of Christopher Holmes, who snagged the final podium spot. Holmes moved past Cameron Macdonald, who had been running in 3rd all day before fading late.

Women’s Podium

🥇Maya Edmondson - 4:03:00

🥈Laura Bungard - 4:24:19

🥉Noemi Vidakovic - 5:10:21

Mayo “Best Foods” Edmondson found herself in a bun fight early, but she did enough to kick clear of fellow young gun Laura Bungard, going on to finish 2nd overall and break Julia Chamberlain’s 18-29 course record.

For the life of me, I know there’s a better mayo/bun joke in here, but I just can’t get it to roll together. Ah well. Email me your best attempts for the LOLs.

Here’s Mayo on her performance over the weekend:

Did you feel any pressure coming in after being predicted to win by some 3rd rate email blog thing last week?

“Going into the race I did have my sights on the record because I thought my recent paces have been enough to get close. I didn't necessarily feel pressure from a "3rd rate email blog thing"... however I did feel a responsibility to help improve his race predictions.”

You broke the young guns CR held by Julia Chamberlain - How does it feel to put together a performance like that?

“My big personal goal was to lap dad. It was an added bonus to take the record from Julia as I've been chasing her at some other events now and do look up to her, hopefully I'll be chasing her around Europe soon!”

“I was running scared for the first 3 loops trying to get away from Laura, but by the 4th loop on one of the larger switchbacks I didn't see her come round and from then on I just had to focus on not tripping.”

“I'd highly recommend this event, fantastic atmosphere and the option to run more loops if you're loopy enough.”

Thanks Maya - Another great run, all the best for your pavement bashing at Dunedin Marathon.

I also got hold of my Wellington man on the ground, Gordon Pal. I was interested in his perspective on the event as both a North Islander and someone entrenched in the Wellington running scene.

Here’s his take on The Great Naseby Water Race of 2026

“It was a real privilege to spend the week at the Great Naseby Water Race. I have attended a lot of lapped ultras around New Zealand and they all have their own appeal, but Naseby definitely has the best set-up to run further than you ever have done before. It features generous cut-offs, permissive rules for crewing, and amazing volunteers who couldn’t do enough to help runners achieve their goals.”

“This was my first time at Naseby, but I was assured that the conditions were not typical. There was heavy rain, snow and a lot of mud on the course, especially on the Wednesday, which was Day 1 for the 200-milers. This slowed the runners down when they were fresh and also sapped their legs for later in the race. The effect was evident in the DNF rate and in slower times from runners who had previous finishes, typically by about 5-10 hours.”

“I had the pleasure of crewing Naomi for three days and she showed incredible resilience and determination to finish her first 200-miler in challenging conditions. She definitely reported a few hallucinations from her solo laps, including rocks that had morphed into human form. Fortunately I was with her when we saw someone from the local water board taking samples from the stream to test its quality, or I would have filed it as a hallucination as well.”

“A huge thanks to all the volunteers and crew for facilitating such an excellent event, and to the runners for inspiring us all. Definitely recommend the event to anyone who wants to go further than they have before, especially as next year is their 20th birthday celebration and promises to be bigger than ever.”

Thats a wrap on Naseby for 2026!

Click here for the full results, including the 60km teams event.

Lake Dunstan Trail Marathon Results

Next up, Dunstan checks in.

My spidey sense says I’m about to say something completely wrong, but I think this was the first year with a half marathon and 10km also on offer🤔?

Last year, 139 runners had a jam on the marathon course. This year, that number dropped to 103, BUT the half marathon had 88 and the 10km had 92. That’s 283 runners across the 3 distances, more than double last year’s total, which is great to see in the event’s 3rd year, especially during the current cost of running crisis.

Let’s take a geeze at who got to give Terry the most hygiene-friendly Hi-5s.

Men’s Podium

🥇Benje Patterson - 2:48:06 🔥NEW CR🔥

🥈Edward Eaton - 2:58:54

🥉Jack Brownie - 3:06:34

Defending champ Ben Twyman wasn’t interested in a 3-peat, leaving the door wide open for Ben… G.

There aren’t many podiums in the deep South that Benje Patterson hasn’t stood on, and he sniffed out one more, taking victory by 10 minutes and breaking the course record by 9 seconds.

Current Trail Long Course Champ Edward Eaton buzzed across the line next, just under 8 minutes ahead of Jack “Peanut” Brownie in 3rd. Brownie was 3 minutes faster than his 2024 effort, which also saw him take home the Bronze.

Women’s Podium

🥇Annabelle Bramwell - 3:13:09 🔥NEW CR🔥

🥈Lisa McFarlane - 3:17:51

🥉Talia Flannery - 3:27:59

Lisa McFarlane ran 10 minutes faster than her winning time last year, but it still wasn’t enough to defend her title. Annabelle Bramwell made the trip down from Sumnaaaaah to take the win by over 4 minutes, smashing 12 minutes off the course record in the process.

Current 50K champ Talia Flannery also made the trip down from Wellington, adding to her string of strong recent results. She ran just 20 seconds outside last year’s winning time to take the Bronze.

I managed to fire an SOS message out to Lisa when I realised I had 100 Naseby quotes and nothing from Dunstan!

What does it mean to you to come back this year and take 10 minutes off your winning time from 2025?

“I was stoked! I ran Dunstan to test where I’m at after 4 months of rebuilding post injury, with Bernard Robinson as coach. It was fun to empty the tank and I’m pumped with the progress we’ve made. Great race and a great day out!”

Thanks for that, Lisa! A great return from injury, back faster and stronger than before. Looking forward to seeing what’s next.

Click HERE for Full Results, including the half marathon and 10k.

Follow along on Instagram & Facebook.

Summit Forests Kaitaia Trail Run

Saturday, 29th of August

It’s been a month of forest events, so why not finish August where we started?

Up in the Far North this week, we had the Summit Forests Kaitaia Trail Run.

I saw a few headlines about some extra cats and dogs roaming Northland over the weekend, so I thought I’d better check in with my man on the ground, Trey Subritzky.

Thanks for that, Trey. Great to see 450 runners and walkers getting out despite the precipitation.

Let’s see where things landed in the half.

Women’s podium:

🥇Tamsin Horne - 1:33:38

🥈Cara Pinny - 1:43:03

🥉Jess Frear - 1:47:36

Tamsin “The Fearless” Horne returned to racing and led from the gun, giving the boys plenty to think about on her way to finishing 3rd overall.

The ageless Cara Pinny was next over the line in 2nd, just over 4 minutes ahead of young gun Jess Frear, who took home a shiny new bronze medal.

Men’s podium:

🥇Michael Lea - 1:21:39

🥈Trey Subritzky 1:23:29

🥉Callum Gadd - 1:35:06

Trey Subritzky invited 1 too many friends. Good mate Magic Mike made the trip up from Whangas to take the win, leaving Trey in 2nd and Callum Gadd 12 minutes back in 3rd.

Here’s Trey on how his race went:

“My race left me with plenty of room for improvement next year haha, 3mins or so slower than last year and letting another Whangārei runner come up and show me how it’s done. No in all seriousness full credit to my mate Mike “Suffering” Lea for making the trip up and setting the standard.”

“I was on pace for the first 5km then the legs just didn’t have the speed. Turns out changing nappies and rocking the baby doesn’t prep you to run a fast half. I’ll be back”

What does it mean to you to see the wider Northland running community getting out on your local trails?

“It means the world to see our Te Hiku and Tai Tokerau community showing up for our local event. In particular our Far North community showed up in numbers! Quite a few of the Whangārei/Northland participants would have avoided coming up in the nasty weather, with the risk of road flooding and wet feet.”

Thanks for that, Trey! Great to hear that despite the conditions, there was still a great turnout and no love lost at the front. Just how it should be.

Full results available HERE.

Kiwis At UTMB

For the first time in a few years, I missed the majority of the UTMB live coverage. From the snippets I’ve seen, it looks like the live stream has levelled up once again, with footage now coming from more areas that used to be dead zones.

I’ve done my best to catch up on some of the highlights, and wow. If you haven’t watched the OCC women’s finish, or the CCC for that matter, you’re really missing out.

Twice in the same week, we had runners coming elbow to elbow into the finish with multiple lead changes in the final 5kms. With all the sheet that gets slung at UTMB, the racing only seems to be getting more competitive, which makes for a much more compelling watch.

This year, 38 Kiwis (including a few Pavlovas we’ll claim) lined up in Chamonix to take on the Mont Blanc massif.

If you want a blow-by-blow recap of every race, you’re best to head thataway to iRunFar👉.

Below, I’ve posted all the Kiwi results I could find. I’m sure I’ve missed a few people, particularly those who maybe didn’t finish as they get removed off the filters and others who fly a different flag but call NZ home.

Contending for the win, running in the middle of the pack, chasing cutoffs or finishing with a DNF.

Hold your head high. You set yourself a goal, made it to the start and went after it. That’s the bit that counts.

UTMB: 📏174KM | 👆️10,000m

🥝Kiwi Women

Katie Wright - 29:16:10 - 48th
Isla Smith - 30:54:57 - 63rd
Leanne Brett - 40:52:18

💪DNF: Caitlin Knox
💪DNS: Ruth Croft

How good is it seeing Katie finally running under the Wright flag?

She was our highest-ranked finisher, running 10 minutes faster than her 2023 PB and almost 4 hours faster than last year (both on slightly different courses).

Isla Smith, based out of Mallorca, can also hold her head high with a great result in her first big 100-mile event.

Leanne Brett, who appears to be based in Straya🦘, can put a tick against UTMB on the bucket list. She’s run mid-15 hours at UTA & Kosciuszko 100 the last couple of years, which gives you an idea of how 100k times can translate over to UTMB.

It was a pleasure to watch Caitlin Knox put in a massive block in Canada and Europe for this. Unfortunately, a race-week bug took hold, so she decided to pull the pin 1/3 of the way around. DNF aside, it looks like many lifetime memories were made on this trip!

Now, obviously, the elephant in the room. Ruth Croft’s DNS. If you didn’t see the news, here is her post on Instagram the day before the event:

You can imagine that this was shared far and wide by every podcast camped up in Shamoknee. Armchair experts were weighing in in their 100’s on the Instagram comments. I even broke my rule and jumped on to attack the trolls. I think it was the Paul Lind quote that sent people down the wrong track, thinking she was burnt out or just not motivated to run the race.

Now, I’ve only heard this through the Curranz vine, so take it with a grain of salt, but from what I’ve HEARD 3rd hand, Ruth chose to travel home for a reason completely unrelated to running. Fair play. I’d like to think most of us would do the same.

Have no doubt about it. Ruth was ready to demo the course and field once again.

But it takes a lot of mettle to make that decision with literally the weight of the whole “world” you roll in expecting you to rock up and give us another race for the ages.

All the best, Ruth. Look forward to seeing you representing us on the World Stage again when the time is right.

🥝Kiwi Men

Liam Thierens - 25:43:09 - 107th
Jeff Van Der Sande Lacoste - 28:11:40 - 185th
Thomas Watson - 32:48:50 - 371st
Ben Cameron - 37:02:37 - 621st
Richard Bray - 40:46:15 - 935th

💪DNF: Paul Voorend

Liam Thierens posted what I’m going to claim to be one of our fastest UTMB times ever. I can’t think of too many faster in recent years. He’s another Kiwi based in Aussie, whose biggest recent result would be 2nd at last year’s Ultra-Trail Kosciuszko Miler.

Jeff Van Der Sande Lacoste was also at the Kosci Miler last year. I’m not sure if Liam and Jeff are mates, but between the two of them they’ve put up a couple of impressive times.

Thomas Watson joins Andrew McDowall in the “Western States + UTMB” club. I don’t know how many non-sponsored athletes are in that club. Anyone want to put that list together for me?

CCC: 📏107.8KM | 👆️6200M

🥝Kiwi Women

Caitlin Fielder - 12:25:17 - 5th
Robyn Lesh - 13:11:34 - 13th
Julia Chamberlain - 14:53:35 - 36th
Magdalena Jones - 17:20:08 - 75th
Katie White - 19:58:54 - 130th
Roxanne Shahtahmasebi - 21:48:37- 163rd
Elena Kim - 27:27:07 - 371st

Caitlin Fielder continued her rise to the top ranks in the 100km+ distance, closing hard to take 5th in one of the most competitive fields ever assembled.

Unfortunately, someone had been drinking the UTMB Fireball instead of the Kool-Aid, jumping the barrier and running in with Caitlin down the finishing chute, creating a rather awkward situation and stealing all the glory.

I can’t have been the only one hoping Caitlin relived her boxing days and pasted his nose across his face😆.

Part-time Kiwi Robyn Lesh ‘Go’ finished in 13th, a step back from last year’s 7th in both position and time, but still a great result to be proud of. I’m sure you’ll hear more about her race on her Substack.

Julia Chamberlain’s Euro Summer of training paid off, despite some Frenchy cyclist doing his best to cut it short by hitting her with a water bottle at full speed while she was supporting a cycling race.

A great result in Spain at last year’s World Champs and a great run here, well within the top 50. I get the feeling Julia’s still just scratching the surface.

🥝Kiwi Men

Daniel Jones - 10:54:14 - 6th
Malcolm Jackson -17:10:00 - 223rd
Scott Mouat - 20:47:58 - 495th

💪DNF: Jamie McGregor

After a disappointing and somewhat head-scratching DNF at Western States, Danny “MF” Jones was back on the world stage, showing everyone he still belongs, finishing 6th overall and 2nd in the “DNF’d at Rocky Chucky, raced CCC” category behind Hans Troyer.

It wasn’t the big top 3 podium we all know he’s capable of, but it was a great bounce back after the setback earlier in the year. I’m sure Dan will also have a post CCC break down on his Substack in the next week or so too.

It’ll be interesting to see what lands on Dan’s calendar post the big international racing season. Will it be back to the Grampians with a big build to Tarawera to once again grab a Golden Ticket?

OCC: 📏60KM | 👆️3500M

🥝Kiwi Women

🏃‍♀️Katie Morgan - 7:21:46 - 36th
🏃‍♀️Natasha Buckley - 9:24:57 - 101st
🏃‍♀️Laura Wallis - 9:28:14 -105th
🏃‍♀️Amiria Macbeth - 11:15:09 - 210th
🏃‍♀️Liz Palmer - 13:15:06 - 366th

Maybe the Katie Morgan curse is over. She made it to the start line of OCC without illness, and most importantly, to the finish line without a race-ending ankle roll.

She ran the first half well inside the top 30 before the lack of recent long, hard runs came back to bite, slipping back to a still very respectable 36th.

The last couple of years she’s spent a lot of time rehabbing from injury. Fingers crossed this is the start of a new season for Katie and she can build some momentum from here. She showed that she belongs on this stage.

At the other end of the scale, Liz Palmer chose to brute force her way through her curse, living in a moon boot for the weeks leading up to OCC, essentially taking it off for race morning, realising about 1.5km in that the magic of croissants hadn’t fully healed her leg, but getting the job done anyway.

Tough as nails.

🥝Kiwi Men

🏃‍♂️Michael Voss - 6:18:12 - 41st
🏃‍♂️David Haunschmidt - 6:36:25 - 57th
🏃‍♂️Luke Wilson 7:07:22 - 90th
🏃‍♂️Sean Martin - 9:38:04 - 287th
🏃‍♂️Sam Rout - 10:14:51 - 374th

Michael Voss, The Boss, headlined a strong showing from the Kiwi Blokes, finishing inside the top 50 in what would be considered the fastest 50ish-k race ever assembled.

The Flying Doctor David Haunschmidt wasn’t too far back, finally getting a clean run into UTMB week and showing us what he can do on the world stage.

Luke WiiiilsoOOoon!, the pride of Kinisi, didn’t quite break 7 hours, but he did break the top 100.

Founding Trail Running NZ member Sean Martin finished 8th in his 55-59 category, taking 150 souls in the 2nd half of the race.

The Northland Express Sam Rout unfortunately had some overheating issues, resulting in a busted boiler after 20-odd km. He chugged his way through the final 40km regardless. Full respect for still getting it done, Sammy boy.

TDS: 📏148KM | 👆️9300m

🥝Kiwi Men

🏃‍♂️Will Hayward - 39:06:01 - 382nd

💪DNF: Fabiano Pertroni

We only had a couple of blokes in TDS this year, with Will Hayward finishing 4th in the 55-59M category.

Unfortunately, Fabiano Pertroni didn’t get his Chamonix sprint finish. But if I know Fabs, this movie isn’t over yet. I get the feeling we’re barely through the opening scene.

PTL (The crazy 300km, 25,000m one)

🥝Kiwi Team

💪DNF: Team Panda (Sophie & George Woods)

Ahh gutted! After breaking the Via Alpina FKT in what seems like only days before jumping into PTL for their “we never had a honeymoon” adventure, George and Sophie Woods made it 206km deep into the crazy PTL mountaineering route before pulling from the race.

ETC: (15km, 1200M)

🥝Kiwi Women

🏃‍♀️Amy Dowling - 2:40:00 - 104th
🏃‍♀️Suzannah Dowling - 3:44:14 - 430th

Amy Dowling smoked her mum by over an hour in the ETC. Now, I have no idea if Amy is Suzannah’s daughter or not, but that’s what I’m rolling with. It surely can’t be a coincidence.

Things You May Have Missed

Jackson Cole Wins Whistler 50K

Your favourite runner’s favourite runner, Jackson Cole, won the Whistler 50k over the weekend. He’s now secured his spot at UTMB next year.

Looking forward to seeing how he stacks up in a deep elite field after a great performance in the black singlet at the World Champs last year.

Phil Gore Runs 152 Yards in Backyard Fundraiser

Phil Gore was aiming to run 168 yards (7 days) last week in a solo Backyard Ultra fundraiser, both to raise money for Telethon Kids WA and to see if he could finally find his limit.

The current World Record holder (119) finally found it, 152 yards deep.

Next level stuff.

Jeff Browning On The Road To Recovery

Deep into TDS, Jeff Browning suffered some combination of a fall and heart attack before stumbling into an aid station, where he was evacuated from the course.

It sounds like several surgeries later, he’s stable and on the long road to recovery.

UTA Is Still Like, Totally A Major Big Deal

Ultra Trail Straya has confirmed it’s still like totally a big deal.

If you’re figuring out how to get UTMB stoned so you can make the Shamoknee pilgrimage, UTA has double UTMB stones because it’s a Major, as well as more age-group qualifying spots.

I heard a lot less pissing and moaning this year about choke points, so they might have finally got the bottlenecks working a bit better too.

Sam Harvey Discusses Becoming A Monster

I haven’t listened to this chat yet - but Sam Harvey has appeared on the “Down The Barrel” Podcast to discuss his journey as an endurance athlete as he prepares to spearhead the NZ effort at the World Champ Satellites while also training to break 2H20M for the marathon. If you’ve had a listen let me know what you think.

Youtube Link Here

Upcoming Events:

⚠️WARNING: The below is a copy + paste from last year as I ran out of time. You probably scrolled right past it last year anyway so think of it as something new⚠️.

Kinloch Off Road Marathon

Saturday, September 5th

Up next is the Taupo Ultra Kinloch Off Road Challenge.

Distances on offer:

📏42KM
📏21KM
📏10KM
📏5KM

If you’re training for the Taupo Ultra, or you were gutted because your friend decided to get married on that weekend, you’re in luck! Kinloch Off Road Challenge is a great alternative.

The cool thing about this event is that it offers two different courses for the full marathon and half marathon.

The marathon takes you out of Kinloch onto the Great Lake Trail. If you're running the Ultra in October, this will give you a great chance to see some of the course and what the trails in Kinloch are all about.

The half-marathon heads in the other direction, taking you out onto the Kinloch Heads loop track, one of the best trails in the area and part of the Taupo Ultra course.

Click here for more info. Standard entries close on Thursday, but you can also enter on the day.

Scenic Circles Backyard, Timaru

Saturday, 5th September

Scenic Circles is up next on the NZ Backyard Circus Tour🤡.

I’m never quite sure what to expect with Backyards. Sometimes you get massive fields, and it fizzles out. Others have a small field that has a couple of stubborn bastards and bastardesses who keep on grinding.

Despite the smaller field, there have been some great results here with big-name champs every year, with Glenn Sutton, Conner Aldridge and Macee Latimer all having stamped their mark on the event.

Who’s going to be next?

If you’re not quite sure what scenic means in Timaru, here are a few photos of the course.

Good luck to the Scenic Circles crew and everyone running.

Facebook is probably the best place to follow along.

#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week

This week's hit is from the roving ranga, Olivia Lawrence who picked some horrendous weather to have a hoon around a modified Northern Circuit.

Volcanoes, snow, with a trippy rainbow just to put you over the edge!

Every entry has a chance to win the monthly giveaway of a Mountain Skag T-shirt or hat.

Tag @trailrunning.nz (NOTE THE “.”) and use #mountainskag. DM on Instagram or email trailrunningnz@gmail.com to enter (email is the most reliable).

We will be back next week with the results from Kinloch Offroad, and Scenic Circles results (or an update if it’s still going), and whatever else I find in my screenshots.

It takes hours to write this newsletter but only 8 seconds to forward it to a friend.

PS. I think I’m going to change my title to Endurance Writer. That was a lot. Even the quick skimmers probably got RSI this week!

Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news

Welcome to Trail Running NZ. A bit like the PORK tag. It looks a bit sh💩t but it just keeps turning up everywhere😝.

Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:

🌲Forest Run Fest Results

🏁Upcoming Events: The Great Naseby Water Race

🎯Things You May Have Missed

🥳UTMB Week

⛰️💊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.

This week we’re bouncing from the pine-needle dance floor at Forest Run Fest to previewing the all-you-can-run buffet at Naseby, before squeezing into the UTMB portaloo with every man and his mongoose to see who’s flying the flag for NZ.

Lets jump on in in to the results desk brought to you by the cool cats at Kinisi.

Forest Run Fest(IVAL) Results

Sunday, 23rd of August

Over 1,000 festival-goers poured into Bottleneck Forest for the latest edition of the Forest Run Festival.

Like any good festival, there were plenty of sweaty bodies, lines of white powder, queues for portaloos and men pissing in full view of everyone while thinking they’re being discreet.

Clear blue skies and near-perfect running conditions were forecast, and that’s exactly what was delivered. It helped balance out the squelch factor underfoot after recent wet weather had churned up parts of the course.

Not that it slowed the leaders down. Course records still went to the barber, the crowd still went wild and everyone left the festival thinking it had all been worth it for a free banana and a side of DOMS 😎

Forest Run Fest - 21KM

Women’s Podium

🥇Hannah Oldroyd - 1:27:39

🥈Maddy Conway - 1:41:18

🥉Lauren Cross - 1:46:37

Hannah Oldroyd was back headlining the main stage at Forest Run Fest, looking to make it 3 wins in 4 years.

She didn’t bother waiting for the opening act, storming the stage and ripping straight into one of her classic tracks, “Ran Away With It Early”. By the 10km mark, she already held a 6m26s lead over Maddy Conway.

Her set never let up, with tracks like “Keep Hammering”, “1st Place or Die” and “Lactic Addict” keeping the punters happy.

She crowd-surfed her way across the finish in 1:27:39, 13 minutes and change ahead of Conway, who finished comfortably in 2nd ahead of Lauren Cross in 3rd.

Another dominant win for Oldroyd, who seems to win every race she enters.

I’m looking forward to seeing what she’s got on the schedule as the summer season draws closer.

Men’s Podium

🥇Hayden Zervos -1:17:09 🔥NEW CR🥳

🥈Tom Galloway - 1:18:39

🥉Glenn Jaques - 1:25:37

Back by popular demand, Hayden Zervos was the name on the gig guide everyone had circled, looking to take his 3rd title on the trot at Forest Run Festival.

But unlike the last 2 years, this was no longer a solo act.

Zervos and Galloway, close touring buddies, traded solos through the first quarter of the race before Zervos made his break.

He rolled through the 10km mark in 35m46s, establishing a razor-thin 19-second lead over Galloway.

But Galloway wasn’t content with backup vocals. He pulled himself back into contention over the next few k’s, keeping the pressure on Zervos.

A little pressure wasn’t about to stop Zervos from completing the hat-trick, though. He turned up the volume, drowned out Galloway and powered home to a new course record to close the show.

Galloway also finished well under the old CR of 1:19:04, establishing himself as one to watch.

Glenn Jaques rounded out the podium, crossing in 1:25:37 to take home the bronze.

Here’s what Hayden had to say about his day out at Forest Run Fest:

This was the closest you've been pushed here at Run Fest - how did your race go up front with Tom Galloway?

“It was an awesome event and is close to home for me. It was a bit muddy in sections due to recent rain. I think the race went pretty well overall. Tom is a friend and I have had quite a few close races with him over the years.”

“We were running together for the first 6km, but I started to get away from him after the trail become more narrow and a bit technical.”

“He made up a bit of ground when we exited the narrow trail section onto the 4WD tracks, but I was able to increase the gap between us when we went back onto the narrow trail.”

Thanks for that Hayden. Good to see you get a good push along this year, hopefully we see you back next year to continue the dynasty!

Forest Run Fest - 10km

Men’s Podium

🥇Lee Calderon - 36:17 🔥NEW CR🥳

🥈Flavio Vianna - 39:05

🥉Sam Anderson - 39:06

Lee Calderon once again headlined the Boiler Room, dropping the new “Hat-trick” remix of his #1 single “New Course Record” to beat out DJ Flava Flav and Sam “Mr” Anderson.

Women’s Podium

🥇Courtney Hodges - 48:01

🥈Juhwan Yoon - 50:01

🥉Ada Searle - 50:40

Courtney Hodges was also back to defend her title, comfortably taking the win by 2 minutes over Juhwan Yoon.

If you thought the August Forest Fest Fiesta was over, you’d be sorely mistaken. We’ve still got Kaitaia Summit Forests next weekend!

Click HERE for the full results

Follow their Facebook Page for more event coverage.

Upcoming Events:

The Great Naseby Buffet

Wednesday-Sunday, 26th-30th of August

UTMB week might be getting underway this morning, but something much more important is taking place down south in a little-known place called Naseby.

A place where water races.

A place that’s cold AF.

A place where you feel like you’re in the mountains without actually having to run them.

A place that thought it was cool to run a stupid number of loops long before Backyard Ultra was a sparkle in Lazarus Lake’s eye.

The Great Naseby Water Race.

The Valentine’s all-you-can-eat running buffet of New Zealand running since ages ago, bro.

Naseby has been a staple of the South Island running scene since 2007. Equal parts ultra-running festival, slumber party and shanty town.

It pre-dates Instagram, Vibram Mega Grip and getting kudos from strangers. Back when telling your mates your finishing time at the pub was enough.

Think of it as NZ’s OG Backyard Ultra. A 10km figure-8 loop where you’re never more than 5km away from sitting in your comfy AF camp chair for 4 hours, eating noodles before going out and doing it all again.

Course & Conditions

I’ve never been to Naseby. There’s a good chance I never will. I’ve never really understood what a water race is.

But from what I can deduce using this nut of mine, after covering the event for the last 3 years, the tough thing about Naseby is that it’s runnable.

A little too runnable for most.

A classic stitch-up of a race where everything is going smoothly until a couple of nuts go firing off into the bush and a wheel starts careening down the road ahead of you.

Race over.

Oh, and then there’s the little factor of it being in Central Otago in late August 🥶, NZ’s highest town at 650m.

Sunshine, snow, sleet, rain, wind. It’s all on the cards, and if you’re running the 200 miler, there’s a chance you’ll get all of it.

Distances on the Menu

Like any good buffet, there’s way too much on offer:
📏 320KM

📏 200KM

📏 160KM

📏 100KM

📏 80KM

📏 60KM (teams)

📏 50KM

Naseby Winner Predictions:

Based on the Starters list, here are my completely uneducated guesses on who’s taking home all the marbles this weekend.

📏200Miles:

🏃‍♀️Naomi Louisa |🏃Rocky Allan

NZ’s original 200 miler has 17 nutters lined up this year. It always makes for a great dot watch through the week, as so much can change in those last 50 miles.

Glenn “Double N” Sutton has had success here before and is always a good shout at any long AF event down south.

But I’m going to pick the young and fit DJ Rocky Allan to take the win in his debut 200-mile race.

Naomi Louisa is trading in 200km for 200 miles after a tremendous race last year, taking the overall win in the 200km event in just over 27 hours.

📏200KM:

🏃‍♀️Jean Beaumont | 🏃Steve Anderson

In a field of 7, you’re going to be unlucky to miss the podium, but this race is shaping up to be quite interesting.

Little old lady Jean Beaumont is lining up alongside Shannon Leigh-Litt.

I’m picking Jean so she doesn’t swear at me next time I run with her. Also, I’m not sure how Shannon plans to manage her ultra-a-day effort around the race.

I’m going with Steve “Mr” Anderson over Seabass Potgitier, as I think I heard somewhere along the way that Seabass was working back from injury.

📏100Miles:

🏃‍♀️Samira Sultan-Rouse | 🏃Shannon Rhodes

Samira Sultan-Rouse loves a loop, recently running for NZ at the World 24-Hour Champs.

She also has the 2025 Faultline Ultra 100-mile title to her name, so she’s no stranger to the distance on trail either.

Shannon Rhodes notched up 2nd place in under 20 hours at Northland 100 just last month, but I think he’s the type of guy who will take strength from that rather than feel fatigue.

He knows this place like the back of his hand, most notably after an amazing battle with Brandon Purdue in the 200-mile race in 2023.

📏100KM:

🏃‍♀️Reagan Boniface | 🏃Louis Schindler

The 100km men’s field might be the most competitive of the weekend, with a lot of names that, in my head, are all in the same bag.

But I’ve gotta go with Louis Schindler. Mainly because I’m angling for some free Raspberry Lamington SpeedOn Gels, those things are farking good.

Reagan Boniface is dart #1 of these picks. Picked primarily because the name reminded me of Boneface, and I really like their beer!

📏80KM:

🏃‍♀️Emma Steedman | 🏃Jack Vanderheyden

It’s a game of musical chairs in the 80km, with 8 runners and a 4/4 split.

Emma Steedman, if it’s the Emma Steedman from Northland, is a long way from home.

I’m going with the theory she’ll need to run extra fast to stay warm since she’s acclimatised to the winter less north.

I don’t recognise any of the entrants in the men’s, so I’ve thrown dart #2 and come up with Jack Vanderheyden.

Don’t embarrass me, Jack!

📏50KM:

🏃‍♀️Maya Edmondson 🏃Scott Payne

Any excuse to get Mayo “Best Foods” Edmondson into the newsletter. She’ll be tough to beat!

Dart #3: Scott Payne.

His name is built for endurance running, so let’s see if he can dig deep into the... Payne Cave...

I really am just throwing shit at the wall to see what sticks with most of those. So if you’ve got the inside knowledge of who’s expected to be speedy this weekend at Naseby, get all up in my inbox and DM’s and let me know so I can improve my game!

Click here for more details.

Follow along on Facebook.

Also on this weekend:

Summit Forests Kaitaia Trail Run

Saturday, 29th of August

Lake Dunstan Trail Marathon

Sunday, 30th of August

Things You May Have Missed

Afflettuce NZ Announce Short Course Champs

Just in case you thought I was spreading my normal quota of fake news last week, Afflettuce NZ has since announced that the Xterra Trail Marathon is hosting the Short Trail Champs, so it’s now officially official.

If y’all have intentions of running Table Mountain come 2027, better book your tickets to Wellington for the end of Feb.

New NZ Trail Podcast

A couple of lads you might see there are Andy “Quite” Good and current NZ Short Course Champ Logan Griffith.

You can listen to them from tomorrow on a new podcast called Offtrack, a trail offshoot of Front Runner Colombo’s Run Down.

From what I understand, it’s gonna cover trail kit, racing, news and the journey to making the World Champs team. Not so much touchy-feely stuff.

So if you’d rather listen to what’s happening than read my ramble, it could be a bit of you

Trailrunningnz.com Trail Running Calendar Live

For about the 10th time, I’ve got an NZ trail-specific race calendar up on the site.

It’s now set up properly, so it’s easy to maintain. I think I’ve got 90% of races up, but there will be errors.

Have a browse and let me know what’s missing or wrong, or submit it yourself on the site.

If you’re a race director reading this, check out your listing, claim it and write it how you want it to read.

You can also upgrade to a more deluxey listing.

Check it out here

UTMB Coverage

And just like that, it’s UTMB race week.

Last week, the headlines were dominated by Kilian Jorney and Jim Walmsley pulling out of UTMB.

Surely I wasn’t the only one to presume they weren’t running after both broke down with bung knees at Western States?

There was no way they were going to bounce back and compete at the highest level in this modern era of ultra.

The pessimist in me wonders if they were told not to announce it until a week out to get some headline time.

Hopefully that’s just me being cynical, because that would be a bit shit.

Either way, it’s taking attention away from those who are there ready to rip and distracting from how stacked the fields are on both sides of the toilets.

⚠️ PSA: Don’t click the dodgy streams plastered all over social media.
👉 The official UTMB YouTube channel has live coverage of the front of the races.
👉 To follow your mates or Kiwi athletes, use the UTMB live tracking, toggle races, filter country to “New Zealand” (or search their last name).

Event Schedule

I’m not doing a race preview, as every man and his mongoose has one out, and I don’t have much more to offer than:

“Yeah nah, I reckon if she has a good day and runs faster than all the others, she has a good chance of winning.”

Below is the race schedule and the Kiwi Roll Call.

It’s based on the nationality filter on the UTMB site, which isn’t perfect. There are a few non-starters, and some Kiwis I know are running don’t show up. I’ve tried to weed out those who I’ve heard have pulled the pin.

So take it with a grain of salt!

PTL 300km | 25,000m - Started last night!

🥝Kiwi Roll Call: Team Panda

Sophie Woods is a straight-up Mountain Skag addict. Not even running the Via Alpina was enough to satisfy her cravings!

She’s out there now with partner in crime George Woods, 15 hours into their 300km, 25,000m journey.

Amazing.

TDS 145km | 9,500m - Tues 25th, 9:50am NZ

🥝Kiwi Roll Call: Will Hayward, Fabiano Petroni

I haven’t seen any croissants or berets in his Instagram stories, so I’d say Scotty Hawker hasn’t made the trip despite being on the start list.

Fabiano raced the TDS in 2024; it was an enthralling dot watch, with him narrowly beating the cut-off at a few aid stations in a row before finally succumbing to the splits.

Will Fabs get his trademark sprint finish across the line in Chamonix?

I’d love to see it.

OCC 60km | 3,500m — Thurs 27th, 6:15pm NZ

🥝Kiwi Roll Call: Katie Morgan, Laura Wallis, Natasha Buckley, Liz Palmer, Sam Rout, Michael Voss, David Haunschmidt, Luke Wilson, Sean Martin

20 x Kepler winner Katie Morgan might have an oversized Union Jack next to her name, but we all know the truth!

Prayers are with her that she gets a clean run at it, with no more ankle rolls, and can find out where she stacks up against the top cats on the big stage.

On the men’s side, there are plenty of chances for a Kiwi to crack the top 20.

The Northland Express Sam Rout, Michael Voss the Boss, The Flying Doctor and the pride of Kinisi Luke WilSoooOOon are all lining up to take a crack at the big dogs.

Sean Martin will have half of Wellington refreshing Facebook for his trademark post-race beer-in-the-bath OnlyFans pic.

CCC 100km | 6,100m — Fri 28th, 7:00pm NZ

🥝Kiwi Roll Call: Caitlin Fielder, Julia Chamberlain, Roxanne Shahtahmasebi, Katie White, Magdalena Jones, Daniel Jones, Malcolm Jackson, Jamie McGregor, Scott Mouat

Plenty to watch in this one.

Caitlin Fielder is looking to build on her momentum from Western States and continue her upward trajectory over the longer distance.

Danny Jones will be out to remind himself and the world that he belongs on the biggest stage after a tough day at Western States.

It was only 2 years ago that he placed 4th here after contending for the lead through the middle stretches of the race.

Julia Chamberlain had an outstanding performance in Europe last year at the World Champs. I’m sure she’s frothing at the bung to back it up here at CCC.

UTMB 174km | 10,000m — Sat 29th, 3:45am NZ

🥝Kiwi Roll Call: Ruth Croft, Isla Smith, Katie Wright, Caitlin Knox, Leanne Brett, Liam Thierens, Jeff van der Sande Lacoste, Ben Cameron, Thomas Watson, Richard Bray, Paul Voorend

A little-known runner from the West Coast... Ruth... Croft, I think it is, should have a pretty good crack at things this year.

Katie Wright is back for UTMB #3. With a best placing of 28th, she’ll be one to watch in the back half of the event.

We’ve also got Mallorca-based Isla Smith debuting at the 100-mile distance. She won the Mallorca UTMB race last year and placed 4th at Trail 100 Andorra earlier this year.

Watch this space.

All the best to every single one of you lining up.

It takes a lot to qualify, do the training and then make it to the start line of any of these events.

Remember, it’s just a running race. Try to enjoy it!

Lastly, let’s have a bit of fun.

I’ve added OCC, CCC and UTMB to the free Trail Running NZ Fantasy League.

Click this link to join.

#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week

Ocean Skag? This weeks entry is from Isaac Tripp from the tip of Five Fingers Peninsula at the end of a 9 day trapping trip. There’s nothing quite like looking out across the ocean from a high point.

Think you’ve taken a better snap? SEND IT IN!

Every entry has a chance to win the monthly giveaway of a Mountain Skag T-shirt or hat.

Tag @trailrunning.nz (NOTE THE “.”) and use #mountainskag. DM on Instagram or email trailrunningnz@gmail.com to enter (email is the most reliable).

We will be back next week with the results from the Naseby food fight, and a recap of how the Kiwi contingent went in Chamonix.

PS. Do you think we will ever see a point to point 200 mile race in NZ?

Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news

Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:

🏃🏃‍♀️Mukamuka Munter Results

👆NZ Short Course Trail Champs Update

🎯Things You May Have Missed

😎Upcoming Events: Forest Run Fest

⛰️💊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.

Rather than stall for another day this week, I stand here derobed in front of you, warts and all, having done even less work than normal😝.

We’ve got the Mukamuka Munter results, a bit of news and an excuse to bust out my Afflettuce NZ cap. Let’s call it the clam before the UTMB storm.

Now, let’s slide on over to the Results Desk, brought to you by Kinisi Running.

Mukamuka Munter

Saturday, 15th of August

After 2 unofficial years in the wilderness, the Mukamuka Munter is officially BACK, BABY!😎

Over 100 runners were let loose on Saturday morning, heading down the Wainuionowhere Coast on Wellington’s finest micro-adventure.

Let’s see who was first to etch their name into this new chapter of Mukamuka Munter history.

Women’s podium:

🥇Hannah Fletcher - 3:13:50

🥈Zoe MacClure - 3:33:06

🥉Harriette Carr - 4:11:04

Hannah Fletcher dominated the women’s race, putting herself in the rarefied air of having won both the A100 and the Mukamuka Munter.

Throw in wins at the WAI2K and WUU2k, plus silver behind Ali Wilson at Jumbo in 2025 and the NZ Short Course Champs, and there aren’t many people in the Wellington region with a more impressive collection of results in recent years.

This is where a question for Hannah should be, but this idiot forgot to message her:

“Hannah’s quote”

Doh! It helps if you actually push send on the message.

Congratulations, Hannah. Another classy win.

Men’s podium:

🥇Chester Holt-Quick - 2:43:39

🥈Sam McCutcheon - 2:45:54

🥉Ryan Tait - 2:48:56

Chester Holy-Quick, Batman! ignored TLC’s advice and went chasing waterfalls, but even that wasn’t enough to stop him from being the first to sink his teeth into a victory sausage.

I’ll let Chester tell you all about it because not only are there no aid stations at the Munter, there aren’t any timing mats either, so I’ll refrain from filling in the blank this week.

It looks like you didn’t have things all your own way. How did the battle go down up front?

“I really enjoyed this race. Don’t know if I was more star struck or apprehensive racing Sam McCutcheon on the start line. He’s a great guy with an impressive running pedigree. We set off around the coast at a good honest pace ~ 3’40s, definitely working, especially trying to keep things fast along the sand. We ran together for the full first half of the race and had a few minutes gap on 3rd (Ryan Tait).”

“A little ways up the Mukamuka I exchanged company of Sam for a couple of baby goats. I lost sign of Sam and thought maybe he’d tired out. But when I checked the map I realised I had gone left up the wrong stream/waterfall in the final approach to the saddle.”

“I backtracked and then as approached the top of the saddle caught the view of a runner. Expecting it to be Sam, but was actually Ryan and then realised “Oh I’m third now, okay!”. Ryan was running really well and flowing nicely down the technical Mt Matthews descent. Thanks to that I think he/we managed to bring Sam back into sight at the Orongoronga river (Sam didn’t actually realise I was behind him).”

“Was very cool that all three of us basically landed at the beginning of Big Bend track (~ 11km to go) at the same time. Ryan filled up his bottle in the river and I skipped ahead to draft off Sam. We ran together for about 4km, then with ~ 7km to go I had a sense that my climbing legs were a little fresher than his so raised the effort level a bit and send it home.”

Your first chance to race the Mukamuka Munter, an iconic feature in the Wellington race calendar- did it live up to expectations?

“Exceeded my expectations, absolutely loved it. This type of event brings out the hard core from the trail community, such a good vibe. Shout out to Callum Mallet, volunteers, WREC’kd and the OG Chris Martin for this event. So good!

“The only potentially shortcoming of the standard munter is that it's all over quickly and you've only just got a semi!”

Running crushes, majestic goats, lost waterfalls and semis. All in under 3 hours🤔. No wonder this race is so popular.

On a side note, how good is it to see Sam McCutcheon back racing? One of our premier international runners of the last decade, back throwing down around town.

Now, it’s not all about the top 3.

The Munter means a lot to the wider Wellington running community, and few people know that better than Harriette Carr, who finished 3rd in the women’s race and 1st Super Vet.

This was Harriette’s 12th official Munter. Chuck in the unofficial events, and it was her 14th time getting munted.

Rather than asking someone who’s only just fallen for the Munter, I thought I’d hear from someone who’s been by its side through sickness and in health.

Here’s Harriette with a great brief history of the Munter.

“Shane Ross organised the first munters (2008- 2013) - modeled on the original Trampers Marathon that the local Tramping Clurbs used to run. He even had a trampers grade where you had to have a minimum weight in your pack (and finish with that weight). There was also an award for Bantams (under 60kgs) and Clydesdales (over 90kg I think).”

“Martini then resurrected (2016-2023). Interestingly, the ‘B’ Course (Whakanui loop) was run in 2008 and 2016 - the first years for both Shane and Martini so Callum has missed that curse.”

“This was my 12th official time doing the event, though I also did the unoffical events in 2024 and 2025 - so 14th in total.”

So, after 14 Munters, what keeps bringing you back?

“In terms of Why? Because it is the best micro adventure around! It is like a three course meal - it dishes up a bit of everything - the 12km coastal section is the entree - you don’t want to ‘eat’ too much here as you need to save yourself for the main course and meaty bit - up the Mukamuka to Mt Matthews saddle and down to the Orongorongo - this is a degustation delight.”

“Finally there is the dessert where you get to test how much more you can stomach with nice single track, beautiful bush, with a side of mud, and small undulations, and then... the final road section - just to remind us why we all prefer trails to road.”

“Aside from the actual running, it is also a great social event with great sausages and banter, and a rich history. Shane, Chris and now Callum have all done a stirling job keeping it going.”

“On a separate note - it was weird to be 3rd female with such a slow time - but with females only being about 20% of the field, I think we still have some work to do to encourage more females into these self-supported type of events....”

You hear that, ladies? Harriette wants more of you out there knocking her off the podium next year.

So, that sounds like a thumbs-up from Harriette for the new crew. But what about the enigmatic and wildly handsome former Race Director, lead singer and Blackcap, Chris Martin?

How did it feel to see the race back up and running, without the stress of running the event? What is it about the event that keeps drawing people back?

“Yes was a lot of the same faces.
People love the course the wilderness and the vibe.”

“I’m stoked it’s back and the new team did great job especially with the medical situation they had to deal with.”

“Being a race director can be stressful but the buzz you get from getting all those people round course is worth it.”

“If you have a love for a route you want others to experience it.”

“My fave thing is seeing newbies go through the pain cave and come out other side.”

“Nothing beats niche community mountain races like TMR, JH, Undulator, Goat, Munter and the Kaweka Challenge back too.”

“There’s some machines out there too like the top few at Munter were class athletes.”

The impact Chris and his races have had on Wellington’s running scene is immeasurable, so it’s great to see that hard work hasn’t been washed away.

Now he gets to rock back and forth in his Race Director retirement, watching someone else slowly lose their mind.

Speaking of rocking back and forth, Callum Mallett.

The very man who found a way to drag the Munter back from the scrap heap.

Sending 100 runners into a wilderness environment would be enough to chew through most of your fingernails. Layer a medical emergency on top and I’d be surprised if Callum isn’t down to just some stumps.

Here’s Callum on how things went from the other side of the hi-vis vest.

Event #1 is under the belt. Did everything go largely as planned with the resurrection of the Mukamuka Munter?

“Yeah, I think so! There were definitely a few things that didn’t go exactly to plan, but as I’ve learn’t all was pretty typical of the Munter and these kind of races. Stoked with how the day came together in all, especially with the support and backing of the community. Much love to all the crew and huuge respect of the runners in the pointy end that went back out to help.”

Do you feel like WRECK’d was able to bring back the wilderness spirit of the race?

“Certainly wasn’t reinventing anything much from the old. There were no aid stations (except fireball, and the romanian plum brandy), slightly ambiguous course markings, sausages, rivers, majestic goats etc. Plenty of stories of (mis)adventure. All up it really is the people that make up the spirit of the race!”

“The Mukamuka will always be a wilderness race.
There are obviously things I’d change for next time, perhaps just in the back end with logistics and comms, but I think the event proved that it is all still possible to run low-fi, club racing of this kind.”

Now that the first club event is complete, what’s next?

“As for what’s next? The Mukamuka was essentially a proof of concept and the Aorangi Undulator is the next fixture loaded. I know a few ideas floating around peoples minds for the future of WREC’kd. Our Annual General Meeting is not far away, and although this might feel overly bureaucratic, I think this will be a pivotal moment for the collective as we look to what the future holds.”

Thanks for that, Callum.

I don’t know the full details of the medical event, only that someone needed to be stretchered out several kilometres from the finish, with the help of several runners (including some who went back after finishing). Fingers crossed there was a happy ending.

A great example of what makes being a Race Director such a stressful job, but also a bloody good example of the community stepping up when it mattered.

So, if you’ve made it this far and you’re still wondering if the Munter is truly back, let’s look at the evidence.

No aid stations, ambiguous markings, river crossings, sausages, majestic goats, misadventure and Fireball.

Yeah, nah. It sounds like they nailed it.

Congratulations to Callum, Chris, WRECK’d, the volunteers and everyone else who refused to let one of Wellington’s great trail-running rites of passage become just a memory.

Take a moment to appreciate what a massive undertaking it has been to get this far, and celebrate the fact that grassroots wilderness racing is still possible in the Wellington region.

Full results available HERE

Follow WRECK’D Instagram for more coverage.

BREAKING NEWS - NZ Short Course Trail Champs Update

Last week, you may recall, I covered the sad news that the Tussock Traverse and Ring of Fire are going on a “break”.

That left a rather sizeable hole in the race calendar, along with the small matter of us being down a Short Course Trail Champs and NZ team qualifier for South Africa.

I presumed it would go back to 3 Peaks + 1 after the great job they’ve done hosting it in recent years. Or I could see a world where it went to Crater Rim, only if they wanted it, of course.

So, I spent all week frantically refreshing the Athletics NZ News and Events page to keep up with the situation.

It seems they’re not quite ready to deliver the news, so I’ll jump the gun and cut over to the Afflettuce NZ News Desk to make the announcement:

I did not see that happening!

I always thought the Tussock Traverse was a bizarre choice for the Short Course Champs. Yes, it’s short. It had that bit going for it.

But literally everyone who wants to compete has to travel. It’s not close to any main centres, it’s been taken over by a relatively new organisation still finding its feet, and it has no history of drawing deep competitive fields.

That being said, when I first heard through the Curranzvine that the XTERRA Trail Marathon had landed the gig, I was also a bit baffled.

I ran the race in 2025 and had a great time, but…

• It’s still on the shorter side.

• It’s part of a wider event involving mountain bikes, so the trail marathon isn’t the sole focus.

• The terrain doesn’t have much crossover with what the runners will face in South Africa.

• It’s only a couple of weeks after Tarawera.

However, I’ve had a week to digest it, and I’m coming around to the idea.

• Race HQ is only 35 minutes from Wellington CBD.

• Barefoot Events, the team behind the Faultline Ultra, have been putting on events for years.

• The terrain might not look much like South Africa, but it has a great mix that will test the full array of skills.

The course has a fast start followed by a net uphill grind. A beastly climb through the bush requires some mud-surfing skills and your full attention on the course markings. Then there are some long, glorious descents before it finishes with 10ish km of undulating trail around QE Park, which will feel like a never-ending cross-country run at primary school.

The racing will be fast and frantic. It might not be a great replica of the World Champs course, but it will provide a good test of climbing, descending and flat redline speed.

It might not be the choice I would have made, BUT it’s a huge improvement. With the location, I’m sure we’ll see much deeper women’s and men’s fields than we would have at the Tussock Traverse and to me that is what matters most.

It’s in the calendar for 27 February, so circle the date if you’re looking to take home an NZ title. Or, if you’re like me, you just want to tell your grandchildren one day that you raced at the National Trail Running Champs… hopefully they don’t ask where I finished!

It looks like the event details are still being confirmed, so hold fire. I’ll bring you the full goss as it emerges.

Things You May Have Missed

Sophie Woods On DCR

It’s been awesome to see Sophie Woods all over the international media following her incredible FKT on the Via Alpina.

I haven’t had a chance to listen yet, but it looks like Dirt Church managed to jump the podcast queue and become one of the first to hear more from Sophie about her FKT.

Will queue it up for later in the week, but let me know what you think.

Kaweka Challenge Entries Confirmed

If you submitted your CV of hardcore to the Kaweka Challenge, check your spam folder if you haven’t heard back.

Spots were extremely limited, so they went ultra old school and drew names from a bucket hat among those who made the grade.

There is a waitlist, which sounds like a first-to-yell-shotgun situation.

In the week before the noise of UTMB takes over, it’s somewhat refreshing to see spots at the Kaweka Challenge so hotly contested and the Mukamuka Munter successfully relaunched.

Gotta have your zing with your zang.

NZ Satellite Team Now Closed

Last week I made a boo boo and said you can still qualify for the NZ Backyard Satellite team for the world champs right up until October.

Surprise, I got it wrong. I don’t think anyone has got corrected that much since Dirt Church said that Auckland was the Mecca of trail running.

Turns out the qualifying period finished on August 15th. You would have had to run at the Clint Eastwood BYU in Straya over the weekend to make the team. Jordan Nukunuku ran 62 laps, but I’m unsure of his status as he lives over is Aussie, so it’s a bit of a Pavlova situation.

We will take a look at the NZ team and where they’ll be running in the next couple of weeks as we move closer to the final shindig.

Crushing Of The Cargill

The only thing I’ve had more emails about than last week’s BYU Satellite team boo boo is the NZ Vert Champs.

Yes, I’m aware that Crush the Cargill exists. No, I don’t think it should be the NZ Vert Champs.

Regardless, I’m heading down there in December to find out what the fark it’s all about, as I’m still not really sure what the event is.

Fingers crossed I can get niggle-free and start my speed work in preparation for crushing the Cargill.

Upcoming Events

Forest Run Fest(ival)

Sunday, 23rd of August

We’re in full Forest Fiesta season!

Run the Forest blew up with over 4,000 runners a couple of weeks back in Rotochangchang, and this weekend Bottle Lake Forest will host 1,200 runners for the Forest Run Fest.

We all love a bit of winding, technical single track. But that feeling of soft, soft pine-needle carpet underfoot is orgasmic.

Let’s see just how long that feeling can last.

Distances on offer:

📏21km
📏10km
📏5.5km

Looking at the start list, both Hannah Oldroyd and Hayden Zervos are back to defend their titles. Zervos is hunting the hat-trick, while Oldroyd is looking to make it 3 wins in 4 years.

Who’s got the best chance of knocking them over?

No idea. There are far too many names on that list for my intel machine.

Regardless, conditions are looking mint for Sunday and I’m expecting both CR times to be under threat.

Click HERE for more info on Forest Run Fest

Follow along on Facebook

#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week

This week’s hit comes from ….. ME!

It’s felt like forever since I’ve been up on top of somewhere new. But last weekend I got away for 3 days to Rangiwahia Hut on a family tramp on the edges of the Ruahine Forest Park. I had almost forgotten what it felt like to see ridgelines and spurs shooting off in all directions.

Tag @trailrunning.nz (NOTE THE “.”) and use #mountainskag. DM on Instagram or email trailrunningnz@gmail.com to enter (email is the most reliable).

Picking up what I’m putting down? Send it to a mate who you know will be into it too!

Share

Or leave a tip

Tip TRNZ

P.S: UTMB Week starts next week with TDS on Tuesday I believe. So we will take a good look at all the Kiwi’s who are racing and some of the major story lines.

Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news

Welcome to Trail Running NZ. Proving that AI isn’t quite ready to take over every job just yet. Even AI can’t produce this amount of slop🤣.

Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:

🏃🏃‍♀️Run The Forest

🏃🏃‍♀️Hammer Backyard Ultra Recap

🏃🏃‍♀️Te Anau Hydro Half

⛰️💊Mountain Skag July Winner

😓Tussock Traverse & Ring of Fire “On A Break”

🎯Things You May Have Missed

😎Upcoming Events: Mukamuka Munter

⛰️💊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.

It’s been dribs and drabs on the Results Desk of late, but we’re jumping beak-first into it today with 3 events to recap, brought to you by the cool cats at Kinisi Running.

Run The Forest

Saturday, 8th of August

We’re gonna run this thing north to south, kicking off in Rotochangchang, where someone forgot to tell Run The Forest there’s a cost-of-running crisis going on.

Over 4,000 people took part across the 3 races, including more than 1,500 in the half marathon.

Men’s podium:

🥇Henry Randal - 1:24:48

🥈Donal McGoldrick - 1:25:46

🥉Jordan Iremonger - 1:26:45

Henry Randal gave it the full jandal out of the starting blocks, joined by Donal McGoldrick and Jordan Iremonger, who was looking to improve on last year’s bronze.

Now, I don’t know if Randal was running solo out front because McGoldrick went full Black Ops and recorded no splits.

But it looks like Randal established an early lead and was well over a minute ahead of Iremonger through the 12.9km checkpoint.

Randal flip-flopped his way to the win, finishing just under a minute ahead of McGoldrick, with Iremonger claiming back-to-back bronze medals.

If only he could have reproduced the 1:22:40 he ran last year!

Women’s podium:

🥇Odette Jennings - 1:27:12

🥈Arabella White - 1:36:18

🥉Sophie Bates - 1:41:57

Odette Jennings, this year’s runner-up at the NZ Short Trail Champs at 3 Peaks + 1, was a class above the field, leading every step of the way.

Rather than my usual attempt at filling in the blanks between the splits, I’ll just let the Oresome Odette tell us about her day out in Vegas.

How did your race play out at the front? Looks like you gave the boys a bit of a hurry-up 2

“A pack of guys went out pretty fast and I hung behind them, but I wasn’t in a hurry to keep up with them. We were all pretty close together for the first 5km after which it started stretching out.”

“I didn’t actually see any other women after the start line, so I was just trying to pick off the men slowly. I did think I had heard a woman’s voice at one point and freak out, but there was no one there.”

“Kip Mather and I were taking turns overtaking each other until about the 12km mark where there was a massive downhill. In the last 2km, I saw that James Kuegler (my coach) had sprung up just behind me. It turns out he’d also been picking people off. I managed to finish 19 seconds ahead of him which is a credit to his coaching, and we got a great finish line pic!”

What’s the course like and what would you say to someone on the fence on entering next year?

“I had so much fun. It’s one of the most beautiful courses I’ve run. I’ve cycled a lot of it with my partner on our annual Te Ara Ahi trail adventure, so it was pretty special getting to race on those tracks.”

“There’s not a lot of elevation, and it was very runnable the whole way. Just a few stairs. I would 100% recommend entering, It’s not every day you get to run past frost covered geysers! The organization was great, and the marshals were some of the most creative I’ve seen. Just bring a pair of gloves!”

Full results available HERE, including the 10KM.

Follow along on Insta for more coverage.

Hanmer Springs Backyard Ultra

Saturday, 8th of August

The Hamner Springs Backyard Ultra was back for Round 2.

Midway through last week, with the South in the depths of a cold snap, conditions looked set to be particularly crisp. I’m sure I heard -8°C mentioned at one point!

But nothing could be as horrendous as last year’s conditions, which saw Michele Dean slip and slide her way to victory after 29 laps in the freezing sleet and rain, looking part athlete and part homeless bag lady.

It produced one of the moments of the year: Michele coming around the home bend to discover Simon Munro had dropped and she had won.

“Michele, guess what?”
“Pardon?”
“You’ve won.”
“Nooo waaay.”

You could see the exact moment Michele realised what she had achieved and, perhaps more importantly, that she could finally get out of the rain and in front of the fire.

Well, Michele was back in Hamnah to defend her title, come sleet, hail or shine.

Let’s take a geeze and see how she and the rest of the 83-strong crew got on:

At 9am Saturday, 83 forestpreneurs headed into the woods under blue skies and with minimal shrinkage.

The cold snap was easing and the forecast rain was missing in action.

All the signs were looking good for the field to push past last year’s inaugural winning total of 29 laps. No sleet must be worth at least 4 more!

Things were on track until 6pm, when darkness started to rear its ugly head.

4 runners suddenly dropped. Just 1 lap later, another 8 joined them at O’Flynn’s for happy hour.

I don’t think you can overstate just how long the night is during a winter BYU, especially down south in the bone-chilling cold.

By the time darkness had swallowed the forest, the field was left in splinters.

10 more pulled the pin 12 hours deep, meaning half the field was gone before the usual 100km midnight massacre!

Unfortunately, the cull hadn’t just come early. At midnight, another 17 runners were felled, having got the 100km they came for.

13 were left to fight through the early hours.

The night was particularly cruel.

By 4am, the final 3 had formed:

Michele Dean
Maddox Arona-Gault
Hamish Dodd

A couple of rookies and the defending champ.

Dodd was next to blink.

He had spent significantly more time lounging around base camp, averaging 40-minute laps and even throwing in an eye-watering 33 banger on lap 6.

But his time in the forest ended before dawn.

We were down to the final 2.

Dean vs Arona-Gault
The Mecca vs Churchur
V vs P
Old timer vs First timer.

The head-to-head lasted 2 laps before Arona-Gault came to a halt just before sunrise.

Dean finished lap 22 to reach 147.62km.

It was well short of testing her PB of 30 laps, but enough to become the last person standing and remain the only name ever etched onto the Hanmer Springs Backyard Ultra trophy.

Overall Winner:

🏆Michele Dean - 22 laps (147.62KM)

Top DNFs - Men 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️

☠️Maddox Arona-Gault - 21 laps (140.91KM)
☠️Hamish Dodd - 19 laps (127.49KM)
☠️Nathan Smith- 18 laps (120.78KM)

Top DNFs - Women 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

☠️Libby Gibbins - 17 laps (114.07KM)
☠️Allison Bechtel - 16 laps (107.36KM)
☠️Melissa Mcartney - 16 laps (107.36KM)

I gave Michele some homework to do on the plane and here’s what she had to say:

Last year you won in some horrendous weather conditions - what were the thoughts running through your head seeing the cold snap come through the middle of last week?

“To be honest i wasn’t worried about the weather . It is was it is. We would all be running in it so we are equals. Just come prepared with a positive mindset, good gear and extra plastic bags for your hands. Last years homeless bag lady look was very effective.”

What is it about Hamner that drew you back down for a 2nd year?

“I grew up in a small town like Hanmer Springs and absolutely adore the feel here. My friend Alex has a home in Hanmer and invited us down last year to help support Grum in his brand new event.”

“It was wonderful to get to come back again for this experience with Sarah and Alex (who also both ran in the backyard and helped crew me too). It’s so wholesome & the community made me feel so warmly welcomed . I even got to talk at the local primary school on Monday.”

You probably didn’t quite get the test you were looking for - how long were you dreaming you could have gone over the weekend?

“I’m not a fan of setting a number goal. I feel the brain is a very powerful tool and a “number” can be limiting. I think it’s easy for the body and brain to start to make strong “excuses “ once you’ve reached this “goal”. I just want to push myself to see what I’m capable of.”

Feel free to shoutout your corner

“Super grateful for all my training buddies who have accompanied me on my night missions, long runs, morning runs , gym sessions & chats . I’m grateful for the knowledge of my coach, this past training block I worked with Hannah Presswood at CMF/real health sports nutrition to help me dial in my nutrition/fueling strategies.”

“Special thanks to Hive Energy as they have been a delicious & supportive part of my training & racing. Shout out to Pure Sports Nutrition for providing me with the Sport Gels which went down very smoothly while looping . Lastly but not least , I’m so grateful for my bodies ability to do these awesome things and that my mind is willing.”

Thanks for your time, Michele! I look forward to seeing if you make it down again next year to make it 3 from 3.

If you have dreams and aspirations of making the NZ Satellite team before October, you’ve got 3 chances left.

• 5 September 2026 – Scenic Circles Backyard Ultra (Timaru)

• 12 September 2026 – Moturoa Backyard Ultra (Nelson)

• 20 September 2026 – Brighton’s Backyard Ultra (Dunedin)

I won’t be trying to make the NZ team, but I think all this reporting on backyards has finally caught up with me.

I think I’m gonna take the plunge and sign up for M*A*S*H, with entries having just opened.

It might not be until Wellington Anniversary Weekend, but I’ll need all the time I can get to avoid embarrassing myself in my first attempt at becoming a looper.

Full Results here, and follow Facebook for more photos and videos from the event.

The Meridian Hydro Half Results

Saturday, 8th of August

620 runners descended on Te Anau early Saturday morning for the Fiordland Trails Trust Hydro Half & 10K.

These trails aren’t exactly blowing up the gnarl meter, but I like to think we’re an inclusive newsletter. One that welcomes all trails, whether skinny, wide, flat or mountainous, scenic or just a bit shit.

Let’s all open our arms and embrace the results below.

Women’s podium:

🥇Margie Campbell - 1:25:34

🥈Kristy Eyles - 1:30:02

🥉Rebecca Vella-King - 1:31:38

Dunnydin’s favourite Strayan🦘, Margie “I Can’t Believe It’s Not Butter” Campbell took off like she’d seen a Redback in the portaloo.

Through the 6.5km checkpoint, she already had a 1-and-a-half-minute lead over Kristy Eyles, who had Brenda Russell and Rebecca Vella-King in toe.

By 11km, that lead had stretched beyond 2 minutes. Eyles was hanging tough, while Vella-King had cemented her spot in 3rd.

Campbell kept her thong firmly to the floor, tearing across the line 4-and-a-half minutes ahead of Eyles, who had enough left in the tank to hold off Vella-King.

Men’s podium:

🥇Hunter Gough - 1:16:45

🥈Hamish Elliott - 1:17:37

🥉Marijn Wouters - 1:23:33

Hunter Gough’s hot 2026 form continued as he got one over the defending Coast 2 Coast champ, Hamish “Missy” Elliott.

No mean feet.

So far this year, Gough has PB’d at the Southern Lakes Half in 1:13:18 and taken out the Southland XC Champs.

Not bad for a young buck who’s spent most of his time on 2 wheels.

I managed to get hold of Hunter, and here’s the lowdown on how the race actually played out.

How did the race play out at the front? It looks like you had a good battle with Hamish Elliott through the first half.

“The day started foggy, but thankfully it wasn’t too cold. From the start, it was Hamish, Marijn, and myself. Marijn set the early pace before Hamish took over until around 8km. I then took over and was feeling good, so I started pushing at about 11km.”

“I wasn’t thinking I’d be able to drop the double Coast to Coast champ up a climb, but a gap slowly started to form and then gradually got bigger. I stayed composed and continued to run controlled, slowly taking more time out of Hamish.”

“In the end, I finished about 50 seconds ahead and took the win. It was an amazing feeling to cross the finish line and take the tape for the first time in a half-distance race.”

Thanks for that, Hunter. Keep your eyes on this man in the world of multisport. Rising through the ranks at an alarming rate.

Full results available HERE, including the 10KM.

Follow along on Insta for more coverage.

Mountain Skag Winner for July

Congratulations, Scott “The Boogey Man” Bougen, for scaring everyone into voting for you!

This was a tight one, with only 1 vote in it.

But what’s wild is there were only 80-something votes and over 2k views.

Come on, people. This isn’t politics. Cast a bloody vote!

Tussock Traverse & RoF 2027 “On A Break”

It wasn’t the email I was hoping to get. It’s never nice when you get the “It’s not you, it’s me” chat. Unfortunately, that was exactly the email I got last week from Ohakune Charitable Events Trust.

The TLDR is that the Tussock Traverse and Ring of Fire will be taking a break in 2027.

Ewwww.

They used the B word.

Never a good sign.

I’ve heard rumours the 2 events took a financial hit this year, which obviously isn’t going to fly for a charitable trust.

So they’re heading back to the drawing board to seek new funding and partners to bring the events back in 2028.

The problem they’ve now got is that these events have been so on-again, off-again that it might as well be called the Ross of Fire.

So, if they announce in 2027 that they’re back for 2028, they’ll need to be very transparent about how they’ve made it work.

Just “Trust us” isn’t going to suffice.

Fingers crossed they can find the magic formula. I still truly believe the Ring of Fire could become one of the iconic events on the calendar, much like Kepler and Old Ghost have become part of the community story in their towns.

Fingers crossed Ohakune and the team can find a way to replicate the success of those 2 races.

Now, this doesn’t just leave us with 2 fewer races on the 2027 calendar.

It’s also left us without an NZ Trail Short Course Champs & World Champs qualifier.

I always thought the Tussock Traverse was a bizarre choice to host the Short Course Trail selection race for the World Champs in South Africa.

The race is only 32km and relatively flat and non-technical for the area.

Previously, we’ve used Dunedin 3 Peaks + 1, a 55km race, to select the teams for Austria and Spain. By all accounts the Table Mountain trails is just as tough, rocky and techy, so it seemed crazy to move away from that for the next selection round.

Not that you’d know any of this from looking at the Afflettuce NZ news.

I was going to let them off because the Commonwealth Games have been on, but they found the time to post the selection process for the next round of the 2027 Road Running Champs, so…

I understand they might not know what the replacement race is yet, but it would be handy to at least put it out there and explain the situation.

Here’s what I think the options are when I look at the current race calendar:

3 Peaks + 1

It’s been tried and tested over the last few years, and the team there put on a great race.

The majority of the current crop racing to make the team have competed there in recent years, so they know exactly what to expect.

It’s also significantly longer than the Tussock Traverse, with a tough, testing course that would provide a proper test of anyone trying to make the grade.

Crater Rim Ultra

Crater Rim was home to the Long Course Champs for a number of years, but always struggled to pull decent numbers for the championship race in the 82k race.

The Crater Rim 53km has always attracted a strong field and feels like the natural distance for the event. It’s testing, a good length, and would make a worthy selection for a race.

Churchur also makes plenty of sense. It’s accessible from all the main centres, with loads of flights in and out.

The Spectacle

They’re already holding the Long Course Champs with the 100km, so why not make it a true spectacle and send the Short Course Champs there too?

It keeps things simple and easy to follow. It also makes Afflettuce NZ’s job nice and easy, with only 1 news story to post a couple of weeks late.

The obvious drawback is that anyone wanting to take a crack at both the Short and Long Course Champs wouldn’t get the chance.

Nelson has decent flights from most centers as well. But is the 50km course tough enough to select a team to race the infamously technical trails of Table Mountain at the World Champs?

Shotover Ultra & Motatapu Ultra

I have no idea if either organiser would be into the idea, but both races have a reputation for being tough, are a good length and have the capacity to take on more entries, with smaller fields in the ultra.

A bit further to get to, sure, but either option would be amazing with a stacked field going at it.

Whatever way it goes, hopefully it’s announced soon so athletes looking to make the team know what race they need to set in their crosshairs.

Let me know what you think should be the new selection race

Things You May Have Missed

The Hot Mess Back On The Airways

There’s a reason I prefer to type instead of speak.

But I also love promoting friends and people in the community doing awesome things, so I’m putting my inner Kiwi away.

If you want to hear plenty of uneducated opinions on topics you most likely know more about than me, check out the Chafing The Dream Podcast episode featuring yours truly, which aired last week.

I caught up with Mal and Dwayne in Whangas while I was up there for the Northland 100.

These guys are doing an awesome job promoting the Northland running scene and deserve all the support they can get.

Inaugural Canterbury Winter Trail Series Complete

Round 4 is in the books, with Sam Manson’s inaugural series coming to a close at Inverary Station over the weekend.

From the chatter I’ve seen online, this may have been the most popular location.

Big-time kudos to Sam for putting his money where his mouth is and putting this on. Every one of us has great ideas. Not many of us bring them to life.

Good shit.

In the next few weeks, I’ll try to nab some of his time and get a feel for how everything went from his side of the megaphone.

Kaweka Challenge 25 & 50K Sold Out

If you’ve been sitting around with a picket firmly up your jacksey, you’ve left it too late.

The relaunched Kaweka Challenge has already closed applications for the 25km and 50km. Both distances are oversubscribed, and the team are now working through the applications.

If you still want to see what it’s all about, the shorter 12.5km remains open. I’m sure they’ll also need an army of volunteers if you’re going to be in the area.

Someone Sending In The Heavies?

Alright, maybe I’m just a bit paranoid, but it doesn’t feel like a coincidence that a few days after posting about potentially launching my own NZ Vert Champs, I get the above email.

I don’t know if Afflettuce NZ has hired King Lucas. Or maybe it was Cruise The Cargill.

I must have got 20 emails telling me that Crush The Cargill IS the official NZ Vert Champs!

Either way, I can’t keep track of my EFTPOS card, let alone my Bitcoin wallet.

So all I have to say to you, King Lucas, is that you can go and tell whoever sent you that they can go…

Upcoming Events

The Mukamuka Munter - Brought to you by WRECK’d

If you missed last week’s newsletter, go back and read it. It goes into detail about the new wilderness club in town bringing the classic Mukamuka Munter back to life.

For years it was one of, if not THE iconic wilderness race in the region before coming to an abrupt halt in 2024.

Things didn’t look great. But with a little mouth-to-mouth and a few chest compressions, the Munter is back and looking healthier than ever.

Even though it’s got a new paint job, nothing’s really changed. So I’m gonna sneakily copy and paste the 2023 preview from when this thing had about 200 readers.

Mukamuka Munter 32km📏 - 900m⛰️

CR: 🏃‍♂️Daniel Jones - 2:31 | 🏃‍♀️ Piret Klade - 3:10

The Mukamuka Munter is the best Wilderness Race south of Kaitoke and North of Picton. It has it all.

⛱️Wild coastal running

🏞️Giant river valleys

👆A near-vertical climb

🙃A neck-breaking descent

🥶A fresh river crossing

🌲Flowing native bush trails

🛣️A tarmac sprint finish.

🌭A guaranteed sausage at the finish or your money back

All of that inside 32 km, only 45 minutes from Wellington.

All 120 spots are sold out, making this one of the biggest events in the Munter’s history.

It may not sound much compared to Tarawera, but this is a full-on grassroots wilderness race.

No UTMB Stones here, just plenty of rocks.

No aid stations here. This race is designed to test you and get you out of your comfort zone - but still, an achievable race if you’ve put in the hard work.

Pete McFarlane has proved this. He finished the last 2 munters in his 70s💪.

If you want to announce yourself on the Wellington trail scene, it’s the race to win.

The race attracts a strong field from the local club scene, with Dan Jones winning multiple times and holding the current CR.

The rumour mill has been working overdrive; there is word on the street that there might be a rare Sam McCutcheon sighting this weekend in the Orongorongo valley.

All very exciting. Fingers crossed the weather plays ball this weekend and the river stays just low enough for an A course return.

You can find out more about the Mukamuka Munter HERE.

#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week

This week’s hit comes from long-time caller Ryan Tait.

Goblin Forest in the snow? Doesn’t get much better than that!

He’s now in the running for the monthly $70 voucher - check out www.mountainskag.com to see what you could be walking away with.

Tag @trailrunning.nz (NOTE THE “.”) and use #mountainskag. DM on Instagram or email trailrunningnz@gmail.com to enter (email is the most reliable).

Picking up what I’m putting down? Send it to a mate who you know will be into it too!

Share

Or leave a tip

Tip TRNZ

P.S: I saw this post on Instagram a couple of days ago. I never actually knew the origins of Crush The Cargill!

P.P.S: If you still somehow haven’t got sick of me I also recorded a monologue of thoughts to close out VERTual July over the weekend.

It’s 12:21am Sunday, about 2 hours later than I’d hoped.

Today I went 1 v 1 with my little maniac while Mum’s away for the weekend. It was a close fight, which I think I lost by TKO when I fell asleep in his bed😂.

But here we are.

I wanted to take the opportunity of a Saturday night at home by myself to record some thoughts and feelings, and give some air to the feedback from VERTual July.

This could be one-and-done in this format.

We’ll see how it goes.

The audio quality could be vomit-inducing, I have no idea🤢.

Everyone can listen to this, but haven’t emailed it out as I’m sure there are plenty of people who have heard enough about VERTual July!

Have a great rest of your weekend.

Bradley

AI TRIGGER WARNING: First 50 seconds is my favourite song from VERTual July

PS: A big final thank you to the below sponsors for helping bring this to life.

Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news

Welcome to Trail Running NZ. This newsletter is a bit like the Via Alpina: long, painful, a few peaks and a lot of valleys. If you tried to read every edition from front to back, it would probably take you about 60 days🤔

Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:

🏃🏃‍♀️VERTual July Results

👑NZ Vert Champs?

☢️Get WRECK’D

⛰️💊Mountain Skag Vote for July

😎Upcoming Events

⛰️💊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.

WE INTERRUPT TODAY’S NEWSLETTER…

…to bring you something far more exciting than the drivel I had planned for the opening.

She’s done it! How good!

Sophie Woods, who I’ve only been calling Sophie Grant for the past 3 years (what a twat😣) has knocked off the Via Alpina in 28d 17h 59m, claiming the OVERALL FKT after traveling more than 2,000km with 117,000m of vert.

That’s an average of roughly 70km and 4,000m of vert every day for nearly 29 days.

What a shame she forgot to enter VERTual July!

But seriously, this is huge.

It’s not every day a Kiwi sets an overall FKT on the other side of the world. I’m struggling to think of the last one.

She’s even managed to grab the attention of the 1 News sports desk!

Congratulations to Sophie and the entire crew involved in pulling this off.

What a monumental achievement.

I’m sure there’ll be some incredible footage to come, along with a few podcast interviews for us to listen to over the next few weeks.

Rest up, Sophie, and soak up all that glory!

Check out the above Instagram post and click through to the end to see a clip of her finishing.

VERTual July Results

Alright, where were we?🧐

The Dirty Dozen had just become the Final 11, with Ryan “Machete” Hattle deciding that having 4 police cars pull up on him was a sign from the VERTualverse that he had taken things far enough.

That left 11 to take on the final 3 days and remaining 9,000m.

🏃Brendan Varty
🏃Craig Thomson
🏃Chris Taylor
🏃Steve Tripp
🏃‍♀️Sara Vermeulen
🏃‍♀️Emma Rogers
🏃Geoff Williamson
🏃Dean Stewart
🏃Isaac Tripp
🏃Scott Bougen
🏃Simon Angus

Days 29 and 30 went like clockwork, with 0 eliminations. Everyone knocked off the combined 5,900m like they hadn’t already stacked a minimum of 40,600m that month.

It was official.

We had a VERT-off on our hands⚔️.

The rules I had drawn up, well before I thought there was any chance of having 11 people competing on Day 31, were simple: the fastest to accumulate the vert that day was the winner.

All activities needed to record both the up and down, apart from the final push to 3,100m. Once you clocked up the required vert, you could stop your activity.

I think they call this foreshadowing, or something fancy like that. What I mean is, that is an important piece of info for later.

Tony Sharpe, Trail Running NZ’s chief weatherman, sent me this message on Thursday:

Polar blast, you say?

Advantage to the lower North Island crew: Simon Angus on the urban streets of Wellyworld, Craig Thomson up the Sunny Kapiti Coast and Brendan Varty over in Masterton.

Anyway, the scene was set.

How did it all play out?

Craig “Flight Mode” Thomson set the early benchmark, completing his 3,100m in 3 hours 56 minutes and finishing with a massive 900m push up Kapakapanui.

Brendan “The Kid” Varty decided to have a sleep-in and run in the arvo, rather than continue with his increasingly early starts, which had got down to about 2:30 am. He edged out Craig by just 2 minutes, posting 3 hours 54 minutes on his local hill out the back of the farm.

Sara “Pocket Rocket” Vermeulen changed up her tactics, posting 1 activity per rep to keep an eye on her speed in the ever-deteriorating conditions down in Churchur.

It was in Sara’s Instagram story that the first hint dropped that Emma “Pipe Crusher” Rogers was up to something crazy. Sara went on to post 4 hours 49 minutes, taking the top female spot and 6th overall.

Down in Dunners, Isaac “Don’t” Tripp and Steve “Just The” Tripp, along with Wild Chris Taylor, were joined by the devout followers of Frigill on the summit of Mt Cargill at 7 am. They then went on a tour of vert around Dunnydin.

Sand dunes, windy AF grassy knolls and a stop for lunch were followed by some good old-fashioned reps on Leith Saddle, before hitting Emerson’s for the after-party.

No speed records were broken, but they definitely took the most style points in probably the most testing conditions of the whole month.

My Name Is Geeeeeeoff Williamson made a call to his favoured Telecom Line. He was posting good speed, but conditions grew increasingly dangerous as the day went on, and he struggled to keep warm.

Geoff was well on pace for the win. The question was whether he could descend fast enough and warm himself up enough to keep going.

Simon “CurraNZ” Angus overcame some early sabotage, with a skip truck cutting off one of his road hot spots on Hay Street. Across a few efforts, he posted a hard-to-beat 3 hours 9 minutes.

A smoking time. Even more impressive is that I still don’t think Simon’s wife knows what he’s been up to.

It was about then that a photo appeared of Emma being crushed by the Pipe down in Churchur, ultimately bringing her massive day to an end. A grumpy Achilles meant pulling the pin at 5,600m, still enough to take the most vert for both the day and the month. She finished July with 55,612m.

Guuurl, you are truly Emmazing…

Then word came in from Scott “The Boogey Man” Bougen that he had listened to his sensible side. He was officially a Did Not Start on Day 31.

A massive effort regardless.

With one of the top contenders officially ruled out, all eyes turned south.

Geoff and Dean “Martha” Stewart were the only 2 left who could knock Simon off his perch. Dean had knocked out a few 300m reps, and his pace was there or thereabouts. Meanwhile, Geoff was huddled up at home, trying to warm his body and mind for one last effort.

Geoff finished his day 10 minutes off the mark, posting 3 hours 19 minutes. A valiant effort in some sh💩thouse conditions regardless.

Finally, we got what we had all been waiting for. It felt like forever for Dean Stewart to upload the final piece of the puzzle.

In a tactical display, Dean had saved his final 1,000m for one incredibly steep push up the side of Roy’s Peak.

Cue the “Ahhhh” music as you remember my terrible foreshadowing from earlier: the Day 31 rules allowed the activity to finish as soon as the full 3,100m had been completed.

Not everyone has a 1,000m climb in their backyard. But not everyone is prepared to go full lactic lunatic in tough wintry conditions to get it done either.

His final time:

2 hours 58 minutes.

Sub-3 hours for the full 3,100 m effort.

Enough to take the top spot by 11 minutes.

Congratulations, Dean. That is quite extraordinary.

I managed to get hold of Dean, as I was keen to hear a bit more about how his month had panned out.

I know this is getting long, but I’m trying to soak up as much of the VERTual July limelight as I can before everyone moves on with their lives so feel free to scroll by.

This one’s for the hardcore.

What was your first thought when you heard of the concept of VERTual July?

“I was pretty excited and thought I had a good advantage as had been training lots for no particular event. Just keeping the fitness on standby for the next fun challenge.”

What was your plan heading in? Did you think 31 days was possible?

“I hoped It would all be wrapped up in the 3rd week. But that began to look unlikely so just sat in and watched it unfold.”

“Kept it a day by day decision to carry on until around day 20 where you’ve gone past the point of no return. The only way I deemed acceptable to quit was a major injury or loss of function on the worksite.”

You went to Fiji fairly early in the piece - how long were you over there and talk us through the challenges of getting VERT while travelling and having a holiday?

“Day 4-11 was in Fiji. I remember telling my flatmates ‘if I get to day 11 I’ll go all the way for sure.’ Luckily had a sweet 20m hill on a good gradient where I was staying.”

“Day 11 was a travel day stuck in transit. The gps was struggling to pickup the hotel stairs so had to resort to a 3m high garden path. Which took about 4.5hrs to get the 1100m was a bit grim.”

“Luckily my dad, who hadn’t been for a run in about 20 years, turned up in his good clothes and knocked out the last 70 reps with me.”

Was there a moment when you came closest to pulling the pin?

“Day 24 was definitely the toughest as had a pretty freezing night up Roy’s peak in a snow storm the previous night. Left me feeling a bit crook.”

“But this was the day I discovered the suno song of the day Bradley had been putting up and what a hit day 24 was so locked back in and did the full 2400 after work.”

As we got closer to the end and we still had 12 in and it became apparent this was going to shift from survival to a drag race on day 31 - how did your approach change?

“Definitely a bit of thought went into a strategy, I spent lots of time on strava maps wondering if pavement would be faster. Especially as day 30/31 forecast looked pretty bad.”

“Was honestly pretty psyched out by Simon’s daily speed. So prepared to complete the challenge for the reward of fitness.”

Going into Day 31 the weather was looking a bit suspect down your way, what was your plan to finish on top?

“About 9.30pm on day 30 I was up locals route on Roy’s peak giving the track a little trim with my building nips in the pouring rain.”

“Just so I didn’t have to get hit in the face by so many wet bushes and thorns. It was getting very wet which was pretty disheartening as I knew it would be very slow tomorrow if the hard clay turned soft.”

“After those shenanigans and waking to more heavy rain I didn’t even get out of bed for a run on race morning. Luckily by lunch it was actually quite warm and I got a few reps in.”

“Had 1500m done in daylight on a dry track. Then did the 2nd half in the dark. Descending a technical locals route like my life depended on it was a real adrenaline rush. Hands were getting pretty cut up dragging them through the bush’s trying to slow down on corners on the 33 degree gradient trail.”

“At 2100m my descending was done I just hoped the snow line wouldn’t be to far below 1000m and I’d have a pretty clean run to the finish.”

Run us through that final 1000m push; were you confident you had enough left to chase down Simon’s time?

“Yes felt like the work was done. Knew I had an hour to climb 1000m at 33 percent gradient which is good going as long as I didn’t hit heavy snow.”

What were the conditions like, and was that one of the hardest things you've done?

“I had a mostly enjoyable time it’s always nice to be in the hills looking down on Wanaka. Only got proper cold once and got through mostly niggle free. Not particularly the hardest but definitely the most consistent I’ve been at showing up.”

Lastly heres space to shout out and family, friends and sponsors etc

“Shout out to Bee fast for making epic bars and gels. Tony my flatmate for keeping me locked in until day 14. And to my wife for her support and patience through out the challenge.”

Thanks for taking the time to fill us in on your July, Dean.

But really, a massive congratulations to all 10 finishers and everyone who took on the challenge.

I didn’t genuinely believe anyone would finish this when we started.

It turns out you all believed in this challenge more than I did.

The level of commitment you displayed to get this done brings a tear to my eye.

I’m proud of every one of you and truly honoured that you chose to give so much of your time and effort to VERTual July.

Turns out Al Shelton was right.

There ARE crazies everywhere.

I didn’t create a beast. I just found them!

Finally, a few shout-outs from me.

First and foremost, the biggest possible mega kudos to Tom Peck.

He answered the call when I sent him an email, maybe 10 days out from the start, as I was beginning to realise the stupendous level of spreadsheets I had signed myself up for.

Tom brought the challenge to life. He put it on display for everyone to see.

Now, I know everyone who finished is an absolute beast. But I suspect that extra visibility pushed people further than they initially thought they could go. They could see how many others were still in and kept dragging each other forward.

The bigger the base, the higher the tip, right?

Anyway, I got distracted.

THANK YOU, TOM, for bringing this thing to everyone’s screens.

Next up, the sponsors.

That’s It Anti-Chafe!

They were the first to comment on my Instagram reel when I started talking about what I thought VERTual July could become:

“We’re in.”

I had never worked with That’s It before, but I liked their enthusiasm.

I’ve now met the team vertually and tried their products. It’s been great to have their support and, in return, be able to support a Kiwi business from the regions.

They’ve got a whole range of products, from ones that stop your bits from burning to ones that make bits burn on purpose (That would be the hot rub, don’t get them confused.)

If you’re in the market, give them a look here.

Merrell NZ

For the 2nd time, José and the pussycats from Merrell NZ have got behind one of my silly ideas.

Merrell might not be a Kiwi business, but Nevada, the company that distributes them here, is a family-owned business based out of Canterbury. They’ve been bringing some of the world’s top sports brands into the country since 1978.

Now, I’ll happily admit I had never tried a Merrell running shoe before they sent me a free pair.

I’ve now had 2 pairs and can say, 100% hand on heart, that they’re the 2 best pairs of free shoes I’ve ever had.

Check them out. Merrell is so much more than an American hiking brand these days.

Kinisi

Ian and the team at Kinisi, as you all know, recently started sponsoring the Results Desk. Being based in Wānaka, they were a natural fit to join the VERTual challenge.

I can’t speak highly enough of the team. I’ve only ever had great experiences with Kinisi, most of them as a customer long before they came on as a sponsor of the newsletter.

Check them out. They’re not just a Wānaka running store. They’re a bit like Liam Neeson; they can find you anywhere.

Huntaway Run Co

Inia and Vicki didn’t hesitate when I asked if they wanted in on the challenge.

They’re great people who in my opinion, make the best shorts in the game. I was once a devout T8’er, but I’ve been converted.

If you’re in the market, check out their shorts. And their tops.

They can take a lot of sh💩t. (I’ve tested this out, so you don’t have to.)

Creepers

Creepers seemed like a natural fit for the challenge.

They’re another great NZ brand, based out of the Metropolis of Ashburton, that has become a dominant force in the global trail running scene in just a few years.

I have a lot of respect for Shaun and the way he’s gone about building the business and how big he’s prepared to dream.

If you’ve never been creeped out, check them out here.

Singletrack Collective

Nic Ayson from Singletrack Collective has put up with my subpar training and diva mid-pack attitude for a couple of years now.

In my experience, she’s one of the most supportive, patient and experienced coaches out there.

If you’re looking for a coach who knows when to put an arm around you and when to strangle you, flick Nic an email at singletrackcollective@gmail.com or send her a DM on Instagram to see if it’s a good fit.

Do Ya’ll Want NZ Vert Champs?

WHAT IF THE VERT DIDN’T HAVE TO END?

I obviously had far too much time to think while out hunting vert during my own 12-day effort, which now sounds ridiculously non-hardcore.

It got me thinking…

Do we want an NZ Vert Champs?

Is this something people would actually want to enter?

Here’s the pitch:

6 hours. 12 hours. One hill.

Climb and descend the same hill for 6 or 12 hours.

Every completed lap adds to your total vert.

When the final horn goes, whoever has climbed the most wins.

There would be women’s, men’s and age-group titles, proper prize money and I’m thinking championship belts rather then boring old trophies.

But this wouldn’t be just for the hardcores hunting a national title.

There would be vertical milestones, rewards and discounts to unlock along the way. You might be hunting 2,500m, 5,000m or a full Everest.

At the bottom, we’d build a tent city, like you see at backyard ultras, where runners could eat, change shoes and receive crew support.

The possibilities are endless: live leaderboards, live music and whatever other stupid ideas we come up with along the way.

Essentially, it would take everything we love about VERTual July, mush it all together and spit it out at the bottom of one hill.

I’ve got a few ideas about which hill could work. I think a wide, non-technical course would be important for getting the best out of everyone, but at this stage, it’s all just an idea.

Does that sound like something you’d be keen to enter?

Reply to this email and I’ll add you to the list of people I’ll contact first if we manage to drag the NZ Vert Champs into existence.

Get WREC’kd

In 2019, I found myself scrambling to the side of an ever-narrowing valley in search of the “seam-sealed” jacket I had crammed into my Camel Pack.

Hail was bouncing off the boulders that we were climbing all around me. It was at that moment I began to question whether signing up for this race, at the suggestion of the race director during a group run, was the smartest thing I’d ever done.

Well, the hail stopped after a minute. Another minute later, the jacket was crammed back into my pack, as the steep climb up to South Saddle is enough to warm you on all but the worst of Wellington’s days.

I went on to complete the first of my 2 Mukamuka Munters before eventually creating and course-directing an even Munterier version: the Mega Munter.

But that’s a story for another time.

Sadly, this staple of the Wellington trail-running calendar hasn’t been held since 2023. But that’s all about to change, thanks to a new club in town called WREC’kd.

I caught up with Chief Wrecker Callum “The Hammer” Mallett to get the lowdown on WREC’kd and its inaugural event, the 2026 Mukamuka Munter, happening in 2 weekends’ time.

What exactly is WREC’kd?

“WREC’kd is an imperfect backronym for the Wilderness Running and Endurance Collective.”

“We’re an Incorporated Society for promoting grassroots wilderness running. We organise events for our members, then collaborate with other, volunteer organisations doing like-minded things so it can all happen.”

What was the moment that made you realise Wellington needed something like this?

“The vision was bigger than Wellington, I probably realised in the moment it was quickly built at a pub on Abel Smith Street, with the help of the most supportive founding members.”

“Like many things, the races we love rely on a surprisingly small number of volunteers. When the Mukamuka Munter and Aorangi Undulator went offline and incognito. I felt a growing gap between informal community groups and commercial running activity was becoming unsustainable.”

“This model already exists in other adventure sports—tramping clubs have been doing it for generations, and the FEAR Society showed what was possible in adventure racing on conservation land.”

How is WREC’kd different from an ordinary running club, a commercial race organiser or an informal group like Big Sunday Runs?

“It’s probably somewhere in the middle of all three.”

“Like an Afflettuce NZ affiliated club, we are membership-based and “some-what” democratic.”

“Like the influencer “clubs”, things are informal and our adventures look good on the ‘gram.”

“Big Sunday Runs? We’re align quite closely in philosophy- introducing people to amazing places through running.”

“We also organise races, but unlike a commercial event company, profit isn’t the objective—purpose is.”

“For the long-term health of trailing running and such: accessibility is a big thing.”

“Being a non-profit allows us to focus on preserving classic events, creating new ones where they make sense, advocating for public access, sharing knowledge, and encouraging people to explore responsibly.”

“At the end of the day, I don’t think anyone signs up to these races because of the diluted sports drink at the aid stations or the Temu medallion at the finish. People come for the experience, and to share it all with others doing great things.”

What does being a member look like?

“WREC’kd isn’t really another running club. I’d guess about 95% of our members already belong to another running community.”

“Membership isn’t just about getting cheaper race entries. It’s about helping build something, and collaborating.”

“Members can volunteer, then even volunteering for other groups like Greater Wellington Backcountry, the Conservation Trusts or local LandSAR are good things to shape and support future events.”

“Members come along to social runs and recee outings, contribute ideas, and support the organisation over the long term. Some people will race everything we put on. Others might marshal or simply believe these events are worth protecting.”

“It’s still early days, but beyond the Mukamuka Munter, Aorangi Undulator and whatever other adventures emerge, we’d love to run workshops and other member events as the collective grows.”

The Mukamuka Munter is the inaugural club event for WREC’kd. What is it about this race that made you want to save it?

“Full disclaimer: I’ve never actually raced the Mukamuka. I entered the final edition under Martini but got myself injured, then somehow managed to get even more injured while marshalling in my haste to get to the beers and sausages...worth it!”

“But the race itself has an incredible history. The Munter in various guises has introduced runners to this corner of the Remutaka Forest Park for around two decades, building on an even longer tradition that includes the Wellington Trampers’ Marathon (1930-1995) through the Orongorongos.”

“It’s rugged, unpredictable and a proper wilderness experience. You get exposed coastline, remote bush, technical river running and some delightful flowy stuff too. At the same time, its a great introduction to backcountry running, and the sort of race that complements all the other grassroots events about Wellington.”

“The reality is that when races like this disappear, they often don’t come back. This has existed in many forms, so its obviously what the people want!”

“The Aorangi Undulator was my favourite race. For many others, it was the Mukamuka. It seemed a shame for either of those stories to end.”

Has anything changed for the 2026 running of the Munter?

“The heart of the event hasn’t changed, and I have had no temptation to smooth off any rough edges.”

“We’ve strengthened the safety planning to fit within the box of the society. The race was organised and documented really well, much of as it was under previous DOC concessions is same-same. Entries and a lot of the behind-the-scenes administration have been modernised.”

“But it’s still meant to feel like an adventure...there’ll still be sausages and a beer waiting at the finish.”

What do you hope somebody running their first Munter in 2026 experiences when they reach the finish?

“There are number of first timers, and that is really exciting (somewhat nerve wracking too).”

“More than anything, I hope they leave with a sense that they’ve discovered a part of Wellington they didn’t know existed.”

“I hope they’ll be talking about coming back, and considering the other fine races locally - the Tararua Mountain Race, Aorangi Undulator and Jumbo-Holdsworth Trail Race.”

In three years, what are you hoping WREC’kd looks like?

“It’s been an interesting time to start an organisation like this. Adverse to the admin and bureaucracy, I never thought I’d find trail running, public land and politics feeling so connected.”

“Alas, I’d love to see a hearty volunteer community, some new races or traditions on the calendar, and that WREC’kd can best represent our sport, public access and making the trail running accessible to more people.”

“If people look at a race or other such challenge that’s thriving in 2029 and don’t even realise WREC’kd played a part in keeping it alive, I’d actually be pretty happy with that.”

“The goal here isn’t really about building our profile, its building the profile of wilderness running, for all of us.”

Thanks for your time, Callum.

It’s great to see one of Wellington’s iconic grassroots wilderness races back on the calendar. Fingers crossed everything goes well and we eventually see the infamous Aorangi Undulator back on the menu too.

If you want to find more out about WREC’kd and the Mukamuka Munter, click Here.

Mountain Skag Vote 4 July

It’s time to decide who’s walking away with the Mountain Skag trophy for July

Here are your contenders:

Vote for your favourite below! One of them will be stumbling away with a $70 Mountain Skag Voucher. I’ve removed the names so it isn’t a popularity contest.

Upcoming Events

We’re going from 0 to hero this week with a swag of events on, mainly down south. Fingers crossed the forecast cold snap has started to ease come the end of the week….

Hamener Springs Backyard Ultra - Sat Aug 8th

Meridian Hydro Half Marathon - Sat Aug 8th

Run The Forest - Sat Aug 8th

Mecca Trail Run & Walk: Riverhead Forest - Sun Aug 9th

Canterbury Winter Trail Run Series 4: Inverary Station - Sun Aug 9th

#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week

This weeks hit comes with a side of wasabi.

Allira Hanczakowski sent this in from her traverse across the Japanese Alps.

I’m trying to decide whether she’s standing there soaking it all up or staring across the ridge thinking:

“How the fark am I going to get across that?!”

She’s now in the running for the monthly $70 voucher - check out www.mountainskag.com to see what you could be walking away with.

Tag @trailrunning.nz (NOTE THE “.”) and use #mountainskag. DM on Instagram or email trailrunningnz@gmail.com to enter (email is the most reliable).

Picking up what I’m putting down? Send it to a mate who you know will be into it too!

Share

Or leave a tip

Tip TRNZ

PS: Would the world be a better place if everyone had to climb atleast one hill per day?

Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news

Welcome to Trail Running NZ. Think of this as the Commonwealth Games version of iRunfar. Kind of the same, but without the world-class talent behind the keys😝.

Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:

🏃🏃‍♀️The Northland 100 Results

☠️VERTual July

🎯Things You May Have Missed

😎Upcoming Events:

⛰️💊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.

Wow, what a weekend!

I flew out of Wellyworld early Friday morning to support my wife Brooke in the Northland 100’s 82 kilometer race with her running bestie.

AKA, keeping the 3-year-olds busy, stopping them from falling off Whangārei Falls and cataloguing every playground in painstaking detail😝.

Much to my dismay, the forecasts were right.

When we landed, the weather was cold, windy and served with a side of rain. Nothing farks me off more than paying money to leave Wellington, only to arrive somewhere with Wellington weather🤬.

What’s worse, I forgot to pack a skivvy.

But it wouldn’t have mattered anyway.

As always, the warm welcome up North made the missing skivvy redundant, and I was stoked to check out the future home of Chris and Helen from His & Her Events.

They’re opening a dedicated running store and community hub in Whangārei called The Hut HQ, which also doubled as race rego for the weekend. I bumped into, Shannon Rhodes up from the South on a tropical holiday, helping out at rego the night before running the 100 miles, what a legend.

It looks and feels grouse!😎

Anyway, enough about me. There are plenty of races to hear about, so let's slide on into the Results Desk brought to you by Kinisi.

The Northland 100

Saturday, July 25

Steady rain and a stiff breeze couldn’t dampen the atmosphere for year 2 of the Northland 100.

Ben Fraser on the mic letting rip once again, firing everyone up, with Chris The Boss laying down the law in the starting corral with 250 runners ready to slide their way around the Glenbervie forest.

And most importantly, I don’t think I’ve ever seen such a good ratio of portaloos to runners.

Let’s start at the top and work our way down:

📏165KM | ⛰️4400M

Men’s podium:

🥇Blake Schimanski - 17:39:17

🥈Shannon Rhodes - 19:43:59

🥉Matt O’Maigh - 23:16:46

Blake “Schmashed Em Bro” Schimanski called his shot pre-race, with talk of sub-16 hours entering the chat after his final long-run reccie of the Northland 100 course.

Well, he may have missed his mark by well over an hour and a half, but he still schmashed it out of the park, shattering the benchmark set by Magic Mike Lea last year and adding the Northland 100 title next to the shiny Spectacle 2025 Miler trophy on the mantel.

Lucky for Blake, the shorter distances started at the same time and this was a looped course. Otherwise, it would have been one longely run.

His lead over Stefan Ozich was already 8 minutes at the first pass of the Lookout aid station, just 11 km in, with eventual runner-up Shannon “Country” Rhodes more than 11 minutes back.

Schimanski continued stretching the field across the opening lap, returning to HQ at 41 km with his lead over Ozich out to 38m48s.

He was also only a couple of minutes behind David Nielsen, who was leading the 100 km race.

Behind Ozich, Rhodes warmed into the race, moving from 5th to 3rd, while Matt O’Maigh climbed from 7th at 11 km to 4th by 52 km.

Rhodes closed the gap on Ozich during the 2nd lap and carried a 3-minute lead into the 3rd.

Ozich fired back, reclaiming 2nd by the next aid station before blowing the gap over Rhodes out to 35 minutes by the time they reached HQ for the 2nd time, 123 km deep.

But at what cost?

Out front, Schimanski remained untouchable. He had already passed through HQ in a scorching 12:18:07, more than an hour ahead of Ozich.

At this stage, sub-16 was still alive, but would Blake risk it for the biscuit or pull back and protect the win with such a monster lead?

Schimanski reached the Lookout aid station for the 8th and final time with the sub-16 dream dead somewhere along those long forestry roads.

He could afford to walk the final 11 km if he wanted. His lead was more than 2 hours over Rhodes, who had moved into 2nd after Ozich pulled the pin at 134 km due to some respiratory issues.

Schimanski slipped and slidededed his way home to victory in 17:39:17. Those final k’s may not have been pretty, but he had done more than enough for a MallowPuff, setting the new mark for anyone heading north next July.

Rhodes kept his cool, finishing 2nd in 19:43:59.

With Ozich out, O’Maigh and Sione Motu’apuaka inherited the fight for the final podium position.

O’Maigh just held on for 3rd in 23:16:46, with a raging Motu’apuaka devouring a 1h16m deficit and missing the podium by just 3m48s after nearly 24 hours of racing.

Here’s Blake to fill us in on his spin around the Berv:

What was the plan heading into Northland 100? I saw talk of sub-16 hours! How did it play out on race day?

“Yeah goal heading into northland was to get somewhere in the 15hr range,
felt on track at half way, but those long forestry roads caught up to me and absolutely destroyed my quads.”

“Second half ended up with a lot of death marching but made it in the end, was great to have my dad pacing me for the final loop, telling me to start running again every time I tried walking.”

“Was an awesome atmosphere at the event too, coming through the event base every 40kms gave a good boost of energy.”

Thanks for taking the time to fill us in Blake. How cool having your Dad pace you!

Women’s podium:

🥇Sonya King - 28:47:17

🥈Chrissie Todd - 29:07:23

🥉Cynthia Chan - 30:56:06

Sonya King from Dairy Flat returned to Glenbervie with some unfinished business after her race ended on medical advice at 80 km last year.

This time, she left her run late.

Very, very late.

Chrissie Todd led the women’s race from the get-go and was still almost 52 minutes ahead of King with just 12 km remaining.

What happened next? Unfortunately, the TRNZ Research Department has suffered several job losses and budget cuts in recent times. AKA, it’s completely farking useless😂.

I haven’t been able to get hold of anyone involved, so I don’t know whether Chrissie ran into trouble, Sonya went full beast mode or there was some combination of the two.

What the results tell us is that King took the lead somewhere during that final leg and crossed the line in 28:47:17, removing the ‘un’ from her unfinished business and winning by 20 minutes.

Todd held on for silver in 29:07:23, with Cynthia Chan completing the women’s podium in 30:56:06.

All 3 women who started the 165 km made it home, which deserves a mention given the tough and slippery overnight conditions that saw 8 of the 27 starters drop out.

📏105KM | ⛰️2800M

Women’s podium:

🥇Hannah Presswood - 11:58:58

🥈Crystal Bartlett - 12:51:10

🥉Grace Morton - 13:38:51

Hannah “Queen Of The North” Presswood once again flew up to protect what is rightfully hers. If it’s got North in the title, she’ll be there to stake her claim.

She didn’t waste any time dilly-dallying with the commoners, taking her place at the front of the race and leading Grace Morton and Crystal Bartlett by more than 6 minutes through the Lookout aid station at 11 km.

She tightened her grip on the race, extending her lead beyond 25 minutes across the opening 41 km lap, returning to HQ 11 minutes ahead of her 2025 split.

The title defence already looked a lock, but things were heating up among the commoners behind her.

Morton had held a slender lead over Bartlett through the opening 30 km, but Bartlett made her move on the downward hurtle, returning to HQ just over 2 minutes ahead.

Presswood continued to press … the wood.

Maybe a little too hard.

Her lead over Bartlett grew to 36m42s partway into lap 2, but she had started giving time back to her 2025 ghost.

She returned to HQ for the 2nd time a few minutes behind last year’s split. Had she gone out too hard, or were the deteriorating conditions starting to take their toll?

Bartlett was also pulling clear of Morton. The Queen may have escaped, but Bartlett had positioned herself firmly in 2nd to the throne, stretching the gap from just over 2 minutes at 41 km to more than half an hour by 82 km.

Barring disaster, the podium looked set.

Presswood found another gear through the final 20 km. She scraped under the 12-hour mark in 11:58:58, defending her Queen Of The North title, shaving more time off her own course record and finishing an impressive 5th overall.

Bartlett kept bartelling away, finishing in 12:51:10 to claim Silver.

Morton then “rounded out” the podium in 13:38:51. Whatever that actually means!

You won this event last year, did you approach things any differently having some experience on course?

“I tried to train for it a bit more deliberately this year - last year I was coming back from a calf tear but this year I had been training consistently since January, and since Northburn had focused more on actual long distance running rather than just walking up hills all the time.”

“Other than that, the plan was basically to fully send it.”

Did your race go roughly to plan? Any major lows or highlights? Did the conditions cause you any issues?

“My race was a bit of a shambles actually. First loop was easy, and I really enjoyed meeting some new people and felt really good.”

“But I think I overcompensated for the heat (it’s always at least zero degrees in Alexandra so I thought I would feel the effects of the winterless north) and overhydrated, which lead to nausea about halfway through and I did some retching on the side of the trail and sitting at aid stations drinking ginger beer between 50-70kms.”

“But luckily it passed and by 80kms I was back and had a nice strong finish!”

Thanks for that, Hannah - I think that’s all the races with North in them defended for another year.

Men’s podium:

🥇David Nielsen - 9:52:59

🥈Trey Subritzky - 10:29:45

🥉Xian Koid - 11:06:58

Trey “Kaitaia Fire” Subritzky turned up with some extra spice, taking more than 40 minutes off his 2025 time. Unfortunately for him, David “Read More …” Nielsen had no trouble handling the heat.

The 2025 82 km champ made the jump up in distance and immediately set the pace, reaching the first Lookout checkpoint at 11 km in 54:44.

He was already close to 2 minutes ahead of Subritzky, while Allan Staite held 3rd ahead of Xian Koid.

That was as close as it would get. From there, Nielsen began putting daylight between himself and the rest of the field.

By the time Nielsen touched down at HQ to end lap 1, surviving an ankle scare along the way, his lead over Subritzky had grown beyond 17 minutes.

It wasn’t over by any stretch, but Nielsen had landed the first body blow.

Behind them, Koid had worked past Staite, putting Kaitaia in possession of two-thirds of the podium.

Nielsen’s lead yo-yoed between 30 and 40 minutes for the remainder of the race. Subritzky kept pushing, but couldn’t make any substantial inroads.

He had Magic Mike pacing him home, but Nielsen’s lead was one thing he couldn’t make disappear.

Nielsen crossed the line in 9:52:59, winning by 36m46s and lowering the course record of 10:35:42 that Cameron Bonar erected last year, hacking a massive 42m43s off the previous mark.

Subritzky steamed across the line in 10:29:45, also ducking under last year’s winning time.

Koid completed the podium in 11:06:58, adding bronze to Kaitaia’s haul.

Fun fact: I had a slow-motion sprint finish with Koid in last year’s 57 km. Great to see one of us is on an upward trajectory!

📏82KM | ⛰️2450M

Men’s podium:

🥇Matthew Brown - 7:17:09

🥈Ehsan Lorestani - 7:56:43

🥉Troy Florence - 8:43:18

Matthew “Code” Brown may have shat himself just a little when he saw Ehsan Lorestani bolt from the start line, but he didn’t panic.

By the time Brown reached the Lookout aid station, he was already over 3 minutes behind.

However, he managed to stem the flow, keeping the deficit to just under 5 minutes through the opening 41 km.

It was already clear this had become a 2-horse race, with Troy Florence the next man into HQ, another 26 minutes back.

Then Brown made his move.

He exploded all over the next 11 km, turning a 4-minute defecate into a 2-minute lead.

From there, Brown piled up close to 25 minutes on Lorestani over the next 20 km section, charging home in 7:17:09.

Lorestani held on for 2nd in 7:56:43, just a week after taking silver in the WUU2K 21 km. Not bad for a man who has less toes than a goldfish.

Behind them, Florence was pushed all the way by Drummond. The gap was down to just 2 minutes with 10 km remaining, but Florence held him off to claim 3rd, finishing 2m46s ahead.

Women’s podium:

🥇Kate Lewis - 9:52:25

🥈Hayley Brandes - 10:08:34

🥉Jade Overy - 10:35:08

Auckland FC may have been playing Tottenham Hotspur in the Mecca over the weekend, but it was the Manchester derby in Glenbervie Forest that should have been getting all the attention.

Kate Lewis and Hayley Brandes went toe-to-toe in the 82 km, with Jade Overy adding another bronze for Team REP Endurance.

Kate left me a fantastic voice memo, so here’s her side of the battle with Hayley.

“So, my day was awesome, thanks.”

“I started off with my friend Ila, and we were doing about 7 kilometres together. I was feeling good and, funnily enough, I met the lady who I was chasing all day long.”

“The 3 of us were actually running together for the first 7 kilometres. Funnily enough, she’s from the same region of England as me, Manchester.”

“She then left and went a little further in front. As we were running, Ila came up to me and said, “You’re going pretty fast. Can you maintain this pace for the whole race?”

“I was like, “Yeah, I’m feeling pretty good.”

“I left her, continued feeling strong and maintained that pace.”

“I didn’t know where I was in the race until I came into the 41 km mark and they said I was 2nd female.”

“I was like, “Oh! Second female. Let’s do this.”

“I kept pushing and continued at the same pace. Then I got to around 50 km, at the Lookout aid station after the 41 km mark, and I saw the lady from Manchester.”

“She saw me, we locked eyes, and she just took off from the aid station.”

“I was like, “Oh, we’ve got a chase.”

“But I thought, “Don’t go too fast,” because she really went for it. She was pushing up all the hills and I could see her in front, but I thought, “I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing. Don’t lose my head.”

“At around 65 km, a message came through on my phone saying, “You’re 2 minutes from first.”

“I was like, “Right, okay. She’s slowed down a little bit.”

“I was still feeling pretty good.”

“Then we got to 75 km and that’s when I saw her. She was struggling a little bit on the downhill and I thought, “Oh, I think I can do it. I’m feeling good.”

“I got a caffeine shot and a caffeine gel down me and caught up to her.”

“I said, “Hey, how are you going?”

“She was just like, “I’m dying.”

“I said, “You’ve got this. Kia Kaha. Let’s finish it.”

“I overtook her and pushed on. Then she came back at me. She stepped up the pace to try to match me, and we must have been like that for about 2 kilometres.”

“I kept looking behind, trying not to lose my head and just focusing: “Come on, Kate. You’ve got this.”

“Then I lost her for the final 5 km. I was still feeling pretty strong and came away with the win in the end.”

“I’m really, really chuffed. It was a great day out with a really great atmosphere.”

“I guess a shout-out to the lady who I was chasing because she really got me going.”

“It was great event, thank you. I’ll definitely be back next year. The course was beautiful.”

Thanks for that, Kate. Some fantastic racing across the women’s field, especially after just 3 women lined up last year. This time, a much deeper field of 15 gave us a proper battle for the podium.

That included my wonderful wife Brooke Houghton, who finished 5th, with her running BFF Alex McNaught right behind her in 6th.

Finally, someone is bringing some honour to the family name!

📏57KM | ⛰️1540M

Women’s podium:

🥇Katie White - 5:09:40

🥈Jane McAlpine - 5:23:39

🥉Emma Steedman - 6:10:33

Katie “Speed of Light” White tore herself away from her beloved Riverhead Forest and headed up the road to defend her title at her 2nd favourite forest, Glenbervie.

She flashed to the front once again, opening a 4-minute gap over Jane McAlpine by the first Lookout checkpoint, stretching it to more than 11 minutes by the time they came back through at 30 km.

From there, White turned her attention to the overall podium.

She briefly worked her way ahead of Hamish Gunns into 3rd overall, but Gunns fired back on lap 2, moving back into 3rd.

White crossed the line in 5:09:40, defending her title by 13m59s, finishing 4th overall and lowering her own course record by more than 12 minutes.

McAlpine was never able to threaten White, but had a firm grip on 2nd throughout, finishing comfortably in 5:23:39.

The battle for Bronze was much tighter.

Emma Steedman held 3rd through the first Lookout checkpoint and built an 11-minute advantage over Sammy “What The” Fookes by the end of lap 1.

However, Fookes wasn’t finished.

She closed the gap hard, but it was too little, too late. Steedman upgraded last year’s chocolate fish to bronze, crossing the line in 6:10:33 and holding off Fookes by just over 5 minutes.

Here’s what Katie had to say about her day up in Glenbervie:

What was the plan coming in? Did you feel any pressure coming in as the defending champ?

“The plan, having signed up 6 weeks or so beforehand! was to obviously give the race a good go and to work on a few things as a lead up to CCC in 5 weeks time.”

“I think it would be hard to not feel any even slight pressure coming back to a race having won the previous year. If someone in the same situation can honestly say they didn’t feel any at all then massive kudos to them! I just tried my best to block it out because it was a new race and having won it last year didn’t mean anything was a given this year!”

“The race went well and I felt strong. (Shout out to my coach Scott from Rep Endurance for all the hill work and introducing me to the stairmill!) There was a bit of back and forth between 3rd - 6th for the first at least 30km. I didn’t know where the next women were behind me so I was just trying to hopefully keep a bit of a lead.”

The final margin doesn’t always tell the true story - tell us a little about how your race went - how did you find the conditions? Any big lows to battle through? Any highlights?

“The conditions along the ridge leading to Lookout were a lot more slippery and slower going this year and also somewhere around the 35-40km mark. The course was generally in pretty good condition though and what you would expect for a forest, there are worse bits in Riverhead forest at the moment! I have some good gorse scars to prove it.”

“The second time up the River Road to Lookout hurts but at least I was only doing it twice unlike many others!”

“It was honestly a relief to hold on to the lead over the finish line and it never gets old seeing my kids at the end! It is an awesome event and a great way to catch up with family and other people in the trail running community up north!”

Men’s podium:

🥇Leonard Terry - 4:17:32

🥈Simon Buswell- 4:42:14

🥉Hamish Gunns - 5:07:47

Leonard “Lea & Perrins” Terry returned as the defending champ, looking to cook up something extra special.

It quickly became apparent he might be eating alone. Terry arrived at the 11 km mark, scoffing back some entrées already more than 3 minutes ahead of Simon “The Other Left” Buswell, with Boyd “Abs Of” Steel putting some recent speedwork to the test.

Leonard’s lead extended from there, hitting the drive-through at HQ more than 18 minutes clear.

This had turned into a time trial. The only question left was whether he would be feasting on his own course record for dessert.

Behind him, last year’s Wrong Turn of the Year nominee Buswell kept all 4 wheels pointing down the hill and tightened his grip on 2nd.

Hamish Gunns had also shot past Steel into 3rd heading into lap 2.

Leonard kept the pot on the boil, returning to HQ in 4:17:32 to defend his title, carving 7 minutes off his own course record.

Buswell righted the wrong of last year, taking a comfortable 2nd in 4:42:14.

Gunns held on for bronze in 5:07:47, completing the men’s podium.

Here’s what Leonard had to say after his victory:

Looking at the splits it looks like this turned into a bit of a time trial early on - did having your time to beat from last year help keep you locked in?

“I hadn’t done any split planning before the start of the race, the plan was just to go out and run a manageable steady pace and also see if anyone else wanted to push ahead early, then take things from there!”

“Everything felt like clockwork and at halfway I did some arithmetic that I could knock up to 15+ mins off last years time which gave me something to lock in for! Fatigue started setting in though and had to push through the final 1/3 of the race after giving quite a lot in the first 30!”

Was it as easy as you made it look or were there a few demons still out there for you to overcome on your way to defending your title?

“I hadn’t remembered how muddy the final part of the 40k loop was, and this year was much wetter and slippier, so i was having a word with myself around the 38-40k mark, and at around 45-50k I had some stomach cramping issues to figure out and some falls down the slip n slide clay.”

“The potential for a 15 minute lead at halfway had reduced to 5 mins. So it was a big push in the last 5k to claw back as much time as possible down the gravel road to the finish!”

Thanks for that, Len. Hope you didn’t drink that all at once!

It was another awesome weekend up in Whangarei. A huge thank you to Chris and Helen for having us. This is starting to feel like the beginning of an annual family pilgrimage.

It was great to say a quick hi and bye to so many of you before having to chase after the little maniac attempting to lick the back of a portaloo or something equally as awesome 🤢.

Click Here for the full results.

You can follow The Northland 100 on Instagram to check out more coverage from race day.

💪THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY...

THE NEW HEARTY AS TEE

It’s a part of you.

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY

Things You May Have Missed

Sophie Grant FKT Update

Sophie Grant has kept her record-breaking pace going on the Via Alpina. From what I can tell, she’s still on track to finish in around 30 days, despite having to reroute today due to wildfires, adding extra distance and elevation. Most importantly, the reroute has been cleared under the FKT rules.

The women’s record stands at 38 days and the men’s at 35. I THINK today is Day 26 of her attempt. Whatever happens from here, this has already been a historic performance.

Kaweka Challenge Online

The Kaweka Challenge website is now live and you can register your interest in the event. If you’re interested in the 50K you’re going to need to show a few scars and tell some yarns.

Click here to check it out

Robyn Lesh’Go Wins Grossglockner 57km

Robyn Lesh’Go has won the Grossglockner 57 km in Austria, another big result in her rise through the trail running ranks.

She specifically targeted this race because of the similarities between its elevation profile and CCC, where she finished 7th last year and will return next month.

Firing on all cylinders. All the best for the final build!

New Female Bob Graham FKT

OK, so this has absolutely nothing to do with NZ trail running, but some things you just need to know.

Katharina Hartmuth has set a new FKT on the Bob Graham Round, finishing in 14:11:58. She took more than 22 minutes off Beth Pascall’s record, which had stood since 2020!

VERTual July Update

Since the last update, we’ve blown past the 3-week, 21-day milestone, with 21 VERTathletes making the grade💪.

5 bowed out the following day, leaving 16.

A further 4 went one more day before deciding Day 23 was as good a day as any to pull the pin.

That left 12…

And still leaves 12🤯.

The Dirty Dozen, as they’re now being affectionately called:

Brendan Varty
Craig Thomson
Chris Taylor
Steve Tripp
Sara Vermeulen
Emma Rogers
Geoff Williamson
Dean Stewart
Isaac Tripp
Ryan Hattle
Scott Bougen
Simon Angus

I headed up to Whangārei early on Friday morning to support Brooke at the Northland 100, so I lost track of things a little at the end of the week.

It wasn’t until Saturday morning that I realised we hadn’t lost anyone.

Surely nobody who had come this far was going to bow out on a Saturday or Sunday.

Sure enough, the Dirty Dozen made it a clean sweep over the weekend.

Monday, I thought we might see a wobble.

Tuesday, I thought for sure someone would crack.

But here we are on Wednesday morning, Day 29, and we still have 1211 left.

12 11 people.

3 days.

9,000 m standing between them and making me look like a fool.

I would like to apologise for coming up with such an easy challenge.

I will try harder.

I got hold of Sara “Pocket Rocket” Vermeulen, one of the final 2 women standing.

Both Sara and Emma Rogers are repping Churchur and the Pipeline of Pain, and somewhere between the vert, work and family, Sara managed to fire back some answers to a couple of my questions.

What was your plan heading into VERTual July?

“My plan was to last 10 days... or at least that's what I was telling everyone! Secretly, I wanted to be the last one standing. I figured if I kept that goal to myself, there'd be less pressure if it all fell apart early.”

When did you realise that the challenge was so easy and you were going to complete all 31 days?

“Easy might be stretching it! Somewhere between running in the pouring rain on Saturday and soaking up the glorious sunshine on Sunday, I decided there was no way I was quitting. There was definitely a bit of doubt on Friday, but once I'd pushed through that,I knew I was committed to seeing the whole month through”

Thanks for that Sara. All the best in the final 3 days of VERTual July!

If you haven’t been following along head to https://trailrunningnz.com/challenges/vertual-july to track the progress of the Dirty Dozen over these final 3 days.

WEDNESDAY MORNING UPDATE: I presumed Ryan Hattle was going to make it through with a late upload but he is officially out. Not entirely surprising if you look at Day 27s run on Strava ….

The lengths other competitors will go to make sure no one from the Mecca wins is astonishing🤔.

Upcoming Events

With no trail events next weekend, I think you lot are staring down the barrel of a full VERTual July recap!

If this week’s results have inspired you to get out and race, hopefully you’re in the South Island, because the following weekend there’s plenty on offer.

Hamener Springs Backyard Ultra - Sat Aug 8th

Meridian Hydro Half Marathon - Sat Aug 8th

Run The Forest - Sat Aug 8th

Mecca Trail Run & Walk: Riverhead Forest - Sun Aug 9th

Canterbury Winter Trail Run Series 4: Inverary Station - Sun Aug 9th

#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week

This week’s hit comes from Jonothan Neill, taken on top of Mt Climie just out the back of Upper Hutt. Hardcore.

It goes to show that the skag is all around us. You don’t always need to disappear deep into the backcountry to get your fix.

The way that ridgeline peeks through the mist is enough to get the heart rate up and the pupils dilating.

He’s now in the running for the monthly $70 voucher - check out www.mountainskag.com to see what you could be walking away with.

Tag @trailrunning.nz (NOTE THE “.”) and use #mountainskag. DM on Instagram or email trailrunningnz@gmail.com to enter (email is the most reliable).

Picking up what I’m putting down? Send it to a mate who you know will be into it too!

Share

Or leave a tip

Tip TRNZ

PS: How many do you think will complete VERTual July?

Having a bit of a play with this format - seeing if there’s any demand for a weekly “concert”.

It’s not perfect but has come together pretty well.

Let me know what ya think! I’ve had a request for an audio version for a while, but listening to my own voice for that long every week has been to large of a hurdle.

See a few of you u…

Read more

Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news

Welcome to Trail Running NZ. The creator of VERTual July. Possibly one of the dumbest challenges ever conceived, but everyone is too stubborn to stop and say so😆.

Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:

🏃🏃‍♀️The WUU2K Results

🎖️Triple WUU2K With Olivia Lawrence

☠️VERTual July

⛰️Mt Marathon With Jackson Cole

😎Upcoming Events: The Northland 100

⛰️💊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.

WooOOOOooOOOOOoo what a weekend🥳.

Another year of the WUU2K in the books.

VERTual July has taken over its own very small corner of the internet.

I’m running on a mix of adrenaline and FOMO.

Let’s not muck around this week. We’re diving headfirst into the Results Desk, brought to you by those cool cats at Kinisi.

The WUU2K Results

Saturday, July 18

Is there anything more suspicious than a perfect weather forecast for race day?

DING! DING! DING!

A perfect weather forecast for race day in WELLINGTON.

I was waiting for a southerly to rip through and make a mockery of the forecast…

But it didn’t happen.

The weather gods be pleased with Gareth and the WUU2K this year.

A cool start, clear skies and just a gentle zephyr stiffening nipples and shrinking appendages across the Wellington Skyline.

Perfect conditions. No excuses.

Put up or shut up.

Let’s see what the runners did with this gift from the gods.

📏65KM | ⛰️2800M

Women’s podium:

🥇Hannah McRae - 6:59:53

🥈Naomi Brand - 7:01:31

🥉Rachel O’Brien - 7:26:21

My research department was caught napping last week, completely missing that defending champ Naomi Brand was in town and ready to rumble.

In a replay of last year, Brand took the early lead up the Kaukau stairs and was first over the summit, disappearing into the darkness along the Skyline Trail.

Hannah McRaeCrae from Straya🦘 bounded over just 35 seconds back, with Rachel O’Brien in 3rd.

Brand continued to stretch her lead, and things were looking business as usual.

First over Kaukau. First over the finish line.

That was the winning formula last year, and Brand looked to be following the same script. By the time McRaeCrae reached Mākara at 24 km, the lead was already over 6 minutes. At halfway, it had blown out to double figures.

This thing was looking over.

But if there’s one thing Aussies know how to do, it’s dig deep.

Dig deep and keep going to the bitter bloody end.

I’ve had my heart broken by the Black Caps playing Straya for 30 years. I know better than to count an Aussie out.

That’s when things began to get interesting.

By the base of the infamous Tip Track, Brand’s lead had been dragged back to just over 6 minutes.

There was no real change by the top, but I get the feeling that when McRaeCrae saw Brand coming back down, she tasted blood in the water.

She packed the poles away and, in my completely accurate reconstruction of events, let out a vicious war cry across Happy Valley:

“Struth! Stone the flaming crows, it’s time to put another shrimp on the barbie and give it some extra thong.”

The hunt was on.

By Tawatawa Aid Station, the gap had dropped to just 3 minutes, the closest it had been since the opening stages of the race.

Over the prick that is Mt Albert, and she had Brand in the crosshairs.

They may have passed the Zoo, but the pair of them went ape sh💩t.

Back and forth through the streets of Mt Vic they went before McRaeCrae made the final breakaway, steaming into the Velodrome to complete what might be the biggest comeback victory in WUU2K history.

The final margin was 1m38s, but it would have felt much closer for Naomi. As she entered her final lap of the Velodrome, Hannah was about to cross the line.

A battle for the ages.

Both should be immensely proud. Both are on their way to UTMB.

Watch this space.

Rachel O’Brien took Bronze in a cracking time of 7:26:21 after finding herself in the sausage zone early.

Too far back to get involved with the front pair, but comfortably clear of Amber Silich in 4th.

Hannah was kind enough to fill us in on her battle with Naomi:

You ran a really strong race in 2nd for the majority of the day- when did you first catch wind you were catching Brand and can you run us through those last final few Ks through the town belt and velodrome chasing down Brand for the win

“I had a plan to start winding up after the windmill (pun intended) but about the Tip Track section onwards was where the real racing began - I felt good along the beach to Red Rocks but I’d been hanging out for the Tip track section all day haha - brought my poles along ready for a good hike and then a smash downhill (and then find out how much you have to pay for said downhill over the last 10km 😂).”

“From there I started hearing some split times getting shorter, but the distance I had left to close it was also getting much shorter - I just told myself to keep pushing and give myself the chance to try!”

“I only just caught her up on the road section after the zoo - Naomi is one fierce competitor so there was a definite sprint effort push from us both once I pulled alongside, we spent a good few 100 meters neck and neck (me also trying to not fall down the stairs!) and those last few kms felt more like a parkrun finish than a 65km! It certainly made for an exciting race and I definitely didn’t know I had it won until the hairpin turn back into the velodrome with ~300m to go.”

Thanks for your time Hannah. All the best for the rest of your final push towards UTMB.

Men’s podium:

🥇Chester Holt-Quick - 5:43:24

🥈David Haunschmidt - 5:56:15

🥉Owen Perry - 6:04:34

Chester “Holy-Quick, Batman!” versus The Flying Doctor.

Both on their hometown trails.

Both flying the flag for Wellington Scottish.

Chester looking to make a statement that there’s a new big dog in town.

The Doc wanting everyone to know he’s back in the country, and no race is safe.

Haunschmidt flew up the stairs in his typical style. He races best as a front-runner, and today was no exception.

Up and over Kaukau, then out into the cool dawn air along the Wellington Skyline.

But that’s where things got interesting for Chester and unpleasant for The Doc.

Haunschmidt found himself pulled over on the trail, calling the Mākara pharmacy for an emergency prescription of anti-WTFISMYSTOMACHUP2 medication.

Holy-Quick didn’t need a 2nd invitation.

In what felt like a much bigger moment than a simple pass, he pulled ahead and disappeared from sight, running through Mākara Aid Station with a 5-minute buffer.

I don’t know whether Holy-Quick was landing the heavier blows or Haunschmidt was starting to wobble, but by halfway at the Turbine, the lead had blown out to 12 minutes.

What had looked like a heavyweight match for the ages was starting to become a rout.

But as we saw in the women’s race, this thing ain’t over until your feet are up and there’s something cold in your hand.

The Batmobile has suffered a couple of mechanical issues in the second half of races over the past 18 months. With the Tip Track still to go, anything could happen.

But not today.

Holy-Quick kept the Batmobile pointed towards the finish, but behind the wheel, things were beginning to splutter.

Still, after seeing the size of his lead while heading back down Tippy, all eyes turned to Sam Rout’s 2024 course record.

The Northland Express can breathe a sigh of relief. His record is safe for another year.

With the pain building and no one on his heels to push the pace, Chester rolled into the Velodrome and crossed the line in 5:43:24, just under 5 minutes outside the course record.

Haunschmidt found some life again coming down the Tip Track.

Strange what the smell of sh💩tty nappies can do.

He continued gaining ground through the streets of Mt Vic, chopping the final margin to just under 13 minutes.

But make no mistake, this was a statement victory for Chester.

Owen Perry took Bronze after a great battle with Josh Garrett through the first half of the race.

He then briefly moved into 2nd late in the piece before Haunschmidt found another gear, leaving Perry to lock away the final spot on the podium.

Here’s Chester with the low down from the front:

You hit the bottom of the Tip Track and, thanks to the out-and-back, you’ve just seen you’ve got The Doc on ice. Running into Tawatawa Aid Station, were you thinking game on for the course record? Or were you focused on securing the win and avoiding disaster?

“I felt chipper for the first half of the race, legs were fresh and energy good through about 40km, was running well. From ~ 3.5h creeping nausea caught up with me and so I couldn’t get enough fuel in, so the last 2h were a gradual fade.”

“Bottom of tip track is about 55km so I was well into survival mode by then. Average pace was just under CR but I suspected my rate of fade was going to rule that out. So I was relieved to see I had a safe margin on David at that point, I think he had a worse time of it re GI issues that I did on the day.”

You’ve won some big races over the past 12 months. How does this performance and victory stack up?

“This is right up there. Any time you can get a win over David is a cause for celebration as he’s such a good runner. This race helps to consolidate my confidence to committing to a good pace and believing, and also troubleshooting issues like nausea as they arise, trying to be skilful and patient about it rather than throwing out the baby etc. So yeah, pretty stoked.”

“The race, other participants and general trail community are super special its always a buzz throw down for the WUU2K (and the WAI2K!).”

Thanks for that Chester. Looking forward to whats next on the hit list.

📏45KM | ⛰️2000M

Men’s podium:

🥇Joel Carman - 3:41:51

🥈Thomas Barnes - 3:49:12

🥉Ryan Tait - 4:01:30

No Cap Barnsey was back in Wellywood, lining up for his favourite WUU2K 45K.

Everyone was asking the same question before the race: would he break his own course record, or would someone else steal the show?

Well…

One thing was for sure. He wasn’t going to die wondering.

Barnsey was first over the summit, with Joel “Carman Carmeleon” in tow, 24 seconds back and seemingly content to watch Barensy do his thing.

By Mākara Aid Station, the gap was out to 2m34s. Not out of hand, but Carman couldn’t let it stretch much further.

That was as far as the lead would stretch.

Then Carman Carmeleon flicked out the long tongue, latched onto Barnsey and began dragging him back along the winding trails towards the top of Tippy.

Carman attacked the gap on the downhill towards Happy Valley, and by Tawatawa, the lead had been slashed to just 44 seconds.

With a little over 10 km remaining through the bumpy, lumpy back streets of Wellington, it was GAME ON.

Or was it?

It quickly became clear that Barnsey had fired his shot and was out of ammo.

Carman Carmeleon changed his colour from Silver to Gold, running away over the final 10 km to win by more than 7 minutes.

Barnsey was left wondering whether he should have packed the Backwards Cap after all.

He still held on to 2nd, comfortably ahead of Ryan Tait in 3rd, whose journey back to fitness after injury continues to impress.

Here’s what Joel had to say about his battle with Tom:

It looks like you had a great battle with Barnesy- talk us through how that played out - what were the thoughts when you laid eyes on him again?

“The battle with Barnsey was great fun. He went out hard up Mt Kaukau so I decided to let him go and played the patient game. I saw him disappearing along skyline and heard it was about a 2-3 minute gap at the first aid station.”

“By Mākara carpark the gap was roughly the same then I managed to make up some time on the next section to turbine. At that point I was 1:20 behind and that’s when I started to believe. I was feeling pretty good at this stage in the race so I put in a shift along Barking Emu and finally laid eyes on him where the trail opens up just before the start of Tip Track.”

“My thoughts were I wonder if he can see me and I hope he doesn’t drop me on tip track descent. I held it together for the descent then made the overtake on the way up Tawatawa, from there it got pretty tough but I locked in and didn’t look behind.”

What does it mean to you to win such an iconic event as the wuu2k 45k?

“Cheers to the WUU2K team and all the volunteers for putting on such a quality event. Means a lot to win at this epic local trail running event.”

“I’ve put in a big training block over the past few months targeting this race so it was super satisfying to have it pay off with the win. Shout out to coach Ryan at Innate running for cooking up the training plan!”

Awesome Joel! Nice to see a bit of patience paying off!

Women’s podium:

🥇Issy Coombes- 4:32:00

🥈Ali Campbell - 4:44:32

🥉Chrissi Faber - 4:50:05

Issy Coombes swapped Hyrox for high socks, taking the win in the longest run of her life just 2 weeks after pushing sleds around and throwing balls at walls.

But she didn’t have it all her own way.

Ali Campbell, the current Faultline 50K champ, set the early pace, with Coombes waving goodbye as Campbell descended off the summit of Kaukau and onto the Skyline Trail.

Ali had 2m17s in hand at Mākara Aid Station, but the Hyrox engine was beginning to fire.

Coombes got into the grind and started dragging Campbell back.

The pair were back running stride for stride by the time they reached the Turbine and stayed together through to the bottom of the Tip Track.

Then Coombes shifted up a gear.

She powered through the final 10 km to take the win by 12m32s.

Campbell held on to take Silver.

Behind her, Fast-Finishing Faber pulled away from Libby Sexton over the final 10 km to lock away Bronze in 4:50:05.

Here’s Issy with the lowdown from the front of the race:

It looked like you had a great battle with Ali Campbell. Can you run us through how your race went and how the fight for 1st unfolded over the back half of the course?

“It was an amazing day to be out on the trails in Wellington for my first WUU2K. I tried to stay conservative over the first 25km to make sure I had enough left for the final climbs.”

“I caught Ali just before the wind turbine, and we shared a few chats as we made our way down toward the bottom of Tip Track. My body was still feeling good at that point, so I was able to push on strongly to the finish and was stoked to take the win!”

📏21KM | ⛰️812M

Women’s podium:

🥇Michelle Law - 2:24:29

🥈Rachael Hearne - 2:29:09

🥉Ruby Leverington - 2:30:43

Michelle “Out” Law took no prisoners as she galloped down the coast and into the hills.

Rachael Hearne was in hot pursuit, looking to show she can run the short stuff too after taking Silver in the Faultline 100K earlier this year.

Law still had a tight rein on the race at its only aid station.

She went through the checkpoint just over a minute ahead. Not home and hosed by anyone’s definition, but still firmly in the saddle.

Hearne chased hard, but to no avail.

Law crossed the line in 2:24:29, finishing 4m40s ahead of Hearne.

Ruby Leverington produced an impressive second half, chopping a gap of nearly 4 minutes down to just 1m34s to take Bronze.

Men’s podium:

🥇Marcos Valero Palacios - 1:50:25

🥈Hayden Smith - 1:56:29

🥉Ehsan Lorestani - 1:57:46

Marcos Valero Palacios took off at the start like the Football World Cup final had already kicked off and he’d just realised it was on.

Or maybe he was trying to shock his legs back to life.

It was Day 18 of VERTual July, after all, and over the previous 17 days he had already stacked 15,300 m of vert.

Whatever the reason, he tore down the coast and into the playground that is Te Kopahou Reserve.

Hayden Smith was in tow, with last year’s Silver snagger Ehsan Lorestani also pushing hard.

If either of them was going to move past Marcos, it needed to happen on the steep ups and downs through the first half.

That was where they could really test the state of his quads after 17 straight days of VERTual July.

But the challenge never came.

Marcos showed them a clean pair of heels through Tawatawa and kicked on to take the victory by 6m04s.

His prize?

Well, it was Day 18 of VERTual July, so he had to head straight back out and start running reps of Mt Vic.

He still had another 800 m to find!

The race for Silver was the tightest of the day.

Smith narrowly led Lorestani through Tawatawa by just 15 seconds.

He managed to turn the screws enough over the closing kilometres to eke out a small gap and take Silver by 1m17s.

Here’s what Marcos had to say about his VERTastic day:

You’ve been taking part in VERTual July- standing on the start line on Saturday for the 21k race- how were the legs and mind with such a big month with no taper heading in?

“Surprisingly, my legs were feeling “okay”! It was my first WUU2K, so I was super excited.”

How did your race play out at the front? Was there a battle down the coast or did you get an early gap?

“The field was super strong but I was so happy that the first 4–5 km were flat, so I decided to take the lead right from the start. If anyone wanted to pass me, it would probably be on the hills or down the Tip Track. Luckily for me, I was able to maintain a good gap all the race!”

Thanks Marcos! Great commitment to VERTual July! Winning at the WUU2K and Spain winning the world cup, I’m not sure if you’ll be seen at work this week or not!

Click Here for the full results.

You can follow The WUU2K on Facebook & Instagram to check out more coverage from race day.

THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY...

THE NEW HEARTY AS TEE

It’s a part of you.

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY

The Triple WuUUUu2K With Olivia Lawrence

Last week, Olivia “Vert Queen” Lawrence was preparing to run all 3 WUU2K courses back to back, raising money for the Cancer Society in memory of her dad.

The 21 km. The 45 km in reverse through Friday night. Then straight onto the 65 km start line alongside a field of runners who hadn’t already been moving for 9 hours.

Roughly 130 km and 5,400 m of vert.

And guess what? She bloody did it.

Olivia completed the Triple WUU2K in 18 hours and 10 minutes, raising more than $5,000 for a cause that’s far too close to home for so many of us.

Here’s how the night and day unfolded:

First things first, what was your final time, and how closely did the whole thing follow your original plan?

“My final time was 18.10. I planned to do the first two race routes in 9 hours and was just under that. I had a decent break before the 65km, which I did in 8.24 – my goal was 8 hours, but shit happens when you’re sleepy!”

What was going through your head when you reached the start of the 65k and lined up with everyone on fresh legs and nervous excitement

“At the start of the 65km I was fatigued, but I was excited to have people around and knowing I'd see daylight.”

What was the lowest point across the 130 km, did you ever have a moment when finishing the Triple genuinely felt in doubt?

“The strong wind at night wasn't ideal, but no drama. The lowest point was probably Saturday mid-morning when the tiredness was screwing with my vision, plus I hadn't been able to eat solids, and I was already sick of gels with another 48km to go.”

“The finish was never felt in doubt; I had a great time running along the skyline at the start of the 65, and amazing support throughout, so I was well ahead of cut-offs.”

What were some of the highlights across the night and day?

“The start on Friday night was exciting. It was a beautiful clear sky through the night, and I had great support at road crossings (cheers, Josh!). On Saturday, it was nice being crewed at aid stations and having so many volunteers out.”

“I was happy to get to the turbine because it’s followed by fun running to the coast, then I had a friend join me for the final section. Getting to Mt Vic and hearing the finish line was also a highlight.”

You’ve raised over 5k for the cancer society - open mic for a message to those who’ve supported you

“A big thanks again to all you generous people who donated! It’s also been very special having people share their own experiences with me – cancer affects almost everyone in one way or another, and all your stories gave more meaning to my run and fundraising.”

Thanks for that Olivia! What an amazing achievement. Both the run and money raised.

If you would like to chip in to Olivia’s cause you still can.

DONATE HERE

Things You May Have Missed

Sophie Grant On Track To Smash Overall FKT

Sophie Grant is currently 15 days into an attempt to run the entire length of the Alps, travelling from Trieste to Monaco along the Via Alpina. She’s now past halfway, averaging 63 km a day with a quantum shit tonne of climbing.

The women’s record stands at 38 days and the men’s at 35, but Sophie is currently tracking towards completing the whole thing in around 30.

Absolutely mind-bending stuff. Fingers crossed she can keep it going!

New Paint Job, Who Dis?

If you’ve visited the VERTual July leaderboard this month, you may have noticed the website has had a wee bit of a makeover.

I’m slowly populating the Trail Running Calendar, along with a directory of coaches, physios, psychics and psychos if you need an extra hand with your running.

I’m also back filling some of the older Q&As and content from Substack into their own standalone articles.

Like this one on Steve Tripp, for example.

Take a look around, and if you’ve got a contribution to make you can submit listings to the calendar and directory.

Sam The Man Worst Run Ever … The Musical?

Trigger warning: The following paragraphs contain discussion of AI-generated music.

I’ve been having a bit of a play with Suno throughout VERTual July, making one song a day for the challenge. You can check out some of them HERE (F🤬ck Bradley has been the biggest hit so far).

I’ve also been trying to bring the infamous “Sam The Man” Worst Run Ever story to life … check out the results here and let me know what you think.

Kyle Malone Sentenced To 500 KM Of Pavement Hell

I’m putting aside my anti-tarmac beliefs after being blown away by the achievement of my mate Kyle Malone.

Last week, he finished 5th at the Vol State 500K in Murica🌭, one of Lazarus Lake’s other crazy creations.

It’s 500 km across Tennessee on the road, self-supported, in the full heat of summer.

I think that’s the definition of hell for some of us!

Well done, Kyle. That is next level.

You can find out more about the race here.

VERTual July Update

Well, before this crazy challenge began, I thought the whole thing might have been wrapped up by now.

How wrong was I!

Now, where were we?

When last week’s newsletter came out, it was Day 15 and there were still 61 VERTathletes standing.

What happened next can only be described as a vertastrophe.

They had survived the 2-week milestone, only for the 1,500 m required on Day 15 to chop 29 of them at the knees.

With the field almost cut in half overnight, my belief that anyone would complete this challenge was shaken to its core.

But since then, it’s been a much slower bleed.

4, 2, 1, 2, then just 1 again last night.

In that time, every survivor has stacked another 10,500 m of vert, taking their minimum total to 21,000 m.

I think people are starting to realise I’m running a physio Ponzi scheme.

The craziest thing?

Tomorrow is Day 22, and only once they’ve completed it will they pass halfway through the total vert.

The final 9 days contain more vert than the first 21.

Let that little fact Uncle Fester for a while.

If you haven’t checked out the leaderboard yet, I suggest you do HERE.

We’ve added the total vert accumulated by every runner throughout the challenge, which has now topped 1.4 MILLION metres.

Yes, Million with a Martha Farking M.

You can also click on each VERTathlete’s avatar, with most now having a profile featuring a mini Q&A and their stats so far.

If you’re extra keen, you can turn on push notifications to keep you in the loop while you’re napping through the midweek toolbox meeting.

Here are the 22 VERTathletes still standing:

• Andy “Which One?” Thompson

• Bernard “Pie Eating” Campion

• Brendan “The Kid” Varty

• Carn Hemingway

• Christophe Pinel

• Craig “Chatterbox” Thomson

• Dave Hume

• Dean Stewart

• Emma Rogers

• Geoff Williamson

• Isaac “Dont” Tripp

• Jonas “The Great Dane” Boye

• Kirsty Hamlin

• Marcos Ángel Valero Palacios

• Patrick “Sticky Shorts” Kalin

• Ryan Hattle

• Sam “180” Ashworth

• Sara “Pocket Rocket” Vermeulen

• Scott “The Boogeyman” Bougen

• Simon “CurraNZ” Angus

• Steve “Just the” Tripp

• Wild Chris Taylor

Someone on that list is walking away with more than $2,000 worth of prizes.

This is going to have a wild ending.

I can feel it.

I don’t know whether it ends with 5 people dueling it out on the final day or everyone fizzling out before Day 28.

Either way, there’s a lot more left in this story.

Mt Marathon With Jackson Cole

Last week, I told you how Jackson Cole had been carving it up overseas, including finishing 4th at the iconic Mount Marathon in Alaska after taking the biggest fall of his life.

As promised, here’s a more in-depth chat with Jackson about Mount Marathon, how his race unfolded and what makes the event so bloody special.

Where and what is the mountain marathon?

“Mount Marathon is an iconic mountain race that takes place every 4th of July in Seward, Alaska. The race starts and finishes in downtown Seward, and in just 5k, climbs 1000 meters to the top of Mount Marathon and back.”

What about it captivates you?

“The thing that captivates me most is the fact that runners can choose their own course, making the climb extremely steep and the descent even steeper! The race is iconic for its crazy scree descent and epic falls.”

“And since the race takes place in a harbor town on America's independence day, thousands of tourists line the streets as they cheer for you in the final 1k road stretch to the finish line. It’s a truly epic experience, coming off the mountain and having people screaming at you!”

How did your race go?

“As for my race, I found myself near the back of the lead pack early on, and made my way up the field before reaching the summit in 6th place. I had been thinking about this descent for a long time, and when I finally reached the summit and looked down at 1000m of pure scree, I was pretty stoked!”

“I gave it everything I had, and I was really happy with how I was descending, but I was also totally out of control. I caught up to my friend Jessie in 2nd place, but as soon as I went for the pass I caught a toe on a bigger rock that sent me barreling down the steep scree slope. I had the sensation of being tossed around in a washing machine! It was mental.”

“I was a little shaken by the fall, and lost some momentum, and eventually finished 4th in 44 minutes. Which I was pretty stoked with.”

What could other events learn from Mt Marathon?

“This race embodies what mountain running is all about. It’s steep, technical, and obvious. And in its 98th year, it shows that when you have people who truly care about an event, it can last a long time! The funny thing is, Seward is not an easy place to get to, and the town is so small that it’s almost impossible to book accommodation.”

“Yet the 1000 runners and thousands of spectators find a way to make it work, because the race is so damn cool and aesthetic people just want to come. I think races can look at Mount Marathon and see that what makes a race successful is the course, and race organizers caring about the runners experience.”

“When you have a money machine like UTMB, the soul of the sport dies. The courses are tame, flat and fast, making them less exciting and uninteresting. Maybe trail and mountain running should be hard? Maybe the courses should be impossibly technical and sometimes slow?”

“You look at a race like Mount Marathon or the Goat, and you can quickly see how cool and interesting those events are, and you see the community showing up for it time and time again.”

Thanks for sharing that with us Jackson! That picture is soooooooo good. Amazing that someone managed to snap that moment in time!

Upcoming Events

The Northland 100

Saturday, July 25

Last year I went up to the inaugural Northland 100 to embarrass myself somewhere new.

Mission complete.

What I hadn’t bargained on was making some amazing new friendships that have extended through the past 12 months.

I’m once again excited to head up to Whangas for year 2 of the Northland 100. This time with the pom-poms in hand, cheering on my better half in the 82K.

There have been a few changes happening for His & Her Events.

Firstly, they’re working day and night to open The Hut HQ. their brand new retail store. Think Kinisi of the North!

I’m very excited to check out the new location and hear about their big plans to continue developing what is already a thriving Northland running scene.

Secondly, I’m guessing they lost the will to live dealing with everyone sending in screenshots of their watches and Strava.

They’ve now updated the course distances and added a shorter 15K option.

Cue all the races being changed back next year when everyone bitches and moans that the courses run short😉.

Distances on Offer

📏165K – ⛰️4400m

📏105K –⛰️2800m

📏82K – ⛰️2450m

📏57K – ⛰️1540m

📏15K – ⛰️450m

All 5 races are set in the Glenbervie Forest, just outside Whangārei, using a mix of 4WD roads and single track through pine forest and native bush.

There’s a bit more punch in the hills than you’d think, but she’s a fast one.

This is a runner’s race.

Don’t be fooled. This ain’t no Routeburn, nor does it try to be.

If you’re running this race, it’s because you’re challenging yourself to either go further than you have before or run faster than you have before.

It’s the perfect place to do either.

If this all sounds good … well, you’ll have to wait until next year.

It’s sold out, with 250 entrants locked and loaded and a bulging waitlist.

I’ve run out of time this week to make any predictions, but you can check out the start list HERE. The fields are looking particularly spicy this year, so looking forward to seeing how it all shakes out.

You can follow the Northland 100 on Instagram HERE

You can find out more info about the event HERE

#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week

This weeks hit is from Lisa McFarlane from a recent trip to Auckland.
Now I get why everyone is calling Auckland the New Zealand Mecca of trail running🤔.

She’s now in the running for the monthly $70 voucher - check out www.mountainskag.com to see what you could be walking away with.

Tag @trailrunning.nz (NOTE THE “.”) and use #mountainskag. DM on Instagram or email trailrunningnz@gmail.com to enter (email is the most reliable).

Picking up what I’m putting down? Send it to a mate who you know will be into it too!

Share

Or leave a tip

Tip TRNZ

PS: A big shout out to all the VERTual Julyers who pitched up to the WUU2K and got the job done. In particular, Simon Angus who came 5th in the 65K, backed it up with the Wellington XC champs Sunday morning and a cool 1900m of vert later that evening🤯.

Just a little test of doing a “Rap up” of each weeks newsletter

Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news

Welcome to Trail Running NZ. Part Women's Weekly, part supermarket noticeboard, part graffiti written in sh💩t on the pub toilet door😝.

Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:

❄️Krayzies Midwinter Backyard Ultra Recap

🗳️Mountain Skag Winner Of June

☠️VERTual July

🎖️Mission Desk

😎Upcoming Events: WOooOOO2K

⛰️💊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.

Yes, it’s Wednesday.

Yes, I’m farked.

Yes, VERTual July chewed me up and spat me out.

Now that I've bowed out after Day 12, I can get back to doing what I do best: slinging obscure references and in-jokes at the wall to see what sticks.

Let’s get into it and see what’s on the Results Desk today.

Krayzie’s Midwinter Backyard Ultra Recap

The 5th edition of the Krayzie Midwinter Backyard Ultra was held over the weekend in Churchur. As NZ's 2nd biggest Backyard, and with the final Silver Ticket up for grabs, it attracted a few big dogs hoping to snaffle themselves the last sausage and a spot on the NZ Satellite Team.

Anyone hoping to qualify on lap count alone needed a monster 52 laps, smashing the existing course record (46). With temperatures on the nippier side🥶, it was an all-or-nothing battle for that final Silver Ticket.

Overall Winner:

🏆Milan Chick 43 laps - (288.53KM)

Top DNFs - Men 🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️🏃‍♂️

☠️Connor Aldridge - 42 laps (281.82KM)
☠️Jeremy Pelvin- 41laps (275.11KM)
☠️Paul Maxwell - 34 laps (228.14KM)

Last Women Standing:

👑☠️Maya Edmondson - 37 laps (248.27KM)

Top DNFs - Women 🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️🏃‍♀️

☠️Julia Chamberlain -30 laps (201.30KM)
☠️Hadani Woodruff - 26 laps (174.46KM)
☠️Alaina Morrison - 25 laps (167.75KM)

The Recap

At 7:30 AM Saturday, 201 Krayzies huddled up in fancy dress for NZ’s koolest Backyard karnival, Krayzie’s Midwinter Backyard Ultra.

The race got underway in criiiiiiiisp winter weather. The early laps rolled by uneventfully, with the usual few dropping off each hour, leaving around 150 heading into lap 10.

Then came the first big cull.

23 decided it would be too krayzie to head back out into the darkness as the Backyard entered its long 14-hour headlamp shift.

You know it’s coming...

But nothing really prepares you for 14 hours of darkness.

The next yard wasn’t much better, with another 22 deciding getting wrapped up to watch the All Blacks vs Italy was the better option.

Just like that, the field was chopped off at the knees, bleeding out across Spencer Park. In just 2 laps, the darkness had claimed 30% of the field.

The Graveyard Shift

The Darkness continued to wrap its icy fingers around every joint of the remaining runners, planting doubts in anyone who hadn’t conquered the night before.

19 more fell before the 100 km mark.

86 knocked off the magical milestone.

27 chose the chair.

Once again, close to a third of the field was wiped out in one foul swoop.

With the sun threatening to break through, 19 made it to the 24-hour mark, locking in the phantom Backyard 100 Miler buckle.

9 more dropped on the way to the 2 Hundy Club.

Leaving 10 atop the krayzie pyramid, chasing Sam Harvey’s 2024 course record of 46 yards...

...and the final Silver Ticket.

But... the base began to crack.

3 were happy with a 2 Hundy Burger for lunch.

Julia Chamberlain called it a day, handing Mayo “Best Foods” Edmondson the Last Woman Standing title.

Not that she cared.

She still had a spot on the NZ Satellite Team in her crosshairs.

Dunnydin’s dynamic duo of Glenn “Double N” Sutton and Paul Maxwell were next to decide they’d f🤬cking had enough.

Leaving the final 4 Krayzies yet to be taken back to the facility.

The Final Four

• 🏃 Jeremy Pelvin

• 🏃Milan Chick

• 🏃Mayo Edmondson

• 🏃 Connor Aldridge

And what an intriguing final 4 it was.

Jeremy Pelvin - PB of 65, with a course PB of 45 after finishing runner-up to Sam Harvey in 2024.

Milan Chick - Rookie backyarder out of the Sam Harvey stable, being crewed by the man himself.

Mayo Edmondson - A 20-year-old killer out of Fairlie.

Connor Aldridge - The defending champ.

The final 4 ran 3 laps together before Mayo finally split. Ironically, she left with the Last Chick Standing award, despite Milan still being in the race.

That left 3. They kept at it until Pelvin pulled the pin after 41 laps, leaving the final head-to-head battle.

Chick vs Aldridge.

Rookie vs Vet.

Local bragging rights. The final Silver Ticket.

Aldridge had to start as the favourite after taking out the event last year. But that’s the thing about rookies. They haven’t found their limit yet. They don’t know how it’s supposed to feel. They’re just out there doing it for the first time.

Aldridge lasted just 1 more lap before throwing in the towel after 42.

Chick made no mistake on his victory lap, taking the win in 43 yards.
Fun fact: that’s now the winning number in 3 of the event’s 5 editions.

Congratulations to Milan Chick , your 2026 Krayzie’s Midwinter Backyard Ultra, and newest member of Team NZ.

Full Results here, and follow Facebook for more photos and videos from the event.

THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY...

THE NEW HEARTY AS TEE

It’s a part of you.

SHUT UP AND TAKE MY MONEY

Things You May Have Missed

International Results Desk

Everyone’s favourite, Jackson Cole, has been carving it up over the last few weeks, finishing 2nd at the Minotaur SkyRace and 4th at Mount Marathon in Alaska.

At just 5 km with 900 m of vert, this one looks like an absolute doozy.

Jackson was running in 2nd before what he described as the biggest fall of his life dropped him back to 4th.

Sounds like he was lucky just to make it to the finish line.

Allira Hanczakowski Is Making Me Lose My Mind

After a hectic summer working in the events space, Allira is currently fastpacking the Alps in Japan.

Every day her gram is filled with new fomo inducing shots of the alps.

Just check out some of this …

Check out her feed here

NZ’s Most Popular Trail Runner At Hardrock

We may not have had any Kiwis run Hardrock in years, but at least we had one of our best helping out.

Jub Bryant, of Queenstown fame, has escaped to Murica🌭 for winter and had the honour of volunteering at Kroger’s Canteen, the highest aid station on the Hardrock course (close to 4000m!)

The above snap is of the famous Jam Jam getting ready to descend into the abyss from the aid station.

What an unreal experience, even if it involved slogging it up with 23L jugs of water🥵.

Sam Harvey Has His “2nd In The World” Restored

There’s been a proper sh💩tshow in the Backyard world after the results from the recent Russian event, Biotropika, were wiped by the great Lazarus Lake, who deemed there were too many rule infractions to validate the results.

The main issues were “pacing” runners and interacting with runners while they were still on course.

That means the 3 runners who all went past Phil Gore’s current world record did all of that...

For nothing.

Doh😣.

It does highlight how important it is for our events to stick to the rules, and adds a bit more context to the recent DQs we've seen at our local events.

Mountain Skag Winner For June

In a landslide victory, Bridie Macky is walking away with the $70 Mountain Skag Voucher.

Well done Bridie! You’ve once again proven that you don’t have to have snow to compete through the winter months of Mountain Skag!

VERTual July Update

Wow - what a week it’s been in VERTual July🤯.

Since last week we’ve gone from 137 runners left from the original 270...

...to just 61 still standing on Day 15.

Back then they needed 700 m to survive. Today it’s 1,500 m, after already climbing more than 10k of vert.

It’s been a bit like watching a slow-motion Backyard play out.

The sponsor rewards at the end of Days 7 and 14 have almost become checkpoints, a bit like 100 km and 100 miles in a Backyard.

It’s been fascinating watching how people have approached the challenge.

After Day 7, 39 runners called it a day.

Will we see the same again today?

What’s warmed my heart most is how many people have taken up arms in the name of Vert. I thought we might get 50-60 people to start the event, yet here we are 15 days later and we've still got that many left.

Take Mike Lockyer, for example. His goal was 14 days. You won’t find him at the front of an elite field chasing UTMB Stones. But there he was, Verting at 3:30 am yesterday morning on game day. He couldn’t sleep because he knew he had to get out there, bag that final vert and knock off his big goal of 14 days.

How good?😎

And Mike’s just one example. Everyone still in this contest has their story. Their goal. Their reason for still being in it.

It’s bringing people together behind a common goal. Every day we push forward, my belief grows that someone is going to pull this off.

But not by themselves.

I didn’t really know what was going to happen with this challenge. It all came together on a bit of a whim over a couple of weeks, and I hadn’t thought too far beyond that. But as we enter Week 3, one thing is clear.

You can solo your way through 2 weeks.

But if you’re going to finish, you’re going to need a crew.

Whether that’s someone physically with you doing reps, carrying your water, hyping you up and bringing the feels.

Or someone from afar. A rival Verter still in the comp. A like-minded competitor you relate to. Someone you can point to and say, “If they’re still in it, I am too.”

There’s so much chat about internal motivation, but fark me... a few external motivating factors can go a looong way.

I bowed out this week on Day 12 after stacking 117 km and 6,500 m of vert the week before. I hadn't run more than 20 km in any week over the previous 3 months.

It was all external motivation. To back up my own words. To not embarrass myself in my own challenge. You don't have to be an athletic freak. Anyone with a bit of willpower can get off the couch and get after it.

Anyway, this has turned into a ramble.

I think we’re about to see the regions start working together. More unified efforts. Runners who’ve bowed out re-entering the chat, not as competitors but as cheerleaders and crew. Unifying behind one banner, trying to get one of their own across the line.

With every region still represented (including ‘The Mecca’), this is turning into a genuine battle for regional glory.

If this has got you fired up, it’ll definitely be back next year.

You can check the leaderboard HERE and learn more about the challenge.

Day 14 is in the books, with runners banking a $140 Merrell NZ voucher, 15% off Kinisi, 20% off Huntaway Run Co, 20% off Mountain Skag, and a free entry into the Crush the Cargill 100 Miler.

Keep an eye out tonight to see how many survive the first day of Week 3.

Anyone still going from here has some serious screws rattling around and is chasing glory.

This thing is really starting to heat up.

Matariki Moonlit Meander

If you caught last week's Mountain Skag of the Week, you'll have seen a sweet moonlit icescape from a midwinter full moon mission.

As promised, here are a few more details from the man himself, Joshua Lloyd, aka The Average Ginger Runner🔥, plus a few extra pics, of course.

You went on a wicked looking Matariki full moon mission - Who did you go with and what where abouts was it?

“Trip was with my Brother in Law and good running mate Mike and was in our local HB hills, the Kawekas.”

What was the route and Is this a route you’ve done before or have you been waiting to bust it out for a night mission?

“The trip was a simple out and back to the highest point in the Kawekas, Kaweka J. It's a route ive done dozens of times before, and often forms the first part of bugger epics in the Kawekas, but this trip was intended to be short and sweet with maximum gnar/km.”

The trip was a bit spur of the moment, half influenced by the relentless online chatter of the Wellington hardcore talking about their planned Tararua moonlight mission. I knew we had better snow/ice in the Kawekas at the time and the weather was looking perfect.”

What were the conditions like on the night?

“I've covered this country lots of times in snow conditions, but the ice on the trip was something else. Everything was coated in 4-10 inches of glass. It was fine on the way up, but on the way down it certainly tested the limits of the microspikes.”

“Zero wind and clear skies meant we were pretty comfy in our shorts with thermals up top.”

On the frothing index - 0 being a short black and 10 being a Frappuccino deluxe extra frothy and cream where does this sit?

“Froth levels were high with maximum return for effort achieved. The full Matariki moon lit most of the climb so that we didnt even need headlights and standing on the top taking photos in perfect conditions near midnight was bloody cool.”

Chur Josh. That's what I love about the trails. You can visit the same place a hundred times, then one day it feels like you've never been there before.

Upcoming Events

The WUU2K (Wellington Urban Ultra)

Saturday, July 18

Alright, everyone say it with me now …

And fank thuck for that.

Western States and Hardrock disappeared in the flash of an eye. UTMB is still weeks away, and it feels like we haven’t had back-to-back weeks of NZ race results since... consults previous weeks... the end of April when we had the Routeburn followed by the Faultline Ultra.

Jaysus.

No wonder it feels like my fluff.gpt has been working overtime.

Now, I’m a bit biased as I live in Porirua, but this has to be one of the best races in the country.

Sure, it doesn’t have the free-flowing, perfectly connected trails of the trail mecca that is Auckland. And it doesn’t have the snow-capped vistas and mountain lakes of down south.

But WUU2K has managed to do something quite rare.

It appeals to both the Harriette Hardouts and the Backpack Warriors.

The front end gets tough but runnable trails where they can put each other to the sword. Your everyday athlete gets a proper test of endurance... with the comforting knowledge they can always call an Uber and head to the nearest pub if it all gets a bit much.

If you’re not Mazda Familia with the WUU2K courses, here’s the GST.

The 45 km and 65 km courses start in fancy-pants Khandallah, follow the Skyline Track, then dive into Wellington’s inner-city trail network before finishing on Mt Victoria.

If you’re thinking GST was a typo... you’d be wrong.

Add 15% to everything at WUU2K.

The hills.

The distance.

How much the Tip Track sucks.

And how much you’ll want to punch Gareth Thomas in the face... before giving him a hug.

Someone who’s going to need a big hug from Gareth is Olivia “Vert Queen” Lawrence.

She’s taking on the Triple WUU2K, first completed by Will Bell.

That means all 3 courses, back to back. Starting with the 21 km, then the 45 km in reverse through Friday night to arrive at the 65 km start line on Saturday morning.

That’s roughly 130 km and 5,400 m of vert.

Knowing Olivia, if all goes to plan, she’ll probably still be racing for the podium.

So... WHY?

I’ll let Olivia answer that herself.

I flicked Olivia a few questions ahead of the weekend.

When did the seed for the triple Wuu2k first get planted in your mind and when did it begin to sprout?

“I learned about Will Bell's triple WUU just before I ran the 65km version two years ago, and was interested since then. I was supposed to be having surgery this week, but put that off to next year and locked in the triple WUU after I felt good on Vert Day in late May.”

How have you approached the challenge from a training and mental perspective?

“It hasn't been a long training block. I've been very diligent with gym exercises to keep injuries at bay. Then I've done a couple of bigger volume weeks, and runs to make sure I'm happy to run the course solo at night, even if it's raining or misty. I've also been chatting with Will Bell and getting tips from him based on his very rainy night time experience in 2022, that's been really helpful for planning and my mental game.”

What are you rough splits and people want to come cheer you on they can?

“Kicking off 8-8.30pm at Red Rocks on Friday, depending on weather and how I'm feeling. I'll be at the Hataitai velodrome between 11 and 11.30pm, and at the Khandallah swimming pool (65K start line) around 5.30am Saturday. Other than that, I'm not too sure, but I will be using my InReach, tracking every 20 minutes.”

130 km. 5,400 m of vert. All for a bloody good cause that's far too close to home for so many of us. Best of luck, Olivia.

If you want to track her progress you can watch from Friday night HERE

If you want to make a donation to her cause you can do HERE - $500 more and she’s hit her goal.

Now, I’m a firm believer that you’re not a true WooOoer until you’ve run the 65 km.

Have you really even run WUU2K if you haven’t stepped in a sh💩tty nappy on the way up the Tip Track... just to turn around and almost do it again on the way back down?

So, with that, I’ve dusted off the crystal balls and taken a wild stab at who I think will be standing on the podium in what is, in my completely unbiased opinion...

The pinnacle of the WUU2K.

The 65 km.

*Based on the current starters list.

📏65KM | ⛰️2800M

🏃‍♀️Women’s Race:

Course Record | Ali Wilson - 6:49:10 - 2023*

(Note: The 45km & 65km CR are from 2023 after another 2km of suffering was added to the courses)

🥇Hannah McRae

🥈Kirsty Gilmour

🥉Chrissi Faber

Hannah McRaeCrae is over from Straya🦘 and last raced WUU2K in 2023, where she finished 6th in pretty much 8 hours flat. She's done a lot since then, including finishing 2nd at this year's Tarawera Miler in just over 20 hours.

Whether she's here to race or just here for a social trip, I'm not sure, but I do know she's got the talent to knock close to an hour off that time and potentially stand on the top step.

Kirsty Gilmour's last trip to the capital resulted in 2nd at Faultline 50K in 2024. She also found herself on the podium at Skedaddle and the GPT 100 Mile Stage Race that year, and comes into this off an impressive win at Ring of Fire 100k.

Chrissi Faber loves racing in Wellington and is always there or thereabouts, no matter the distance. I think we'll get another tight tussle with Kirsty in a Ring of Fire rematch... but I'm giving Kirsty the nod.

🏃Men’s Race

Course Record | Sam Rout - 5:38:32 - 2024

🥇Chester Holt-Quick

🥈David Haunschmidt

🥉Matt Adams

Chester Holy-Quick Batman! has been on an absolute tear over the last 12 months, and I don’t see that changing. Haunschmidt has been an absolute force on the Wellington trails... but I sense a changing of the guard.

Holy-Quick sharpened up with a half-marathon block after successfully defending his Faultline 100K title, and I reckon we could see these two push each other under Sam Rout’s 2024 course record.

The Flying Doctor is back in town after spending several weeks racing around Europe. Does that make him match fit... or raced out?

Who knows.

Reading his latest Substack, he came down with the flu the day after his last race. Add the travel back to NZ, and I don’t think we’ll see Haunschmidt at his full powers. And I think he’ll need every bit of them if he’s going to take down Holy-Quick.

Matt Adams beat Holy-Quick and the Flying Doc at Jumbo Holdsworth in 2025, but I don’t think the longer race or the less technical terrain suits him quite as well.

That said, he’ll be there or thereabouts if either Holy-Quick or Haunschmidt falter out front.

Weather Watch

There’s no 2 ways about it. The weather in Wellington over the last month has been dire.

Luckily, the board at Wellington On A Good Day has finally been replaced, and the new one has delivered a beauty for race weekend.

Low teens.

Light winds.

No rain on the radar.

I don’t think you could ask for much more as a race director.

Course record-breaking weather, if you ask me.

All the best to everyone racing.

Follow WUU2K on Instagram and Facebook for race coverage and photos.

#Mountain Skag Pic Of The Week

This week’s hit is from Scott “The Boogeyman” Bougen of his better half getting a big old hit of the good stuff in the Kaimanawas.

This pic ticks a lot of boxes.

✅Flowing ridge line

✅Golden Sun

✅Dusting of snow

✅Mountains on the horizon

✅Someone in action soaking it all in

He’s now in the running for the monthly $70 voucher - check out www.mountainskag.com to see what you could be walking away with.

Tag @trailrunning.nz (NOTE THE “.”) and use #mountainskag. DM on Instagram or email trailrunningnz@gmail.com to enter (email is the most reliable).

Picking up what I’m putting down? Send it to a mate who you know will be into it too!

Share

Or leave a tip

Tip TRNZ

PS: Apologies for the delay this week. Larry my refurbished Lenovo gave up the ghost after 8 memorable years of service😭.

Your weekly fix of NZ trail running news

Welcome to Trail Running NZ. “Insert your own witty intro I aint got nadda this week”

Here's what’s in the drop bag this week:

🏃‍♀️🏃Cougar Trail Results

⛰️VERTual July Update

👆Things You May Have Missed

⛰️WTF is Skyrunning?

⛰️💊Mountain Skag of The Week & Vote For June

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.

I... I'm not sure how this is going to turn out. My brain is being ravaged from within by the VERTual July virus. It started as a way to get myself off the couch and get a few others involved while we've got fewer events over winter.

What's transpired is that over 260 disciples of Vert have stepped up on July 1st to take on the challenge. It's only Day 6 as I write this and... I'm already farked. I can't stop checking the leaderboard to see who's safe, and the laundry is getting an absolute reaming.

More on that later... Let’s slip our way into the Results Desk, proudly brought to you by those cool cats at Kinisi Running.

The Cougar Trail Run

Okay... when I first saw the banner below, I thought it was for some new NZ true crime podcast.

Maybe my view of Tokoroa is a bit jaded from growing up in Rotorua, but I thought it looked more like a hunt for a body than a hunt for 1st place.

We used to get a lot of sh💩t for the way the place smelled, so naturally we had to find someone else to sh💩t on to make ourselves feel better. That place was Tokoroa. Known for growing lots of pine trees and not much else😝.

So I was caught a little off guard to discover Tokoroa's best-kept secret was the Cougar Trail Run.

I thought it'd at least be some kind of crazy conspiracy where all the pine trees were a cover for a multi-billion-dollar weed-growing operation in the middle of the forest, with the paper mills actually processing plants for the Mongrel Mob, while the local council and police rubber-stamped the whole thing for a cut.

Anyway, I digress. The event started in 2020 before the world went bonkers, made a comeback in 2023, then got shoved back into the top of the Totalsport cupboard behind T42.

However, it made a triumphant return over the weekend. Let's see who landed a cougar at the event... and who ended up stalking around Scotty's Sports Bar instead🤔.

Long Course 21KM:

Men’s podium:

🥇Cameron Jacoben - 1:24:11

🥈Gary Carleton -1:27:12

🥉Sam Shergoldbronze - 1:35:09

Now I don't know anything about Cameron Jacoben, but he must have a solid chassis and a good set of wheels because Gary Carleton knows how to throw down with the best of them.

Gary's run 8:30 at Tarawera 100K and won the 2025 Faultline 50K, among plenty of other results. So well done Cameron, for getting one over Gazza.

Women’s podium:

🥇Nikki Everton - 1:41:53

🥈Simone Aldridge-Pokia - 1:48:57

🥉Anna Dean - 1:50:47

Nikki Everton will do anything for a bit of well-groomed central North Island mountain bike trail. It might not be her beloved Kinloch trails, but it was good enough to tempt her across from the mighty Hawke’s Bay to snaffle another trophy.

There was a bit of daylight back to 2nd, but it looks like Simone Aldridge-Pokia and Anna Dean had a good old tussle for the final two spots on the podium.

I got hold of Nikki to hear her impressions of the course and event:

“It was an awesome event! Trails were very Kinloch-esque - undulating, super runnable, basically like footpaths in the forest (my kind of “trails”). The irony of an old chick like myself taking out the Cougar title isn’t lost on me either! Always a well run event by the Total Sport crew - def one to put on the event calendar for next year.”

Thanks for that Nikki - I definitely wasn’t going to point that out.

Mid Course 14KM:

Women’s podium:

🥇Hariet Waffenschmidt - 1:11:01

🥈Sarah Fryett - 1:12:16

🥉Jessica Jackson - 1:15:47

Men’s podium:

🥇Matt Withey - 1:06:31

🥈Grant Mclaren - 1:02:50

🥉Flynn Ter Beek - 1:09:14

Short Course 7KM:

Men’s podium:

🥇Jacob Carleton - 28:46

🥈Steve Wenzlicke - 29:30

🥉Martin Carroll - 31:35

Women’s podium:

🥇Charlotte Edgar - 35:09

🥈Louise Wenzlick - 38:09

🥉Abigail Gardner - 38:31

This looked like a successful return for The Cougar with 597 runners, plus another 142 walkers. I'm sure Total Sport would be pretty happy with that. I think it attracted somewhere in the mid-300s back in 2023.

Considering pretty much everyone has to travel to some degree, things are looking healthy for the cougar breeding grounds.

Full results HERE

Photos from the event available HERE

This Week’s Newsletter Is Brought To You By…

It’s not too late to join the trail running party in the capital at The Wuu2K

Come join the fun on Saturday July 18th

Entries are still open for the 21, 45, and 65k.

Banged up at the moment? No worries. Bank some trail karma instead by volunteering and lying to runners out on course.

“You’re just 2 minutes behind” and “you’re almost there” are my go-to lines.

ENTER HERE

REGISTER AS A VOLUNTEER HERE

VERTual July Update

As I mentioned in the intro... I've been totally consumed by VERTual July. I have no idea how visible this is to those not competing because it's become the cornerstone of all my algorithms. Strava. Instagram. OnlyFans. It's all VERTual July.

At the time of writing, it's the end of Day 6, which means we're up to 600m. Barely getting started in the scheme of things, but it already feels like a lifetime😮.

We kicked off on Wednesday with 260-odd people. You might scoff at starting with just 100m of vert, but what's blown me away is how many people have never done anything like this, got involved, knocked out two or three days, and absolutely loved it.

There's something about having a common goal that's just good for the spirit. It's been a barrel of laughs with plenty of Strava fails (mainly on my behalf), some trying weather, and plenty of people starting to realise just how much bigger the task becomes if you're going to complete all 31 days🤯.

I keep bumbling between:

“Yeah, someone can definitely do this.”

and...

“Not a chance in hell.”

The second one usually hits halfway through my “run”.

There are definitely athletes in the mix with the capability. Whether they can combine that with motivation, logistics, and life admin remains to be seen. I still reckon it'll be a semi-retired 60-year-old living on a lifestyle block with a good old 200m grass hill out the back who wins it.

Is it too late to join?

Yes.

But it’s not too late to watch.

If you're reading this on Tuesday morning, there are currently 137 runners looking to knock off 700m of vert and hit the first milestone of the competition.

That earns them some That's It Anti-Chafe, 10% off at Kinisi and Huntaway Run Co, a $70 Merrell NZ voucher plus a free entry into Crush The Cargill 24 hour Challenge. Not bad for a free competition (and that’s just for week 1).

Then the games really begin. In the first 3 days of Week 2, you do more vert than you did in the previous 7. Let that sink in😝.

It's a bit like a backyard ultra. It's never the individual run or lap that gets you, it's the compounding effect. When you're one rep into a set of stair repeats and you know you've got to be back tomorrow for even more, it'll eat the best minds from the inside out.

I feel like I should finish with something motivational.

… or if that doesn’t work for you “Don’t be shit” as Ali Wilson would say.

Watch the leaderboard here, it updates every 30 minutes with who’s safe.

This time tomorrow, we'll know who's here to win it... and who was just here for some balls and/or flaps anti-chafe cream from Thats it.

Things You May Have Missed

Missing Everything This Week Due To Vert Constraints. We Will Recap Next Week

WTF Is Skyrunning anyway?

Does anyone actually know? If you asked 100 people I’m sure you’d get 200 different answers.

“Isn’t it just another name for mountain running?”

“Isn’t it trail running with more rocks”

“Isn’t it just trail running with whips and chains and shit?”

Whatever your definition, this September us Kiwis will have exactly two athletes lining up at the Skyrunning World Championships on the Spanish island of La Gomera.

Brooke Cox and Matthew Gummer.

No manager. No physio. No team bus.

Just a couple from Lake Hāwea representing New Zealand at one of the most technical mountain races in the world.

They met four years ago while working for DOC in Te Anau, running up Luxmore after work. These days they call a tiny house in Lake Hāwea home and, in a couple of months’ time, they’ll be pulling on the silver fern.

Their race is 64km with around 4,000m of climbing and descending through steep volcanic terrain. It’s not the longest race either have done, but it’d have to be the most awesomeness looking.

So before they scoot off to Italy to train in the Aosta Valley, then onto La Gomera for the World Championships, I figured we’d find out a bit more about New Zealand’s entire Skyrunning team.

What does a typical training week look like right now? And what do you expect it to look like at peak training?

B+M: “Right now we are revving the engine pretty hard as we have shifted our training philosophy for this race. We are starting with a block of VO2 max and strength work.”

“Typically this is 3 x intensity sessions each a day apart, 3 x strength work, then a couple of real easy runs and a long run in the mountains. As we get closer to the race we will be increasing the volume, vertical and lowering the intensity of sessions.”

“A peak week will be in the Aosta Valley in Italy 2 weeks out from the World Champs. Around 170km and 15,000m vertical gain and descent on the famous route of the Tor Des Geants!”

What’s your favourite training route?

M - “I love running Ben Lomond in Queenstown. It’s got everything and reminds me of running from Chamonix or Courmayer straight from town up to a magical view with a quad smashing descent before a plunge into the lake!”

B – “Mt. Iron laps. Repetition soothes the brain. I know every pebble.”

Are you coached or self-coached?

M - “I have had a few coaches down the years but now rely on my knowledge and experience of working in sport and exercise in my career.”

B – “Matt coaches me and I add my two cents.”