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.
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.
🥇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!
🥇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.
“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!”
“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!”
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.
☠️Maddox Arona-Gault - 21 laps (140.91KM)
☠️Hamish Dodd - 19 laps (127.49KM)
☠️Nathan Smith- 18 laps (120.78KM)
☠️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:
“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.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.
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.
🥇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.
🥇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.
“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.
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!
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:
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 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.
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?
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
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.
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.
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.
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…
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.
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.
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!
Or leave a tip
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.
Comments
Nothing yet. Say the first thing.
Sign in to join the conversation.