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
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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.
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.
☠️Connor Aldridge - 42 laps (281.82KM)
☠️Jeremy Pelvin- 41laps (275.11KM)
☠️Paul Maxwell - 34 laps (228.14KM)
☠️Julia Chamberlain -30 laps (201.30KM)
☠️Hadani Woodruff - 26 laps (174.46KM)
☠️Alaina Morrison - 25 laps (167.75KM)
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 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.
🏃 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.
THIS WEEK’S NEWSLETTER IS BROUGHT TO YOU BY...
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.
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 …
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🥵.
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.
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!
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.
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.
“Trip was with my Brother in Law and good running mate Mike and was in our local HB hills, the Kawekas.”
“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.”
“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.”
“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.
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.
“81 New Zealanders are diagnosed with cancer every day. I lost my dad to cancer last year. He'd enjoyed me showing him some of the WUU course 2 years ago ahead of my race, and was thrilled when I called him after the race to tell him I was the first woman across the finish line.” ”It therefore seems fitting to fundraise for the Cancer Society by running all three variations of the WUU2K back to back. This is a route pioneered by Will Bell who also fundraised for Cancer Society when he ran it in 2022.”
“All donations are welcome. Every dollar makes a difference!”
I flicked Olivia a few questions ahead of the weekend.
“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.”
“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.”
“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.
(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.
🥇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.
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.
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!
Or leave a tip
PS: Apologies for the delay this week. Larry my refurbished Lenovo gave up the ghost after 8 memorable years of service😭.
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