Tarawera Ultra-Marathon 2023 - Rotorua New Zealand
Such is Byron Bay Runners thirst for adventure that early exploits by the likes of Inger, Matt and Jacqui had stirred the trail runner’s interests of fourteen runners from Byron Bay to head to Rotorua NZ for the Tarawera Ultra-Marathon
We had to be patient though! Covid gave us another year to think about it.
With floods hitting the north island in late January (we’re from the northern rivers - we know floods!) and an embryonic cyclone (Gabrielle) gathering north of Lord Howe we threw caution to the wind and headed for the airport. North Island please captain and step on it! We had all made our plans with interesting accommodation options and travels including touring motor homes, gorgeous large lake house where most of us stayed with spa baths, lake views, beers, wine, relaxing…………oh and we had to squeeze in a trail run!
Saturday 11th February provided perfect conditions for our:
23km runners - Craig, Marisa, Susan, David, Mallory, Mary, Tonia, Nicole;
50km runners - Katie, Danni, Paul, Rod and Gary; and
Milers (170km) - Sharon and Fi.
It was a race of “firsts”!
First trail race for David Michie (23km)
First 50km ultra for Katie Savage
First “miler” for Sharon and Fi.
The conditions were perfect and the race organisation and course were wonderful.
The “milers” had an early start as the alarm clock was set for 1:30am to prepare for the 4:00am start. It was so early that it was nearly late. And that was it for Sharon and Fi - see you in 31 hours!
The rest of us had our sleep in until 5am and then nervous chit chat, bus ride to start and “bang” we’re off. There really was stunning scenery as we ran past Lake Rotokakahi (green lake), lake Tikitapu (blue lake), red wood forests and the smelly steam at sulphur point.
The aim was to get to the aid stations before Katie ate all the marmite sarnies!
Everyone had great races. Craig and Marisa enjoyed their run after the tough grind at last year’s UTA50. Susan did her normal “dark horse” run (where did she come from). David ran a great race and was lamenting the fact that he didn’t enter the 50km. Mallory started on time and wasn’t caught in the loo queue. Mary overcame achilles problems and Tonia ran under three hours for 21km.
For our 50km runners - Katie now knows she can do it. Danni ran well despite ending up with stitches in her knee at the end. Paul came in just over 6 hours and Rod was smiling all the way it seemed.
The highlight was Fi and Sharon’s run (170km). It felt a bit cruel giving them a hug and a laugh and tapping them on their way at 11pm Saturday night to run a further 60km. We were heading home to doonas and log fires and the best the girls could hope for was a brief “dirt nap”! It was super exciting to see the steady rhythm of the pacing and poles as they came into Redwood aid station the next morning - 7kms to go! They were going to make it by lunch time Sunday. It was a remarkable achievement - and they saw a real live Kiwi bird!
Results
