The 2024 Tarawera 100 miler (162.5km) was my fourth Tarawera miler and one of my toughest. It was an extra early 2am wake up as the course now started at Kawerau which was about an hour out of Rotorua. Even then, I knew 2am was pushing it for a 4am start but I couldn’t bring ... read more.
I hadn’t planned to do the Rotorua Marathon this year as I’d entered the Ultra Trail Australia (UTA) 100km which was one week after Rotorua. However, when I got wind that one of my cousins was hoping to run his first road marathon at Rotorua, I felt obliged to support him. When two more of ... read more.
Money talks. But it don’t sing and dance and it don’t walk. It’s 3am in the morning and we’re racing around Lake Rotoiti in Dr Andrew Stanley’s Tesla. The Tarawera 100 miler is scheduled to start at 4am and we need to be at the Lake Rotoiti Rugby Club at 3.15am to catch the pre-race ... read more.
Although I spend most of my time in Christchurch now, I always enjoys running in Rotorua. If there is such a thing as a ‘spiritual running home’, then mine would be Rotorua. Rotorua (and the Redwood Forest in particular) is where it all started for me. What started as 10km runs in the forest during ... read more.
The Tarawera 100 Miler (165.2km) was the culmination of lots of training. Even though I had done five ultra marathons in the last four months, you can never take a 100 miler for granted. Having done the Tarawera 100 miler in 2019, I knew what to expect. 165km is a long way and the thought ... read more.
The 100 miler is a formidable and challenging distance. Many questions are invariably asked as it can be difficult to grasp the enormity of such a distance. Why? How? When? What?! Such a distance involves running through the night as most ‘average’ competitors finish after 24 hours. After completing my first 100 miler at the ... read more.
Some marathons I enjoy more than others and the Rotorua marathon is one of those. Having grown up in Rotorua, most of my running apprenticeship was served in this small town. Many hours have been spent running in the Redwood Forest and along the Blue and Green lakes. Even though my first marathon was in ... read more.