Iconic Mountain races

Four weeks. Three iconic mountain races.

• 18^th January - The Goat, Tongariro.

• 25^th January - Jumbo Holdsworth Trail race

• 7^th February - Coast to Coast mountain run, Goat’s pass

Each of these routes are super technical, traverse unique beautiful terrain, require full concentration, have lung-busting ascents, and gnarly descents. If you want a true trail running challenge, any one of these races fills your cup. Doing all three in the same season will really test your goat-legs.
Here are my experience of each of them:

1) The Goat, Tongariro 🥇

The route takes you from Whakapapa to Turoa ski fields. Approx. 19k with 1200m vert doesn’t sound too bad on paper. But anyone who has tackled this route knows how those stats don’t anywhere near describe the gnarly reality. Start with a 1.8k charge down the tarmac road before you hit the rocky trail. From then on it is all about moving as efficiently as possible over the undulations consisting of loose scoria, rock-hopping, muddy river beds with steep slippery walls, washed-out track, a few bits of boardwalk that have seen much better days, and some forested sections. No aid stations, but a few rivers to fill up and cool yourself down along the way. Tough volcanic terrain and great views, with a couple of officials on the course to give support. The final steep rooty rocky descent takes you down to a hut and some boardwalks with a view ahead of the waterfall climb. The final 4.5k climbs approx. 400m including a fun scramble up the side of a Waterfall, and the infamous mama’s mile up the tarmac road to the finish. This is an event that feels like a journey and accomplishment. Everyone that finishes it has a smile on their face and a sense of massive achievement to conquer the course.

2) Jumbo Holdsworth Trail race: 🥉

Competitors were treated to a stunning day this year. The Tararua’s are renowned for being tough. This race is a good advertisement of what they are all about. An undulating initial 7k to warm up the legs before a ridiculously steep climb up Raingauge (730m vert in 2.2k!) and onwards to Jumbo summit at 1405m. The steep ups and downs along the ridgelines to Holdsworth are challenging and fun. Meeting runners going in the opposite ‘non-championship’ direction coming towards you is a nice element to this race. The charge down from Holdsworth back to base is glorious trail running through challenging trails. The running community come out in force to support this gem of an event.
Not a great performance from me at this one. Poor recovery in the 6 days since the Goat due to too much work and having visiting family staying with us. I knew the legs were cooked within the first few km. My climbing muscles did not want to co-operate. I could still throw myself down hill reasonably well, which kept me on the podium at least. A super fun day.

3) Coast to Coast Mountain run: Goats pass. 🥇

One of the most technical running events you can find. A few km to warm up the legs before you basically find your own route up the valley riverbed. The majority of this 16k ascent consists of boulder-hopping, river crossings (waist deep or higher), loose rocks, some scrambling up steep river walls, with a few sections of random trail here and there. Loads of fun. The descent is not easy either, with rugged mountain, forest and riverbed terrain: rooty, steep droop-offs, still lots of punchy climbs, more rock-hoping and river crossings. It’s a run that needs full attention throughout. Again no aid-stations, but many opportunities to drink from the river!
Many had told me that a course reccie is essential, especially for the ascent, where choosing your lines can save a huge amount of time. I unfortunately did not get a chance for this. My expectation was that I would be pretty innefficient and make mistakes. This was true. My mentality was to treat this as a training run and just have a fun adventure. Lots of places I can now see how to save many minutes. At around 10k I quite comically slipped off a large boulder down a 1.5m drop into water and rocks, jarring my hip. A bit of a slower and more painful remainder of the run from then on. But very thankful I didn’t injure myself worse. It would be great to come back to race again, maybe after a few more reccies. Maybe as part of the full Coast to Coast.

Being the first over the run for the whole event weekend meant I was the designated cobweb clearer (mostly with my face), but also that I was lucky enough to see a Kiwi chilling on the track at one of the first forested sections. Later on I was greeted by 3 Kea eyeing up my gels. Other than that, a pair of walkers, and the race officials, it was a solitary affair. This, along with the great challenging terrain and great views made for an awesome and peaceful day running one of the most challenging mountain races around :)
Experiencing the huge machine that is Coast to Coast was also pretty cool. This sea of endurance athlete and support team moving from West to East, in true Kiwi style, is very impressive.

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All of these events have captured something special, show off an area of New Zealand, and deservedly have a dedicated following. I would highly recommend all three routes. Doing them as an event adds to the fun and the challenge. Events like this are what got me into trail running after I moved to New Zealand, and the experiences are what life is all about.