TARAWERA ULTRA MARATHON – 2025
*Humble brag time* My husband is an ultra runner .. (as in he can run along way – although he’s pretty ultra regardless).
James and I went to Rotorua (with thousands of other athletes of all shapes and sizes) to take part in the Tarawera Ultra-Trail Event. I signed up for the half marathon and James was doing the 50km – mostly due to the fact that he got injured before his last goal event (The Legends of the Peaks) and didn’t want all that training to go to waste.
If you’ve been following along with my training, you’ll know that I’ve been injured since December 2024 so although I was healed enough to walk it safely, it was touch and go to whether there would be any actual running involved. However when I did my first “test” run the week prior and it went ok, the physio said I could play it by ear and could probably run the flats and downs.
My *big* goal was to finish in 3:50 that would be the same pace as the Waihi Trail run. That was a slow course for me being quite technical so I figured it would be the same as being injured but being able to run sections of what I imagined would be a less technical course. My *I’d still be happy* goal was 4:25 which would be achievable if I had to walk more than I hoped for but kept my walking speed purposeful.
I finished in 3:33:32 – so obviously I thought I slayed, even though my finish time was in the bottom quarter of all finishers in all categories.
James’ goal seemed to vary on how injured he was on any given day – so it ranged between 6 hours when he was enthusiastic and on a particularly bad day he’d decided that 9 hours would be the more likely outcome ..
He finished in under eight hours and at the end of the day was happy – more that he got it done than the time taken to do it – by the sounds of it, it wasn’t something he’s going to look back fondly on – I mean I’d be pretty impressed if I could traverse 50km in a day – but obviously the boy has loftier expectations than I.
Although I’ve done a number of events in Rotorua there were sections of this course I hadn’t done before (such as the Blue Lake) – thankfully my friend Lisa had said “enjoy your climb up to the Redwoods” so I knew there must be a pretty significant hill somewhere – so I wasn’t as surprised (and sad) as most when it showed itself.
I was probably more surprised that the first section of our trail run was on a road .. should probably read the course descriptions more thoroughly. 😉
I do know for a fact that this was the easiest course I’ve done so far. A tonne of it was super runnable (if you are not injured and can actually run) so it’s a beautiful run when you get off the aforementioned road. It would be a great first half marathon – you could even get a finishers t-shirt with your name on it!
I’ve also heard this is a very “easy” 50km course – I’m not sure how traversing 50km is easy – but I guess it would be easier than doing 50km in the Hunua’s or Waihi. I’m not yet inclined to give it a go regardless of the course especially as James said “it was the stupidest idea I’ve ever had” if an actual runner thinks running 50km is stupid, then who am I to argue.
Till next time
