Long Term Gear Test: La Sportiva Helios.

Long term gear test: La Sportiva Helios, by La Sportiva NZ ambassador Sam Clark- I’m going to get this out of the way early in the piece:  The La Sportiva Helios could be the last…

Sky Points Guess and Mt Difficulty Ascent

Matt has a look at the Skyrunning New Zealand/Australia series points and Mt Difficulty Ascent. Past the halfway way mark in the New Zealand/Australia Skyrunning series I got interested to see how the…

Routeburn Classic Preview

 UPDATE 23rd April The 2015 Routeburn Classic takes place this weekend, traversing from The Divide on the Milford Road, crossing over Harris Saddle and descending down the Routeburn finishing 32km and 1200mD+ later. This time a year…

2015 Buffalo Stampede Report

A small but strong kiwi contingent traveled to Bright, Victoria for this past weekend’s Buffalo Stampede Skyrunning event. The Buffalo was the Oceania Skyrunnng Championships in the 42km and 75km distances and as such attracted a…

The Barkley Marathons – I Quit

Matt Bixley tells us about his greatest failure- Quieting The Barkley Marathons. How do you write something about a race that continues to strive to remain a mystery, an enigma. I tapped out…

Whitney Dagg Pre Buffalo Interview

Ahead of next months Oceania Skyrunning Championships, the Buffalo Stampede, we will be catching up with members of Team Ultimate Direction New Zealand. Team UD NZ have a strong team traveling to the…

The Hillary Ultra- Chris Morrissy Report

Chris Morrissy shares his 2nd place finish at The Hillary 80km Ultra- At Tarawera I had decided to run my own race, ignore everyone else. Pretty much jog for 60km then hopefully begin to…

The Barkley Marathons

Matt Bixley shares his thorough ahead of lining up at the The Barkley Marathons. Have I Been Training – No! Amongst other questions where have is swapped with: what, why or how, the have…

2015 Motatapu Adventure Run Race Report

Motatapu Adventure Run race report from Grant Guise- The 2015 Motatapu Adventure Run was just that- an Adventure! Standing in the dark at Glendhu Bay, in what can only be described as pissing…

Ultimate Direction Fastpack 30 Review

Dennis de Monchy offers his take on the new Ultimate Direction Fastpack 30. I was recently given the chance to test out the new UD Fastpack 30 when I headed south to run in…

Jean Beaumont UTMB Race Report

Jean Beaumont is arguably the leading New Zealand female 100mile runner, with wins at Naseby and a slick 26hr45 at the 2012 Northburn100, where she was 15mins off winning overall! At the end…

World Mountain Running Championships 2014

Stephen Day last weekend raced in the Masters World Mountain Running Champs, and this weekend he races the World Mountain Running Champs, in Casette di Massa in the Italian region of Tuscany. Stephen gives…

Michael Aish post Leadville 2014 Interview

In 2012 we posted this interview with Michael Aish before he ran his first 100mile race at Leadville. It was a big step up for the former Olympic track runner, who represented New…

Kiwis in Sky Running World Champs

 The 2014 Sky Running World Championships take place this weekend in Chamonix, France. What New Zealand lacks in numbers in Chamonix, we certainly make up for in quality. Joining Europen based Salomon super…

Tarawera Ultramarathon Entries Now Open

Tarawera Ultramarathon race directorPaul Charteris gives us the run down on the Tarawera entries that open today- Entries for the 2015 Vibram Tarawera Ultramarathon open at 11am on Sunday 1 June NZ time. It’s alway super…

The Rustic Run and Wild Earth Ascent

14th of June see’s two very different events put on by one very excited Race Director in the Kawaaru Gorge, near Cromwell. The Rustic Run was started by local hotel owner and new trail running…

More Than A Race- HK100 Film

In 4 years the Hong Kong  100km Ultra Marathon has quickly become one of the most recognised international 100km ultra races on an ever growing ultra race calendar. With the races inclusion in…

Buffalo Stampede Ultra Race Report

Buffalo Stampede Race Report In the first weekend of April this year the first ever official Sky Running race took place in Australia, with the running of the Buffalo Stampede in Bright, Victoria….

The Hillary Race Report- Heather Davidson

The Hillary – 80km of pure Waitakere Ranges goodness from Arataki to Muriwai- Heather Davidson’s Race Report. Naturally I was keen to race in my training ground, and when photos4sale offered me an…

Northburn 100- 2014 Recap

Above- post race interview with Northburn 50km winner and course record holder, Sage Canaday. The Northburn 100 took place this weekend in amazing and very ” un-Northburn” like weather. While in the past…

Jo Johansen Tarawera Race Report

Last weekend at the shortened Tarawera Ultra Jo Johansen was, for many (including myself), an unknown name, that stormed to victory in the woman’s race. Below is Jo’s account of her race. It was…

Big Easy Mountain Marathon Report

The 4th running (and 5th biking) of the Big Easy Mountain Marathon took place this past weekend in central Otago. The Big Easy is truly a unique race in many ways- more vertical…

“In the High Country” Tauranga Screening

Backcountry Runner is very excited to present a screening of “In the High Country” in Tauranga on Thursday 17th October. “In the High Country will be a new kind of mountain/ running film featuring Anton…

Shotover Moonlight Mountain Marathon Training Camp

If the idea of leisurely trail running weekend on the private Ben Lomond Station in Queenstown sounds like fun – read on! A two day / one night marathon training camp staying at the…

“In the High Country” Dunedin Screening

Backcountry Runner is very excited to present a screening of “In the High Country” in the Southern City and trail running hot spot, Dunedin. “In the High Country will be a new kind of…

Northburn100 Early Entry

                  Just had an email from Mr Highland Events, Terry Davis, giving a heads up on the early bird rate for the Northburn100- New Zealand’s…

“In the High Country”- New Zealand Premier

Backcountry Runner is very excited to present the New Zealand Premier of “In the High Country”. “In the High Country will be a new kind of mountain/ running film featuring Anton Krupicka. Filmed and Produced…

THE BUFFALO STAMPEDE BRINGS SKYRUNNING TO AUSTRALIA

Pretty rare that we cover a race out side of New Zealand (we like to give our attention to NZ events and athletes!), especially when that race is 7+ months away! But today…

Ruby Muir pre Speedgoat Interview

  Less than a year ago Ruby Muir was laid out with injury, she even withdrew from the 2012 Kepler Challenge, unable to train for it. Oh how quickly things can change- Ruby has in…

Vajin Armstrong Zugspitz Ultra Trail Race Report

Part One: The Zugspitz Ultra Trail New Zealand’s leading ultra runner Vajin Armstrong had great success last weekend at the Zugspitz 100km Ultra Trail in Germany, below is Vajin’s race report. This was the…

Vajin Armstrong European Campaign Kicking Off!

While we are all freezing our asses off with the mass weather bomb that has gripped the country,  this weekend kiwi ultra runner Vajin Armstrong kicks off his European summer of racing with…

History of the Great Naseby Water Race

(The above video is from Tarawera Ultra race director Paul Charteris and looks over the figure 8 cross over and what will now be the start/finish area of the Great Naseby Water Race) The…

Mt Wakefield

Lee Cook had a disappointing outing at the Avalanche Peak Challenge last month with a DNS, but this has far from slowed Lee down as he has been running and scrambling up peak’s from his home. And…

Shotover Moonlight Post Race Interviews

Saturdays Shotover Moonlight Mountain Marathon delivered! It was hyped up with a class field in both the women’s and men’s race and while there where a few no shows (Braden Currie, Amy Campbell,…

Shotover Moonlight pre race Interviews

Shotover Moonligh Mountain Marathon tomorrow is set to be a cracker! Below are a few short interviews with some pre race favourites. Ruby Muir Richard and Elina Ussher Martin Cox Vajin Armstrong

Avalanche Peak Challenge 2013

The 2013 Avalanche Peak Challenge took place yesterday in Arthur’s Pass National Park, in near perfect conditions.  If anything temps were a touch on the high side and the scree into the upper Crow in…

St James Stampede Ultra

Marty Lukes, arguably New Zealand’s most successful ultra runner (trail and road) gives us a run down on why he thinks the new St James Stampede 50km Ultra is a race worth doing. Located in a wonderful block…

Red Tarns Running, Mt Cook Village

Well since my last blog a month ago the weather has been pretty ‘special’ and I’ve found it extremely difficult to get up high running in the mountains. I went on a little…

Coming At You This Week

Results/News from the weekend Jumbo Holdsworth was won by Rhys Findlay-Robinson in 2hr22, ahead of former NZ mountain running rep Dan Clendonin 2hr32. Piret Klade won the woman’s race in 2hr59, just over 1min off Fleur Pawsey’s 2008…

Northburn: Reinvent Yourself- by Martin Cox

I was a skinny, intense kid with a physique and temperament suited to distance running and very little else. Like all young runners from the South of England, I began by racing road…

Ruby Muir Kepler Challenge 2012 Interview

The 2012 Kepler Challenge, the 25th running of New Zealand’s most prestiges mountain running race was held on Dec 1st in cool, windy condition’s, with occasional showers early turning to heavy rain late…

Vajin Armstrong Kepler Challenge Interview

The 2012 Kepler Challenge, the 25th running of New Zealand’s most prestiges mountain running race was held on Dec 1st in cool, windy condition’s, with occasional showers early turning to heavy rain late in the day. From the gun 2x…

Kepler Challenge – Past Race Videos

A little bit of Kepler Challenge motivation via a few short clips of past events. Remember to check out our pre race interviews and articles from past winners. We have also organised a…

Vajin Armstrong White River Video Interviews

On July 28th kiwi Vajin Armstrong raced the White Rive 50 mile in Washington State, US. We managed to get  a pre and post interviews with Vajin while he was in Washington. The…

Coming at you this week

Coming at you this week- Well yes, we are a little late getting this up this week. Getting back from TNF100 in Australia and recovering from a 100km race, catching up on work and family…

Mal Law’s Everest in a Day

Everest in a Day was conceived as a training run for Mal Law’s even bigger challenge – CoastPathRun – a 1,014 km running odyssey along the length of the UK’s longest trail, the…

2012 ANZ 100k Champs Video

Anna Frost Transvulcania Training

New Zealand’s golden girl of ultra- running and Salomon Running Athlete Anna Frost is currently in the  Canary Islands, Spain, in preparation for the Transvulcania Ultra Marathon. We have a nice little interview with Frosty in the works,…

2012 Loop the Lake- Fleur Lattimore

2012 Loop the Lake- Graeme Taylor

2012 ANZ Mountain Running Champs- SM winner- Phil Costley

2012 ANZ Mountain Running Champs-SW winner Hannah Newbound

Northburn 100 wind

Anna Frost Taranaki Mission