Waitomo 23km 2026
18 April 2026
2h34m, 21.5km, 926m
Pre Race
Me, Brett, Neville and Barnaby.
Brett had kindly offered the use of his bach in Marakopa for a fun weekend away and its proximity to the Waitomo Trail Run. He even drove us down there in the rain :)
We got caught in a classic Auckland southern motorway closure, and in spite of repeated discussion about following the obvious detour we somehow all managed to stupidly miss the required offramp and thus spent an extra 2 hours crawling along the (closed) SH1 near Botany. But we got to registration at Waitomo and eventually Marakopa.
I was feeling fit and well and really looking forward to having a fun run.
Race Day
Brett's relly Mark kindly agreed to drop us off at the start of the race (Mangapohue Natural Tunnel), which saved us lots of extra travel hassles.
The weather was predictably erratic. Heavy rain in the buildup ensured a waterlogged course, and the forecast for race-day was pretty dodgy. (especially Brett's version of the forecast!) However the rain mostly held off during the race, and temperatures for running were sweet.
We wandered along to the start line, admiring the beaut limestone and kaast cliffs, and attached ourselves to the second start wave.
The start location and experience surpassed any expectations!
We were in a natural cavern (Mangapohue Natural Tunnel)
We Started to a Tune
Once we got into the running groove, we trundled along the initial muddy, rooty and twisty single track. I love this stuff.
Nev was in the lead, with me next and Barnaby close behind. Brett was nursing some physical issues and unsure how he would go over 23km. Fortunately for him he was all good and his problems magically disappeared during the run!
Nev and I moved a bit ahead of Barnaby as he was sliding around humorously due to his unfortunate failure to bring his correct trail shoes. As we found out later, Barnaby slipped at one point and badly strained his back, after which he moved from race mode to survival mode. I did spot him behind us on one long open section, so I knew he was still moving at least.
We ran through and along the Marakopa stream a few times. It was definitely GoPro day today (not phone!)
The Marakopa Cave was awesome! We whipped out our tiny headlamps and the footing was pretty ok to keep running at a decent speed.
Nev and I ran together pretty much the entire way, which was fun. The single track had changed to mostly farm trails on gravel or grass, with occasional muddy or clay areas.
Nev and I swapped the lead a few times.
The trail markings were generally pretty good, but at one point, leader Nev started heading off in the wrong direction, which I found funny and somewhat chided him about. I kindly spoke up so that he didn't go too far astray. (of course, off course)
However shortly afterwards I was in the lead and I then also missed the turnoff and ran the wrong way, so that evened up the score to 1-1. Then later Nev again erred directionally , in a spot where we later figured out that Brett had also gone astray. Unlike us (who only went 10 meters wrong thanks to a rando guy behind us who shouted at us), Brett managed to go a long way up a wicked hill before he turned around. He claims that he was going to turn back earlier but had to continue on in order to rescue a lost damsel in distress, but that all sounded a bit unlikely...)
The terrain slowly opened out more and more until we got to the regions called the "rollercoaster", in which every downhill was followed by a corresponding uphill. We power walked the steeper longer hills, and I didn't really get too fatigued. (I was determined not to bonk so badly as I did in my last race at Tarawera!)
With several kilometers to the finish I was feeling ok, and I could tell that Nev was breathing pretty hard, so naturally I increased the pace. I gained a bit of a lead on Nev over the last 2km (where we ran away from the visible finish line for ages before looping back!) and finished on that last nasty uphill to Stubb's Farm. Yay!
Nev followed soon after and Barnaby after another 8 minutes. For some unknowable reason, Barney had over-filled his hydration vest with 2 kilograms of water, and then carried the entire amount around the course without bothering to drink any of it. He offered some vague and weak excuses for this foolishness, which we pretended to accept (but only because we felt sorry for him for injuring his back).
At this point, it finally started to rain pretty nastily, and we pitied Brett still out in the weather (although he didn't seem to notice/mind the rain much).
Brett finished happy.
We waited for a while at the finish tent, sheltering next to the heater with all our dry clothes on, commiserating with the young lad who'd misplaced his mother.
We eventually found our ride back with Mark, and got back to the bach for a warm shower.
Overall this was a super fun run, and I'm already keen to do it again next year!
Post Race
We checked out the online results, and I was in 6th place, which was a nice surprise. Barnaby in 10th. (Admittedly all the best runners did the 35km option, heh heh)
Funnily, Nev only started the race and presumably is still out on the course somewhere (perhaps he is going off-grid like Tom Phillips?).
Brett was pleased to have run well, and would have been much faster without a 15? minute detour!
Completely convinced about magic potion beetroot. Just saying.
Sunday
The next day (Sunday) was better weather and we checked out Marakopa environs, and smashed open some 200 million year old fossils at Kiritehere Beach.
The Marakopa Falls were simply fantastic in flood.
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