Auckland Trail Series Waitawa 2026

30 August 2026

20.0km, 705m vert, 1:57:30

https://www.strava.com/activities/19955845805/overview

https://my.raceresult.com/418629/results

Build up

I had a good buildup to this race, although I was a bit overtrained / tired by midweek. I took Friday and Saturday off and felt good by Sunday.

It hosed down on Saturday, so the grounds were soaked, but fortunately stopped raining by Sunday morning. Brett drove me, Juliette and Michal out to some slightly dodgy 4WD parking. Evan was continuing his comeback, as waw Ferruccio.

The event based was moved to the upper tarseal by the sheds, which was a great move.

Racing

I was feeling quite frisky and started fast down the first hill since I was worried about early pinch points. However there weren't any, and after 800m, we hit the big first uphill. I kept a strong pace and moved well ahead of Michal. Juliette was racing off ahead.

We zigged and zagged around the fast gravel trails, and didn't go down to the beach section nor the tricky rope area.

I was moving ok, and knew that I was probably running at a somewhat unsustainable pace. So true! I slowed after the start of the second lap, but was enjoying the workout.

Michal overtook me at pace with about 4km to go, and ended up gapping me by 2 minutes.