Three of South Africa’s best-known women trail athletes will line up at the start of New Zealand’s biggest trail race – the 16th Tarawera Ultra-trail by UTMB, facing challenges of sporting excellence and embracing powerful life experiences through connecting with the special people and places of Tarawera country.
Bianca Tarboton is one of Africa’s leading marathon-distance trail athletes and is part of the global adidas TERREX team, Nontuthuko Mgabhi has set new bench-marks in altruistic adventurism, having tackled extraordinary feats of endurance to improve the lives of many children who lack basic life resources, while veterinarian Naomi Brand, now domiciled in New Zealand, has represented South Africa at the highest level of the sport.
Tarawera’s home base is in New Zealand’s North Island town of Rotorua, a town set on its namesake lake on New Zealand’s North Island renowned for its geothermal activity and Maori culture. In the Te Puia’s Whakarewarewa Valley, bubbling mud pools and the 30m-tall Pohutu Geyser, which erupts many times daily, are key attractions as well as provider for a significant amount of the region’s energy.
The Tarawera Ultra-Trail has become New Zealand’s premier trail running event and one of the largest ultra-trail races in the world. New Zealand trail running legend, Paul Charteris, drew inspiration from his time in California, USA, where he encountered trails that make up the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run, and founded Tarawera in 2009.
The trails of Tarawera take runners through the inspiring ‘taiao’ (earth mother) of Papatūānuku, a natural landscape bursting with life and energy. Runners will journey through lush native bush, towering redwoods, past 8 glistening lakes and along crystal-clear streams.
In addition to revelling in the natural beauty, participants are encouraged to connect to the land on a deeper level by learning the ‘korero’ (stories) of the tangata whenua (people of the land) and finding respect in the sacred lands they are fortunate enough to traverse, demonstrating a strong relationship between trail running and conservation.
‘Whānau’ (family) and the concept of ‘manaaki’ – a reciprocal sharing of warmth – is at the heart of Tarawera. And the Tarawera family includes runners, support crews, volunteers to the event crew, and the local community, welcoming runners to their trails.
Tarboton, a qualified chemical engineer, has won races in almost all of South Africa’s high-profile events, including the Otter Trail, Ultra-trail Drakensberg and Ultra-trail Cape Town, as well as podiumed with some of the best in Europe.
Known for her speed – Tarboton has raced the mile in under five minutes on the track – she will be tackling an ultra-marathon for the first time, lining up for the 52km.
Mgabhi, who flew out to New Zealand yesterday, has raced marathons on successive days on all seven continents, toiled through formidable dunes in the Sahara Desert in the Marathon des Sables, completed the gruelling 160 km Ultra-Asia race in Vietnam and the 520km Track Namibia challenge among others.
The Human Resources Executive at Richard’s Bay Coal Terminal, who has raised millions of Rand to build school classrooms in rural Kwa-Zulu Natal and has provided shoes for thousands of barefoot children, will be racing the 102km race at Tarawera.
Brand has achieved a consistent level of performance in Europe, Africa and Oceania, having placed 15th over 100 miles in the world’s most competitive ultra-marathon, Ultra-trail Mont Blanc in 2019, taken overall honours in the Ultra-trail Drakesnberg 100 miler in the same year, won the Agentrail 27km in France last July before finishing a close second in the Ultra-trail Cape Town 100 miler in November.
No stranger to Tarawera, Brand podiumed in the 102km race in 2020, just weeks before COVID brought all competition to a close, and placed 6th in the 2023 edition.
Each year Race Director Tim Day makes a point of running the full 100-mile route (which includes much of the 102km race) to keep connected with the essence of Tarawera. “I feel the spirit of Tarawera deeply,” he said. “The places of great natural beauty along the route can generate strong emotions and I hope that runners will take something away with them that is really special.”
After initial relatively low-profile years (2009 – 2012) where 60, 85km and 100 km routes were offered, Tarawera upped the ante, starting to attract the world’s best ultra-trail athletes, with American Sage Canaday winning the first of his two titles in the 100km race and leading Kiwi Ruby Muir winning the women’s race, eight months before winning the Otter Trail Marathon in South Africa.
The next decade saw athletes of the calibre of Canaday, Jim Walmsley (whose 7:23:32 in 2017 still stands as the 100km record), Dylan Bowman, Jonas Budd, Tom Evans and Dan Jones topping the podium in the 100km / 102km race with Muir, Camille Herron (course record of 8:56:00 in 2017), Courtney Dauwalter, Nancy Jiang and Ruth Croft winning the women’s competition.
A 100-mile event was added to the bouquet in 2018, with the final adjustment made the following year, which introduced a 52km race along with the 102km and 100 mile races.
The shorter race has attracted strong competition, especially in the women’s contest, where American Allie McLaughlin holds the record with a remarkable 3:43:38 win in 2023. Leading New Zealand athlete, Caitlin Fielder (who won in 2020 and 2021) was a close second just three minutes back with Kate Avery third in 3:54:52.
South African athletes have featured prominently at Tarawera in recent years, with Ryan Sandes (3rd in 2016 and 5th in 2019), Matt Healy (3rd last year) and Naomi Brand (3rd in 2021 and 6th in 2023) all enjoying podium positions in the 102km race.
No African athlete has won at Tarawera to date, but Cape Town athlete, Tarboton, has a chance to do that in the 52km race. With top Kiwis Ruth Croft and Caitlin Fielder racing the longer distance, Tarboton tops the rankings going into next Saturday’s race.
