Whakatāne-raised man Daniel Jones won the 2023 Tarawera Ultramarathon title on Saturday and in the process set a record time and secured a long-term goal of qualifying for the world’s oldest ultramarathon.
Jones executed an almost flawless race to finish in a time of 7:27:55, the quickest ever over the102km distance.
The win - on his Tarawera Ultramarathon debut - bagged the 32-year-old a golden ticket to the oldest and one of the most prestigious ultramarathons in the world, Western States.
“I’m just over the moon,” the Wellington-based man said. “It’s been a bit of a work in progress, I’d say a long time coming not a super long time coming.
“I’ve had some good success anyway last year but in terms of 100 kilometres, this just blows my mind to finally get this accomplishment, it’s unbelievable getting that golden ticket.”
Jones beat his training partner and pre-race favourite Hayden Hawks (USA) by more than 14 minutes.
He ran in a chase pack for the first 40km until he reached the Redwoods, and from there began to wind up the pace alongside Hawks. By the 62km mark, Jones put together a surge that took him to an unassailable lead.
As is tradition, Jones, being the TUM102 winner, was received at the finish line by a haka and to the cheers of hundreds of spectators.
The win continues a run of victories for Jones, having claimed wins at two Barfoot & Thompson Auckland Marathons, the New Zealand Sotheby’s International Realty Queenstown Marathon, two Kepler Challenges, and the Lake Sonoma Ultramarathon 100km in 2022.
Whakatāne raised Daniel Jones claimed victory at the end of the 102km race. Photo / Sportograf
Jones will now turn his full attention to Western States in June.
“That is going to be the sole focus, there may be a couple of build-up races but that being the number one goal.
“I’ll try and get over to the US and get a bit of altitude training and heat acclimation, and yeah just really allow my body to recover from this and enjoy it.
“Ticking off that big goal, it’s one of those things, you’ve really got to appreciate the success as well, and I learnt from the failures last year so now to actually get that good ticket is so good.”
Queenstown woman Nancy Jiang won her maiden Tarawera Ultramarathon after she wore down her opponents over the last few kilometres to finish in 9:26:08.
Just four minutes separated her and the second and third-place finishers Stephanie Auston (AUS) and Aroa Sio (ESP).
“I don’t know what just happened,” she said. “I wasn’t expecting this at all, but I don’t know, I had a good feeling.
“It just feels like the days leading up to the race things were working out for me.
“I can’t explain it, but I had a feeling that I was going to have a good day and I just held on to that feeling. I don’t know, maybe it was just gut feel and believing in yourself.
The women’s race was close from start to finish, with the front runners bunching at aid stations and the leader position changing throughout the day.
Queenstown's Nancy Jiang was the first woman across the Tarawera Ultra Marathon finish line. Photo / Sportograf
The top three female and male podium finishers in the TUM102 races qualified for the CCC (100km) race at UTMB Mont-Blanc in August, something Jiang said she’s delighted to have secured.
“I wanted to qualify for CCC. I did it last year and I didn’t finish top three, so I didn’t get the stone. That was my goal actually, to get into CCC,” Jiang said.
Zach Miller (USA) and Lucy Bartholomew (AUS) were crowned as the 100-mile champions on Saturday night.
Both Miller and Bartholomew led their respective races from the outset and at no point looked like conceding their leads.
Miller finished the 100-mile (165-kilometre) course in 14:41:41, 30 minutes ahead of second-placed Hajime Mamba (JPN), while Bartholomew finished in 17:54:50, over 40 minutes ahead of runner-up Kimino Miyazaki (JPN).
Earlier on Saturday, course records tumbled with David Haunschmidt (NZL) taking the victory in the men’s 50km race in 3:33:03 and American Allie McLaughlin (USA) securing the women’s top spot in 3:43:38.
Mike Robinson (NZL) won the men’s 21km race with a time of 1:25:45 and Juliette Soule (NZL) the women’s race with a time of 1:40:59.
