Trail Run: Litt competing in Tauranga 30km

Shannon-Leigh Litt completed a solo 500km effort over six days in and around the Waikato/Bay of Plenty last year. Photo / File

Endurance athlete and motivational speaker Shannon-Leigh Litt will compete at the Smiths Sports Shoes Tauranga Trail Run at the TECT All Terrain Park in November.

Former Tauranga resident Litt will compete after the Queenstown Marathon, an event she is using to help develop speed for the 100km distances.

Last year, she completed a solo 500km effort over six days in and around the Waikato/Bay of Plenty, finishing with multiple laps up and down Mauao.

Her main focus is to qualify for the 100km Road World Championships hosted by the IAU (International Association of Ultrarunners) in 2017.

Qualifying will require a sub-eight hour, 100km effort and Litt is on track following a victory in the 80km Great Naseby Water Race held in late August, which she finished in just under eight hours.

The Tauranga Trail Run is in its fifth year and is the major fundraiser for the Tauranga Boys' College cross-country team.

Litt says wanting to support the school is a major reason why she signed up to compete.

"It kind of encapsulates what I am doing now. I am still racing in ultra events myself but I have been supporting schools while I am in Christchurch. I have a motivational running forum for women and want to promote trail running for fitness as well," she said.

Litt is familiar with the course and is looking forward to taking on the full 30km distance on November 22.

"It is quite a technical, interesting trail course with a lot of uphill and downhill. I like the course and some people walk it, and others run it over shorter distances as well."

The Tauranga Trail Run has distances for every level of fitness, from the family-friendly Bay of Plenty Times-sponsored 5km, where parents go for free with their children, up to the 30km endurance event. Walkers will participate over 5km, 10km and 15km distances.

This year the introduction of a corporate programme is aimed at getting employees active with their colleagues and family. Trustpower and the Bay of Plenty Polytechnic have been first to sign up and received a bulk discount of 100 entries for $500 with additional entries at half price.

Tauranga Boys' College teacher and event organiser Scott Furness says the course is less than a 20-minute drive from Tauranga.

"There are some great trails, views to Mount Tarawera, three stream crossings, native bush and the 60m-long Te Rerenga Tunnel, which was hand-dug during the Great Depression of the 1930s."

-Entries available from Smiths Sports Shoes, Tauranga and Mount Maunganui.