Hawkes Bay Today
  • Hawke's Bay Today home
  • Latest news
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
  • Video
  • Death notices
  • Classifieds

Subscriptions

  • Herald Premium
  • Viva Premium
  • The Listener
  • BusinessDesk

Sections

  • Latest news
  • On The Up
  • Sport
  • Business
  • Opinion
  • Lifestyle
  • Property
    • All Property
    • Residential property listings
  • Rural
    • All Rural
    • Dairy farming
    • Sheep & beef farming
    • Horticulture
    • Animal health
    • Rural business
    • Rural life
    • Rural technology

Locations

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Havelock North
  • Central Hawke's Bay
  • Tararua

Media

  • Video
  • Photo galleries
  • Today's Paper - E-Editions
  • Photo sales
  • Classifieds

Weather

  • Napier
  • Hastings
  • Dannevirke
  • Gisborne

NZME Network

  • Advertise with NZME
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • BusinessDesk
  • Newstalk ZB
  • Sunlive
  • ZM
  • The Hits
  • Coast
  • Radio Hauraki
  • The Alternative Commentary Collective
  • Gold
  • Flava
  • iHeart Radio
  • Hokonui
  • Radio Wanaka
  • iHeartCountry New Zealand
  • Restaurant Hub
  • NZME Events

SubscribeSign In

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Home / Hawkes Bay Today

Titles up for grabs at Sunday's Peak Trail Blazer

By Roger Moroney
Reporter·Hawkes Bay Today·
19 Nov, 2019 10:25 PM3 mins to read

Subscribe to listen

Access to Herald Premium articles require a Premium subscription. Subscribe now to listen.
Already a subscriber?  Sign in here

Listening to articles is free for open-access content—explore other articles or learn more about text-to-speech.
‌
Save

    Share this article

With some defending champs unable to return there are Trail Blazer titles up for grabs on Sunday. Photo / File

With some defending champs unable to return there are Trail Blazer titles up for grabs on Sunday. Photo / File

There are top titles up for grabs at Sunday's 10th Peak Trail Blazer event over the Te Mata Peak terrain as some reigning champions are unable to return to defend them.

Race Director Jo Throp said she had learned that several champions were not able to come back, including the reigning Te Awanga Estate King of the Peak, Niam Macdonald, who competed in last weekend's World Mountain Running Championships in Patagonia.

"Niam tried so hard to make it work, he was very keen to get back and defend, but in the end his flight was going to get him in to Napier only 40 minutes before the Peak Trail Blazer kicked off," Throp said.

"It just wasn't going to work — but that throws the field wide open which will make for an exciting battle up on the peak, especially with $500 prize money on the line."

Reigning Hawke's Bay Orthodontics Queen of the Peak Julia Anderson is making the trip up from Nelson and Throp says she was aware of a couple of other previous Queens heading this way for race day.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.
Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Another returning to defend his title is Napier's Eric Phimister, who last year won the inaugural Master Blazer category.

"There's certainly a lot of talk and good banter out there, but historically they like to keep it pretty close to their chests, sometimes only entering on the day, so it's always exciting to see just who turns up at the start line."

Also up for grabs is the boys and girls Up and Coming (quickest under 18 year olds on Te Mata Peak), with locals Ronan Lee and Zoe Elliott not defending this year.

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

"Ronan is too old to defend and Zoe had a competition meet in the weekend and will be taking part in a team to rest her legs a little."

Both categories have prizes of $150 each on the line thanks to Go Healthy.

A new Prince and Princess of Tainui will also be crowned on Sunday.

"It's almost a clean slate all round," Throp said.

Last year the Peak Trail Blazer drew around 700 competitors and Throp said entries for Sunday's event which kicks off at 8am had been "coming in thick and fast" with the 3.5km Tainui Trail selling out in record time.

The 12.8km Te Mata Peak Trail will not be capped and will remain open up until 30 minutes before the walkers and runners take off early on Sunday morning.

While this year's entrants predominantly come from Hawke's Bay-wide, others are travelling from as far afield as Auckland, Whanganui, Levin and Wellington.

Save

    Share this article

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

Premium
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa


Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

Advertisement
Advertise with NZME.

Latest from Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay
Hawkes Bay Today

Motorist dies after four crashes in 40 minutes in Hawke's Bay

Some roads remained blocked.

17 Jul 06:02 AM
'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues
Hawkes Bay Today

'We have you surrounded': Police stood down after Hawke's Bay stand-off, search continues

17 Jul 04:06 AM
Premium
Premium
Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa
Hawkes Bay Today

Black Ferns: Tui pair on the big bird for matches in South Africa

17 Jul 04:00 AM


Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky
Sponsored

Solar bat monitors uncover secrets of Auckland’s night sky

06 Jul 09:47 PM
NZ Herald
  • About NZ Herald
  • Meet the journalists
  • Newsletters
  • Classifieds
  • Help & support
  • Contact us
  • House rules
  • Privacy Policy
  • Terms of use
  • Competition terms & conditions
  • Our use of AI
Subscriber Services
  • Hawke's Bay Today e-edition
  • Manage your print subscription
  • Manage your digital subscription
  • Subscribe to Herald Premium
  • Subscribe to the Hawke's Bay Today
  • Gift a subscription
  • Subscriber FAQs
  • Subscription terms & conditions
  • Promotions and subscriber benefits
NZME Network
  • Hawke's Bay Today
  • The New Zealand Herald
  • The Northland Age
  • The Northern Advocate
  • Waikato Herald
  • Bay of Plenty Times
  • Rotorua Daily Post
  • Whanganui Chronicle
  • Viva
  • NZ Listener
  • Newstalk ZB
  • BusinessDesk
  • OneRoof
  • Driven Car Guide
  • iHeart Radio
  • Restaurant Hub
NZME
  • NZME Events
  • About NZME
  • NZME careers
  • Advertise with NZME
  • Digital self-service advertising
  • Book your classified ad
  • Photo sales
  • © Copyright 2025 NZME Publishing Limited
TOP