Kiwi Caitlin Fielder dominates UTA50 at the Hoka Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB.
Kiwi Caitlin Fielder dominates UTA50 at the Hoka Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB.
Daniel Jones and Caitlin Fielder won the UTA50 at Hoka Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB.
Jones finished in 4:01:19, leading Miguel Benitez by more than 10 minutes.
Fielder completed the course in 5:02:27, four minutes ahead of Alison Wilson.
Superstar runners Daniel Jones and Caitlin Fielder have dominated the UTA50 at Hoka Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB in the New South Wales Blue Mountains, powering to victory on their first visits to the iconic event.
Whakatāne-raised Jones crossed the line in 4:01:19 to win the men’s race while Rotorua local Fielder covered the 50km course in 5:02:27 to take the tape in the women’s event on Saturday.
Jones stood on the top step of the podium on his UTA debut, leading home Spain’s Miguel Benitez by more than 10 minutes with another Kiwi, Sam Rout, third.
“It’s a hard race, it’s my first time here over in Katoomba in the Blue Mountains, but it was awesome, such a beautiful day, a little muddy but absolutely beautiful views and I actually got to appreciate them today rather than being in the fog like the last couple of days,” Jones said.
Jones is preparing to take on some of the best trail runners in the world at Western States in America at the end of June.
Kiwi Daniel Jones dominates UTA50 at Hoka Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB.
“I’m right in the depths of a big build now so I didn’t taper off too much, it looked like a pretty big week as well with this 50km tucked in at the end of it,” he said.
The women’s race was a tighter affair, with Fielder finishing four minutes ahead of fellow Kiwi Alison Wilson, with Demi Caldwell of Australia just behind to round out the podium.
“I’m pretty happy to be done but thrilled to have won the race, it was pretty tough to be honest but I’m super happy,” Fielder said.
“It started off pretty quick with everyone along the way and then I just tried to run my own race but I heard that Alison was closing in pretty hard in the end there which made me pretty panicky. I had a few moments along the way, I dropped my sunglasses in the waterfall, stopped and looked for them but they had shot off, it was cool out there though.”
Fielder enjoyed her first trip to UTA, including mixing it up with runners in the final stages of a 100 mile event.
Kiwi Caitlin Fielder dominates UTA50 at Hoka Ultra-Trail Australia by UTMB.
“I was having a pretty good time up until the last 10k and then I felt like I chucked it and reversed a little bit. But honestly, it was really cool with all the Milers out there, just getting some encouragement from them and just also seeing how well they were going. It was just super motivating,” she said.
Thousands of runners are out on the Blue Mountains trails, with UTA50 and UTA100 starting on Saturday morning while UTAMiler athletes are continuing their 100 mile journey.
