Graeme Simpson: Organiser willing to go the extra yards

Paul Charteris was the man with the vision to devise the Tarawera Ultramarathon back in 2007. PHOTO/ GRAEME MURRAY PHOTO/GRAEME MURRAY

The Tarawera Ultramarathon is rapidly becoming "New Zealand's long distance running race".

So, it's appropriate that the 2015 event has moved a month earlier on the calendar to Waitangi weekend.

Race day is Saturday, February 7 and will follow a very special, official powhiri for the athletes at Te Puia on Friday. Last year, this was a stirring and magnificent occasion and a superb window into Maori culture, especially for all the overseas visitors.

The numbers are impressive: 100km through some of the most picturesque landscape in the country, from Long Mile Rd in Rotorua to Firmin Park down by the river in Kawerau. There are 1000 entries (sold out in October, an outstanding achievement in itself) with 380 international runners (double 2014) from 30 countries. Some of the rock stars of long distance endurance running will be here.

There will be worldwide coverage and millions of calories burnt.

I had a chat to the event's affable founder, Paul Charteris, last week. He didn't start as an event organiser, but as someone who loved to run. It was his unique vision, back in 2007, to conceive the Tarawera Ultra. The first race had 67 entries, all from New Zealand, except for one entrant from the USA.

As he discussed some of the runners who will be racing next month, his face lit up.

"I am in a constant state of amazement," he told me with a beaming smile.

You can tell that Paul is, first and foremost, a runner and a fan. He looked remarkably relaxed for someone with an event as large as this on his mind. And it has grown very large over the last eight years. The logistics would do credit to a small invading army.

Last year, the race got slammed by Cyclone Lusi and was shortened the night before.
It was a measure of how deep the event organisation runs that this all happened with much less fuss than you might expect.

There are similarities to mountain biking - a strong community, easy-going people (until the race face drops, of course) and a big emphasis on socialising and enjoying the great outdoors.

The race starts at the Redwoods Centre and heads up the dual-use Tank to Town Track as dawn breaks, before heading west to the Blue Lake/Tikitapu.
The course skirts some of the mountain bike trails and also runs through the Western Okataina walkway, which is open to bikes. Paul and his hardworking trail crews recently gave that a tidy up.

There'll be a lot more in the media over the next couple of weeks about the Tarawera Ultra, including more on those rock stars of the sport. However, one name I can reveal is Paul, himself. He'll be running in his own event. How's that for confidence in your team?
On the subject of teams, there are a lot of unsung heroes in our mountain bike and events community.

One of those is Anna Rodgers. She is the business development manager at the airport, but is leaving to move, "not far, just back into town" to join the Destination Rotorua team.
She's been a brilliant supporter of mountain biking, including the Rotorua Bike Festival and New Zealand Singlespeed Championships.