Ultramarathon: Muir chases record hat-trick

Ruby Muir after winning the 2015 Tarawera Ultramarathon. Photo / Graeme Murray

RUBY Muir is set to make history this weekend if she wins the 100km Tarawera Ultramarathon by becoming the first three-time winner in the race's eight-year history.

Muir first won the race in 2013 and returned last year to win in an impressive time of 9:02, smashing the previous course record by 90 minutes.

This past year she has been in terrific form, winning the Kepler Challenge near Te Anau in Fiordland, the Wellington Marathon and the Hounslow Classic in Australia's Blue Mountains.

In Muir's way tomorrow stands 102.7km of trails and forestry roads, with nearly 3000 metres of climbing and even more descending.

"I'm not feeling too anxious about Saturday. It's a good race with a great community feel and I'm really happy to be coming back for a third year of racing," Muir said.

"What really motivates me is having a good race with a good competitive field. I've had an injury for the past two months but had a great winter before that, so it's a great achievement to have made it to race week."

Tarawera Ultra race director Tim Day said Muir was somewhat of an enigma.

"The Tarawera Ultra course features a number of long climbs, technical roots and rocks over DoC tracks and forestry roads. Usually a runner might excel on one part of the course and be comparatively slower at others.

"Ruby appears to have absolutely no weaknesses at all. She has a fearsome reputation as one of the best runners of technical terrain in the world and her Wellington Marathon win (her debut road marathon) shows she can excel on the flat roads as well."

The Hawke's Bay-based athlete does much of her training in the hills behind her home and in Tongariro National Park with her husband and mentor, Kristian Day - himself a top-ranked ultra-distance runner.

One of Muir's toughest challenges is likely to come from Wellington's Fiona Hayvice, a runner who has consistently climbed the ranks in the sport and the winner of November's Tarawera Trail 50km race.

The Tarawera Ultramarathon is a world-class 100km trail run from Rotorua to Kawerau and is part of the Ultra-Trail World Tour. More than 600 runners are entered.