Ultramarathon: Ultra trail 'bit slippery'

American Sage Canaday wins his second Vibram Tarawera Ultramarathon on Saturday.Yun Yangqiao (China) came second and Vajin Armstrong (Christchurch) was third. Photo/Ben Fraser

American Sage Canaday has overcome a wasp sting and Cyclone Lusi to win his second Tarawera Ultramarathon title.

The Vibram Tarawera Ultra was staged in terrible conditions in Rotorua on Saturday, as a result of Cyclone Lusi.

Organisers decided to shorten the race for safety reasons from a 60km, 85km and 100km event to a 60km and 70km race.

In the main 70km race, Canaday managed to pull away about the halfway mark before extending his lead during the second half of the race.

He finished in a time of 5hr 33min 38sec, almost 19 minutes in front of second-placed Yun Yangqiao (China) and 24 minutes ahead of Vajin Armstrong (Christchurch), third.

The win was his second at the event in as many years.

"It is a huge honour just to be here," Canaday said. "I loved it here last year and to come back and to pull off a win was super, super rewarding."

Canaday said the weather made the course a bit slippery in some places but on the whole it was fine to race on.

He said the only bad part of the race was a run-in with a wasp.

"I got stung by a wasp," he said. "It really hurt."

Canaday pushed on and said he picked a section of the course to make a break.

"I made a really hard move up Millar Rd [near Lake Okareka] and tried really hard to try and break away."

He said the risk paid off although his legs began to stiffen up and he was not sure if he could carry on with the same pace.

"But I managed to hold on."

He said he knew he could be a bit more aggressive during the race on Saturday after finding out it had been shortened.

Meanwhile, it was the fourth time in the six-year history of the event Armstrong, the top Kiwi finisher, has finished on the podium.

Armstrong said at one stage during the race he had to stop and walk but the local support got him through. "At one stage I thought 'I am not going to finish this race'," he said.

"But I didn't want to walk away from this race not finishing ... there was so much love and support out there." Racing began at the Redwoods Visitor Centre on Saturday morning and finished at Boyes Beach, Lake Okareka.