Ultramarathon: Unique event offers so much

The Tarawera Trail Marathon and 50km event is being staged in Rotorua this weekend. Photo / Stephen Parker

A huge field will toe the start line for the second annual Tarawera Trail Marathon and 50km event in Rotorua, including local runner Dennis Hunt.

Hunt, alongside about 1000 other runners and walkers, has entered the event tomorrow which starts at Te Puia and finishes at Hot Water Beach on Lake Tarawera.

"We had 200 last year, during the inaugural event, so we have had a 500 per cent increase," event organiser Paul Charteris said.

He said a lot of that increase could be put down to word of mouth and people hearing about the course.

He said the course was world-class and goes through the Buried Village, past four lakes, starts next to a geyser and ends at a volcano.

"You could go around the world a couple of times and struggle to find a course with all those elements," Charteris said.

Two new champions will be crowned following the feature 50km race, with last year's champions Andrius Ramonas (injured) and Annika Smail (work commitments) not competing.

Contenders to take out the major titles include Majell Backhausen (Australia) in the men's 50km race and Jo Johansen (Wellington), Fiona Hayvice (Wellington) and Lucy Bartholomew (Australia) in the women's 50km race.

Rotorua runner Hunt, 62, will not be gunning for any major titles but is looking forward to running the shorter 42km marathon distance.

Hunt, who has run long-distance events for about 30 years, said he really enjoyed running in the bush.

"I want to try and do the Tarawera 100km event next year and this is basically a good training run," he said.

"I did the 85km distance during the Tarawera Ultra in February and that was the furthest I've ever run in the bush."

Hunt has been trying to live without sugar during the past 18 months and said it made things a bit challenging when running.

"I just read a book way back called Sweet Poison and thought that was me," he said. "During the 85km event in February, it was probably harder because I had never run that far in a bush and I had been doing this sugar-free thing."

However, he was feeling confident ahead of the run.

"I'm running about 60km a week and am pretty confident I can do it in about five and a half or six hours."

The Tarawera Trail Marathon will retrace the reverse journey of the Tuhourangi people this weekend.

A carved trophy, carved by Te Puia's master carvers, will be awarded to the champions.