Adventurer Shaun Collins has created his own endurance running race. Photo / Jason Oxenham
Shaun Collins has created an endurance running race the likes of which New Zealand has not seen before.
It is called the Riverhead Backyard Ultra, to be held early next month, and it seemed like an interesting event to preview.
Then 44-year-old Collins — known as Running Beast because he loves to run up hills — revealed what he did last weekend to train for his ultra. That's when things became interesting.
The former New Zealand orienteering representative ran to and up every Auckland volcano in one mad dash, making him the first person to do so.
For those who don't quite understand the significance of this, there are 56 volcanoes around Auckland including two in the Hauraki Gulf. For good measure, Collins included the city's biggest non-volcanic cone — Mutukaroa (Hamlins Hill) in Mt Wellington.
Collins, from west Auckland, began in Devonport last Saturday morning, and after running through the night, finished late on Sunday, a run of more than 33 hours and nearly 200km.
He didn't even take the shortest routes, preferring scenic diversions between his 57 targets.
Early on, it became clear the small boat due to take him to Rangitoto and Browns Island would not be up to the job as the harbour had turned choppy.
While on the run, he sent out a mayday and reorganised large parts of his route in order to take up the rescue offer from a mate with a bigger boat.
You don't just need to be incredibly fit and determined for stuff like this. You need to be flexible. When the Devonport ferry was delayed, Collins simply kept running around the waterfront to keep warm.
On reaching the finish line on Mt Eden, wife Madeleine announced to the sightseeing tourists what her husband had just achieved and also streamed the occasion on Facebook.
Collins got some applause and cheers from the visitors. And that was it.
No one has seen the city like this.
"It was just awesome," said Collins this week, his feet a little tender, his enthusiasm undiminished.
"Just the contrast, it was so interesting between different areas — I think that's why I didn't get the usual sleep monsters.
"From the big villas of Devonport to the households out on their decks in Otahuhu still partying at three in the morning ... they looked out and saw this strange fellow running by with a back pack.
"Obviously with the bigger volcanoes, you get some amazing views. Quite a lot of other volcanoes are scientifically proven but they've been quarried away — you wouldn't know they were there.
"And the council has done heaps of work, making big paths for bikes, walkers and runners. It was great to see so many people out there enjoying them.
"It has always been my nature to explore. The distance and the time weren't the exciting things to me. It was about exploring the city.
"You also really noticed the diversity ... on Sunday morning, I ran past five different halls,
all with beautiful singing in different languages. "
He faltered only once, near Auckland Airport, when his ultra determined mind had to kick in to keep up the pace. His tired legs were also sorely tested on the boat, bracing against the choppy harbour waters on Sunday afternoon.
"Madeleine ran the first 20km with me around Devonport. She's resigned to my crazy ideas. She was pretty proud I did it," says Collins, who wore a tracker so friends could follow him online.
"But even the trail running people were pretty amazed at this volcano thing.
"My friends all love the long distance stuff but I think the reactions have been quite good because I created this little adventure from nothing.
"I said to a few of them, 'we should do more of this'. It is so good to plan something and carry it out."
There were a couple of good reasons why Collins went on this remarkable adventure.
The Collins, including daughters Zara, Meg and Annie-Rose, live in Langholm, but the advantages of this location have gone for trail runners because of the Waitakere kauri dieback restrictions.
That's a major reason why Collins designed the volcano run, to prepare for the Riverhead Ultra.
That race — which has 45 entrants so far — involves repeated 6.7km laps of the forest starting every hour, until it is last person standing.
The format comes from a race in Tennessee called Big's Backyard. The 2018 winner there was a 44-year-old Swede named Johan Steene, who kept going for 68 hours, meaning he covered a mere 455km.
Collins, who left the big corporate world to work as a commercial manager for Auckland inventor David Melrose, also runs a company called Lactic Turkey which organises these sorts of events.
His own CV includes running the 75km Hillary Trail, between Titirangi and Muriwai, three consecutive times.
He says successful ultra adventure running is mind over body. To help back this up, he recounts a controlled test involving athletes on stationary bikes in which those who had images of "smiley faces" flashed before them lasted longer than those who didn't.
For big races, Collins now draws a smiley face on his hand, using the power of happy thoughts.
"When I look at my watch, I see that face and get a boost," he says. "I've learned the brain can overcome what the body thinks is its exertion limit."
The Riverhead Ultra is one of 10 races around the world in which the winner gets an invitation to Tennessee.
Auckland is a far cry from where this sharemilkers' son discovered his love of running adventures, all over rural Waikato.
But Collins would be the perfect athlete to represent a city he knows like the back of his hand.
"I know there is someone who has run about 20 of the volcanoes but I'm the first to do this," he says.
"When I got to One Tree Hill and could see the few volcanoes left to go, I felt so jubilant. I had a running mate with me but no one else up there had a clue what I was doing.
"To plan the mission, to complete it, to be first to do this, was awesome."
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