By David Monti, @d9monti | (c) 2024 Race Results Weekly, all rights reserved; used with permission
NELSON, NEW ZEALAND (13-Dec) — A new multi-race running event debuts here this weekend. Dubbed The Spectacle, it combines both trail and road running with distances from just one mile all the way up to 100 miles. It even features the launch of a new book, “Running Throughout Time” by veteran author Roger Robinson.
“This is the first time Nelson has hosted an event like this,” race director Julian Matthews said through a press release. Matthews, who competed for New Zealand in the 1500m in the 2016 Olympics, continued: “We’ve brought together an incredible lineup of athletes, and the city’s central streets will provide the perfect stage for them to deliver something truly special.”
The events begin on Friday with the start of a grueling 100-mile trail race. “This is 160 km of single track and forestry roads, hundreds of metres of vert, sweat, dirt, dust and probably some tears, and will be an adventure like no other,” reads the event website. The race features about 7000 meters of total ascent and descent with a maximum elevation of 1135. It finishes on Trafalgar Square West in front of the towering Christ Church Cathedral.
There are also shorter distances on the trails –100 km, 50 km, 21 km, and 10 km– with different starting times on Saturday.
Later on Saturday the competition moves to the streets of Nelson. Citizen runners can try distances of one mile, 5 km (which includes a walk), and four-person relays of 4 x 750m for adults and 4 x 375m for children.
The festival comes to a crescendo on Saturday night with an elite, two-lap road mile which features five Olympians, all of whom got their own banner hoisted to the ceiling of the local airport to greet them (see photo). Like the Kalakaua Merrie Mile in Honolulu last Saturday, the elite mile uses a chase format where the women get about a 30-second head start.
The elite women are led by Australia’s Georgia Griffith, a two-time Olympian with a 3:58.40 1500m personal best (4:27.81 PB for the mile). She’ll be running against compatriot Sarah Billings (3:59.59/4:32.30), and Irish Olympian Sophie O’Sullivan (4:00.23/4:33.30). Katherine Camp of New Zealand (4:15.09/4:44.24) and Brigid Dennehy of Ireland (4:14.03/4:47.16). Dennehy lives in New Zealand and runs for North Harbour Bays Athletics.
Two-time New Zealand Olympian Sam Tanner leads the men’s field. The 24 year-old former NCAA star for the University of Washington has run 3:31.24 for 1500m and 3:49.51 for the mile. He’ll be challenged by Scotsman Neil Gourley, a British Olympian who has run 3:30.60/3:47.74. Two-time Olympian Stewart McSweyn (3:29.51/3:48.37) will carry Australia’s hopes into the race, and American Vince Ciattei (3:31.78/3:50.56) and Ireland’s Brian Fay (3:36.52/3:52.03) round out the field.
Unlike last Saturday’s Kalakaua Merrie Mile where prize money is paid only on the overall order of finish of men and women combined based on the handicap format, athletes here will run for both separate prize money in the men’s and women’s division plus an additional schedule of awards for the overall, mixed-sex order of finish. The male/female prize money is NZD 6000 (=USD 3458), 4000, 2000, 1000, and 500. The separate battle of the sexes prize money is NZD 4000 (=USD 2306), 2000, 1000. So, the overall winner will earn NZD 10,000 (=USD 5763).
Race director Matthews, who is organizing the event with his partner Annika Pfitzinger, is from Nelson and “knows everyone in town,” he said on Wednesday night while picking up guests at the local airport with a white, 15-passenger van. He’s clearly jazzed to have the attention of the running world focused on Nelson, population 55,600, for a few days.
“It’s a race designed to be both thrilling to watch and unforgettable to run,” he said.
