25km Course Description
The course will be very well marked with bright orange tape tied to white standards, on fence and on bushes…
Start 8am at Mt Difficulty Winery. First 5km relatively flat along Fulton Road verge, Bannockburn Sluicings and vineyards. Then you have your first ‘warm up’ over Nipple Hill. 240m up (non tracked or sheep tracks) and 270m down in 2km. There’s a section of a couple of hundred metres where the course is very steep, there is no track except for the regular orange tape marking the way. This is your first ‘cautionary’ area where you will have to take care over where you put your feet and maybe use your hands too… there are plenty of other area’s to race ‘hard out’ – the 4 ‘cautionary’ sections must be approached with care that you don’t fall AND that you don’t loosen rocks on those below you. The majority of loose rocks have been removed. We have set the course in such a way that should a rock start rolling it will angle away from the line of competitors below it. Regardless – the standard rule in the mountains is DO NOT ROLL ROCKS down.
6.5km First aid station. Medic, Water, Tailwind Nutrition Electrolyte, Potato chips, OSM bars and lollies. There are NO CUPs at aid stations. Marshals will help you fill your water bottles/bladders.
Next two kms are relatively flat again (undulating) along a 4WD track following the Kawarau River up-stream. Now the fun really begins. In the next one km you will climb 500m – this is where the event gets its name from. An average of 50% over 500m vertical is bloody steep!! There are some sheep/goat tracks but you will just be following the orange tape on the Matagouri bushes (You will not be getting too badly scratched up).
At the top of this climb there will be a Marshal and a photographer – no aid station. There is a water-race with good drinking water in it for a self re-fill. From here you follow the water race and a 4WD track that runs adjacent to it around the face of the mountain. There could be boggy areas or snow so expect to get wet feet at this point. You are then back onto a good 4WD road for some fast down-hill for a couple of kms before getting directed off the road and onto a ridge. Initially you follow the fence and continue to follow the ridge as it gets sharper and steeper before you come down another couple of hundred metres of ‘cautionary’ very steep face. There will be a climbing rope in this area as a hand rail… more to keep you on course, NO need to be harnessed up and clipped on! Now you are back at the first Aid station.
16km Second aid station. Medic, Water, Tailwind Nutrition Electrolyte, Potato chips, OSM bars and lollies. There are NO CUPs at aid stations. Marshals will help you fill your water bottles/bladders.
At this point the 25km Ascent competitors follow the orange tape on the fence to their right, back up and over Nipple hill to the finish at Mt Difficulty Winery. Course is undulating and back-tracks through the vineyards but follows a different and interesting trail through the Bannockburn Sluicings to the finish. Warm bread, soup and Pizza for you at the finish! 25km Ascent Prize Giving 1pm.
44km Course Description
The course will be very well marked with bright orange tape tied to white standards, on fence and on bushes…
Start 8am at Mt Difficulty Winery. First 5km relatively flat along Fulton Road verge, Bannockburn Sluicings and vineyards. Then you have your first ‘warm up’ over Nipple Hill. 240m up (non tracked or sheep tracks) and 270m down in 2km. There’s a section of a couple of hundred metres where the course is very steep, there is no track except for the regular orange tape marking the way. This is your first ‘cautionary’ area where you will have to take care over where you put your feet and maybe use your hands too… there are plenty of other area’s to race ‘hard out’ – the 4 ‘cautionary’ sections must be approached with care that you don’t fall AND that you don’t loosen rocks on those below you. The majority of loose rocks have been removed. We have set the course in such a way that should a rock start rolling it will angle away from the line of competitors below it. Regardless – the standard rule in the mountains is DO NOT ROLL ROCKS down.
6.5km First aid station. Medic, Water, Tailwind Nutrition Electrolyte, Potato chips, OSM bars and lollies. There are NO CUPs at aid stations. Marshals will help you fill your water bottles/bladders.
Next two kms are relatively flat again (undulating) along a 4WD track following the Kawarau River up-stream. Now the fun really begins. In the next one km you will climb 500m – this is where the event gets its name from. An average of 50% over 500m vertical is bloody steep!! There are some sheep/goat tracks but you will just be following the orange tape on the Matagouri bushes (You will not be getting too badly scratched up).
At the top of this climb there will be a Marshal and a photographer – no aid station. There is a water-race with good drinking water in it for a self re-fill. From here you follow the water race and a 4WD track that runs adjacent to it around the face of the mountain. There could be boggy areas or snow so expect to get wet feet at this point. You are then back onto a good 4WD road for some fast down-hill for a couple of kms before getting directed off the road and onto a ridge. Initially you follow the fence and continue to follow the ridge as it gets sharper and steeper before you come down another couple of hundred metres of ‘cautionary’ very steep face. There will be a climbing rope in this area as a hand rail… more to keep you on course, NO need to be harnessed up and clipped on! Now you are back at the first Aid station.
16km Second aid station. Medic, Water, Tailwind Nutrition Electrolyte, Potato chips, OSM bars and lollies. There are NO CUPs at aid stations. Marshals will help you fill your water bottles/bladders.
For the 44km Competitors - if you arrive at this Aid Station AFTER 12pm, you will be re-directed on the 25km Ascent Course.
At this point the 25km Ascent competitors follow the orange tape on the fence to their right, back up and over Nipple hill to the finish at Mt Difficulty Winery. Course is undulating and back-tracks through the vineyards but follows a different and interesting trail through the Bannockburn Sluicings to the finish. Warm bread, soup and Pizza for you at the finish! 25km Ascent Prize Giving 1pm.
For the 44km you will again run up-river for a couple of kms before starting your second ascent up a different ridge. This ascent will see you climb 1020m in just 3km of travel. That’s a good honest climb people. I don’t need to tell you to take it slowly because at that gradient there is no other way. Think 30-40min kms – hard to imagine isn’t it. So awesome.
You will need to take care, you will probably need to use your hands and your feet.
At the top of Mount Difficulty (yes, that is the actual name of the mountain) will be your next aid station.
20.5km Third aid station. Medic, Water, Tailwind Nutrition Electrolyte, potato chips, OSM bars and lollies. There are NO CUPs at aid stations. Marshals will help you fill your water bottles/bladders.
This is where the bliss begins – for the next 7.5km you are traversing a gentle downward undulation along the top of the mountain – stunning views in all directions (clouds permitting). Grass/rock 4WD track, possibly covered in snow.
28km Fourth Aid Station. 'Slapjack Saddle' Medic, Water, Tailwind Nutrition Electrolyte, potato chips, OSM bars, and lollies. There are NO CUPs at aid stations. Marshals will help you fill your water bottles/bladders.
The bliss is over for the next couple of kms as you climb again up – not steep compared with what you’ve done previously but steep enough that you will be ‘displeased’ with the race director. Then some nice brief downs followed by more up’s and you will be finding that special place you get to in some races where you are really starting to hate the race director. Just when you start fantasising about nasty names you’d like to call me you will come to another marshal and the start of the BIG DOWNHILL! Wooowhooo! Grass/rock 4WD track, possibly covered in snow.
35km Fifth Aid Station. Water, Tailwind Nutrition Electrolyte, potato chips, OSM bars, and lollies.
The bliss returns! (So long as you’re not in too much pain) the next 8km are all downhill, (grass/rock 4WD track) nothing too steep, finishing with an interesting wee track through the Bannockburn Sluicings.
43-44ish… km Boom! Finish. Warm bread roll, soup, pizza on finish. Beer on tap! Jubilation and satisfaction in generous amounts… Prize giving 5pm.