Haere mai! Welcome to the annual Tarawera Ultramarathon, New Zealand’s premier trail running event held in Rotorua, New Zealand’s birthplace of tourism and part of the UTMB World Series. These spectacular courses take in the most stunning scenery imaginable, featuring eight different lakes, waterfalls, and the lushest native New Zealand …
MORE
Haere mai! Welcome to the annual Tarawera Ultramarathon, New Zealand’s premier trail running event held in Rotorua, New Zealand’s birthplace of tourism and part of the UTMB World Series. These spectacular courses take in the most stunning scenery imaginable, featuring eight different lakes, waterfalls, and the lushest native New Zealand forests. Whether you choose the T21, T50, T102 or the TMiler, a friendly trail running community welcomes athletes of all abilities with open arms. Courses are all point-to-point, on mostly non-technical runnable terrain. They are designed with the aim of seeing everyone succeed. Join in Rotorua and experience this special land and its people.
Explore Taiao
A stunning natural landscape bursting with life and energy, the trails of Tarawera take runners through the inspiring taiao (natural landscapes) of Papatūānuku, the earth mother. Journey through lush native bush, towering redwoods, past 8 glistening lakes and down crystal clear streams.
Don’t just let your eyes take in the beauty – but connect to land on a deeper level by understanding the korero (stories) of the tangata whenua (people of the land) and find respect in these sacred lands you are fortunate enough to traverse.
FIND WHĀNAU
Just like trail running, the tangata whenua of Tarawera keep whānau (family) at their heart. Our foundations are built on the concept of manaaki – a reciprocal sharing of warmth. The shared warmth of the community is the fire that burns deep inside us all, from the runners to the support crews, volunteers to the event crew, to the local community that welcome us to their trails.
Tarawera is a shared journey, a coming together of the trail running whānau to connect and enjoy the shared passion of trails. Whoever you are, wherever you come from, being with us on our trails makes you part of the whānau.
Discover Tutuki
At Tarawera, we’ve got your back. Tarawera is designed with tutuki (achievement) at its heart – if you want to join us, we’ll support you along your journey, every step of the way.
From the world-renowed aid stations to the incredible volunteers and event crew, we’ll cater to your every need, while our courses are designed with achievability, not impossibility, in mind. Anyone and everyone is welcome on the trails of Tarawera.
LESS
The best Trail journey I have ever run
The start line at Te Piua is something pretty special. The destination is incredible, the community and people are even better. It was amazing to see the amount of volunteers … MORE
The start line at Te Piua is something pretty special. The destination is incredible, the community and people are even better. It was amazing to see the amount of volunteers out in the middle of the bush ready to help me out.
My first 102KM race...in a foreign land
The Tarawera Ultramarathon is a point-to-point destination race in the North Island, which starts in Rotorua (148 miles from Auckland) and ends in Kawerau. I heard about this race from … MORE
The Tarawera Ultramarathon is a point-to-point destination race in the North Island, which starts in Rotorua (148 miles from Auckland) and ends in Kawerau. I heard about this race from listening to Ultra Runner Podcast interviews. It’s very prestigious, being the second stage in the Ultra-Trail World Tour. And the videos I found online showed a spectacular course — with trails running through forests, and beside lakes and waterfalls!!!
It is summertime in New Zealand in February, with temps in the 50-75F range. On the day before the race, we attended a Powhiri Welcome at Te Puia — admission for TUM runners and family was free. In the afternoon, we picked up our bibs, dropped off our drop bags, attended a race briefing, and listened to a panel interview of elite athletes. I got to meet a few of them during these events.
The race started at 6am on Saturday. I started conservatively; by mile 20, I started feeling fatigued; the middle miles with the super technical trails and nonstop rollers pretty much sucked the life out of me; and I had to dig deep the last 25 miles just to get through it. I crossed the finish line after 1:30am. Kudos to the organizers and volunteers for staying so late until the very last runner crossed the finish line. After the race, we were given a beautiful wooden medallion.
The aid stations had plenty of food, much of which were familiar — bananas, apples, peaches, grapes, watermelons, oranges, potato chips, sweet snacks, and PB&J sandwiches. The aid stations were themed; the ones I saw at night had lights and music. All the volunteers were most helpful and encouraging.
This was my first 100K race, the longest distance I’ve ever run and, by far, the most difficult thing I’ve ever done, physically and mentally. It was hard being so far away from home and friends — I had no pacers, but I had my husband as my crew chief. I am so grateful for his steadfast support and belief in me.