Athletes gunning for Goat title

A handful of run guns will line up to dethrone The Goat defending champion Sjors Corporaal when the epic 21km trail event is held on Mt Ruapehu on Saturday.

They’ll also be hoping to deprive Corporaal, a 32-year-old Galatea dairy farmer, of a clean sweep in this year’s North Island Triple crown after he romped home in the first two events.

Former New Zealand 3000m champion and national cross-country representative Rees Buck (Wellington) looms as a dark horse, although Buck admits he’s entering into the unknown in his first attempt at the race, which takes runners from the Whakapapa to Turoa ski-fields.

“Ultimately I don't know how fast I can go or whether it will be good enough for the real off-road guys but I'd love to run sub-2hrs to prove to myself that I am good off-road,” Buck said. “That will probably depend on the weather and my calf holding up.”

Buck has had a long series of leg problems since tearing his calf muscle at last year’s world cross-country championships in Edinburgh but has had a promising buildup lately, winning the Round the Bridges event in Hamilton last month.

If he can run under 2hrs, it will take him into the realm of Corporaal, who clocked 1:58:58 in winning his second title last year.

The race record is held by Englishman Thomas Owens, the last man to sweep the Triple Crown events – including the 18km Toi’s Challenge race in Whakatane and the 32km Kauri Run in Coromandel – in 2005.

Owens’ mark of 1:56:07sec at The Goat still stands.

Corporaal’s other challengers include Papamoa multisporter Chris Morrissey, who was third at this year’s Kauri Run and Wellington’s Daniel Clendon, who was third at The Goat last year.

This year, The Goat has attracted a record field, close to the capacity of 500 runners, who will venture into the sub-alpine tussock in the world-renowned Tongariro National Park.

Rated as one of the toughest running races in New Zealand, The Goat never dips below 1200m above sea-level and has featured several patches of snow in previous years.

This year’s women’s race will also see the Triple Crown sweep attempted, with Rotorua’s Annika Smail having also won the Toi’s Challenge and Kauri Run titles.

Her introduction to the Triple Crown came when the former representative mountain biker collected The Goat title last year, passing former champion Oksana Isavnina in the last kilometre heading up Turoa’s Mountain Rd.

Smail’s 2:27:38 time was still 4mins short of the inaugural winner, world mountain running champion Melissa Moon, who clocked 2:23:39 in 2004.

The top five open men and women in each Triple Crown event will qualify for points, with bonus points for breaking race records, and the runners with the most points at the end collect a $1000 bonus at the end of the series.

Saturday’s race begins with a wave start, commencing at 9.30am.

Previous winners

Men:

2008 Sjors Corporaal (Murupara) 1:58:58

2007 Sjors Corporaal (Murupara) 2:02:01

2006 Colin Earwaker (Rotorua) 2:07:20

2005 Thomas Owens (UK) 1:56:07 (race record)

2004 Callum Harland (Ohakune) 2:03:35

Women:

2008 Annika Smail (Rotorua) 2:27:38

2007 Karen Hanlen (Whakatane) 2:26:33

2006 Oksana Isavnina (Rotorua) 2:37:48

2005 Sarah Kleeman (Australia) 2:36:04

2004 Melissa Moon (Wellington) 2:23:39 (race record)