Ruthe to lead charge for Triple Crown

Auckland Marathon winner and national crosscountry champion Ben Ruthe has confirmed he’s a contender for one of running’s toughest challenges.

The Tauranga runner has entered the North Island Triple Crown series, comprising three of New Zealand’s most spectacular and challenging off-road running races, beginning with this Sunday's 18.5km Toi’s Challenge in Whakatane.

Ruthe will then line up in Coromandel’s Great Cranleigh Kauri Run on November 22, before taking on Mt Ruapehu’s The Goat Alpine Adventure Run two weeks later.

“I’ll be doing nearly 120km of racing over the next month - it's going to be magic,” Ruthe said. “I'm really looking forward to it and I'm not putting too much pressure on myself to win them all ... but that would be nice.”

Ruthe won the Kauri Run last year and finished a brave second in Toi’s Challenge the next day. He won’t have far to look for his nearest competition, with fellow Tauranga Ramblers runner Mark McKeown also lining up in all three events.

McKeown won the Kauri Run and Toi’s Challenge in 2006, setting a race-record in the former. The pair will face a strong challenge from Galatea farmer Sjors Corporaal, who warmed up with a victory in last week’s Kawerau King of the Mountain race.

Evergreen Rotorua veteran Colin Earwaker, 52, will also compete for the extra $1000 cash prize, awarded to the fastest man and woman across all three Triple Crown races. Earwaker won The Goat in 2006 and recently won his agegroup at the World Masters Mountain Running championships in the Czech Republic.

Earwaker’s partner, Russian-born orienteering star Oksana Isavnina, will be a leading contender in the women’s Triple Crown. The 38-year-old also warmed up with a win in Kawerau last week, and is a past winner of both the Kauri Run and The Goat.

“I have a few injuries bothering me more and more each year after more than 20 years of competitive sport and the muscles are still sore after Kawerau but I’ll definitely try my best,” Isavnina said. "The Triple Crown will certainly be a challenge – it doesn’t leave much time for absolute recovery and we’ll be pushing our bodies right to the limit.”

The top five open men and women in each event will qualify for points, with bonus points for breaking race records, and the runners with the most points at the end collect the cash.

Starting and finishing in Whakatane, the 18.5km Toi's Challenge follows the trails and pa sites of the great Maori chieftain Toi and includes bird colonies, sea cliffs, magnificent stands of pohutukawa trees and the fabulous Ohope Beach.

The Great Cranleigh Kauri Run is the longest of the three events at 32km (with a shorter 13km option). It takes runners from the white sands of Waikawau Beach up and across the spine of the Coromandel Peninsula into Coromandel township, through stunning native bush and forest.

The Goat Alpine Adventure Run, meanwhile, is an awe-inspiring 21km trail run around the flanks of Mt Ruapehu, set amongst sub-alpine tussock in the world-renowned Tongariro National Park, taking runners from the Whakapapa to Turoa ski-fields.

For more information about the Triple Crown series, contact:

Jason Cameron Andy Reid
Victory Promotions Adventure Racing Coromandel
021 465 274 0274 921 348

www.whakatane.com
www.arcevents.co.nz/kaurirun/
www.thegoat.co.nz