Top runners eye Triple Crown finale

A dyed in the wool cow-cocky and a highly talented teenager could be all that stands in the way of Ben Ruthe claiming a remarkable clean-sweep of running races on Saturday.

Ruthe has dominated the first two events of the North Island Triple Crown series, comfortably winning the 18.5km Toi’s Challenge in Whakatane and setting a new race record in the 32km Kauri Run in the Coromandel.

Those races came on top of his debut win in the Auckland Marathon in early November.

But with attention now switching to the series finale, the unique 21km trails of The Goat around the flanks of Mt Ruapehu, Ruthe faces off against his two contrasting rivals, 18-year-old Whakatane prodigy Daniel Jones and enigmatic defending champion Sjors Corporaal.

Corporaal, a 31-year-old dairy farmer from Galatea in rural Bay of Plenty, admits his training ethic is slightly unorthodox as he attempts to become the first man to defend The Goat title in the five years the spectacular event has been running.

“I get out for a run maybe once a week but most of the time I’m too busy on the farm or out hunting pigs,” Dutch-born Corporaal said.

“I probably need to do a lot more training to keep up with the likes of Ben although The Goat is a unique race and it will all depend how those top guys go on their feet. It’s pretty different from running on the road and my experience in that sort of terrain should at least make it interesting.”

Corporaal skipped the Kauri Run to concentrate on this weekend’s race, although he finished 13th in the Toi’s Challenge after Ruthe set a fierce early pace.

He beat multisport star Gordon Walker into second at The Goat last year, clocking 2hrs 2mins 1sec for the grueling race.

It will be Ruthe’s first time attempting The Goat, while Jones – the son of former Coast to Coast winner Neil Jones – has finished runner-up in both previous Triple Crown events and his young legs and fearless attitude give him a natural advantage.

Other contenders will be Ruthe’s Tauranga Ramblers teammate Mark McKeown, Hamilton Hawks runner Kerry Suter and 2006 winner, 52-year-old Colin Earwaker.

Earwaker’s coach, Russian-born Rotorua local Oksana Isavnina, is the current women’s series leader after winning Toi’s Challenge and finishing second to flying Australian Hanny Allston in the Kauri Run.
Her main competition will come from Hamilton’s Tracy Greenwood and Rotorua’s Anna Heap, who were third and fourth at the Kauri Run.

The Goat has already drawn a field of nearly 450 runners, who will venture into the sub-alpine tussock in the world-renowned Tongariro National Park for their 21km trek from the Whakapapa to Turoa ski-fields.

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

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