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I love running in the South Island and I was looking forward to getting out on the 15km Miners Trail race at the Motatapu event.
I travelled down with a bunch of LIM RC runners and decided to have a blast out on the trails with my buddy Anna.
Our run started and finished in Arrowtown and we lined up at the start for an 11am start. They started us in waves to spread out the runners, as quite a lot of the run is in single trail.
The first section of the race has a constant climb on a wide piece of track. We settled into a hike and enjoyed the views the higher we got. After what seemed like a long trudge up we found a bit of downhill and entered the single trail. This bit was fun, skinny trails and plenty of elevation. It snaked us along and we could see people climbing up ahead and could look back to where we had come from. The course was very busy and there was plenty of jostling, passing and pulling over. As we got a bit higher the misty rain came in and I put my long sleeve thermal and Thir on to keep warm.
The climbing kept on going, but eventually we made it to the top at about 8km. The rest of the race was downhill, yay!
The skinny trail remained and it was some pretty steep downhill running. Anna slipped at one point and I giggled, then 2 seconds later I slipped too, serves me right.
The intense downhill continued until we popped out and joined the mountain bikers alongside the river. This 4km section was fun, you could get up a bit of speed and stretch the legs out. Plus there were loads of river crossings, some mid thigh for me and that just added to the challenge. The water was freezing but I enjoyed wading through and popping out on the other side. There were heaps of mountain bikers on this section, which was a little intimidating, but as long as you stuck to the left it was ok.
Finally we weaved through the last little trail section to the finish line. Run done!
I’d definitely come back and give the run another crack, especially now I know the course. I love hard climbs and single track, so it was a really fun adventure for me, plus Arrowtown is a really beautiful place to hang out.
https://motatapu.com/