More than 600 of them took part in the 15km Miners Trail Run, which included 800m of climbing and descending as it followed a loop from Arrowtown up to the Crown Terrace and into Glencoe Station before finishing back at Wilcox Green.
Kepler Challenge and Luxmore Grunt champion Cameron Swales won the men’s race in 1hr 13min 51sec, which was only 23 seconds ahead of recent Shotover Moonlight Half winner Michael Sutton.
Maia Flint won the women’s race in 1hr 23min 45sec, which was about two minutes ahead of three-time Kepler Challenge winner Katie Morgan.
In the 47km mountain bike from Glendhu Bay to Arrowtown, Priscilla Thompson won the women’s race in 2hr 18min 48sec.
That was nearly a minute ahead of runner-up Kate Boe, of Queenstown, who was returning after an eight-year break and still holds the course record she set in 2014.
French rider Pierrick Burnet won the men’s race, at his first attempt, in 2hr 7sec, with Jono Miller close behind in 2hr 1min 4sec.
Mel Aitken smashed the women’s Trail Marathon field, finishing in 3hr 31min 53sec, while Talia Flannery was second in 3hr 49min 4sec.
The 52km Ultra Trail Run competitors had the longest day on the course, starting in darkness at 6am in Wānaka before tackling more than 3000m of cumulative climbing across the Harris Mountains before descending into Arrowtown.
In the women’s race, Hannah Wall successfully defended her title, finishing more than an hour ahead of her nearest rival, Katherine Wright, in 6hr 54min 4sec.
Wānaka athlete Luke Wilson won the men’s race in 6hr 14min 59sec, while Tahiti’s Delbi Gongora was second in 6hr 19min 31sec.
Layton Craig backed up his 2025 win in the men’s competitive e-bike category with a 1hr 38min 53sec performance that smashed his time last year by more than 13 minutes and put him well clear of runner-up Antony Sproull, of Queenstown.
Meanwhile, 250 competitors aged from 7 to 15 took part in the 4km Junior Trail Run, which followed a loop along the Arrow River Bridges Trail.
