The Kauri Run
Ben Ruthe wins Kauri Run
News release / 24.11.2007
Almost 300 runners and walkers lined up at Waikawau Beach for the Great Kauri Run, a 30k mountain race across the Coromandel Peninsula. The field this year was the strongest ever, with defending champion Mark McKeown (Tauranga) returning to face international adventure racer and former New Zealand mountain running rep Chris Morrissey (Whakatane), super-vet Colin Earwaker (Rotorua) and New Zealand champion track, road and cross country runner Ben Ruthe.Established in 2004, the Great Kauri Run is one of the country\'s fastest-growing off road events. Founded by local event organisers, Adventure Racing Coromandel, the challenging 30k traverses the Coromandel\'s Central Divide between Waikawau Bay on the rugged Pacific Coast and Coromandel township on the Hauraki Gulf.
The course follows historic mining and Maori trails through what was once one of the thickest concentrations of Kauri trees in the country. It is these historic Kauri groves that inspired this event. For every person who enters the event race organisers plant a new Kauri seedling, and co-race director Andy Reid hopes that one day competitors in the Kauri Run will be able to race through re-generated groves that they helped create.
Interest this year centred on the entry of four-minute miler Ben Ruthe. The Tauranga runner once finished fourth in the world junior mountain running championship, but he has specialised on the track, road and cross country where he has won numerous national titles and worn the silver fern at world championships. More recently, however, he has turned to marathon running and the interest at the Great Kauri Run was whether Ruthe\'s new found strength would be a match for defending champion Mark McKeown\'s course knowledge and the specialist strength of Chris Morrissey.
Right from the gun, however, it was Ruthe who made the running. On the opening few kilometres along Waikawau Beach Ruthe and McKeown used their track running speed to open a solid lead after just 2k. But on the long climb up onto the Coromandel Peninsula\'s Central Divide Ruthe decided to go it alone and crested Waikawau Lookout at the 8k mark 90 seconds clear of McKeown, with Morrissey a further 30 seconds behind.
As the race kept climbing to Kaipawa Trig, the high point of the race at 560m, Ruthe kept adding to his lead and halfway through the 30k run he was three minutes clear of McKeown, with Morrissey still holding third. By the time Ruthe crossed the finish line in Coromandel township the margin was five minutes, but behind him the race for minor placings was getting a shake up as Chris Morrissey used his off road skills to romp off the Central Divide\'s technical descent and reel in McKeown for second place. See All Event Posts
