Athletes shine at 2024 Shotover Moonlight
A strong field of more than 400 runners from 16 different countries took on the various gut-busting runs at the Shotover Moonlight, held on Queenstown’s Ben Lomond Station over weekend.
On Friday, Auckland-based Toby Batchelor defended his New Zealand title winning the Ben Lomond Vertical Kilometre in an astounding 56 minutes and one second, ahead of Scotland’s Ross Gollan.
The up-hill only race starts from near the Ben Lomond Station woolshed at Moke Lake, and climbs to the summit of Ben Lomond. That's a climb of over 1200 vertical metres in just 3.9km.
Kate Morrision of Lyttelton secured her the women’s title in 1hr 5mins 11secs. Batchelor and Morrison, secured positions to attend the World Skyrunning Championships later this year in Spain.
Saturday saw the long distance events take place, with the legendary course of the Shotover Moonlight Mountain Marathon again challenging a range of runners.
Daniel Trevana, from Bright in Australia, won in 5hrs 10 mins ahead of John Sharrock from Queenstown in 5hrs 22mins. Aussie Charmaine Salvage won the women's race in 7hrs dead.
The Moonlight Ultra event overall was won by Jérémy Marie, of New Caledonia, in 7hrs 39mins and in the women’s Alexandra’s Hannah Presswood in 8hrs 54mins.
French runner Theo Rousselet took the out 30km Adventure Run in 3hrs 5mins, leading from the start, finishing ahead of Alexandra's Tanya Copeland, who finished 2nd overall and first female in a time of 3hrs 41mins.
Toby Batchelor, winner of the Ben Lomond Vertical Kilometre and half marathon
Batchelor doubled-down on his Friday Vertical Kilometre victory with another title, winning the Half Marathon distance in a time of 1hr 29mins 44secs. Queenstown’s Hannah Wall recovered from a recent injury to claim the women's title in 1hr 54mins 46secs.
The 10km Trail Run was won by UK runner Ru Campbell in 44mins 5secs and Mary Searl, of Australia, in 54mins 48secs.
"The response we’ve received from new and returning athletes is absolutely awesome, the weather conditions were fantastic, and the calibre of runners across all events was exceptional," event co-director Antz Longman said.
"As a family run event it’s pretty special for us to all work together and give runners the chance to experience running through a working merino station and enjoy the spectacular high country landscapes."
The challenge of putting on events like this is not lost on the Foster family, which manages the station.
“It’s a big effort for us to coordinate the marshalls, course logistics and trail maintenance to deliver an event across such varied terrain," event co-director Hamish Foster said.
"We’re fortunate to have had fantastic continued support from a range of local individuals, businesses without which the event wouldn’t be possible.”
Next year's Shotover Moonlight events will take place on the 14 and 15 February.
