Day 3: Motatapu Gold

Tuesday November 30th

Start: Motatapu Road, near Glendhu Bay
Finish: Arrowtown
Distance: Approx. 49 kms
Ascent: Approx. 3,400m during the day – and, no that’s NOT a typo! It’s almost equivalent to climbing Mt. Cook from sea level; or climbing to the observation deck of the Sky Tower almost 18 times!
Terrain: A real mixture of good quality tramping track, 4WD track and really tough, unformed ‘follow the poles’ route finding.
Rating: Extreme. This will likely be the toughest day on the 2010 Challenge. Definitely one for very fit, experienced trail runners only. A dogged spirit and a sense-of-humour will also be essential.
Chosen because: It’s super-challenging, really adventurous back-country stuff. But also because it carves a route through beautiful high country tussock lands and an historic gold-mining area. It is entirely coincidental that Arrowtown has some of the best ice cream in the universe!

Notes: This can only be run as a full day and is only suitable for very fit, experienced trail runners who are prepared to slog it out for 12+ hours of hard graft.

Fancy joining in? Register your interest NOW (NB this does NOT commit you at this stage!)

Got questions? email mal@7in7.org.nz

Click on images below to view route & photos. To download a PDF of the route in 3D, courtesy of Geographx, click here