After a successful first year in 2015, the ANZ Skyrunning calendar expands with the addition of three news races (Northburn 50/100, Bright 4 Peaks and Shotover Moonlight Marathon) and a new naming rights sponsor in Camelbak in 2016.
In a chat with Ultra168, new Skyrunning ANZ president, Dave Byrne said: “The launch of the 2016 Camelbak ANZ Skyrunner Series is an exciting step forward for the sport in our region. It brings together some of the biggest, most challenging and arguably best mountain trail races from Australia and New Zealand and with that we will see a lot of the top ultra and trail runners from both nations regularly going head to head to battle it out for the title and also selection in the World Skyrunning Championships team.
The overall Male and Female ANZ Series winners get:
- 1st – $1,500
- 2nd – $750
- 3rd – $500
- Total: $5,500 prize pool
Dave adds, “Skyrunning in our region is experiencing huge growth and it’s fantastic to have a series of races that encourages the elite runners to compete regularly, but also promotes participation from those that are looking for a new challenge that’s beyond a road marathon or normal ultra. Being a Skyrunner takes people to a new level of achievement and we’re super excited to be part of that journey.”
The new racing season is as follows:
- January 30th – The Ultra Easy 100km, Wanaka NZ,
- February 2nd – Shotover Moonlight Marathon 42km, Queenstown NZ,
- February 27th – The Hillary 34km/80km, Waitakere NZ
- March 19th – Northburn 50km/100km, Cromwell NZ
- April 8th to 10th – The Buffalo Stampede 26km/42km/75km, Bright AU
- April 17th – Mt Buller Sky Run 45km, Mt Buller AU,
- June 2016 ? Mt Difficulty Ascent 21km/42km, Cromwell NZ,
- October 10th to 11th – The Hounslow Classic 23km/68km, Blackheath AU
- End Oct – Bright 4 Peaks, Bright AU
- Nov (Date TBC) – Sky Rock n Run 42km, Mt Oxford NZ
*More events to be announced shortly
Shotover is later in February isn’t it?
Just going off what was provided from Skyrunning ANZ.