Running: Cape Brett Challenge makes return

It's billed as Northland's most arduous race but that didn't deter a record 360 competitors from tackling the bush tracks of Cape Brett which includes a climb of more than 2000 metres.

The race had been in recess for three years. Organiser Jan Danilo, of Kerikeri, said with the current interest in trail and off-road running the event deserved to come out of retirement although he didn't expect to have such a strong competitor list in the first year of the reconstituted event.

Saturday's classic 37km race was won by Vajin Armstrong of Christchurch in a record time of 4 hours, 10:04.

"I definitely pushed it," he said. "But everyone sort of moved out of the way and I was running by myself for quite a while."

He was making a rare appearance north of Auckland and a welcome one, he said, after losing his home and his business in the Canterbury earthquakes. In mid-May he's contesting the 100km North Face event in the Blue Mountains of New South Wales and used the Cape Brett Challenge as a "training run" for Australia.

First woman home to the Kaingahoa Marae base was Heather Davidson of Auckland in a time of 5 hours 38:50. The 20-year-old Massey University mathematics student looked surprisingly fresh at the end despite the unseasonable heat, although she admitted the climb to the iconic lighthouse was "nasty". Second was Greta Knarston and third was ultra long distance runner Amy Campbell who is contesting the Death Valley event in the USA in July.

Two Xterra world champions, both from Whangarei, were among the competitors in the 17km section of the Cape Brett Challenge. Jim Kettlewell was using the "slightly easier" category as the start of a build-up for an event in the Czech Republic later in the year. Eryn Lovell was first woman home in this segment.

First in the 10km walk-run was Bryce Gibson from Ponsonby in Auckland with Ella Harold from Whangarei winning the women's category.

Danilo said planning for next year's event is already under way.