Mountain Running: Royal tussle for Kawerau jubilee

By Vicki Woolley

NZ Herald·

23 Oct, 2015 04:00 PM4 mins to read

Defending champion Shay Williamson will fight to retain his King of the Mountain crown. Photo / Allan Ure, photos4sale

Past kings and queens of mountain slug it out again.

It all started in 1955 with an Aussie, a Kiwi, and a few too many beers.

We can assume the conversation went something like this: "I bet I can beat you to the top of that hill." "I bet you can't!" The first race up the near-perfect volcanic cone of Putauaki (Kawerau, Bay of Plenty) had just two competitors: Kiwi Jim Chadwick walked away with his first crown, a big smile and £50.

Sixty years later the Kawerau King of the Mountain has become an iconic Kiwi feature. The race is just 8km but there are few North Island events that compete in terms of difficulty. The course starts at Firmin Field in Kawerau and after a scant kilometre, sends participants up the devastatingly steep side of Putauaki to the summit at 825m, then straight back down again.

Blood, sweat and tears shed along the way haven't always been those of the participants. Early days of the event were lawless with regular arguments erupting over the use of 'secret' shortcuts, dubious refreshment caches and quibbling over age group classifications.

The race has been characterised by legendary long-standing tussles. Barry Prosser and Graham Barralet swapped the title of King of the Mountain between them during the 80s while Aaron Strong and Neil Jones dominated the 90s. Chris Morrissey and Sjors Corporaal took the reins from the older men in 2002, duking it out for 12 years until young Shay Williamson stepped up from the Junior ranks in 2014.

In 1985 Kawerau King of the Mountain partnered with an Australian sister event - Pomona King of the Mountain - to form the transtasman International Mountain Race Challenge. Since then Aussies and Kiwis have regularly hopped across the Ditch to make an assault on each other's crowns, or - in the case of the Kawerau event, to enter the prestigious Sub-60 Club.

2015 race organiser and participant Lee Barton is excited about the depth of talent and experience coming to Kawerau for the Diamond Jubilee: "We have a total of 10 Kings and Queens coming to celebrate with us - including Barry Prosser, who holds 13 crowns and the course record of 45:54 set in 1988. Barry is bringing the whole family and will be joined on the start line by his son Hayden, who is a bit of a dark horse coming into the event with a title of his own."

One of the greatest battles in New Zealand running history is shaping up in the men's field as Morrissey (holder of eight crowns), Corporaal (four crowns) and defending champion Williamson fight to keep the crown in New Zealand. Australian Neil Labinsky (seven-times Pomona King of the Mountain champion and current record holder) - and countryman Ben Duffus will be eager to carry it across the Tasman: rising star Duffus will not be afraid of hills after logging solid miles in the European Alps recently. In the veteran category, 64-year-old Prosser will face an old adversary on race day: Neil Jones wrestled the crown from Prosser's iron grasp in 1992 and 1993 and after a two-year stint as Race Director for the event, will be chasing his old rival down over familiar ground.

"In the women's field, expect to see a tussle between 10-times Queen and record holder Meagen Edhouse (54:09) and Pomona Queen Lesley Saunders" advises Barton. "There is some rising talent in the youngsters, too - Corinne Smit has just come back from racing in China and has some local pedigree on the mountain, as has my daughter - two-time Princess Evelyn Barton."

The titles of Kawerau Prince and Princess of the Mountain for 9 to 13-year-olds provide a clue as to who might form the new guard. As the race turns 60, a number of familiar names appear in the top of the junior ranks with Barton, Regan Wilson and Kaya Henderson-Corporaal putting in time on the mountain in recent years.

Barton is pleased to welcome participants at the other end of the spectrum: "I'm delighted about the number of people who haven't been up the mountain for years, but are coming back to run the 60th Jubilee for possibly the last time - some of these are people in their 70s!

On-course cameras will feed live footage of the race to a big screen at event base, he said.