Tarawera Ultra Results: 2026 and 2025 Winners, Times, Records and Leaderboards

The Tarawera Ultra results record every finisher of New Zealand’s largest trail-running festival, held each February in the geothermal landscape around Rotorua and Mount Tarawera. The event is run over four main distances — the 23 km T21, the 52 km T50, the 102 km T102 and the 163 km TMiler (100 miles) — and has been part of the global UTMB World Series since 2023, drawing elite international athletes alongside thousands of recreational runners.

This guide sets out the verified 2026 and 2025 leaderboards, the standing course records, and how results feed into Western States Golden Tickets and UTMB Running Stones. It also explains how to find your own finishing time and splits, and what the finish and did-not-finish (DNF) figures reveal about pacing. Rotorua sits inside an active volcanic zone, as this Wikipedia overview explains, and that terrain shapes both the scenery and the difficulty of the course.

Tarawera Ultra 2026 results: Croft and Jones win a fourth time

The 2026 Tarawera Ultra results were shaped by heavy rain and deep mud. Held on 14 February 2026 as the event’s 17th edition, the day turned technical and energy-sapping underfoot, making it a race of attrition rather than raw speed. Despite that, New Zealand’s two biggest trail names both defended their premier T102 titles at the Rotorua finish.

In the 102 km T102, Whakatāne runner Daniel Jones won in 7:31:27 for his fourth straight victory. On the women’s side, Ruth Croft took her fourth T102 title in 8:41:11, holding off compatriot Caitlin Fielder by just over four minutes after a close home-soil duel. Croft, who has also won the race in 2021, 2024 and 2025, described the conditions as among the hardest she has faced at Tarawera.

2026 TMiler (100-mile) results

The 163 km TMiler produced a breakthrough for New Zealand’s Simon Cochrane, who won the men’s race in 16:26:17. It was a result years in the making: Cochrane had finished second at Tarawera in 2025 and fifth in 2023 before taking the title. In the women’s 100-mile race, American ultrarunner Devon Yanko won on debut in 19:58:28, running a controlled, consistent effort through the muddy sections.

The gap between the two 2026 100-mile winning times — more than three and a half hours — is a useful reminder of how differently the distance plays out for men and women in the same conditions, and of how much the 163 km route punishes any pacing or fuelling error late in the night. The TMiler starts on the Friday and runs through darkness, so head-torch discipline and aid-station efficiency count for as much as raw fitness.

Tarawera Ultra results 2025: the record-breaking edition

The 2025 Tarawera Ultra results stand in sharp contrast to 2026. Firm, dry, fast trails let the elite fields rewrite the T102 course records rather than simply survive the day. Both standing 102 km benchmarks date from this edition, and they show how much conditions shift finishing times on the same course.

Daniel Jones set the men’s T102 course record of 7:17:42 — around 14 minutes faster than his 2026 winning time on the muddy course. Ruth Croft set the women’s record of 8:24:34. Both marks were established over the current route and remain the fastest recorded on it.

Sam Harvey’s historic 100-mile win

The standout story of 2025 was Sam Harvey, who became the first New Zealander to win the Tarawera TMiler since the 100-mile distance was introduced in 2018. Harvey pushed the pace early and finished in 15:16:54, ahead of Simon Cochrane (15:33) and Britain’s Ryan Whelan (15:56). The women’s 100-mile title went to Japan’s Kimino Miyazaki in 17:40:37.

The 2025 field in numbers

The 2025 festival was one of the largest in the event’s history, with 3,712 starters and 3,546 finishers across all distances. That scale, combined with a deep international elite field, reflects the race’s standing on the UTMB World Series calendar and its pull as a Southern Hemisphere season-opener. Because Tarawera falls in February, it also sits early in the northern-hemisphere planning year, which is part of why athletes from the United States, Japan, Europe and South Africa travel south to open their seasons here and chase qualifying results before the bigger mid-year races.

T102 podium compared: 2025 versus 2026

Comparing the T102 podiums across the two years is the clearest way to see how weather reshapes ultra finishing times on an otherwise unchanged course. The 2025 columns reflect fast, dry forestry tracks; the 2026 columns reflect torrential rain and slick clay single-track.

Jones and Croft appear at the top of every column, and Fielder took women’s silver in both years, underlining how consistently New Zealand runners have led this event. The gap between the 2025 and 2026 winning times — roughly 14 minutes for the men and 17 for the women — comes almost entirely from the ground conditions rather than a drop in form.

T50 and T21 results: the shorter, faster races

The 52 km T50 and 23 km T21 are the event’s speed events, and they attract road marathoners and short-course mountain runners as well as first-time trail racers. They also tend to record much higher finish rates than the ultra distances. The table below lists the 2025 winners, when the fast, dry conditions produced some of the quickest times in the event’s history.

American mountain runner Hayden Hawks averaged well under 4 minutes per kilometre over the undulating T50, while South Africa’s Bianca Tarboton led the women. These distances are a practical entry point for anyone wanting to experience the course and earn UTMB Running Stones without committing to a 100 km or 100-mile effort. They also carry lower risk: the shorter time on feet means fewer fuelling and weather variables, which is why their finish rates sit well above those of the T102 and TMiler. If you are weighing up which distance to target, our guide to the ultramarathon in New Zealand explains what each step up actually demands.

How to read split times and pacing on the course

Finishing times only tell part of the story; the sector splits recorded at the timing mats show where a race is won or lost. Mats sit at major aid stations — including Outlet, Okataina and the Blue Lake (Tikitapu) — so you can see how the leaders manage effort across the distinct segments between them. The full course, checkpoints and elevation are laid out in our Tarawera Ultra course map guide.

The table below gives approximate pace bands for the front of the T102 field across the four main sectors. These are illustrative ranges derived from typical winning times, not official recorded splits — use them to understand the shape of an elite race, then pull your own exact splits from the live portal.

The pattern is typical of well-paced ultras: a controlled start, a steadier middle where the terrain slows everyone down, and a faster close from those who held something back. Even split-focused pacing, rather than a fast start, is what separates finishers from DNFs over the longer distances.

How to find your own Tarawera Ultra result

Every official Tarawera finish is archived on the UTMB World Series live platform at live.utmb.world, and you can look up any result yourself. The database can be filtered by year, distance, age group, nationality and bib number, so you can pull up a single runner card or scan a full division.

• Open the live portal: go to live.utmb.world and select the relevant Tarawera event and year.
• Search your runner card: type your bib number or full name into the search bar.
• Check your rankings: review your placing overall, within your gender, and within your age-group bracket.
• Read your UTMB Index: your performance index is recalculated from the result, which affects future race and lottery eligibility.

If you spot a mistake — a misspelled name, a missing split or an incorrect time — contact the timing team through the official Tarawera website’s results-query form, and have your bib number and any GPS file (Garmin or Strava) ready to support the request.

Golden Tickets and the Western States pathway

The T102 is a Western States Golden Ticket race, which is a large part of why the elite field is so deep. The top two men and top two women each earn an automatic entry into the Western States 100-Mile Endurance Run in California, one of the hardest races in the world to enter through the standard lottery.

Tickets “roll down” when a qualifying finisher already holds a Western States entry. That is exactly what happened in 2026: Ruth Croft (the 2022 Western States champion) and runner-up Caitlin Fielder were both already qualified, so the women’s tickets passed to third-placed Honoka Akiyama and fourth-placed Holly Ranson. On the men’s side, champion Daniel Jones was already entered, so the tickets went to Jacob Banta and Max Yanzick. Athletes must accept their ticket in person at the ceremony, or it rolls further down the field.

Running Stones and the UTMB Index

For most recreational runners the real prize in the Tarawera results is Running Stones. Stones act as entries in the lottery for the UTMB World Series Finals in Chamonix, Mont-Blanc, and the number you earn depends on the distance you finish. To enter the lottery you also need a valid UTMB Index in the matching category (20K, 50K, 100K or 100M).

Stones are cumulative and each one is an extra chance in the draw, though you must have finished a qualifying race within the previous two years to stay eligible. Your UTMB Index is a score out of 1,000 that weighs your finishing times against each race’s distance, elevation and field strength. If you want to understand how much any single result really shifts your standing, our look at the odds of winning an ultramarathon puts field depth and finish rates in perspective.

Finish rates, DNFs and common mistakes

Reading the DNF (did-not-finish) column is as instructive as reading the podium. Ultra-distance attrition is high, and it climbed noticeably on the rain-soaked lakeside single-track in 2026, while the shorter T50 and T21 usually record finish rates above 90%. Most withdrawals trace back to preventable errors rather than bad luck.

• Starting too fast: sprinting the flat opening kilometres burns finite glycogen and often triggers a mid-race collapse. Even pacing is the single biggest predictor of finishing.
• Under-fuelling and low sodium: sweating heavily in humid native forest without enough carbohydrate and electrolytes leads to cramps and stomach distress, the most common causes of DNFs.
• Neglecting the feet: wet, muddy conditions cause blisters and chafing; anti-chafe balm and proven running socks matter more than most runners expect.
• Skimping on mandatory gear: a seam-sealed waterproof jacket and a well-fitted hydration pack are required for good reason; core-temperature drops on exposed sections end races.

These lessons carry across events. If you are building toward a longer target, the nearby Tarawera-adjacent Taupō Ultramarathon offers a similar Central North Island trail challenge to test your pacing and gear before returning to Rotorua.

Summary

The Tarawera Ultra results reward close reading. The 2026 edition showed how mud and rain slow even the strongest fields, with Daniel Jones (7:31:27) and Ruth Croft (8:41:11) winning fourth T102 titles; the 2025 edition, run in fast, dry conditions, produced the standing course records of 7:17:42 and 8:24:34 and Sam Harvey’s first Kiwi TMiler win. Beyond the podiums, the numbers explain the Golden Ticket pathway to Western States, the Running Stones route to Chamonix, and the pacing and preparation that keep runners out of the DNF column. Whether you are chasing a personal best or simply tracking a friend on the live portal, the data is the clearest map to the race.

Frequently Asked Questions (FAQ)

Where can I view the full Tarawera Ultra results?

All finalised results are hosted on the official UTMB World Series live portal at live.utmb.world. You can filter by year, distance, age group and nationality, or search an individual runner by name or bib number to see their placings and splits.

Who won the T102 at the Tarawera Ultra 2026?

Daniel Jones won the men’s 102 km T102 in 7:31:27, his fourth consecutive title, and Ruth Croft won the women’s race in 8:41:11 for her fourth T102 title overall. Both raced through heavy rain and deep mud on 14 February 2026.

What are the Tarawera T102 course records?

Both 102 km course records were set in the fast, dry conditions of 2025. Daniel Jones holds the men’s record at 7:17:42 and Ruth Croft holds the women’s record at 8:24:34, and both remain the fastest times recorded on the current route.

How do Running Stones work at Tarawera?

Finishing a distance within the cut-offs earns Running Stones for the UTMB Finals lottery: 1 for the T21, 2 for the T50, 3 for the T102 and 4 for the TMiler. Stones are added to your UTMB profile automatically, are cumulative, and each one is an extra chance in the draw.

Who won the 100-mile TMiler at the Tarawera Ultra results 2025?

Sam Harvey won the men’s 100-mile TMiler in 15:16:54, becoming the first New Zealander to take the distance since it was introduced in 2018. Japan’s Kimino Miyazaki won the women’s TMiler in 17:40:37.