By Gary Hellenga

Back in late 2019, during a trip to Australia, I wrote an article for the January 2020 Wind Drinker newsletter with the double entendre title of “Running Away From Home”, talking about the joys of running in new places while traveling.  In the time since, injuries have severely limited my running (and my wife Lynn’s, as well), to the point where I can sometimes count my number of yearly runs on the fingers of my two hands.  I now spend most of my outside time on a bicycle, or on skis.  But we still appreciate the camaraderie of the running community, and attending running events as a spectator or volunteer has helped us stay connected with those who share the enjoyment of running and racing.

In February 2024, Lynn and I were on another trip to Oceania (to New Zealand this time), and noticed a poster for an upcoming run, in a small town whose name we couldn’t pronounce, and considered that we might be able to walk it (it was a 5K), even if we couldn’t run.  It turned out that the town was not near any of our trip destinations, so we looked for other events near us, and discovered that the Motatapu set of races would be held near us while we were in Queenstown.  These events immediately struck our fancy, as they had a bit of a ‘Ridge Run’ feel about them – a collection of mountain runs and mountain bike races, varying in length from 15K to a 52K Ultra, all through the mountains between Wanaka and Arrowtown, New Zealand.  Courses included gravel roads, trails, double track farm paths, and sheep tracks.  Like something someone in Bozeman would come up with!  So we emailed the volunteer coordinator, with an offer to help where needed, and were assigned to work at the finish line.

We showed up on race morning and did a variety of tasks (sorting finisher medals, filling water cups) to prep for the races, then did our best to help alleviate the chaos that ensued at the finish line.  There were multiple events that all finished at the same place, and I spent a good part of my time trying to keep the mountain bikers who were sprinting for the line from running over the poor runners who were moving at a fraction of the bikers’ speed!  We got people fed and watered, and handed out medals, and had a great time!  We got to work with some nice people from New Zealand, Canada, Australia, and several other countries – though I think we were the only Americans in the volunteer group!  We got some good swag, too – hats, “Motatapu Crew” T-shirts, lots of trail snacks, etc.  Quite a good day – with just one niggling issue – I thought, “I’ll come do this again … but next time, it’ll be as a runner, not a spectator!”

And that’s why it has taken me 2 years to finally write this article – I *HAD* to be able to write the postscript of “yes, I did finally make it back to actually do the event!”  This past March, I made another visit to New Zealand, mainly to bike, but managed to fit in the Miners Trail Run 15K event!  To be honest, it was mostly a power-walking event, with very little actual running on my part, until the last third of the route, which was downhill (quite steeply downhill, in fact – quads were on fire for days!). Given how slow I was “running”, I should have stopped to take some photos during the race, but I didn’t want to get back behind runners I’d already passed on the narrow course, and only got to capture the rainbow at the end!

I am now working on the next trip – to France and Switzerland in July – and looking for more events to join.  We’ll be doing a home swap in Provence for 3 weeks, and maybe volunteering, in order to meet more of the locals, will be in the cards again!