Trail Running · Wellington

🇳🇿Battle at Boulder Hill 11 km:
Course Analysis & Race Readiness

Eleven kilometers with 470 m of gain and 469 m of loss, front-loaded into one sustained 3.9 km climb before handing back every meter across three descents. A short, gravity-driven test.

CourseRecon scores your own training against the descending and durability demands that define Battle at Boulder Hill 11 km — the sample analysis below shows exactly how.

11.0 km

Distance

+440 m

Vertical Gain

−440 m

Total Descent

Jul 5, 2026

Last Edition · Past

Organizer lists +330 m of climbing. We measured +440 m from the GPS track — +110 m more than advertised.

Check YOUR readiness

Connect Strava · No card · 2 min

The Course · GPS-Measured

What 10.9 km / 6.8 mi and 440 m / 1,460 ft of vertical gain actually look like

Measured from the GPS track: 10.9 km / 6.8 mi and 440 m / 1,460 ft of vertical gain. This is the terrain you're signing up for: read it before it reads you.

Course Profile

Segments

Daylight

Terrain summary

Claimed vs GPS-Measured

Claimed · Organizer

11.0km

Distance

+330m

Gain

−0.1 km+110 m

GPS-Measured

10.9km

Distance

+440m

Gain

The organizer's flyer undersells this course by +110 m of climbing and +0.1 km.

Climb & Gradient

+440 mTotal Gain

−440 mTotal Loss

Gradient Distribution

33%

Flat

≤3% grade

27%

Run-Climb

3–15% up

Steep Climb

>15% up

33%

Descent

downhill

Steepest Sustained Sections

Descent

KM 5.8–7.9 · −124 m

-5.7%

ClimbCRUX

KM 0.1–4.0 · +213 m

+5.5%

Descent

KM 7.4–10.9 · −109 m

-3.2%

Finish & Cutoff Times

What it takes to finish

Reference finish times from past results — use them to set a realistic goal pace.

1h 03m

Winning time

1h 22m

Top 5

1h 24m

Top 10

1h 35m

Median finisher

2h 10m

Back of pack

What This Race Demands

Four things this course asks of your body

Every course weights the four pillars of mountain-ultra fitness differently. Descending carries 39% of the scoring weight on this course — the terrain makes that the deciding factor.

Weighting shows where readiness is won or lost at this distance — not whether you need each pillar. An aerobic base is a given for a race this long, so it carries little deciding weight even though it's essential — the gaps open on the climbs, descents and the back half.

AerobicSustained engine

Foundational

Short 11 km effort run near threshold; sustained hard output rather than long steady endurance.

ClimbingVertical power

24%

One continuous 3.9 km climb gaining 213 m at 5.5% average, with pitches over 10%.

DescendingEccentric / braking

39%

38% of the course descends across three sections totaling roughly 469 m of loss.

DurabilityLate-race resilience

36%

Legs must absorb repeated descending after an early climb over just 11 km.

The Profile in One Line

A single big climb early, then a descent-heavy back half that punishes anyone who spent too much going up.

Aerobic FoundationalClimbing 24%Descending 39%Durability 36%

Here's how CourseRecon reads a course and an athlete

Sample Readiness Analysis

What a readiness result looks like for this course

This is a worked example for a representative strong mountain-ultra athlete — not your score. Connect your own training and the same analysis runs on you.

Sample

OUT OF 100

READY

For a representative strong mountain-ultra athlete

This is a sample — connect your Strava to see your own result.

Pillar Breakdown

Aerobic

At 11 km the aerobic system runs high and hot rather than long; there is no easing into it once the climb begins.

Climbing

100

The 3.9 km opening climb gains 213 m at 5.5%, but steep-climb terrain (>10%) covers 28% of the course, demanding both sustained and punchy power.

Descending

Descending is the dominant demand at 38% of distance; the 3.4 km grade from km 5.75 loses 124 m and later terrain adds another 109 m of controlled loss.

Durability

With gain and loss nearly balanced over 11 km, quads face heavy eccentric loading late while the effort stays intense throughout.

KM 0.1–4.0

The Opening Climb

From near the start the course climbs 3.9 km and 213 m at 5.5% average to the 229 m high point. Overcooking this early effort leaves nothing for the descents.

KM 5.75–7.94

Steepest Descent

A 3.4 km descent drops 124 m at -5.7%, the sharpest downhill on course. Reckless braking here shreds quads before the final descent.

KM 7.44–10.87

The Long Runout

The closing 3.4 km loses 109 m at -3.2%, a runnable grade where fresher legs can push the pace to the finish.

That was a sample