Trail Running · Fiordland

🇳🇿Luxmore Grunt:
Course Analysis & Race Readiness

27km with 1005m of climbing packed into a single 8.7km ascent, then handed straight back over an 8.2km descent losing 858m. One up, one down, both relentless.

CourseRecon scores your own training against the descending and durability demands that define Luxmore Grunt — the sample analysis below shows exactly how.

27.0 km

Distance

+940 m

Vertical Gain

−950 m

Total Descent

Dec 5, 2026

Next Edition · 136 days out

Check YOUR readiness

Connect Strava · No card · 2 min

The Course · GPS-Measured

What 27.4 km / 17.0 mi and 940 m / 3,090 ft of vertical gain actually look like

Measured from the GPS track: 27.4 km / 17.0 mi and 940 m / 3,090 ft of vertical gain. This is the terrain you're signing up for: read it before it reads you.

Course Profile

Terrain summary

Claimed vs GPS-Measured

Claimed · Organizer

27.0km

Distance

+990m

Gain

+0.4 km−50 m

GPS-Measured

27.4km

Distance

+940m

Gain

Climb & Gradient

+940 mTotal Gain

−950 mTotal Loss

Gradient Distribution

44%

Flat

≤3% grade

22%

Run-Climb

3–15% up

Steep Climb

>15% up

28%

Descent

downhill

Steepest Sustained Sections

Descent

KM 13.8–22.0 · −858 m

-10.5%

ClimbCRUX

KM 5.1–13.9 · +859 m

+9.8%

Finish & Cutoff Times

What it takes to finish

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

2h 05m

Winning time

2h 26m

Top 5

2h 48m

Top 10

3h 35m

Median finisher

5h 05m

Back of pack

Based on 2025 results.

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 44% 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

Sustained aerobic engagement across 27km, though gain is concentrated rather than continuous.

ClimbingVertical power

19%

One 8.7km climb gaining 859m at a steady 9.8% average, with sections exceeding 10%.

DescendingEccentric / braking

44%

An 8.2km descent losing 858m at 10.5% average demands relentless downhill control.

DurabilityLate-race resilience

37%

Legs must absorb 1009m of loss after 1005m of gain across a compact 27km.

The Profile in One Line

A single big climb and an equally steep matching descent define this 27km out-and-back-style effort.

Aerobic FoundationalClimbing 19%Descending 44%Durability 37%

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

With no flat rest and steady climbing at 9.8%, the aerobic system works continuously through the 8.7km ascent before the effort shifts downhill.

Climbing

The entire day's climbing sits in one 8.7km, 859m effort averaging 9.8%, with 17.7% of the course over very steep grades demanding sustained power.

Descending

The 8.2km, 858m descent at 10.5% average, including 13.1% very steep descending, punishes quads and requires braking control and foot speed.

Durability

Back-loaded descending of 858m onto already-worked legs from the preceding climb tests the ability to hold form when muscles are fatigued.

KM 5–14

The Grunt: 859m in one climb

From km 5.1 to 13.85 the course climbs 859m over 8.7km at 9.8%, the single decisive ascent that gives the race its name.

KM 14–22

The long drop back down

The 8.2km descent from km 13.83 loses 858m at a 10.5% average, with 13.1% of terrain very steep, demanding sustained braking and control on tired legs.

That was a sample