Trail Running · Central Otago

🇳🇿Mt Difficulty:
Course Analysis & Race Readiness

25km with 1589m of climbing and 1583m of descent, front-loaded by a single 542m climb and defined by a 43% share of downhill running. Descending decides this race.

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

25.0 km

Distance

+1,580 m

Vertical Gain

−1,570 m

Total Descent

Jun 14, 2025

Last Edition · Past

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The Course · GPS-Measured

What 24.1 km / 15.0 mi and 1,580 m / 5,180 ft of vertical gain actually look like

Measured from the GPS track: 24.1 km / 15.0 mi and 1,580 m / 5,180 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

25.0km

Distance

+1,600m

Gain

−0.9 km−20 m

GPS-Measured

24.1km

Distance

+1,580m

Gain

Climb & Gradient

+1,580 mTotal Gain

−1,570 mTotal Loss

Gradient Distribution

26%

Flat

≤3% grade

19%

Run-Climb

3–15% up

15%

Steep Climb

>15% up

40%

Descent

downhill

Steepest Sustained Sections

ClimbCRUX

KM 7.7–10.8 · +542 m

+17.5%

Descent

KM 12.7–16.9 · −625 m

-15%

Descent

KM 17.9–20.0 · −259 m

-12.3%

Descent

KM 21.5–24.1 · −124 m

-4.8%

Finish & Cutoff Times

What it takes to finish

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

3h 25m

Winning time

3h 44m

Top 5

4h 06m

Top 10

4h 27m

Median finisher

6h 47m

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 52% 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 effort over 25km with 1589m of gain, but no single long grind dominates.

ClimbingVertical power

22%

One 542m crux climb plus five shorter ascents; 39% of terrain climbs above 10%.

DescendingEccentric / braking

52%

1583m of loss across five descents, 43% downhill, including a 625m plunge.

DurabilityLate-race resilience

26%

Legs must absorb heavy eccentric loading late as descents stack after the big climb.

The Profile in One Line

A 25km course that climbs 1589m then hands most of it back across steep, relentless descents.

Aerobic FoundationalClimbing 22%Descending 52%Durability 26%

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

100

The 25km distance and 1589m of gain demand steady aerobic output, though the medium duration and fragmented climbs keep any single sustained effort in check.

Climbing

Six climbs totaling 1589m ask for repeated hard efforts, headlined by the 542m crux from km 7.7 to 10.8 at 17.5%, with nearly 39% of terrain steeper than 10%.

Descending

With 1583m of loss over five descents and 43% of the course pointed downhill, this pillar dominates; the 625m drop at -15% demands both speed and control.

Durability

After the 542m crux climb, back-to-back steep descents load the quads repeatedly, testing whether legs hold form through the final kilometers.

km 7.7–10.8

The 542m Crux Climb

A 3.1km ascent gaining 542m at 17.5% is the single hardest sustained effort, lifting the course to its 846m high point. Pace it wrong and the descents that follow become damage control.

km 12.7–16.9

The 625m Plunge

Immediately past the summit, a 4.2km descent drops 625m at -15%, the longest and steepest downhill. Braking here punishes the quads before the race is even two-thirds done.

km 17.9–24.1

Stacked Closing Descents

Two more descents follow, dropping 259m at -12.3% then 124m at -4.8%. On already-loaded legs, holding downhill speed to the finish separates the field.

That was a sample