On a rainy day and on muddy trails in New Zealand, Kiwis Ruth Croft and Daniel Jones won the 2026 Tarawera by UTMB 102k. It was the fourth win at the race for both. Croft earlier won in 2025, 2024, and 2021, and Jones has won in each of the last three years. Course conditions prevented any records, but Croft won in 8:41:11, and Jones finished in 7:31:27.
Ruth Croft crosses the line as the 2026 Tarawera by UTMB 102k women’s winner for the fourth time. Photo: Tarawera by UTMB
A Māori ceremony sent runners off at 7:00 a.m. local time on Saturday, February 14, in Kawerau, and they ran point to point past five lakes, including Lake Tarawera, to a finish in Rotorua. Along the way, the course gained 7,500 feet (2,300 meters), mostly across two big climbs in the middle of the race. It’s summer in the Southern Hemisphere, and temperatures were warm, but overnight and race day rain left the trails wet and sloppy.
More than 5,500 runners took part in the race’s 17th edition across its five different race distances. Tarawera by UTMB is New Zealand’s biggest ultramarathon, and the 102-kilometer distance was again a Western States 100 Golden Ticket race. The top two women and men each earned an automatic entry to June’s Western States 100. There was prize money too. The race paid $1,500 to the winner, $1,000 to the runner-up, and $750 to the third-place finisher.
Read on to see how both races unfolded.
Daniel Jones ran alone for most of the 2026 Tarawera by UTMB 102k on his way to his fourth-straight win. Photo: Tarawera by UTMB
2026 Tarawera by UTMB 102k Women’s Race
It’s a flat and fast start, and Beth McKenzie (U.S.) again looked to push the early miles. A year ago, McKenzie was alone on this stretch, en route to a third-place finish, but this year Honoka Akiyama (Japan) and 2025 sixth-placer Juliette Soule (New Zealand) flanked her at the front of the race.
Akiyama wanted to go even faster, though, and she reached the outlet of Lake Tarawera at mile 17 (28 kilometers) first in 2:03, nearly 90 seconds faster than McKenzie’s split from 2025. Race favorites Ruth Croft (New Zealand) and Caitlin Fielder (New Zealand) were moving quicker than in 2025, too, and ran in second and third, roughly 36 seconds behind Akiyama. McKenzie was on her pace from 2025, but fourth here at mile 17. However, early pace pushers McKenzie would drop while Soule would finish off competitive pacing.
Akiyama, the 12th-place finisher at last year’s Trail World Championships Long Trail contest, led past thundering 213-foot Tarawera Falls, but by the time they reached the marathon mark at Otamuri, Croft was in front, and the first three women were within a minute of each other.
Caitlin Fielder finishes second at the 2026 Tarawera by UTMB 102k. Photo: Tarawera by UTMB
And then, just like last year, as the course got hillier, Croft made her winning move. She knocked out the race’s first big climb and came into the Okataina checkpoint at 35 miles (58k) alone in the lead. Fielder overtook the early leader, too, and now chased about four minutes back in second. Akiyama was in third, about another three minutes back.
The race’s second big climb came soon after, and Croft and Fielder extended their gap on the rest of the field. By the Millar Road checkpoint at mile 45 (73k), Croft had made it into the overall top 10. She’d been racing for 6:08 and was now seven minutes up on Fielder, who was also seven minutes up on third-place Akiyama. Holly Ranson (Australia) and Katie Asmuth (U.S.) were fourth and fifth and still very much in the Golden Ticket chase. McKenzie had exited the race with an ankle injury.
Although Fielder would eat a little into Croft’s lead late, those front three — Croft, Fielder, and Akiyama — would hold their positions the rest of the way.
Ruth Croft earned her third straight win here in 8:41:11, and Caitlin Fielder was a repeat second-place finisher in 8:45:35. Croft’s course record from 2025 stands at 8:24:31. Honoka Akiyama finished third in 9:00:24.
Croft, the 2022 Western States 100 winner, passed up her Golden Ticket, and Fielder is already in this year’s Western States, having finished eighth in 2025, as the event invites the top 10 finishers to return the next year. Honoka Akiyama finished in third in 9:00:24, and Holly Ransom finished fourth in 9:17:50, and both received Golden Tickets.
[From 2016 to 2018, Beth McKenzie (née Gerdes) served a two-year doping sanction after testing positive at the 2016 Ironman Australia for ostarine, a prohibited selective androgen receptor modulator (SARM).]
2026 Tarawera by UTMB 102k Women’s Results
- Ruth Croft (New Zealand) – 8:41:11
- Caitlin Fielder (New Zealand) – 8:45:35
- Honoka Akiyama (Japan) – 9:00:24
- Holly Ranson (Australia) – 9:17:50
- Katie Asmuth (U.S.) – 9:37:47
- Zoe Manning (Australia) – 9:43:24
- Annie Myrvang (U.S.) – 10:08:25
- Juliette Soule (New Zealand) – 10:19:11
- Stephanie Auston (Australia) – 10:19:45
- Lucy Bartholomew (Australia) – 10:40:11
Ruth Croft running through the forest on her way to winning the 2026 Tarawera by UTMB 102k. Photo: Tarawera by UTMB
2026 Tarawera by UTMB 102k Men’s Race
Daniel Jones (New Zealand) was a marked man. Going for his fourth-straight win, the challengers lined up behind him in the early miles. Petter Engdahl (Sweden), Jia-Sheng Shen (China), and Jacob Banta (U.S.) were among the closest chasers, and the top 10 were all within four minutes of each other at the mile 17 checkpoint (28 kilometers).
No one was going to give Jones the win, though. Maybe it was just a bathroom break, but something happened between the second and third hour of racing, and at Otamuri, roughly the marathon mark at mile 26 (42k), Jones was back in sixth. Instead, Banta had the lead in 2:56, and he was over three minutes ahead of the defending champ. Nicholas Handel (U.S.) was in second, just over a minute behind the lead.
As the front group headed into the race’s first big climb, the upset potential at the front turned out to be very short-lived. By the time they were up and over, Jones had already regained the lead, and he’d be completely alone the rest of the race.
It was raining again as he came into the Okataina checkpoint at 35 miles (58k) in the lead, and with 4:05 elapsed time. He was five minutes behind his course record split from a year ago. Mud-caked legs on all of the runners showed that it wasn’t going to be a course-record day. Among the favorites, Engdahl was struggling and now in 17th. He’d drop from the race shortly thereafter.
Jacob Banta finishes second at the 2026 Tarawera by UTMB 102k. Photo: Tarawera by UTMB
Jones opened a 17-minute lead into the Millar Road checkpoint at mile 45 (73k), and Banta and Handel were vying for the remaining podium spots through the race’s middle third. Jones already had an entry to Western States from his fifth-place finish in 2025, so if he were to win, third place would also receive a Golden Ticket. Banta and Handel weren’t unfamiliar with each other. They had raced each other at California’s 28-mile Quad Dipsea in November 2025, too, when Handel won and set a new course record, 16 minutes ahead of Banta. Behind the two Americans, Max Yanzick (New Zealand) was only two minutes behind Handel in fourth, and Janosch Kowalczyk (Germany) was fifth and only another few minutes back. Yanzick was fourth in the 50k race here last year, and Kowalczyk is a previous Golden Ticket winner by placing third at the 2023 Black Canyon 100k.
Banta gained another four minutes on third-place Handel into Lake Tikitapu at mile 52 (84k), nearly securing his second-place finish with roughly 10 miles to go, but Handel’s Golden Ticket was in trouble. Yanzick was closing hard and flipped about a 45-second deficit to Handel at mile 52 to more than a two-minute lead at mile 58. With Golden Tickets and prize money to be earned, Banta, Yanzick, and Handel were second, third, and fourth entering the race’s final miles.
Daniel Jones won the 2026 Tarawera by UTMB 102k in 7:31:27. His course record from 2025 stands at 7:17:42.
Jacob Banta positioned himself near the front early and didn’t stop until he finished second in 7:57:39.
Max Yanzick’s late-race charge vaulted him onto the podium in third at 8:01:56, and Nick Handel held onto fourth in 8:07:43. Janosch Kowalcyzk was only 19 seconds behind Handel in fifth at 8:08:02.
Given Jones had already secured his Western States 100 entry, the two Golden Tickets to Western States rolled down to second-place Banta and third-place Yanzick.
2026 Tarawera by UMTB 102k Men’s Results
- Daniel Jones (New Zealand) – 7:31:27
- Jacob Banta (U.S.) – 7:57:39
- Max Yanzick (New Zealand) – 8:01:56
- Nick Handel (U.S.) – 8:07:43
- Janosch Kowalczyk (Germany) – 8:08:02
- Jia-Sheng Shen (China) – 8:28:35
- Michael Voss (New Zealand) – 8:30:12
- Gary Carleton (New Zealand) – 8:31:12
- Cole Watson (U.S.) – 8:34:35
- Leonard Terry (U.K.) – 8:48:37
Daniel Jones wins the 2026 Tarawera by UTMB 102k. Photo: Tarawera by UTMB
