Kepler Challenge, live.

Around the Kepler Track in a single day

The Kepler Challenge has taken runners around the Kepler Track in Fiordland National Park on the first Saturday of December since 1988.

The Kepler Track was conceived in 1985 as a loop to mark the centenary of New Zealand's national parks. When it was finished, three Fiordland College teachers organised a race to celebrate, and the first Kepler Challenge was held on 10 December 1988 with 149 competitors. Today the field is limited to 450 runners, and the 2026 event on Saturday 5 December is sold out.

The Kepler Challenge is 60 km with a good mix of flat running, steep climbs and hard descents. It reaches 1400 m above sea level and has about 2200 m of climbing, passing Luxmore Hut, the Forest Burn and Hanging Valley shelters, Iris Burn Hut, Rocky Point and Moturau Hut. It starts at 6:00 in the morning from the Control Gates. The Luxmore Grunt starts there at 7:00. It is 27 km, with a long flat section, a steep climb to Luxmore Hut at 1074 m and the same way back, for 990 m of climbing.

The organisers describe the event as both competitive and social. Elite runners complete the 60 km in under five hours, but most take much longer, and the Luxmore Grunt is, in their words, only 27 km but not for the faint of heart.

On race day a free shuttle runs from Te Anau township to the Control Gates. Registration is the Friday before at the Real NZ Events Centre, and prize giving is on Sunday 6 December at 10:00, also at the Events Centre.

On Livebib you can follow a participant who chooses to share their own live position from the phone they carry. This is not the organiser's timing, and the official results come from the Kepler Challenge.