T50

T50

The T50 is the lakes without the long haul. From the thermal ground of Te Puia it runs to Puarenga at 10.5 km and Rotokakahi (Green Lake) at 21.5 km, on to Tikitapu (Blue Lake) at 35.4 km and through the redwoods to the Redwoods aid station at 45.3 km, then along by Lake Rotorua and past the steam at Sulphur Point to the Village Green at 52.1 km. The trail mixes native-forest single track, forestry roads, farmland, parkland and thermal landscape.

Cut-offs are 10:25am at Puarenga, 1:25pm at the Green Lake, 5:00pm at Tikitapu, 7:45pm at the Redwoods and 9:36pm at the finish. Aid stations carry water, drink and cold food, and drop bags can be left for Tikitapu and the finish. The organiser expects the first runners home around 10:30am; with a cut-off pace of just over 16 minutes per kilometre, the course is open to strong hikers as well as racers.

This page covers the 2027 T50. Starting and finishing in town makes it the easiest Tarawera race to support in person, and the hardest to time: the lakes are out of sight. On Livebib friends open the runner’s link in a browser and see where along the course they are, how far they have come and a finish estimate, with any gap in the signal carried forward and marked as estimated.