Tarawera Ultra-Trail course maps and aid stations

You start at 4 AM on Saturday, and you have 36 hours. You pass eight lakes, cross the Tarawera Forest, take the Tarawera Falls track and run through the Buried Village. The forest is private land and closed to runners outside race day, so you can't train there. The 2027 course description still includes a boat ride across Lake Rotomahana. In 2026 it came at 46.6 km, covered 1.7 km and took about five minutes, and the race clock kept running.

The terrain is mostly single track and wide trail, with forestry and sealed roads. You have to wear your hi-vis vest on the road from the Blue and Green Lake carpark to Buried Village. The longest gaps between stations are Buried Village to Te Ariki Isthmus (15.5 km) and Okataina to Millar (15.2 km). Pacers can join from Okataina, and the finishers' gift is a pounamu pendant.

The T102 starts at Firmin Field in Kawerau and runs back to Rotorua beneath Tarawera, Ruawahia and Wahanga. It passes five lakes and takes in native bush on the Western Okataina track, then the redwoods and the steam beside the trail at Sulphur Point. The start goes off in waves between 7:00 and 7:20 AM, and the limit is 30 hours.

It's trail and forestry road through native bush, conifer forest, farmland and thermal ground. The longest gap between stations is Okataina to Millar, 15.1 km, at night if you're near the cutoffs. Crews can only meet you at Okataina, Tikitapu, Redwoods and the finish.

The T50 starts at Te Puia and runs past Lake Rotokakahi (Green Lake) and Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake), then through the redwoods and along Lake Rotorua at Sulphur Point. Much of it is single track through native forest. Waves start from 7:00 AM and you have 14 hours.

The organizer pitches it at runners who have done a road marathon or a few halves, and the aid stations are stocked well enough that you don't need a crew. The longest stretch is Green Lake to Blue Lake, 13.8 km.

The T21 starts on the shore of Lake Tikitapu (Blue Lake) at 10 AM. You run the 5.5 km Blue Lake track first and pick up the aid station there at 6 km, then head back to Rotorua through the redwoods and past the steam at Sulphur Point. Tarawera Road closes from 9:45 AM to about 11 AM for the start.

The trails are non-technical, and the organizer says road shoes are fine in good weather. The minimum age is 16. No outside help is allowed, even at aid stations, but friends can cheer.

The T14 leaves Te Puia at 7:30 AM on Sunday, passes Pohutu Geyser, and crosses the Whakarewarewa redwoods to the Sulphur Flats and the finish at the Village Green. The trails are wide and rolling with small climbs, and you have 4 hours.

Its one aid station, Rifle Range, is in the Redwoods Forest but in a different spot from the Redwoods station the other races use. Mandatory gear isn't required, and the minimum age is 14.