Wānaka’s Katie Morgan banked a third-straight Kepler Challenge title in Te Anau on Saturday (December 7).

The English-born New Zealand mountain running representative comfortably won the 60km lap around the Kepler Track in five hours and 48 minutes, quarter of an hour ahead of Frances Redmond, and 21 minutes ahead of international trail runner and former long-distance triathlete Beth McKenzie, from Australia.

“It feels amazing, I honestly didn’t expect to win today,” Katie said.

“When I saw that Beth McKenzie was in, I didn’t think I’d be able to stay ahead of her on the flats, so I’m super chuffed. I knew that there wouldn’t be much in it and so I went out a bit harder than I normally would and I was just waiting for her at any moment to catch me on the flats.”

Katie, who has also won an ultra event in Canada this year, never felt as comfortable as her winning margin suggested.

“It’s not often you can look behind you and the one time I did, I fell over, so I tried not to do that too much,” she said.

Alexandra’s Daniel Balchin also recovered from a spill before eventually winning the men’s race in five hours and three minutes.

Alexandra’s Daniel Balchin wins the men's Kepler Challenge in 5:3:45.

The Alexandra-based project manager, who finished second in the Auckland marathon five weeks ago, fell heavily on the technical descent from Hanging Valley into Iris Burn and saw his lead over Wellington’s Thomas Barnes evaporate.

“I managed to get a gap on the flat on the way home,” Daniel said.

“I was stoked to get the win, it means a lot. It’s an awesome one to tick off because it’s a prestigious race on the trail scene.”

Thomas finished 12min down on the winner, with Benje Patterson (Queenstown) finishing third.

The capacity Kepler Challenge field of 450 runners, which sold out in two minutes when entries opened in July, enjoyed cool morning conditions which gave way to warm and windy weather in the afternoon.

Results

60km Kepler Challenge women

Katie Morgan 5:48:43, 1; Frances Redmond 6:04:04, 2; Beth McKenzie 6:09:44, 3

60km Kepler Challenge men

Daniel Balchin 5:03:45, 1; Thomas Barnes 5:16:13, 2; Benje Patterson 5:23:12, 3

27km Luxmore Grunt women

Penny Mouat 2:30:33, 1; Miriam Clark 2:30:44, 2; Stephanie Wilson 2:33:54, 3

27km Luxmore Grunt men

Jonathan Jackson 1:55:15, 1; Liam Dooley 1:57:15, 2; Timothy Jorgensen 2:05:09, 3

Full Results

PHOTO: Supplied