The Hunua Hillbilly 2023
Share Challenge
1st June 2023 to 31st July 2023
Flash Challenge
Vertical Metres Climbed
Share Challenge
1st June 2023 to 31st July 2023
Flash Challenge
Vertical Metres Climbed
A 60km Ultramarathon in memory of Steve Neary
The Hunua Hillbilly started last year, in memory of the wonderful Steve Neary. Even if you never managed to catch him on the trails (because boy was he fast!), many of you from the trail running community would have known of Steve and his relentless passion for running in New Zealand’s native bush – and for welcoming others to the trails.
We feel that this event on Saturday 18 November, 2023 is the perfect way to celebrate Steve’s life and loves: trail running, kokako (and all the NZ birds, Tui’s and Kereru were his other favorites), New Zealand’s native bush, family, friends, and fun.
The Hunua Ranges were Steve's 'backyard', and his favourite place to run. So what better way to honour his memory than by coming together and testing ourselves over the hardest and most beautiful tracks the Hunuas have to offer – and following it up with the kind of old-fashioned fun and camaraderie he loved.
Make no mistake – this event is tough, but in a friendly sort of way... much like our Steve.
BUT, here's where this challenge can help! Not only will it motivate you to hit get used to the hilly Hunua terrain, but you can also score yourself a free entry to the event!
Any run (or walk or crawl) within the Auckland, Waikato or Bay of Plenty region during June and July will count. The more vertical gain you rack up on your trail runs will get you higher on the leaderboard.
You can double your points (vertical gain) for any run if it includes any part of any of the trail runs in the Hunua Ranges from our Trail Directory.
Any Wild Challenger or VIP member can join this challenge, but being in the Auckland, Waikato or Bay of Plenty region will no doubt help!
At the end of the challenge, we'll give away one free solo entry and one free team (of three) entry. When joining this challenge, be sure to select which prize draw you'd like to go in!
Because entries are already open, we will happily refund the winner (or you can gift it to a running buddy!) if you have already entered, so don’t let the challenge stop you from entering.
The Hunua Hillbilly event info
No worries — you can join a Wild Challenge at any time while it's running.
When you join, we'll automatically award any challenge points you've earned since the challenge started, so you won't miss out just because you joined late.
If you've only just connected Strava or Garmin, we'll sync your last three months of activities too, so eligible activities can still count towards the challenge.
Connect your Strava or Garmin account to Wild Things and we'll automatically sync your activities and add any that qualify to the challenge.
You don't need to add activities manually — just get out there and do your thing! Each challenge has its own criteria for earning points, so check the challenge details above to see what counts.
If you use both Strava and Garmin, you can connect both — we won't create duplicate activities.
Absolutely. You can join as many Wild Challenges as you like, and the same activity can earn points across multiple challenges if it meets the criteria for each one.
We usually draw challenge winners a few days after the challenge finishes. We wait at least 2–3 days to allow any late activities to sync from Strava or Garmin before finalising the results.
If you're a winner, we'll get in touch with you directly.
Yes. Wild Challenges are exclusively for Wild Things VIP members. Become a VIP and you can join any of our current challenges, earn points and be in to win some epic prizes.
No worries — you can join a Wild Challenge at any time while it's running.
When you join, we'll automatically award any challenge points you've earned since the challenge started, so you won't miss out just because you joined late.
If you've only just connected Strava or Garmin, we'll sync your last three months of activities too, so eligible activities can still count towards the challenge.
Connect your Strava or Garmin account to Wild Things and we'll automatically sync your activities and add any that qualify to the challenge.
You don't need to add activities manually — just get out there and do your thing! Each challenge has its own criteria for earning points, so check the challenge details above to see what counts.
If you use both Strava and Garmin, you can connect both — we won't create duplicate activities.
Absolutely. You can join as many Wild Challenges as you like, and the same activity can earn points across multiple challenges if it meets the criteria for each one.
We usually draw challenge winners a few days after the challenge finishes. We wait at least 2–3 days to allow any late activities to sync from Strava or Garmin before finalising the results.
If you're a winner, we'll get in touch with you directly.
Yes. Wild Challenges are exclusively for Wild Things VIP members. Become a VIP and you can join any of our current challenges, earn points and be in to win some epic prizes.
