if you're going to do your first 100 miler, this is a good one to do it at - a friendly community, a legendarily nice race director who ran all over the course checking on runners from start to finish, on each of the Yorkshire Three Peaks, breathtaking scenery, and only a few hours of darkness for the overnight section on account of it being held around the summer solstice.

The course was almost entirely runnable, the aid stations well stocked/manned, the ability for crew to get to the runners in multiple places, and a whole load of photograph opportunities, you soon forget you're covering an obscene amount of distances on the two laps of the Yorkshire 3 Peaks, while racking up a lot of vertical gain in the process.

I genuinely hope to run this again soon.
(Personal account of the race here: https://goodwillruns.blogspot.com/2018/06/race-report-pennine-barrier-100.html)

I've now done the ultra option, on the first year of this race's existence, and now the trail marathon, on the second year of this race's existence. And what can I say?
The course is superb - a city "urban ultra" (the UU part of WUU-2K) in which you only really see roads to cross them, covering a large range of trail networks around New Zealand's capital. And hills. Did I mention hills? the 2K part of WUU-2K stands for the approximate elevation gain for the marathon event. The ultra is about 600 metres more in climbing.
This is such a friendly event, with volunteers making up the entirety of the marshalling / aid stations / you name it. Oh, and they all take loads of photos so you've an abundance of quality race photos... for free... as it's shared within the incredible running community of Wellington. How nice is that?
The even has doubled in size within a year, and I expect it to grow further next year with how well this is put on by the event organisers (and community).
From the initial uphill start to Kaukau, through to that last uphill to the iconic finish that s Mt Victoria, it's trail bliss. Especially if you like hills.
This time though it's the marathon course I'm reviewing, and that has only a fun downhill, whereas the ultra version has an equally "fun" uphill in the form of the legendary Tip Track. So as a marathoner you get to run down it watching those ultra-legends slog ther way up. Such fun!
Crossing the finish line to the awaiting medal, cup cake, burger, etc is made even more sweet for the party atmosphere that awaits you. There's nothing wrong with this course. And even though it's a winter event, I swear the organiser has control over the weather, as it's a 100% success rate on amazing weather for this event. Next time I'll pack my sunnies

The Tarawera crew put on several races throughout the year, and they are all superb! One begins in a cave shared with glow worms, one ends at a beach with natural hot water, and this one is the 100, with three distances: 102Ks, 87Ks and 62Ks... All of which follow a similar course along breathtaking scenery.

I did the 100 this year,, my first really big distance, (after last year dropping to the 62 due to repeat hamstring injuries)... and it was superb / incredible / insert many many good adjectives here. The incredible thing is that during the hurt locker / pain cave of doing a 100... I never once thought I'd never want to do it again, quite the opposite! Even when at the finish line, with a nice cold beer in hand, I just wanted to do it again. and faster. And can't wait for the team to take my money again and re-sign up!

~This from running 100+ K's ~
Lunacy!

Or spectacular...

Overseas people: This is worth a visit to NZ for in our summertime. And if that doesn't work out, the 50/trail marathon in November or the Waitomo caves run in April should also be worth looking into if you're thinking of visiting New Zealand!

A truly breathtaking 60K event with +2K of elevation on a course all around a capital city, yet with almost no road, just trails around Wellington.
Everything, from the registration to the finish line was incredible. The weather showed up too on a winter's day.
If you want to be challenged while falling in love with a city while trail running, this is the event for you!

Getting an early morning ferry from the City Centre (while seeing people still out partying) is the start of the race excitement.
Watching the All Blacks beat Australia in the Rugby World Cup on the big screen before setting off certainly gives you a mental boost... And then... it starts. And it's still cool.

10 minutes later and Auckland's humidity begins, about the same time as the first incline. Boom. Marathon distance and marathon mentality: here we go. And we're now at Takapuna.... Where's the bridge?

Then it's the bridge, hurrah. you're running over a spectacular bridge with breathtaking views either side of you, and it really is incredible. Even though you feel the incline going up and up, but not the descent into the only slight poor scenery of the whole event - a brief bit of dockside industry. But it's short lived... and just as it improves: You wish you'd picked the Half option, as you see the signs for the finish... only to run way down the coast (again, spectacular views of the Hauraki Gulf and Rangitoto Island) to the turn-around point, back up the coast, to the finish.

The finish: a big park area with all sorts going on. Suddenly the pain you felt (I felt) from about 9KM onwards, subsides, and it's an incredible feeling in beautiful surrounds. Hurrah. Now, where's the hot-dogs and physio?