Wins by Maia Flint and Jackson Cole highlighted a day of thrills and spills on the innaugral Kea Series at The Goat Tongariro one of the country’s most technical off-road races.
The standout performance of the day was Maia Flint blowing the women’s field away on her way to winning a goat hat-trick. Flint finished in an under 23 record of 2:18:34, bettering Ruby Muir’s 2010 mark by 54 seconds. Her running looked fluid and smooth throughout, and was one of a select few still smiling at the finish line. While, at just 22 she has a bright future ahead. Flint said “I love how technical and crazy the course is, and I love the culture of this race.”
Pre-race favourite Jackson Cole showed his strength and power on the climbs, but faced a tough challenge from Goat Legend and two time winner Ryan Carr who is a master of the more challenging technical aspects of the sport. Carr passed Cole prior to the waterfall which sits around 3/4 of the way into the 20km course, but was unable to hold onto the fleet of foot Cole on the last down and up section to the finish. With Cole clocking in at a time of 2:05:07, it was not super quick effort compared to the sub 2-hours insiders thought Cole was capable of but the recent wet weather and boggy conditions clearly played a major role. Cole said “It was a much harder than I’d expected, I’d hear rumours it was a very technical course, and it lived up to the hype. I think the rain and the mud only added to it, it was tough.” Despite currently being based in Montana in the USA, he said he would look to return in the future which got the biggest roar of the day from the local Ohakune crowd.
Southland shepherd Ryan Carr was just under 3 minutes behind in second, Carr surprised himself saying: “leading some of the way wasn’t in the plan, and certainly wasn’t on the bingo card for today.” While a further 4 minutes back running his own race was Cameron Swales, putting a solid race together in his second ever race on the trails. Daniel Palfreyman impressed to claim 4th in a pair of road shoes giving him plenty of room to improve with some proper kit next year, and Conor O’Toole of Whakatane finished 5th continuing a long line of succesful Eastern Bay goaters.
The fight for the women’s minor placings was the closest racing of the day. With five runners coming across the close together line around the 3 hour mark, Imogene Scott, Penny Brown, Anna Rutherford, Jennifer Tregurtha and Rachel O’Brien. Scott and Brown placed 2nd and 3rd across the line respectively, with the event starting in waves, rather than a single start line seeding proved challenging for the women’s event and is one small area of improvement for the future.
Most elements of the new Kea Series were a success on the day and it’s hoped the series will add a new element in terms of event promotion, athlete development, and foster collaboration and co-ordination of the discipline across the country. The fields were good, and overall spirits high amongst the over 400 athletes whom competed and the many more who spectated.
The Goat Tongariro 2026 Overall Results
Men Jackson Cole 2:05:07, Ryan Carr 2:07:55, Cameron Swales 2:12:12
Women Maia Flint 2:18:34 (U23 Course Record), Imogene Scott 2:58:57, Penny Brown 3:00:35
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