Taking Strides to NZ

One foot in front of the other, one stride at a time. This weekend, February 8th, 15 members of ‘Orange Mums Running’ will be doing just that as they take on the Tarawera Ultra Marathon, New Zealand’s most prestigious trail ultra.

What started with the philosophy of inclusion, ‘Orange Mums Running’, is a group of (not just mums), which was started by Melissa Smith with the idea to create an inclusive and relaxed environment of support.

Member, Alison Broughton explains, “It’s just a regular group of mums, and some dads. It’s a safe place to be active and have that lifestyle that we all crave as busy mums. It doesn’t matter what pace you run or walk; anyone is welcome.”

The group meets regularly and compete in a range of local and regional events, including the Orange Running Festival. This year, they’ve taken it up a couple of notches, as they prepare to fly out to Rotorua.

Alison continued, “Lauren Beels posted the NZ event on Facebook and said, ‘Just leaving this here… have a think about it…’ it was like a dangling carrot in front of us to work towards. From there, it was that realisation that we can make this work, there’s enough time to plan and train, so a few of us jumped on board and have been committed ever since.”

“The hardest thing was training through the dust and smoke, when training for an event of 50km or bigger, you just have to keep training.”

Runners will be challenging themselves by taking on distances from 21km, 50km and incredibly, 106kms.

Staring that 106kms in the face is none other than Alison, who made a quick decision and is now willing to stick to it. “I just think the time is right for me, you never know what’s around the corner in life. I’ve been training consistently, and I just want to tick off that goal. We’ve all got a slice of madness in us,” Alison laughed.

The team agree the prestige of going to a different country and travelling together, as well as the comradery, support and most importantly the banter, is truly second to none.

“We love attending events together. The support it gives, to run with like-minded passionate active people, challenge each other to run further or run harder, it’s the support and belief behind you that you can. It’s a huge challenge for everyone that’s going, walk or run, it doesn’t matter how you get there as long as you get there.”

“I think we all can’t wait to get over the finish line, not because it’s done, but because the sign that all of our training has been successful, it’s the accumulation of all of those hours and kilometres in training that have all been worth it. That finish line is that symbol of, wow we did it... no matter what distance you run you feel that... and you feel very proud of yourself and proud of the group... and I’m sure we will have lots of carb loading and celebratory drinks too,” Alison laughed. “Holding that medal at the end, that’s what we want, that’s what we do it for.”

Goodluck team!


If Orange Mums Running sounds like your kind of crowd you can find them on Facebook at ‘Orange Mums Running’.

Photo by Edith May Gowing