New Zealand 2026

New Zealand's running scene punches far above its population. The Tarawera Ultramarathon (a UTMB World Series race through Rotorua's geothermal forest), the Kepler Challenge and Routeburn Classic in Fiordland, and the Queenstown Marathon anchor a calendar thick with trail and mountain racing, while parkrun NZ delivers free 5Ks every Saturday and the Auckland and Christchurch marathons headline the road season. Cycling is led by the Lake Taupō Cycle Challenge — one of the largest mass-participation rides in the Southern Hemisphere — alongside a strong road and track national-championship circuit, world-class mountain biking around Rotorua's Whakarewarewa Forest and Crankworx, and a fast-growing gravel scene. Multisport is practically a New Zealand invention: the Coast to Coast across the Southern Alps is the iconic event, and triathlon runs deep from Kinloch to Tauranga. Terrain, distances and seasons swing sharply between the subtropical north and the alpine south.