From the northern cape of Te Rerenga Wairua, to the southern bluff of Motupōhue, Te Araroa spans the length of Aotearoa New Zealand.
Te Araroa is one of the world’s most diverse long-distance walking trails. The route winds its way over high mountain passes, around volcanoes, across sweeping plains, alongside meandering rivers, and through bustling cities and rural towns. Across its 3,000 kilometres, Te Araroa unveils the unique beauty of Aotearoa New Zealand’s landscapes and communities.
Each year approximately 2,000 walkers complete the trail in one continuous journey and countless more walk their local sections. Te Araroa doesn’t have to be walked in its entirety or all at once. For many people, walking Te Araroa over the course of several years or even decades becomes a fulfilling lifelong adventure.
Walk a little, or walk the lot, Te Araroa is your trail to enjoy.
The trail changes regularly so if people want the most recent and accurate route they are best to get it from the Te Araroa website. The latest GPS and maps for Te Araroa are here: https://www.teararoa.org.nz/about-te-araroa/
The FKT should be for the CURRENT route.
theadrenalist.com reports that Richard Bowles ran the entire Te Araroa, from north to south, from Oct. 13 to Dec. 17, 2012. The complete report from that site is as follows:
"On Monday, Aussie ultramarathoner Richard Bowles stomped a worn-down running shoe in Bluff, New Zealand, completing an epic 1,898 mile one-man race down the length of the islands. 'It’s absolutely stunning; every day is another bit of paradise,' Bowles told Grough in mid November, while he was about half-way through his trek. Bowles set off on the journey on Oct. 13 from Cape Reinga, the northernmost tip of the North Island, pacing himself at just under 29.2 miles per day. On day 65, he hit the end of the line, becoming the first person to ever run the length of Te Araroa, a world-class cross-country trail which opened just last year."
Other links relating to more recent holders of FKTs for Te Araroa:
Comments
I will be attempting to set a new self-supported FKT in the coming days, starting at Cape Reinga. I will play by the self-supported rules (no outside support, no hitching etc) and will aim for a ~65 day hike. Due to the nature of the trail and official TA guidelines it will however be necessary to use publicly-available transport as follows:
-Ferry from Opua to Okiato, road walk detour due to starting late in the season and no kayak operators willing to rent kayaks to single persons.
-Ngunguru river crossing via James, as per the official TA route and trail notes (tide dependent)
-Marsden Point river taxi via Blair, as per the official TA route and trail notes
-Kayak section starting from Whakahoro rather than Mangapapa due to kayak rental availability as a single persons. This is in line with what the current FKT holder did.
-Water transport from Picton to Ship Cove
-Rakaia braided river bypass, via Shuttle
-Rangitata braided river bypass, via Shuttle
-Lake Wakitapu hazard zone/not officially part of the TA trail, via shuttle or taxi
TBC locations that I’ll send a box to once in Wellington:
St Arnaud
Boyle River
Arthurs Pass
Birchwood
I will track the hike on my public Strava account, using a Coros Apex Pro 2 watch:
https://www.strava.com/athletes/40506007
I take that all back - ha! I already knew this trail absolutely wasn’t for me after day 4. Preserving the body for some other fun adventures. I know there’s a couple others attempting an FKT right now, so best of luck to them!
Hi Tim, I would be really interested in hearing more about your FKT planning as I'm looking to attempt an FKT at some point - if you still have all that info and are happy to share it please let me know at this email address aricompton26@gmail.com :-)
Kia ora!
Assuming I get a successful hitch up to Cape Reinga this afternoon, I will be starting a self supported FKT attempt of the Te Araroa around 4am. My goal is to also break the current overall supported time of 49.5ish days. I’ll be traveling southbound hoping to end in Bluff by March 20th or so.
I’ve linked my tracking page and will be posting on my Instagram page as well.
Cheers!
https://explore.astraldesigns.com/te-araroa-fkt-x-wahoo/?fbclid=PAZXh0bgNhZW0CMTEAAaaLiMJU6wkD4INfDRuxcvXVE-Nql312NUQPwow_SiN77Kc-7ormsfLvimk_aem_4Jv3lHUgBX3K56wzvEyVpg
I'm trying for a self-supported FKT going Northbound starting early February. I will be posting on Instagram @linazac.
Thanks for the update, say hi to Karel, best of luck.
/Torben
Hey there everyone! I am interested in the self-supported category of this FKT, does anyone know if there is a 'rulebook' of some kind. I am mostly interested in finding out how frequently I am allowed to restock food water etc.
Hi Jacob
Please refer to the FKT Guidelines on rules for self-supported category.
https://fastestknowntime.com/guidelines
Self-Supported means you may have as much support as you can manage or find along the way, but not from any thing or person just for you; any support you employ must be equally available to anyone else. This can include caching supplies in advance, purchasing supplies along the way, staying at motels, and finding or requesting food or water. Camping in a friend's yard would be supported, because it is not available to the public. Except at the start and finish, spectating pre-arranged by an athlete is considered support. Many long thru-hiking routes are done self-supported. To get a self-supported FKT you must also beat the fastest unsupported time.
As long as you are consistent with the above for self-supported then you can restock as frequent as you want
Cheers
Keelan
Current FKT Editor for Aus and NZ