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Kurt Matthews

Kurt started his life as a wee pleb at the back of a Navy boat on it’s way home from Australia. He met his lovely wife at school and now they have Finn. He tried a bit of running after his Navy days but the sandals just didn’t play the game.

It was one night after a few too many, Kurt got the idea of running around a wee lake for 24hrs. About 2 years of talking about it, the conversation got quite boring so there was nothing else to do but go for a run. If you Google his name you will get swamped in a flood of fantastic photos and drone footage. Kurt has taken photos for lots of international races and weddings and mountains. It’s quite possibly his second love (wife first).

Occasionally Kurt gets a bit of spare time so he takes his rifle for a walk in the bush. That’s all he DOES with it, just walks. So if you see Kurt at the lake without a camera be afraid because he is PROBABLY bored. We all love Kurt, he makes us run around this lake.
 

 

Chris Townley

Or “wingnut” as he is otherwise known got sick about hearing how “cool” this event would be and pushed to make it happen. then he took on most of the jobs to make it happen as well (because kurt was a bit lazy).

Some people call him crazy others just think he is plain mad, follow him on an adventure at your own peril. This guy does weekend adventures that normal people WOULDN'T even think even possible. although as he is aging he is getting a little bit easier to keep up with. He used to be a triathlete but found that a bit hard so now he just runs a lot.

His heart is tied to this event, he even met his fiancée FELICITY while lapping the lake.


 

 

SARAH SUNSHINE

Even though Sarah is an Engineer she is well known for her ability to completely underestimate trail distances and tends to find herself in the wrong place more frequently than not according to her fellow Taupo Trail Runners.

She loves talking and is an introvert’s dream, ask her a question and you won’t have to speak again for 45 minutes. Sarah has been running various trail distances including ultras for a while now and has almost ticked off her goal to run each Great Walk in a day each.

She loves a running challenge and may be slightly competitive when she thinks she can win. Her running playlist is always Disney music on repeat, so feel free to ask for it if that floats your boat.

Sarah is the newbie on the team and as a result is full of enthusiasm for all things paper work.

 
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Ash Pari

For those who don’t know Ash, he builds saw mills during the day and is a keen adventurer by night. He’s always up to help others out and is one of the best Tail End Charlies this country has produced.

When Ash is out in the bush having a great time you can liken him to the energizer bunny. Starts off fully charged then drops to ¾ charge but never goes below that. (Must be something to do with the solar panels on his head being charged from all that grey sparkly stuff in his hair) Ash rocked out a Miler last year at the lake so knows what he is doing.

Ash joined the Blue Lake Legends team two years ago and has been a great team partner.