Ruth Croft and Daniel Jones successfully defended their T102 titles in a sodden Tarawera Ultra-Trail by UTMB race in Rotorua on Saturday.

According to MetService, Rotorua had 88mm of rain from Friday through to midnight Saturday.

A media release from organisers of the Tarawera event said the rainfall left runners facing wet, technical and energy-sapping trails that turned the races into a “battle of attrition”.

Croft described the conditions as some of the hardest she had faced at Tarawera. The West Coast athlete completed the 102km race in 8h 41.11s to secure her fourth Tarawera crown, just over four minutes ahead of Rotorua-raised Caitlin Fielder.

“I feel like every time I come back, it just feels like it gets harder and harder, and especially when you’ve got Caitlin behind you and you know that she’s going to close strong,” Croft said in the release.

“It felt like a very different race today just because of the conditions, but I actually really enjoyed it.”

The 2025 Ultra Trail du Mont Blanc winner said the “challenging” conditions were “way worse” for volunteers than athletes, and all the support on the course was appreciated.

Croft’s close friend Fielder joked at the finish line: “I’m going to be trying to prise this trophy from Ruth’s skeleton, I’m sure.”

Whakatāne-raised Jones secured his fourth consecutive win in the ultra race, taking the tape in 7h 31.27s, more than 26 minutes ahead of American Jacob Banta.

Daniel Jones claims his fourth consecutive T102 title at the Tarawera Ultra-Trail by UTMB. Photo / Graeme Murray

“It got super tough in the back end, the course was very muddy, but you know, you just keep digging in and making sure that you keep moving forward the best way possible,” Jones said.

“Getting to the last 10km where it was flat was nice, and then the reception here, coming into the Village Green in Rotorua, that was special for me.”

As is tradition for T102 and TMiler champions, Jones and Croft were received at the finish line by a haka and cheers from the hundreds of spectators who lined the chute.

Earlier on Saturday, New Zealand’s Sam Macaulay and America’s Robyn Lesh won the 50km titles, while British duo David Vernon and Katie Lowery won the 21km titles.

Wet weekend

Hourly rainfall totals in parts of the Bay of Plenty reached 30-40mm during the storm overnight Friday and on Saturday.

MetService meteorologist John Law said these rates were recorded at stations in Te Puke, southeast of Tauranga, and south of Rotorua in Tahorakuri and Galatea.

“For context, the February average rainfall for places like Tauranga is around 70mm all month.”

Law said the intense bursts of rainfall and thunderstorms resulted in several severe thunderstorm warnings being issued across the region during Saturday.

Some residents in Rotorua’s south also received emergency mobile alerts for a thunderstorm warning in Taupō, but Bay of Plenty Civil Defence said on Facebook that these were designed for people in Waikato, with any crossover into Bay of Plenty being due to celltower locations.

Parts of Waikato were hard hit by the storm, with Kāwhia isolated, states of emergency declared for Waipā and Ōtarahanga, and one man found dead inside a submerged car on State Highway 39.

Law said while the main focus of the heavy rain had moved away for the region, the weather system that helped generate the heavy rain remained close at hand and would bring some showers for the region this afternoon.

Longer spells of rain were possible tonight for Taupō and the south of Bay of Plenty.

“The weather system, a deep area of low pressure off the eastern coast of the North Island will also bring strengthening winds for later today, especially for the likes of Taupō and around the central plateau,” Law said.

As the winds turn west or northwesterly tonight, expect a windy night across Bay of Plenty as well, he said.

Law said winds were set to ease as showers cleared in the morning on Monday.