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The Great Lake Relay is an annual team running event over approximately 160 km. It is held at Taupo, New Zealand on the third Saturday of February (not to be confused with the Great Lakes Relay held in Michigan in July). Each team consists of ten to eighteen members, either running or walking to complete the eighteen 4.7 km to 14.4 km legs around the largest lake in Australasia, Lake Taupo.
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In 2009 this event, currently sponsored by New Balance, will be held on Saturday 21 February, and will be celebrating the 14th running of the event which started back in 1995.
With over 5000 registered amateur and professional runners from all over Australasia taking part in the race each year, it is the biggest event of its type in the Southern Hemisphere. While there are prizes awarded to the winners of the relay, and $150,000 worth of spot prizes given away, most of the runners take part just for the joy of team building and participating.
Following the prize giving, a post-race party is held in the Great Lake Centre, overlooking Lake Taupo, with plenty of drinks available.
Qualifying
The Great Lake Relay is open to all runners and walkers, both male and female, of any age, ability and from any nation. For safety reasons however, the event is limited to the first 450 teams to complete an entry form, and pay the entry fee.
The Athletics New Zealand 100 km Championships, and the New Zealand 100 Mile Ultra Runners Road Championships have also been incorporated into this event in some years.
Grades
Teams or individuals may choose to participate in any one of the following five grades.
Start time
The relay uses a staggered "wave start" beginning at 9:00 pm Friday night for the walkers who have an estimated team time greater than 18 hrs. At 10:30 pm, the walkers who estimate to finish in less than 18 hrs, along with the composite teams with an estimated team time of more than 17 hrs 30 mins begin. The rest of the composite teams commence the race at 11:30 pm.
The first batch of runners starts at 2:00 am Saturday morning. These are the running teams who have an estimated team time greater than 14hrs. The final wave starts at 3:00 am. This includes the rest of the running teams, as well as the individuals and two person teams.
Course Description
Note: All distances are + or - 0.2
Event Records
The race organizers keep a standard time clock for all entries, though official timekeeping ceases after 6.00pm on Saturday.
Current course records, as of 2007, are:
Relay
New Zealand
International