WHEN Mal and Sally Law fastpacked the Hardrock 100 course across the San Juan Mountains in Colorado, United States, in 2018, they returned home to Wanaka wondering why New Zealand didn’t have a classic event like that.
It made no sense to them. New Zealand’s wild spaces were well known across the world. With so much to explore, the idea of creating a mountainous traverse like the Hardrock 100 was something they could not shake – nor did they want to.
At home in the Southern Alps, Mal spent hours on end poring over topo maps, figuring out a traverse that made sense; a proper wilderness exploration that took runners on an epic voyage through Aotearoa’s wilderness, more than just a run from A to B. His weekends involved overnight recce runs, long chats with friends discussing the idea, and a lengthy consultation process with landowners to turn his dream of a world-class, seriously tough race across the mountains into a reality.
There was just one small issue. Mal realised early on that he needed the help of a professional event organiser to bring his mad idea into existence. Enter Fusion Events, organisers of the Ultra NZ series, who didn’t need to be asked twice when the idea for The Wild was put in
