2024: They came, they 'CurraNZ-ed', they conquered

2024: OUR YEAR IN REVIEW

At CurraNZ HQ we’ve witnessed another year of incredible athlete successes and world records that we've been proud to have witnessed.

As we close out another stellar 12 months, we pay homage to those who made headlines and left us in awe with their colossal achievements.   

American ultra trail-runner HAYDEN HAWKS (above) beat the best in the world over 100km at the Ultra Trail du Mont-Blanc World Series Final (CCC) - a defining moment not only for CurraNZ, but also for Hayden, on his return from major knee surgery in 2023. Remarkably, Hayden was third at the Western States Endurance Run (100miles) in June, which he used as a building block to winning this marquee event in Europe, a race he had won previously in 2017.  

Our longstanding New Zealand multi-sport and Ironman ambassador, DOUGAL ALLAN, showed he was also a monster on the bike as a Cyclor for New Zealand in their America's Cup 2024 bid for the Auld Mug.

Our man used CurraNZ throughout his transition to high-performance sailing, which culminated in Barcelona in October, where he was part of the winning team to help New Zealand hold onto their crown for an unprecedented third consecutive time.  

CurraNZ helped NEW ZEALAND claim its first-ever medal at the World Obstacle Championships at Costa Rica in August, where our athletes also set several new New Zealand records, too.

Kiwi ultramarathoner-on-the-up, CAITLIN FIELDER, posted a brilliant fifth against the world’s best in the 50km OCC at UTMB, before going on to win against a star-studded field at the Grand Trail Des Templiers in France in October (pictured, right).

NEW ZEALAND’S best Backyard Ultra-Runners (below left) lay down a new benchmark at the World Satellite Champs in October, when the 15-person squad doubed their previous best distance of 406 laps (2,270km) with 811 laps, or 5,433km. Their efforts put them sixth on the leaderboard overall – taking them into the top ten for the first time ever.

This month DR INIA RAUMATI (above, centre) became the first person ever to run a 250km+ ultramarathon on every continent in a single year. The emergency doctor from Auckland Hospital has ticked off gruelling multi-day stage races in Queenstown, Namibia, Peru, Mongolia, Romania, the United States, Australia and Antarctica.

ANTHONY KERR-TAYLOR (above right) set a new New Zealand Backyard Ultra record of 348km at Kings Backyard Ultra, Whangarei in June, breaking the previous record, held by Sam Harvey (also a CurraNZ advocate).

In Australia, our Sydney-based ambassador ANDREW HEYDEN (above, left) became the NSW 10k Champion, in his 25th year of sub-35 minute performances, which notably marked his 50th birthday.

Ultra-runner CHRIS KELLY ran one of the best distances ever recorded by a Brit in October when recording 273.3km on his 24-hour race debut at Albi, in France. It was also the second-furthest distance ever run in a 24-hour race on French soil.

JONATHON ACOTT, six-time cancer survivor and father of two (right), completed his 7 Marathons on 7 Continents challenge in March, a five-year project that was born from the illness-driven notion that: “as long as I’m moving, I’m not dead”. The Surrey man used CurraNZ for his marathon challenge – watch his extraordinary story ‘Miles Beyond Remission’, which has been nominated for the Sundance Film Festival.

Triathlete STEPHEN DERRETT  (above) had a marquee season, our customer clocking the second-fastest time ever recorded by an amateur at Ironman Copenhagen, hot on the heels of being crowned the British Middle-Distance Triathlon Champion in July.

Long-time CurraNZ ambassador MARK KLEANTHOUS  (above) ran his 120^th marathon at the showcase London event in April, the runner and triathlete having run, biked or swum almost 280,000 miles (986,000 kilometres) in 44 years, equivalent to going around the earth more than 11 times.

Britain’s fittest 60-year-old has covered than 14,000 miles swimming, 201,000 miles cycling and 65,000 miles of running and credits CurraNZ for helping him cope with the demands of training and racing in his 60s.

In Asia, Australian NATALIE DAU  (above) set a new 1,000km Guinness World Record when running the length of Thailand and Malaysia and finishing in Singapore, in just 12 days.

If you’d like to share your success story from 2024, email info@curranz.com – we’d love to hear from you.