How CurraNZ Helped Fuel a Kings Backyard Ultra Winner

Anthony Kerr-Taylor has claimed victory at the 2024 Kings Backyard Ultra, cementing his status as of New Zealand's most formidable ultra-endurance athletes.

Anthony was also awarded the Golden Horse trophy, given to the runner for the most total laps and kilometres completed across the entire history of the race. 

He has now competed in all three Kings Backyard Ultras, accumulating a total of 108 laps and 724.68km at the event - second only to one other competitor for total laps and kilometres at Kings. He is just 42 laps away from the magical 1,000km milestone at the course.

The victory was hard-earned. Earlier in the year, Anthony was rebuilding from a significant injury, managing a gradual training load carefully to arrive on race day primed, without overdoing it.

"Kings Backyard Ultra was all about improving my current spot on the NZ Team ahead of the Backyard World Team Satellite Champs in October," he says. "After building back from significant injury in January, the last few months of training has been gradual loading — enough to be primed for Kings, but not over-doing it and risking re-injury."

CurraNZ was central to that preparation from the start. Anthony dosed consistently throughout his training block — daily as standard, with double doses on high-intensity days and weekend long runs — and credits it with keeping his training on track during a difficult winter period.

"With two young boys bringing home bugs from daycare regularly over the last four to six weeks, combined with the colder, wetter winter weather and training, the boost it's given to my immune system has been vital in dodging sickness."

On race day, his dosing protocol was precise: three capsules two hours before the start, followed by two capsules every six hours throughout the race.

"The performance and recovery benefits gained from the little purple pills not only allowed me to train to a high standard and recover quickly, but it had me feeling super confident about where I was at going into the race."

Recovery since finishing has been equally structured. Anthony doubled his dose for the first three days post-race and reports that recovery feels almost back to normal.

Next up: a short break, a switch to road running, and a mini training block into the Sydney Marathon in August.

"I'm looking forward to keeping my feet dry for the next couple of months."

Photo Credit: Kunal Kumar