Petone local crosses line after 35 hours

It was an early start for Barrett Hocking on March 18, getting up at the crack of dawn to start a 161 kilometre run.

He was taking part in central Otago’s Northburn 100, a trail run 100 miles long. He started alongside 100 other runners at 6am and crossed the finish line with a smile more than 30 hours later.

‘‘To me, my goal was to finish with a smile,’’ he said.

One of his first thoughts was ‘wow I actually did that’.

The gruelling trek took Hocking 35 hours, 38 minutes and 27 seconds to finish. It wasn’t all flat ground either.

Northburn 100 runners loop around three different tracks during the race, going up and over central Otago hills. Over the race’s course, Hocking climbed a total of 10,000 metres.

He saw two sunrises in his run and said as he crossed the line it was close to the second sundown. If he hadn’t made it before then, he said it would have been mentally tough to keep going.

Hocking took up trail running about nine years ago and said it was only a few years ago he was running 10km races.

‘‘You go ‘oh I wonder what a half marathon is like?’. Then it’s ‘oh I wonder what a marathon is like?’,’’ he said.

He was the 33rd across the line and said about half the field didn’t finish the race.

When he’s not running, the Petone resident plays music for a living, working as the principal trumpeter in Orchestra Wellington and playing in the band Black Seeds.

He was heading up to Whangarei with the Black Seeds to play a gig but said his bag was a little lighter than usual.

‘‘Normally I take my running shoes,’’ he said.

This time, he decided to take a rest - his legs were still recovering.