Join us at the La Sportiva Shotover Moonlight Marathon

Outside Sports is a long-time supporter of the La Sportiva Moonlight Marathon, which many people say is the world’s most scenic mountain running event. This year the event takes place on the 14th and15th of February, and as it is every year, competitor registration takes place at Outside Sports store in Shotover Street Queenstown on the 13th and 14th of February.

La Sportiva from Italy is the perfect brand partner to the Shotover Moonlight Marathon, because La Sportiva pretty much wrote the book on mountain adventure running. At Outside Sports we carry New Zealand’s leading collection of La Sportiva mountain running shoes for men and women. 

As well as the famous mountain marathon there are other Shotover Moonlight trail running events to choose from - including the punishing vertical kilometre on Friday. Some people compete in the Vert and then the marathon on Saturday! That’s keen. 

The venue for the event is Ben Lomond Station owned by the Foster family and starts beside the Shotover River in Skippers Canyon just outside Queenstown. The route includes classic South Island high-country tussock, mountain ridges, beech forest, creeks, a scree slope descent, a ladder climb beside a waterfall, and even a tunnel, before concluding at picturesque Moke Lake. 

This is a super challenging 56km mountain run for experienced trail runners that takes competitors back in time, over old gold mining pack trails and tenuous sheep mustering tracks, with a total of over 3500m of vert!

Starting at Moke Lake this race is steep! Runners cover 1200 metres vert in just 3600metres of trail. The current race record is 59 minutes 45 seconds. 

The 30K starts in Skippers Canyon and takes runners on single tracks through more amazing scenery on Ben Lomond Station. The route has lots of climbs with the payoff of great views to keep you motivated. 

The Half is a fantastic introduction to the event especially if you have the Marathon or Ultra in your sights and features several river crossings, gruelling climbs, and old gold miner’s shacks. 

While not as hardcore as the other options the 10K is a great choice if mountain trail running is new to you, or you just want to enjoy a run in the breathtakingly beautiful scenery around Moke Lake. 

Even if you're not planning to compete this year, the vibe that surrounds the La Sportiva Moonlight Marathon is amazing. Get inspired about mountain running and join us at our store to check out the pre-event action and at the competition zone at beautiful Moke Lake. We'll be there