Created in 2017 as a joke, Tip Track Marathon is an annual trail running race in Wellington that is still going despite no one laughing.

About Tip Track Marathon

Tip Track Marathon (TTM) is a low-key, no frills trail running race that takes place at the Tip Track in Wellington each year. TTM is all about hard hills, high-fives, and doing something stupid for the sake of it. There are no prizes. Your workmates will not understand why you did this. It’s not even that fun.

This is a race for those that want a little more from life than the ordinary. Those that question the monotony of their daytime jobs and wonder, "isn't there meant to be more to life than this?" Enter TTM... I mean, you won't find any answers here but those are the people that tend to be attracted to it.

About the race

Tip Track Marathon is an out-and-back, out-and-back, out-and-back, out-and-back, out-and-back, out-and-back type course that has proven popular with participants. Each of the six laps is slightly over 7km, with around 400m in elevation (2500m in total). Try not to trip on a loose rock while taking in the aromatic smells emanating from the tip and ignore the gale-force northerly. Starting from the gate at the bottom, you climb up and up until you reach the road, where you tap the council sign and head back down. It makes for a challenging marathon but you can find comfort in the other runners suffering too. 1/12th of the course is mapped here: https://www.trailforks.com/trails/tip-track/

For those who hate themselves but not enough to do the marathon, there is the Te Kopahou Thousand (TKT) race. The TKT is a horrible yet picturesque trot involving the Tip Track, Spooky Gully, Waipapa Loop and Hawkins Hill. It is 14km long and, as the name suggests, involves a thousand meters of elevation. Course outline here: https://nz.mapometer.com/running/route_4964494.html

Not-for-profit, community focused and all for charity

Each year we nominate one or two charities and ask for donations in lieu of an official entry fee. Previous years we have raised:

2024 - $5,500 split between the Social Supermarket and the Open Medicine Foundation
2023 - $5,125 for the Social Supermarket
2022 - $3,600 split between Trailblazers and Wellington Women's Refuge
2021 - $3,770 split between Trailblazers and Wellington Women's Refuge
2020 - $3,376 split between Challenge 2000 and Wellington Women's Refuge
2019 - $2,580 for Cassie Cilli (Breast Cancer treatment)
2018 - $660 for the Mental Health Foundation
2017 - $160 for the Mental Health Foundation

"It's probably my most hated running event. I wish it would stop"
Brad Coleman, TTM Race Director