The Spectacle Powered by Puma 2026

The Spectacle Powered by Puma is a running festival in Whakatū, Nelson, featuring road races, trail races, and ultras within a single event. Its scope is broad, offering distances from a road mile to a 100-mile ultra, including a 10km trail run and a 5km road race. The event also hosts the New Zealand Road Mile Championships and the New Zealand 50km Championships, integrating national-level competition with community participation. The race course transitions between road and trail. The road mile utilizes an inner-Nelson loop that attracted over 5000 spectators during its inaugural running. The event was founded by local runners with the ethos of being “by runners, for runners,” catering to a diverse range of participants: novices, club athletes, ultrarunners, elite milers, and Olympians. The festival aspect is also significant, featuring post-race gatherings and a performance by The Black Seeds to conclude the event.