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The following is adapted from Dean Taylor's article that originally appeared in the Te Awamutu Courier: "Ultra record in sight", January 13, 2015.
Grant 'Curly' Jacobs has been a sportsman his whole life - running and cycling mainly, but for the past few years an ultra runner. This latest passion began around 4 years ago when Curly was living in Taranaki and met Kiwi legend Ziggy Bauer - holder of the 40-year old record for running the length of New Zealand (18 days). Curly had been back into running for about three years at the time, and thought ultra running sounded like a great challenge. He did a bit of training and entered the solo section of the Around the Mountain Relay - a 100 mile race around Mount Taranaki. He says he wanted to see if he could run that far. Not only could he run 100 miles (160km), but he won. Curly has since run the length of New Zealand twice, plus the width of the North Island, with his dog Buddy simply for the adventure. But this year he has his sights on the record - and he wants to knock a full two days off it. In order to do this he will need run the equivalent of three marathons per day (18-19 hours of running) for 16 days which he hopes to achieve this Spring.