From farm boy to global trail runner

October 2025

Read more from

October 2025

Weston Hill is the first Kiwi trail runner to make Merrell’s global team.
Weston Hill is proving that with dedication, the right terrain and a bit of Kiwi determination, anything is possible. Balancing life as a mechanical design engineer, family farm worker and elite trail runner, Weston Hill has become the first Kiwi to join Merrell’s global performance team. This comes after Hill, 33, gained three New Zealand […]
Kathy Young

About the author

Kathy Young

Kathy Young is a freelance writer and editor based on Banks Peninsula. Originally from the UK, she spent her childhood tramping England’s footpaths and bridleways alongside her father, who considered his complete collection of Ordnance Survey maps among his most prized possessions! These days, she’s transferred that passion to Aotearoa, where she pores over the NZ Topo maps plotting her next adventure into New Zealand’s hidden corners.

More From Wild Comment

Related Topics

Similar Articles

The last plateau

Learning the tough stuff

Sexual harm in the backcountry

Trending Now

Apply for the Shaun Barnett Memorial Scholarship

DOC’s best huts

Harris Saddle and Routeburn Falls Hut, Mount Aspiring National Park

Upgrading to ultralight without replacing everything

Dobson Loop Track, Tararua Forest Park

Subscribe!
Each issue of Wilderness celebrates Aotearoa’s great outdoors — written and photographed with care, not algorithms.Subscribe and help keep our wild stories alive.

Join Wilderness. You'll see more, do more and live more.

Already a subscriber?  to keep reading. Or…

34 years of inspiring New Zealanders to explore the outdoors. Don’t miss out — subscribe today.

Your subscriber-only benefits:

All this for as little as $6.75/month.

1

free articles left this month.

Already a subscriber? Login Now