From Tonga to a 161km ultra: Duane Harris takes on next big test

Duane Harris had barely recovered from running 100 kilometres through the mountains when he decided he needed to go further.

The Tongan-Sāmoan, who recently completed the Surf Coast Century 100km Ultra Trail Marathon in Victoria, is now preparing for a 161km ultra-trail race in Australia in May 2027.

Harris says the next challenge is personal. “I really want to challenge myself and do the next hard thing,” he told PMN Tonga host John Pulu.

He says the 100km race was one of the hardest single-day events he has taken on. Trail running combines running on flatter sections with power hiking up steep and mountainous terrain.

“It was tough, man,” Harris said. “It was one of the toughest, look, it was one of the toughest single-day events I've ever done.”

Harris returned to running after deciding to stay active while waiting for his daughter during her rugby training. Running brought back memories of his time in the military and eventually led him from a local 5km road race to the 100km trail challenge.

The Surf Coast Century 100km Ultra Trail Marathon in Victoria, one of the toughest single-day events he has completed. Photo/Facebook/Rapid Ascent

But there was another reason behind the leap. Harris was diagnosed with stage four colon cancer in 2024 and says he has been in remission since late 2025 or early 2026.

He says completing difficult things became part of making the most of a second chance at life. “It was sort of a second chance that I got at life. And I think it was making the most out of that, the opportunity to still be here.”

His story began long before ultra-running. Born and raised in the United States, Harris has Tongan and Sāmoan heritage. After his parents separated, he and his siblings entered the foster care system before his Tongan grandfather brought them to Tonga.

Watch Duane Harris' full interview on PMN Tonga below.

Harris attended school at Liahona, Tongatapu, before moving to New Zealand where he finished high school at Tamaki College.

He later returned to the United States and joined the Army at 19. His military service included deployments to Iraq and Afghanistan.

During one deployment in Ramadi, Iraq, he was shot in the hip and injured by shrapnel from an improvised explosive device. He was later awarded a Purple Heart.

Harris says those experiences now help him through the hardest stages of an ultra race.

“At a certain point in an ultra trail marathon race, 100 kilometres on the road is hard, but 100 kilometres in the mountains is hard. And so I really had to rely on those experiences to get me through, you know, that suffering. And I think you're just suffering out there and I think I'm just really good at suffering.”

His next race will be the Ultra-Trail Australia 100-mile event, which covers 161km with more than three times the elevation of his recent 100km race.

Duane Harris visited Tonga as a young man, where he discovered his Tongan heritage and attended Liahona High School. Photo/Facebook/Tonga Tourism

The race is part of the Ultra-Trail du Mont-Blanc system, regarded as a global benchmark for trail running.

Harris expects the 100-miler to take more than 24 hours and potentially stretch across two days. He knows what the pain will feel like.

After reaching the 90km mark of his last race, he remembers telling his wife he would never do it again. But once the race was over, his thinking changed. “I really want to challenge myself. I don't think I've met my ceiling yet.”

He says the goal is not about social media attention. “It was really just a personal.”

Instead, he wants to discover how far he can push himself while carrying the experiences that have shaped him from Tonga to New Zealand, the US military, and now the ultra-trail world.

Duane Harris draws on his military experience as he trains for the Ultra-Trail Australia 100-mile event in May 2027. Photo/Facebook/Duane Harris

“You know, anyone that's done one will tell you that they leave a piece of themselves out there.

“But the sacrifice that you make on the other side of that and in being able to endure that, you just get this more polished version and better version of yourself.”

For Harris, the next 161km is another chance to find out just how far he can go, carrying with him the experiences that have shaped his life from Tonga to New Zealand, the US military and now the ultra-trail world.