Diary of a hairy legged multisport racer

Tuesday 28 February 2012

Coast to Coast teams race 2012

Ten days before the Coast to Coast this year I had no intention of heading down for the weekend. This quickly  changed over a couple of texts and a ten minute phone call. Cutting a long story short I received a call from Katie Cambie at Legend Paddles. She was trying to find a decent runner who would be prepared to join Matt Blundell to have a shot at the mens team title for 2012.

Having dropped my intent for the longest day due to Team Seagate expedition race commitments this would provide the ultimate sharpener without recovery issues associated with the Longest day. Safe to say I didn't need much convincing and was really excited at the chance to punish myself through Goat Pass.



Race weekend came around all too quickly and before I knew it we were standing at Aitkens corner waiting for Matt to arrive on the bike. The major competition for the weekend would come in the form of Dan Busch on the bike and Steve McKinstry on the run. Both strong athletes I was not going to take this one easy. Unfortunately for Dan a puncture cost him the stage 1 lead and he lost a few minutes to Matt who had a strong ride to lead in the first bunch. This gave me a great start with nothing but fresh air between my hairy legs and Klondyke.

What happened next is a bit of a blur and happened rather quickly. One point I remember well was reaching the deception footbridge 10 minutes in and feeling uncomfortably out of breath! My race tactic however was to 'smash myself' so I just kept pushing. There were a few mistimed jumps along the way, a few involuntary swims and plenty of hard breathing. I didn't want to allow Steve the privilege of even seeing me so the ears were pinned the whole way. Upon reaching Goat Pass I asked Steve Knowles for a split. He said about 4 minutes.......not good enough. That was close to what I had at Doreen Creek. So on I pushed, getting more amped and more controlled every step of the way. Once on the Minga riverbed I was in my own world skipping over the rocks with ease and keeping a strong pace.



Crossing the Bealey I glanced down at my watch. 2:39. Definite potential for a sub 3h run here.....surely not!
So up the effort went again, probably not corresponding to an increase in pace, more likely a maintenance in pace despite my tiring legs. By the time I reached the railway bridge I needed every second to count. Fast well placed strides were essential. Thankfully the body responded and the last 2km flew by. Into the finish chute and a final surge to finish what was my best ever time through the run.....2:58:49. I now join 5 others who have managed sub 3 hrs, and am absolutely stoked. It had been a great day.





Day 2: 

The majority of today was out of my hands. We transitioned Matt into the kayak after losing 3 minutes to Dan Busch during the opening 15km ride. It was evident that Dan was on a mission and it would take a jaw dropping performance to reduce his dominance on the water.

Unfortunately Matt despite paddling well couldn't match Dan's super human effort on the water losing a further 11minutes on the 67km Waimakariri paddle. As Dan collapsed on the beach and Gorge Bridge I could only watch the clock tick on as his dominance became depressingly apparent.

Onto the bike I now had less than 2 minutes left of our 16 minute day 1 lead to cling to. My legs were smacked around after day 1 but I had ultimate faith I could hold the gap. Not to be. Steve McKinstry had a fantastic ride to take the quickest of the day 2 riders and clean me out by 2 mins 15 secs. An awesome effort on top of Dans legendary paddle to snatch the Team honours from us for the weekend.

Great effort boys!

Many thanks to Katie and Len at Legend Paddles for organising the weekend. It was a great experience even if we didn't quite pull it off.

Thanks also to my ongoing sponsors: R & R sport, Thermatech, Rasdex Kayak equipment, Migym Nelson Ltd, and The Frontrunner.