c&k#35 dps-m spg - Canoe & Kayak

Speight’s Coast to Coast 2006The Spirit of New ZealandWith the 24th year under the belt, it is time once again toreflect on another fantastic event. Rob Howarth reports onsome remarkable tales that make this event the backboneof New Zealand multisport.When Richard Ussher made his way up onto the stage for the secondsuccessive year to collect his World Championship Gold Medal, there wasan air of a champion about him. Only Steve Gurney (numerous) and JohnJacoby (1988/89) have won the ‘Open Men’s Longest Day’ consecutively. Withthe Adventure Racing World Champs still in his legs Richard Ussher was notthe favourite going into this years race. However an awesome effort on themountain run cemented his position and despite a brave attempt by secondplace Gordon Walker on the final bike leg (clawing back 8 minutes) hecrossed the finish line at Sumner Beach just under 6 minutes ahead of Walker.Gordon Blythen , who opted out of the veteren’s category in favour of theopen men’s, finished 3rd.The women’s one day race was equally close with 10 competitors finishingwithin 45 minutes of each other. Emily Miazga (Canada) fought back on thekayak and final bike legs to claim victory over Elina Rautila (Finland).In the individual 2 day race Benje Patterson came home ahead of StevenMckinstry while Sophie Hart beat Chrissie Wellington (UK) in the womensevent.In the 2 day teams, Neil Gellatly and Robert Loveridge claimed the men’sprize while Sarah Hayman and Eloise Watson pipped Charlotte andMadelaine Martin to the post.Richard Ussher paid homage to the hundreds of every day competitors whoadd atmosphere and camaraderie to this grandfather event of the Kiwimultisport calendar. He is so right, of course, we love to read about the topguys and girls but there is so much that happens further down the field. Raceorganizer Robin Judkins spent the previous hour or so awarding medals andtelling the most amazing stories to a packed auditorium - here are just acouple!:• Imagine cycling along the first stage and losing your contact lenses?Imagine also the horror of arriving at transition and realizing that youhave no spare set and you can’t see bugger all! One brave lady decidedthat this was not going to stop her and off she set on the mountain run.She teamed up with another lady and they ran together toward GoatPass. As the semi blind competitor stumbled across the rocks her newfriend asked if she was ok “You seem to be tripping over quite a fewrocks, are you alright?” “No” came the reply “I’ve lost my contact lenses!”Judkins jokingly worked out that the odds on the new friend having aset of identical contacts would be about 750,000:1. I guess it was thelady’s lucky day, because she did!!• Noel Mckay from Hamilton was competing in the individual veteranmen’s two day event. His race was going according to plan until the lastcycle section into Christchurch. Noel was riding in a bunch and clippedthe rear wheel of a competitor in front. Pop goes his wheel and he walkshis bike to the side of The Old West Coast Road. There is no backup cyclesupport in sight. Fortunately there is plenty of local support along theOld West Coast Road and Noel gets chatting to a farmer who was sittingon the side of the road watching the race. “Your bikes buggered” saidthe farmer. “I know” replies Noel. “I’ve got on old 10 speed in the shed”says the farmer, “I’ll go and pump the tyres up”. Noel hops on and carrieson his merry way finishing the race in a very respectable time!!These stories are just two out of many that make The Speight’s Coast to CoastNew Zealand’s favourite multisport Race. Full race results are printed in thisissue of New Zealand Kayak Magazine but congratulations to all whocompleted their event, whether one day or two day, teams or individual.Here’s to 2007.Watch out for a series of articles focusing on some of this year’s competitors- starting in the next issue.ISSUE THIRTYfive • 2006 31