Changing Of The Guard

10 February 2013, 11:34AM
Michael Jacques

The 31st Speight’s Coast to Coast was meant to have been the Ussher show, with husband and wife Richard and Elina expected to defend their unique double from 12 months ago. But when the dust had settled and the 243k cycle, mountain run and kayaking race across New Zealand’s South Island had been conquered, multisport had two new world champions.

Fine and mild conditions greeted the 127 entrants from eight countries as they lined up on the West Coast’s Kumara Beach for the One Day World Championship event. With brisk northwest winds behind them, racing got off to a torrid start.

On the opening 3k run from the beach to road bikes, 12 men established a lead that would shape the race to come. On the 55k cycle the leaders worked well together to build a 10min lead on a large chase bunch of almost 30 riders.

The record books will show Wanaka’s Dougal Allen was first into transition, with a course record time of 1hr 35min 11secs. But it was fellow Wanaka athlete, Braden Currie, who pushed the pace as the field swapped bikes for running shoes.

Allan and Currie, who finished second and third in 2012, were the athletes most likely to challenge Ussher’s five titles in New Zealand’s favourite endurance event. But while Allen chose to track the defending champion, Currie decided he wanted to get out of sight and out of mind.

The 26 year old sprinted off up the Deception river bed toward Goat Pass, opening up almost a minute in just three kilometres. Ussher looked comfortable in second place, but found himself playing pace maker for Allan, Whakatane’s Sam Clark and Nelson’s Trevor Voyce. But rather than Ussher who gave chase, it was the unassuming Voyce.

Currie would crest Goat Pass with a sizeable six minute lead over Voyce, with another minute back to Ussher, Allan and Clark. Sending this might be Usshers day, Allan assumed third place ahead of Ussher.
Currie, however, was unstoppable. “I went into the race thinking I needed to get 15min on Richard in the run because he’s a better kayaker than me,” said Currie. Last year he put 20 minutes on me in the kayak. So I just decided to smash the run and see what happened.”

What happened was that Currie finished the 34k mountain run nine minutes ahead of Voyce in a lightening 2hrs 53min 44secs. Allan was another two minutes further back, while Ussher stayed attentive another minute in arrears.

They started the 67k kayak down the Waimakariri River with the same time gaps, but Ussher immediately went to work on Currie’s lead. Slowly but surely he clawed back time, passing Allan and eventually pulling Currie back to a six minute margin.

But it proved to be a margin of error as Currie fought like tooth and nail to hold on. At Mt White Bridge, the end of the kayak section, Ussher was trailing by six minutes. But Currie was faster through the long transition from the river to bikes for the final 70k road cycle to the Sumner beach finish line.

On the bike it turned into a race of attrition, with Ussher closing the lead again to six minutes and then five minutes. But Currie responded and held exactly the same pace. Results would later show less than 10 seconds separated their performances on this section.

But for Ussher this was not enough, as Currie burst through the finish tape with 5min 46secs in hand.
Multisport had found a new hero. Someone who showed no fear and no respect to the common dictums of pacing yourself.

“I did come into the race thinking I wanted to run fast, but not so fast that it ruined my run. I pushed the run last year and I think that went against me in the second half of the race.

But honestly, I felt so good out there today,” said Currie. “I just decided I needed to take the risks.”
“On that last ride I knew I had started with a six minute lead. But I was fully expecting the call to go down to five minutes and four minutes, then three, two etc. So when I realised he wasn’t catching me I started thinking, ‘Maybe I can win this thing’.

That realisation sunk was sinking in as Currie powered the final few kilometres through Christchurch and he eventually burst through the tape with a victorious in 11 hours 06min 51secs.

Ussher followed in second place, still 5min 46secs down on Currie, but didn’t offer any excuses.
“Braden just smashed it,” he said. “I really tried hard to chase him down. I thought he might have gone too hard in the run, but honestly I was just beaten by a better guy today.”

Behind Ussher Dougal Allan added a bronze to his previous three silver medals in 11hrs 21min 32secs. Sam Clark filled fourth in 11hrs 30min14secs, just three minutes ahead of early pace maker Trevor Voyce.

The woman’s race at this year’s Speight’s Coast to Coast was tipped as a rematch between defending champion Elina Ussher and 2011 champion Sophie Hart, both from Nelson. But Hart simply made no race of it.

The opening cycle section provided a scare when Hart’s chain slipped off and she had to stop and put it back on. But luckily for the popular Nelson GP, fellow sunshine city resident Daye Ayre waited and then helped pace her back up to their bunch.

Once running, however, Hart romped away. A slick transition helped, with her decision to ride in running shoes while Ussher had to change from cycling shoes to running shoes giving Hart a 30 second lead.

Hart was initially followed by Wanaka dark horse Ailsa Rollinson. But soon set off solo. At Goat Pass she led by eight minutes over Ussher, who in turn had two minutes over Rollinson.

By the time they climbed into kayaks, Hart’s lead was out to 14 minutes and her grin as she paddled away contrasted acutely with the concentrated frown across Ussher’s face as she set off.

“It wasn’t really part of the plan to lead the run,” said Hart later. “Elina is a great runner, so I wanted to key of her and try and move on the kayak.

Hart still made her move in the kayak, because after 4hrs 32min of paddling she climbed out of the cockpit with a massive 26 minutes in hand. But just for good measure, Hart hammered all the way to Christchurch to win by 36min in total.

Stopping the clock in 12hrs 36min 19secs, Hart was an exhausted but happy winner. “I’m pretty stoked,” she grinned shyly. “I felt more pressure than when I won two years ago. Once you have won this race you can’t fly under the radar.”

Elina Ussher knows that feeling only too well. She won the Speight’s Coast to Coast in 2010 and 2012. But 2013 proved not to be her year.
“I’m not sure what happened out there today,” shrugged Ussher. I just didn’t do my best race. My legs just would not go any faster. I got to the end of the run and thought, 'oh this is going to be a painful day.'”
“But Sophie, she was amazing today. “She was so strong right through the race. I’m just sorry I couldn’t make the race more interesting. In the end I was happy to finish.

Another person happy to finish was unranked Wanaka's athlete Ailsa Rollinson. The 27 year lifeguard held off a late charge from Hokitika’s Tanya Maitland and Brazilian Carmila Nicolau.

In turn these women just held out an Olympic gold medal rower by the name of Mahe Drysdale. Crossing the Sumner Beach finish line in 14hrs 08min 51secs for 39th place overall, the London Olympic gold medallist shook his head and said, “I just feel very very humbled.”

“The cycling was good and the running I was really happy with. But I found the kayaking really hard. I had a tendonitis or something in my wrist and I was really struggling. It was frustrating because I thought kayaking would be my best thing.”

“It’s very satisfying though. It was a bit out of my comfort zone and at times, especially in the kayak, I didn’t know if I’d get through it.
Fellow Olympic gold medal rower, Joe Sullivan, agreed wholeheartedly with Drysdale’s summation of the gruelling Speight’s Coast to Coast list. Sullivan finished in 14hrs 40min 15secs for 53rd place overall and declared the event the hardest thing he’s ever done.

Drysdale and Sullivan epitomise the spirit of the Speight’s Coast to Coast. For more than 600 participants from 21 countries it is the toughest thing they have ever done, and also a blooding ground where you’ll see glimpses of tomorrow stars, people like Wanaka’s Jess Simson.

Simson maintained her overnight lead in the Two Day race, eventually winning despite an energy meltdown in the kayak, to beat Hamilton’s Shanelle Cornille by more than one hour in a race record 12hrs 48min 11secs.

The men’s Two Day race saw Greymouth’s Seamus Meikle also holding on to his overnight lead to beat Christchurch’s Mitch Munro and Hamilton’s Will Sams in 12hrs 19min 10secs.

Other highlights in the two day race included the Two Day teams race where Team Forrest Wines, Steve McKinstry (Akld) and Daniel Busch (Nelson), held on to their healthy lead to beat Team Icebreaker Matt Blundell and Martin Cox in 11hrs 03min 44secs.

Among women, Wendy Riach (ChCh) and Kelsee Hammond (Hoki) held their overnight lead to beat Team Foot N Motion Fluer Pawsey and Libby Masefield (ChCh) by 24min in 13hrs 44min 26secs.

Mixed teams were dominated by Hokitika’s Helen and Neil Gillespie. The husband and wife pair trounced an all-star trio of former One Day winner Emily Miazga and Olympic rowers Sam Earl and Nathan Twaddle to win by nine minutes in 12hrs 44min 07secs.

The biggest cheer, however, was reserved for 70 year old Mike Ward completing his 30th Speight’s Coast to Coast. Ward teamed with Twizel’s 64 year old John Sweney. Ward has finished more Speight’s Coast to Coast than anyone and both men completed 1983’s inaugural Speight’s Coast to Coast returned this year to clock in at 22hrs 35min 13secs.

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