Father & Son Lead The Way

Father & Son Lead The Way

What does a multisport world champion do when his teenage son turns out to be faster than him? If Dad is bright, he joins forces with the kid.

Former Speight’s Coast to Coast One Day champion, Neil Jones, is one of the savviest multisporters in the world. In a 30 year career the Whakatane athlete has won most of the world’s big multisport and adventure races, including the Speight’s Coast to Coast in 1996. But this year he joined forces with his seventeen-year-old son, Daniel, and together they lead the Speight’s Coast to Coast Two-Day teams race after the first day.

Almost 800 endurance junkies from 14 countries lined up in a chilly drizzle this morning on Kumara Beach for the 27th edition of the iconic 243k cycling, mountain running and kayaking race across New Zealand’s South Island. But the Jones’ proved a class above.

The 17-year-old Whakatane High School student was a class above the field today. Jones senior set the tone with a strong showing in the opening 55k cycle section from Kumara Beach to the bottom of the Deception Valley to hand over to Daniel in third place. But within a few kilometres the lean teen was out on his own, splashing across the Otira River and up the Deception Valley ahead of well-performed runners Hamish Hamilton and Dougal Thorburn.

Local Greymouth legend, Hamilton, and Dunedin-based Thorburn are proven competitors at the Speight’s Coast to Coast. Both have been in past winning teams and Hamilton once held the record for the 33k run across Goat Pass. Today ended the day as the Two Day Individual leader, while Hamilton took over from teammate Chris Maitland to lead the veteran teams. But neither could match Jones junior as he scorched over the South Island’s Great Divide to open a lead that is unlikely to be matched when the Speight’s Coast to Coast Two-Day race resumes again tomorrow morning.

Jones crossed the Klondyke Corner finish like 11 minutes clear of Thorburn, who in turn held nine minutes over Christchurch’s Kevin Taylor and 43-year-old Hamilton. Thorburn took consolation in leading the Individual race, finishing the day with a perhaps unassailable 21minute lead over Whakatane’s Sam Clark. But the Whakatane athlete Thorburn wanted to talk about was Daniel Jones.

“Dan had a great run,” he said. “I stayed close for a while but had some problems with cramps and had to let him go. But really he was just too strong.”

The Whakatane teenager first came to the attention of multisporters in last year’s Speight’s Coast to Coast when at age 16 he clocked the second fastest run time to win the School Boy team section with a mate. In fact they only narrowly missed winning the whole team race, but this year Jones left nothing to chance, employing his father’s skills for the kayak section, but also training over the gruelling mountain course five times in eight days just two weeks out from the event.

This surprised even the Speight’s Coast to Coast old hands. But Jones shrugged it off, saying, “It was crucial me knowing the course and getting all the tracks right.”

Not that he found the gruelling course easy. “It was pretty tough actually. In training we’d been having tailwinds, but today it was a hard head wind the whole way. It was tough work.”

Tomorrow’s tough work, however, will fall first to Jones senior in the 67k white water kayak down the Waimakariri River. “Dad is paddling pretty good, so I think we’ll be ok,” said Jones junior, who wouldn’t be drawn on his cycling fitness for the final 70k ride to the finish on Christchurch’s Sumner Beach.

“I’ve been working mostly on my running to try and get the fastest run time, but we’ll just give it heaps,” he grinned.

Scotland’s Kim Threadgall was another run specialist with a big smile at the end of today. The 31 year old was the surprise leader of the women’s individual race, finishing nine minutes clear of Palmerston North’s Kerri Morgan. But no one was more surprised than Threadgall herself.

“I’m pretty shocked,” she laughed in a broad Scottish brogue. “I’m a road runner really, but never done any adventure races or triathlons.”

Like many international entries, Threadgall was introduced to the event while visiting family. “I came out a couple of years ago to watch my brother do it,” she said. He’s getting married soon, this Tuesday actually, and he’s doing the race this year as well, so I thought since I’m out here I’d do it too.”

With only limited kayaking experience Threadgall doesn’t expect to hold onto her lead in the individual section. But the women’s team leaders, Christchurch’s Milly Stocker and Rosie Shakespeare, do.

Stocker and Shakespeare are the odds-on favourites after a storming day that saw then build up a huge 11-minute lead. Shakespeare started the day with a solid cycle leg, but it was Stocker who gave them the lead, passing more than a dozen other women (and countless men). Tomorrow, however, it’ll be Shakespeare’s turn. The 31 year old is one of the country’s top female kayakers and is expected to stretch their lead to close to half an hour before she hands back to Stocker for the final cycle.

Tomorrow, while the Two Day concludes, the Speight’s Coast to Coast One Day World Championship gets underway back at Kumara Beach. Forecasts are for fine weather and impressive racing, with 2007 winner Gordon Walker (Akld) tipped to dominate the men’s race, while the woman’s world title is expected to be a catfight all the way to the wire between defending champion Emily Miazga (Can), former champions Jill Westenra (Wgtn) and Fleur Pawsey (ChCh), and former runner up Elina Ussher (Finland).

ENDS

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