Coast to Coast looms as most competitive in years

Coast to Coast looms as most competitive in years

10 February 2016

This year’s Coast to Coast looms as one of the most competitive in years with Whakatane multisport athlete Sam Clark and Nelson’s Elina Ussher the leading contenders for one day honours.

Missing from the start line of the One Day World Championship event will be two key names, defending champions Braden Currie and Jess Simson, which according to Race Director Richard Ussher should see ‘a very competitive one day race.’

“It’s a shame we won’t see Jess and Braden racing but it’s also really exciting as it really opens things up and there will be a number of athletes eyeing up better chances of winning the one day race now while many of the sports future stars may be born in the two day event,” the five time winner said.

Two time winner Currie has set his sights on a qualifying spot at the Rio Olympics in triathlon while Simson is now living Canada.

Clark, who pushed Currie in finishing second last year, is focused on making the top step of the podium this year, stressing that the home advantage for the Kiwi contenders will play a huge factor on Saturday.

“I’m there to be the 2016 World Champion and that’s what I’m going to do,” Clark said. “In the absence of someone like Braden I’m going to lead from the front with out of sight and out of mind being the goal. It doesn’t take much to gain a couple of minutes and then the others start to think about second place.”

Clark says it is a long day with over 11 hours of racing meaning the day itself can pose the biggest challenge so the key is to minimise anything that can go wrong.

“With the likes of Australian’s Alex (Hunt) and Jarad (Kohlar) racing there’s no doubt some strong contenders, but locals have a definite advantage as we can learn every rock, every eddy and shallow point in the river, and unfortunately for them they just don’t have those opportunities.”

Clark has used ironman racing to sharpen up his speed and transitions, saying competing in full and half ironman races have been ‘hugely beneficial’ and along with a quieter race programme combined with good recovery periods says he is in a very confident winning mood for this year’s Coast to Coast that has been a specific target.

Australian multi-sport athlete Hunt was a late entry and although it is his first crack at the Coast to Coast the Tasmanian is in red hot form after a dominating win in Wanaka's recent two day adventure race, the Red Bull Defiance, with Whakatane's Daniel Jones.

Kohlar is spearheading a number of Australian entries in this year’s event and he is also in good form having recently set a new course record over the Albany Adventurethon course in Australia which included segments of rock and boulder hopping similar to the Coast to Coast mountain run.

Clark beat Kohlar at the Augusta Adventure Fest in Western Australia with the Australian losing time in the bike leg but Kohlar says he hopes to mount a challenge based on a strong performance in the 33 kilometre mountain run over Goat Pass and then attack the paddle in the Waimakairi River.

Other one day men’s contenders includes Sam Manson, Sam Goodall, Brent Edwards and David Ayre.

Two time women’s one day winner Elina Ussher just wants to ‘have a good race and enjoy the day and have some fun,’ saying if she does that the result should take care of itself.

“Everybody has the same chance standing on the start line and there are plenty of good talented girl’s racing but I know if I have a good day the chances of winning is high,” she said.

“I don’t even know some of the younger girls racing but Myriam (Guillot-Boisset) and Corrinne (Smit) both push the racing hard and will make it tough. Myriam has been an adventure racing world champ and was fifth in the Xterra Worlds and there are others too that could all make a mark on the day.”

Ussher says she expects a fast start and after the first 55 kolometre bike leg was out of the way planned to ‘run her own race,’ listening to her body to pace the efforts required to be in contention for the win.

With a new coach and a specific build-up focused on the Coast to Coast that has featured much less adventure racing Ussher says she feels very prepared to deliver a good performance. “Previously it has been a lifestyle of having to race a lot to make money but I’ve had less racing with less pressure to win prize money so I feel like I’ve trained a lot more like a professional athlete without always being on the go racing and training so I will be interested to see how Saturday goes.”

Karen Masson leads the Australian female entries and also has good form which includes winning the Adventurethon National Challenge Ultra distance event in Townsville.

Fiona Dowling, Andrea Peebles and Charlotte Breeze are all experienced well performed competitors that should also feature in the women’s one day race.

The two day Coast to Coast event can be a little harder to predict but the red hot favourite in the men’s individual race is 19 year old Hayden Wilde, another good multi-sport athlete from Whakatane. Wilde is the current Under 19 New Zealand/Australasian multisport champ and Under 19 New Zealand and World Xterra champ who is expected to do some serious damage on the mountain run over Goat Pass.

A feature of the two day event is the increased numbers of school and tandem teams while Nick Hirschfeld is again the favourite in the mountain running event.

Two students from Aranui High School are competing in the two day tandem event alongside some legends of New Zealand multi-sport, nine time Coast to Coast winner Steve Gurney, three time winner Emily Miazga and World Champion Adventure Racer Nathan Fa’avae.

Racing starts in the two day event on Friday at 7am with the One Day World Championship Longest Day event starting the following day at 6am.

ENDS

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