James Coubrough takes Coromandel's Moehau Man crown

MATT COUBROUGH

Home straight: James Coubrough put in the fastest time in the run section of the Moehau Man.

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Despite a roller-coaster kayak leg that less experienced paddlers pulled out of, James Coubrough won the Moehau Man multisport race in the Coromandel last weekend.

With none of the kind of injuries that have plagued him in the past, this latest in a string of multisport triumphs shows why the Lower Hutt builder is considered a strong contender in his first crack at the One Day World Championship in next month's Speight's Coast to Coast.  He won the two-day Coast to Coast last year.

High winds greeted starters in the 14km kayak leg on the Firth of Thames last Saturday, and Coubrough says organisers advised competitors that if they weren't feeling confident about the swells and choppy conditions to opt instead for a run/cycle duathlon.

Despite the warning, more than a few water rescues were needed.

''Other top guys had those sit-on surf skis so paddling in all that chop wasn't so bad for them.  If they fell out it was relatively easy to get back on.''

Using a river kayak meant he lost time in the Le Mans style sprint start as he put on a spray skirt, and if he'd toppled in the water it was no easy matter to eskimo roll.

But his background is white water paddling and Coubrough was first off the water at Waitete Bay in a fast 1hr 10min 48secs. However, he was being pushed hard by Aucklanders  Andrew Mowlem (20 seconds back) and Sam Goodall (trailing by less than two minutes).

While Mowlem would fall away in the following 22k mountain bike section to Waikawau Bay, Goodall matched Coubrough to start the following 18k bush run just over two minutes adrift in second place.

Once running, however, no one was going to match Coubrough. The New Zealand mountain running representative was in his element, striding away to record the fastest time of 53min 32secs.

Starting the final 18k mountain bike ride over Tokatea Hill back to Coromandel, Coubrough had 13 minutes in hand, which allowed him the luxury of cruising this final section to win as he liked in 3hrs 42min 15secs.

The Hutt multisporter is well aware that the Coast to Coast is another seven hours of effort on top of a Moehau event, but was pleased to finish with the feeling there was plenty left in the tank.

Other than ''tight muscles everywhere'', his body seems to be holding together as he peaks for the 30th anniversary race across the South Island on February 10.

Coubrough says it was a long way to travel for the Coromandel race, but one of his aims was to fine tune some equipment issues and he now knows what to do to set up a better drinking system on his kayak, and the ideal rations to eat on the go.

As well as his regular training on the hills of the Hutt Valley and Wellington Harbour water, he aims to tackle the 52km Rangitikei kayak race this weekend and is also lining up the 150km Yarrow cycle race in Taranaki as a ''longer cycle blowout'' before the One Day challenge.

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- Hutt News