Ussher tops sodden Coast race

BY PETER GIBBS

In A day of dramatic weather events, Nelson athlete Elina Ussher broke a four-year drought and won her first Speight's Coast to Coast race in convincing style on Saturday.

The victory was sweet for Ussher, filling her bag of major titles with the only one to elude her so far.

The race start could not have been more daunting for the more than 200 competitors in the one-day event – the World Multisport Championship.

Despite perfect weather on Friday for day one of the two-day race, forecasts were so dire that race director Robyn Judkins took the unprecedented step of cancelling both the 33km mountain run and the 67km paddle down the Waimakariri River and altering the final bike section, replacing them with a 32km road run across Arthur's Pass, a mammoth 135km bike ride into Hagley Park in Christchurch, a 20km paddle to North Brighton and a final 8km bike ride before the final sprint on to the beach at Sumner.

In torrential rain and pitch dark, conditions were too treacherous even for the normal beach start at Kumara and one-day competitors lined up on the road above the beach, setting off for the opening 3km run to the start of the opening 55km bike section.

Miraculously, there were no mishaps in the first hour, with large bunches surviving the perilous conditions, most praising their fellow racers for the care and restraint they exercised to aid mutual survival.

Day had dawned by the transition to the run section at Aickens, but horizontal rain continued to drive across the course and the mountains seemed to shed water as new torrents erupted and creeks and rivers swelled to capacity.

Runners followed the regular course across sodden paddocks for 3km to the Deception footbridge, where the course normally turns left to the mountain run.

Instead, competitors moved on to the road, given a sodden media crew their first real look at how the race was unfolding.

First on to the road was early bike leader Kenny De Sousa of Brazil, followed by Karl Moore from Hamilton and Nelson's Trevor Voyce, last year's second place-getter.

Carl Bevins of Auckland and former national junior duathlon champion and Royal Marine Simon Kristiansen were next, leading two-time winner Gordon Walker of Auckland and Dougal Allan of Wanaka.

The most dramatic part of the run was during the climb up Arthur's Pass, where huge rock slides had started to form and tumbled down toward the road as runners ground their way up the steep slope.

Kristiansen was setting a blistering pace, bouncing up the road and looking fresh. At Candy's Bridge, just above the viaduct, he had a lead of 90 seconds over Voyce, who was starting to suffer from leg cramps, and Walker and Allan, who were closing in.

By Arthur's Pass village, Kristiansen led by 3min 45sec from Walker and Allan, still together, with Voyce next at 5.45.

Kristiansen's lead had been reduced to two minutes by the transition 10km on at Klondyke Corner and he raced through, intent on holding his position.

Walker could not have been more relaxed, taking time out for a cuppa and a scone, chatting to his crew as Allan set off.

Ussher was the first woman in, looking fresh and controlled as she sped away on her pink bike, two and a half minutes ahead of Aucklander Louise Mark.

At eleven minutes after Ussher, Sophie Hart made her appearance, followed closely by Jodie Fa'avae and giving Nelson athletes three of the top four race positions.

It was another four minutes passed before reigning champion and three-time winner Emily Miazga of Westport appeared.

Contact was lost with the women as the race leaders swept on to Christchurch, but at Sheffield, about halfway through the bike, Walker and Allan were working like dynamos, keying off each other to lead by nearly 15 minutes, with Kristainsen paying for his early effort slowly slipping back in the field. Voyce continued to battle with cramps, but was holding in around sixth spot.

As the leaders swept into Hagley Park, speculation was rife. Who would be the strongest flat water paddler in the shallow, weed-strewn Avon River?

At the halfway point they were locked together, but as they approached the estuary Walker drew away, first by 20 seconds, then 40, and finally more than a minute as they hit shore and went for their bikes.

By the finish on Sumner Beach, Walker had clearly kept his title, winning for the third time by nearly five minutes from Allan. Voyce persevered, picking up sixth place, 46 minutes behind the winner.

"I'm absolutely stoked with the result," he said.

"It wasn't my day today. After cramping on the viaduct, and losing places on the bike course I pulled back places on the kayak. At first I was angry with the kayak change, but it was a good decision."

That seemed the consensus among the athletes, with most philosophical but disappointed not to tackle the mountain and river that gives the race its back-country flavour.

Nearly half an hour behind Voyce, an elated Ussher crossed the finish line to a rapturous welcome from the crowd. She said she was disappointed not to take on the Waimakariri River.

"At first I thought, `How can I find the motivation to do this race?'."

Her husband Richard encouraged her to accept the change and bring a positive attitude to the race and of all the women Ussher seemed to be the one holding nothing back, racing strongly and confidently throughout the entire eleven hours of her race.

As with many off-road runners, she found the hard road surface hard on her legs and suffered a little as water supplies ran out towards the end of both the bike and final kayaks sections.

The next two women held their positions, Mark finishing 33 minutes behind Ussher. Fourteen minutes later Hart crossed the line, falling into her mother's arms completely exhausted.

Miazga had to be content with fourth, ahead of Rachel Cashin of Taumaranui, with Fa'avae easily achieving top-ten status, finishing in sixth place to a warm welcome from family, including her husband Nathan Fa'avae.

Like Ussher, Fa'avae took the advice of her husband to accept the changes without fretting.

"He told me to control the things I could," she said.

Nelson women continued their successful day when Rachel Voyce took the tenth spot.

"It was shocking on the beach and scary on the bike, but I had a very good bunch," she said. "I had a shocking run, walking up the hills and I felt bad at Klondyke. I hated the first half of the ride, but by Springfield I warmed up, spun my legs and had a good bunch to the finish."

Voyce managed to swap to a faster flat water kayak, passing four other women on the kayak then teaming up with a male athlete for the final bike ride to the finish.

Nelson results: Trevor Voyce 10:30.16 6, Daniel Busch 10:54.58 18, Elina Ussher 10:59.54 19 (1st woman), Matt Ellery 11:30.22 27, Sophie Hart 11:47.28 35 (3rd woman), Jodie Fa'Avae 12:03.15 48 (6th woman), Milan Talley 12:11.59 52, John Harris 12:22.59 55 (9th 40-49), Grant Williams 12:50.26 78 (3rd 50-59), Rachel Voyce 12:55.00 82 (10th woman), Freya Sonneland 13:19.44 107 (15th woman), Julia Cree 14:13.37 152 (3rd 40-49)

- © Fairfax NZ News