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The 2007 Coast to Coast
27 March 2007
With five Royal Marines and one Royal New Zealand Navy competitor entering this year’s Coast to Coast, Major Matt Crow and I set our goal to be the “first service to Sumner” – a goal we were able to realise after a long day in tough conditions.
These challenging conditions saw a head wind right from the start on Kumara Beach through to the finish on Sumner. The pace was faster than expected from the start, seeing the field split on the first bike leg.
MAJ Crow’s legs kicked in on the challenging 33km mountain run where he overtook the Navy competitor, CPOCH Darryn Anderson, putting us at the front for the non-official, unspoken inter-service competition.
Royal Marines Coast to Coast squad member Major Simon Ablett said after the race that, “The run in itself would have been one of the hardest things I've ever done”.
For me, the end of the run was the best part – after four hours smashing through rivers and bush, seeing my family at Klondyke corner was a great feeling. I was over the Alps, but I still had over half the race to go…
Hills, head winds (still) and tired legs verging on cramping, I found the 15km bike ride to the start of the kayak the hardest part of the race, both mentally and physically.
Water levels were low on the Waimak, resulting in damaged boats and slower than expected kayak times – some taking nearly eight hours to complete the paddle leg! My kayak was extensively damaged and lucky to escape the skip bin at the end of my paddle, having had run-ins with large rocks along the shallow 67km of river.
The relief at Sumner was all consuming, after a lonely 70km bike ride into the legendary Canterbury nor-wester. Disappointingly, I only managed half the can of Speights that Rob Judkins thrust into my hand on the finish line. After months of training and 14 hours’ racing, it was hard to believe it was over.
I managed 32nd place in the Men’s World Championship (one-day) event. MAJ Crow came in a very respectable 67th place, ahead of Major Dave Ethell, who was the first Marine over the line in 73rd place, with the RNZ Navy rep in 95th.
Four out of the five Marines finished the race and all have a new respect for the level of competition and difficulty of New Zealand multi-sport events. Hopefully we will see the Marines back next year for more inter-service rivalry. Thanks to the Multi-Sports Club for their continued support of events such as the Coast to Coast.
Anyone interested in competing in multi-sport or adventure racing should contact the Linton or Burnham Multi-Sports Clubs for upcoming events and training activities.
This page was last reviewed on 02 April 2007 and is current.
