Its the silly little mistakes that cost you the most. This is the biggest thing I learnt after my first year racing at the Speight's Coast to Coast as a 2 day individual. After a great build up I was feeling pretty confident coming in to the race knowing I was capable of achieving a pretty good result.
As always the nerves on Kumara beach were high as I stood around with the other competitors waiting for the horn to blast which would signal the start of our journey across the South Island to Sumner beach. My 3km run off the beach went pretty good placing me in the top 20 and in a good position to be in the front bunch on the bike with many of the other top 2 day individuals. Unfortunately even though this bunch was full of the top guys in the event we didnt work together well and ended up getting caught by a large bunch in the last 10km of the 55km ride. This bunch also happened to have my dad in it much to his delight as he casually rode past me to take a turn on the front of the bunch. Heading in to the run transition I knew I had alot of work to do on the run to ensure I didnt lose too much time to the top runners.
Heading up the valley I pushed too hard trying to pull away from my dad who was always within 500m of me until near the top of the valley. Once I was past Goats pass hut and started the run down the valley to the finish I knew I had blown. I was reduced to a walk as my legs cramped up and I tried to get food and fluids in to me. Pushing too hard from the start and a lack of electrolytes and mix of food had cost me and my legs never recovered until the finish at klondyke corner. I finished the first day in 25th place in open men, disappointed at my silly mistakes which had cost me alot of time during the run. I knew the next day would go alot better for me though since my cycling and kayaking is alot stronger than my running.
As soon as I put my leg over my bike the next morning I knew I was going to have a good one. I dropped everyone in my start group pretty quickly and pushed myself through to the kayak transition with noone in sight. A fast transition thanks to my support crew and I was off racing down the river and pulling back the time I had lost the previous day. With the race being my 18th trip down the waimak for the season, I knew every line on the river and reached the top of the gorge faster than the shocked officials were expecting, with the check points and safety crews still setting up on the river. It was exciting to be leading the paddle all the way from Mt White bridge to just before Woodstock. Unfortunately at this stage I ran out of drink and food which meant the last section of the river took me around about 15-20 minutes longer than it normally would and I was eventually passed by a few team paddlers and Mitch Munro (2nd Open men). I arrived into Gorge bridge as the 6th paddler and the 2nd individual, with my actual paddle time ending up being the 9th fastest on the day.
Jumping on to the bike was where it became apparent that being one of the first off the river becomes a disadvantage as I rode all of the way into Christchurch with only Brendon Ross (1st Veteran men) for support. The ride ended up being pretty hard for both us with a head wind for most of the ride and no one else to help share the work with. The support for both of us was amazing though with lots of people lining the streets to encourage us on to the finish. Crossing the finish line at Sumner was one of the best moments of my racing career yet as I knew I had tried my best and the day had pretty much gone to plan. It also helped that I beat my dad overall by 5 minutes. In the end I was 16th Open men and 21st Overall. Not exactly the result I was hoping for or knew I was capable of but all of my splits were fairly positive apart from the run. Next year I will be back with more experience and will hopefully redeem myself from the silly mistakes I made this year. Thanks to my Parents for paying my entry fee, my support crew for getting through the race and everyone else who I trained with and supported me through the weekend.
As always the nerves on Kumara beach were high as I stood around with the other competitors waiting for the horn to blast which would signal the start of our journey across the South Island to Sumner beach. My 3km run off the beach went pretty good placing me in the top 20 and in a good position to be in the front bunch on the bike with many of the other top 2 day individuals. Unfortunately even though this bunch was full of the top guys in the event we didnt work together well and ended up getting caught by a large bunch in the last 10km of the 55km ride. This bunch also happened to have my dad in it much to his delight as he casually rode past me to take a turn on the front of the bunch. Heading in to the run transition I knew I had alot of work to do on the run to ensure I didnt lose too much time to the top runners.
Heading up the valley I pushed too hard trying to pull away from my dad who was always within 500m of me until near the top of the valley. Once I was past Goats pass hut and started the run down the valley to the finish I knew I had blown. I was reduced to a walk as my legs cramped up and I tried to get food and fluids in to me. Pushing too hard from the start and a lack of electrolytes and mix of food had cost me and my legs never recovered until the finish at klondyke corner. I finished the first day in 25th place in open men, disappointed at my silly mistakes which had cost me alot of time during the run. I knew the next day would go alot better for me though since my cycling and kayaking is alot stronger than my running.
As soon as I put my leg over my bike the next morning I knew I was going to have a good one. I dropped everyone in my start group pretty quickly and pushed myself through to the kayak transition with noone in sight. A fast transition thanks to my support crew and I was off racing down the river and pulling back the time I had lost the previous day. With the race being my 18th trip down the waimak for the season, I knew every line on the river and reached the top of the gorge faster than the shocked officials were expecting, with the check points and safety crews still setting up on the river. It was exciting to be leading the paddle all the way from Mt White bridge to just before Woodstock. Unfortunately at this stage I ran out of drink and food which meant the last section of the river took me around about 15-20 minutes longer than it normally would and I was eventually passed by a few team paddlers and Mitch Munro (2nd Open men). I arrived into Gorge bridge as the 6th paddler and the 2nd individual, with my actual paddle time ending up being the 9th fastest on the day.
Nice blog J! - Kent
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