Amazing adventure for C2Cers

A109 Light Utility Helicopter flight with mayor Gisborne City from the air in November 2023.

RUNNER for the winning open three-man team. Kayaker and cyclist for the second open mixed two-person team. Eighth across the island in the open mixed tandem team ... it was mission accomplished for Gisborne’s four athletes in the two-day Coast to Coast multisport race.

For Kimberly Cranston and Kim Hedley, a little sporting history was forged as they became the first competitors from Gisborne to take on the tandem teams division.

They finished midfield in an event where pairs of competitors cover the whole course together.

It was “a challenging and amazing adventure through the alps”, they said after the equivalent of racing the C2C solo.

“We were pleased with how we placed, considering our goal was simply to get to the finish.”

In the teams race, George Williams backed up a great performance as a solo last year by laying down the fifth-fastest run through the mountain stage in the entire teams field of 100-plus runners.

His three-hour-27-minute run was third-fastest of all three-person teams and second-fastest in the open men’s division, which he won with Tauranga teammates cyclist James McTavish and team sponsor Tim Taylor in the kayak.

Team Ruahine won the open men’s division in 11:34, with a margin of nearly half an hour to the next team. They were first of 18 men’s teams and second of the full 53 in the three-person field.

McTavish was the fastest open rider and third overall, while Taylor was fastest on the water in the men’s teams and second overall.

Williams said the run was great, not too hot until towards the end when the cloud lifted and the temperature rose over 30 degrees.

“I just pushed hard and ended up with a good result. My teammates both had great legs on the river and bike.”

Amy Spence and teammate Graham Anderson, racing as Mythical Duo, were second in the open mixed divison, second of 21 mixed teams in the two-person teams field and 18th of the full field of 51 two-person teams. Their race time was 14:48. Spence followed her 2:06 day 1 cycle with an excellent 4:54 paddle down the Waimakariri kayak leg.

“The Kims” were eighth open mixed tandem pair, 11th of 20 mixed teams and 31st of the full 56 tandem teams. Their race time from the west coast to the east was 17:18.

On day 1 they biked to the mountains in 2:08. Then they ran through Goat Pass and over the divide to Klondyke in 6:25.

Day 2 was a 32-minute ride to the river, then 5:12 in a tandem kayak down the 67km of Waimakariri rapids and braids to Gorge Bridge. On the way they made up several places before their final 2:40 cycle to Christchurch and the New Brighton beach finish.

Kim Hedley said it was a great event and experience, but they had no plans at this stage to do it again.

“It was great but it does take a lot of time and organisation.”

Their next races will be back on home turf: the Waimata Traverse and Motu Challenge.