Hawke’s Bay’s Campbell Gray completes gruelling Coast to Coast

Hawke’s Bay triathlete Campbell Gray has realised a dream by not only completing possibly one of the world’s toughest multi-sports events but also finishing in third place and all but winning his class.

But, waiting to board an inter-island ferry at Picton the second day after finishing the two-day Coast-to- Coast from Kumara Beach on the West Coast of the South Island to New Brighton on the east, he conceded a tinge of disappointment over not being quite quick enough.

Trailing runner-up and Men’s Open and Elite Youth rival Sam King of Rolleston by 15 minutes and 37 seconds at the end of the first day of running and cycling on Friday, he made up all but 58 seconds on a Saturday of running, cycling and kayaking, before finishing the gut-buster in 11h 44m 17s.

The two-day event was won by Marlborough Boys’ College student Finn McKenzie, also competing in the 15-18 years class but finishing first overall in 11h 39m 51s, while King clocked in at 11h 43m 19s.

Gray, who had to undergo emergency surgery after a copping a hockey ball in the head at a practice in July 2022 and having already missed a Coast to Coast start because of the Covid crisis, said he couldn’t fault the “pearler” conditions of the first day, apart from being down on time for his run 3h 42m run - 14 minutes slower than King.

But there’s always next year and the next for Gray, a former Taradale High School pupil and now a student at Waikato University.

He’s already thinking of being out running again by the end of the week and preparing for such events as the Hawke’s Bay’s Triple Peaks in April and the Coast to Coast two-day event again next year, and one day its famed Longest Day category, the men’s category being won by 29-year-old Hamish Elliott, of Wānaka, in 10h 48m 53s and the women’s for a fourth year in a row by Simone Maier, also of Wānaka, in 12h 31m 8s.

“One day,” said Gray. “But I don’t think it will be next year.”