Multi-sporter back in saddle

The mountain run is one of the toughest stages in the two-day team event during the Speights Coast to Coast. Picture / Getty Images

Despite a bad crash during last year’s Coast to Coast, 50-year-old is fighting fit for 2015

Multi-sporter Steve Garrett is gearing up for another tilt at the Coast to Coast this weekend after a road accident on the final bike leg knocked him out of last year's event.

The 50-year-old dairy farmer from the Tasman District, near Nelson, can only recall the first 5km of the ride, before waking up in an ambulance with a broken collar bone, two broken ribs, a dislocated finger and eight stitches in his ear.

"I don't remember the crash but an eye witness following in a car said the person I was riding with went to pass a slower cyclist at the same time they swerved in front of me - I must have clipped a wheel and the rest is history," Garrett said.

His main concern during his recovery was the risk of adding unwanted bulk to a slimmed-down frame he had worked hard to achieve over five years before last year's Coast to Coast.

"I lost 30kg five years ago over a 12-month period through calorie restriction and exercise," he said.

"I started walking then slowly adding running until I was able to run for 30 minutes nonstop. Then I focused on doing a half-marathon, then a full marathon, then it was 'what's next?'."

Next was the Heaphy Five-0, an 80km trail run on the Heaphy Track, located just 25km from his Golden Bay home. "Then I felt I needed more balance in my exercise so I got into road cycling, doing events like the Source to Sea and Grape Ride and the Lake Taupo Challenge. To keep motivated with my exercise I like to have a goal ahead of me, so again, it was 'what's next?'."

That's when the Coast to Coast first came into Garrett's view.

With no kayaking experience he enrolled in a four-day white water course to get started and then completed additional courses with Sam Milne from Canterbury Kayaking and some guided trips through the Waimakariri Gorge.

"Last year, I weighed 98kg and did the individual two-day event. I had a fall in the run that added an hour to my time, and during the kayak I had all these faster kayaks passing me so I was busy on the river planning 2015 to come back stronger and faster."

Despite his worries over potential weight gain, Garrett, with the aid of leading nutritionist Ben Warren, managed to emerge lighter at the end of his nine-week convalescence.

"With Ben's BePure programme of eating to my body type I have dropped from 22 per cent body fat last year to 15 per cent this year and gained muscle strength that will be beneficial in an event like the Coast to Coast."

He is now single-minded in his focus, just four days out from the event.

"I'm really looking forward to making it to New Brighton this year. All going well, 2016 will see me take on the longest day."