Multisports: Ussher notches fourth win

Richard Ussher celebrates victory in the Speight's Coast to Coast at Sumner Beach. Photo / Getty Images

Richard Ussher has again exerted his dominance in the Speight's Coast to Coast, winning the event for a fourth time at Sumner Beach yesterday.

The 34-year-old returned to a course where he last competed and won in 2008 before concentrating on the Ironman discipline.

Ussher dominated each leg, steadily extending his lead. He demonstrated a composed demeanour throughout; no energy was exerted that was not channelled towards regaining his title, with defending champion Gordon Walker absent.

His cycling was smooth in the lead bunch that set a course record of 1h 38m on that leg. Fourth-placed Carl Bevins was credited with the record, being first on with his running shoes.

Ussher backed up with a nimble run through Goat Pass - he passed Bevins at the second river crossing - and charged on to Klondyke Corner. He complemented the run through the rocks and boulders with more strong pedal work.

Ussher benefited from a strong tailwind, estimated at 25 knots kayaking on the Waimakariri River, leaving his four key chasers - Dougal Allan, Sam Clark, Bevins and Glen Currie - in his wake and the title secure.

Ussher finished in the second fastest time set on the course - 10h 41m 12s - 6m 35s behind Keith Murray's 1994 record. However, he estimates the course has had eight kilometres of running added since.

"Times are conditions-dependent. To have a proper crack at Keith's record you'd need everything right but the tailwind [cycling the final leg] probably compensated for the [tail] wind on the water. I would have been faster but needed to brace myself at times to wait for the gusts to die.

"Having said that, Keith's record is phenomenal and will probably be safe forever."

In contrast, second-place getter Allan found the kayak leg to his advantage until he had a nutrition malfunction.

"The tailwind was good on the boat but a headwind would have been good on the ride to try to haul Richard back. I had trouble in the kayak with my food system. I set it up wrong and it fell apart but I got by with what I had; it was more of a distraction than anything. You're hard pressed for a perfect race."

Sophie Hart earned victory in the women's race in 12h 10m 31s, just 1m 5s outside the record set by Andrea Murray in 1997. Elina Ussher, wife of Richard, finished second several minutes back after being passed on the kayak.

It was Hart's third Coast to Coast but only her second appearance in the one-dayer.

"For me the run was always going to be iffy. I wanted to run within myself up to Goat Pass and tried to open it up downhill. I needed some energy reserved for the kayak because I knew it would be a long paddle. The last cycle is a blur."

Hart hauled Ussher back on the kayak. Had Ussher defended her title, it would have been the first husband/wife combination to win in the same year.

"I knew Elina was five minutes in front of me off the run," Hart says. "I was three minutes down getting onto the river, When I saw her going into the gorge, I tried to gain time on the paddle because knew if she was within cooee on the bike, she'd hunt me down. I passed her after about the first hour of the kayak."

Back in the men's event, Richard Ussher says the run was slower than he'd hoped.

"I wasn't that co-ordinated but paced myself well, even if I fell over a bit. One bonus of running conservatively was I had better legs for the last ride. I didn't do a huge amount of training in the mountains; and nothing as rough as that. That run is one of a kind and I took a couple of 'swims' on the way that slowed me."

Ussher was calm even before the start at Kumara Beach. In the distance, dunny doors were slamming in the dark - no doubt a result of last minute nerves - while Ussher conducted a series of laidback interviews on how he was feeling ahead of his return.

He also put his measured tolerance into action on the course. At Goat Pass one of the media troupe confronted him with a camera stuck on a baton and asked if he would hold it running along a walkbridge. Ussher's measured response was, "No, not really" as he kept churning out valuable metres.

The efficiency didn't stop at Klondyke Corner.

His team's attention to detail saw his gleaming bike presented for use, a banana stuffed in his mouth and a quick change of footwear. He never missed a beat.

Others behind him at the same point did. Sam Clark - an up-and-comer at just 20, who has won a past individual two-day title - didn't have quite the same smooth transition. He had a tiff with his Mum as he struggled to get the nutrition into his cycling vest.

Clark eventually slipped from second to fifth in the end.