By Jared Smith Whanganui's Bruce Baldwin will start off on his sixth Coast to Coast race in the early hours of this morning determined to cross the finishing line rather than being left stranded by the banks of the Waimakariri River.
Baldwin returned to the Coast to Coast after a 16-yearabsence in 2014, but was unable to complete the one-day 243km run, cycle and kayak from Kumara to Christchurch when he reached the kayaking leg at the river just a few minutes after the official cut-off time to continue.
This year, Baldwin is entering the two-day individual race in the classic men's section, which will see him on the first cycle leg and then run up Goat Pass today, before camping overnight and entering the kayaking leg tomorrow morning, followed by the cycle into Christchurch and jog to the finish line.
Baldwin's mates Tom Dinwiddie and Dave Barton will be the support crew again. "It's unfinished business. We wiped the tears away last time," Dinwiddie said. "He's fitter this time. Stronger." The pair have pledged they will do whatever it takes to help him make it through in 2016. "He says he's had a problem with chafing - he's got this chafe cream for us to put on him." It is a smaller Whanganui contingent this year with Aaron Cox also entering the two-day individual race in the veterans section. In late January, Cox and his Napier mate Phil Dooney won the 31-45 age group class in the 160km Red Bull Defiance multisport event in Wanaka, while being 13th overall and 8th for the male teams. Cox had been focused on recovery since then to be ready for the Coast to Coast.
Baldwin's son-in-law Ashley Christie is doing the one-day mountain run section, with his father Bryan Christie acting as the support crew. In recent years, organisers of the Coast to Coast have expanded the categories from the tradition one-day individual and two-day individual and 2-person teams grades, in order to attract more numbers. There are now section races like the mountain run, as well as school and corporate team races.
