With school nearly over for the year, the Mt Hutt College crew will up their training over the coming weeks in a bid to ensure they’re ready for the demands of the 2020 Kathmandu Coast to Coast.
The College team are the recipients of the Kathmandu Academy pack, which aims to support young people getting into the outdoors. As part of their prize, the trio of Alex Roderick, Jack Miers, and Adam Shears had a visit from nine-time men’s champion Steve Gurney. “It was great to get some tips from him,” said Shears.
“We got the chance to learn a few things about what to do and some, what not to-dos,” he added.
Shears, who has the honor of starting his team off on the first bike leg from Kumara Beach to Aitkins Corner as well as riding his team home on the final leg from the Waimakariri Gorge to New Brighton Beach, has already been clocking up the k’s completing a couple of rides in excess of 75kms.
“Yeah, I’m starting to get into it a bit more, I’ve had a few hard rides and will crank them up a bit more now too.”
Shears also thanks Kathmandu for the prize pack, “It’s a big help, I don’t have to think about what to wear as that’s been provided and we don’t have to worry about the entry cost, so we can just get on and train.”
Classmate Alex Roderick is looking forward to heading into Goat Pass in the coming weeks in order to get ready to complete the run leg come February 7. “I’m very excited, really looking forward to the Mountain Run and having a good time with the boys.”
“Training has been hard, but fun as well, seeing my improvement go up and up has been great.”
Alex has been running four times per week, with runs up to 45 minutes each along with one run around two hours long each week as well.
Jack Miers recently completed the first few sessions of his grade two kayak certificate and is getting to know Rakaia river well with planned runs down the Waimakariri river over the Christmas period to help prepare him for race day.
Mr Jarrod Coutts who runs the Outdoor Education department at Mt Hutt College said the boys are all showing good progression in their chosen disciplines and will be ready come race day if they keep up the hard work. “We're hoping their efforts can motivate the next batch of multi-sporters in the school and so far as a result we’ve already gathered good interest for multiple team in 2021.”

Richard Greer from TeamCP looks further into what tips and tricks Sports Physio James Sincock has to keep you on track to be on the start line of the 2020 Kathmandu Coast to Coast.

Nutrition plays a big part in getting you to the start line of the Kathmandu Coast to Coast.
TeamCP's Richard Greer deep dives with nutritionist Marewa Sutherland to ensure you've got plenty of tips, tricks and thought-provoking advice which will help aid your training program.

It may be a case of be careful what you wish for, for 2019 Kathmandu Coast to Coast men’s Champion Dougal Allan. The Wanaka pro indicated that returning for the 2020 event will likely be his last and was hoping to be challenged beyond his limits by his fellow competitors in the hope of finding out just what he’s made of.
“This may sound crazy, but I really want to be pushed. I want to have to be racing right up until the end, and have to work so hard for the win,” said Allan.
“I’d love to have to bury myself on that last ride.”
“I think, for a lot of endurance athletes, that’s the sort of thing that motivates them.”
But with both 2019 runner up Sam Manson and 3rd place getter Alex Hunt choosing to compete in the team's event this year, many had wondered where his competition might come from. He need not have worried, with three-time race winner Sam Clark, who sat out the 2019 event, heeding the call and choosing to return and take Allan on.
Before knowing that Clarke had entered Allan spoke of the high regard, he held Clark in, who has been a teammate in recent times while racing in China.
“I would have to have a really good day and take myself mentally into a dark place to beat him and that gets me excited just saying that!”
In 2017 Clark famously reeled in fellow three-time winner Braden Currie who had a near ten-minute advantage on the Waimakirir river, to go on and win the race in 11 hours two minutes and 43 seconds, nearly eight minutes ahead of Currie.
‘’It’s a massive commitment signing up to the Coast to Coast, both financially and physically, but it’s a race I want to and love to win. So, I’m coming back,’’ said Clark.
“Having Dougal there will be a great test and one I’m really looking forward to.”
Having produced one of the strongest bike rides on the grueling and mind-numbing final ride down South Eyre road in recent memory Clark has shown he has the goods to foot it with the best cyclists out there, although he felt his strengths lay back in the mountain run, ‘If you’re out of sight you’re out of mind and that can be hard mentally for competitors if they know someone’s up ahead of them, so hopefully I can get across the river and produce a bit of a lead on the others.”
Race Director Glen Currie says the return of Clark and the potential battle between the two has the makings of one of the best spectacles in the modern era of the race. “We’ve had some close races in the past, but this is shaping up as the type of race everyone has been waiting for and depending on the conditions it could potentially be the one, we see break the 11-hour mark again.”
"Sometimes the longest day can be a tricky race for a spectator given the remoteness of both the Mountain Run through Goat Pass and in the Waimikiriri Gorge, but I’d say from the Gorge Bridge, anywhere along South Eyre road and especially at New Brighton will be an outstanding place to be a spectator this year.”
Six minutes separated 2015 winner Braden Currie and Sam Clark who finished in second, while and 8-minute spread divided the pair two years later with Clark getting the best of Currie who had sat out the year earlier.
Ryan Kiesnowski has done the opposite to Hunt and Manson and returned to the men’s elite division having won the men’s two-day team event last year while Rhys John and Hamish Elliott will no doubt challenge for a podium finish. Bay of Plenty Dairy Farmer Bobby Dean also returns in 2020 having finished 7th in 2019.
Men’s Elite seeding 2020
#1 Dougal Allan
#2 Sam Clark
#3 Ryan Kiesanowski
#4 Hamish Elliott
#5 Rhy John
#6 Bobby Dean
#7 Olivier Thompson
#8 Scott McDonald
#9 Daniel Barry
#10 Paul Gow

With titles to defend, both the 2019 men’s and women’s Kathmandu Coast to Coast Champions will return for the 38th edition of the 243-kilometre adventure race from the South Island’s West coast to the East.
Wanaka’s Dougal Allan will wear the number one bib for the first time, while Simone Maier will go from being the chaser to the chased, after heading off four-time champion Elina Ussher, to win her maiden title in 12 hours 56 minutes and 36 seconds.
‘I knew I was coming back again even before I stood on the start line in 2019,’ said Allan.
The 34-year-old says defending his title is his goal, although this year’s build up does feel a little strange after winning the title last race was more an outcome of a great race, rather than his major focus.
‘I hadn’t raced the Coast to Coast for six years and I did wonder, what might happen if I go back and say come second, what would happen if I executed the race to the best of my ability and still don’t win it?’
‘But when my feet hit the sand on New Brighton beach I kind of came out of this zone, where I realised what I was about to achieve, it was a crazy feeling.’
‘So, it definitely feels a little different this time around.’
Maier, who heads the elite women’s seeding, will be extremely tough to beat, after standing on top of the podium for the first time in 2019, the Kiwi German went on to create history by winning the GodZone Adventure Race as part of the first ever gender balanced team in April this year.
‘I had a pretty amazing year; it’s taken a while, but it has been so good to get some reward for all that hard work I’ve put in over the years.’
The 39-year-old has also been racing in China with Allan, three-time men’s champion Sam Clark and last year’s second place getter Sam Manson. ‘That was so epic. I learnt a lot from them all, even little things like around the transitions and I think that will be good for me in the future.’
Maier also believes she can go even faster than in 2019. ‘It’ll depend on the conditions, like the flow in the river, but I have started working a lot more on my paddling and I hope to have a significant improvement in my paddle and if that happens it could be amazing. But if I keep getting better with my paddling the result will show.’
Staying upright on her bike is also a goal for the 2020 event, after coming off between the mountain run and kayak leg, which she believes cost her a couple of minutes. ‘I just need to concentrate a little more and there are a few minutes I could improve right there.’

In the early morning of Saturday 12th February 2011, Wellington’s Arthur Tompkins stood on the banks of the Waimakariri River at Mt White Bridge, and watched his son paddle his kayak off into the bright sunrise. He thought to himself, as so many Kathmandu Coast to Coast support crew before and since, I wonder what’s down that river? And, maybe I could do this …
Fast forward to now, and with 7 Coast to Coasts behind him, Arthur is mentoring two student teams from Aotea College in Porirua who will again compete in the 2020 event. His involvement with Aotea College began in mid-2018, when he approached a university friend, Kate Gainsford, now Aotea’s principal, with the suggestion that he spearhead an effort to get a student team (and, as it turned out, a staff team also) to the Coast to Coast start line in February 2019.
Having found their team members and pulled together a team video, including a short support appearance from Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern, the Aotea College 2019 student teams were successful in gaining the Kathmandu Academy support package. Despite their runner taking a couple of serious falls coming down from Goat Pass during the 2019 event and limping the last few kilometres to the finish at Klondyke Corner their team came out winners in the Boys’ Student category.
Building on the momentum from that, Aotea College will, in 2020, have two student teams – one girl’s and one boy’s – lining up on Kumara beach at 7:00am on Friday 7th February 2020. With generous sponsorship from, amongst others, Rutherford & Bond Toyota and Yakima Roof Racks, the team’s kayakers headed to the Rangitikei River at Mangaweka last weekend for their first on-river training day. The students are looking forward to their Grade Two kayak assessments at the same location shortly, and then the whole group will be heading south in mid-December (thanks Interislander for your help!) for the Rasdex Classic River Race on Saturday 14th December. Whilst the kayakers are paddling the Gorge, that same day the runners will be heading over Goat Pass, and the cyclists will be reconnoitring the cycle stages.
In addition to the six students competing in the 2020 event, two of the successful 2019 Aotea College team are returning in 2020, as members of two separate Two-Day two-person teams. So, Aotea College in Porirua will have, in February 2020, a large and enthusiastic contingent of athletes and support crew at the 2020 Kathmandu Coast to Coast.
By Arthur Tompkins

Grab a sneak peak at the 243 km course from Kumara on the West Coast to New Brighton on the East

Hear from 2019 men's Champion Dougal Allan and gain some further insight into what to expect from the start of the Kathmandu Coast to Coast with Richard Greer and TeamCP.

Dave Maitland has been competing in the Kathmandu Coast to Coast for more than a quarter of a century.
Next years event will in fact be his 26th .
Of course, there’s the obvious question that Maitland gets whenever he discloses this to people.
Why does he keep doing it? The answer is pretty simple.
“Because I enjoy it. That’s why.”
Maitland said for him, the event offers up something new every time he does it.
“I know that there’s people who do the event only once because it’s something on their bucket list and they want to tick it off and there’s nothing wrong with that. “For me though the event is strongly aligns with what I enjoy in life. I like a challenge and I love being outdoors so I do it because I enjoy it.”
Maitland will be 60 when he competes in 2020 and after overcoming some health issues, he’s looking forward to tackling it again. “I think the build up and the preparation is different every time that I compete and I think that keeps it interesting as well.
“Every year you’re in a different stage of life with different commitments and responsibilities, so some years have been tougher than others. I’m very lucky that I have such a supportive family.
“The first few years I competed I was married but had no children and then over other years we had young kids and more commitments but I’d train when the kids were in bed. It teaches you a lot about real commitment and having that honesty and accountability in your life - if you get that wrong it bites.
“You’ve got to be ready on the day. When the gun goes the bullshit stops.”
Maitland said while the course has been the same over the years, there’s always something different and the event has never got mundane. “I like how it’s a challenge but it’s certainly achievable and it’s achievable for anyone. You look around and you see things that you haven’t noticed before and the landscape changes too.
“I’ve never been bored with it. I don’t do boring and I don’t procrastinate.”
Maitland said over the years he has developed a deeper appreciation for the event rules and preparation.
He said when he first started competing, he was one of those people who challenged why things had to be done a certain way for health and safety – thinking it was all a bit unnecessary but that view has changed.
“I’ve witnessed when things have gone wrong and how much worse they could have been if they didn’t have the processes and policies in place that they do so I have a lot of respect for the way the event is run.”
For Maitland he said his next event will be about proving to himself that despite being 60 and having had some health battles he still has what it takes.
Having lived many years in Hokitika before venturing on to Kaikoura and then Christchurch. Maitland believes he has had some of the best training backdrops in the country to help him prepare for the event over the years. He never tires of the training and believes training for the event actually makes him better in other aspects of his life – it gives him “a fizz.”
“I just love the event and what it represents. Being in the outdoors, it’s motivational and most importantly it’s achievable.”