After just two starts at the Kathmandu Coast to Coast Longest Day, Aaron Lynch has already forced his way into the conversation at the very top of the sport. The 31-year-old water engineer is stepping up to the elite field for the first time this Saturday after back-to-back breakthrough performances.

Lynch’s rise through New Zealand multisport has been fast and largely self-driven. He made his Longest’s Day debut in 2024, finishing third in the open mens race, before backing it up in 2025 with a win in the Open Men’s Longest Day — results that earned him a place among the sport’s top-tier competitors.

This year marks a new chapter. For the first time in his racing career, Lynch has enlisted a coach, teaming up with fellow elite competitor Sam Manson.

“He knows a thing or two about multisport,” Lynch says.

“It’s a bit of an adjustment having some accountability. It also takes a bit of the guesswork out of it.”

After more than a decade competing in triathlon, Lynch admits his earlier Kathmandu Coast to Coast performances were built more on instinct than structure.

“This is the first time I’ve worked with a coach, so it’s the first time having a really structured approach to the race — the last couple of times I’ve just been winging it on my own.”

Lynch’s move into multisport was heavily influenced by family, following in the wake of his sister Deborah Lynch, the 2025 Longest Day champion.

“My sister Deb and my dad had started kayaking a bit. She’d bought her sprinter and I took it out from the beach one day. I thought, yeah, I could get into kayaking.”

From there, the hook was set.

“I just got into doing long missions and paddling and multisport just happened.”

Despite his results, Lynch remains grounded — and candid — about the challenge ahead. Being ranked second among seasoned elites came as a surprise, especially given his relative lack of experience at the sharp end of the field.

“The last time I came in not really knowing anything and then kicking around with these guys on the first bike, thinking ‘oh yeah, I kind of hang around with these fellas’ — but then we started running and they all buggered off.”

He’s acutely aware that many of his competitors bring a decade or more of multisport knowledge.

“Knowing that these guys have ten years’ experience on me — they know what can go wrong, how to deal with it. So it’s still a learning phase for me.”

As for race strategy, Lynch isn’t overcomplicating things.

“My race plan is to just go as hard as I can without blowing. It’s not really nuanced.”



Ranked second, coached for the first time, and racing elite, one thing is clear: Aaron Lynch’s learning phase is happening at the very front of the race.