COAST TO COAST – by Christine Sabin

I am sure many of you will have heard of the iconic race Coast to Coast, racing from
the West Coast of the South Island to the East Coast, by foot, bike, and kayak, but
have many of you thought of actually doing it ?? This years Coast to Coast was an
event that will be remembered by many for a long time, and for myself will be a
memory I will treasure forever.

For those of you who don’t know me I am not some super athlete, and don’t have any
special ability in any specific sport. I am not exactly 21 anymore either. I first joined
the Waitakere Tri Club about 4-5 years ago, and turned up to do my first ride on an
old Mountain bike. I had never biked, run, swum, or kayaked before, so it was all a
big learning curve for me. It didn’t take long before I was hooked, starting first on a
Tri a tri, which in turn lead to Sprint Tri, Olympic Tri, Half Ironman, Ironman, Coast
to Coast two years ago, and again this year. I have also become hooked on events,
having completed many over the past 2-3 years, to name a few: K2, Round Taupo
Bike, Swim from Rangitoto to St Heliers, 5k acoss Taupo Swim, The Goat, Motu
Challenge, Kauri Run, Tois Challenge, Cona Colville Mtn bike, Monty’s
Revenge….The list goes on, as well as many interesting kayak trips down the Mohaka
River, Rangitikei River, and the great Waimakariri Gorge. What better way to see all
the wonderful scenery in New Zealand.

I was very green when I did my first C2C and it kind of went by in a blur, so I have
always thought I would like to do it again, improve my times, and enjoy it more. 2010
achieved all of this, and more. I guess I should have been aware that plans for the race
could change, when we got an email 3 days before the race. The weather report said
Heavy Rain warning, and Heavy Wind warning, for everyone to be prepared to get
wet. Day Ones to be prepared to do the road run, and to be prepared for wind and rain
on the kayak. Day ones I term super athletes, they do the whole race in one day, and
everyone finishes in Sumner together on the 2nd day.

I did a lot more training on the course this time, going down twice in January. I ran
over the alps 4 times, kayaked the gorge twice, and did smaller training sessions of
biking, running and kayaking on pieces of the course. For those of you who have
never been to Arthurs Pass, the area is one of the most grandiose and stunning places
in the world.

I will break it down what each section involves, and you will see it is achievable by
anyone.

Everyone stays the night before the race at Kumara Racecourse on the West Coast,
you get up at 5am, and bike several Ks down the road to rack your bike, then walk a
further 3k down to the beach. Your crew leaves at the same time, to travel to the bike
transition.
Race starts 7am on Kumara beach, with a 3k sprint to your bikes.
Then it is a 55k bike on rolling hills to Aitkins, most of the road is closed for this
bike, and you are allowed to draft. Your support crew are waiting for you at Aitkins.
Oh I forgot to mention, you need a support crew to carry your gear for each transition,
they are VERY important, as a good crew can make your race much more enjoyable.
The race is sponsored by Speight’s though, and your crew will have been given a mug
with which to drink unlimited and free Speights throughout the race.

Ride to Aitkins takes about 2 hours, no fancy bike racks like a triathlon, the transition
is in the middle of a huge paddock, with people running around madly looking for
their person coming in, and leading them over to where they have your gear laid out. I
wore the same clothes for bike and run, so only needed to change my shoes and pick
up my pack. The pack can be quite heavy, the list of compulsory gear for the run is;
waterproof pants, thermal pants, thermal top, fleecy top, rain jacket, thermal hat and
gloves, first aid kit, silver insulation bag, and all the food you need for the run, and
you have the choice of taking drink, or drinking out of the rivers.

The day was slightly overcast, hotter as the day wore on. I had the most magical run. I
was a bit worried at first, I had injured my Achilles’ and had cortisone 10 days before
and wasn’t sure how it would hold, but all was good. I also had my hand in a splint,
having ripped the tendon from my thumb while training, this was a little awkward, but
again manageable. I got cramp as I began my run, but called out to a group running
past me did anyone have some cramp stop, and someone stopped and gave me some.
This is the spirit of Coast to Coast, everyone loves helping other people reach their
goal. There are numerous river crossings, about 20, the first two a little swift, again
some nice guy lent me his arm to hang onto!! It is also often tricky getting people to
do the run over the alps with you while training. I went onto my favourite site ever,
Sportzhub. I found six people to do the first run through with, and one guy took me
through again 3 days later, and then offered to be in my support crew, and we stayed a
night at his sisters house in Arthurs Pass during the race (the night of the storm)
Another guy I found on Sportzhub 2 years ago took me across in a tramp after the first
time I did the race and we stayed the night in Goat Pass, the half way point. I have
300 photos from this tramp!! He loaned me the use of his house, his car, and his bike,
for training while in Christchurch this time, and he was also part of my support crew.
The run is 33km which might not seem long to a road runner, but this is on rocks, and
river crossings, and up creek beds, and down banks, and the rocks get bigger and
steeper as you get further up the pass. It is not continual running though, so on the
tricky bits, bush, rocks, river crossings, etc you have time to rest a bit. On race day
there is always someone around you, and you go through several check points, people
who have tramped up there the day before and camped for the night. Once you have
crossed over the pass you run down some stunning boardwalks, through a beech
forest, and the last few kms are along the Minga Riverbed over rock, rocks and more
rocks. I loved every minute of my run, which took a little over 7 hours, a PB for me.
While running out I saw numerous helicopters flying in and out, mmmmm what was
up, I was soon to find out.

A special meeting was called at 6pm by Robin Judkins, known as Juddy to all. He
looked serious. He said the storm predicted was going to hit at 3am Saturday morning,
earlier than expected. Torrential rain was expected, and gale force winds in excess of
130km an hour. Up to 45mm of rain per hour was predicted. The One Dayers were
going to have Plan B, running on the road instead of the mountain run. No one was
going to be doing the kayak on The Waimakiriri, the 70k kayak down the gorge that
everyone fears and trains for. Day 2 for us was Plan C. We were going to have to do
a 140k bike over Porters pass, Castle hill etc, all the way to the Avon. Then it was to
be a kayak to Sumner. Due to the high winds on the estuary this was again changed to
getting out of the kayak a bit further back, and doing another 10k bike to the finish
line. I learned of this as I was getting into my boat.

There was shock, and disbelief amongst the crowd as this news was given out, on a
calm warm evening as the sun set. Many elected not to do the bike, as they had not
adequately prepared for such a long ride. But I am a Westie Chick, and live by the
Waitakere Ranges, so of course I wanted to do it. The storm hit at about 4am the next
morning. People in tents had them blown out of the ground, and had to pack up in
torrential freezing cold rain and wind. Rain like you have never seen before. We
arrived at Klondike, start of Day 2 to a dark black sky, rain coming down in buckets,
people and bikes everywhere. Even the portaloos got blown over!! Over at the coast
Day One had already started, to even worse conditions than we were experiencing, if
this were possible. Race start was delayed until 8am, there was speculation that it
might even be cancelled. This was a completely different event from the original one
that we had visualised and trained for, a huge challenge both to competitors and
crews.

We started the bike in waves, 10 cyclists per minute. I was in the first wave, having
got my entry in the day entries opened. It was a battle to survive the first part, not to
get blown or washed off the road. Then the sun started to come out as we got over the
hills, and we were overdressed and hot, stripping off outer layers and tying them
around us. One long hill claimed a lot of victims, it was easier to walk. My legs were
very tired after the big day before. There was a stretch of road works and metal road,
at the bottom of a long steep downhill; you had to stay focused the whole day. We had
a transition at Waddington, 88k mark for teams, and for everyone else to change into
dry clothes, unload gear, get more food. Then back on the bike for the long trip into
town along the plains. I was lucky to find a lovely couple who were a similar speed to
me, and they were happy for me to draft with them all the way to Christchurch. My
speedo said about 145kms at the transition..

Arriving at Hagley Park was a welcome relief from the bike. People and kayaks and
bikes were everywhere, as the kayak could not get put in the river until the competitor
had arrived. While the Avon was tame compared to the Waimak, it had its own set of
challenges. For a start you could only enter about half the kayak blade in the water,
and at times you were kayaking in about 2 inches of water. There was weed climbing
everywhere, flicking on me and the boat, and sticking to the rudder. There were
tourists in boats, and punts everywhere. The biggest challenge was finding out how
far you had to go. For over 3 hours people would say to me, bit further, keep on
going, just around the next bend….then the closer you got to the sea there was a huge
headwind, stong incoming tide, and white caps on the waves, everyone was VERY
tired by this stage. Just around another corner, across a big estuary, yah, finish for the
kayak.

Then it was back on the bike for another 10k bike in gale force headwinds along to
Sumner, Juddy, and the finish line.

My support crew raced along to the finish line to get there just before me, they still
had the pink T shirts on, still had their enthusiasm and there was a lot of yelling and
cheers when I got to the finish line. A long way to go for a Speights.

I have enjoyed all the training, the injuries, the tiredness, the discomfort, the isolation
of training, the fear, the 5am starts. I have made many new friends for life along the
way, and have memories to last a lifetime, and hopefully gained more confidence as a
person. What more could a person want.