Ussher has dual motivation as she strives
Four-time Coast to Coast longest day winner Elina Ussher doesn’t expect to hold family bragging rights over husband Richard any time soon.
Ussher will be looking to equal Kathy Lynch’s record of five women’s titles in the 243km endurance race tomorrow, which sees competitors run, cycle, and kayak from the West Coast to New Brighton Pier in Christchurch.
A fifth Coast to Coast triumph for the 42-year-old Nelsonian, who is a former world adventure racing champion, would also draw her level with husband Richard, no doubt creating some cheeky banter.
Richard won the men’s longest day in 2005, 2006, 2008, 2011, and 2012, before becoming race director of the event between 2015-18.
‘‘He only raced nine times, so he can still tell me, ‘How many did you do to be able to get that many?,’’ said Elina, who is competing for the 14th straight year since 2006.
‘‘I haven’t been thinking about that too much.’’
She was under no illusion about how difficult it would be to finish first again, with Germanborn Christchurch athlete Simone Maier, a strong cyclist, who placed third last year, a major threat. Other women’s contenders include Whakatane’s Corrine O’Donnell, nee Smit, who was fifth last year, Te Anau’s Claire Bell and Swede Marika Wagner, in her first Coast to Coast.
Ussher has previously won the women’s race in 2010, 2012, 2016, and 2017.
With defending champion South African Robyn Owen not racing this year, the title will change hands.
Ussher was disappointed with how her race went in 2018, finishing fourth in 13hr 11min 29sec, just over 26min behind the victorious Owen.
Elina and Richard became owners of the Cable Bay Adventure Park, just out of Nelson, in December 2017, a 607-hectare adventure tourism park, which