Emotional Allan gets his reward
Gordon Walker’s sage prediction nine years ago finally rang true at Christchurch’s New Brighton Beach late on Saturday afternoon.
Walker, a three-time Coast to Coast men’s longest day champion and the coach of two-time canoeing Olympic gold medallist Lisa Carrington, was pivotal in Dougal Allan’s drought-breaking triumph.
Wanaka’s Allan finally tasted glory in the 243km endurance race after three previous second place finishes and another third place effort.
Competing in the event for the first time since 2013, Allan, 33, who has concentrated on ironman, prevailed over Christchurch’s Sam Manson and top seed, Australian Alex Hunt, in 11hr 15min.
In Walker’s last attempt at the longest day in 2010, he held off Allan to win, and prophesied the runner-up would be a future champion.
After so many near misses, Allan enlisted Walker to be his coach and repaid his mentor with an overdue longest day title.
‘‘In his last race at the finish line, [Walker] said, ‘Dougal Allan has got what it takes and he’ll win this race one day’,’’ Allan said on Saturday.
‘‘I rang him about 12 weeks ago and said, ‘Let’s not make a liar out of you mate. He stepped up and shared a lot of knowledge with me and gave me a lot of guidance.’’
Allan produced a powerful paddle on the 70km kayak leg on the Waimakariri River to come out of the water first. An excellent cyclist, he powered home on the 69.5km ride into Christchurch to win by a comfortable 15-minute margin from Manson.
Embracing wife Amy, son Flynn (4) and daughter Matilda (2) at the finish line, Allan choked up when explaining what the result meant to him.
He hadn’t raced in the Coast to Coast for six years, fearing failure, but said he had to ‘‘get over himself"’ and show his kids accomplishing dreams wasn’t easy.
‘‘Flynn here and Matilda, they’re my world. A big part of coming back was to set an example to them that you’ve got to reach for your goals and success is never guaranteed. I just wanted them to see I had the courage to come and have a crack.’’
Meanwhile, retired All Blacks great Richie McCaw and good friend Rob Nichol, the New Zealand Rugby Players Association boss, finished fourth in the twoday tandem team event. They posted a time of 14hours 49mins 29secs.
In the two-day individual race, Lachie Brownlie won the men’s race in 12hours 41min 15secs. Selena Metherell was the women’s two-day champion in 14hours 28min 01 sec.
At a glance Men’s longest day: ❚ 1. Dougal Allan (Wanaka) 11hr 15min 0 secs ❚ 2. Sam Manson (Christchurch) 11hr 30min 04secs ❚ 3. Alex Hunt (Australia) 11hr 39min 34 secs