McCaw ready for big 2nd half
All Blacks legend Richie McCaw has made it to halftime of this year’s Coast to Coast in a much better place than he was this time last year.
McCaw, competing in the twoday tandem section alongside good friend Rob Nichol, completed stage one and two of the popular multisport event in a time of 5 hours, 34 minutes and 44 seconds yesterday. Last year, the two-time Rugby World Cup-winning captain fell ill on the eve of the event but battled through the course on limited energy.
But this time he’s actually looking forward to getting back out there on day two.
‘‘I’m certainly feeling better than I did 12 months ago. I swore this time last year I wasn’t going to get through another day but we got there,’’ McCaw said.
‘‘I’m feeling good, it’s quite a different run, a bit of road and offroad, but it’s good to be here.’’
McCaw is among more than 1000 competitors running, cycling and kayaking 243km across the South Island. Starting Kumara Beach, stage one was made up of a 2.5km run and 55km cycle.
That was followed by a 30.5km mountain run, which was adjusted due to high river levels in the Otira and Deception rivers, with competitors running a mix of Highway 73 and the Bealey River.
Today starts with a 15.5km cycle followed by a 70km kayak to round out stage three.
The competitors then get back on the bike for a 69.5km ride to the finish line at New Brighton Beach.
‘‘I’m looking forward to it and the river has played ball,’’ McCaw said.
‘‘Last weekend I was worried that we’d be doing a lot of pushing but running at 80 to 100 would be about perfect for us.
‘‘Hopefully we wake up all ready to go with a nice little tail wind too.’’
McCaw and Nicholl, who suffered through severe cramp sit in third in the men’s Tandem competition, 28 minutes behind Josh Harris and Dave Slater who lead the category in 05:06:40.
Meanwhile Christchurch’s Bevan Jones who led for most of the mountain run stage in the two-day race was pipped at the Klondyke corner finish line by Marcus Woutersen, a dairy farmer from Cambridge.
Woutersen finished in 4 hours 39 minutes and 41 seconds, with Matthew Clough holding third spot in 04:47:13.
In the women’s two-day individual event Hannah Lund holds a three-minute advantage over Trish Hastie with the pair coming home in 5 hours 18 minutes 51 and 05:22:11 respectively. Samatha Owels currently sits in third as well as leading the veteran women in 5:26:23.
Ben Williams snuck in just under the 2-hour 30 minute mark to win the men’s Mountain Run, finishing 10 minutes ahead of second placed Rob Lord with a time of 2 hours 40:42.