Gutsy effort by Coasters
Palmerston North’s Brett Garrett finished 29th in his 18-39 age group at the gruelling Coast to Coast event in the South Island at the weekend.
The 33-year-old finished the two-day individual race from one side of the South Island to the other in 16 hours 14 minutes 9 seconds, to be 56th overall.
It is the fourth time he’s done the multisport event from Kumara on the West Coast over to Christchurch.
The race starts consists of a 2.2km run, then a 55km bike ride, a 30.5km mountain run, a 15.5km ride, a 1.3km run, a 70km kayak leg, then finishes with a 69.6km cycle leg.
Palmerston North’s Ross Mckay finished 18th in the 50-59 age group and 146th overall in 20hr 52min 56sec.
The father-daughter team of Brent O’neill and Kate O’neill finished 24th overall and fifth in the family division of the twoday, two-person event. They finished in 15hr 34min 51sec.
Brent did the kayak legs and part of the bike, and Kate did the mountain run and the other cycle legs. Cara Hesselin, the daughter of Brent O’neill and Kate’s sister, was the seventh female in the mountain run event in 5hr 35min 2sec. She was 40th overall and seventh in the 18-39 age group.
Brian Robertson of Palmerston North was 59th overall in the men’s 18-39 mountain run and 18th in his age group.
The three-man Palmerston North Boys’ High School team finished second in the and were fourth overall in the threeperson team competition.
Samuel Bentham, who did the mountain run, Wade Bennett who did the kayak and Madi Hartley-brown, who did the bike leg, finished in 12hr 58min 32sec.
Former Massey University student Hannah Wells was third in the women’s one-day event in 13hr 50min 35sec.