Nelson schoolboy youngest Coast to Coast winner
Nelson schoolboy Cameron Jones can call himself the youngest ever winner of the Coast to Coast twoday race.
The 16-year-old Waimea College pupil blitzed the field to win the 243km race across the South Island in 12hr 19min 5sec.
He held a 10 minute lead at the end of day one, before a couple of strong cycle legs on Saturday ensured he finished in New Brighton as a winner and record holder.
‘‘I couldn’t get a better result,’’ Jones said.
‘‘I’m really happy. I’ve wanted to have a crack at the two-day indi- vidual since I first did it as a team last year.’’
After starting at Kumara Beach on the West Coast on Friday morning, Jones finished more than half an hour clear of second-placed Oliver Thompson the following day.
Jones said he felt confident the title was his when he set off from Klondyke Corner on day two, but had to fight hard once he got in the kayak.
‘‘Oliver Thompson is a really strong paddler so I was hurting a lot to try and keep up with him,’’ he said.
‘‘I pushed myself to the end and it was great to cross the finish line.’’
Jones’ win ensured Nelson could lay claim to two winners, after Elina Ussher captured her fourth women’s one-day title the same day. While jumping up to the one-day event might seem like the next logical step, Jones now plans to put multisport on the backburner.
Instead, he will concentrate on mountain biking, starting with the national cross-country championships in Wanaka later this month.
‘‘I’ll see how I go there. I will try and make the world champion- ships this year,’’ he said. ‘‘I think the next few years I will give crosscountry mountain biking a good crack while I’m still in the under19 and under-23 age groups.’’
However, he said he will be back and the one-day event was ‘‘definitely’’ in his future. ‘‘I’ll go for the big one,’’ he said. Jones, who put himself through a 12-week training programme to prepare for the Coast to Coast, said he was ‘‘pretty sore’’ the day after the race.
‘‘I’m not going to be doing much for a few days yet. But then I’ll be on the mountain bike.’’ More Coast to Coast coverage, P15