Focused Clark digs deep to retain Longest Day title
DEFENDING champion Sam Clark (Whakatane) proved a man of his word with a successful mission to retain the world multisport title in the Longest Day section of the Coast to Coast on Saturday.
Going into the event, Clark was all business, making no secret of his intentions and placing his rivals such as threetime champion Braden Currie and Australian dual Olympian Courtney Atkinson on notice that he was in the event to win it and that he would see them in Christchurch when they arrived.
But for the best part of 213km, victory in the 243km West Coast to New Brighton event and a fourth title appeared Currie’s to lose.
The only time Currie was not heading the field was when he shared the lead with a pacesetting group of nine on the 55km cycle to Aichens Corner.
From then on, he appeared a man on a mission as he began busting the field wide open on the 33km alpine run up Deception Valley and over Goats Pass to Klondyke Corner, hitting the transition back to the bike a valuable 12min ahead of Clark, with Sam Manson (Christchurch) and the unranked Bobby Dean (Te Puke) battling it out for third 6min further back.
Despite stretching his lead to 17min as he hit the kayak stage, Currie was about to learn the hard way that no matter how much of a lead you have in the bank, minutes are gold, and Clark was about to cash in.
Clark mastered the 67km down the Waimakariri River to Gorge Bridge, reducing Currie’s lead to just 3min. Then fully focused, he sped through tthe ransition reasserting his intentions regarding victory to his support crew in a manner translated without the associated expletives: ‘‘This race is not over. This race is mine’’.
Then riding a really big gear and taking inspiration from the whirring of his disc wheel, he powered past Currie 25km out from the finish to break the tape at New Brighton in 11hr 2min 43sec, 35min faster than his winning time last year and just shy of 8min clear of secondplaced Currie, who punched in at 11hr 10min 20sec. Eighthranked Sam Manson, of Christchurch, was third in 11hr 37min 53sec.
Clark said Saturday’s victory would always be special, given the high calibre of athletes ranked in the top 10 and the emergence of Te Puke’s Bobby Dean, who prior to the race was a virtual unknown and had the race of his life.
There is little doubt Clark fully deserves to call himself world champion and to wear the world multisport crown for another year.
‘‘Man, this feels great,’’ Clark said of his victory.
‘‘I don’t think I’ve ever focused so hard in all my life.
‘‘I have a lot of respect for Braden and he’s always kicked my [behind] in triathlon. This victory feels real sweet.’’
In the race for the open women’s crown, Elina Ussher was made to work for a fourth title after surrendering a 15min lead she opened up on the 55km cycle from Kumara to Aichens Corner, before heading into the 33km alpine run.
South African kayaking international Robin Owen reduced this lead to just 6min on the rugged and recently flooded terrain, then overtook Ussher midway through the 67km kayak stage down the Wamakariri River, beaching her craft and transferring to the 70km bike to the New Brighton finish area holding a
4min lead over Ussher.
But, like the champion she is, Ussher hit back with a vengeance, regaining the lead in the first 10km of the cycle stage, then continued to open up her advantage as she headed towards the New Brighton finishing area and a fourth open women’s title in 13hr 11min 39sec. Owen was second in 13hr 29min 21sec and triathlon convert Hannah Wells third in 13hr 50min 35sec.
The next generation was to
the fore in the associated twoday event when Nelson schoolboy Cameron Jones (16), a year 12 pupil at Waimea College, became the youngest winner of an open title at the event.
Jones extended his firstday lead with a worldclass kayak stage backed up by a strong bike to the finish to stop the clock at 12hr 19min 5sec, with a massive margin back to secondplaced Oliver Thompson (Whakatane), who clocked 12hr 56min 7sec.
Hamish Elliott (Gore) was third in 12hr 58min 9sec.
Higherthanexpected water levels on the kayak stage played a part in denying Dunedin’s Shannon Edgar her first title when she succumbed to the paddling strengths of Kathryn Bunckenburg (Wellington), who won the open women’s twoday title in 14hr 10min 58sec.
Edgar was second in 14hr 23min 14sec and Katie Smith (Greymouth) third in 14hr-57min 44sec.