Dairy farmer chases down race favourite on the line
MARKUS Woutersen (Cambridge), pipped race favourite Bevan Jones (Christchurch) on the line to steal firstday honours in the twoday section of the Kathmandu Coast to Coast yesterday.
High river levels forced a course change for the 33km alpine stage on Thursday evening and the run course encompassed a mixture of road and trail running between Aichens Corner and Klondyke.
The road section including a merciless climb over the Otira Viaduct and Arthurs Pass while the offroad sections included a trail along the Otira and Bealey riverbeds.
The 11thhour reprieve from running the rapids up Deception Valley played into Woutersen's hands, as by his own admission the Arthurs Pass terrain was more familiar.
The 27yearold dairy farmer has only recently made a return to the sport and was not expecting too much, He was pleasantly surprised to be up with the lead bunch on the 55km cycle section from Kumara.
“I'd say the old cycling is not my strong point. But I just fell into that first bunch and hung on for dear life,” he said of his firststage cycle ride between Kumara and Aickens.
“At times it was pretty tough to hang on, and I even got a bit of cramp in the old calf at one stage. But I managed to get over that.”
Woutersen said he just “got the old diesel engine running’’.
‘‘One foot in front of the other really. This is my first time doing it and they say the bunch riding tends to be not too flash in the two day.
‘‘There were some getting a little bit angry and a bit of yelling going on.
‘‘But somehow we all stuck together and only dropped two or three.”
He was initially “pretty gutted” , when told of the course change, not to give Goat Pass another crack. However, he soon changed his mind once he exited transition on to the “Plan B” course yesterday.
“This was a fine replacement. The road section was pretty challenging. As far as a road run goes it was pretty gnarly and then all the riverbed stuff, I suppose that's where I came into my own.
“It was a good challenging run. I'm pretty tired, to be honest.”
With only a nose in it on the line as they finished day one at Klondyke, second placed Jones (Christchurch), is favoured to regain the lead on the river stage today, as Woutersen said he was “a bit green” in that area.
Jones had led the run from around the 5km stage until Woutersen pipped him on the line, but was philosophical about playing second fiddle going into the second day.
Third last year, Hannah Lund set herself up to go slightly better when she stole a 3min 30sec lead over Trish Hastie going into the second day, with Courtney Prestage 10min adrift n third.
“It's only day one. We'll see what happens on the river,” she said.
A winner of the schoolboys section, and second overall two years ago in the twoday competition, University of Otago secondyear commerce student Matthew Clough (19) is close behind Woutersen and Jones and sits handily placed in third going into the second day.
Greymouth runner Ben Williams won the open men's mountain running title in a smart 2hr 29min 59sec, while the women's crown came south to Te Anau's Devon Grant, who won in 3hr 11min 25sec.
Racing commences this morning at 6am with the elite Longest Day section, while the twoday event starts in waves from Klondyke.