An enduring passion for champion
‘Incredible feeling’ for winner after he enters Coast to Coast’s Longest Day at the last minute, writes Marc Hinton. Photos: Iain McGregor.
HE only returned to the event at the last minute on a whim, and Braden Currie backed up the decision with his fourth Coast to Coast Longest Day race victory in New Brighton yesterday.
Currie, who has emerged as New Zealand’s top iron man triathlete, dominated the 40th running of the 243km multisport event that starts on Kumara Beach on the West Coast and finishes on the sands of New Brighton in Christchurch.
In his first start in the event since 2017, the 35-year-old from Wanaka blitzed the field with a commanding performance, finishing the race in 9 hours, 45 minutes, 23 seconds – more than 20 minutes ahead of 2021 champion Dougal Allan.
In the red-light setting the annual Coast to Coast endurance, aka The Longest
Day, was one of the only major events in recent times in New Zealand to get the green light.
Even then, it was scaled down from normal years, only allowing elite one-day athletes to take part in the run, kayak, cycle
event. And rough weather suffered along the West Coast of the South Island meant lastminute changes to the kayak course because of heavy rain in the area.
Simone Maier won the women’s race when she came home on her birthday in a time of 11:52:18.
Allan, who survived a fall over Goat Pass and a sore foot, was second in the men’s race in 10:05:34, with Bobby Dean third in 10:13:17.
Currie only decided to return to the event on Thursday after Ironman New Zealand in March was cancelled.
‘‘Coast to Coast is the race that brought me into the sport, it’s what first drew my attention to endurance, and it’s a race that I have a huge love and respect for,’’ Currie said.
‘‘It was a huge decision to actually make the start today. I’ve always wanted to come back and race Coast to Coast. To go back to where it all started and have an experience like this feels incredible. It means a lot to me.
‘‘Once you’re in that race mode, you just do what you’ve trained to do in that environment,’’ added Currie of an environment he hadn’t trained in for years.
‘‘I had a great day – a good run, bike and paddle. I knew the river would be high, so as long as I stayed in the fast water and kept my boat up the right way, I hoped I wouldn’t lose too much time. Luckily that happened.
‘‘A race like this is incredibly hard to plan for, so it was about having some fun. On the run, I actually remembered the exact root that tripped my brother (Glen Currie) a few years ago and caused some pretty solid damage to his knee.
‘‘That kept me amused for a while.’’