Owen banishes her 2017 demons

Robyn Owen banished the demons of last year to win her first Coast to Coast longest day title yesterday.

A year after getting mowed down on the final 69.5km cycle of the annual race across the South Island and finishing second, Owen rebuffed a surging Sophie Hart to trump the women’s race.

‘‘I can’t believe it, absolutely delighted,’’ the South African said after crossing the finish line at Christchurch’s New Brighton Beach in 12hr 44min 56sec.

Owen led two-time winner Hart by almost 20 minutes at the start of the cycle leg across the Canterbury Plains. However, just like last year, she found her lead being promptly gobbled up.

‘‘I didn’t know who was in second. But somewhere back on the road I heard [my lead was down to 10 minutes], which I guess meant she had been catching on the ride. So I was trying to survive the last few kilometres, looking over my shoulder on each corner.’’

Owen eventually stopped the clock 3min 50sec clear of Hart, who was competing for the first time since 2013, when she snared the last of her titles.

So sapped was Owen after completing the 243km race across the South Island, she needed help to pop the champagne open.

‘‘I might manage about half a beer and then I think I might collapse into bed,’’ Owen said.

In a stark contrast to last year, when she was forced to play catch up after failing to catch the lead cycle pack on the first cycle leg, Owen was in the thick of it from the 6am start.

Before this year’s race, she told media she’d spent the past three or four months improving her road cycling, and it showed.

Hart was thrilled with her second-placed finish, but rued a mistake on the kayak leg. ‘‘I fell out of my kayak, which is less than ideal. It was just silly, I was probably just pushing too hard . . . it certainly fired me up,’’ Hart said.

I might manage about half a beer and then I think I might collapse into bed. Race winner Robyn Owen