NP brothers get one over McCaw
Two New Plymouth brothers joined a select group of sportspeople who have managed to get the better of former All Black captain Richie McCaw on the score sheet.
The experience memorable.
Brothers Cory and Calum Sutherland slogged it out for 13 hours and 26 minutes to win the Coast to Coast multisport twoday tandem teams section – six places ahead of McCaw and racing partner Rob Nichol. The gruelling event included running, road cycling, and kayaking 243km across the Southern Alps from Kumara, on the West Coast, to Sumner Beach, Christchurch.
It was the first time the brothers, both University of Canterbury engineering students, had entered an adventure race together as a team, Calum, 18, said.
‘‘We surprised a lot of people in winning as we were a pretty unknown combination.’’
The former New Plymouth Boys’ High School students trained together for the Hillary Challenge events at school but the C2C was something different to do.
‘‘It was a really cool experience to race together,’’ he said.
It was also Calum’s first attempt at the popular annual event, and the second for Cory, 21, who had been unplaced before in the tandem teams section.
With temperatures hovering in the low 30s, the brothers remained close to the front of their section throughout the race. proved painful but
‘‘We were lucky with the weather, and we also didn’t have any injuries, just some cramping up,’’ Calum said. ‘‘The run over Goat Pass was probably the most difficult and technical with steep climbs.
‘‘The river was running low but we didn’t have many problems. The kayak scraped the bottom of the river a few times, and we had to get out once and push off the rocks.’’
During the 70km cycle stage towards Christchurch, where each rode their own bike, it was a case of taking turns to lead, he said.
‘‘We had to keep within 50m of each other so it was easy enough to ride close.’’
Before the race the pair had been aware of their more heralded competitors, McCaw and Nichols.
‘‘We saw them on the first cycle stage and then on the kayak stage the next day.
‘‘We were paddling side by side for a while, and then we sneaked past them, that was a pretty cool feeling.
‘‘They were great but very competitive. They wanted to win as much as we did.
‘‘It was probably the highlight for us racing against Richie McCaw.’’
A day after the finish Cory and Calum, headed to Aoraki/Mt Cook National Park with their father, Jamie, for a week-long mountaineering course before university lectures began.
‘‘We’ll take a break now but I would really like to do the Coast to Coast again, maybe the two-day individual section,’’ Calum said.
‘‘It’s an amazing race, with all the atmosphere and adventure. We couldn’t have done what we did without our parents’ support.’’