Race for the all-rounder

Press, 3 December 1982, Page 13

Race for the all-rounder

By

RAY CAIRNS

From 7 a.m. tomorrow morning until some time near dusk on Sunday, a group of 20 men and women might be spotted somewhere between Kumara beach, on the West Coast, and Sumner, in Christchurch. For the first two or three hours, they will be cycling towards Otira. Then they will be rather harder to spot: running, walking, tramping across the Great Divide at Goat Pass towards Klondike Corner, near Bealey. On Sunday morning, they will be kayaking down the Waimakariri River, for anything from six to 10 hours, to the gorge bridge, west of Oxford. Then they will be back on their bikes, heading for Sumner. Robin Judkins and friends are not performing this mind-boggling physical exercise just for the physical exercise, however. For Judkins, perhaps best described as an entrepreneur and promoter, once from Christchurch, where he attended St Bede’s College, now of Wanaka, it is an essential part of the preparation for

his biggest venture. The Macpac Wilderness Equipment Coast-to-Coast race next year will be the biggest and most difficult project on which this enthusiastic chap has embarked. For the 100 contestants, it will probably be the most demanding exercise they have tackled unless, of course, they have attempted that iron man contest to beat all iron man contests in Hawaii.

The Judkins drive for promoting such an event was born from his preference for “the all-rounder in the age of the specialist.”

And where the all-rounder must be flexible, so is the promoter, himself. He plans the event proper to be on the week-end of February 26-27, but because of a clash of interests — the surf lifesaving national championships that week-end, the cycling track championships the next — he is considering a change

to early March. He accepts there could be a surf lifesaving interest, especially by those skilled in paddling a surf ski; and a natural leaning towards it by some cyclists. Similarly, 100. Judkins's view was that surf skis should not be allowed. But he argued with himself that of the 60 down-river kayaks in New Zealand, 50 were in the North Island. So any sort of down-river craft can be used. He felt, too, that the cyclists should carry their own repair equipment. But a further analysis revealed the good sense of having available a pool of spare bikes. What he found more baffling was the constant request for permission to use multigeared bikes, because there are no hills to speak of on the cycling sections.

The coast-to-coast race is a test of individual endurance and varied physical skills, though teams of two are permitted. The idea

there is that one will ride from Kumara the first day, and paddle the Waimakariri the next; the partner tramps the Great Divide and rides to Sumner. Attention to detail is the key to the whole, effort, and Judkins has a team of 40 to 50 people working with him. There are his support men and marshals for the cycling sections; officials deployed every Bkm of the Southern Alps tramp/run/walk, whatever it becomes, and a radio network of marshals. Then there will be the five jet boats on the Waimakariri. "There is no way we can leave anyone behind; and we will be doing compos mentis tests on each competitor to check they’re OK.” There is also a helicopter, not just for the unsought value in search and rescue, but also to carry the media. All the costs for this comes from the $5O entry fee for each contestant, be he or she competing as an individual or as a member of a twoperson team. It all sounds very competitive and professional, and it

is, but Judkins likes the idea of the field being a big family engaged on a joint venture.

For the first time, he is having a pre-race dinner, at little Kumara, a community which is showing a lot of enthusiasm for the exercise. "They’re really very excited about it." Judkins says. Then there will be an overnight tent camp at Bealey. and a post-race dinner in Sumner, where the over-all prizes will be presented. There are none for stages, for Judkins' idea is to encourage all to finish. "Anyway the specialists will surely win their particular stages." Judkins has had as varied a working life as the events he promotes. After a year each at university and teachers' college after leaving school, he worked in the sales and marketing fields for such firms as British Petroleum, Alex Harvey Industries, Chrysler International, and McGraw Hill Publishing. He has been a ski instructor, and done marketing work for a heli-ski business and a ski field. Married, with a daughter, he is also a concert promoter.

Small wonder, then, that "the more varied, the better" he likes the challenge of organising yet another multidiscipline extravaganza.

Judkins was the man who got the Alpine Iron Man contests off the ground, and his old contestants have remained faithful to him. Paul Scaife, the first winner in 1980. and John Howard, the 1981 and 1982 champion, are entries for the coast-to-coast, as are Jeremy Silva and Sandy Sandblom. who followed Howard home this ,year.

Sportsmen prominent at national and international level include lan Fergusson, once the New Zealand surf lifesaving iron man champion. now a world-class kayaker, Bernie Fletcher. 15 times a national kayaking champion; the mountaineer, Graeme Dingle, the first person to cross Cook Strait in a kayak; and Ross Bush, a former New Zealand cycling representative and a world championships veteran competitor.