Methven iron man surprise

Press, 22 October 1984, Page 3

Methven iron man surprise

John Heasley, of Methven, showed considerable ingenuity and. the benefit of local knowledge to become • the surprise winners of the Fresh-up iron man contest at Mount Hutt on Saturday. The endurance event involved climbing, ski-ing, running, kayaking, and cycling on a course which started at the base area of the Mount Hutt ski-field and ended in the township of Methven. Heasley, a ski-racing coach at Mount Hutt, aged 29, finished the event in a fast Ihr 53min 38s, more than three minutes ahead of the hot favourite, John Howard, of Christchurch, who had won the event the last three years running. He received a cheque for $lOO6 and the Alpine Iron Man trophy. The Methven man’s trumpcard, apart from his very high standard of fitness, was a musterer’s stick which he used to great effect both in the ski-ing section and running down

the scree slopes. Heasley, with the stick between his legs, used it as a brake and was able to go straight down the very steep ski-ing section. The’ stick served both for balance and braking down the. 1000 vertical metres of' scree slope. “That was an amazing performance,” marvelled the event organiser, Mr Robin Judkins, of Christchurch. There was a massed start at the Mount Hutt base area and Heasley led all 56 contestants to the summit. He was passed there by Tony Newlands, of Auckland, later disqualified after finishing fourth for running down the ski-ing section carrying his skis. Heasley passed Newlands on the ski-ing section and led from there to the finsh. After the scree running and. 3km of cross-country running he had a 3min lead on Howard.

After the 7m kayaking section through Rakaia

Gorge, where the river was nearly a metre above its normal level, Howard had cut Heasley’s lead back to one minute, but the gap widened again on the 16km cycling section. The strong nor’-wester helped Heasley reach speeds of 60 km/h. Heasley entered only three days before the event, but had cycled and run sections of the course several times before. He had trained for the event for three months. • Of the 56 starters, 36 finished with all but one of the non-finishers pulling out on the Rakaia river. The strong wind blew many contestants off the river and several lost paddles. The three jet boats on call had made 25 rescues. The casualty was a 25-year-old Dunedin agricultural scientist, Alister Metherall, who suffered extensive injuries to the buttocks after falling backwards on a rock during the ski-ing section. He was flown out by helicopter to Methven and

was later driven to Christchurch Hospital for further treatment. The winner of the veteran event for the fourth time was Sandy Sandblom, a 40-year-old Christchurch carpenter. He showed his extreme competitiveness by also finishing third in the open section, less than smin behind Howard, 13 years his junior. lan Edmond, a 17-year-old from Otago Boys’ High School, won the inter-school section and also placed a most creditable tenth in the open. Andrew Macßeth, of Papanui High School, was second. The women’s champion, and winner of the Macpac Wilderness Trophy, was Claire Parkes, a 26-year-old instructor from the Cobham Outward Bound School. Her nineteenth place over all was the best by a woman in the five-year history of the event. Mr - Judkins, who has organised the event since the inaugural “Iron Man” in

Wanaka in 1980, was happy to get the race off on Saturday in the trying conditions. As well as the high river, and the 30 to 49 knot nor’-wester, the ski-ing was marginal, and the weather very cold. Results: Open: J. Heasley (Methven), Ihr 53min 38s, 1; J. Howard (Christchurch), 1:56.55, 2; S. Sandblom (Christchurch), 2:1.41, 3; D. Dennis (Christchurch), 2:10.47, 4; N. Palmer (Wellington), 2:11.37, 5; P. Bodger (Christchurch), 2:12.17, 6; D. Coulter (Christchurch), 2:16.34, 7; M. Watson (Christchurch) 2:18.00, 8; R. Campbell (Christchurch), 2:11.51, 9; 1. Edmond (Dunedin), 2:20.3, 10. Women: C. Parkes (Picton), 2:27.34, 1; L. Dawson (Christchurch), 2:40.51, 2; L. Gillespie (Christchurch), 3:8.59, 3. ' Veterans: Sandblom, 1; D. Pilditch (Dunedin), 2:46.57, 2. Schoolboys: Edmond, 1; A. Macßeth (Christchurch), 2:39.49, 2. ’