Tough alpine run for athletes

Press, 23 February 1989, Page 31

Tough alpine run for athletes

Kumara Beach, the venue for hundreds of athletes who take part in the annual Coast to Coast endurance race, will serve as a starting place for a small group of ultra runners this Saturday. While the Coast to Coast competitors have to cycle, run and kayak, the entrants in the “Sea to Surf” race will run the full distance on the road, via Arthurs Pass, to New Brighton. The Coast to Coast route includes a run over a rough track from Deception to Mingha, and finishes at Sumner Beach. About nine teams of two have entered so far for the event, described by one of the organisers, Bob Dickison, as "an experimental thing with a view to something more elaborate at a later date.” There are no prizes, no entry fees and no sponsor-

ship. The first of the runners will set off at 6 a.m., a faster group at 6.30 a.m. and the fastest at 7 a.m. The two-man teams decide themselves how far each runs before the other takes over.

"It doesn’t matter how far they each run, as long as they alternate and there is one of them running at all times,” says Dickison, who is competing with Vai Reid, who completed the John Drew 24-hour race last May. Dickison expects the first stage of 145 km to Lake Lyndon to be completed by about 6 p.m. on Saturday. The runners will spend the night at the Lodge before setting off in another staggered start on Sunday morning. He expects the leading team to reach the finish at New Brighton’s clocktower about 2 p.m. on Sunday. The distance

of the second stage is 98km. The strongest team so far appears to be that of Lex Blair and Bob McNamara, of the St Martins Harrier Club. Blair has been placed several times at both 50 miles and 100 km, his latest effort being a good second in the Port Hills 100 km last October. McNamara clocked up a big effort in the 24-hour race last May and was in a two-man team in the Coast to Coast race earlier this month.

Other teams include a former 100 km winner, Martin Hawes, with a former 100 km women’s record-holder, Deborah Rhode; Bob Richmond and Tom Smith; W. McLeod and R. Kimberley; Cyril Rigby and Ray Bennett; and Rex Smart and Erroll Stokes.