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A Hawke’s Bay man who had a horror accident while farming has set himself a goal of tackling the notorious Coast to Coast enduro event in February 2026.
Harvey Nelson is planning the ultimate comeback in the multi-sport event he first raced in 2023, months before he snapped his femur and tibia and nearly lost his leg.
The 243km multi-sport race starts on the West Coast, at Kumara Beach and traverses the width of the South Island, and finishes at the Pier on New Brighton Beach in Christchurch.
In December 2023, Nelson was mustering a 150ha paddock on a lease block at Waimārama on horseback, when he fell into a cattle rut, with the horse on top of him,
He managed to pull himself out but dropped 1.5m into a creek in a gully below. With no way out, he splinted his badly broken leg with two dog collars and a tree branch and waited for help, he previously told Hawke’s Bay Today.
“I sat on the side of the creek, but after a while the flies were getting at my leg so I got in the water.
“I had to get out again after the eels started picking at my leg.”
Hawke’s Bay Rescue Helicopter aircrew officer Julian Burn (left) and critical care flight paramedic Cornelius Venter (right), with former patient Harvey Nelson.
“The first time the chopper flew over, it buggered off again. I thought, ‘hang on, you’re meant to be rescuing me’ – but they had seen where I was, in a creek in a gully - they had flown off to pick up a crew member who was winch trained so they could pick me up,” Nelson said.
After seven gruelling surgeries, a painstaking skin graft and months of rehabilitation, Nelson is more determined than ever to get back to what he loves, including putting his body to one of the ultimate tests.
Sam Nelson (left) with dad Harvey Nelson and brother Joe Nelson after the 2023 Coast to Coast race.
He said he felt a few nerves committing to the two-day solo competition but backed himself to put his best foot forward, figuratively and literally.
“My physio has always said there’s no reason why I couldn’t one day have another crack at it. I liken it to biting off more than you can chew and then chewing like crazy to get it done.”
Back on his bike, and in the saddle, Nelson said he had come a long way.
“Mustering on horseback is what I know and love, the accident that day was nothing the horse did wrong.”
Hawke's Bay farmer Harvey Nelson was rescued by the Hawke's Bay rescue helicopter in December 2023, after he snapped his femur and tibia and nearly lost his leg.
Nelson said he now doesn’t go anywhere on the farm without his personal locator beacon.
“I didn’t have a locator beacon or any cellphone coverage the day of the accident but have since got a [beacon], it’s a must. I would have only been lying there for a matter of minutes instead of five hours if I had one.”
He urged anyone who lived or worked in remote locations to carry one with them, and to support the rescue helicopter when they could.
“We all think ‘it won’t happen to me – but it does and it did'."
A relocation to an Elsthorpe farm block earlier last year offered Nelson and his family a fresh start and a chance to set new goals.
“When the accident happened I was really fit and healthy thanks to my training for Coast to Coast at the time, my surgeon is convinced that’s what helped save my leg and aided my ability to heal,” Nelson said.
