KEY POINTS:
Auckland multisport athlete Gordon Walker can expect a torrid time as he seeks to defend his Coast to Coast one-day crown tomorrow.
Walker lifted the title last year after winning the iconic event from Kumara beach on the West Coast to Christchurch.
In doing do he unseated Nelson's Richard Ussher, who reigned supreme in 2005 and 2006.
Both Walker and Ussher are back for more punishment in a 243km event which encompasses 140km of cycling, 36km of running and 67km of kayaking.
The challengers are many and varied for the first prize of $10,000.
Perennial top-10 placegetters Gordon Blythen, of Wanaka, and Dick Brunton, of Christchurch, are among those demanding respect.
The best internationals are likely to be Guy Andrews and Luke Haines, of Australia.
Andrews has twice previously finished among the top 10 and Haines is the reigning Mars Challenge multisport champion in Australia.
Jacob Roberts, 34, of Christchurch, is considered a dark horse in the field having contested the race previously in 1997 and 2007.
Roberts has competed twice before, in 1997 and 2007, and is considered by Canterbury multisporters to be top-10 material.
Another Christchurch athlete, endurance sports coach Cameron Carter, and Sam Goodall, a kayak instructor from Whangaparaoa, have also been mentioned in dispatches.
Two of many competitors with claims to fame outside of the multisport environment have entered the race.
They are Invercargill jeweller Glenn McLeay, a former New Zealand representative cyclist, and Andrew Nicholson, of Mt Maunganui, who has represented his country as a iceskater.
The women's one-day race is expected to develop into a three-way battle between Fleur Pawsey, Emily Miazga and Elina Ussher.
Defending champion Pawsey, of Wellington, is set for her eighth Coast to Coast, Canadian Miazga won the event in 2006 but was forced out last year on the mountain running section, while Ussher, the wife of Richard, finished fifth in 2007.
They will not have things all their own way, though, with prominent performances also expected from the likes of Sarah Fairmaid, who was second 12 months ago, Rachel Cashin, Suzette Nicholson, Anna Berthelsen, South African Jeannie Bomford, Mitch Murdoch, and Denmark's Sia Svendsen.
The two-day teams event began today.
- NZPA
