Coast to Coast athlete Dougal Allan is one of New Zealand's most unheralded athletes. Photo / Photosport
A world away from sport's mainstream bright lights, one of New Zealand's most unheralded athletes bids to be crowned a three-time Coast to Coast champion this weekend.
He lines up defending the title yet as Dougal Allan approaches his 10th Coast to Coast - 15 years after his first - he struggles to comprehend the terrain he has covered and the event's bust to boom evolution in that time.
Allan has emerged from humble Horowhenua roots to establish camp in Wanaka and carve a hard-grafting niche as a premier multisport exponent.
As he reflects on his maiden Coast to Coast in 2008, when he won the two-day race as a 22-year-old, Allan remains lured to the same sense of challenge.
"The Coast to Coast course is a scary prospect and still is," Allan says of the 243km traverse through the South Alps, starting at the west coast's Kumara Beach to Christchurch's New Brighton.
"Back then all I wanted to do was get through safely. There's plenty of opportunities not to. That competitive streak kicked in along the way and I wanted to do well."
In Allan's maiden triumph, Richard Usher claimed the longest day event ahead of Gordon Walker, now Halberg coach of the decade, after capitulating to 10th the previous year.
"I won the two-day race and I looked at the guys doing well in the one day and they were a different species," Allan recalls. "I couldn't fathom how they did what they did. I never would've dreamed I would become a person who could win the one-day event. Having done it twice, I still feel that way. To win the one-day race would still catch me by surprise as it did that first."
This year's Coast to Coast, like many events in New Zealand's restrictive Covid climate, has been beset by setbacks. Aside from limits on gatherings, severe rain battered the West Coast. Despite those setbacks and the need to scrap the two-day event, 233 individuals and 14 teams will contest the longest day.
Much has changed since Allan's first taste. He and wife Amy now juggle children Flynn, 7, and Matilda, 5, around training and work commitments.
While the event holds pride of place, Allan can claim Ironman podium finishes in Sweden, Australia and China; Xterra multisport and adventure race wins; and two Challenge Wanaka titles, including a course record.
The fire lit with that first Coast to Coast still burns within.
"The two-day race has always been seen as the amateur side to the event. Winning that was nice because success is always good but it meant if I wanted to take the sport seriously, I had to go back and do the one-day race.
"It was never easy. It's not a mainstream sport so it doesn't offer tangible opportunities as such. It just shows with a lot of passion you can create a career through a sport that doesn't get a lot of attention.
"Now in the twilight of my career I'm benefitting from the fact endurance sport has exploded. Technology has given us so many comforts that people are sick of it. They know it's in our DNA to go out and move. Because of that we've seen a huge explosion of interest in Ironman, ultramarathon running.
"When I first did the Coast to Coast it was well on the way out. The field was dwindling and they were struggling for sponsorship. Now it sells out in minutes. It's amazing to see where the sport has gone in those 15 years so it's been a pretty cool wave to ride."
Allan finished eighth in his first crack at the longest day. After a series of near misses thereafter, including three second places, he became fed up with chasing an elusive title. A six-year hiatus to pursue Ironman and adventure racing abroad ensued.
In late 2018, Allan linked with the renowned Walker, a Coast to Coast champion three times yet better known as five time Olympic gold medallist Lisa Carrington's kayaking coach, and returned a new man to claim the breakthrough longest day victory the following year.
"Ironman taught me a whole different bag of tricks. You go away, see the world and come up against world-class athletes and it creates a mental shift.
"From little old Foxton, the world is a big place once you get the opportunity to see it. That's what sport has given me. I definitely wouldn't have gone to remote mountains in China or coastlines in Brazil otherwise.
"Physically I wasn't too different when I came back but, mentally, I was less intimidated by the Coast to Coast course and athletes having been to Europe to race Ironman."
Having worked with Allan the past four years, Walker's admiration is clear. He attributes rapid changes in Allan's paddling ability for helping propel him to 2019 success but believes his talent stretches far beyond the Coast to Coast.
"People put the same level of preparation and commitment into multisport that goes into winning an Olympic gold medal or playing for the All Blacks," Walker says. "Just because it doesn't have the same profile, doesn't mean you can't have the same intentions.
"Dougal's application, professionalism, commitment to learning all standout. Any athlete could achieve a lot modelling themselves on his approach.
"He's pretty complete and improving all the time. As a cyclist he is extraordinary. If he had a crack at cycling from a young age he would have been right up there. He is unbelievable. It's incredible what he can do on the bike. Even by cyclist standards his numbers are phenomenal.
"I see an athlete who has achieved a huge amount in multisport but could've done it in other sports as well because he is very gifted."
Walker continues to shape many elite athletes but the insight he offers into the enormity of mastering three disciplines – run, bike, kayak – across 12 hours of racing puts context around the Coast to Coast challenge.
"First I went in a supporting role and I looked at the guys come through and was like 'holy these guys are freaking animals'.
"There's not many events where just finishing is enough. It's such a huge accomplishment whether you win it or come 100th. If you're at the pointy end you are on the limit from into the mountain run for as long as you can possibly keep yourself going."
When the time comes, walking away from the adrenaline and euphoria of intensely competitive multisport won't be easy for Allan. That time is drawing closer for 36-year-old, though before then he craves one more crack at Whakatāne's Sam Clark, the four-time longest day winner not involved this year. In their last head-to-head two years ago, Clark secured the honours.
"It does scare me a little to think about life without sport because it's always been such a big part of my adult life," Allan says. "It will be an interesting period to phase out of it but I've been aware for some time and that's partly why I built up my coaching business.
"I've done my last Coast to Coast a few times. If I get through this race and do a pretty good job with it, it would be hard not to go back.
"I think he's the man to beat in this race when he's fit and I would love the opportunity before I retire to see if I could beat who I consider the best in the business at the moment. That's what makes me tick now. If I win a third title that's great, but numbers don't really matter. It's more of those big personal tests."
• The 40th anniversary of the Coast to Coast kicks off on Saturday.
The 22-year-old's selection is about so much more than just statistics.