Multisport: A mountain too high for plucky Pollock

When Mark Pollock was helicoptered off Goat Pass late on Saturday, his chances of ever finishing the Coast to Coast went with him.

The 29-year-old Irishman was hoping to become the first blind competitor to complete the event in his second attempt but found the terrain on the 33km mountain run too difficult.

The veteran of the Kobi Desert and North Pole adventure races has now decided the granddaddy of New Zealand multisport is one challenge he cannot overcome, despite his determination, and won't be coming back.

"I just wasn't quick enough and I don't know if I will ever be quick enough," Pollock said. "But I gave it my best crack and I can't do any more than that.

"There's a realisation that adventure racing might not be for me. Certainly not ones as challenging as that and I will stick to the flatter terrain events."

Pollock had felt like a failure after having to pull out of the 2005 event and came back fitter and more prepared. But once again he struggled with boulders as big as cars on the way up to the 930m-high Goat Pass.

He plans to attempt the Swiss Ironman later this year and could be back to take on Ironman New Zealand next year.

While he failed to achieve a first for the event, there were plenty more, despite the fact the Coast to Coast is now into its 24th year.

Nine-time winner Steve Gurney might have turned up one year with a racing pod for one of the bike legs but he never tried a row-bike as former Olympian Rob Hamill did.

The winner of the 1997 transatlantic rowing race stuck out like a surfer at a convent when he jumped on board the contraption in the two-day teams event. In 2001 he tried out a kick-bike but had, in Hamill's eyes, a complete shocker. This time it was more successful.

The specially-designed contraption was faster than conventional cycles downhill but struggled on the hills and finished down the field on the first section.

"I loved it," Hamill enthused. "It was a lot more fun than I thought it was going to be."

Another first saw 17-year-old Rupert MacLachlan become the youngest competitor in the individual two-day race. He finished 38th overall.

- HERALD ON SUNDAY