KEY POINTS:
News travels fast, even from the South Island wilds, and it wasn't good for supporters of defending Coast to Coast champion Richard Ussher during this year's 243km multisport race.
Early reports suggested that Ussher, a world-class professional, had a damaged kayak. Ussher did stop for a change of clothing during the 67km Waimakariri River paddle. But his kayak was fine, and the damage had been done much earlier.
His destroyer was 34-year-old Aucklander Gordon Walker, a "dedicated amateur", who had been plotting Ussher's downfall after consecutive seconds behind the man from Nelson. Yes. It's true. An Aucklander smashed the pride of Southern Man this year, taking their Coast to Coast title back to the land of the latte, with the winner-takes-all $10,000 prize.
Multisport attracts all sorts of characters and its friendships, like the race itself, cross divides.
For example: this year's second placegetter was Gordon Blythen, a former wood chopper and salt-of-the-earth fencer from Matakana with a spirit so generous he showed training companion Walker short cuts on the Coast to Coast run.
Walker was schooled at King's College where his father taught. The Walkers lived on the school grounds.
Walker was a good cyclist in his teens, claiming fourth in a Tour of Southland stage. But from the time he finished seventh on debut in the 2003 Coast to Coast, Walker believed total dedication and his natural endurance would claim him the title within three years. He reached his goal last week after years of scraping a living and training 25 hours a week.
"It was unbelievable, totally incredible," he says, also revealing a provincial rivalry sub-plot.
"The crowd went berserk when I raised my arms. I've seen people winning in all sports but I've never had that in this calibre of race.
"I'm very proud to have won it for Auckland and five of the first 10 were from the North Island.
"The worst thing about Christchurch is the Crusaders always winning. It makes them even worse. We call it the land of Cyclops down there because they've all got one eye."
Whether he will be back with the same preparation remains to be seen. It may be time to start a career for this former bike shop owner, and his girlfriend, Viv Jerschke - an ex-mountainbike champion - is to give birth to their first child in July.
So it is Coast to Coast mission accomplished in many ways, and time to talk about his path to victory.
Walker didn't finish in 2004, failing to check the weather and running into a southerly front and hypothermia. A lightly clad Walker talked mumbo jumbo and thought trees were people running towards him. Instead of eating then continuing, he quit in despair.
Walker was then delighted to finish second in 2005. He has a crop of high-achieving mates and training partners, including Cameron Brown, Ben Fouhy and Paul Leitch.
Cyclist Leitch has a motto: "To finish first, first you must finish." It stood Walker in good stead that year, but he was not happy after another second placing last year.
He twisted an ankle and the foam seat in his kayak came loose - not the only thing to come unstuck. Before the paddle, he discovered a support crew member had drunk both serves of his supplement drink.
"That was a disaster. It was the look on his face when he pulled out the container. He'd drunk a bottle of the water as well."
Ooops.
Walker decided the way to beat Ussher this year was to break with convention and attack on the initial early-morning 55km cycle leg. Walker even turned his back light off to help sneak away from the pack.
He is convinced that word got out to Ussher before the race. Four men, including Walker and Ussher, took off without a word spoken.
Ussher, a better runner, responded with a frantic attack to break Walker on the 33km mountain run. But by the kayak stage, Walker was within three minutes of Ussher, and well on the way to the treasured title. Ussher was to finish 10th.
"Contenders had tried the cycling breakaway before and fallen in a screaming heap. It had become a neutral stage and I wasn't 100 per cent confident my strategy was good," says Walker.
"But it worked absolutely perfectly. When I paddled past Richard I knew by the look on his face he was doing it tough. He said on the river it was the first time in three years he'd seen anyone else there because he's usually so far ahead.
"George Christison was with us and I said to him, 'Richard looks pretty toasted.' George said, 'Yeah - you made him bike too hard."'
It was a complete triumph, with another Walker comrade Dwarne Farley from Mt Maunganui, finishing third.
"Richard is an extremely good sportsman, a good guy, and said he was stoked for me. He's very motivated. He'll want to destroy everyone next year," said Walker.
There was also a moment for sad reflection.
Three years earlier, 22-year-old Dan Shanahan - who had just qualified for the Hawaiian Ironman - died in Walker's arms after a heart attack while training in Cornwall Park.
"That was life-changing for me and put a lot of things into perspective - you've got to make the most of every day," says Walker. "Dan was an awesome guy. I thought about him as I crossed the line."
