Multisport: Former Olympic skier wins as ex-champ pulls out

Kristina Anglem, followed by Gary Fahey, during the mountain run section. Picture / Fotopress

A former Olympic skier ushered in a new era at the Coast to Coast multisport race.

Queenstown's Richard Ussher dominated the 243km race across the South Island's Southern Divide on Saturday, heading 173 athletes from 14 countries who lined up under ground level fog for the start of the world championship event on the West Coast.

Also powering across the Southern Alps was Kristina Anglem, who won her second straight women's title and was an outstanding sixth overall.

It was a relaxed Ussher who crossed the line in front of a packed crowd at Christchurch's Sumner Beach, stopping the clock at 11h 44m 07s, nine minutes ahead of Gordon Walker, who had powered past third-placed fellow-Aucklander Ross Rotherham on the last cycle.

"This has been my dream to win the Coast to Coast since I went from skiing to multisport. It's a pretty emotional thing for me," Ussher said, nearing tears on the finish line.

In past years Ussher had contended for the world title, only to fall back in the closing stages.

"I was conservative early on so that I had something left for the last third of the race."

Ussher slipped away from nearest rival Rotheram during the short 15km cycle between the run and kayak sections and then opened a huge 15-minute lead on the 67km paddle down the Waimakariri River.

The 28-year-old enjoyed a free ride into Christchurch but he was conscious Walker was closing fast.

"Gordon's a really strong cyclist," Ussher said.

"I was giving it about 90 per cent; just leaving a little bit in case I had to really hammer home."

The dense fog made for a slow ride on the opening 55km cycle.

More than two-thirds of the field made the lead bunch but from the start of the run the race quickly split into a tight lead pack of five runners.

A late entry, former Commonwealth Games marathoner Phil Costley, took an early lead on the run over Goat Pass, opening two minutes as the field entered the big boulder sections. But Costley twisted an ankle on the tricky descent off Goat Pass and by the end of the run Ussher was in control with Rotheram tucked in behind him.

The surprise at this stage was the absence of George Christison.

Napier curator and defending champion Christison was expected to go toe to toe with Ussher over the mountain run but a recent virus left him walking over Goat Pass to eventually withdraw on the banks of the Waimakariri River.

Anglem led from start to finish and was feeling chipper at the finish despite hot conditions through much of the race.

"I just had the perfect race. I felt great and everything went exactly as we'd planned," she said.

"I heard how many people suffered in the heat in the two-day race yesterday.

"So I made sure I drank as much as I could and just focused on running my own race."

Anglem's own race turned out to be 44 minutes too good for any other woman, with Alexandra's Sally Fahey finishing second in 13h 24m 51s, ahead of New Zealand surf lifesaving representative Andre Hewitt of Christchurch.

The world champion combination of Jonathan Wyatt and Ben Fouhy overcame their overnight deficit to win the Coast to Coast two-day teams race.

Wyatt, the four-time world mountain running champion, and Fouhy, the Olympic silver medallist, ended the first day in second place after former team winners Michael and Graeme Causer turned the tables on the race favourites.

However, Fouhy gave Wyatt a huge lead after he kayaked more than 15 minutes faster than anyone else, and Wyatt then surprised with a strong cycle to be first in to Sumner in 10h 51m 33s, almost 18 minutes ahead of the Causer brothers.

In other two-day races, Christchurch athletes Luke Vaughan and Katrine Lawton dominated the individual men's and women's races, while former four-time winner of the world championship, Jill Westenra, was part of the winning mixed team with Auckland's Mark Beesley.

- NZPA