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Emily Miazga is used to dressing up as a superhero to promote her range of Em's Power Cookies and the Canadian-born multisport athlete displayed almost superhuman powers to claim her third Speight's Coast to Coast title in four years.
Miazga suffered a bout of pneumonia at the end of last year and lost five weeks' training but the adopted West Coaster proved her pedigree with a thrilling victory yesterday ahead of veteran and four-time winner Jill Westenra.
Westenra, who was eligible to race in the veteran category but opted to compete in the open category, came desperately close to a dream comeback to the event.
The 44-year-old from Wellington dominated the race at the turn of the decade, winning four consecutive titles from 2000-03. A four-year break to pursue other sporting interests, including a trip to the kayaking world championships and a half-ironman, kept her racing instincts sharp and she almost paced herself perfectly to catch Miazga and Elina Ussher on the 70km cycle leg home to Christchurch.
Miazga won the closest Coast to Coast in history last year, pipping Fleur Pawsey by just 43 seconds and it was another epic battle this year between Miazga, Westenra and Ussher, who finished third. Miazga summed up the race afterwards in her own inimitable style.
"On the mountain run, Fleur (Pawsey) and I were duking it out," she said. "Then on the kayak I made a mistake at the top and Elina got in front of me, and we were duking it out. And then on the final bike ride, crusty old Jill Westenra was chasing me. Bloody hell!"
Westenra closed to within a couple of minutes of Miazga on the 70km bike ride into Christchurch but the 34-year-old dug deep.
"I just had to keep pushing because I didn't want her (Westenra) to do to me what I did to Fleur last year," said Miazga.
"You have to show them you are strong and you are tough and let them know if you want to beat me you are going to have to work for it. You have to put in that effort to try and demoralise them."
Ussher, wife of three-time Coast to Coast champion Richard, almost added to the legend of the house of Ussher yesterday with a third-placed finish in the epic multisport race.
Like Westenra, she also came close to catching Miazga on the final bike leg but couldn't reel in the determined Canadian. What kept Miazga going in the final stages?
"A lot of guts. A lot of perseverance. A lot of beer," she laughed as she sampled the first of her celebratory Speight's at the finish line.
