A Coast to Coast men's and women's double on Saturday is widely predicted for the House of Ussher - Nelson multisporters Richard and Elina Ussher.
However, Richard is quick to add caution to talk the 35-year-olds are poised to complete the first husband and wife double in the event's 30-yearhistory. Richard is titleholder and four-times winner and Elina won the women's race in 2010 and was runner-up last year.
"Obviously it would be really nice,'' he said. "But we are probably in the twilights of our careers now, so there will probably be not many more opportunities before young guys are knocking on the door. In fact, they probably are this year.''
The women's field was the more competitive last year, but the reverse is probably the case this year.
"There are a lot of up-and-coming guys who are really pushing the pace this year, and who have also got enough experience to be a threat,'' Ussher said. "And there are others who do not have great experience, but have great physical capabilities. [But it's] a really long day out and experience definitely counts for something in that ace.''
Ussher cites last year's runner-up Dougal Allan, last year's two-day winner James Coubrough and Australian-based Kiwi Braden Currie as his main competition.
Coubrough is a good runner and paddler and Currie is an aggressive athlete who has the ability to pull out something special on the day.
Ussher's win in 10hr 41min 12sec last year was the second-fastest in the event's history.
But Ussher said there were quite a few aspects of that performance he was unhappy with, and he'd been rusty not having done the race the two previous years.
"Especially the run and the kayak were, I felt not great, and I've been doing work on this,'' he said.
If that's bad news for his rivals, the good news is there's a tiny hint this might be his last one-dayer.
"Never say never, and definitely things change every year, but we are starting to look to the future a bit.''
However, he was sure he'd be there "in some capacity'' in future.
After the Coast to Coast, Ussher has the Queenstown Godzone Adventure in April and the Xterra world championship in Maui in October on his schedule.
The Queenstown event is the first unsupported expedition race in New Zealand for a long time. Ussher is competing in a four-person team with his wife, Currie, and teenager Sam Clark.
