Ross Dittmer comes second in the 60 plus age group for Coast to Coast last weekend, only months after fighting cancer for the second time and having a course of radiation. Video / Andrew Warner
Not even a second cancer diagnosis was going to stop Rotorua’s Ross Dittmer from ticking off the gruelling Coast to Coast multi-sport event from his bucket list.
Despite going through more than six weeks of radiation smack in the middle of his rigorous training regime, the 60-year-old popular former local butcher crossed the finish line of the two-day event earlier this month.
If completing the race wasn’t an achievement enough, he did it in impressive style with a time of 16 hours and 25 minutes, coming second in his age group - which he advises with a giggle is called the “vintage” category.
Ross Dittmer competing in the 2024 Coast to Coast.
It was Dittmer’s third go starting the race. He entered about 20 years ago but was forced to pull out in the lead-up when he pulled his Achilles tendon. Away he went again the following year, but this time he injured his knee before he could take the start line.
Five years ago, Dittmer sold his business, The Meat Shoppe in central Rotorua - where he worked for 38 years including nearly two decades as the owner.
While he and his partner, Leigh-Ann, now work in partnership doing maintenance and upkeep of holiday homes, without running a busy butcher’s shop, Dittmer suddenly found himself more time-rich.
Once he got a hip replacement out of the way three years ago, the Coast to Coast went back on the more immediate “to-do list” - something he jokes he never fully disclosed to his hip replacement surgeon.
“It’s fine. It’s good as gold. All the exercise I’ve been doing has made it stronger I think, plus I do a lot of pilates and things like that.”
Ross Dittmer competing in the 2024 Coast to Coast.
Entering the Coast to Coast isn’t automatic. In fact, it’s a bit of a lottery. First, you need to put your name in a ballot drawn at the start of the year. If you miss out, you get another shot in a second-chance draw the following month filling spots from people who might have pulled out.
When Dittmer was lucky enough to make the first list in February last year, he started gearing up for the event. But in the middle of the year, his prostate cancer returned.
Dittmer said he started annual blood tests checking for prostate cancer as recommended by doctors six years before his first cancer diagnosis in 2022.
Thanks to those, it picked up the prostate cancer early and he had his prostate removed.
He agreed the tests were a lifesaver.
“Every guy should do them. They are so simple it’s not funny.”
But he said there was never any guarantee after his operation in 2022 the cancer was all gone. His follow-up blood tests last year confirmed the cancer was back.
Dittmer said he went through six-and-a-half weeks of radiation treatment five days a week in Tauranga. Although he felt “reasonably well”, he said it was tiring.
Training took a back burner but he got stuck in from September and did five months of solid slog.
Ross Dittmer competing in the 2024 Coast to Coast.
Dittmer gets emotional when he thinks about finally crossing that finishing line after everything that’s happened.
“I always wanted to enter and finish. That was the goal.”
Now he might have caught the bug and has already put his name down for next year’s ballot.
He reckons he could potentially shave some time off that “horrendous” mountain run in the middle of the event if he could do a solid nine months of training and not have to worry about stamping out cancer along the way.
And what are the chances of taking first place podium in the “vintage” category next year?
The humble runner just giggles and said: “I don’t know about that, we’ll have to see if I get in the ballot first”.
Ross Dittmer came second in his age group at Coast to Coast despite fighting cancer a second time. Photo / Supplied
What is the Coast to Coast?
Its website said it is considered New Zealand’s most iconic multi-sport event covering 243km from Kumara on the West Coast of the South Island to Christchurch on the East Coast.
Over the first day, competitors run 3km, cycle 55km and run 33km.
On the second day, they set off again completing a 15km cycle, 67km paddle and 70km cycle in Christchurch.
Kelly Makiha is a senior journalist who has reported for the Rotorua Daily Post for more than 25 years, covering mainly police, court, human interest and social issues.
