Speights Coast To Coast

Speights Coast To Coast

Robin Judkins has spent more than a quarter of a century organising New Zealand’s favourite race. The Speight’s Coast to Coast race director essentially created adventure sports and most of the world’s best have cut their teeth in his 243k world championship across New Zealand’s South Island. From 1983’s inaugural winner - Englishman Joe Sherriff, who will race again this year – to legends such as John Howard, Steve Gurney, Kathy Lynch, Australian John Jacoby, record holders Keith and Andrea Murray, Jill Westenra and Richard Ussher, Judkins has watched them all and become an astute judge of talent and tactics to the point where his annual “Top 10” prediction have become like a book-makers list of champions both current and to come.

“Gordon Walker is the definite favourite this year,” says Judkins without a hint of hesitation. “In the last four years he and Richard Ussher have dominated the Speight’s Coast to Coast and with Richard not racing this year, 2009 is really Gordon’s race to lose.”

Truer words have never been said. In 2008 Ussher won his third Speight’s Coast to Coast title, with Walker second but 25 minutes ahead of third place. Walker himself is aware of the favouritism, but rather than feeling the pressure he’s looking to dominate the race like never before.

The 36-year-old Aucklander will line up on Kumara Beach for the seventh time. After a couple teething years, the last four outings have netted him no worse than second place, with his breakthrough first place coming in 2007 when he beat Ussher and a star-studded field.

This year he hopes to play a catch-me-if-you-can game, but as Robin Judkins points out, “There are plenty of capable guys waiting to pick up the pieces if he falls apart.”

“There’s no Richard Ussher this year to really put the pressure on Gordon individually, but there are six or eight guys who have a shot at ruining the party if they worked together.”

“Guys like Marcel Hagener, Luke Vaughan, Gordon Blythen, and Carl Bevins are proven performers at the Speight’s Coast to Coast,” says Judkins, who points to the 25 year old Vaughan for a possible upset.

“Luke has been earmarked as a future world champion ever since he won the Two Day race as a teenager,” explains Judkins. “He’s a police officer and they give him a lot of support. He was seventh in 2007, but this year he has trained full time for three months. If you add his experience in this race – he’s only 25 but he’s done the Speight’s Coast to Coast seven times – then you’d have to say he will one day win this race. It’s just a matter of when.

Judkin’s, however, also has a soft spot for the Speight’s Coast to Coast old boys. “Marcel Hagener and Gordon Blythen are both over 40, and this year Glenn Muirhead is back as a 40 year old.”

All three athletes have been top six placegetters in previous years, with Hagener and Muirhead having bests of sixth (2003 and 2002) while Blythen was second in 2007, third in 2002 and 2006 and had a total of six top 10 placings.

Hagener, a builder based in Ohekune, is a former professional cyclist and has won the adventure racing world title with Richard Ussher in 2005. Muirhead is a physiotherapist with the Wellington Hurricane and NPC teams, while Blythen is a fencing contractor based in Wanaka.

“Gordon Walker remains the odds-on favourite,” says Judkins, but I highlight these three guys because they are good enough to be competing for overall honours instead of their veteran grade. And if they were to win it would be the first time someone over 40 has won the Speight’s Coast to Coast.”

Indeed, while the 2009 Speight’s Coast to Coast has been dubbed, “The Year of the Woman” following record female entries, it could turn out to be the year of the veteran because in the woman’s race the late entry of 44 year old, four-time winner Jill Westenra has turned the form book upside down.

“I was so wrapped when Jill entered,” says Judkins. She’s a tough competitor and although she hasn’t raced the Speight’s Coast to Coast One Day since 2004, she has stayed competitive and with four consecutive wins from 2000 to 2003, she has more experience than any other woman in the race.”

Westenra lines up against defending champion Emily Miazga and 2007 champion Fleur Pawsey, not to mention a handful of former top 10 women including internationals Elina Ussher (Finland) and Sia Svendsen (Denmark).

“Emily Miazga is going for her third win,” says Judkins of the Canadian-turned-West Coaster who won in 2006 and 2008. “Then you have local girl Fleur Pawsey, who won in 2007 and lost to Emily by only 43 seconds last year. I also think Elina Ussher will go very well because her husband Richard, who has won this race three times, is supporting her rather than racing.

“These four were always the women’s favourites,” continues Judkins, “And they knew it. But now Jill Westenra’s late entry will have them all worrying. They know she’s a legend at the Speight’s Coast to Coast, but Emily is the only one who has raced against her, and that was five years ago. So none of them have raced her for five years. They don’t know what to expect... and at the Speight’s Coast to Coast it’s the unexpected that is the greatest challenge for any Speight’s Coast to Coast competitor.”

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