Kathmandu Crazyman
Crazyman - New Zealand’s Best?
Michael Jaques / 03.05.2007
Close to 500 endurance junkies will line up on Hutt City’s Petone Foreshore on Saturday morning for Wellington’s 17th Kathmandu Crazyman multisport race. The 66km kayaking, mountain biking and mountain running epic in the rugged splendour of the Hutt Valley’s hills, river and harbour is one of New Zealand’s biggest and longest running multisport events. On a course that is as spectacular as it is challenging, competitors open up with a 12k kayak leg along Petone Foreshore and around the eastern bays of Wellington Harbour to Eastbourne. They then swap kayaks for running shoes for an 18k mountain run over the Eastern harbour Regional Park and Mt Lowry to Wainuiomata. The final leg is a 34k mountain bike along the Hutt Hills Skyline and down the Hutt River Trail to finish at Hutt High School in central Hutt City.
As part of the Sportzhub.com national series, the Kathmandu Crazyman is one of New Zealand’s most prestigious multisport events. Combined with a $20,000 prize pool, many of the county’s best multisporters will gather on the Petone Foreshore start line.
Favourite is Ohakune-based German, Marcel Hagener. The former pro cyclist has become one of the world’s best multisporters and adventure racers since moving to New Zealand six years ago. In 2005 he won an adventure racing world title and in 2006 he was second in the Kathmandu Crazyman behind two-time world champion Richard Ussher. Hagener is keen to go one better this year and good recent form included a win in last month’s Porirua Grand Traverse.
Ussher, the Olympic skier-turned-world champion multisporter and adventure racer, is unsure of defending his Kathmandu Crazyman title. Ussher, who won the Crazyman in 2006 and 2000, will be in Wellington with his wife Elina, who is defending her Crazyman title from last year. But with the world adventure racing championships only a few weeks away in Scotland Ussher says he’ll only race if he feels strong and conditions look good, because he doesn’t want to risk a tough race affecting his world championship preparation.See All Event Posts
