Coast to Coast Filling Fast

30.12.2008

Entries for the 2009 Speight’s Coast to Coast are almost full, and race Director Robin Judkins says this year’s 27th edition of the race across New Zealand will be all about the many and varied personal races within the race.

Almost 800 people from 19 countries have entered for the 2009 Speight’s Coast to Coast and entries are still flowing in.

“Many of the elite athletes have yet to confirm their entry,” says race director Robin Judkins, “But there should be just under 800 on the Kumara Beach start line.”

Entries this year have come from as far a field as USA, England, Canada, Scotland, Ireland, Singapore, Netherlands, Finland, Australia, Sweden, Brazil, South Africa, Japan, Czech Republic, Denmark, Germany and even Nepal and Papua New Guinea.

Scheduled for February 13 and 14, the 2009 Speight’s Coast to Coast has been dubbed, “The Year of the Woman”. And fittingly, some of the top contenders for the woman’s One Day world title race are internationals.

Defending champion Emily Miazga is a Canadian based these days on the South Island’s West Coast. Others include Christchurch-based Dane Sia Svendsen and Brazilian Nora Audra, who recently combined to win New Zealand’s Spring Challenge, the biggest women’s only event in the world.

However, the biggest challenge to Miazga claiming her third Speight’s Coast to Coast title could from Finland’s Elina Ussher. The former Finnish orienteering rep, living now in Nelson, finished second to Miazga in her first attempt three years ago, but has struggled since. This year her husband, three time Speight’s Coast to Coast champion Richard Ussher, is foregoing the defence of his title to concentrate on assisting his wife to win a world title of her own.

“It’s great that in the Year of the Woman that the woman’s One Day world title race has such a strong field says Judkins. And with Richard Ussher not racing the men’s world title race will be very open. But there are great stories right throughout the field.”

“From Australia we have more than 30 entries, including a whole family of five doing the race together. From the Hawke’s Bay there’s a 67 year old doing the race for the first time and from Wellington a 69 year old doing it for his seventh time. There are several husband and wife entries, father daughter teams, and even a set of twins teaming up.”