Crazyman Turns 20!
Michael Jacques / 19.04.2010
Scheduled for Saturday May 1, the HuttValleyNZ.com Crazyman offers something for fitness enthusiasts of all age, ability and experience. Designed around a challenging yet achievable tour of Wellington’s icon outdoor elements – the harbour, hills and Hutt River – organisers this year expect more than 500 entrants from all ends of the country to celebrate the 20th anniversary of Wellington’s premier multisport race..
Established in 1991, the kayak, run and mountain bike event has been around almost as long as the sport, yet it continues to grow in both popularity and reputation. With a prize pool totalling $20,000 the Crazyman is one of the richest multisport races on the national circuit. Coast to Coast legends Steve Gurney, Kristina Anglem, Jill Westenra, Emily Miazga, Richard and Elina Ussher, Fleur Pawsey and Gordon Walker all cut their teeth at the Crazyman.
Gurney won the event in the mid-90s, but only narrowly ahead of local legends Dave Abbott and Brian Sanders, who won the Speight’s Coast to Coast way back in 1985. That same year a young Kristina Strode-Penny (later Anglem) triumphed in her very first multisport race, which of course led to world titles in both multisport and adventure racing.
In those days the Crazyman was a two-day event and Gurney called it tougher than the two day Coast to Coast. But the toughest part was actually organising it. The Crazyman encompassed two city councils, two harbour boards, Transit New Zealand, the Regional Council, almost 100 volunteers, increasingly dangerous roads and increasingly difficult and expensive safety and concession issues.
Until 2000 the Crazyman had been organised by a keen group of local multisporters. As is often the case, all had been involved in the Speight’s Coast to Coast and came home inspired for a similar race across the Wellington region. This has happened dozens of times all over New Zealand. Old-timers will remember races like the Mountain to Sea, the North Island Coast to Coast, the Head to Head, the Akitio Challenge and Pub to Pub; all races that thrived for a while only to disappear for reasons varying from increasing costs and decreasing sponsorship to lack of organisation and plain old lack of interest. The Crazyman was no different, except it survived.
By 2000 the group of training buddies who had founded the event were gradually disappearing to the usual challenges of changing interests, lifestyles, addresses, jobs and sports. In 1996 the Crazyman had 350 participants, but by 2000 it had been left to one person to manage an event that was becoming increasingly difficult and expensive to organise. At the same time the local scene was in something of a lull and entries had diminished to around 100 when a former winner decided to step in.
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