Waiting and Watching

The Coast to Coast Multisport Championship.

From the Waimakariri Gorge Bridge- team mates and support crews checking the progress of the kayakers heading down the Waimak to the Gorge. Information that is continually updated by radio telephone was written on a board. Here they change from kayaks to bicycles.

The Speight's Coast to Coast traverses the South Island of New Zealand from Kumara Beach on the Tasman Sea to Sumner Beach on the Pacific Ocean. Over either two days (individuals or two person teams) or the one-day event (individuals only), competitors cycle 140 kms (three stages of 55km, 15 km and 70 km), run 36 km (including a 33 km mountain stage that crosses the Southern Alps) and kayak 67kms of the grade two Waimakariri River through the Grand Canyon of New Zealand, the Waimakariri Gorge.
The event is divided into three races - the One-Day or Longest Day event is for individuals only while the Two-Day event is for individuals and two person teams. In the Teams section the runner and the kayaker both do cycling stages.
Top competitors take ten and three quarter hours to cover the 243kms while the slowest time ever recorded was twenty-four and a half hours. (Information from the official website).

It is interesting to note that parts of the mountain run don't have formed tracks or trails.

Better in large.