He had won the race four times. She once. But they had never won it together in the same year. In the 30 years of the world’s longest running multisport race, no one had. But at the 30th anniversary Speight’s Coast to Coast multisport race today, Richard and Elina Ussher became the first husband and wife to win the famous Speight’s Coast to Coast race in the same year.


Fine and mild conditions greeted the 150 entrants from 13 countries as they lined up on Kumara beach for the One Day World Championship event. But with a cold southerly wind blowing in their faces for the entire 243k race across New Zealand’s South Island, the day would turn into one of the toughest in the 30 year history of the Speight’s Coast to Coast.


Racing started torridly when race favourite Richard Ussher instigated a breakaway on the opening 55k road cycle. Six men – Ussher (Nelson), Dougal Allan (Wanaka), Jeremy McKenzie (Blenheim), JJ Wilson (Chch), Braden Currie (Methven) and Carl Bevins (Chch) – opened up a three minutes lead over a large chase bunch.


Bevins and Wilson had to let the pace go after 30k and were picked up by the bunch of almost 20 riders. But the remaining four started the following mountain run section together. This didn’t last long, with Braden Currie pushing the pace straight away to open a 2min lead over Ussher halfway through the rugged 33k run over Goat Pass.


Meanwhile Lower Hutt builder James Coubrough was storming through the field from the chase bunch to catch Ussher as they started the last haul to the top of Goat Pass.


Coubrough, the New Zealand mountain running champion billed as an outsider to upset Ussher after winning the Speight’s Coast to Coast Two day race last year, looked likely to catch Currie as well. But Currie found a second wind on the downhill off Goat Pass, finishing the run at Klondyke Corner near Arthur’s Pass with a two minute buffer over Coubrough, and a further minute back to Ussher.


Prior to this year’s event Ussher had talked about his attempt at a fifth world title being a race between his experience and the talent of young pretenders to his throne such as Coubrough and Currie. As the race turned to a 15k road cycle and 67k, that experience started shining through.


Ussher caught Coubrough on the short cycle and started the Waimakariri River kayak section just two minutes behind Currie. Low water levels and a steady head wind turned this white water section into a race of attrition. Coubrough stayed close and they both passed Currie, and starting the final 70k road cycle to the finish line on Christchurch’s Sumner Beach, just six minutes separated all three.


On paper the race was anybody’s. But Ussher’s experience and class shone through as he slowly pulled away, clocking 40k/hr into the head winds. Behind him Coughbrough and Currie were caught in their own battle. Currie moved into second when Coubrough was forced to stop and fix gear problems on his bike. But Dougal Allan came from sixth to fourth on the kayak, then passed them both on the final cycle to claim second place for the third consecutive year.


In third place, Braden Currie matched the effort of his older brother Glen the previous year.


Richard Ussher, however, had been finished for almost 20 minutes, clocking 11hrs 33min 24secs to win his fifth Speight’s Coast to Coast. The time, almost an hour slower than his win of a year ago, reflected the conditions.


“I knew this year’s race was going to be about pacing yourself,” said Ussher while he waited to see if his wife would win the women’s race.


“We had a head wind the whole way and the river levels on the kayak were some of the lowest I’ve seen. When the course is slow like that it makes it a long day and when those guys started pushing the run so hard I decided I was happy to just do my own race and let the race work itself out.”


The race worked itself out pretty well for the Ussher family. After a torrid battle in the opening cycle and first half of the mountain run, Elina Ussher established a lead that grew steadily all day to become one of the biggest winning margins in the history of the Speight’s Coast to Coast.


The cycle section saw Ussher joined by co-favourite and 2007 winner Fleur Pawsey, as well as French adventure racing world champion Myriam Guillot. Ussher put pressure on straight away, opening up three minutes in the first hour of the run and finishing with eight minutes in hand. She added another minute to that on the 15k cycle section and then put together the best kayak of her career to start the final 70k cycle to Sumner with a lead of just over 20 minutes.


When the Finnish-born Nelsonian eventually crossed the finish line in 13hrs 25min 24secs, she had won by a massive 38 minutes. While smiling from ear-to-ear, she was visibly exhausted and started shivering immediately.


“Oh, it was such a tough race,” she said. “On the run I fell over a few times and suffered cramps a few times and was worried the other girls would be catching me. They said I had a big lead at the start of the kayak, but on the kayak it was so hard and I got very cold and I was worried Fleur might be catching me again. But on the last bike, when I knew I had a good lead I just focused hard on staying solid all the way to the finish.”


Behind Elina Ussher Fleur Pawsey put dehydration and stomach problems behind her to hold Myriam Guillot and fast finishing Rachel Cashin from Taumarunui, who passed the French woman and almost caught Pawsey to claim third place for the third time in six years.


Meanwhile Mr and Mrs Ussher were all smiles on the finish line, becoming the first husband and wife pair to wins the world’s most prestigious multisport event in the same year. But on such a demanding day both admitted to being engrossed in their own efforts more than each others.


“It is nice for us both to win it, but mostly I was concentrating on my own race,” commented Mrs Ussher. “When I started the last cycle, when my crew told me that Richard had won, I thought oh that’s nice, but I still have two hours to go and he is already celebrating.”


The Speight’s Coast to Coast, however, is so much more than the race up front. For more than 500 participants from 13 countries it is the toughest thing they have ever done, and also a blooding ground where you’ll see glimpses of tomorrow stars, people like Auckland’s Toni Keeling.


Keeling maintained her lead from day one to win by 12 minutes in 14hrs 20min 42secs. In second place Rolleston’s Olivia Spencer-Bower clawed her way from 10th after day one to finish second ahead of Hamilton’s Shanel Cornile.


The men’s two day race saw Woodend’s Nathan Jones hold out Christchurch’s Nathan Bell and Rotorua’s Mark Beesley, who was impressive in winning his 50-59 age category by 36 minutes.


Other highlights in the two day race included the teams race where Steve McKinstry (Akld) and Daniel Busch (Nelson) passed day one leaders Trevor Voyce (Nelson) and Matt Blundell Australia) to win by 89 seconds after 1`1hrs 22min 30secs of racing.


The biggest highlight, however, was the sight of inaugural 1983 finishers Joe Sherriff and Mike Ward finishing the same event 30 years later. Sherriff was the original winner back in 1983 and this year he completed the feature one day event. Mike Ward finished his 29th Speight’s Coast to Coast to continue his legacy of finishing more events than anyone else.


The biggest cheer, however, was reserved for blind competitor Neelusha Memon, who became the first blind person to finish the Speight’s Coast to Coast. The 27 year participated in the two day individual option, making day one’s cycle and mountain run cut off by 33 minutes and then comfortably finishing day two for a total time of 21hrs 01min 56secs.