Weekend warriors: The boom in multisport events
Saturday, 9 September 2023
You can ride electric bikes in some multisport events around the South Island these days.
Of course you can. The purpose of these events isn’t to cross the Mainland in a one-day orgy of extreme exercise.
No, the purpose is to get as many people as possible over the finish line, get them fit, get them accomplishing goals, and meeting like-minded athletes. And for some organisers, make some money.
Ebikes fit that ethos well. They open the races to more people with different capabilities. But don’t fret about cheating too much. Ebikers generally can’t podium.
It is part of a boom in multi-sport events. Meanwhile, the multisport sector is booming.
In the 22 weeks between the start of September and the Coast to Coast race in early February, there are at least 15 multisport events across the South Island, according to the Running Calendar NZ.
These are generally below the level of the Coast to Coast and Ironman events.
For example, a new event this spring is the Clifftop Challenge, which takes place at Le Bons Bay on Banks Peninsula on November 4. It’s a classic multisport event, with mountain biking, trail running and paddling ‒ except the kayaking is on salt water with the possibility of rolling surf rather than rocky rapids. Plus seals, maybe.
The clifftop name is well selected. Part of the course takes athletes above steep bluffs. Athletes scared of heights, do your homework.
Like many events, numerous classes have been created to broaden the appeal. Want to walk 10km? The start is 11.45am from Le Bons Bay Domain.
Want to mountain bike 16km? The start is 9.45am.
Want to run 31km - the same distance as the Coast to Coast run over Goat Pass but with less altitude? The start is 11am.
Want the full race - kayak 18km, then mountain bike 26km, and then run 31km? Train harder. The start is 8.30am.
“There's a need for events for the weekend warrior,” says Kerry Uren, who owns the new race and three others.
The Coast to Coast and other headline events are held once a year and sell out months in advance.
“These other events give people a chance to do some multisport that wasn't previously available to them.”
Kayla Cunningham will compete in the Clifftop Challenge. She has dabbled in multisport for years and was on the wait list for the Coast to Coast last year.
This year, she got a spot in the two-day individual class. To prepare, she’s training more than 10 hours a week. And she’ll compete in the Salmon Run in Rakaia on October 14, the Twizel Hard on Labour Weekend, the Challenge Wanaka Multi on October 28, and then take on the Clifftop Challenge in early November.
“The community within multisport is absolutely incredible,” says the 31-year-old Sport Canterbury employee. It’s a buzz seeing people from all walks of life succeeding at something - whether it’s just finishing or doing really well, she says.
“My personal thing is pushing boundaries. You just actually never know what you can do until you give it a crack.”
Zoe Hollander agrees about the “really cool people” who multi. She also talks about learning new skills - kayaking for example - and the skills to make it happen: willpower, time management, organising her life so she can train, travel and compete.
“It gives me new experiences,” says the 30-year-old Queenstown solicitor. She competed in endurance events at school and turned to multisport in March.
When you run to a mountain peak, you see and experience things you wouldn’t if you didn’t attend that training run or weren’t fit enough to achieve the summit, she says.
Making experiences is a big selling point for event organisers.
“Enjoy the only time in the year you are allowed to kayak on the iconic Meridian hydro canals, which are closed to all water craft the rest of the year,” promises the Twizel Hard website.
The South Island Spring Challenge, will be based in Ōamaru this weekend , includes rafting, hiking and navigating, as well as mountain biking. It’s restricted to girls and women who participate in teams of three. A Summer Challenge will be based out of Akaroa in March.
The Southern Lakes Multisport Club 12/24 Hour Adventure Race may include abseiling, but because it’s an adventure race, the course is secret until race day.
Finishing long events almost always requires serious training beforehand.
Three to six months is “probably a pretty good guideline for most people” looking to finish an event that’s below the Coast to Coast, says Richard Greer, founder of Team CP, a private coaching firm. You need 12 months for the Coast to Coast, he reckons.
He’s trained thousands of athletes in a 20-plus year career and there’s about 200 on Team CP’s books at the moment.
But it depends on each newbie’s health, goals, schedule, willpower and wallet.
Greer’s coaching includes the obvious, like putting in the kilometres on a road bike. It also includes stuff like recovery, nutrition and transition techniques.
“The best thing about doing what I do is working with enthusiastic people that want to better themselves,” he says. “It's a really good, positive environment.”
There are less expensive ways to train, including with the Canterbury Triathlon Club. Members pay $6 for a 90-minute coached run after office hours on Mondays, for example.
The coach is likely to be John Newsom, who’s been competing in triathlons and the like since 1991 and been a full-time coach since 2004. His full marathon personal best is 2:38:33.
He founded and still organises the Oxman, an event with many classes that’s been running on an Oxford farm since 2019 and this year will happen on November 26. He reckons multisport, triathlons, and the Coast to Coast are upper middle class endeavours.
To widen the appeal, the Oxman is run as a club-type event, “where we might get about 400 to 500 people racing, and we try to price it [to not] exclude people from entering”.
The highest price is $225.
The Twizel Hard costs $140, the Southern Lakes multi costs $210, the Clifftop Challenge $310. All have lower prices for other classes.
The Coast to Coast one and two-day events run to $1350.
The wait list for the Coast to Coast Longest Day has 385 names and the wait list for the two-day race has 725 names.
There’s always a chance that up-and-coming athletes will do a Grant Boyd. Thirteen years ago, aged 50, he was told by his doctor to get off the couch.
He bought a bike and started riding, eventually signing up with Greer’s Team CP and getting more ambitious. “I started mixing with other people are already doing it. These are pretty cool people and I liked being around them,” he says.
He lost more than 25kg and finished the two-day Coast to Coast in 2015. He’s since completed many triathlons and Ironmans. He travels for events; this week he’s on the Gold Coast, Hawaii next May.
He trains before work, after work and on weekends.
“I realised, actually, I need this in my life. I need it for physical and mental reasons.”
Outdoor sport types:
Marathon: A 42km run, usually on a road. An Olympic sport since 1896.
Duathlon: Usually a run-bike-run race. On-road or off.
Triathlon: Usually involves swimming, running, and cycling. On-road or off.
Multisport: Usually involves running, paddling and cycling. On-road or off.
Ironman: Sanctioned by the World Triathlon Corporation. Involves 226km of swimming, cycling and running. Often gruelling.
Ultra: Long-distance events.
Adventure racing: Any combination of disciplines and lengths, with navigation on top.
Rogaine: A form of competitive orienteering.