We are off! Two months in New Zealand, and the worlds thoughest and oldest multisport solo race awaits us- the legendary Coast to Coast
We left Umeå on the night of the 10th, flying to Los Angeles on the 11th, and spending some days there with Scott’s family. On the 14th we fly to Auckland via a 12 hour stop in Brisbane, Australia.
Once in NZ we are hoping to find a cheap car to buy, and then resell when we leave. Same with two kayaks (most likely we will spend more money on those than on the car :-) We are bringing our mtb´s with us. And the tent of course! As usual, we plan to spend 0 money on accommodation. Tent and hospitable Kiwis will be our lodging. We actually know quite a few people down under; multisporters, friends of friends, relatives of friends and so on. And they have all welcomed us to stay with them!
The race then: for those of you that haven’t heard about it, it is the oldest solo multisport race in the world. It’s also considered the world championships in solo multisport. This is the 28th year that it will take place. It starts on the west coast of the South Island, and finishes on the east coast – therefore called ”Coast to Coast”. The course goes like this: 3 km running, 55 km cycling, 33 km running (over Arthur’s Pass), 15 km cycling, 67 km paddling (class 2 river), 70 km biking. A total of 243 km. Men’s winning time is about 11-12 hours (depending on the wind) and women’s is about 13-14 hours. About 30 % of the competitors does not cross the finish line – so it’s quite a tough race. Oh boy, will it hurt! But it will also be really fun! (as long as we cross the finish line…)
The race is the 13th of February. Until then we are going to train for the race, do fun adventures, see as much of the country as we can, enjoy the beautiful nature, and HAVE FUN! Hopefully we will find some local races to compete in along the way. We return to Sweden on the 20th of February.
Hope you will follow us along!
Cheers!
Emma and Scott
