It took a Wakatipu High School trio just over 12-and-a-half hours to complete last weekend’s Coast to Coast — running, biking and kayaking from Kumara Beach, on the West Coast, to Christchurch’s New Brighton Beach.
Tom Schenk, Pete Davis, both 17, and Siena Mackley, 16, competed in the schools category of the 2-day, 3-person mixed team event, known as almost a rite of passage event for multisport athletes worldwide.
They not only won their category, which included seven other schools, but they were also the first of 67 mixed teams home and came fourth overall from the 127 3-people teams.
Hot on their heels was another schools team, Kents Dunstan Grammar, comprising students from Dunstan College, Auckland Grammar and Auckland’s Saint Kentigern College.
Dunstan High School’s Jasper Wearing and two students from the Auckland schools finished about 22 minutes behind the Wakatipu trio.
While it’s the first time Siena’s competed in the brutal event, Tom and Pete, along with Josh Watson, last year won the Kathmandu Coast to Coast Academy prize.
That gave them an entry into the sold-out 2023 event, in which they finished third in the schools’ category.
With that experience under their belt, they enlisted Siena this year.
Despite her being a rising running star — recently selected for the New Zealand under-20 women’s team for the world cross county champs, being held in Serbia at the end of nextmonth — she took the all-in 140km cycle leg.
Her dad, Richard, says Pete was keen to do the total 36.3km run, including a mountain run, and Tom’s a paddler, who handled the 67km kayak, so they asked Siena if she wanted to have a crack on the bike.
While she competed in triathlon when she was younger — "swimming was definitely the weak link" — she’s also had experience in duathlons.
To help get her ready, Richard says they’ve used a "Tuesday night bunch ride" in Queenstown to get her cycling up to speed.
He’s full of praise for the "inclusive, supportive event", surrounded by an amazing atmosphere, and reckons if her running commitments permit, she’ll be a starter again in future.
