Sleepless in the saddle

Despite not having had any sleep for the past 30 hours, Wellington police officer Tony LeSueur faced another 12 hours in the saddle as he headed south past Lawrence yesterday afternoon.

Passing under SH8 at Evans Creek, west of Lawrence, while navigating his way along the Clutha Gold Trail leg of the race, LeSueur was comfortably holding on to second place overall in the gruelling 1350km Tour Te Waipounamu bike-packing race.

"I’m OK at present, short on sleep, but I know I’m at least 12 hours in front of the others and a few hours behind leader Ollie Whalley."

Hopefully, he would finish the endurance race sometime early this morning, he said.

The Tour Te Waipounamu bike-packing endurance race started last Sunday.

Competitors carry all their supplies as they travel on a 1350km route that traverses the South Island high country from Cape Farewell in Golden Bay to Slope Point in the southern Catlins.