Three days after completing the Coast to Coast longest day endurance race Cockburn, 18, is competing in the national rowing championships.
The Coast to Coast, which starts on the West Coast and ends at New Brighton Beach in Christchurch, comprised three run stages, three bike stages and a kayak stage.
Cockburn said she did not plan to take part in the two events so close together.
"It just happened to be three days apart."
Watching her mother Aimee compete in the Coast to Coast teams event several years ago inspired her to enter.
"It was on my bucket list.
"I wanted to give it a go, it looked fun."
She enjoyed the race very much.
"I loved it.
"I was smiling the whole time.
"I’d do it again."
Her favourite part was the run from Aickens Corner through Goat Pass to Klondyke Corner.
There was no track, and each competitor had to pick their own route.
"You’re running over rocks and climbing up riverbeds.
"It’s fun until you faceplant."
She did fall over several times, and hurt her knee on one occasion.
A headwind in the kayak stage through the Waimakariri Gorge made progress difficult.
By the time she started the last bike stage it was raining and the wind had dropped.
"That meant we had quite a good ride into New Brighton."
She finished the race in 14hours 58minutes in 132nd place and was the youngest female competitor.
She did not have a specific finish time goal in mind, but had been hoping to complete the race in under 16 hours.
"I was just trying to finish."
She could have come in earlier but for her injured knee and a gear mix up in the last transition.
Helping her body recover, especially her bruised knee, for the rowing championships had been a "big mission".
Cockburn attended Gore Main School before attending St Hilda’s Collegiate in Dunedin.
This year she would attend the University of Massachusetts on a four-year rowing scholarship, where she planned to study engineering.
Once she had finished that she planned to take part in the Coast to Coast again.
