Dougal Allan (Wanaka) has continued his rise in multisport and adventure sports with another impressive second place in the Longest Day section of the Coast to Coast on Saturday.
"I gave it my best shot," he told the Otago Daily Times after he crossed the finish line of the 243km event in 10hr 55min 59sec, 14min behind winner Richard Ussher.
"That's the best I could do. Richard is just world class and I knew it was his race to lose, and had he made any mistakes, then I was pretty keen to streak through. He had a good race and he deserved to win."
Despite having a bad patch coming off Goat Pass, Allan was quick to refocus.
"I always figured I'd be in that fifth [place] area coming off the run. I didn't really back myself to be right up near the front. The second half of the day was where I wanted to race well and that's how it turned out."
Despite difficulties with his food system and renourishment, Allan was happy with how his kayaking stage panned out, considering this has been a discipline he has had to work hard on over the past 12 months.
"I'm very happy with my kayak. But you're pretty hard-pressed to have a perfect race. When things go wrong it's just a case of dealing with it."
Allan didn't mind the tailwind on the 70km bike to Sumner, but said he wouldn't have minded a bit of a headwind, to give himself more of an opportunity to make some gains on Ussher.
Major events coming up for Allan are an endurance race in China in April, as a member of a half French, half New Zealand team, and the Australasian multisport championships in Rotorua in June.
In November, he has been invited to race for the Share The Road team in the Tour of Southland.
Allan will assess his recovery from the Coast to Coast before committing to the national multisport championship in two weeks.
Others from Otago successful in the Coast to Coast included:Shona Carruthers (Mosgiel), was first in the classic women's 50-plus section, finishing in 18hr 22min 39sec.
Shaun Portegys (Alexandra) and Kath Kelly (Roxburgh) won the mixed teams section in 12hr 48min, from Tom Pinckney (Cromwell) and Ginny Rutledge (Wanaka) 13hr 1min 9sec, and a Cromwell team of Sarah Fairmaid and Bill Godsall was third in 13hr 10min 51sec.
Erika Pieper (Ross) and Nakia Randle (Alexandra) won the schoolgirls section in 13hr 54min 20sec.
