Dunedin exercise physiology masters student Matty Graham (24) reckons he "swims like a set of keys".
But when his Otago University supervisor, Jim Cotter, invited him to come up with a system that would fairly pit swimmers against kayakers in the same race, Graham took up the challenge to set the distances.
The Point 3 race gives athletes the option of a 6km kayak or a 1.9km swim as the fourth of five stages.
The other stages are running, road cycling and mountain biking.
No separate race category has been created for swimmers or kayakers, so athletes must decide for themselves which discipline gives them an edge over their rivals.
No New Zealand races are known to offer this option.
Some triathlons have a kayak option but create a separate race category.
Apart from surf life-saving competitions, one other multisport race in New Zealand offers a swim - the new Anaconda race at Waihi in the North Island - but athletes must also complete a kayak leg.
Knowing they were breaking new ground, Point 3 organisers Danielle and Aaron Nicholson, of LMS Events, turned to the Otago University School of Physical Education to work out a "fair race".
Graham said the organisers were initially keen for Point 3 stages to be about a third of the distance of Coast to Coast stages.
But that changed once he figured out how far athletes would have to swim to match the time taken to kayak a third of the 67km Coast to Coast course down the Waimakariri River.
"Taking into account things like river speeds, I worked it out about 4.7km. It was a little long. It wasn't ideal. I think then the organisers decided to shorten the swim to 1.9km and make up a kayak equivalent," Graham said.
Nelson multisporter Richard Ussher helped Graham devise the formula by providing his swim and kayak splits from various events.
"He is an elite performer so his times are quite consistent and his performance is quite consistent. He performs well at Coast to Coast and in Ironman events and had quite a good swim time.
So we asked him for some time trial data over shorter distances and made a linear model and got a kayak time trial from that."
Graham has assumed Ussher should be able to match himself over the Point 3 distances in a theoretical race against himself.
He has also assumed Ussher would produce his times in the same conditions, in the same place, when well rested.
He conceded not all athletes would be as strong in both disciplines.
"It is going to be interesting to see how it goes. It should work but it may not," he said.
Wanaka multisporters Dougal Allan (25) and Gavin Mason (30) both want to win the Point 3 and believe introducing swimming to multisport is "a step in the right direction".
Time comparisons over two or three years would show whether the Point 3 distances needed tweaking, they said.
Water temperature, the preceding 12km run and how well athletes can change into a tight wetsuit would test swimming performance and may require the distances to be calibrated.
Allan has already decided to kayak, as swimming is not his strongest talent and he failed to keep a straight line in the recent Anaconda Adventure Race at Augusta, Australia, in which he was fourth.
Mason, a former St Clair Surf Lifesaving Club member, backs his swimming against Allan's paddling on a rough and choppy lake so he will decide what to do on the day.
Swimming off a long run in the Augusta race gave Mason hamstring cramps, which was something for swimmers to be prepared for, he said.
He finished 7th.
"But at least I can drink my way around this course rather than have salt water," Mason said.
Both athletes have estimated their kayak times could be between 28 and 32 minutes while Mason said a 32-minute swim was also achievable.
