Fire still burns for Coast to Coast despite course changes

Sam Goodall extinguishes flames for a living, but there’s one fire that continues to burn for the multisport athlete – the quest for a podium finish in the Coast to Coast endurance race.

The 37-year-old firefighter is set to tackle the epic Longest Day from Kumara on the West Coast to New Brighton beach for the 13th time on Saturday, with the goal of improving on last year’s fourth-place.

Goodall, who lives in Lyttelton and works out of the Anzac Fire Station in Wainoni, hit the beach last year less than 5min behind third place-getter and long-time rival Ryan Kiesanowski.

But the course will be a little different this time after organisers said on Friday afternoon high river levels in the Waimakariri Gorge have forced a course change to the 70km paddle.

The original course saw the paddle start at Mt White Bridge, just off State Highway 73 near the Arthur's Pass National Park, and paddle through the narrow gorge before exiting at the gorge bridge, between Sheffield and Oxford. However, they’ll now bypass the gorge by bike, turning the original second cycle leg from a 17-kilometre jaunt into a 112km grind from Klondyke, over the Porters Pass and down to Thompsons Rd, just off the Old West Coast Rd. Competitors will then jump in their kayaks for a 30km dash in the lower reaches of the Waimakariri towards the motorway bridge in Kaianga, before getting back on their bike for the sprint to the finish line in New Brighton.

Goodall has already completed several ‘dry runs’ over the mountain hike and kayak legs of the 243km traverse, with his standard preparation programme ramping up from December.

He has done the run and paddle double twice on the same day, while both disciplines have also been tackled separately, putting him in peak physical condition when the race begins at 5.50am.

“The weather’s been pretty good over the last six weeks," he said.

"Training has been a little bit easier without having to battle weather and changing days to get out on the course,” he said.

However, his chances of cracking the elusive top-three could be compromised by a grim forecast from the MetService.

Goodall is a kayaking specialist and the shorter leg on the Waimakariri River will condemn him to more time on the tarseal into Christchurch.

"We’re due some pretty horrific weather ... that doesn’t suit me at all.

"That changes the whole dynamic.

"There guys, the strong runners and cyclists that wouldn’t really be in the ballpark if we were doing the normal course, now they could be right up there,” Goodall said.

Goodall’s experience with the iconic event could best be described as a slow burn since his debut in 2009.

"I’ve been one of those guys that have slowly improved every year.

"Some guys will spend two or three years and really hit it hard and improve quickly but it can tend to burn people out.

"It’s quite all-consuming,” said Goodall, who racks up about 400km on his bike on and around the Port Hills.

In spite of the setbacks through route changes, Goodall is determined the hours of hard graft around Arthur’s Pass and closer to home on the Port Hills will not be a waste of time.

“This is the pinnacle if you want to do outdoor sports and test yourself against what I believe to be the best athletes in outdoor sports, this is the race to do,” he said.

Goodall will see some familiar faces at the start line with defending champion Dougal Allan Wanaka, last year’s runner-up Sam Manson, Christchurch, and Canterbury vegetable farmer Ryan Kiesanowski again among the contenders.

The elite women’s race is expected to feature a tough battle between defending champion Simone Maier from Wanaka, Nelson’s Elina Ussher and Christchurch’s leading hope, Fiona Dowling.