Race reports are done typically within a couple of weeks of any event I do and there to help me reflect on how it went but also to allow anyone interested an insight into how I think my day went, including the extra detail that you can only imagine if watching from the sideline.

This report naturally got neglected while I had other things to focus on as my parents (and my childhood home) badly affected in the Hawkes Bay flood just 2.5 days after the 2023 Kathmandu Coast to Coast race finished It is now time to to get it done, if not for the fans, at least for me. Because, even if this ends up being the tip of my career, I know reflection can help with all processes in life.

This is my version of how my Summer training and 2023 race day went:

After my win at the 2022 Motu Challenge in October, I had a few weeks to recover and tune my legs for the Tour of Southland cycle race (7 day stage event in Southland). It went as well as it could have based on my experience. It was hellishly aggressive and stressful due to the pace and tightness of the packs, wheels swerving and numerous crashes within a whisker of me, along with high intensity surges, day after day. I survived with only one minor crash where another bike drove all the spokes out of my front wheel (but miraculously stayed upright). Finishing round 80th and over the moon to have made it all the way to the end and not dead last!

Mid November was the epic 5 Passes 4 day cycle race, then early December was Taupo 70.3 Ironman. As I arrived at 70.3 I knew this was going to be one race too many and while I still participated, I had every intention to not push too hard. I had a cruisy swim, a strong bike and a steady run that still hurt the body enough.

Now with all that mentioned I knew at this point I had to be very careful with the next few weeks to ensure my C2C prep went well. 

My Xmas was up in Hawkes Bay with family, but I still managed a good amount of running and cycling while balancing family time. New Year’s Eve, Lisa and I went for a 2 night tramp in Arthurs Pass. I thought it would be a great idea to carry way too much gear to ensure I got a good workout still. Driving home from the trip I started to realise that I likely over done things. 

I felt like I was getting sick. One day later, in denial to the body, I paddled the Waimakariri Gorge with Kate and by the evening I was well under the weather. It was a mistake to paddle that day, and I’m embarrassed to admit that I didn’t listen to my body that day.

A head cold now well under way I spent the next 4 days in bed. I recovered well enough for the Waimakariri Classic kayak race and had a tough battle with Sam Newlands, but I really felt the lack of paddling due to my cycling bias in the past months. It was hard. Thankfully my kayaking history still allows me to paddle near the front. I also noted that Ryan Kiesanowski was very close behind in 3rd, which was a little bit of a worry for the C2C race, knowing he was in great kayaking form.

Post the post NY tramp sickness, I had very few good quality training session before race day. I was trying to ensure great recovery, great nutrition, great sleep, more rest. But the body still struggled to have it’s ability to feel, well, good. 

After hearing back in December that Dougal that wasn’t racing C2C, I thought it could be a ‘comfortable’ chance at the win. But after Ryan Kiesanowski’s performance at the Waimakariri Classic and seeing him and others perform well in training, + my current state, I was certainly getting concerned about just how much harder the race was now going to be to get the top spot. I’ve very open minded and trust myself to use my experience as the best tool to get me to the finish line as fast as possible, I also knew/hoped that my newly formed cycling ability was going to be my next best tool on the day too.

I spoke to a few friends before the race and explained my situation about my unusual training block. Most people brush it off, as almost every athlete says they could be in better shape for race day. But I really meant it.

I told my support crew, I was going to do the best I could, I had a plan but to definitely expect me to be a bit behind on the run stage, hopefully gain a bit back on the paddle but to aim to finish stronger than ever before. 

This is race day:

Starline, nervous as always, but I felt good, I had tapered early, much more than usual, and it had worked.

Stage 1: 2.2km run

I was swamped by plenty of keen senders straight away, based on my watch they were likely doing sub 3minkm pace, which is quite silly. Within 30secs they start dropping back and I found myself moving back to the front without increasing my speed.

If you listen to carefully to the race start video (somewhere on the C2C facebook page) you’ll hear me telling calling out these part time sprinters.

I always find the most painful part of this stage to be where we approach the railway lines. There is the little voice already saying to slow down and that this is not sustainable. Heart rate is still below my upper limit I set so I reassure myself everything is going to be fine.

Stage 2: 55km road cycle

I had a good transition onto my bike and ended up 2nd or 3rd onto the road.

This year I chose to use my road bike and road bike shoes. First time I had done this since I starting using a time trial bike in 2017. I only decided this about a 1.5 weeks before race day. This is because I had no intention to break away this year and I wanted to be as efficient as possible on this stage. My road bike is lighter, the stage predominantly uphill, and road shoes will also be more efficient than carbon shoe plates (these allow me to ride in running shoes for a faster transition). Previously I have approach this day with an aggressive angle, wanting to be on my own as soon as possible to allow me to do my work without distraction, planning breakaways all the time and including getting onto the run stage with no one able to follow my lines. This year this was not the mindset and I wanted to save as much energy as possible.

With that in mind, on this first bunch ride, while I still want to conserve myself, I still want a fair race. Therefore I expect to still spend some time at the front of the bunch, taking my turn to help make the group rotate effectively and keep the speed steady. No one in this race deserves to spend extra time of the front and pull more effort than they fairly should. 

But once again we have so many in our lead bunch are not willing to do any time on the front. This creates a mess that makes the group lose so much speed and it is not long until may others athletes catch the ineffectively moving front bunch and we grow from 20 riders to over 50. I understand that if you don’t have the fitness to go to the front, but if you have made it this bunch by running extra fast off the beach and then expect a free ride, you have made a big mistake, you are at the front of the race so you need to help keep this bunch keep moving, or you are compromising everyone else’s day who worked hard to be there, which is what happened. It is sportsmanship. It would be lovely to not ride at the front of the group and enjoy a easy ride, because I also have a very big day ahead of me. But it’s having your share of the work. Don’t ruin someone’s else’s day just so you can get a free ride to the mountain run stage. It may be a tactic of yours but I don’t see it as a right, its dirty move that affects everyone else’s days who’s are just as important as yours.

A few of us got a small rotation going of around 7 riders while the other 45+ riders enjoyed a tow at the back. Frustration was clear from a few of the elites working together such as the Hunt brothers (Alex and Robbie), Alex Roberts and Tayla Harrison. I spoke loudly about planning a breakaway mostly in jest to those who were sitting in behind us but partially keen to make it work too. The hill where I was planning on making it happen didn’t quite work out. My frustration levels weren’t quite as high as the other guys as I was now used to the usual suspects sitting in, I knew I’d accepted that my race today was starting at the next stage, but I would still take my turn at the front to set a good example. The frustration got the better of Alex Roberts and Josh Garrett and the two of them broke away from the group around 15km from the end of the stage. By the time I noticed the break I decided bridging across was, while possible, not worth it due to the intensity needed.

Alex Roberts gave me a hard time after the race for not joining them for sure!

About 8km from the end of the stage, some fresh riders came flying past us, another bunch had caught our surgy and ineffective group. This included the lead female at the time, Rebecca Kingsford, I rememeber her shooting past, laughing and calling us out for being slow! And fair enough, she was right! Our group was a mess. But I also thought she needed to reign her high energy levels in asap rather than than rolling through to lead the race outright!

This new group sped everything up a lot more and soon we arrived at Aikens, the end of the cycle stage.

Stage 3: 31km Mountain run

My transition was slower than usual here, but I was totally comfortable with this.

I had to do a shoe change and I can no longer make elastic laces work for me on this terrain. They are always too tight or too loose. Static laces ensure a better fit and security for the technical terrain. The crew was slick with everything going to plan, I get out of transition in around 10th with 1st around 200m up the track, no worries, exactly as I thought. I hold my own pace, keeping an eye on heart rate and fuelling, and start catching a few people.

On the river bed, around 3.5km in, I take a smoother line and am now up around 4th place.

My dodgy ankle was strapped up this year as I have severly rolled it too many times in the past 12 months. However, despite fitting the tape carefully thenight before, my calf and achhilles is now on fire, it seems my strapping tape is actually too tight. I stop to rip it all off knowing that it would only cause more and more problems, better to sort early. This means I get passed back by around 4 runners. I also stop twice again in the next 2km to adjust my shoe laces tenison. While this certainly lost me time, I didn’t let it bother me, it is relective of my mindset, to conserve and prevent something from going bad later in the day, better to fix now than have something go badly later on.

Finally happy with my shoe laces and strapping tape tension relieved, I am back to work, picking efficient lines, breathing well, fuelling well and maintaining a sustainable heart rate (although naturally tapping on the ceiling of my limits!).

I soon find myself running the same pace with Tayla Harrison, so we stay together for a while. We catch and pass Robbie Hunt, which I was a little surprised about since he is a great runner, unfortunately he’s not having a good day. I can still see two runners up around 200m in front of Tayla and I: Patrick Higgins and Ryan Kiesanowski. Hamish Elliot and Alex Hunt are up ahead somewhere but they are no longer in sight. That means Tayla and I are in 5th/6th position.

Keeping track of where I am helps me to stay focused and I am repeatedly visualising how exactly my day will plan out such as how/where I will catch them. It is reassuring to keep making optimistic plans. Around 3km from Goat Pass I surge a little bit by taking some slightly riskier moves, making bigger than normal leaps between rocks to spend less time in the water. It is certainly faster with this technique but requires a lot of explosive power and can go wrong if you slip. After a few minutes I notice that Tayla has dropped back and by the last climb to the pass I look back down the main river to see I have made larger than expected gap.

I have also become a lot closer to Pat and Ryan, as I descend over Goat Pass on the technical rocky downhill to the first crossing of the Minga River. I am being careful not to roll my ankle yet I think I was gaining ground on those boys very quickly. This is great for my confidence and I plan to catch them soon enough. Of course it wasn’t that simple. I do eventually I catch Pat on the trail, he let me pass but stays on my tail. I’m making a lot of awful noises as I seem to have a tiny bit of muesli bar stuck in my throat and it is playing games with my gag reflex, Pat probably thought I was dying. Then I managed to clip a tree root and had a wee fall where my left leg and my hands took a decent impact, the body pumped with adrenaline and pain and a bit of shock. I stood up quickly but reduced the pace for a bit. Pat checked in on me but stayed behind. 

After the final steep downhill off Dudley Knob I was ready to open the speed up and catch Ryan, I thought I was feeling quite good!. However within 1km of the final river flats, my legs suddenly started to feel quite tired, Ryan gets further away by the second. My hamstrings felt like we’re on the verge of cramp and were becoming weaker with every step.

Family and other supporters were abundant at the railway bridge with 2 km to go, I did my best to look strong there for them but truth is I was hurting quite a bit and starting to get a bit worried about the state of my legs! At the Klondyke there was a very warm atmosphere from the crowd and it always fires me up. But the focus was still strong, I found my bike and was onto the 15km short bike stage to the river. The latest splits to Hamish was 15mins, 9mins to Alex and 1min to Ryan.

Stage 4: 15km Road cycle

The legs weren’t too happy to crank the power but I still did what felt right and tried to be as efficient as possible with less braking and being aero. I kept Ryan in my sights.

Off the bike for a quick run down to the river, Deklan helps me put sunblock on then the running speed increases.

Stage 5: 70km Kayak

The kayak transition went well thanks to Grant and Deklan and I paddle off only 250m behind Ryan.

Obviously my plan is to catch and pass Ryan and I start working towards this. About 3km in I have gained around 100m closer, there’s a new split in river and I the risk to go the new way rather than the more familiar line. When I next see Ryan I have lost 200m, now I’m further back than I was at the start of the paddle. Cursing myself for taking a unnecessary risk, I keep working hard to catch back up, but Ryan is holding a solid pace. Around 18km in I take a different line to Ryan that I was certain was faster and I again lose time to him, obviously the flood last week had made a few adjustments.

Our paces are solid as I work hard to chase and he works hard to get away. This battle certainly helped to make me paddle harder than perhaps I would have by myself. At 34km and only 100m apart, we come around a bend to see the compulsory portage just 500m away, and there up on the river bank were two people carrying kayaks! It’s Alex and Hamish, the front of the race. That was a  good feeling. A quick portage has me back on the water now ahead of Ryan and somehow Hamish too (turns out Hamish was having some seat issues and had been on the river bank for a while). Alex is only 200m down the river and Ryan is on my tail. 

Alex was running in the depths of all the bluff corners, after I cut a few off it wasn’t long until I caught up and he let me pass, clearly frustrated that we had caught up. I stayed at the front until near Deer Print Cove where I tried to shake the guys off my tail by going for a shallow line that only a boat in just the right spot could get through. It worked as one of them got a little beached and the other bumped into them. Here I increased the speed and managed to get 100m on them, enough to keep them off my wash. 

At Woodstock (15km from the end of the stage), Ryan was was still close by but Alex had dropped further back. Just around the corner I took a different line to Ryan and again his line was faster, and he ended up back in front! I was having a bad line day. It was 13km to the finish of the kayak stage and I ended up staying behind him throughout these final braids. I was still paddling hard but also focusing on shovelling down as much food as possible. I desperately wanted this year to be the year that I had a strong final cycle stage. 

The atmosphere at the kayak take-out at the ‘gorge bridge’ was special.

So many were there to watch and support. I slide up my boat up the stony bank just 30 seconds after Ryan and manage to immediately get ahead of him on the run up to the bikes. Grant and Deklan take care of me and keep me fired up. I’m soaking in the crowd cheering but being careful not to get too excited and push too hard, just yet. 

Stage 6: 70km cycle stage

I was a little slower getting my bike shoes on and Ryan is ahead again!

Once I’m on my bike he is already 100m up the road. No matter, I settle into my cycling muscles, getting them activated and waiting for the signals to understand what state my body is in. Within 5mins I feel I am going quite easy and I am not losing any time on Ryan. This is the first good sign! I get a little closer then decide to give my target power a nudge, this should be enough to also make a quick pass. I likely did push a little harder as I was going past Ryan and gave a wide berth to make sure it was a clean and quick move, hoping like crazy that this would be the last time we pass each over.

Head down and into the grind, I’m working hard but sustainable for around 20mins before I get my first split from a media vehicle that I already have 2mins on Ryan. Great to hear, but I try to stay calm and focus on making it last. Energy is up and down but the power is relatively constant, I’m starting to throw up quite a bit of my food too, possibly from the long day of stress. Never mind I had a few options of food and kept sipping away at whatever felt right.

Getting nearer to the end of the infamous South Eyre Road straight, around 45km in, I get a split that I’m close to 5mins ahead. More great news. I felt like it was becoming more real, but the suffering was high. The legs felt surprisingly good but the brain and stomach was not so happy from the long day of racing and my state of consciousness fluctuated around every 5-10mins, however the ‘lows’ usually only lasted a minute.

I knew that it wasn’t over until I was at the finish line, often thinking about the possibility of a mechanical or a puncture that could really affect my lead so I was staying focused and was being careful where I rode. Then with 3km to go, it really sunk in. From here I was going to ride the expensive carbon disc wheel on the ground if I had to! What was really special at this time was the Airforce Black Falcons were flying a display right at that moment too, obviously it was something planned all along but after being in the Airforce myself for 6 years, I pretended they were there for me. At New Brighton, I let go of my bike and am running through the finish line chute surrounded by so many supporters, so many family members and friends with signs.

Grabbing that finish line banner felt so good, then to turn back around and see everyone cheering was incredibly special.

I certainly felt proud of the day but the main overwhelming feeling was relief. Relief that I had finally done what I what I been trying to achieve for so long, relief that I shown my friends and family that it was worth the effort coming back year after year to see if this was the one (even though I know they would support regardless). From here was a blur of interviews and questions and hugs and congrats. Ryan comes in 7mins later and Alex and another 10mins back. I certainly know what it feels like to be beaten and I felt bad for Ryan and Alex. Ryan was impressively strong for someone who only started training for the race in January, he had me worried for a large part of the day. Alex has the strength to win this race, but his lines on the river lost him a lot of time, which is the unfortunate nature of this technical course and him being based in Tasmania makes that hard. 

Winning this prestigious event now puts me in a bit of a predicament. I haven’t planned much past this goal. Almost all my racing and training in the last 12 years have all been related to this goal, one way or another. I’d hadn’t really planned to keep at it once I got the win. But getting here took much longer than planned, around 10 years longer 😅. It’s defined my life, my friends, it doesn’t really make sense to stop something that I really enjoy and have worked so hard to become good at it. But I need a goal, and as of August 2023 (yes that’s how long it’s taken me to write this race report) I still don’t know what it is. So many people have asked me since the race if I’ll be back for 2024 C2C. And I’m finally ready to give a slightly better answer than just, ‘I don’t know’. You will likely find me back at next years race, almost certain. I hope to see you there too.

Here’s Instagram my highlight reel from race day: https://www.instagram.com/stories/highlights/17949318002524408/