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Kathmandu Crazyman – World Class Competition

Thursday 3 May 2007, 10:44AM

By Infonews Editor

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WELLINGTON

Close to 500 endurance junkies will line up on Hutt City’s Petone Foreshore on Saturday morning for Wellington’s 17th Kathmandu Crazyman multisport race. The 66km kayaking, mountain biking and mountain running epic in the rugged splendour of the Hutt Valley’s hills, river and harbour is one of New Zealand’s biggest and longest running multisport events.

On a course that is as spectacular as it is challenging, competitors open up with a 12k kayak leg along Petone Foreshore and around the eastern bays of Wellington Harbour to Eastbourne. They then swap kayaks for running shoes for an 18k mountain run over the Eastern harbour Regional Park and Mt Lowry to Wainuiomata. The final leg is a 34k mountain bike along the Hutt Hills Skyline and down the Hutt River Trail to finish at Hutt High School in central Hutt City.

As part of the Sportzhub.com national series, the Kathmandu Crazyman is one of New Zealand’s most prestigious multisport events. Combined with a $20,000 prize pool, many of the county’s best multisporters will gather on the Petone Foreshore start line.
Favourite is Ohakune-based German, Marcel Hagener. The former pro cyclist has become one of the world’s best multisporters and adventure racers since moving to New Zealand six years ago. In 2005 he won an adventure racing world title and in 2006 he was second in the Kathmandu Crazyman behind two-time world champion Richard Ussher. Hagener is keen to go one better this year and good recent form included a win in last month’s Porirua Grand Traverse.

Ussher, the Olympic skier-turned-world champion multisporter and adventure racer, is unsure of defending his Kathmandu Crazyman title. Ussher, who won the Crazyman in 2006 and 2000, will be in Wellington with his wife Elina, who is defending her Crazyman title from last year. But with the world adventure racing championships only a few weeks away in Scotland Ussher says he’ll only race if he feels strong and conditions look good, because he doesn’t want to risk a tough race effecting his world championship preparation.

Hagener, however, will have plenty of competition from Christchurch up and comer Luke Vaughn, who is currently in Wellington attending police college. The 23 year old is considered the next big thing in multisport and is keen to give the big boys a hurry along, although he is quick to point out that the gruelling police college regime is not ideal training for a world-class multisport event.

Hagener and Vaughn are evenly matched in the kayak and run, but Hagener is expected to have a slight edge on Vaughn on the mountain bike leg. But if Ussher chooses to race that could turn the race around. The Wellington-born world champion is considered a stronger kayaker and one of the best runners in the sport, so both Hagener and Vaughn would be chasing all day. Locals are also warning to watch out for Cameron Durno, who has been improving with every outing in the last 12 months.

The women’s race is shaping up as the race of the day, with Wellington’s multisport world champion, Fleur Pawsey, lining up against defending champion Elina Ussher (nee Rautila) and former Coast to Coast Two-Day winner Sophie Hart.

Pawsey was the surprise winner of the multisport world title at the Speights Coast to Coast this year, beating pre-race favourite Rautila (now Ussher), who was Finland’s top female adventure racer before moving to New Zealand and marrying Richard Ussher recently. Certainly it was a big improvement for the Wellingtonian from her third place behind Rautila-Ussher in last year’s Kathmandu Crazyman. The challenge for the popular Wellingtonian will be to prove that her surprise Coast to Coast victory wasn’t a one-off.

Chasing both women will be Wellington newcomer Sophie Hart, who marked her arrival in the region with a close second place behind Pawsey in last month’s Porirua Grand Traverse. Hart is a former winner of the Coast to Coast Two-Day race and has won several top North Island events in the last few years.

Race favourite Fleur Pawsey is expected to take an early advantage in the kayak, but all three women are evenly matched on the run. So the race for line honours is expected to be settled in the closing stages of the 34k mountain bike.

In other categories, the Hutt Valley trio of Murray Doughty, Wayne Hiscock and Les Morris are gunning for their eighth straight team title at the Kathmandu Crazyman. But they’ll be pushed harder than ever by Team VIC Cycles of Gavin McCarthy, Hamish Farrar and James Coubrough. The women’s team race is expected to be dominated by a teenage team that includes NZ rep mountain biker Samara Sheppard and New Zealand rep kayakers Alyssa Blyde.

\Kathmandu Crazyman organisers are expecting approx 500 competitors from as far a field as Christchurch and Auckland for the 66km tour through the icon outdoor elements of Wellington’s Hutt City. The event includes the full kayak, run and mountain bike for teams and individuals, and also a run and mountain bike duathlon option for non-kayakers. The race starts at 8am on Saturday morning on Petone Foreshore, and entries will be taken up to 7:00pm on Friday.

http://www.crazyman.co.nz