Hundreds of multisport athletes tackled the 21st running of the R & R Sports Peak to Peak on Saturday. Talented multisport stars lined up alongside the weekend warriors to compete in this longest running winter multisport event in the country.
Near perfect racing conditions greeted the athletes on the start line, although some cloud on the Remarkables made for a foggy ride down through some sections of the mountain road.
The battle at the front was dominated by Dougal Allan (Wanaka) who took the lead in the kayak stage and never relinquished it, although he was chased all day by Flavio Vianna (a Brazilian living in Christchurch) and Hamish Fleming (Wanaka)
The race attracted a field of almost 400 competitors with 36 individuals and 73 teams entered.
 Riding up Coronet Peak Road(Photo: Peak To Peak; click to enlarge) |
The 44km race started at the top of the Remarkables with a shortened 2km ski stage held alongside the Alta chair, followed by a 17km mountain bike ride down the Remarkables access road, with the 4kms of tar making the bottom section slightly faster than normal.
From Frankton Beach racers paddled 7kms to Queenstown Bay on a calm lake, and then ran up the Gorge road to the next transition at the bottom of the Coronet Peak Road. The last leg of the race was the uphill bike to the Coronet Peak base building.
Allan was not with the first finishers at the end of the ski leg as this is not his specialty, but by the end of the mountain bike stage he entered the water at Frankton Beach still behind. Using his fantastic paddling skills Allan was able to open a gap on the second place individual, closely followed by team Proactive Physio.
In the run to Arthurs Point Allan managed to open up his lead on the chasing individuals, although he was passed by the Proactive Physio runner, who passed the bib to R & R Sport shop owner Mark Williams who left the transition 1min ahead of Allan.
By the 3km mark on the Coronet Road Allan assumed the lead at the head of the field and continued to ride away from the rest of the field to finish in a time of 2 hours 5mins and 20secs.
"I had a really good race today and the conditions were near perfect. I had thought of going to see if it was possible to break the 2 hour barrier but realized during the run up the Gorge that this was not going to be possible. Still I was happy with this win and really enjoy this winter race." Allan said at the after race dinner.
Behind the tail enders were still paddling up the length of the Frankton arm towards the Queenstown Beach transition, and the last competitor was to finish on Coronet over 2hrs and 19mins behind Allan's winning time.
In the women's field, the clear favorite was Joanna Williams (Wanaka) who returned to the winning form of 2012 and completely dominated the field winning by 23mins, in a time of 2hrs 28mins and 47 secs from Natalie Jakobs (Queenstown) 2hrs 51mins and 22secs with Sarah Cairns (Queentown) third in 3hrs 11mins and 22 secs.
Willams (Wanaka) lead the field through the first ski transition, and followed this with a fast downhill bike through the mist, and a strong paddle into Queenstown. By this stage the gap was over 4mins from Jakobs and Williams extended this all the way to the line.
In the open teams division, the leading team out of the water ProActive Physio (Queenstown). They continued their strong showing with their runner having a good run to put them first at the transition to the bike leg.
But all in all, the ProActive Physio team had a good day (2hrs 09mins and 20secs) and won comfortably from team Carbon Health & Performance (2hrs 12mins and 30 secs) with the R & R Sport team third in 2hrs 17mins and 5 secs.
The NZSki area challenge set up a couple years to encourage inter-ski area competition was won by the NZSki office team, while the Vets team trophy 'the Golden Boot' went to Avanti Plus Dunedin. They have won this division every time they have entered and now have a total stranglehold on that trophy.
A strong school teams field entered and with high finishes in boys and girls teams showed that the future of multisport is in good hands. The winners this year were the Dunstan High School team in a time of 2hours 18 minutes and 21secs. This would have placed them high in the overall teams division.
In the Veterans division the older multi sport athletes showed they can still match it with the younger athletes with Bob Malachlan (Wanaka) finishing 4th overall in 2hrs 17mins and 53 secs from Queenstowner Chris Hankin and Shaun Portegys (Alexandra) in third place.
Mary Jowet Architects (Queenstown) won the women's team section in 2hrs 39mins and 11 secs, with the mixed team Mike Greer Wanaka winning in 2hrs 16mins and 37secs. Local Wanaka construction firm Leighs Construction won the Business House division in 2hrs 22mins and 43secs
Results: 2015 Peak To Peak
Men
1st Dougal Allan 2.05.20
2nd Flavio Vianna 2.14.58
3rd Hamish Flemimng 2.16.41
Women
1st Joanna Williams 2.08.47
2nd Natalaie Jakobs 2.51.22
3rd Sarah Cairns 3.11.22
Vet Men
1st Bob Mclachan 2.17.53
2nd Chris Hankin 2.30.28
3rd Shaun Portegys 2.31 53
Vet Women
1st Beth Masser 3.47.09
Team Open
1st Proactive Physio 2.09.20
2nd Carbon Health & Performance 2.12.38
3rd R & R Sport 2.17.05
Team Women
1st Mary Jowett Architects 2.39.11
2nd Wanaka Physiotherapy Women 2.40.42
3rd Team Awesome Chicks 3.00.33
Team Business House
1st Leighs Construction 2.22.43
2nd Barker Construction 2.29.05
3rd The Tweaking Peakers 2.31.44
School Team
1st Dunstan High 2.28.21
2nd Wakatipu High 2.33.45
3rd Southland Tri Club Junior 2.25.53
Team Mixed
1st Mike Greer Wanaka 2.16.37
2nd Team Murray 2.19.32
3rd Once were Rowers 2.24.12
Team Veteran
1st Avanti Plus Dunedin 2.16.12
2nd Fiordland Flyers 2.57.35
3rd Old Dogs New Tricks 3.01.24
