Hi All,
As everybody I have been hugely shocked by the earthquake in Christchurch. Especially because in Finland we don’t experience anything like that. And now the disaster happened in the place where I spent some time only a week earlier.
My thoughts are with Christchurch people and especially with those people who lost their family members, friends and homes. I just want to say Kia Kaha Christchurch people.
Well feels like so much has happened over the last few weeks. It’s hard to believe that it was just three weeks ago when I was standing on Kumara beach ready to race hard over the challenging 34 km mountain run and paddle down 70km on Waimak river and finally finish the race on Sumner beach in Christchurch.
Yes, this race is called Coast to Coast and it is the most challenging multisport race in the world. It was again my main race of my NZ summer season. Training had been going pretty well and I felt like racing hard. I knew that the women’s field was going to be very strong this year and I was expecting to have some close racing.
The first three km run is always a little chaos when everybody is trying to sprint the first 500m in the darkness. Once on the main road it gets a bit easier but the pace is still quite fast as the competitors are trying to stay close to get a good bunch for the 55km road ride.
I managed to have a good first run and so I didn’t have any problems to find a good bunch to ride with. The pace on the bikes wasn’t too fast this time and so soon the bunch ended up being quite big and all the best girls seemed to be in there.
The bike mtn run transition is always a really hectic one when a big bunch of racers are still together after the ride. My support crew was waiting for me there and I quickly jumped into my running shoes and took my running pack and then headed towards the rocks and boulders. The river on the run was quite high this year and it made the run even more exciting.
Anyway, I felt like I was having a pretty good run and I was the first woman in the next transition. I quickly ran through the transition area and jumped on the bike. It’s only 15km ride to the kayak transition and once I got there my support crew told me that the next girl, Sophie Hart, was only 5 mins behind me.
I know that Sophie is a really strong kayaker and that her being so close it was going to be a hard paddle. Also as I had decided to paddle in a wide and a bit slow but a very stable kayak instead of the one I normally paddle. I changed my kayak just because the river was quite high and the wind was supposed to be very strong.
Just a bit before the gorge, after about an hour and half of paddling, I heard Sophie being behind me and soon she powered pass.
I wished her good luck as I felt like I didn’t have a chance to keep up with her. I was still trying my best and managed to hang on there through the wild and windy gorge section for the next hour and half. Just the last hour was a bit too much. My whole body was just cramping and even my fingers cramped as I had been holding my paddle so tight that the wind wouldn’t blow it away.
Finally I got to the last transition. I heard that I was 6 mins behind Sophie. I felt pretty toasted but was still ready to ride hard 70km to Christchurch. We had a massive tail wind and all the information I got from some spectators was that Sophie and I were riding pretty much the same speed.
The best feeling is when you finally see Sumner beach and you know that the finish line is not too far at all.
Finally there! I was really tired. It had been a hard day at the office. I finished second about 8 mins behind Sophie. I felt like I had a good race but , of course, I felt a bit disappointed at the same time. Anyway, there is always a chance to come back and race better next time!
Cheers, Elina 
