This year’s Peak to Peak multisport race in Queenstown was another great success. Geoff at southerntraverse.com put on excellent weather. The week leading up to the race the weather men had been forecasting a high of 0° and snow on the day.
This year, the PhysioMed team headed off on Friday afternoon after picking up our new winter cycling jackets from BLOX. These were a godsend with the temperature dropping to -5.5° on the trip down. With 3 teams and an individual entered in the race, we had a good sized group this year. As the sponsor I am honoured to have such a great bunch of athletes supporting my brand and was very proud of the efforts that everyone put in on the day.
We started the day as usual standing in the freezing cold wind up the mountain approximately -9° plus the wind chill factor. I was doing the downhill mountain bike ride for the mixed team, with Shane racing for the open men’s team and Holly for the women’s team. We waited for an extra 20 minutes for the start, due to delays. Then at 12.20pm the race was underway with the skiers coming towards us at a great rate of knots. Sam came in close to the first bunch of skiers handing off to Shane, it then became very congested as bunch after bunch appeared in the small transition area. Once Sue had handed off to both Holly and I, we headed off down the hill together. The road down from the Remarkables was completely dry and ice free, however the thin layer of dirt and gravel made it slipperier on the corners than last year and much faster on the straits. I managed a top speed of 72 kph, with my heart rate on the rev limiter.
The next stage was the kayak. Shane handed off to Ian, who at that stage was in 4th place. Ian usual to form wound in the leaders and ended up getting out of the water at Queenstown Bay in 1st place & 1 minute ahead of the 2nd place paddler. Dougal our individual was next getting into the water about 6th overall at this stage and already well ahead of the other individuals. Following very close behind him I passed on to Devern who had an outstanding paddle jumping from about 10th in the water to third. Holly passed on to Wendy who was the fastest woman paddler for the day placing the girls in second place at this stage.
Fourth stage was a run up to Arthur’s point. Matt had another blisteringly fast run stretching the open mens teams lead out from 1 minute to 4 minutes. Andreas had a solid run giving Phil a 10 minute lead on the next mixed team and Shena passed on to Jen still in second place at this stage. Dougal had 2 minutes at this stage from the next individual.
The final stage was a road bike up the Coronet Peak access road. Frazer was never challenged and finished comfortably in first place overall giving PhysioMed its first win for the day. Phil came in forth over the line giving our mixed team the second win for the day. Our individual athlete Dougal crossed the line in sixth place, comfortably wining the first place individual. Dougal commented to me at the end, how good it was to feel part of a team and get encouragement from the PhysioMed teams and support crew along the way. The girls team slipped to third place during the climb due to R&R sports rider posting the fastest woman’s climb by about five minutes. Jen put in the second fastest womens climb of the day and would have only needed another couple of kilometers to catch second place.
All in all it was a great day at the office for PhysioMed taking home 1st Individual, 1st Open team, 1st Mixed team and 3rd Female team.
Well done everyone!!
Adrian Hamill
PhysioMed
Team members;
Individual: Dougal Allen
Open mens team: Sam Minell, Shane Griffith, Ian Huntsman, Matt Pepler, Frazer MacMaster
Mixed team: Sue Lyons, Adrian Hamill, Devern Burchett, Andreas Kacofegitis, Phil Patterson
Womens team: Sue Lyons, Holly Kernahan-Smith, Wendy Riach, Shena Heath, Jennifer Rice
