Comeback king Braden Currie turns late entry into runaway Coast to Coast victory

He only returned to the event at the last minute on a whim, and Braden Currie backed up the decision with his fourth Coast to Coast Longest Day race victory in New Brighton on Saturday.

Currie, who has emerged as New Zealand’s top iron man triathlete, dominated the 40th running of New Zealand’s iconic 243km multisport event that starts on Kumara Beach on the West Coast and finishes on the sands of New Brighton in Christchurch.

In his first start in the event since 2017, the 35-year-old from Wanaka blitzed the field with a commanding performance, finishing the race in 9 hours, 45 minutes, 23 seconds – over 20 minutes ahead of 2021 champion Dougal Allan.

Simone Maier celebrated her birthday by winning the women’s race for the third time in a time of 11:52:18. Elina Ussher was second in 12:00:04, with Fiona Dowling crossing the line third in 12:02:51.
 

Allan, who survived a fall over Goat Pass and a sore foot, came home second in the men’s race in 10:05:34, with Bobby Dean third in 10:13:17.

Currie only decided to return to the event on Thursday when it was confirmed Ironman New Zealand in March had been cancelled, with the race now due to be staged in December.

“Coast to Coast is the race that brought me into the sport, it’s what first drew my attention to endurance, and it’s a race that I have a huge love and respect for,” Currie said of his decision on Thursday to “re-visit my roots”.

After his all-the-way victory, he said: “It was a huge decision to actually make the start today. I've always wanted to come back and race Coast to Coast. To go back to where it all started and have an experience like this feels incredible. It means a lot to me.”

Currie, who won the event in 2013, 2014 and 2015, led the race, held on a rejigged course caused by rising river levels, after the 55km opening cycle, was out by around 4 minutes across Goat Pass and headed Dean by over 9 minutes at the end of the mountain run. He had comfortably the swiftest run time among the leading competitors.

He took charge on the 112km second bike leg where he extended his advantage out to 14 minutes on his nearest challengers and 20 minutes on Allan going into the short kayak. He was never in danger thereafter.

“Once you're in that race mode, you just do what you've trained to do in that environment,” added Currie of an environment he hadn’t trained in for years. “I had a great day – a good run, bike and paddle. I knew the river would be high, so as long as I stayed in the fast water and kept my boat up the right way, I hoped I wouldn't lose too much time. Luckily that happened.

“A race like this is incredibly hard to plan for, so it was about having some fun,” he added. “On the run, I actually remembered the exact root that tripped my brother (Glen Currie) a few years ago and caused some pretty solid damage to his knee. That kept me amused for a while.”

Officials on Friday had made the decision to slash the upper section of the kayak leg on the Waimakariri River, turning the second cycle leg from 17km to 112km, before a 30km kayak on the lower reaches of the river. The race then concluded with a 12km bike dash to the finish.