Lachlan Brownlie won’t be lining up in the Coast to Coast Longest Day until next Saturday but the former Waimea College student is already a winner after entering an on-line competition run by one of the race sponsors.
Giant bikes challenged Coast to Coast competitors to post their most creative training secret online through social media with the winner receiving a Giant road bike and accessories and a free entry to the Coast to Coast. Lachlan’s “humorous and creative” entry won the competition allowing the 19-year-old student to compete in the race on a shoe-string budget and a new, lightweight carbon bike.
The winning image showed Lachlan, who is studying to be an outdoor education instructor at Tai Poutini Polytechnic in Greymouth, paddling his race kayak in a water fountain outside the Grey District Council offices in the middle of the night. Lachlan says he wanted to do something different so that it stood out and the judges liked the end result saying they liked the photo’s “originality and creativity” which demonstrated “Lachlan’s motivation to train for the event in a unique way”.
“I wanted to make it different and funny so A mate and I went into Greymouth and put the kayak in the fountain and he took the photo,” Lachlan says. “The fountain is right outside the council offices so we thought we’d better to it in the middle of the night just in case someone tried to stop us.”
Like most students Lachlan, has been living on a tight budget and says winning the $1000 entry fee to the race has helped take the pressure off his finances. He says the new Giant Propel Advanced 1 road bike, valued at around $3000, is also a big improvement on his old road bike.
Lachlan says he has been training hard for the gruelling one-day edition of the 243km multisport race that traverses the South Island. Although he will be making his Coast to Coast debut and at 19 will be youngest competitor in the race, he says his background in adventure racing will help him handle the demands of completing a long, one-day event.
“I’m confident I’ll be able to finish and I’d love to get in the top half but we’ll see what happens. I’ve been running up the riverbed in the Hackett to get used to the rocky terrain and kayaking at Tahuna and Rabbit Island and the Motueka River.
“I’ve already been over the run course so I know what to expect there and I did the Mountain Man race two weeks ago and finished fifth so that was a good practise run. But it’s still going to be a steep learning curve – it’s going to be a long day.”
The Coast to Coast Longest Day starts on Saturday with a 3km run from Kumara Beach followed by a 55km cycle to the foothills of the Southern Alps and a 33km run over Goat Pass. A 15km cycle is followed by a 67km kayak down the Waimakariri River and a final 70km ride to the finish at New Brighton Pier.
Waimea College’s Finn Mitchell, Cameron Jones and Daniel Read are competing in the school’s team’s section raced over two days.
