Coast-to-Coast organiser angry over ‘stunt’

Press, 28 January 1986, Page 3

Coast-to-Coast organiser angry over ‘stunt’

By

STAN DARLING

The organiser of the Steinlager Coast-to-Coast endurance race has been angered at what he calls a “media hype stunt” by two men along the route at the week-end.

Robin Judkins, who runs the two-day event which will start on Saturday, was annoyed by the running of the Waimakariri River Gorge with inadequate kayaking equipment. The course was run in

just under 18 hours by Danny Watson, a presenter of television’s “What Now” programme, and Trent Hiles, a cyclist. On the river section, Mr Watson did not have a helmet and Mr Hiles started without a lifejacket.

A television news crew were waiting for the pair and a woman canoeist at Woodstock, the downstream end of the Coast-to-Coast river section.

Mr Judkins organised two jet boats to go up the gorge and shepherd the canoeists because he was concerned about their safety. He took food, including hot soup and coffee, which they would need after the exertion of cycling from Kumara Beach to the Deception River and running the mountain route of the Coast-to-Coast course.

When he saw they were ill-prepared to make the river run, he told them to get off the river, but they refused to go.

He had been told that both television and radio were told by Mr Watson not to let him know that the one-day attempt was being made.

Mr Judkins said he had been planning for more than two years to make the Coast-to-Coast a oneday event from next year, and he had intended to announce that change at the prize-giving ceremony in Christchurch on Sunday evening, at the end of the race.

Mr Watson knew that, and had pre-empted the announcement by doing the course early. He had never competed in the event.

The one-day Coast-to-Coast race would be open only to competitors who had completed the twoday course as individuals in times of under 14i/ 2 hours. Already, 76 people had qualified, and next year’s event would be limited to 100 competitors.

After learning that the river was rising in the Waimakariri Gorge, Mr Judkins said he was told by Mr Watson that Mr Hiles, who lacked paddling experience, would not be canoeing the gorge on Saturday. When he was told by someone else the next day that Mr Hiles would be going, he organised two jet boats from Oxford and Springfield to travel upriver to meet the men, who were being accompanied by a woman canoeist. She said she was the men’s driver.

Mr Judkins gave Mr Hiles a lifejacket. He did not believe that Mr Watson, who told “The Press” he had 'forgotten to take his helmet, had a helmet anyway.

The jet boats monitored the canoeists downriver from 3 p.m. to 6.30 p.m. after the men did not

follow advice to give up.

Mr Judkins said the woman was “a good competitor who was placed in a bad position because they were going to kayak the river with or without her.”

The men had gone through the gorge “on 90 per cent luck and 10 per cent ability.” Their journey denigrated efforts made by Coast-to-Coast competitors who were training hard for the event.

Mr Judkins was told by the Whitewater Canoe Club that no definite arrangements had been made to meet the men. Mr Watson said the journey had been made “just to see whether it could be done under the right conditions.” He and Mr Hiles had left Kumara Beach at 4.10 a.m. on the first cycling leg, then spent 4(4 hours crossing the Southern Alps on the Mingha-Deception section.

He said it was inexcusable to have left behind a helmet for the river, but the men never felt in danger. They were both fit and were doing the course as a personal challenge.

The woman canoeist was a guide, and they had kept to still water in the river. They had been lucky with the weather, except for drizzle in the mountains. Mr Watson said he had run the mountain route a week before. The men arrived in Sumner on Saturday evening, completing the course in 17 hours, 59 minutes and some seconds. Along the way, Mr Watson had eaten 57 bananas, among other things, to keep himself going.