The route they will follow

Press, 29 January 1986, Page 29

The route they will follow

How short it looks on paper, the 212 torturing kilometres that will be covered by most — not everyone is indestructible — of the 360 entrants in this year’s Steinlager coast-to-coast race.

The competitors, their assistants, and officials will rendezvous at the Kumara Town Hall at 6 p.m. this Friday, January 31.

At the stroke of 7 a.m. the next day the race will start at the desolate Kumara Beach, with the competitors sprinting Le Mans-style to their bikes on State highway 73. They will pedal the next 60 kilometres to the first checkpoint; at the Search and Rescue Footbridge at the confluence of the Otira and Deception rivers, where they will hand over their cycles to waiting assistants.

From there they run over the 26-kilometre Mingha-Deception mountain route, crossing the Main Divide via 3500 ft Golt Pass, to the second

checkpoint at Klondike Comer, the confluence of the Waimakariri and Bealey rivers. Spare warm clothing, food, drink, and a first-aid kit must be carried on the demanding mountain running section.

In the meantime their supporters will have tootled comfortably over Arthurs Pass and set up an overnight tent camp at Klondyke Comer.

The second and final day starts at 7 a.m. on Sunday with a 15-kilo-metre cycling stretch to the Mount White Bridge. There the competitors will again leave their bikes with their faithful assistants and take to kayaks or surf skis to paddle 67 kilometres down the Waimakariri River to the Gorge Bridge.

Then it is back on the bikes for a final 70-kllo-metre ride down the Old West Coast Road and through Christchurch City to the finish on the beach In front of the surf lifesaving club at Suihlher.