Dobson sets new record for Coast-to-Coast

Press, 3 February 1986, Page 3

Dobson sets new record for Coast-to-Coast

Greg Dobson, a 25-year-old psychiatric nurse from Cust, enjoyed the perfect conditions for the Steinlager Coast-to-Coast marathon at the week-end so much that he slashed more than 30 minutes off the previous record for the event. Dobson became the first person to better a total time of half a day for the event. He completed the course from

Kumara Beach, near Greymouth, to Sumner Beach, Christchurch, in llh 55min 345. Brian Sanders, of Wellington, who was runner-up to Dobson yesterday, held the previous record for the race. He set it when he won the event last year in 12h 27min. On that occasion Dobson was second to' Sanders. Dobson was third at the end of the first day when

competitors reached Arthur’s Pass. He was two minutes behind the leader, Terry Newlands, in spite of a record run through the Deception Valley where he recorded three hours flat, taking 15 minutes off the previous record. Dobson was not the only competitor to benefit from the fine conditions. The first seven finishers were all inside the old record time and Sanders narrowly failed to break the magical 12-hour barrier by a minute and a half. The weather was hot on Saturday for the cycle and run leg into the middle of the Main Divide. It was a little cooler yesterday. Competitors faced a stiff north-easterly on the canoeing leg on the Waimakariri River and on the cycle leg to the finish at Sumner. The top team in the competition of Hans Vlaar and Dave Murgatroyd finished only five minutes ahead of Dobson. In fact only the first two teams finished in a better time than Dobson and Sanders. There was a family team category in the race and the first family pair to finish were Peter and Martyn Sinclair, identical twins. They finished fifth of the teams.

The first individual woman to cross the line was Jane Reeves, from Christchurch. She was a

commendable fortyseventh over all, and finished in 14h Imin 545.

Sandy Sanblom, a 41-year-old Christchurch carpenter, was the first veteran (over 40) to finish. He was ninth over all in 12h 34min 325. He has competed in all the Coast-to-Coast races. Results were:

Individual: Dobson, 11:55:34, 1; Sanders, 12:01:32, 2; R. Prince (Christchurch), 12:8:42, 3; T. Newlands (Auckland), 12:11:25, 4; K. Straight (Ashburton), 12:17:10, 5; S. Mills (Lower Hutt), 12:21:45, 6.

Women individual: Reeves, 14:1:54, 1; K. Dobson (Oamaru), 14:41:13, 2; L. Dawson (Twizel), 14:54:50, 3; S. Sweney (Nelson), 15:8:11, 4; C. Gilmour (Hamilton), 16:15:52, 5.

Team open: H. Vlaar and D. Murgatroyd, 11:50:08, 1; B. Fletcher and S. Lassche, 11:51:19, 2; A. Maffett and Sloan, 12:09:16, 3; D. Simmonds and C. Hibbert, 12:12:28, 4; D. Poyner and I. Surgenor, 12:20:25, 5; G. Rae and W. Gladstone, 12:20:51, 6.