No effort spared in the annual grind from one peak to another 

Road warriors: Peak 2 Peak runners Sarah Cole and Elliott Shackleton on the Gorge Road track heading to Arthurs Point

Plenty of sweat was spilled when hundreds of multisport athletes battled for Peak to Peak glory last Saturday. 

Queenstown’s fiercely-fought challenge kicked off at noon with 69 dedicated individuals and 90 teams beginning 
the 44km grind with a 2km ski on The Remarkables. 

Contenders then slogged through a 17km downhill mountain bike ride, 7km kayak from Frankton to Queenstown Bay and a 9km run to Arthurs Point before the final test – a gruelling 9km uphill ride to Coronet Peak skifield. 

Team Fergburger set a new record, powering home in 2 hr 2min 51sec – ahead of defending champions Outside Sports Queenstown in 2:04.19sec. 

Cantabrian Adam Milne was first individual man across the line in 2:16.14sec, while the individual women’s race was dominated by Wanaka newcomer Simone Maier who clocked 2:37.58sec. 

Christchurch’s Brett Leyden was the fastest men’s veteran in 2:29.15sec, with Queenstown’s Moira Finlin taking out the veteran women’s title in a time of 3:20.11sec. Aotea Electric from Queenstown was the quickest business house team, finishing in 2:29.27sec, Queenstown’s Browns Avanti Plus won the veteran category in 2:16.34sec, and mixed team winners Greenacres were faster again, in 2:15.55sec. 

Blake Luff took out the top junior man spot in 2:54.40sec and Mt Aspiring was the fastest school team in 2:30.59sec.

Derek’s labour pains Queenstown wheelchair athlete Derek Stewart has no intention of committing to tackling Peak to Peak solo again – just yet. “It’s like asking someone after having a baby if they’re going to do it again,” Stewart, 42, says. “The only thing that got me up the last bit was thinking I never had to do this again.” Stewart has previously kayaked and skied in teams, but decided to conquer the entire course himself this year. “It’s the first time I’ve been stupid enough to do the lot. I feel like crawling into a ball and crying.” He finished the race, to plenty of applause, in 3hr 37min 27sec.	Goals met Queenstown Winter Olympian Sarah Murphy finished her Peak 2 Peak race in the same position as last year but 27 minutes faster. The biathlete took fifth place in the women’s individual category with a time of 2hr 58min 01sec. Murphy, 22, says she managed to achieve her two main goals while racing in what was her third Peak 2 Peak. “I didn’t get a flat tyre…and I did it under three hours, which was great.”
Sister act Fluoro teammates (from left) Abby Carrington, 26, plus sisters Stef Laughton, 23, and Carla Laughton, 25, were the women’s winners for the third year running. The girls say gutsy cyclist Hannah Thorn was their team’s star performer, overtaking rivals on the uphill slog despite being out of an ankle cast for just two months. Every year the South Island-based Laughton sisters chuck together a team, with this year’s combo racing home in 2hr 31min 10sec, two minutes ahead of rivals R&R Sports Whippets. “This year’s been the hardest and closest,” Carla says.	Still going the distance Paddling 7km across Lake Wakatipu and biking 9km up to Coronet Peak was a jaunt for event veteran Bill Godsall. “That sort of distance doesn’t bother me,” the 55-year-old says. Godsall, from Cromwell, hasn’t missed a race since it began 17 years ago. This time he competed in the Paper Plus team, which came third in the mixed division. “I love it. I’ll do it as long as I’m still standing,” he says. The tough contender was back in his kayak again on Sunday for a race at Lake Hayes.
	Muddy marvellous Downhill mountain biker Staf Whittfield had a rough ride after his chain broke while speeding down The Remarkables access road. Instead of letting the mechanical glitch put him out of contention, the QLDC Mongoose member coasted the rest of the way down the track before hijacking another bike at the bottom. “I put my bike in a bush and ran up to some randoms and asked them to use a bike on their car.” Whittfield, 28, says his unknown saviour didn’t hesitate to hand over his mountain bike to “a dodgy guy racing up covered in mud”.