Sportsmanship in Multi-sport

Well my NZ summer of racing has pretty much come to a finish with the Coast 2 Coast and the Mt Cook races in the past 2 weeks.

For the remainder of the summer I have fun things to look forward to like tax returns, gardening (which I hate almost as much as tax returns), and I’ll try to fit in some kiting and golf. My kiting is slowly improving; wish the golf would as well.

This summer has been a real roller coaster ride with my health and the break although short is going to be hugely appreciated by the body and mind.

The AR season kicks off for me at the beginning of June with a trip to the States. It looks like this year it may turn into one big trip rather than multiple trips back and forth from NZ. Although less flying it is never as relaxing as being at home between races.

I also hope to spend some time in Finland with my girlfriend Elina. My Finnish is about 2-year-old level now so sure to provide her family with plenty of laughs.

The big challenge I’m looking to tackle this year is to start getting the ball rolling for a new NZ Adventure racing team; while there is still a lot of work to do, I’m confident we can develop a new team to the highest international standards within the next couple of years.

With the serious racing over for me until heading away in June it has been nice to reflect on the races and what they have meant to me.

While it has been fantastic to come away with wins in both events the rivalry and close racing in each event provided the real highlight for me. Although the racing is intense and we battle like mortal enemies, it was still great to see the level of sportsmanship between most of the top competitors.

While racing in the Mt Cook race, we regularly ended up racing in similar groups each day. Our group which usually included Gordon Walker, Tim Pearson, Martin Flinta (from Sweden) and about 5 team riders on each days Mountain Bikes. While everyone was trying to smash the legs off each other, when there were obstacles such as fences to be crossed, gates opened, and then closed or any other obstructions we had an informal agreement to not attack. That is until the person was back on, or in some instances the team guys would actually get them for us leaving the individuals to keep the battle raging.

While this might seem like common sense and what any good kiwi would do it was amazing some of the stories that would filter in at the conclusion of each days racing about various incidences at small obstacles such as gate crossings. Some of these included gates being shut of people who were riding together, and then secured, pushing people off tracks and even swinging them on one rope section into a tree.

My fiercest competitor in both races was Gordon Walker and there is a great deal of respect between both of us, and, neither of us would want to win because of a break caused because of questionable tactics. We have different strengths and different tactics which makes the racing extremely interesting, We are evenly matched in the kayak, Gordon gives me a thrashing on the bike and I can usually put a bit of time on him in the run. Our approaches also differ markedly, I don’t race with a Heart rate monitor and tend to push the envelop as hard as I feel I can for as long as I can, Gordon uses a Heart rate monitor and has his target Hr’s calculated for optimum efficiency over the length of the race. We are always within minutes each time we race although often we’ll be racing apart for the majority of the race.

Which brings me back to the issue of sportsmanship. During races, we often take negotiated breaks for pee stops, check to see if competitors have the necessary gear to fix mechanicals, and generally race with a degree of etiquette. If we are to win it is based on good tactics, and being faster on the day, not because of any shady manoeuvres. Generally, Multisporters are fantastic at keeping the racing within highest levels of sportsmanship. Lets make sure it stays that way and respect our competitors, help others to reach their goals and generally just remain a friendly bunch capable of racing hard and leaving the rivalries on the course.