A late charge down Canterbury’s South Eyre road has propelled Wanaka’s Dougal Allan to his second Kathmandu Coast to Coast Longest Day Men’s Title yesterday (Saturday February 13).

The 35-year-old chased down Christchurch’s Sam Manson with 30 kilometres to go in the gruelling 243-kilometre multisport race to win in eleven hours, nine minutes and 52 seconds, nine minutes and six seconds ahead of Sam.

“It was a lot harder today to be honest [than his first win], and it feels easily as good to win today only because it took me 10 hours to take the lead and when you can’t see the athlete in front of you for 10 hours it’s too hard to believe that it’s possible,” Dougal said. “I think I’m probably more satisfied today from a mental standpoint.”

Sam got frustrated waiting for others in the bunch to do their share on the front, so took off at the 40 kilometres mark with five other riders.

He took a two minutes 40 lead into the mountain run, extending it to over six minutes at the start of the 70-kilometre kayak leg down the Waimakariri River, before the Wanaka professional multisporter chewed into his lead, exiting the river just two minutes 40 behind.

“I knew Dougal would be chasing me. And the wind continued to pick up down the final bike ride, I just hoped that he would be further back and perhaps get a worse wind than me. Obviously, he still had a little bit more in the tank and did a really good job on that final ride,” Sam said.

Dougal knows exactly what it’s like to be runner up, having finished second himself in 2020.

“It was a mixed feeling - I was excited to be taking the lead, but I love Sam Manson like a brother. We’ve raced together and against each other - he’s going to win this race one day.

“I could just sense how much he wanted to win this today, he wanted it but came up a little short. Make no mistake, I’m thrilled, but I’m feeling a bit for Sammy,” he said.

Swannanoa vegetable grower Ryan Kiesanowski braved a broken toe to claim the final podium place in eleven hours and 31 minutes 55 seconds.

“I saw the surgeon a couple of weeks ago and he said, ‘That’s going to need surgery’.”

The 37-year-old instead braved the pain to leap up over Goat Pass and paddle down the Waimakariri River.

“I started to feel the pain a bit at the back half of the mountain run, but the paddle was pretty challenging. I didn’t dare use my right rudder with about 2k to go in the paddle.”

2021 Top Ten men's results

1- Dougal Allan 11:09:52

2- Sam Manson 11:19:46

3- Ryan Kiesanowski 11:31:55

4- Sam Goodall 11:36:25

5- Scott McDonald 11:38:25

6- Steve Melton 11:58:19

7- Dane McKnight 12:02;00

8- Oliver Thompson 12:04:19

9- Caleb Hill 12:09:01

10- Ashley Whitehead 12:15:41