Supporting Le Race 

I like to think back on what I was doing at such and such a time. In September, for instance, I think about cycling over Switzerland’s 2436 m. Furka Pass. That was almost seven years ago.  Maybe it’s about nostalgia? Maybe it is merely exercise for a 73-year old brain?

Whatever, this particular thinking relates to just a week ago on March 25, 2017.

I was leading a support team of three for my partner, Haruko, and daughter, Kirsten, competing in Le Race. They first competed in the 2015 event. It is a daunting 100 km road cycling course from Christchurch’s Cathedral Square to Akaroa utilising the high-climbing Summit Road route from Hilltop to Akaroa. It is not the largest New Zealand cycling event (that statistic goes to Round the Lake- Taupo) but Le Race is the toughest hill climbing event with fast downhill sections.

The day began with heavy drizzle that luckily soon dried out. Even so the competitors were climbing into low cloud. If going uphill is tough, downhill on a road bike is done with trepidation.  And if competing requires mega strength and dogged determination, being a support team is fraught with a little anxiety, particularly when supporting family members. My two completed the event comfortably, without problems, within the six-hour limit. Their exhaustion did not stop them tucking into a lunch of magnificent Akaroa fish and chips – the best in New Zealand. Assisting me was my son Michael, visiting from Perth and another son, Paul, visiting from Auckland.  

A real hero of the race was 19-year-old Keagan Girdlestone.  In 2014, aged 16, he had been the youngest cyclist to win Le Race. But just 10 months before this year’s Le Race he had a serious accident in Italy- so serious he was told he would never cycle again.

He finished in 3 hr.11 secs. Placing him in the top 450.   

Fastest times; Men, Brad Evans 2 hr.41 min. 45 secs.

Women, Charlotte Lucas; 2hr. 58 min. 42 secs.

I would call that effort Super Human. 700 competed this year. Estimated combined cost of their bicycles, $2.8 million. 

A peloton passing through Little River. Unlike their supporters, they did not stop for coffee. 

Climbing climbing: Kirsten near Hilltop.

Still smiling, Haruko near Hilltop. Much of the effort still to happen.