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In dads footsteps
When Dave Reid competed in the two-day individual event at the Coast to Coast back in 2013, he had three special people in his support crew. Son Josh, 11 at the time, son Ollie, eight and his youngest son Lachie who was just six.
Memories of the finish line that day are still firmly etched in his mind.
“I remember Steve Gurney congratulating me at the finish line and saying what an inspiration it will be for my boys.
“Then Josh said to me at the time, ‘I want to do this with you one day Dad.”
Roll on eight years, and that statement is about to become a reality.
Dave, Josh and Ollie will all take part in the Kathmandu Coast to Coast in February 2022 as part of a three-person team.
“This was definitely something driven by Josh.
“The desire to do this event has just stayed with him for all of those years. It wasn’t any prompting from me,” Dave said.
Not that you’ll find him complaining. Dave said he first entered The Coast to Coast as part of a team in 2012, bitten by the bug he returned for the individual event the following year.
“It was bucket list stuff really. It was something that I always wanted to do.”
The family is keen on the outdoors, tramping and skiing, so it doesn’t come as a surprise that the boys have followed their father into the multi-sport event.
Dave, who is a part owner of Barracuda Kayaks, will take up the kayaking leg, while Ollie will tackle Goats Pass and Josh the cycle. “We probably have gone where our strengths lie.
“Josh is down at Canterbury and so spends a lot of time biking and Ollie is really fit playing a lot of high-level hockey.
“The boys don’t have their Grade 2 and probably haven’t spent much time on the water outside of sea kayaking on family holidays.
“But there will be plenty of time for that in the future,” Dave said.
The Reids, who hail from Beachlands in Auckland, haven’t yet had the opportunity to start training together - with Josh in Christchurch and Ollie in the midst of the hockey season. However, Dave said as soon as it’s possible that’s their plan.
“When Josh is back home for the university holidays in November, we will all start training together.
“I also intend to take the boys for a bit of a prelim of the course and especially show Ollie Goats Pass.”
He said while Ollie is “really fit” seeing Goats Pass for the first time is likely to throw up a few nerves for the 17-year-old.
“He might have a little freak out when he sees it, but both the boys have been at the event before and know what to expect.”
For Dave, what he is looking forward to the most is sharing everything he loves about the Coast to Coast with his sons.
“It’s actually hard to put into words what it is that makes this event so special.
“Obviously it is iconic and it’s a bucket list event for a great many of the competitors. But it’s also so much more than that.
“It’s the most stunning scenery and the atmosphere is just incredible. The feeling of comradery among the competitors is amazing. I am really looking forward to sharing that with Josh and Ollie.”
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There’s almost a sort of “Hotel California” thing going with the Kathmandu Coast to Coast: “You can check out any time you like, but you can never leave.” People get hooked, and they keep coming back, either working their way through the various events and age groups or targeting personal bests year by year. Two-time champion Kristina Anglem did manage to check out and for the most part, has left, but not before generating an awful lot of goodwill with fellow competitors, officials and general supporters. Competing initially under her maiden name, Kristina Strode Penny only raced the Coast to Coast on four occasions. Still, she certainly cast a long (warm) shadow over the race and ushered in a new younger group of women who would dominate the event in the years to come. Growing up in Wellington, Kristina’s initial sporting passion was gymnastics, but she retired at the ripe old age of 11. “After that, I always yearned to be out in nature. I would take myself off for walks or runs along the eastern walkway. Wellington is loaded with walkways.” Her two older brothers were keen on bashing about in the outdoors, and one arranged for a mountain bike for his sister. “I rode all the trails, and around the same time, I got into rock climbing and joined the Wellington Tramping and Mountaineering Club.” Helicopter parents in the new millennium would be horrified by the teenage Kristina’s next move into outdoor sports. “We lived by the sea and got given an old kayak – an old canvas thing that I laugh at now. I would take myself out into the bay and figure out how to roll, then off and yonder in the sea! Looking back at some of those things now as a parent, I’m glad my Mum didn’t have a clue what was going on! I’d paddle out to these rocks and come back – miss the Picton ferry by chance!”
