Logs Rocks and Steel Winners Train to Race in New Zealand Summer
By Barb Campbell, Jan. 25, 2011
Originally Published Online at breathemag.ca
Paddling Colpoy
When the mud settled after the GUATS Logs Rocks and Steel race last September, Jack Van Dorp and Barb Campbell were the winners on the Championship course. Both accepted the grand prize of a free entry to Speight’s Coast to Coast in New Zealand, the World Multisport Championship.
Now in its 29th year, Coast to Coast is one of the oldest multisport races on the planet. Before sunrise on February 12, two hundred racers will line up on the beach at Kumara on the west coast of New Zealand’s South Island. Over the next 12 to 18 hours, they will run, bike and paddle 243 kilometres to Sumner Beach, a suburb of Christchurch on New Zealand’s east coast.
Training for a summer event during the Canadian winter can be a challenge. Van Dorp, who placed 12th at the 2010 Coast to Coast, has learned some tricks over the past two winters. He runs along the rugged Bruce Peninsula shoreline to prepare for running in rocky riverbeds and other rough terrain in New Zealand. The race goes over the Alps, so Van Dorp makes strength work a priority. “I do a lot of core work and lunges to increase my power for climbing over rocks.” He converted his unheated garage into a training space where he rides his bike on rollers or a trainer. A strong Nordic skier, he skate skis regularly to build general fitness.
To train and raise funds for last year’s Coast to Coast, Van Dorp did a race simulation at Heritage Place Mall in Owen Sound. Sears and the Sportmakers Gym where he trains provided him with a treadmill, stationary bike and rowing machine, and he went the full race distance as passersby watched and friends dropped by to train beside him.
While the running in Coast to Coast is rugged and often off-trail, the three cycling legs of the race take place on 140 kilometres of paved roads. A keen trail rider, Campbell did not own a road bike when she won the race entry. “My race preparation began with some hurried shopping and a bunch of late season rides to get used to the different gears, brakes and handling of a road bike.”
Campbell and her husband Richard Ehrlich have dubbed their home gym the Adventure Basement. Although she prefers snowshoeing and Nordic skiing in winter, this year she has spent some time indoors doing strength training and working out on the kayak erg, bike trainer and – for intervals only – the treadmill. She does her other runs outdoors in snowshoes or spiked shoes.
Both Van Dorp and Campbell have travelled outside Ontario to train. On separate trips to Florida, they biked, ran and paddled while snow fell back home. In December, Van Dorp raced on Team GUATS Adventure in the six-day Abu Dhabi Adventure Challenge.
It hasn’t all been palm trees though! In January, Campbell met a friend in Vancouver for whitewater kayak coaching to prepare for the 67 kilometres of river paddling in Coast to Coast. Back home, a few days after Christmas, Van Dorp and Campbell post-holed through the snow to launch their kayaks for a few hours on Georgian Bay near Van Dorp’s home town of Wiarton.
With Coast to Coast less than three weeks away, their final training phase will take place in New Zealand. Amongst other activities, Van Dorp and Campbell will do the mountain run over Goat Pass and take a guided kayak trip down the Waimakariri River.
See www.coasttocoast.co.nz for more information and live coverage of the race. You can follow the Canadian racers through the afternoon and evening of February 11 (in North America) by following “vandorpracing” on Facebook and Twitter.
