Queenstown turned on a blinder for Saturday’s annual Peak to Peak multisport event.
Starting with a 2km ski or snowboard from Curvey Basin, at The Remarkables, to the skifield’s base area, competitors then transitioned to mountainbikes for a 17km downhill trek to Frankton Beach.
From there, it was a 7km kayak to Queenstown Bay, leading to a 9km run — from Queenstown to Arthurs Point — and ending with a 9km uphill cycle to the finish line at Coronet Peak’s base area.
Their numbers included Bryce Irving in the kayak, who was in fine form having just returned from the waka ama world distance championships in Samoa, where he won gold medals in the V1 singles and with a six-man crew.
The women’s team was won by Alpine Health & Fitness in 2hr 17min 39sec, while the Mountain Goats won the mixed teams category in 2hr 20min 32sec.
Cameron Jones won the open individual men’s category (2hr 17min 12sec), while second and third place were separated by the blink of an eye — Jason Dobson took silver in 2hr 27min 6sec followed by Tom Shenk (2hr 27min 28sec).
Hannah Lund won the open women’s category in 2hr 42min 8sec with Zoe MacClure second (2hr 44min 37sec) and Estelle Arundell third (2hr 54min 54sec).
A new category this year, tandem team, required entrants to do the whole multisport event together, including the kayak.
The men’s tandem was won by Toby Wheatley and Richard Mackley (2hr 50min 28sec), while the latter’s daughters, Zara and Siena, won the women’s tandem (3hr 2min 34sec), and Rosie and Adam Hill won the mixed tandem (3hr 12min 53sec).
