History awaits Whakatane's Sam Clark as he takes on the prestigious Longest Day section of New Zealand's iconic Coast to Coast multisport race tomorrow.
Beginning from the shores of Kumara Beach at 6am, Clark (25), runner-up to three-time champion Braden Currie (Wanaka) last year, will be one of the most experienced of the elite athletes in tomorrow's field.
He may be young in years for an event like this but he knows the quirky nature of the terrain and sudden climatic changes throughout the 243km course.
With the absence of Currie in the open men's section this year, the opportunity has been left open for Clark to become just the second male competitor to achieve the two-day and longest day title double.
The last man to do so was Keith Murray, who won back-to-back two-day titles in 1992 and 1993, before lifting the Longest Day title in 1994.
Clark burst on to the multisport scene as a teenager, winning the two-day Coast to Coast title in 2009 as an 18-year-old, clocking an impressive 12hr 24min 53sec.
But it was a far from ideal introduction to the Longest Day competition a year later, in the weather-bombed 2010 event dominated by the ultra-marathon cycling abilities of Gordon Walker (Auckland) and Dougal Allan (Wanaka).
Clark finished 15th.
Not put off by this introduction to the main event, Clark returned in 2011, to finish fifth and again in 2013 to finish fourth.
If numerology plays its part after last year's result (second), then this could well be his year.
Ready to halt Clark's progress to the top step of the Coast to Coast podium is Australian multisport legend Jared Kohlar (33).
Although Clark got the better of Kohlar in November's Augusta Adventure Festival, tomorrow is another day, but the inclusion of Kohlar sets up an intriguing transtasman battle.
Sam Manson (Auckland) and Sam Goodall (Christchurch) also draw short odds.
Kohlar comes into the event in peak condition, after recently setting a course record over the Albany Adventurethon course in Australia, which included terrain familiar to that encountered on the Coast to Coast mountain run.
Should Kohlar win, he will be the first overseas contestant to lift the Longest Day crown since John Jacoby, of Melbourne, did so with victories in 1988, 1989 and 1993.
The only other overseas contestant to do so was Rockley Montgomery, of South Africa, in 1992.
Like Kohlar, fellow Australian national Karen Masson, who won the 2015 Adventurethon National Challenge Ultra distance event in Townsville, leads the Australian female entries and could be the one to deny Elina Ussher, of Nelson, a third open women's title.
Just as the men's event has been opened up with the absence of Currie, the women's too is open, after back-to-back champion Jess Simson (Wanaka), retired last year.
Coast to Coast
At a glance
Start times: Two-day section Friday, February 12, 7am; Longest Day, Saturday, February 13, 6am.
History: First held 1983 as a two-day event. Longest Day section introduced 1987.
Distance: 243km.
Course description: 3km run from Kumara Beach; 55km cycling stage to Aickens; 33km mountain run to Klondyke; 15km cycle stage to Mt White Bridge; 67km kayak down Waimakariri River to Gorge Bridge; 70km cycle stage to finish at New Brighton.
Longest Day records: Women: Andrea Murray 12hr 9min 26sec (1997). Men: Keith Murray 10hr 34min 37sec (1994).
Two-day records: Women, Anne Woodley 12hr 59min 57sec (1997). Men, Keith Murray 11hr 5min 18sec (1993).
Total overall entries 2016: 608
Oldest competitor 2016: John Livingston (Palmerston North) 77.
Youngest competitor 2016: Lily Spittal (Methven) 14.
Average age of 2016 entries: 38.
