Inspiring family team-up for Coast to Coast race

Russell Prince and Lewis Blay will race on the same team in the Kathmandu Coast to Coast race....
Russell Prince and Lewis Blay will race on the same team in the Kathmandu Coast to Coast race. Photo: Kathmandu Coast to Coast
Christchurch 15-year-old Lewis Blay will take on next month's Kathmandu Coast to Coast race with three generations of his family on the team.

The iconic race, which stretches across the South Island from the west to the east, holds deep personal significance for the family. 

Lewis, 15, his uncle Aaron Prince and grandfather Russell Prince will be competing together as a team in the race on February 7-8. 

Russell, 69, won the 1987 longest-day event and has completed in more than 20 Coast to Coast races.

He set the standard for over 10 years when it came to the mountain run and still holds the national record for the 100km road run. 

For Lewis, the opportunity to finally race in the Kathmandu Coast to Coast is a dream come true.

"My grandad and uncle have been doing it for a long time and they’ve always been really good at adventure racing so I’ve always looked up to them.

"Then my mum did the race last year and it just really motivated me to be a part of it."

Lewis will take on the 30.5km mountain run stage. He has been running competitively for the last three years but this will be the longest and most gruelling race so far. 

"I do a lot of tramping and river crossings but in most of the races I do, the worst it gets is gravel roads."

Russell says he was "blown away" with the invite to join the team.

"It’s great seeing young guys like lewis doing the race. It’s just amazing, I can’t believe I got asked to go in a team with them."

Russell took Lewis and a friend through the mountain run last April and said the boys were fast but still a had a few things to learn. 

"They’d get lost very easily without being shown the route on the West Coast side," Russell said.

"I was pleased to wave them goodbye at Goat Pass, though where they bounded away down the eastern side of the track to meet Lewis’ dad Andy then I came out about an hour later.”

Aaron says it will be really special to compete as a family team. 

“Obviously dad’s a previous winner and I’ve done the race a few times myself so it’s time for that third generation to get keen I guess.”

Aaron Prince (second from left) cdelebrates with team mates after winning GODZone. Photo:...
Aaron Prince (second from left) cdelebrates with team mates after winning GODZone. Photo: Kathmandu Coast to Coast
Aaron is no stranger to the world of endurance sport, with a total of seven Coast to Coast events under his belt.

He has also competed in adventure races around the world and won eight adventure race world championship medals.

"When I was growing up both mum and dad were doing the Coast to Coast and other adventure races."

"And then myself and my sisters got into it, and now the next generation is doing it and it’s not cause we’re forcing them - they actually really want to do it so it’s quite fun."

"The cool thing about the Coast to Coast is the history - it’s been going over 40 years and very similar course and it’s always been the major event on the calendar for multi-sporters. If there’s any event you want to do well in , that’s it. It’s the big one you know."