K2 & K4 - Coromandel
28/10/2006

(refer to http://www.arcevents.co.nz/k2cycle/description.html for further event details and http://www.poprun.co.nz/ K2 event for full results.)

The ride of the weekend came from Hastings Vet 1 rider Jason Kelly who demolished a large field to win the gruelling 384km K4 cycle race around the Coromandel Peninsula. With each lap containing 2,300 metres of vertical climbing (the equivalent of six climbs up Te Mata Peak) and the final climb of each lap, the Whangapoua Hill, a gut busting hors category (unclassifiable) climb of 380m vertical climbing over 3.4km of road, this was not an event for the faint hearted.

Starting at 10pm on Friday night, Kelly had initial problems with his lights so sat in the main bunch until he could contact his support crew. With the problem fixed at around the 70km mark part way up the 14km Kopu - Hikuai hill, Kelly quickly closed the gap on the main bunch and then started chasing what turned out to be the leading bunch of three riders. With the leaders having an estimated lead of at least five minutes, with the twisting road, their rear lights only occasionally came into view until the Pumpkin Hill climb at around the 110km mark. With the leaders in sight, Kelly powered up the hill to ride straight through the front riders who were stunned at the appearance of another rider and who almost immediately abandoned any thoughts of chasing. From there, Kelly rode solo a further 274km to complete two laps of the Coromandel - Thames - Tairua - Whitianga circuit in an official time of 14hrs 21m 14s. The second rider was credited with a time of 15hrs 44m 25s to give Kelly a stunning winning margin of 1hr 23m 11s.

In the 192km K2 Elite event of one lap, professional rider Jeremy Vennell finished in 7th place in 5hrs 24m while Josh Page finished 25th in 5hrs 51m. In the K2 “fun” ride, also of 192km and one lap, Saul Webb finished 22nd in 5hrs 56m, Rob Oliver finished 86th overall in 5hrs 58m for 3rd place in his age group while Darryl Strachan was 29th overall and won his age group as well as taking out 3rd place in the King of the Mountains category.