39th Kathmandu Coast to Coast
Kathmandu Coast to Coast Named Event of the Year Finalist at Sport and Recreation Awards
Press Release / 20.08.2020
Being rewarded as a finalist in the Event of the Year category at the New Zealand Sport and Recreation Awards 2020 is testament to the culture and vibe of the Kathmandu Coast to Coast, according to Race Director Glen Currie.
With 1,035 entrants in 2020, New Zealand’s longest running Multisport event sold out for the first time in more than a decade, which was more than double the number of entries in 2015 when Queenstown-based owners Trojan Holdings purchased the event.
And in less than a week, the reinvigorated event had again sold out for 2021.
‘Completing the Kathmandu Coast to Coast is a massive achievement,’ said Race Director Glen Currie.
‘But that’s only half the story,’ he went on to say.
‘The months leading up to the event weekend, training in your local area, finding new places to train, the people you meet and the community that has been created around the Kathmandu Coast to Coast is something that we feel gives the event such a unique flavour and plays a big part in why Kiwis have fallen in love with the event again.’
Under new ownership in 2015 the Kathmandu Coast to Coast focused on making the event accessible for anyone who was prepared to put in the work.
‘For a long time, the event was primarily about who could get from one side of the South Island to the other the fastest. But through opening up categories such as the tandem, the three-person team, the Sport Canterbury Schools competition and also a stand alone Mountain Run, competitors with a much wider range of abilities are able to find ways to take part in the event, and once they get to experience the event first hand, they invariably want to do more or find other new ways to be involved in the event.’
‘We’re really happy that we’ve been able to expand those categories, whilst still maintaining the event in its original format too. The competition in both the men’s and women’s longest days has been immense over the past few years, with both local and international competitors taking out the event.’
Currie made special mention of the raft of commercial partners that also add their special vibe to the event, ‘we’re really blessed to have a great bunch of like-minded supporters that share our passion for the outdoors. To run an event like the Kathmandu Coast to Coast takes a lot of moving parts and without the likes of Kathmandu and all the others we simply wouldn’t be able to achieve what we do.’
In 2019 the Kathmandu Coast to Coast won the Event of the Year Award at the Sport Canterbury Awards.
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