140 km of cycle, 67 km of kayak and 36 km of running are on Brad Marsh’s agenda this weekend. The 29-year old sailor is getting ready for his first Coast to Coast race, an infamous multisport event taking place in the South island of New Zealand.
Marsh already distinguished himself onboard Groupama 4, winning the Volvo Ocean Race 2011-12 with the French team and receiving the overall Abu Dhabi Seamanship Award at the prize-giving ceremony in Galway. But it just doesn’t seem to be enough to keep him quiet.
“It’s the attraction for the adventure itself,” he says over the phone, “the mental side, the ability to keep pushing yourself and to not stop when it gets difficult.
"I think that’s a nice parallel to the Volvo Ocean Race. If you just give up when your mind tells you to, it stops a lot earlier than when your body does.
“It’s also the first time since I’ve been following the Coast to Coast race on the Internet that I’m able to do it myself. It’s not just realising that the date on the calendar is available to you – it’s actually all the training and commitment before the race.
“It’s a very historic and unique race in New Zealand. I decided I wanted to do it at the end of July last year. It has been six months of training but it hasn’t been perfect because of my sailing schedule with the American TP52 Interlodge.”
A multisport rookie, Marsh sees himself as an amateur but is delighted to have product sponsoring from Volvo and Helly Hansen.
“Volvo is providing me with a brand new Volvo XC70, which my father and my girlfriend Robin are going to drive to support me and carry all the equipment to the transition stands during the race.
“So I got a shore crew as I did for the Volvo Ocean Race… And it’s the most lucky shore crew in the world since they got to drive a new XC70 around the South Island!”
Brad's tracking number is 43 and he starts on Saturday 9 February at 5.30am local time – cheer him here! www.coasttocoast.co.nz
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