30 years of footing it

“Keep On Running” a smash hit record from almost 60 years ago aptly describes Nelson podiatrist Chris Gates.

He lined up in the inaugural Abel Tasman Coastal Classic in 1994 and has fronted every year since except 2021 when Covid-19 stopped the iconic event in its track.

So, Chris was back on the start line for the 30th and final trail run from Araroa to Marahau on Saturday.

Chris reckons the conditions were almost too good.

“It was pretty hot about 19 degrees,” says Chris who cut out the 33-kilometre event in just over four and a half hours.

Running on the sand makes it more like the marathon distance, over 42 kilometres.

It was a far cry from 1994 when Chris remembers miserable conditions.

“There were rough seas getting to Totaranui by boat for the start and then it was cold and wet. Some competitors were only wearing singlets,” Chris recalls.

It didn’t deter Chris coming back each year.

“I used to be competitive with top ten finishes and winning a few age groups but now I’m older I don’t look at the competition,” says the 65-year-old.

Does his day job help prepare him for the annual slog.

“My feet have been pretty good over the years. I did pull my calf once and still lined up. I paid for that for the next three months.”

The story of a German athlete who waited 20 years to compete in the Abel Tasman Coastal Classic highlights the event’s global pull.

“This guy was on the wait list in case someone pulled out. When we said you are in, he replied I can’t afford it now but he still came to the classic and loved it,” says race director Averil West after the 30th and final running of the epic trail run.

The field was capped at 350, but the organisers were swamped with so many entries that they could have put on a second 33 kilometre run from Araroa to Mārahau.

“The weather was fantastic on Saturday and so different to our first race from Totaranui to Mārahau in 1994,” recalls Averil. “The seas were rough and getting competitors to the start line was tough going. And then it was wet and cold.

“I will never forget having to lug about 100 heavy bags ashore from a boat.”

Also on hand to see off the event in style were remnants of the Motueka Round Table who had been manning the Torrent Bay aid station since day one.

They were part of the 40-strong band of volunteers who kept the coastal classic ticking over.

Plenty of memories were shared at the prize giving, in a marquee, at the Kaiteriteri Domain.

“We have had a marriage proposal and a honeymoon along the trail,” beams Averil, whose West family company Nelson Events Limited has run events for around 35 years.

Their retirement doesn’t automatically mean they pass on the licence to another operator.

“It is up to the Department of Conservation to decide to let someone take it on,” concludes Averil.

And what became of the inaugural winners.

Well, it turns out my brother-in-law John Knight, a former Ironman triathlete, won the men’s event with his Nelson-born wife Judy finishing third behind her mountain running rival Andrea Devine.

She’s since returned to England while Lake Hayes-based John was competing in a bike race in Glenorchy at the weekend.

Final thoughts from my sporty sister sum up the enduring appeal of the coastal classic.

“It was so wet and cold we were given plastic rubbish bags to wear at the finish line. We absolutely loved it and came back and did the race again years later,” says Judy.