'Southern Lads' get the job done at Coast to Coast
“We never really discussed it, but in hindsight, we all agreed that we kind of secretly dreamed of crossing the finish line first and winning the whole thing outright.”
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If anyone quizzed this particular Southland trio before the start of the 2023 Coast to Coast, the response was that they were keen to give their veteran category a shake.
The truth though, individually these three Southlanders, in their own minds, had much bigger plans at the historic multi-sport event.
Rikki Griffin, Dwight Grieve, and Mike White teamed up to take part in the two-day three-person teams’ Coast-to-Coast race on Friday and Saturday.
“Our formal goal, if we were talking about it to people, was that we want to win our [veteran] category,” Griffin says.
“We never really discussed it, but in hindsight, we all agreed that we kind of secretly dreamed of crossing the finish line first and winning the whole thing outright.”
And that’s just what they did.
The trio completed the adventure from one side of the South Island to the other in 11 hours 53 minutes ahead of the other 32 three-person two-day teams.
Rikki Griffin had originally secured the Coast to Coast entry with the plan to put together a family team.
However, a clash with a school camp prompted him to change tact.
“I thought maybe it could be a good opportunity to put together a competitive team for Southland. Just try and get some good Southland athletes together to give the Coast a good nudge.”
Griffin has been kayaking for 25 years, a skill that’s not easy to pick up quickly for the Coast to Coast. He had that section sorted.
He then shoulder-tapped Te Anau-based Dwight Grieve, a successful competitive runner, and Mike White, a proven competitive cyclist, to fill the other spots.
Between them, they formed a formidable and determined unit.
“We haven’t really had big [Southland] results at the Coast for a while… so I thought let’s go and give a good showing from Southland. So, I pulled together Dwight and Mike and they saw the same opportunity, as well as having a bit of fun.”
The trio, which went by the team name “Southern Lads”, finished the first day in 4th place before clawing their way to the top spot on day two setting up the sweet finish.
It made the eight-hour drive back to Southland on Sunday just that little bit more comfortable.
So will Griffin, White, and Grieve be back to defend their title in 2024?
“I think we’d all say yes today, with the caveat anything can happen in 12 months’ time,” Griffin says.
The Southern Lads team was not the only Southlanders who delivered strong results at this year’s Coast to Coast.
The other success stories included Rueben Boniface and Kara Wandless teaming up to finish as the first veteran mixed team in the two-day event.
Paula Hedges and Ange Burnett also picked up a third-place finish in the veteran female two-day teams category.
While Adam Cowie produced an impressive performance finishing second in the male 50 to 59 age category in the longest-day event on Saturday.
Janet Willis claimed a third-place finish in the veteran 40-49 women’s one-day category.