9-time winner and Kathmandu Coast to Coast Ambassador Steve Gurney discusses water touches and the main divide with 2-Day Individual competitor Sarah Helmore.

"I love this river though because it’s a true wilderness river and acquiring those skills gives you a real sense of satisfaction." - Kathmandu Coast to Coast Ambassador Steve Gurney. Video: Mason Bennett #kathmanducoasttocoast

"Aaaagh! Caught with a flat.....how about that!!" - Kathmandu Coast to Coast Brand Ambassador Steve Gurney runs through some of the things you need to think about when preparing for the cycle stages of the event. Video by Mason Bennett #kathmanducoasttocoast

"I love this river though because it’s a true wilderness river and acquiring those skills gives you a real sense of satisfaction." - Kathmandu Coast to Coast Ambassador Steve Gurney. Video: Mason Bennett #kathmanducoasttocoast

Training tips with Steve Gurney - Kathmandu Coast to Coast

Check out two of the best jet boating adventures NZ has to offer right here in Rotorua/Taupo New Zealand come along this trip with NZ best known Ironman Steve Gurney

What a fun night giving a motivational speech to the passionate & fun community sporting talent at the 2016 Rakaia Sports Awards! The passion and fun of the Rakaia community is contagious - Laughing with Jim. I love recounting how I met Steve Irwin in person at the Eco Challenge in Cairns Australia. He was such a passionate man and I use him as a role model. Sadly he died after being stung by a sting-ray, but I’m reminded “It’s not the years in your life, but the life in your years that matters” Instead of trophies, the community award was a bunch of trees to plant. Cool! Some of New Zealand’s future world champions I’m sure!

Recently I had the honour of MCing for Ashley & Connor's wedding.... Connor was a sitting duck for a bit of ribbing at his wedding. Couldn't resist as MC!

by Charlie Mitchell, published in The Press in Christchurch, New Zealand The car park at Jade Software is usually overflowing with cars, as is the case at many mid-sized, office-based companies. But this week is different. The entranceway is littered with bicycles. They cover the footpath and spill onto the lawn. Wednesday was New Zealand's annual "Go by Bike Day", and the business consulting company turned it into a week-long event, holding challenges and events to promote cycling in the city and encouraging its workers to ditch their cars. This year, more than half the workforce signed up for an intra-company challenge: could each employee leave their car at home and cycle 100 kilometres over the week? If some of the team were suffering the mid-week blues, they were helped by a pep talk from extreme fitness icon Steve Gurney. The Cantabrian has won the brutal Coast to Coast contest nine times. He famously crossed the Sahara desert on a kite buggy, and battled through Cook Strait on a kayak. He brought tales from his inspirational life to Jade Software, reminding them of the importance of keeping moving. "It's about getting people out there on their bike to make a difference to the fitness of the nation," he says. "It's very easy in this technological age to just jump in your car and drive around places, but this machine is not built for driving a desk and a driving a car. It's built for exercise." He brought with him his newest bike - with wheels as wide as his head, it was a perfect match for the endurance athlete. He suggested a good way for people to get into cycling was to splurge on a decent bike, and guilt themselves into using it. "It's the same as buying a car. You want to buy a bike you feel nice driving, go the step further and buy a bike you shouldn't really afford buy you're going to because it's such a nice bike." Even though Gurney has retired, he's still taking on challenges, such as recreating the adventures of famous explorers. "Cycling is just an awesome way to commute. You don't need to take a car most of the time - just put on a backpack and ride into town."

Press Release: The Pioneer Gurney Finds a New Challenge in Ride Across the Alps Steve Gurney’s done it all – well very nearly all. He’s been a professional multisport and triathlon athlete, competing in events all around the world. He’s been poisoned by bat dung while racing in Borneo jungles and nearly died, and of course he’s won the Coast to Coast a record nine times. Now, Gurney’s decided to give The Pioneer a crack – a World-class 7-day mountain bike event taking riders from Christchurch to Queenstown over the Southern Alps. “I’ve had mates who have done these other Swiss and Canadian alpine races like this and I’ve had it on my bucket list for a while to travel over and do those so I was overjoyed when I saw that one was coming right on my very back doorstep, so it was a no brainer to do it.” The Pioneer will take place from Sunday 31 January to Saturday 6 February 2016, taking riders though outstanding terrain, with great climbs and descents on New Zealand Cycle Trails, farm tracks, DOC trail and along world class single tracks between Christchurch and Queenstown, traversing the stunning Southern Alps. Gurney - who resides in Queenstown, is no stranger to long distance adventure races, having done the Xerox Challenge in 1990 and the Mizone Endurazone in 2001. They were both multisport events (Kayaking, biking and running) and they were 22 days and 28 days long respectively, going the length of the country. “Having done those longer races in the past I know what to expect and The Pioneer certainly doesn’t phase me at all, in the fact that there is an endurance aspect. What attracts me the most is it’s not like a short sprint event where it’s over and done with and if something goes a little bit wrong you’re stuffed, so you’ve got the chance with these long races to recover and make up for any mistakes that you’ve made or things that have gone wrong. “Lets face it, these races that are in the mountains are truly adventure races and things will go wrong. I think it’s very naive of competitors to enter these events expecting it all to go to plan. Let’s turn the coin over and I’d say that that’s what attracts most of us is that there is an element of risk and adventure that you have to manage and to able to recover from so it’s a thinking person’s race.” The 52-year old will team up with Simon Callaghan in the 7-day race. However, he doesn’t actually know Simon at all. “I was looking for someone who is my age group who I could be team mates with so I looked through the results of some of the other mountain bike races I’ve done and I was looking through to see who’s my age group who’s beaten me. I tracked him down through Facebook and asked I he wanted to do it with me and he was very keen to help.” What Gurney didn’t realise is that Simon has done the British Columbia race twice (7-day mountain bike stage race from Victoria to Whistler, Canada), so he knows how to train for events like the Pioneer and what to expect. The Coast to Coast legend feels a bit nervous that he may not live up to his teammate’s skill level. “Simon’s pretty fast and a very good rider so I’ve been training really hard to lift my fitness level up. I’m pretty happy so far, I think I’m the fittest I’ve been for probably a decade on the bike so things have gone pretty well.” For Gurney it’s all about having fun, but of course his competitive nature won’t go astray either. He wants to be able to enjoy himself and doesn’t want to feel like he’s totally under pressure every day. “I want to feel like I can sit and check out the views at the top of the peak and take a couple of seconds to take in the beauty of the wilderness we’ve been through. We’ve certainly had that in training, my goodness some of the places. We went back country on a bit of an adventure bike last weekend and we had to stop and take photos, it was stunning.” Gurney insists he won’t be stopping to take photos in the race but in his head he will be, taking a snap shot in his brain. And from someone who knows a lot about endurance and adventure racing, Gurney has some words of wisdom for those taking part in the Pioneer. “One of the things about these long races is there will be high spots and low spots and there will be times where you are feeling really knackered and you are perhaps not enjoying it for a while and that’s part of it you see you need that contrast – it’s like you need darkness to give definition to light so you need the tough times to give definition to the good times and that’s what these long races offer for those that are open to that state of mind.” For more information on The Pioneer, visit www.thepioneer.co.nz The Pioneer 31 January – 6 February 7 Day Epic, Team of 2 - 569km riding, 15273m climbing – and plenty of down… 3 Day Traverse, Solo or Team of 2 – 241km riding, 7574m climbing – and plenty of down… Day Rides - Solo Christchurch – 37km, 53km, 7km (kids) Queenstown – 62km Countries represented: New Zealand, Australia, USA, Canada, Spain, Singapore, United Kingdom, Austria, Fiji, French Polynesia, Germany, South Africa

I'm about to do something truly special. I'm going to High Country Horses who offer the most unique horse riding experience on the planet, among the incredible scenery of Middle Earth. I'm heading out on one of their overnight adventures, traveling deep into the dark valley, through New Zealand backcountry and into untouched native beech forest. In fact this very piece of native beech forest here was so stunning, they used it for Lord of the Rings filming. So Casey, what scene did they film here? "Over on our left, they did the Battle of Amon Hen - the end of the first film." And there you go, and tonight we'll be camping right on the edge of the Mount Aspiring National Park. -------------------- No matter what your ability level or schedule, you can enjoy one hour trips through to four day adventures, offered exclusively in over 100,000 acres of mind blowing back country terraign. They offer the highest elevation riding in Queenstown, as well as the only place in the world where you can ride the full circumference of a mountain. What an amazing day that was! I've ridden some of New Zealand's most stunning scenery, to here, a real authentic back country hut, with venison on the fire and a glass of wine. -------------------- This sort of trip creates a lasting impression. I can't think of a better way to discover Glenorchy - its history, its personality - and fall in love with the back country of New Zealand in the trip with the team at High Country Horses.